Project Reality Forums

So I was thinking about this today but I have yet to try it, if youve done it let me know how well it works.

Make a squad, have the squadleader {you} take an officer kit, and have atleast 2 other members {for a helicopter gunship} or 1 for a jet. Now you as the officer pick another squad to tag along with. Preferabbly a full infantry squad thats going to assault an important CP.

Now even though direct communication with this other squad may not be the easiest thing in the world {unless you both have mumble, or relay info via the commander} You should be pretty aware of whats going on in the battle, whether theres more troops or armor coming from a different direction etc. Then you can mark targets and communicate via VOIP with the gunship/jet that is in your squad. Effectively making you a F.A.C {forward air controller} thats is attached to a squad. This way the other squad can have a full 6 man complement of infantry and you free up the slots that would be used for an aircraft. As a F.A.C you would not get right out into the fight, but hang back and mark targets.

This can also be split up into 2 teams per squad. 2 F.A.C.s and 2 fully crewed gunships/jets.

Also I know with version .9 theres been some changes to the way the marking system on the map works, so maybe theres an easier way of incorporating CAS than the way i described. Let me know what you think.

Yea i do this a lot when i am leading a CAS squad, it really works well having infantry in direct comms with CAS as you can get more targets and ake them out with more effective commuication, being able to mark exact positions with attack markers is an invaluable assest to any CAS squad, and id like too see more squads operating this way.

On maps like Barracuda, I'd imagine that this'd work great for the USMC.

FACs should really be operating much more like snipers:

-They're stealthy, their only weapon should be a laser marker.
-They have less going on (IE, no firefights) and can better direct communications.
-They need to stay alive to be finding potential threats to their assets and targets to take out.
-Two GLDT users (The SL and FAC) can cover more from different angles than from the same position.

They gain nothing from attaching to a squad:

-If a squad is taking fire, they too will be pinned down and unable to lase the target and take it out.
-If mumble is available, neither party needs to be in close proximity if they use the SL radio system.
-If no mumble, the non-FAC SL can still use his/her own GLDT and proper communications through text.

An FAC is basically necessary in some form or another, even if it's just the commander relaying the filtered communications and markers to the squad. They need to have beyond the norm training in GLDT use (trust me, there's a lot to learn from that finicky thing), and need to be able to manage comms and time slots well. Giving an air contact, vehicle type, height, direction, location, climbing/descending infromation on an enemy plane within 10 seconds is specialized work that I've only seen capable of doing by a dedicated FAC, but get a good one and that bugger'll be out of the sky pretty quickly with any competent pilot. On that note though I guess I can agree with half of the OP.

McLuv wrote:FACs should really be operating much more like snipers:

-They're stealthy, their only weapon should be a laser marker.
-They have less going on (IE, no firefights) and can better direct communications.
-They need to stay alive to be finding potential threats to their assets and targets to take out.
-Two GLDT users (The SL and FAC) can cover more from different angles than from the same position.

They gain nothing from attaching to a squad:

-If a squad is taking fire, they too will be pinned down and unable to lase the target and take it out.
-If mumble is available, neither party needs to be in close proximity if they use the SL radio system.
-If no mumble, the non-FAC SL can still use his/her own GLDT and proper communications through text.

An FAC is basically necessary in some form or another, even if it's just the commander relaying the filtered communications and markers to the squad. They need to have beyond the norm training in GLDT use (trust me, there's a lot to learn from that finicky thing), and need to be able to manage comms and time slots well. Giving an air contact, vehicle type, height, direction, location, climbing/descending infromation on an enemy plane within 10 seconds is specialized work that I've only seen capable of doing by a dedicated FAC, but get a good one and that bugger'll be out of the sky pretty quickly with any competent pilot. On that note though I guess I can agree with half of the OP.

Ok I get what you were saying, thats sort of what I was saying. As the FAC, obviously you dont want to be out in the front with the guys shooting because you dont want to end up getting shot yourself and being a useless dead FAC. I was saying hang back more like a medic would {or should} But, I think you probably have the better idea with your sniper reference. What I would say to that is, would it be a good idea to be in an overwatch position of where a friendly squad is assaulting {from a safe distance}? That way you can still get effective CAS to the squad {which was the whole point of why I said to attach yourself to a squad} That GTLD has alot of zoom so you should be able to get in a safe spot far from the action yet still able to call upon airborne death to any armor threats that appear.

More people would be influenced to do this if you were to earn more points for spotting.

I had an excellent spotter on muttrah city one time, Me and my Gunner got around 76 kills total and won the round and my spotter only ended up with about 35 points which sucked for him because he was the reason we won the round.

Another thing they need for the spotter is a buildable teloptic sight that increases view distance by 2x the regular distance. This would not only be awsome but it would kick the shit out of the other team and it would make the cobra more useful.

With the commander now able to get out and run around, he is very well suited for this role. As an added bonus, he is capable of communicating with every squad without the use of mumble/TS, although those programs can definitely be helpful.

stealth420 wrote:More people would be influenced to do this if you were to earn more points for spotting.

I had an excellent spotter on muttrah city one time, Me and my Gunner got around 76 kills total and won the round and my spotter only ended up with about 35 points which sucked for him because he was the reason we won the round.

Another thing they need for the spotter is a buildable teloptic sight that increases view distance by 2x the regular distance. This would not only be awsome but it would kick the shit out of the other team and it would make the cobra more useful.

Well im not suggesting a "spotter" class. The officer kit does it just fine, and im pretty sure the GTLD sees out further than 2x. As for points, I think if points are that big a deal to you your kinda missing the point of PR. If I was spotting for a gunship, and that gunship got a ton of enemy kills thanks to my spotting and made a big difference in winning the round, I wouldnt care if my personal kill count was really low. I know how well I did, I dont need some arbitrary number to feel satisfied. I know im not in the minority on this either. Its everyones contribution to your teams winning that matters.