Commander tactics, review and criticism..

[ionpig-A]

Hey all,

I've found myself "volunteering" for unfilled commander slots quite a bit lately and have a few questions and comments about what makes for an effective commander:

Comments:

1. Keep the SatTrack rolling, use it every time it recharges as soon as it recharges. Every time I remember to do this I think I have a better round. Every time I forget to it seems that some clever and sneaky squad leader gets by my team and causes some real havoc behind our lines, especially on CampG and Cerbere.

2. Supplies are your friend! As with the SatTrack I seem to get good results putting supplies down for armor and friendlies just as often as possible, even if the placements aren't always perfect.

3. Zoraster is right: SPOT SPOT SPOT. As soon as that SatTrack band fades from the screen get that right-click-spotted routine going to show your squads where the baddies are! Especially to support squads that are chasing down enemy that have broken through or to inform tiny groups (1~3) of friendlies that are isolated and trying to cap a lightly defended flag.

4. Use the Orbital Strike as a blocking tool. If your lines have let a squad by or the enemy is moving somewhere that will put your troops at a disadvantage (on Cerbere think of the hill above church, and the hills west of South Town Center) put an OS in front of their line of advance. It's not about getting kills but rather keeping the enemy where your men can work on them.

5. Give an occasional full map situation report to your entire team. As time allows give a concise but complete report of all enemy locations and the status of all flags. Even if things are going well I think this helps the squad leaders to prioritize their activities.

6. Try to stay calm. From what time I've spent as squad leader I can say that a calm commander is a great psychological advantage for a team to have. (Zhohar excels at this)

Questions:

1. How much chatter is too much chatter? I sometimes think that I am on the comm channel way too much but at the same time I think the recommended 2%~5% may not be enough. What works best for you SL's and CO's?

2. How do you speak to a single Squad Leader? Multiple Squad Leaders? I'm not really sure how to control the comms as Commander. Anyone know of a good tutorial for this?


So, I would love some feedback on these. Have I provided some useful tips here? What works for you guys? All criticism welcome!

OINK!

[rage4order]

First of all thanks pig for taking the time to command when no one else has stepped up. I have just started doing the same and I find it to be a very rewarding roll on TG servers. I dont have enough experience as a commander to give a lot of advice but here are a few things for ya. First, there are 2 stickies in this forum for commanders, one is about communication and how to split between all squads vs single squad and there is also a commanders guide, both are excellent reading. Second, from a SL point of view, I dont like my comm being hammered by the commander either, I need to hear my squad and what is happening around me. I think a commander should try to talk to individual squads for specific orders and all squads for general orders but make it short and sweet. I look forward to running a squad with you as commander. I am sure there will be a few more people to answer some questions for you.

[draeh]

Originally Posted by rage4order

Second, from a SL point of view, I dont like my comm being hammered by the commander either, I need to hear my squad and what is happening around me. I think a commander should try to talk to individual squads for specific orders and all squads for general orders but make it short and sweet.

When I command, I try to stay off the comms as much as possible. I use the comms not for orders but to warn of incoming. I try to leave it up to the SLs to open discussion about the orders I place for them. Although... when I have a silent SL not listening to my placed orders, I use the comms to try and figure out what they are seeing that I may not be.

[ionpig-A]

Oh hey, I totally missed Lyra's sticky on the topic of commander comms. I feel silly.

"V" key as commander combined with selecting squad from the dropdown menu. Who knew it was that easy?

I think you SL's will find me wasting less of your comms time in the future. Awesome!

Thanks rage!

[Augustus Gloop]

Using orbitals to screen a breakthrough attempt by your troops can be really effective. A tight group of assault running with their medic boxes out aren't going to be killed even if they run right through your orbital. Just make sure you set up your plan in advance with the squads, and WARN when you orbital.

[MDFubar]

I try to stay off the coms except when informing of troop movement. If someone breaks thru I will usually order the closest squad to a location in front of the incoming enemy. I will also use the squad com to tell that SL why I am pulling him to that location and what he is facing.
I have recently started doing the same, filling the vacant CO position, although I prefer to be an SL. I am getting more comfortable, but when you fill in at the last minute you usually tend to not have a plan. It does make it a bit harder when you haven't planned on being the CO. I usually take a moment to look over the situation and try and get things rolling in the right direction.
Good post !

[Reaperassault]

I like a CO with a decent amount of chatter, its not all war all the time joke around a bit if you know the SL, but never let that distract you from your job, keeping your SLs packed full of information, yes arties are nice to take out armor but if you can spot a rush and let someone know

[vertomac]

Keep up the good work Ion. In my experience as SL, I've found your intel extremely valuable in formulating my next move. Many times you've thwarted attempts by the other team to "go deep" and capture the back positions, just by keeping us SLs informed.
I prefer too much information than none at all. Keep up the play-by-play reports. Kudos.

[Lorax74]

I like to hear a CO every now and then, but not constantly throughout a round. I think detailed instruction should be left between CO and the SL receiving the instructions and general status reports should go to all SLs.

[Bagheera]

When Commander, I like to let the SL's know the bigger picture, as well as let them know of far off threats that they not may be aware of (such as an enemy transport spawning fresh reinforcements up in the west hills in Tampa yesterday.)

This allows them to make tactical decisions without much input from me. I only give tactical orders when necessary, and for the most part act as intel and drop whatever support they need to accomplish their mission. On short maps such as the harbor, I go sniper (with the stock rifle) so that I can spot enemies with the rifle scope in between UAV and Sat Track refreshes (and on occasion pull off a snipe (after spotting of course) on an enemy trying a back door CP cap whenever my squads are occupied.)

[ThePromQueen]

I cannot stress this enough: Orbitals do not hurt infantry!

Now that I have your attention... What I really mean is that an OS is not very likely to kill a soldier at full health. If you drop it on top of a very specific position then you have a good chance of killing one or two people, but the majority are going to get away with a few scrapes. For the most part, an OS only causes confusion and softens up infantry targets. I absolutely LOVE to use the OS for moving into an area. Drop an OS on the flag I intend to assault and then just sweep in and cap it while all of the shemales are running for cover so that they don't get their ruby red slippers dirty.

[Razcsak]

On the flip-side, orbitals can be brutal to vehicles. Depending on how closely you're working with your squadleaders, get them to EMP-lock a vehicle (or do it yourself, but good drivers won't let you) then orbital it. The three kills you might have picked up by an orbital are nothing to the multiple tickets you just saved by killing an APC or walker.

[vertomac]

Speaking of orbital strikes, one thing I have used OS to my success is taking out beacons. Yes, I can locate an area where a squad is podding in, locate their beacon, and place the OS cursor spot on top and whamo, no more beacon. Works great on maps like Gibralter where your team is pinned in at Toll, the enemy is podding in outside the entrance, and your team has no prayer in heck to run out and do the job themselves. Relieves a tremendous amount of pressure in those situations.

[SharinganTH1422]

Originally Posted by ionpig-A

Hey all,

I've found myself "volunteering" for unfilled commander slots quite a bit lately and have a few questions and comments about what makes for an effective commander:

Comments:

1. Keep the SatTrack rolling, use it every time it recharges as soon as it recharges. Every time I remember to do this I think I have a better round. Every time I forget to it seems that some clever and sneaky squad leader gets by my team and causes some real havoc behind our lines, especially on CampG and Cerbere.

2. Supplies are your friend! As with the SatTrack I seem to get good results putting supplies down for armor and friendlies just as often as possible, even if the placements aren't always perfect.

3. Zoraster is right: SPOT SPOT SPOT. As soon as that SatTrack band fades from the screen get that right-click-spotted routine going to show your squads where the baddies are! Especially to support squads that are chasing down enemy that have broken through or to inform tiny groups (1~3) of friendlies that are isolated and trying to cap a lightly defended flag.

4. Use the Orbital Strike as a blocking tool. If your lines have let a squad by or the enemy is moving somewhere that will put your troops at a disadvantage (on Cerbere think of the hill above church, and the hills west of South Town Center) put an OS in front of their line of advance. It's not about getting kills but rather keeping the enemy where your men can work on them.

5. Give an occasional full map situation report to your entire team. As time allows give a concise but complete report of all enemy locations and the status of all flags. Even if things are going well I think this helps the squad leaders to prioritize their activities.

6. Try to stay calm. From what time I've spent as squad leader I can say that a calm commander is a great psychological advantage for a team to have. (Zhohar excels at this)

Questions:

1. How much chatter is too much chatter? I sometimes think that I am on the comm channel way too much but at the same time I think the recommended 2%~5% may not be enough. What works best for you SL's and CO's?

2. How do you speak to a single Squad Leader? Multiple Squad Leaders? I'm not really sure how to control the comms as Commander. Anyone know of a good tutorial for this?


So, I would love some feedback on these. Have I provided some useful tips here? What works for you guys? All criticism welcome!

OINK!

Congratulations on your commander badge, seems like you're doing OK commanding

[Razcsak]

*grin* No kidding. I'm not sure he knows he got one, though.