A Plea to Commanders

[Mateo]

This is not a criticism of REALEST, just an observation. I'm going to talk from the MEC point of view, so if you played USMC, think about OMAN from the other side of the map.

As commander, the foundation of your job is twofold:

1) Achieve the objective.
2) Minimize casualties. A dead asset is not an asset.

So look at the map, and think about it for a second. For this exercise, the map looks like this:

Squad 1: Center construction
Squad 2: West Bunker
Squad 3: Center, at rails, rushing middle beach
Squad 4: Moving West from UCB.
Squad 5: Moving from West Bunker towards beach artillery.

Now, as far as efficiency, does it make sense to move squads 2 and 5 clear across the map to the Pool?

Or is there a squad that is closer, that does not have to traverse a hostile beach, to move to the objective?

Which will minimize losses?

There are several better options.

Option 1:
Order Squad 1 to the pool, move Squad 3 back to the construction. Move Squads 2 and 5 to the center beach. Spell squad 4 by sending them to West Bunker

Option 2:

Order squad 4 to center construction, move squad 1 to pool. Leave existing orders for all other squads in place.

That's off the top of my head.

Both these tactics are simple "dinks and dumps." Less movement, better coverage, minimized casualties. Don't make big sweeping movements, just move the chains.

The point is, in achieving the objective, there are ways to do it that cost less in terms of players movements and lives.

That is all.

[Xen]

Hey Mateo, something I see that you don't account for is the mobility and firepower of a fully loaded blackhawk. (Yes, I like flying the blackhawk. It maybe a brick but I've gotten good at dodging most everything but trees, I always think I have enough room.) Anyways, a good crew for the blackhawk is 2 spec op, 2 engineers, 1 medic, 1 support. The engineers can repair the while in flight, as can the medic. Spec op for blowing things up on request and the support so everyone can stay fully loaded. Support and Spec op should be in the minigun turrets as everyone else in back is busy. Hovering or landing at flag points with a full chopper takes about 15 seconds to fully capture it. One thing the blackhawk crew needs is a good air cover, and the cobra doing anti tank patrolling. working in tandem the choppers could be a very formitable force the MEC would have to deal with. 10 guys total and all the air power is used. leaving 22 guys on the ground for tank apc and buggy assualt and defence. Just thought I'd toss this out for those who would like to command.

[Mateo]

Originally Posted by Xen

Hey Mateo, something I see that you don't account for is the mobility and firepower of a fully loaded blackhawk. (Yes, I like flying the blackhawk. It maybe a brick but I've gotten good at dodging most everything but trees, I always think I have enough room.) Anyways, a good crew for the blackhawk is 2 spec op, 2 engineers, 1 medic, 1 support. The engineers can repair the while in flight, as can the medic. Spec op for blowing things up on request and the support so everyone can stay fully loaded. Support and Spec op should be in the minigun turrets as everyone else in back is busy. Hovering or landing at flag points with a full chopper takes about 15 seconds to fully capture it. One thing the blackhawk crew needs is a good air cover, and the cobra doing anti tank patrolling. working in tandem the choppers could be a very formitable force the MEC would have to deal with. 10 guys total and all the air power is used. leaving 22 guys on the ground for tank apc and buggy assualt and defence. Just thought I'd toss this out for those who would like to command.

Xen...

All true, but you need a decent commander to reign in the chopper jockeys and get them to provide cover, something the MECS last night weren't able to do. The USMC seems to have this down, though.

Most commanders have trouble with just managing the ground campaign, so that's what I felt I needed to talk about. I'm sure a concentrated attack with a cavalry helio and air cover would do the job, but if that is not available, you still need to move the troops.

[Karkianman101]

Xen, heres a better idea: Engineer is squad leader and pilot. spec ops and 2 anti tanks ride shotgun, 1 AT on each side. This way, AT's can shoot at vehicles, and spec ops can drop c4 below. Then you have the support and medic gunning, since they have pool effects.

[Xen]

Originally Posted by Karkianman101

Engineer is squad leader and pilot. spec ops and 2 anti tanks ride shotgun, 1 AT on each side. This way, AT's can shoot at vehicles, and spec ops can drop c4 below. Then you have the support and medic gunning, since they have pool effects.

Only reason to have an engineer in the back is to have in flight repairing happening. Otherwise I like your idea, maybe change the spec op to an engineer.

[Karkianman101]

Then have the SL be the medic, with 1 engineer active, 2 AT active, and another engineer and a support gunning.

And yeah. Spec Ops + blackhawk = bad 0_o

Just ask wyz when I got bored and dropped 5 c4 right by the heli at the pad... but pressed an extra button by accident >_<

[asch]

Originally Posted by Karkianman101

Then have the SL be the medic, with 1 engineer active, 2 AT active, and another engineer and a support gunning.

This was brought up in another thread... but you do NOT want the SL to be the ONLY medic on the squad. Someone else needs to be able to revive your mobile spawn point.

[Evil.Bonsai]

In a perfect world, most of the ideas posted above would be pretty nice to have at your disposal. However, when you've got 5 squads with 1 or 2 people, maybe 2 full squads and a couple of others with 3-4, it's not quite that easy to say squad 2 do this or squad 5 do that. As a commander you have to use what's available. I wouldn't order a squad at the next flag over to attack a neighboring base IF a more cabaple squad exists. If Squad 2 has 2 people and is next door, I'll leave 'em there and order a full squad to move to attack or defend a flag. It's also very difficult when you KNOW a squad is available to defend a flag or arty or uav trailers or what have you and they flat out ignore you anyway. A commander's adaptability to every situation is very important to winning the round. Even more important is for the squads to be able to adapt to the commander's wishes. Ok, you may wish to go attack one flag 'cause, well, you can. But the commander can see a lot more of what's going on than the squad leaders. I'm sure the maps that come out will all be different, but there are a few things that need to happen:
1. Commander needs a squad for security and repair of radar/uav. Without these 2 items, a commander is basically useless.
2. There will be specific must-have's on each map; using oman as the only current example, the 2 flags to the west on the beach are extremely important to hold and defend at all cost. Any of the other 3 flags will be needed as well but those 2 are the most important. If MEC controls them, they can easily deny arty. If the marines hold 'em, they have a very powerful tool at their disposal.
3. squad leaders need to keep their squads in check and functioning to one purpose, not scattered all over the map. Due to spawn losses this is sometimes difficult, but still somewhat manageable.
I enjoy playing in the commander role and hope to continue doing so. It does suck quite a bit though if you have little or no support from your teams on the ground.

[Wyzcrak]

Bonsai, I was hoping you'd make it to the forums. I've enjoyed playing with you. Welcome.

[Evil.Bonsai]

Originally Posted by Wyzcrak

Bonsai, I was hoping you'd make it to the forums. I've enjoyed playing with you. Welcome.

thanks! Same here.

[Xen]

Bonsai, I've been in and created Blackhawk squads that fill up quickly. I've seen Wyz running around with full squads. It's possible if everyone in the squad cooperates and fills positions as they are needed instead of what the members want.