PR - Sat Feb 17: EJOD Desert x2

[dawolf]

I am really starting to like that mod. I spent tonight fighting on/with the PR server. Starting on EJOD Desert as MEC I formed up a squad with non-regulars and despite holding only gardens most of the time we won by ticket count.

Acid was doing a great job commanding. From sending armor support where requested, spotting enemy troops and rally points to putting arty spots to good.

Quick recap on how that worked.

- Armor support
Me: "SQ5, we are using our armor squad as cover while advancing south from gardens."
Acid: "Armor squad be aware, SQ5 is using your tanks/apc as cover."
Moving out in the open desert with a full squad behind the armor as cover worked perfectly. We made up some ground there. When the tank pulled back for repairs we fell back to the nearest houses and set up shop there.

- Arty strikes
Acid: "sq5, tank to your southwest. arty available."

I move into postion, spot and watch death raining down on the enemies while the rest of the squad secures the perimeter.

Spotting...


Striking...


Acid: "confirm tank down."
... and on we go cleaning up the mess

We also played Inishail, Phoenix and another map. One server crash (on Phoenix) and one server restart (shortly after Phoenix) later I was back on EJOD Desert - this time on the US side. Server lag was always there - before and after restarts. I hope that PR server fix is coming quick.

On EJOD Desert x2 Dirtboy took over the CO seat and did a great job communicating and staging multi squad assaults.
We were clashing with the MEC at west city and in the desert west of the flag.

Here is an action shot of wiping out a pinned down squad and their rally point west of Gardens using intersquad comm over Dirtboy and arty spotting.



Here is one heroic US Specop (Root?) trying to blow up a tank.



I dont know how this ended because the tank killed me right after taking the screenshot

Lag was always present but despite of the lag my squad was having a good time. Dirtboy organized multi squad assaults on garden using artillery strikes and armor to support ground troops which worked pretty well.

Then another server restart was announced but it seemed nobody wanted another restart. I spent some time explaining on chat that we had multiple restarts before and it never helped with the lag. The server restart was called off and as i looked on the map again we got the Gardens flag and were pushing on North Desert.
I then noticed on chat that MEC was expecting a server restart and stopped fighting. I also stopped fighting to get JohnC to NOT to restart :P
So there was a bit confusion about that restart but I had no time to think about that. We were engaged by two enemy tanks at north gas while the CO wanted us to support Root in his 2-men squad who was already at the MEC Base.

After dealing with the tanks we moved north. I took my time to set up a rally point in case things get ugly. Dirtboy was repeatedly urging squads to support Root capping the MEC Base.

The base was crawling with enemies. We moved in using the few houses as cover and leaving 2 snipers on overwatch. I took a pic of Root hiding at MEC Base for what must have been 10 minutes now without getting detected and/or shot to pieces.



We moved ahead trying to secure the flag but got wiped out. Spawning back on the rally point i finally realized that Root was ALREADY in the flag cap radius on his position.

I ordered my squad on his position and set up a fireteam to the west overlooking our hideout on fire condition red.



Other squads were converging on the flag from all directions and kept MEC forces busy while we pulled down the flag slowly.

After getting the flag white we swept the area for remaining troops.



I can only imagine how this played from the MEC point of view after being pushed back to their base...

On the US side I had a strong squad going sporting only two TG regulars (including me).
Barlow as AT taking care of LOTS of tanks and apcs saving the squad multiple times. milo as AT/Specops blowing stuff up left and right. BetterDead using the APC perfectly to engage MEC infantry and providing cover for advancement. ironmonkey and defuru as solid anti-infantry duo shooting/reviving where needed. Everyone in the squad was following orders and executing laid out plans perfectly. Thanks for the good games.

[Root]

I was rather disappointed with this round. In full communication with dirtboy, I had my squad in position so that when the garden flag went down, we were already inside the radius for the next flag. It went straight down which I would assume caused some disarray for the MEC.

My squad members had left the server or been switched by this point, so again with approval from the CO, I moved to the final flag. It's the sort of stunt that I rarely pull off, but against the odds I managed it. I was on mission (the current flag), I was communicating, and the CO was relaying my urgent need for support. We still had guys at the main US base (of absolutely no help to anyone), and we had the rest of the team moving slower than an asthmatic snail carrying heavy shopping up a steep hill. This is absolutely no way to support your team mates when they risk their lives to complete the mission. A second guy joined my squad, spawned on me and we started to take the flag down, but it went back up again due to the large number of OpFor.

When we finally got troops to my position, more than half of them compromised my position by needlessly sticking their heads out when we had a nice little alcove in which to hide and take the flag. It took far too long for the flag to come down, and probably cost far more tickets than it should have.

It really, REALLY doesn't matter if you die. What matters, is winning by employing the TG way of playing. There are too many people who seem to be willing to achieve the latter only if it doesn't affect the former.

[Acid]

The problem with getting to that final flag was the fact that the entire enemy team was surrounding it and defending it. They had no clue you were inside the radius, so we were all pinned down outside (at least my squad was).

I enjoyed COing the first EJOD map and dawolf did a great job as SL communicating intel from the ground, which lead to some pretty deadly arty strikes. Inshail was also fun, but then the lag started and things got hairy.

[Root]

Originally Posted by Acid

The problem with getting to that final flag was the fact that the entire enemy team was surrounding it and defending it. They had no clue you were inside the radius, so we were all pinned down outside (at least my squad was).

The west side of the map was clear. As for not knowing I was in the radius, Dirtboy was relaying this repeatedly and I was sending text messages to the team to the same effect.

[Dirtboy]

Originally Posted by Root

I was rather disappointed with this round. In full communication with dirtboy, I had my squad in position so that when the garden flag went down, we were already inside the radius for the next flag. It went straight down which I would assume caused some disarray for the MEC.

This was really quite comical considering Root and a "few" others were there all by them selves WIT HOUT dying once. I was trying to get the rest of the squads to move in and help secure the objective, but they were pinned down by sniper and Armor fire. I have to give my hats off to root for holding fast and staying "hidden" almost the entire time we were assaulting the flag.

Overall I think this was probably one of the funnest times I had commanding I would do it again in a heartbeat. The reason it was so fun was because we had SL (for the most part) were giuving valuable info on the battlefield while still pressing forward. Again, Great Job to all my SL's

[Dirtboy]

Here is some Pics of the Final Assualt...notice poor little Squad 6(root) by his self.

[Rick_the_new_guy]

I played as the OPFor for the night.
Learned a lot more about the game. And was able to do some decent SL at Q. River.

Sorry about squad 1 losing the south flag there Al, Al of a sudden the squad was done to three guys. An A.P.C. rolled up. While I was on the roof to rally back, I lost connection.

I should have been more aware of the squads numbers. I thought we were still at 6. Dunno how that A.P.C. got through all those guys.

China had a good team as Al as the CO. Plus squad 3 was doing a great job at the Government office.
Al, did a good job coordinating the sneak flag assault and rapid assault on the next group of Control Points.

I was able to put down rally points and get a lot out of that squad. Special thanks to Ransack for being the Bravo leader.

A good part was when a lil bird came in at Fishing villiage, and we detroyed the entire unit, Pilot included. The poilot neary wasted me as he came into our kill zone via parachute. The assault team jumped into the water, but we sent them down to Davie Jone's locker.

Players are going to soon find, that sending a full transport chopper to a flag on a TG server is suicide. You got to go through the back door already!

Be on the look out for, Ossamo W. Bush. Dude, joined my squad, then when I told him stay and defend, he left the squad, and headed to the Corps last flag. Plus, when I got a radio check on the guy, we souned "smart" to me.

___

Yeah, Gulf of O is still useless. nuff said. I did work with an o.k. squad, that got better as the map went along.

____

Got a lot of positive remarks on I. Forest.

____

Operation P. handles well on the server, but the Corp needs help. I got a nice Heavy AT. A.P.C. kill with that thing. Plus, I held down the roof southwest of the southern flag for a while. Carefull, going up the ladder, hehe.
That southern flag, was something out of a damn movie. G.I.s were all over the place, and it was somewhat choatic, but Ghost, the squad leader did really well.

___

Yeah, Acid was doing a good at EJOD Desert 1. I was trying to do some kind of APC tank deal. We did o.k.
I lost connection, and came back later.

At EJOD 2, i joined with aculle01's squad. I was doing o.k. as the ammo guy, unitl i threw them all away, doh. The coolist point of the night was when I wasted a Spec ops, then grabed their kit and put two stickys on their APC who had been seating there for like three min. I was able to get my kit back also. Nice.

____

I would say things are coming together. Thanks to good playes, I was taught a lot about how to best play the game.
I have been playing Rifleman because of the need for it.
I did not have ANY teamkills. Although I did request arty on squad three at Q. River. Doh!

A problem

1. When John Ramboo heads to the enemy like flys to honey, it prevents us from firing in that direction, and using air support on that location. Plus, a ticket is gone. Stick with the squad, or it will be Troublesome4u.

__

[BigGaayAl]

Hi I joined in on Qwai River, halfway the round. When I was in the game was tied over the fishing village and government office flags. I'm pretty sure that China would have won in any case since they were already leading in tickets.
Nevertheless I jumped on the co chair.

I must say that was the best fun I've had CO-ing. It was almost like a RTS game. Squadleaders were very responsive (Rick as 1, I believe dirtboy at 3 but being disconnected mid game, and I don't know 3 and 4).

First thing we did was consolidate a goo defence on Fishing. Rick defended the south, squad 4 the north. They responded as asked and didn't seem to get into trouble.

2 and 3 were set to attack government office.
Pretty soon the squads were able to cap both flags. Immediately I got squads wondering about attacking the next flag (processing facility). However I did not want to send a squad out, as it would take long, and we'd lose a flag by then. Luckily my Ghostdog had just joined in and was on the way to the front in an apc with another squadmember (squad5).


This allowed me to try out my "ideal strategy" for these pivotal moments in the game:

when you cap a group of flags, and have to move to a next group, YOUR ATTACKING FORCE SHOULD BE 2 PEOPLE.

Reasoning behind this:
-the target flag will not be defended in 90% of the cases.
-you are up against 32 people; 2 is all you can spare to have a decent chance of keeping the flags you just captured long enough.
-I do not think this would work well on linear maps like Ejod

So I sent 5 to attack, while all the others obeyed orders superbly and defended. I'm certain that the whole team was in tension and looking on the map. I had explained the plan to all, so they must have relayed that to their squads. All was riding on these two men to finish off the opportunity that a 30-man effort had provided.



As you see in the pic, 1 and 4 are now ready to move out to support 5 at Processing facility. Note how squad 2 was defending on the flag, while three was disrupting their supply lines, using effective heli insertions to get there. You could say Fishing was a zone defence and government office a man-to-man defence.

5 was successful, and soon the defensive squads were moving up to support 5 and eventually form a north to south front-line that the US wasn't able to break through effectively.



Unfortunately the game dragged on too long after that, and with 50 tickets left they recapped some flags and my entire team was left essentially baseraping them on their Alamo. When you go for that last flag, you always seem to end with that.

In conclusion: it was a wonderful game to co, and if we have squads like that you can count on me to take the chair more often. I would like people to post some of their aasv2 co tactics, as on many maps I'm having trouble finding good orders to give, especially on the more linear maps.

[Root]

Qwai river is an excellent example of how organised the attacking team needs to be. My squad liberated 2 APCs and a humvee, and our convoy proceed straight to the fishing village, with the intent of a fast cap, and then onto the next flag one government was up.

Unfortunately, telling 4 squad members to get crewman kits, and clearly explaining that you want a gunner and driver in each, whilst the 5th squad member crews the 50 on the humvee is overload for some players. It took us so long to get to fishing village that we were wiped out, and never managed to regain the initiative. Winning requires communication, and listening skills are included under that heading.

[Acid]

Root, I meant that the enemy didn't know you were in the cap radius, we all knew you were and were trying to get there. You can see our squad pinned down on the eastern side.

[Rick_the_new_guy]

Excellent Post Al, and good feedback on the mechanzied actions to
1. Prop a new set of Control Points
2. Attack a new flag in a Control Point.
3. Have the rear defenders get ready to move out and on to the next Aera of Operations.

Good use of zone and man-to-man defense on your AAR.

Notice that your first pic has zero deaths in your Platoon.
Your next had two out of 28 players.
When people are alive and well, morale is high.

____
Some squad members were getting resetless, but explaining the CO's orders and plan of action calmed them down.

Again, excellent work Al.