When playing, just remember how your actions affect the server

**asch** · 07-10-2006, 12:29 AM

I just wanted to remind everyone to think about how their actions will affect the overall server. This is everything from personal actions, to squad actions to team actions. We all want to win... we all want to be in the action.... but let's not forget that we're looking for some great rounds.

If we're all on the assault, then who's defending? This leads to whack-a-mole.

If a team is too aggressive very early on, then everyone has to sit and watch EA's long map load screen. If you see your team grabbing every flag too soon (i.e. in under five minutes), then we need to restrain ourselves. Let's give the other team a chance to actually fight. Let's be able to talk about those great battles and not how fast we rolled through the map list.

If you're a CO, then you're actions have a direct impact on your team and the squads. Communicate with your SLs, lead your SLs, and be patient with your SLs. You won't always win so don't get frustrated. Try some new things and ask for advice from one of your SLs. If there's a problem with following orders, then do your best to contact an admin in-game or over teamspeak. We'll deal with it from there.

If you're an SL, then you're actions have a direct impact on the CO and your squad members. Communicate with both. Let the squad know what the plan is and how it fits in the overall pictures. Let the CO know if you're under fire. Let the CO know when and how soon you can reach your objective. Have fun and get immersed in the experience.

If you're a grunt, then your actions also affect everyone you interact with. Communicate with your squad and get into the experience. It's more than just working with your squad and capturing flags. Enjoy the down time when defending rear flags. Enjoy the intense action of the raging battle. Get into the experience of being in a battle instead of just playing a FPS.

In the end, play to enjoy the experience and don't think about winning or losing. It's not about dominating the other team or driving around in circles capturing flags. Get into it. You're simulating a battlefield... and have some fun.

**Thierry** · 07-10-2006, 06:48 AM

Although true about the loading screen part, how can one team know when the other team has loaded properly? For all they know that team is already loaded and capturing flags.
Maybe increasing the commander select time a little would help.

Problem with CO at times is that you load faster into a map then a SL, causing frustration on both sides when the SL says he didnt get any orders.

As SL I often find CO's given the same order, ordering me to attack a flag I am already attacking, should I then ask why he gave the same order again, keeping his attention on answering that instead of commanding, or should I just keep fighting that flag as I was earlier on?

If you have a squad that sticks together, then you can have a great time as a squad member/grunt but if its a squad that is always scattered across the map, then its usually no fun and causes people to switch squads.

And yes we all want to win, but what kind of war would a team be playing if they gave a potential advantage to the other team by waiting for them?
When team B finally says they are ready, is team A as well? And by ready, do we mean that sqauds are about to capture every flag on the map or that everyone has just loaded?

Keep it fun yes, but its war, its not meant to played fairly towards the enemy in all ways possible.

**asch** · 07-10-2006, 07:52 AM

Well, put it this way. A game shouldn't end in five minutes. If a team finds itself capturing all of the flags in under five minutes, they should probably pull back and defend the flags for a bit. Even if the other team is completely spawned in, do you think the other team enjoys getting bowled over after they spawn once? Rounds that end so quickly can easily kill the server population.

And I'll put it another way. Teams are taking advantage of the game start conditions by moving all out within the first few minutes. This isn't all out war and we should not be taking advantage of those game start conditions. Doing so will result in some sort of admin action.

As for orders from the CO.... if you're the SL, definitely communicate with the CO. If it's not a critical matter, just say "CO, this is squad five..." and wait for him to respond. When he has time, he'll get to you. There should be a healthy bit of conversation between CO and SL.,,, especially when orders are confusing or the situation on the ground changes.

**cantpicknameiwant** · 07-10-2006, 12:03 PM

Originally Posted by Thierry

... how can one team know when the other team has loaded properly? For all they know that team is already loaded and capturing flags...

Check the player management screen where you will see all the names of all the players on the server.
At the beginning of a round, the blue and red names are in game, the grey names are not yet in game. If you see many more blue names than red names - hold up for a few seconds.

Originally Posted by Thierry

Problem with CO at times is that you load faster into a map then a SL, causing frustration on both sides when the SL says he didnt get any orders.

I would say - yes due to technical differences, at the beginning of a round the CO and SL should get comfirmations from each other.

Originally Posted by Thierry

As SL I often find CO's given the same order, ordering me to attack a flag I am already attacking, should I then ask why he gave the same order again, keeping his attention on answering that instead of commanding, or should I just keep fighting that flag as I was earlier on?

If the order I just received concurs with what I am doing, I continue as I was. No problems there.
Though if the order is different than my actions and I do not see the 'tacticalness' of it, I usually ask for (see the protocol asch recommends) clarification so I have a better understanding of the situation than just attacking a waypoint set on my map.

Originally Posted by Thierry

Keep it fun yes, but its war, its not meant to played fairly towards the enemy in all ways possible.

Though this server is a little different than most pubbie servers isn't it.

**Thierry** · 07-10-2006, 02:20 PM

Originally Posted by cantpicknameiwant

Check the player management screen where you will see all the names of all the players on the server.
At the beginning of a round, the blue and red names are in game, the grey names are not yet in game. If you see many more blue names than red names - hold up for a few seconds.

How can you till the difference between a dead player (or recently killed) and a player thats not yet ingame/loading?

Originally Posted by cantpicknameiwant

I would say - yes due to technical differences, at the beginning of a round the CO and SL should get comfirmations from each other.

True, though if sometimes you hear a lot of OK's or Roger That's (at the same time) and can miss one SL, but thats ok I geuss.

Originally Posted by cantpicknameiwant

If the order I just received concurs with what I am doing, I continue as I was. No problems there.
Though if the order is different than my actions and I do not see the 'tacticalness' of it, I usually ask for (see the protocol asch recommends) clarification so I have a better understanding of the situation than just attacking a waypoint set on my map.

Good enough for me

Originally Posted by cantpicknameiwant

Though this server is a little different than most pubbie servers isn't it.

True, but again, its a game of war

What I do tend to dislike at times is when one team is about to finish off the other team, say the tickets are 200-50 and the losing team is losing that last flag.
Sometimes you'll get "Don't capture the flag! Let them respawn!" even if the round was completely fairly won by the other team, in which case I say, finish them off! If you let them have that last flag, they will just get spawnraped there (as they are usually not as good as the winning team) and prolong the inevitable, which IMO ruins all the fun for the losing team.
If it gets to 500-50 because of a team spawning in earlier, then I geuss its ok to let them have a flag, but then let them stop the bleed as well (even it), otherwise its just a spawnrape game, which I really hate.

**Apophis** · 07-10-2006, 02:35 PM

Thierry, I think the issue is when the score is 500-490, 2 minutes have elapsed, all flags are held by one team with a UCB and the other team has no UCB.

Essentially, it's the concept of rushing as fast as you can to take over all the flags before all the players even get in game.

**wildcat2000** · 07-10-2006, 03:45 PM

Its an endless battle on any game with cooperation and communication. It seems these problems will never end.

**Thierry** · 07-10-2006, 05:39 PM

We could just throw tactics out the window and nuke the enemy UCB before they even know what hit them, problem solved

**cantpicknameiwant** · 07-10-2006, 08:07 PM

Originally Posted by Thierry

How can you till the difference between a dead player (or recently killed) and a player thats not yet ingame/loading?

Good question.
For the beginning of a map I assume all the grey names have not yet initially spawned in, that none of them have spawned in and quickly been killed, though it happens.

I am not sure about inbetween maps, but I know if a player loads during map play they will initially show grey and there will be a 0 (zero) for their ping. At some point that name's ping changes with color still grey and shortly after that they (can) enter/join the game.

There must be someone here who knows more details about that.

Originally Posted by Thierry

Sometimes you'll get "Don't capture the flag! Let them respawn!"

The thing I find funny about that is the different meaning behind those words.
On a pubbie server it means: "we want to point whore them for all we can get, so gather round and shoot the fish in a barrel".

On this server I know it means: " let's give them a chance to change their situation so we can all play this map longer and hopefully with another chance the battle will develop into a fun tactical endeavor".
I have been on the winning side of that here and my SL called off our attack and had us regroup to defend a nearby flag in anticipation of the losing side recovering.
Another time an admin reset the map.
So I guess you could look at it this way - like in chess, the winner does not actually take the king off the board so we do not wipe the losing side off the map - it is an unspoken win. And to try to get a 'good' round out of the map, we play it again, whether from a restart of the map or letting the 'losing' side have some real estate and a chance to turn the tables.
This game tweaking is for the benefit of the majority including the 'losers'.

I have been on the losing side and thought: "why do I want to spawn in and get instantly killed again???". No fun.
But when I realize the 'winners' are going to give us a chance, I take up the challenge. Fun.

Having said all that, I agree; if the round has played itself out (200 - 50) then with 50 tickets left there is little time for a recovery and further fun battle.
If it is near the beginning of the round though (as Apophis sited) then there is a chance for a certain type of fun and that chance is squandered unless atypical action is taken.

**asch** · 07-10-2006, 11:37 PM

It sounds like I wasn't clear with my initial post. As Apo mentioned, I'm referring to the very beginning of the round. This is where the game doesn't really do either team justice because of load issues, spawn times, organization, etc. Winning by taking advantage of these circumstances isn't all that sportsman-like.

At TG we want to show superior strategy and tactics deployed on the battlefield throughout the round... but the only way we'll get to see that is by playing it out and not finishing it within the first few minutes.

And if the round ends in the first few minutes, we won't have Rick or E-Male available to write those storyline AARs.