This is a thread to let YOU speak your mind and give your piece in the creation of this SOP. SOPs are basically standard practices on TG -- if you've been here for a while, you know how it works. These SOPs will be directed to newbies so that they can easily pick up TG and understand how to do things.

Let's get started with a basic SOP -- spotting. The ideas is to let everyone here contribute ideas, good and bad. I will write the final draft of the document. From this document, we're going to help Silver making a video SOP. Both the text and video SOPs will be available so that newbies really get an idea of how things happen around here.

Remember -- the aim is to help someone quickly get "into" TG. Be gentle and don't use complicated BF terms.

That said, these are the ideas I believe are integral to spotting.

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1. Spotting is different from a contact report. Contact reports are done via VOIP and are relevant to the squad. A spot is something that benefits the entire battlefield, and does not necessarily require overt attention of the squad.
2. To "spot" someone in BF2142:
- move your mouse cursor over the enemy
- press and hold the Q key on your keyboard
- click the left mouse button once and let go
- let go of the Q key on your keyboard
This will place the enemy soldier or armor as a marker in your minimap. More importantly, everyone else on your team will also see the enemy soldier marker on their minimaps as well.
3. Spot often. Even if what you're spotting is not relevant to the squad, someone else might be engaging that enemy and your spot could save their life. It only takes a brief instant to spot, and it's beneficial to the whole team.
4. It's possible to add a marker where there is no enemy presence on the battlefield. That is, it's possible to spot things that aren't really there.
Instead of left-clicking on the Q menu, right click and you will be presented a list of options.
Spotting things that aren't there is rarely used, but it is useful in the odd case that you cannot physically see an enemy (because he's behind cover, for example), but you are certain that he is around that general area.
5. If you do Q-Spot an enemy, and his marker is not added to the minimap, try again. The system is a bit finicky, but it will always work on the second or third try.
6. If you spot too often, you will be blocked from using any Q-spot for 30 seconds. Don't spam spot -- spotting an enemy once is just enough. If it requires the attention of other people -- use VOIP.
7. The minimap marker goes away after a while, so it's a good idea to refresh the spot every 10-15 seconds.
8. Especially spot armor. TGers enjoy infantry-focused maps where armor is rare and hence quite powerful. Not a lot of people are prepared for a walker on an infantry map, and a spot on that walker will let a friendly know that he ought to spawn as an engineer.


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These are just preliminary ideas I've had. You are welcome to contribute ideas, screenshots or really anything you think might contribute. If you'd like to help Silver with acting and such, you can post that here too.

Please get your ideas in before next Friday. We're thinking of making one SOP per week.