daithi1

I've been using TS as commanding lately and am getting a lot of mixed feedback. I'm asking what do SMs (and SLs) think should be spoken over TS. I've realised total TS is too much but I also think it is somewhat beneficial for SMs to hear orders directly from me. So I basically want to know what SMs found beneficial when I used TS. I know now I have been overusing TS but I do want to strike a nice balance between TS and VOIP. I do need you're help though.

I did talk a little about it after the scrim but opinion varied somewhat so... Damn I've repeated myself too much.

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MDFubar

I think that in an organized, competitive scrim it can be very helpful. In a regular daily server, it can be confusing for the SM's. Also, if somone is speaking on TS and an Sl is trying to give orders or recieve intel from an SM.....TS just negated that conversation completely for everyone on every squad. Basically crippled communication for a couple of seconds, which could be vital. Just my drunken, tired, opinion...

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sgt.rob

maybe i am mistaken here, but on TS your entire team can hear you whereas voip its your squad. now this doesnt seem like much of a question to me. voip commands get the info to your squad the people who need to hear it. using TS would interfere with other squad communication. the CO could, and may well should, use TS because he needs to give orders to everyone and broadcast an overall report on the battlefield. thats just my thought on it.

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and your very flesh shall be a great poem
w.whitman

Specterr

In my opinion it's probably better to keep the commanding off TS and use the in game VOIP to communicate with SL's only, I agree with Fubar that TS does cripple communication.

There are two types of communication (well three if you count the batnet), "ground talk" (for a lack of a better word) ie...enemies spotted left, or I need help over here, or Reaper just knifed me...again, which generally needs an instant response to be effective. The other is tactical talk, which is what commanders should be doing, ie. defend here, move here, attack here. If your the commander and talking over TS your pretty much blocking all "ground talk" for every player on your team, while if you use the VOIP you just block it for under half a dozen SL's.

Anyways, my 0.02

Reaperassault

in scrims TS is for essential CO -> all SLs or SL -> SL communication in my opinion

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sc1ence

If we are talking a scrim here then TS should be used for SL to SL coms and CO to entire TEAM coms.

The CO should keep those TS coms to a min and communicate with SLs via the in game VOIP as often as possible.


If this is a regular game, TS should not be used for tactical reasons during game.

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jazy2

^ Thats my take on it ^

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INTEL the newest political party.....Keep the IDS's up.....open your Battlefield eyes!

twiddilywink

Well, i dont know much about teamspeak since i just got it yesterday, but i noticed that it is hard to use it for squad talk since first; u dont know who is talking, second; it doesn't quiet the ingame stuff; and third; too many people can use it and it might have to do nothing with your squad. But i was in an event last night and i noticed the commander used it a lot and i thought that was appropriate when talking to a whole squad, but if you are just telling people where to go and it isn't like "GET THERE NOW!!! THERE ARE WALKERS AND TANKS AND A FLYING SQUIRELL" So basically if it is somewhat like necessary, commanding on ts is good, but commanding and using seems okay... ut most of the time the SL are the only one who needs to know and they can then communicate back to there squad.

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|TG-Irr| Twiddilywink

Zhohar

Of course, CO TS should only be utilized during events and scrims.

Last night, I loved the info you were giving us. As an SL, I found it useful.
At the same time, I found it very distracting -- I was listening to you, my SMs, and responding to the situation on the ground. You were constantly talking and it was extremely difficult to process all of that info at once.

I don't have a clear piece of advice to give -- I found it useful to hear the info but it was hard to actually play the game because I was bombarded with info from all sides.

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Pfft, how can you call it suicidal if we lived through it?

MDFubar

Zhohar, you must drink more to understand the incoming voices better......Oh what? Oh, Those voices are already in my head!!

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Damonte

Please tell the voices to go home. Damonte is feeling lonely.

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MDFubar

Lmao!!

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SharinganTH1422

Whenever I used to play, I hardly went on TS during normal games, because I get really bad lag and FPS due to a bad computer, and also, i found out that my Internet speed is bordering on dial-up, which is OK for surfing, but not great for keeping a steady FPS in games. Extra programmes like TS/XFire just slow things down further. However, I also keep it closed for another reason.

Every time I play in a scrim, at the beginning where the instructions are being given out by your SL over VoIP once you've set up your squads, there can be occasional snatches of chatter here and there on TS, which completely blocks out the SL's words. Then the chatter dies down and your SL says, "so that's the plan, it's a little complicated, but just do your best," and you're wondering what you could have done in your past life to deserve such a cruel twist of fate.

Basically, like some have said before me, TS just overrides any other communication trying to occur at that point. However, I agree with twiddilywink in the fact that if there is a huge problem, like you spot a squad on a back flag or something like that, and you don't have time to choose the squad you need, just blurt it out onto TS, and the closest squad to that can take the initiative to turn around. By first saying it on TS, you're letting everyone know something very important, then you can see which squad is closest and tell them to go there ASAP, but that first time you say it, gets everyone on their toes, and the squad that'll be turning back probably already know who they are. Also, apart from very rare pieces of information, most things that a CO would like to say should be quite squad specific. There's a squad making a break to the East, tell the Eastern most squad. A tank is making it's way to a flag, tell the squad closest to the flag. You shouldn't necessarily have to tell everyone at the same time more than they can already see on their HUD (tickets, flags, UAVs and Spotted by CO).

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Anger is a gift - Malcolm X

ZWood15

I agree with this. Its nice to be able to ask a guy from another squad to drop an ammo box over TS if he is standing right next to you instead of hitting the "need ammo" commo rose and hoping he notices you....

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|TG-9th|ZWood15
"By Any Means"