sc1ence

One of the hallmarks of a veteran player is their ability to efficiently communicate a Situation Report or sitrep. A critical part of the sitrep is the location of various targets and objectives. It is fairly standard to use the direction of North South East and West along with a landmark to indicate the location of targets and objectives.

For example, you may hear a contact report like: "2 infantry on the hill to the west of the CP" over VOIP. Capping the CP could depend on you quickly using this valuable info to your advantage. The other side of this coin is that with the right practice, you can communicate positions quickly and clearly too. Having this skill makes you a much better player.

What you need to do first is orient yourself.

To do this, you need to:

1. Make sure you stop your minimap from rotating in the options:



2. Use a compass to indicate direction. The direction of anything can be given relative to a point on the map using the points on a compass. The reference point at the center of the compass is usually the fireteam but it can also be a prominent structure like a monument, rock outcropping or building. Make a mental note of the compass as there is no in game compass.


3. You have to commit the above compass to memory. Now, apply those compass points to the in game minimap. Place a mental image of the compass star over your minimap icon or reference point. Here I spawn in facing south. Off to the west is the frontline.

Note, that the top of the spawn selection screen does not always match up to the in game minimap. Aways use the in game minimap.

4. Practice giving and receiving contact reports under live fire. If you screw up, don't worry about it. I would rather have someone try and fail than see my squad wiped or hear "look out" over VOIP and see my entire squad break rank and dive for cover. A good way to practice is to make mental contact reports till you get used to doing it quickly.
Common usage:
"enemy sniper way out on that hill to the north east."
"enemy APC coming in to our base from the west"
"enemy squad just up to our north moving east!"
"We are going to bound north, then cut west along that riverbed till we get to the CP."
"sc1ence on CP, covering west!"

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dromedary32

I've read elsewhere that, for Xbox 360, turning off "minimap rotation" doesn't work quite right cause it locks the mini-map in a random orientation instead of the normal "north is at top" orientation.

Next time I get in FFoW, I'll check that out and post back if that is indeed true on Xbox 360.

chairlord

This would explain why I'm finding this difficult. Maybe I'm just an idiot but it always ends up sounding like this.

"We've got two enemy snipers to the, er, hang on, the west, yeah the west up on the top of that building the one with the.... oh poop I'm dead"

dromedary32

I tested this on Xbox 360, and it works correctly! -- turn off minimap rotation and it will always orient minimap so north is at top (to match the full map view) -- but only in multiplayer.

If you are in singleplayer it does not (instead, it orients it so you are always advancing from bottom to top, irregardless of how full map view is oriented) - really annoying.