Ok, I've batted this one through the admin team and it has met with some positive response, so I'd like to put it forward here. It is essential to realise that this is not a rule, and will not be enforced, but hopefully enough people will like it that it will become a standard on the servers - assuming that it works that is. Consider you all as the playtesters for this idea.

BF2 has a really nice command structure. You join a squad and follow the squad leader's orders. You make a squad and order your squad leaders and follow the commander orders. YYou step up to commander, and you are in charge of the whole battle. RO doesn't have this, and in fact it wouldn't really work. If your SL got shot you could be isolated, so a strict squad set would likely make your orders less likely to work as people worried more about regrouping all the time than getting on and fighting tactically. But how do they do this in real life? The same situations are apparent - people don't respawn as a squad, and if you lose a leader someone else has to step up. If a couple guys join up with another group how do they know who is in charge. Well it's simple, the guy with the highest rank is in charge.

That's right - we need ranks.


Ranks can be easily set as a prefix into your name. This can be changed in game, and in under 10 seconds (so if you jumped into the top spot or if you no longer fancied being a leader and wanted to be a follower it can be a very quick thing to alter). Simply hit escape to bring up the selection screen, and choose the options to configure the game. From this menu select to alter the game settings. You should see your name at the top. Simply edit this, and hit back to get back into the game. Simple.

I am proposing that we use a 4-tier rank system.

Pvt.
Private - if you have no desire to lead in any fashion this is the rank for you. You play tactically by undertaking the orders that are given to you.

Cpl.
Corporal - you have little interest in leading, but if you are in a group of privates then you would step up to the job.

Sgt.
Sergeant - you have an interest in leading small squads, which will almost always involve co-ordinating a defence or attack on the ground. This is also the rank to be tank commander. May also end up in overall command occasionally.

Lt.
Lieuftenant - you wish to be in overall command of the team.


putting a . between the rank and your name will also help to separate it, thus:
Pvt.Wulfyn
Cpl.Wulfyn
Sgt.Wulfyn
Lt.Wulfyn


So I would like to test the possibility of this working, and use this thread for feedback. I would say that in order to give it a full test the following things should also be tested:

Follow the orders of someone of a higher rank than yourself. If you don't like it then up your own rank.
If you are the highest rank then please lead!
If you find yourself as the overall commander then please adjust your rank to Lt.
If you wish to be tank commander please adjust your rank to Sgt.
Have fun! Please don't boil this down to "I'm a Sgt so you have to do everything I say". This will require maturity for it to work.


If it doesn't work then it will be obvious as we'll spend a large amount of time just arguing. If it does work then we will have a nice command structure in place that can be used to organise and co-ordinate on the fly (which for me is an exciting prospect!)