Question about Commanding (Part 2)

[imported_Zach]

First, yes, I checked that awesome Guide to the Commander Mode (Basic) thread, but the questions I have aren't covered there.


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Okay, I have started playing Commander for the first time a few days ago, and I have been having great fun. I do have a couple of more questions about the interface though.

First, what do those green check marks and red X's mean? (And often times the box is blank altogether.) Here's what I am referring to:





I don't have a SS, but like I stated above, there can also be a red X there, too.


Second, is there any way to unselect all squads?


Third, often I have had SL's talk to me (via VOIP) asking for something ("give me a supply drop," "scan the area in front of us," etc.), but sometimes none of the VOIP icons light up, so I have no idea who is asking for it. Does this happen to anyone else? (And with all the chatter on the battlefield ["enemy spotted," "Ammo! Here!," etc., I can't tell by flashing icons there either.)


Fourth, and maybe this is related to my first question, is there anyway to tell in the squad list (shown in pics above) who has asked for orders? I have noticed that their minimap icons will show an exclamation point, but often a number of SL's are grouped together and their icons overlap, so it's sometimes hard to tell on the battle screen.

[Desertfox]

Re: Question about Commanding (Part 2)

When you give a squad a order and he accepts it the green check comes up if he declines it the red X

[davelisowski]

Re: Question about Commanding (Part 2)

2. As far as I know, one squad will always be selected. I've never tried unselecting all of them though.

3. When they talk to you, the VoIP icon (the little speaker in your second pic, under the circle) will light up. AFAIK, the icon on the map does not light up. (I rarely get people using VoIP even though I do all the time). If a squad asks for something via the comm. rose, then it will automatically select that squad. i.e. Squad 5 says, "Requesting vehicle drop," and the box goes around squad 5 on the left.

4. You will get the ! in the box where you get the `/ (check), and the X.

I hope this helps. I can reaffirm/edit once I command again. I haven't really paid attention to this because there is a lot of other stuff going on while commanding. I'll let you know if no one else does.

:edit: Not to brag, but to add some credibility to my statements. I have 19.5 hrs commanding and 2479 command points (thank you good teams!). That's 127.128 pts/hr. Great way to advance in rank if you can't/don't vehicle-whore. I get about 70 pts/hr otherwise.

[imported_Zach]

Re: Question about Commanding (Part 2)

3. When they talk to you, the VoIP icon (the little speaker in your second pic, under the circle) will light up.

Well, yeah, I know, but like I said, it's not lighting up sometimes--actually, most of the time--and I was just wondering if this was normal BF2 glitchiness or patch 1.3 glitchiness. (I've never been commander pre-v.1.3.)

About the check marks and other stuff, thanks guys! I've been mainly playing hands-off for the most part in terms of letting the SL's do their own thing, so I haven't given enough explicit orders to see the pattern.


The other thing that is annoying me so far is artillery. Every other commander I have seen always manages to take out 5-8 people at a time, while I'm lucky if one guy dies. (And yes, I'm talking obvious strikes where there are dozens of enemy remaining relatively stationary defending a flag or something.) My bad luck in that regard is really irritating me.

[Revoluti0n]

Re: Question about Commanding (Part 2)

The other thing that is annoying me so far is artillery. Every other commander I have seen always manages to take out 5-8 people at a time, while I'm lucky if one guy dies. (And yes, I'm talking obvious strikes where there are dozens of enemy remaining relatively stationary defending a flag or something.) My bad luck in that regard is really irritating me.

I agree I've seen a commander wipe out half a dozen people with each arty strike in the 64 player Operation Clean Sweep. What I try and do is watch the general direction tha the herd is moving in. For example, from the time you place arty on a location, it's about 15 or so seconds until it falls. The best this to do is lead the herd a little bit. Based on the direction and speed that they are moving place the arty where they will be in about 10-15 seconds from that moment. It's timing above all else and a bit of luck.

[imported_Zach]

Re: Question about Commanding (Part 2)

The best this to do is lead the herd a little bit.

Actually, it seems one needs to lead the herd a lot, not a little. But alas, that kind of precision will come with experience. No, I'm talking about literal stationary targets.

For instance, I was the MEC commander on Karkand, and both rounds turned into the East vs. West battle at the train wreck, where the US had its side completely and we had ours. The entire US force (all 31 of them) was there, whereas my entire team was on the other side. Both teams were evenly spaced along the water, most being snipers I guess, but when he used artillery, he managed to take everyone out. When I did the same thing to his troops, maybe one or two died. Over and over again it was like this. It irritated me no end.

[barz26]

Re: Question about Commanding (Part 2)

Actually, it seems one needs to lead the herd a lot, not a little. But alas, that kind of precision will come with experience. No, I'm talking about literal stationary targets.

For instance, I was the MEC commander on Karkand, and both rounds turned into the East vs. West battle at the train wreck, where the US had its side completely and we had ours. The entire US force (all 31 of them) was there, whereas my entire team was on the other side. Both teams were evenly spaced along the water, most being snipers I guess, but when he used artillery, he managed to take everyone out. When I did the same thing to his troops, maybe one or two died. Over and over again it was like this. It irritated me no end.

Best way to drop artillery here is just behind their troops that way they cannot retreat but have to run forwards to escape the artillery and your team is in front shooting at them

[imported_Zach]

Re: Question about Commanding (Part 2)

Best way to drop artillery here is just behind their troops that way they cannot retreat but have to run forwards to escape the artillery and your team is in front shooting at them

Hey, that's a good tip! Thanks!

[zhpkiller]

Re: Question about Commanding (Part 2)

Remember, artillery doesn't always land dead center. Instead, it kind of blast a radius around your crosshair.

If I see a lot of USMC at the train wreck, what I do is place the artillery on the fence to the west of the train tracks. Then it hits both the space between the fence/train (lots of ppl there), and also hit some of the guys coming from the spawn point, while not really wasting any artillery on the actual fence.

If you place your artillery right in the space between the fence and train, 66% of your shots will be hitting the train or the fence, which is pretty useless.

Think of it as a donut, and place your targets where the donut meat is.

[TrenchDigger]

Re: Question about Commanding (Part 2)

using the zoom function before dropping artillery will help immensely with hitting your target. With the zoom function you can pinpoint the artillery drop to an almost exact location. Very handy for removing clusters of people and vehicles when friendly's are near. Also using the zoom function will allow you to see building tops. Don't know how many commanders i have ssen drop artillery on a building cause they saw red dots and did not zoom in to actually see what was going on. Try it sometime. Zoom FTW.

[Jlspence]

Re: Question about Commanding (Part 2)

Best way to drop artillery here is just behind their troops that way they cannot retreat but have to run forwards to escape the artillery and your team is in front shooting at them

This is exactly right for standoff situations. The advantage the USMC on Karkand at the Train Accident is they can clearly hear when the MEC arty is firing. Many know to retreat. What I do as commander in these standoff situations is watch in zoom mode where most of the USMC troops go when I fire the first arty strike. On the subsequent arty strike, I put it where most of them ran too.

In general for arty strikes, place them using the full 3X zoom mode. Also, as others have said, one must place the arty strike where you believe the enemy will be in 12-15 seconds given their current location and rate of travel, not where they currently are. Finally, arty strikes in open areas are more effective than in areas with lots of buildings around as the splash damage is more effective. That's why arty strikes placed around the Hotel flag often will not result in mass kills even though lots of enemy show up there.

#2, No, I know of no way to deselect all squads. You can use Ctrl key to select all squads or multiple squads though.

#3 - Yes, happens to me all the time.

#4 - If a SL asks for new orders the yellow exclamation point will flash in the same box as the red X or green check mark.