What Type Of Commander Are You?

[parish]

Re: What Type Of Commander Are You?

There's more to it than just running a few assets and honoring a few requests. You are supposed to actively spot out enemy, especially when your uav isn't available. Plus, you should be strategizing which flags to take and issuing orders. In reality, if you're doing your job, you shouldn't leave the command console at all. There's just no time to do it unless you're defending yourself or your NEARBY assets. The only time it's okay to go active into the field is if no ones listening to your orders or to save your assetts quicker than supply drops can, or if you're down to one flag and everyones in one location.

I totally agree with you, except for the non-stop staring at the command screen. You do not need to do it.

As far as spotting goes... I have said several times in here that I spot constantly. Even when I don't have UAV, I am scanning. I am also zooming in on flags that no one is at to look for enemy troops.

On that note, it really sucks when you spot the bad guys and the teammates just drive away from the little red dots. Or they are in a vehicle and the litte red spec ops guy is walking up behind them and they are oblivious. I honestly think only half the guys really know how to use the HUD and minimap.

I cannot believe that I am the only one who thinks it's possible to be active on your team during battle and be the commander.

[Maxor127]

Re: What Type Of Commander Are You?

I have different strategies I use when commanding. On Karkand I usually go with commanding from a tank or APC and go into battle or take strategic spots. On larger maps, I tend to hide and scan since it's easier for fast vehicles to sneak by, but on Karkand it's pretty easy to be in the fight and still command. But now that I have expert commander and now realize War College is 3:1 wins and not 3:1 kills, I pretty much don't command anymore unless no one else is and we're getting owned. Expert Commander was actually the first expert badge I got.

[Shask]

Re: What Type Of Commander Are You?

IMO, if your commanding with over 16 players on your team, its worthwhile to just be a stationary commander. You are flying a blackhawk when you could be doing some vital spotting, giving orders, and essentially neglecting some commander duties.

[parish]

Re: What Type Of Commander Are You?

IMO, if your commanding with over 16 players on your team, its worthwhile to just be a stationary commander. You are flying a blackhawk when you could be doing some vital spotting, giving orders, and essentially neglecting some commander duties.

Already said I could fly the BH, giver orders, fire arty, spot, drop crates etc. etc. All while flying. I don't negelct anything. Maybe for some it's too much to do, but that is not the case with me.

[parish]

Re: What Type Of Commander Are You?

The War College Ribbon is indeed tough to get, but I am almost there. So I am making the effort to get it. I am @ 2.6 W/L ratio as of yesterday, but I only pay a few hours per week anymore so it's going to take a while. I have so far managed to get the expert command badge.

[Jofaba]

Re: What Type Of Commander Are You?

Simple fact that sums up why a commander shouldn't be active: A dead commander can't command. You need to be able to do your job as soon as it's necissary. If you're caught up in a firefight and someone calls out for a supply drop or the enemy is taking a base, you'll either have to ignore your commanding duties, or risk dying to fufill those duties, and thus not be able to fufill them at all for another 15+ seconds, which can make or break a flag, push the odds against your team, or lose the round.

That said, I've yet to see really good commanding occur all that often so ANYTHING is better than nothing. But if you're really going for a full Commander style, and trying to be the best for your team, stay still dammit! And keep an eye on the type chatter too, sometimes people can't get their requests out with simple command entries.

On a personal note: Whenever I'm spec ops, which is usually, and I go for the assets, I really wish the commander would pay attention to me. He has to know that I only have 5 c4's. But in order to destroy all the assetts I'm going to need 10+, which means a supply drop. As soon as he sees that I've destroyed an assett, or when I call for a supply drop, it SHOULD BE THERE. Sounds like I'm teed off about that but I'm not =P well, I am when it happens, but I'm used to it now. Easier and faster to kill a few spawners and then suicide or steal a vehicle and look for a supply drop or ammo guy.

What's that you say? Killing spawners? Damn straight. I don't camp, but I'll definately take out as many people as I can that are heading towards planes, helis or AA which might put my team in danger in the near future.

But alas... Karma... =P

[Eternal-Souljah]

Re: What Type Of Commander Are You?

When im commander im mostly on the commander screen and actually commanding my team, but sometimes I hop in a buggy or humvee and go to a flag point thats not being captured, and capture it, say if my team are no where near it and are battling it out elsewhere, then I would do that, also if I do a scan and theres a sniper near me then I will go execute.

[Shask]

Re: What Type Of Commander Are You?

Already said I could fly the BH, giver orders, fire arty, spot, drop crates etc. etc. All while flying. I don't negelct anything. Maybe for some it's too much to do, but that is not the case with me.

So you can fly, whilst effecitvely spotting, giving effective orders, thinking about where to place UAV, supplies in exact positions, spot multiple enemies, scan map for threats to flags, and artillery positions relative to the enemies position and the time it takes them to arrive there? If you can, I praise you. But the key word here is effectiveness, sure, you can place a uav in a general place, but I can say that your actions are not thought about, and rushed. Though if all you say is true, then I praise you again, as it is putting a lot more effort into your commander position than, admittedly, I would.
All in all, your putting a lot of effort into multi tasking as commander, which is a disadvantage to you anyway. Quote from Jofaba :

A dead commander can't command.

[parish]

Re: What Type Of Commander Are You?

So you can fly, whilst effecitvely spotting, giving effective orders, thinking about where to place UAV, supplies in exact positions, spot multiple enemies, scan map for threats to flags, and artillery positions relative to the enemies position and the time it takes them to arrive there? If you can, I praise you. But the key word here is effectiveness, sure, you can place a uav in a general place, but I can say that your actions are not thought about, and rushed. Though if all you say is true, then I praise you again, as it is putting a lot more effort into your commander position than, admittedly, I would.
All in all, your putting a lot of effort into multi tasking as commander, which is a disadvantage to you anyway. Quote from Jofaba :

Effectiveness is subjective. What one person thinks is perfect is a nightmare for someone else. I am by no means a great commander. I am a good one. I would like to think I am not random in my actions. I drop crates by large groups of my troops without them asking. I drop crates by vehicles that are about to be engaged by another vehicle when I can.

I scan, spot and then drop arty on a flag if I see a bad guy there and none of my teammates are in the area, all the while telling them to defend that flag.

I check to see if any of my guys vehicles are smoking/throwing sparks and repair them as an engy if I am nearby. I will even go out of my way to repair them even if kit means moving into the open.

A dead commander is a very bad thing indeed. Am I bulletproof? Not even close. Do I die a lot? No I don't. I give as good as I get.
get and more often than not, I come out on top.

I am really enjoying this conversation. Thanks for the replies guys. It's nice to see what some think are good traits v.s bad.

[parish]

Re: What Type Of Commander Are You?

When im commander im mostly on the commander screen and actually commanding my team...

So are you implying I don't "actually" command my team?

Just to clarify the point. I don't fly that much as commander. I never fly a jet or attack chopper while commanding. I only fly transport choppers and only do it if I think it will help. I am usually earth bound and under cover. I was just using that as an example of what I have done and think I am capable of doing while commanding.

Honestly, one of my favorite things is to be Spec Ops. C4 the flag I am at and go hide somewhere. BH flies in to take MY flag and boom. 5 guys die.


This was all simply to start the conversation and get some ideas of what others think makes a good commander. You would be surprised how many player don't ask for arty or anything else for that matter. You're left trying to figure out who needs what.

[govedob]

Re: What Type Of Commander Are You?

Yesterday I played with the commander that didn't move from his hiding post during the whole round. We lost all the flags and everybody got killed and he still wouldn't move to cap a flag. The funny thing is, he wasn't idle, he was constantly calling artillery even when we lost all the flags. Most of the time he was missing. We lost of course, he ended up with around 30 points vs my 81 gold. If it wasn't for him I would've had more than 100.

[pYura]

Re: What Type Of Commander Are You?

Jofaba, you realy didnt get the point did ya? -.- I'm talking about servers not with 64/64 players 9999 squads etc. Of corse if there so many players it takes all your time to command them hiding somewhere. I prefer playing on at most 40ppl server thats at most 20 ppl in your team and about half of them in squads... so you have plenty of time to kill so why not kick some ass?! So dont you ever dare to lame me again. Thank you.

[govedob]

Re: What Type Of Commander Are You?

Simple fact that sums up why a commander shouldn't be active: A dead commander can't command. You need to be able to do your job as soon as it's necissary. If you're caught up in a firefight and someone calls out for a supply drop or the enemy is taking a base, you'll either have to ignore your commanding duties, or risk dying to fufill those duties, and thus not be able to fufill them at all for another 15+ seconds, which can make or break a flag, push the odds against your team, or lose the round.

That said, I've yet to see really good commanding occur all that often so ANYTHING is better than nothing. But if you're really going for a full Commander style, and trying to be the best for your team, stay still dammit! And keep an eye on the type chatter too, sometimes people can't get their requests out with simple command entries.

On a personal note: Whenever I'm spec ops, which is usually, and I go for the assets, I really wish the commander would pay attention to me. He has to know that I only have 5 c4's. But in order to destroy all the assetts I'm going to need 10+, which means a supply drop. As soon as he sees that I've destroyed an assett, or when I call for a supply drop, it SHOULD BE THERE. Sounds like I'm teed off about that but I'm not =P well, I am when it happens, but I'm used to it now. Easier and faster to kill a few spawners and then suicide or steal a vehicle and look for a supply drop or ammo guy.

What's that you say? Killing spawners? Damn straight. I don't camp, but I'll definately take out as many people as I can that are heading towards planes, helis or AA which might put my team in danger in the near future.

But alas... Karma... =P

You are right, what makes a commander a good commander is the ability to listen to the team's requests for supply drops and UAV and grant them ASAP when they reload.

[18Zulukiller]

Re: What Type Of Commander Are You?

Imo i personally think your going to do a half arsed job if your running around on the battlefield if your a commander unless its a very small server 20 man or less . For me there's a lot more to commanding than just constantly sending a UAV, artillery and supply crates. In fact i try to use the commanders assets as sparingly as possible except for the UAV there's only like 5 seconds from the end of a UAV to the next being fully charged that thing gets used 24/7 in what i consider to be the best tactical position. Ill give you an example i try to get into the mindset of the enemy and predict were there going to go and what there trying to achieve. And ill counter them by sending squads or artillery ahead of them. Now to get into the mindset of the enemy you need two things Number one and most importantly experience of the map as a normal unit and vehicle unit. Number two you need to be watching the enemy constantly to see what there up to everyone has a different playing style so you need to spend time watching them to figure them out . On mashurate city on the MEC team i have taken loads of BH out by figuring out there movements and sending artillery ahead of them .

[imported_John-Paul]

Re: What Type Of Commander Are You?

I'm very much a full-time Commander. Even then, I find there's no upper limit to how much you can contribute to the team. I never leave the Commander screen (except in dire emergencies), I keep the UAVs coming non-stop, scan constantly, spot relevant enemy positions and constantly study the movements of both my team and the enemy.

Also, I aim to provide Supply Drops (and other help) within a fraction of a second of the request. I like to imagine the player thinking, "Crikey! That was FAST!" and whenever possible, I provide Supply Drops to our armour and attacking troops because I know what a huge difference it can make when you're being assailed by the enemy (especially when you're in a tank).

Another thing I do is read all the text chatter and constantly communicate with Squad Leaders. I implore team members to form squads wherever I can see it would help and I advise the team on which enemy bases are undefended and which are going to require work ... I literally work non-stop to orchestrate a decisive victory.

I agree that you can probably get away with doing it half-assed on a near-empty server but anyone who claims they're an effective front-line Commander capable of both commanding and playing on the front line doesn't fully appreciate the power of the role, nor the true influence they're capable of having.

Truly, there's no upper limit to how much good the Commander can do for the team. The less time you spend in the Command screen and carefully studying the game, the less useful you're going to be.