Thought we could do with a thread where we could pool together Commander tactics and tips. Maybe then a few more people would be willing to step up to the commander position when times are tough.

- Get Speedy With Your Zooming

Being able to zoom in and out of a particular area at a moments notice is essential to maintaining a clear picture of the battlefield.

 

- Keep your Ears Open

The commander, more so than anyone else on the team, needs to keep one ear on the spotted commands from your troops. Keep it in mind especially when your zoomed in to the max on a certain part of the map. You'll find this especially useful if you've got air assets that you need to set demo markers for. Listening to troop calls is ALOT easier than scouring the entire map for armour. Also, squad leaders will appreciate it if you can inform them that the single enemy they just spotted was a scout for a larger force coming up from behind.

 

- Know your Team

Take some time at the start of the round to check who's leading each squad. Generally I find that squad leaders remember their names better than they remember the number of the squad they're leading.

 

- Talk Direct

Holding 'V' as commander is general chat, it goes to all of your squad leaders. When directing a Squad, always talk to the squad leader using 'B' ie, click on the squad on the left side of the commander screen, hold 'B' to talk to that squad leader only. It helps to cut down on confusion.

 

- One Eye On The Prize

Learn to skim the messages that come up on the left corner of your screen. They're colour coded for ease of use. Yellow commands are the ones to watch out for most. They're requests for arty and the like.

 

-Ever Played An RTS? Come on Down!

Your a commander. You can see everything and usually can have some kind of communication with anyone on your side. Take note of what squads have what kits in them (you can tell from the icons in the squad part of the commander screen). Don't be afraid to tell Squad 2's sniper to go overwatch on top of a particular building. Tell Squad 3 to get their tank up to cover squad 4. Not everyone's going to listen but the ones who do will love you for it.

 

-Assignments

-On larger maps where air assets are available, make good use of them. In my experience the most effective use of attack choppers is to have a squad leader as pilot and to use them for presicion strikes on armoured targets. Lay down Demo markers for them and they'll have a ball. The only problem there is usually finding the tanks for them to destroy. Ideally you'd have your other squads spotting them for you. Keep in mind though, if you haven't got a marker down, your planes and choppers should NOT be near them frontlines. Have them wait at the airfield. Ever played C&C? Do you let your orcas sit around on the battlefield after they've destroyed something? I hope not.

 

-On a map like Kashan - when it becomes available - make good use of the scout Little bird. He's no longer any good as a makeshift transport now that squad leaders can't deploy rally's on their own. Stick a squad leader in the passenger seat and get his pilot to run patrols a couple of clicks around your main force. Provided he doesn't get shot down by an AA vehicle it then halves your job as commander as he can relay armour positions for you to assign to your attack choppers/bomber planes. It would also be handy if he could call arty down for you, but I haven't tested this as of yet.

 

-Tell your tanks where to face. If there's an enemy tank bearing down on your own armour, tell them from which direction. They'd appreciate being able to spin their front armour towards them.

 

-please add

Come next version, commanders won't be able to use their super satellite zoom to spy on the enemy.

Come next version' date=' commanders won't be able to use their super satellite zoom to spy on the enemy.[/quote']

 

True and it will be missed...by me anyway.

 

On the plus side they will be able to build command bunkers

or order it...something like that.

 

I find commanding in PR is super frustrating cos its not easy to convey info, with out the "enemy spotted" click...u just cant really do much, u can see it all happening, just cant do anything about it.

You're not really there to micro manage squads, unless they request you find out what direction they're coming from. You're there to keep the overall rhythm of the battle flowing correctly (Squad 1 cap this, Squad 2 defend, Squad 1 move up now, etc).

 

This doesn't apply to high priority targets like tanks, APC's, rally points or Lucid_Nightmare, which can be called out to the nearest squad when spotted.

doesn't apply to high priority targets like tanks, APC's, rally points or Lucid_Nightmare, which can be called out to the nearest squad when spotted.

 

"or lucid...." lol

Nothing is more frustrating than having a "death squad" chase you round the entire map with landmines and heavy AT.

**shudder**

Remember that not every squad leader wants you putting 'ATTACK' markers on what you want them to attack I know myself I want commanders to mark significant things out. Like the route a enemy is advancing, his rally points and of course armour and things of that like and kind I don't want a commander telling me where to go and what to defend. Thats what the AAS in the top left hand side of the screen is for and the commander can assign troops to attack defence without interfering with my own attack/destroy markers that are been used to spot things of significance to my squad.

 

ALSO THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER

 

When talking to a INDIVIDUAL squad leader you DO NOT USE THE COMMANDER VOIP you select his/her squad and you use your normal SQUAD VOIP this talking directly to him not all squad leaders. The commander channel which talk's to all leaders is used for announcements that are important artillery is ready or the enemy tank's are leaving his main base , things everyone needs to know not that squad 1 has enemy's to his north which just confuses the other 3 squad leaders.

Yup, I dislike getting direct attack orders on flags. I always decline them and tell the commander that I'm using my markers. (Which 90% of the time I am)

Too many SLs do not follow orders when you have given them for very good reasons. New players, mostly.

 

The scroll mouse middle button thing zooms the commander's view map in and out.

I think targets do need to be set by commander initially so each squad knows what they are doing. I have seen very few squads follow these orders well, though I haven't commanded in a while, but i know SL use the excuse that the commander didn't give me an order so I'll make my own.

 

I think there needs to be 2 marker systems, the current one for spotting things to destroy, bridges, tanks etc and putting down mines and the SL being able to put don't areas of travel and way points. But the commander also need a attack designation and i think it would be helpful if all squad leaders could see these so, for instance, as a squad leader i know the commander has given an order for a squad to stay and defend and then i feel more comfortable as a SL moving to the next flag. Or at the start of the map knowing which flag to move to first so 3 squads dont all go for the same falg while the other is empty.

 

Also, I know this will change come patch time but, commander must use the satelite view to confirm an arty strike is worth while. Was playing on 2 occasions the other night on EJOD desert where one commander just put down arty when ever it is called, whether there were enemy targets or not, as well as on his own men.

 

As a SL, you can't always hit your mark first go, even a little tree can throw it off or you are just so far away you have to have a few geusses first before getting a decent target. No enemy, then refuse arty strike and ask for another.

 

The second commander was doing this and it allowed me to continually spot positions from great distances. I got stuck respawning at the main on EJOD with MEC and was able to spot West City for arty because the enemy was taking the flag. It took me 5 atempts until i got one dead on, using SOFLAM, it still wasn't easy. And then it rained Arty. Well done commander.

I decided to go commander reluctantly on Ejod last night at photo's request and had a stressful but also rewarding time.

 

This is probably a stupid question (just like my "how do I zoom without the mouse?") but is there a way to bring up the names of the SLs other than zooming in on them? Its not critical but it is preferable to saying "squad 1" etc.

 

The zoom question was necessary because once someone calls for arty or supplies all you can do with your mouse is accept or decline. This has caused me problems in the past due to poor arty placement.

 

The most frustrating part of commanding last night was getting a certain SL to identify his squad number. I had 5 squads to deal with (1 or 2 of whom I recognised by voice) and I told him repeatedly to identify his squad number without success. This person seems to be both arrogant and dense.

 

P.S. Will anyone actually want to be commander come 0.6 without the god view? Inacurate Arty calls and mundane building tasks sound about as fun as trying to kill someone with the m16

I will be interested in having a go, but like now it all depends on how well people follow orders, your commander should be running the whole show and he can look at the game in a broader sense and antisipate enemy movements.

 

If squads want to do there own thing then the commander is useless. I think this was the problem for 0.5 that will hopefully be fixed in 0.6 and people use it properly. Id hate to think that 0.7 would mean that when a commander gave an order that your had 5mins to reach that objective or be killed.

 

I do this to some extent as a SL but it should be the commander. I try and commander as SL typing in game but its hard for other SL to acknowledge the communication. It would be good if the SL could use the commander channel to talk to each other when there is no commander, at least see each others markers.

I can barely coordinate my squad I don't want to even think of being Ccommander XD

I think that commanders should put markers down, he see the flow of battle better than the SL and he's telling you to hit it for a reason. Even if it is which route is best he might have a plan and not the time to explain it to you so disregarding his orders is the same as one of your squaddies not listening to you.

 

It's too bad you can't kick a SL.

Sounds as though the Commander in V.06 will be relaying information from one squad to the rest rather than dictating the battle, shame as I like to micro manage!

Come next version, I will be hitting up commander like no other. This game will be my RTS and you will all be my minions! Mwahahaha.

 

Also, something that makes things easier for the commander, when you want supplies or arty and you have called it in and are awaiting aproval, just give a shout to the commander so he knows it's been called. Something like "arty/supplies up."

This is probably a stupid question (just like my "how do I zoom without the mouse?") but is there a way to bring up the names of the SLs other than zooming in on them? Its not critical but it is preferable to saying "squad 1" etc.

 

The easiest way I find is to switch to the TAB screen and check the squads.

Unfortunately that doesn't help, as the Squad Leaders are not displayed at the top of the list in the Tab menu. Zooming in is the only way I know of when commander.

Hit enter to get to the kit/spawn selection screen, then click the squad tab that will show you who is in what squad. This is invaluable when trying to figure out if any squads are being led by vets that will most likely follow your orders.

Ah sweet, never thought of doing that. Cheers Wolf.

Hit enter to get to the kit/spawn selection screen, then click the squad tab that will show you who is in what squad. This is invaluable when trying to figure out if any squads are being led by vets that will most likely follow your orders.

 

Knew there was a way I used to do it. Haven't been playing much lately. Got me a new WACOM and am lovin it.