Tips on playing Commander.

[Rabid Penguin]

I just thought I'd post some hints/tips for playing as Commander, most of which I've learned from experience, some of which is common sense. Hopefully it helps people who want to give it a go but find the role a bit daunting.

Know the maps.
Study the maps from both teams’ perspectives. Know the strong and weak points of each objective, and where the enemy will attack from/set up strongpoints. Know how you can use the terrain to your advantage and how the enemy can do the same. Know where it is possible to make surprise flank/rear attacks. Know the most likely avenues of approach to the objectives, and know where the bottlenecks are.

Maintain constant situational awareness.
You also fill the role of your team’s intelligence officer; part of your job is to fully understand exactly how the battle is unfolding at all times.

Call Aerial Recon whenever it’s available, and if possible stay at the radio until the flyover is finished. Tell your team when you’re calling Recon and remind them to check their maps. Advise your team where the enemy is concentrated, whether they are attempting any flanking manoeuvres, which objectives seem about to be attacked in force, or are the most strongly defended, or if there are any snipers out on the flanks at the edge of the map to be aware of.

If the map doesn’t have Recon, keep an ear on the team chatter, frequently ask for updates, and keep moving around the battlefield to get an idea of how every part of the battle is progressing.
Pay attention to the Objective Status Icons – only the Commander can see these. Inform your team if one of your objectives is falling, or if your capture of an objective has stalled, as people outside of the cap zone may not be aware.

If you notice enemy recon up, tell your team it’s not yours and remind them to get out of view or move positions.

Use Fire Support Wisely
Does the situation call for a quick, localised strike (mortars), a heavy, lasting barrage (artillery), or an all out suckerpunch (rockets)? Learn how each strike is most useful.

If possible, always use recon before calling fire support, to ensure it will be used most effectively. Tell your squad leaders exactly where you want them to mark targets.

Don’t waste it. There’s no point hitting an enemy objective with rockets if your team isn’t in position to attack immediately, or if they’re already taking it. If you’re successfully defending an objective, there may be no point calling fire support – you may be better saving it for when you start being overrun.

Use Smoke Wisely
Throw it where it will be effective, don’t just toss it randomly in the direction of the enemy. Smoke should blind the enemy, not your own team.

Use Force Respawn Wisely
Don't waste it, it can literally save your a***. Never use it just on yourself. As a general rule, I use Force Respawn when more than 1/4 of my team has more than 10 seconds to spawn, unless it's an emergency and we need every person in the fight now, such as if our last cap is being taken.

Don’t become just another Assault or Elite Rifleman
Your ability to call Recon and Fire Support is of much greater use to your team than your weapon. By all means, get in the front lines and get stuck into the enemy when you have no recon or fire support available, but remember to keep an eye on the cooldown timers and move back to a radio when necessary. If it’s going to be a long trek to a radio, it may not even be worth leaving the radio between calls.

Coordinate your team
Provide direction and leadership to your team. Sure, not everyone will listen, but in my experience, most players will, especially if your orders make sense. Set strategies and give orders based on information gained from recon or your team as mentioned above, tell your team which objectives need to be reinforced and which objectives to attack, and when. When you have multiple objectives open at once, specify which is the priority. Specify which Squads should attack/defend which objectives so everyone knows where they should be.

Coordinate your attacks so your team assaults as a unit as soon as the fire support is done, and there is plenty of smoke when and where it is needed. Organise your defences so that all entries to a cap zone are covered.

Avoid micromanaging
Usually, most people on your team will be fairly experienced and competent, and not need to be given specific instructions. Feel free to let your team do their jobs without too much interference or superfluous orders. Don’t give orders for the sake of giving orders, and don’t try to fill the role of both Commander and Squad Leader (unless your SL’s are complete noobs, then you have no choice).

Don’t be a dictator
If people don’t follow your orders, don’t let it bother you. Don’t yell and scream and TK them to “teach them a lesson.” That sort of behaviour just completely undermines any authority you may have had and will cause your whole team to ignore you.

Be Fluid
Be willing and able to recognise when you need to change tactics. If your strategy isn't working, try a new one. Respond to the situation moment-by-moment as it changes.

Encourage your team
Constantly give positive feedback to your team. Always give praise when you successfully capture or defend an objective. Let your team know when they’re doing well, but also reassure your team when things don’t go well, such as losing an objective or getting behind in reinforcements. Motivate your team and help keep their morale up (the real morale, not the fake game morale).

[Kage78]

Sounds like a very solid advice.Thanks for posting this.

[stern]

+1!

i think the situational awareness is the best point.. when i tl ive almost always got my map open to see where people are and if one area needs reenforcing or not. and of course with the recon, to shout out the loc of the tanks and any main thrusts being made by the baddies.

same for asking for a mark on a certain loc rather than just asking for a mark, sometimes when your sls dont do thier job any mark is better than none. but when you have good sls asking a for a mark on a certain area often gives you a few locs to choose from.

and sometimes abit of guidance is often all thats needed. i joined a game the other night my team got steam rolled, i took the tl role (after the noob who didnt do his job left, after insulting the team lol!) and we won the following round, just by me saying where the baddies where coming from, and where we needed to be to stop the attacks, of course the arty helped aswell.

so yea soem excellent points there Rabid

[Rabid Penguin]

Thanks!

I added a bit on Force Respawn, which I just realised I forgot to cover.

[Rabid Penguin]

Originally Posted by stern

same for asking for a mark on a certain loc rather than just asking for a mark, sometimes when your sls dont do thier job any mark is better than none. but when you have good sls asking a for a mark on a certain area often gives you a few locs to choose from.

Also, if you do have good Squad Leaders, you can ask them each to mark a specific target, such as "SL1, mark target on A, SL2, mark target Grid Reference C5, SL3, mark target about half a grid north of B". Then you have marks set up and ready to go for later in the battle, and don't have to worry about it. Of course this requires knowing the maps, so you know where the marks will be required later.

[LugNut]

Nice!

We could use one for SL's too. (hint hint)

[Cpt-Praxius]

A couple of small tips from me:

• If there are bots on your team, regardless if there are only 2-5.... they are your friend, they will listen to you.... Use them and use the right.

While you can order your team to do things, the bots are pretty linear with their thinking and can cause you problems or help you win the game.

Something I usually do if they exist on the map is that at the very start of a match, I order them to follow me and stay behind for a few seconds while I mark coordinates for a strike. I then inform my team of what's going on and tell them to hold back for a second. Most players expect the battle and you to start right of the mark and thus, will rush into the cap zone to defend ASAP.

Hold back, and if you have rockets... Use them above all other options. It has a longer cool down, but has more benefits such as being able to nuke players hiding under cover or in buildings (Mortars and Artillery will not harm them, only suppress them)

The other benefit is that you have one wave of Rockets, which means #1 - you don't have to sit there waiting for the Mortars or Arty to finish off their salvos, eating up your time for attacking...... #2 - Mortars and Arty will only kill enemies out in the open, thus when the salvo is over, you and the rest of your team could still be rushing to your death with a good % of the enemy still waiting for you. With Rockets, you stand a better chance at taking out the entire team (with the exception of 1 or 2 lucky guys) and by the time they get back to the objective, you and your team are already inside capping and setup to hold the objective... the roles reversed.

This also allows you to push right into the next objective before they are setup, because they just spent that whole time trying to rush to the objective you just took and have to run back to the 2nd objective while under fire from your advancing forces.

By the time you take the second objective, your Rockets are just about ready to be used again on the 3rd objective.....

.... rinse and repeat.

While all of this is going on, you still have the bots following you, so make sure you are with the rest of your team and getting in the cap zones (using your smoke and your SMG/Semi-Auto along the way).... this also prevents those bots from getting stuck around the map and use you as a way point.

Having the bots follow you while you were calling in the Rocket/Arty attack also prevents them from running in and getting killed by the strike.... which is something many Commanders complain about (Not just from bots, but from regular players too)

Sometimes ordering those bots to attack/defend doesn't work well and they can still often get stuck somewhere or camp outside of objectives.... ordering them to follow you is the best tactic in making sure when you attack or defend an objective, you're not alone and something or someone is covering your back.

Regarding Recon.... while it can be a good tactic to stay by the radio the whole time until the recon is done, most players will not be constantly looking at the feedback after the first few seconds and will be concentrating on the battle at hand..... I usually recon, tell my team it is up.... stay there for about 30 seconds and then head off to help them with my better weapon, 2 smokes and additional capping power.

^ This can make the difference in winning and losing a match. While the enemy Commander may hang over the radio the whole time, if you only use it in short bursts and then head off with your team, your additional capping power can change the balance of the game because the other teams' Commander is still hanging around the Radio..... then has to race to help their team... which by then can be too late.

[Nikita]

Hm! Never realized rockets worked on enemies in cover... that's a useful insight Praxius!

*goes to a server with bots to call artillery on one's own position to test it out*

My other tip would be to resupply your smoke grenades whenever possible. Too many commanders throw smoke once per life, only for it to dissapate while you're doing other things. Of course, your squad leaders should be giving you a hand with this, but we all know how often that works out...

[Cpt-Praxius]

Originally Posted by Nikita

Hm! Never realized rockets worked on enemies in cover... that's a useful insight Praxius!

*goes to a server with bots to call artillery on one's own position to test it out*

My other tip would be to resupply your smoke grenades whenever possible. Too many commanders throw smoke once per life, only for it to dissapate while you're doing other things. Of course, your squad leaders should be giving you a hand with this, but we all know how often that works out...

Yeah, always look for ammo caches when you can to restock your smoke..... best approach is to toss 4 at once in a heavy area.

Example: Apartments / Russian Side.... head to the bridge on the right and toss two smoke grenades over and around the bridge then head into the right building where the ammo cache is, grab two more and toss those too for a wide spread of smoke.....

.... for me, while my team tries to take that cap with all the smoke and while the Germans are all focused on that area, I head off to the left cap and flank the Germans to cut them off from behind.... and with my capping power, I'm basically more than one person in the cap zone.... most times with this tactic, both caps can be captures at the same time, and again... with bots, order them to cap A while you cap B & cover them from that side and when they cap A, order them to follow you and then they can help you quickly cap B before the Germans get that "Back & Forth" Cap thing going..... and in a few seconds you just captured both and are also just a short dash away from Propaganda House via the underground pathway.

Regarding the Rocket's power.... I think it only works on one wall/roof level.... so if you're on the 2nd floor of a 2 story building and a rocket hits the roof above you, you die.... if you're on the 1st floor, you're safe unless one goes off right on the other side of the wall you're standing by.

I can't remember the exact details of how far Rockets can penetrate, but I've gotten a lot more kills with Rockets than Mortars or Arty.....

[Coin-goD]

Don’t be a dictator
If people don’t follow your orders, don’t let it bother you. Don’t yell and scream and TK them to “teach them a lesson.” That sort of behaviour just completely undermines any authority you may have had and will cause your whole team to ignore you.

I disagree.

I am an Officer of the Wehrmacht. Right or Wrong, you will follow my orders, dammit. Or I shoot you myself!

Do not think you are special. You will do as you are ordered for the glory of Germany!

[Rabid Penguin]

Originally Posted by Coin-goD

I disagree.

Commanders like that usually end up getting completely ignored by their team in my experience... And usually get autokicked for tk'ing :P. So go right ahead if your ego matters more to you than your team's victory.

[Coin-goD]

Don't worry, I don't mind them. They will get killed anyways. I only execute traitors (Intentional TK'ers)

[Attilaken]

I played on Mamayev yesterday and MERC-PZ2 was commander. He really did a very good job. Warning for artillery, pointing out rally points, telling what flank to take, thanking SL good artillery painting, staying calm, motivating his team,... The result was we were running in a large group to the rally points he described and it was really very effective. I recommend anyone wanting to be commander to play with him and see how he does it.