Tactics Tips on playing Officers

[dakuth]

I almost exclusively play SL. Mostly so I have a choice of rifle or sub... and it's always empty.

I usually use the order wheel just to let people know where they should go... but I'm nearly always ignored. I cry, and cry when people can't even cap the bridges in apartments because they won't join me in the ravine behind the wall where we can cap easily. Despite all the orders in the world, they just keep on charging over the bridge...

So I give orders, but don't expect anyone to follow them. People try and spawn on me, but its so hit and miss (even if successful they end up in some random nearby room) that I don't bother overly with it. If it works out, great, if not... meh.

The MAIN features of a SL are:
1. Smoke. Very, very handy both for yourself and team
2. Spot arty locations. If you have a commander that knows he can call on it (or a commander at all!) If not, no harm really. I just drop spots down as I go in case he wants to use them
3. Choice of two good guns from the outset.


It would be nice if you could work better as a squad, and 99% of the problem is the inability to spawn on your SL reliably. I suppose I could wait for a respawn wave, then attack, but there are several problems, nearly all UI-related:
1. The spawn selection screen resets back to Spawn 1 each time
2. The SL icon on the map doesn't change colour when selected, and is generally hard to spot
3. Neither the SL nor the squad member have ANY idea if it will work, and if it does where you will actually end up

 

[Lonestarranger]

Squad Commands

Squad Commands

I have only recently begun to explore the command and control features of the game as a squad leader. I do find most folks ignore it. But am also finding more and more will follow you if you are persistant giving orders.

I think part of this is that squad members do not get a very good notification that they or their fire team has been given an order to move to a location. I think they only know when they pull up their tactical view? Am i correct with this? It is only time as a squad member i can recall seeing any notification to move somewhere.

But what i try to do in either defense or attack is to get my fire teams in my squad on line to either defend or move forward and attack. Just getting them on line produces a more organized unit defense or attack versus individuals moving around with everyone their own commander. I am amazed at how many folks will really start to follow you if you do not give up and keep trying to get your squad to fight as a unit. I even practiced the SL command and control tools on the tank only map! Yep the system works for tanks too!!!! Great!

I still have alot more practice to do before i plan to learn the platoon commander role, but again i think the command and control feature has so much potential to enable fire and movement and small unit operations than RO1 ever had.

One thing i think the game needs to do though. If the squad leader is killed, there should be a team leader notified that he is the acting squad leader because the SL was killed. What happens is you start to get the squad to follow orders and operate as a squad and then you die and it falls apart and folks go back to being their own leader. A team leader taking over by being qued by the game at the death of the SL would keep the unit fighting and not break up and remain as a unit until the SL spawns. And this is more realistic because in the real world this is what would happen. Or if they want to be realistic, have the TL become the SL and the old SL spawns back as a private.

I think it would also be good if there was an initial pause before the game began that would allow the Platoon Commander and the Squad Leaders to issue the initial set of orders to get the fight started rather than everyone darting off in all directions and the leaders trying to get them under control after they have all left.

 

[hishnik]

Also check http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/showthread.php?t=68521 for other posts on same topic

 

[Rehmes]

A little tip is when using respawn as a commander you dont have to press M and then force respawn you could also just press N instead.

And smoke ain't that usefull if you dont know where to put it correctly. I've played 'Apartments' where my squadleader throw it on the bridge to the right. SO we couldn't see a thing but the Axis could easily see us when we almost got trough and got instant killed.
What he should have done was to throw some smoke near the two doors at the right. The one all right and the one between the points. Blinding most of the axis instead and giving us cover to cross.

 

[hishnik]

A little tip is when using respawn as a commander you dont have to press M and then force respawn you could also just press N instead.

And smoke ain't that usefull if you dont know where to put it correctly. I've played 'Apartments' where my squadleader throw it on the bridge to the right. SO we couldn't see a thing but the Axis could easily see us when we almost got trough and got instant killed.
What he should have done was to throw some smoke near the two doors at the right. The one all right and the one between the points. Blinding most of the axis instead and giving us cover to cross.

I strongly advise checking the link i posted above, a LOT of very good info

As for respawn, i use "T" (tactical overlay) it allows you to view the timer on respawn + number of people left to respawn

 

[TWD]

As far as ordering people around it's actually not that hard to get them to follow you. The order menu doesn't help much aside from maybe the move here command. The real trick is just using the mic. You just have to convince them that following you will get them more kills than doing what they usually do.

A lot of players don't even really know what's going on. I think back to when I first started playing. The maps were confusing, I didn't know where the objectives were, I couldn't find anyone else, and I felt like I could be attacked from any direction. When I spawned I'd try to follow other players only to realize that they weren't going anywhere useful. Players like these are just begging to be led.

Remember, at the end of the day most players just want kills. If they think following you will help them do better they'll do it. All they really need is a little bit of direction that says "hey the kills are over here". They need more direction beyond just "attack C". Use the voice chat and make it clear where you are at and what your goals are. It's not just about barking orders either. Give them tips and help them understand what's going on. The people in your vicinity will quickly realize that your communication is helpful and it snowballs from there. The more they hear how successful the squad is, the more they'll want to follow.

I think there's a lot of squad leaders out there that just don't bother. Nobody follows them so they just do it to get the weapon options. We all know good teamwork can make a world of difference, but most think it only happens every once and a while. I'm here to tell you that a good squad leader can make it happen almost every time.

 

[Mormegil]

A big part of being a good TL is spreading out situational awareness. When you call in recon, people don't think to check the map when they hear the plane. I typically tell people "recon in, check your map for locations" and/or "enemy at [some landmark]."

I'll also ask squad leaders to mark artillery on specific grid marks on the map - and they actually do a lot of the time, while I hang back at the radio and call it in.

Even something as simple as "ordering" people to attack one particular objective (when you have a choice) helps getting enough people to get a successful cap. Otherwise, it'll often end up 50/50 in each objective, with no capping.

Another good way to get your men to attack or go where you want them to go, is to lay down good smoke to protect them. They'll want to go that way, since it conceals them, and helps them live longer.


I've done this once or twice (read about the "tactic" on these forums), on Gumrak, if you find people keep trying to snipe from spawn, simply PUSH their tank into the cap zone with your tank. At best, you get more people in cap, at worst, they provide a good shield for you.

 

[Gudenrath]

What lacks in this game is a reason to play commander. I usually end up as one because nobody on my team wants to play it. And I dont blame them, because it can be pretty boring sometimes, and afaik you dont get extra points for putting up recon or forcing a reinforcement, so you end up with jsut a couple of stray arty kills and some lucky shots because you hang back more.

Personally I think it is a great misunderstanding that the commander should stay by the radio during the whole round. His two smoke nades and extra capping power is a great help in capping, so he should mainly be aware of the front lines and help out rushing when needed and only go to radio when the arty is needed (recon plane is almost never needed, in fact it is mostly just an annoyance, obscuring the view of the actual visible enemy with the flood of red markers, except during the end of the round where the last stragglers on the enemy team without reinforcements needs flushing out).

 

[Lonestarranger]

Commander and Artillery

Commander and Artillery

i have just started to learn to play the commander. When ever i play him, and with both target spotted and being near a radio, the artillery buttons never activate. They are always at 0 and inactive. I have played this role a few times and on different maps and always the same. Am i missing something ?

 

[hishnik]

i have just started to learn to play the commander. When ever i play him, and with both target spotted and being near a radio, the artillery buttons never activate. They are always at 0 and inactive. I have played this role a few times and on different maps and always the same. Am i missing something ?

You have to press the "use button" by the radio. It'll open up a menu with both Recon and Artillery buttons available.
Press and hold "T" to find the nearest radio, check out http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/showthread.php?t=68521#9 for more info

 

[Lonestarranger]

Radio

Radio

when i get by the radio, i bring up the map and it has the buttons, but the only one that seems to do anything is the forced spawn. the arty, rockets, mortars are just not active and set at 0.

i will try the use key by the radio instead of the map as you suggest and see if that makes difference.

Thanks

 

[griffner]

Remember that you cannot use arty on all maps ! Those that are small(er) sometimes don't have any artillery options (or sometimes just mortars)

 

[Wookie87]

One gripe i have with arty strikes is when the officer orders it *directly* on the objective we are attacking (1st objective of Redfactory or the church in spartanovka to name a few examples). Although the arty may well keep the enemies heads down, it also means that the assault is stalled while we wait for the shells to stop landing on the objective. It's even more annoying when the officer then continually hits the same area when we are trying to assault.

If shells could instead be put down just behind the objective, it means that the assault can push up without being blown up by friendly arty and keep the enemy reinforcements at bay.

Obviously the officer will have to rely on SL more for good marking of target zones, but seriously, if half your team is saying to cease shelling the same frigging area, they might have a point.