Jump to content

About the commander feature


lawANDorder

Recommended Posts

I really enjoy the (new) commander feature and would like to give some feedback about what it changed compared to how things have been before and what could be done better. I have been voted in as commander quite some times and also voted other players in a lot of times so I think I have some experience about it from all perspectives.

For those who are unfamiliar with the commander system I try to sum up the most important things:

  • a commander can be voted in by using the voting menu (ALT+V+9+1+playerstring)
  • voted in, you gain some unique abilities and equipment and the commander title as a prefix in the teamchat
  • everything you write in the teamchat will be highlighted in blue Pink color and visually stand out
  • writing "/rush" followed by your orders in the teamchat will display your message in the middle of all teammates screens like it does when you lose/destroy a building, the message will stay there for around 30 seconds I think
  • there is a similar command like "/rush" with the only difference that the message won´t be displayed that long time, I forgot the command "/c"
  • unique binocolars in your inventory with functions to mark enemy targets, set waypoints and locally bound orders
  • as commander people expect you to prepare and call rushes, develop tactics and lead the team
  • everybody can start a vote to vote a new commander or reject the current one by voting them out.

How it affects gameplay

Compared to not having a commander or how it was before the mod was included, it gets much easier and more effective to organize rushes in public games. You dont have to spam your message in caps anymore and most of the times a large number of players will participate in organizing the rush. I tend to use the "/rush ..." display a lot and despite one time a player asked where the hell these messages come from I never got bad feedback so it doesn´t seem to bother players too much. It enables you to organize PUG-like rushes (not experienced in PUGS, have been there only 2 times by now) and can establish some real team spirit which is a lot of fun for everybody then and a great, unique gaming experience I never had in any other game. In conclusion, a good commander can make the game more fun for everybody and establish quite complex teamwork with people that are not necessarily experienced players.

How people use the commander role

Most of the times I rely on the advanced communication features and don´t use the binoculars a lot. I have seen more experienced players than me that had been able to really organize firefights by marking enemy targets and control the team´s forces. It´s like that I try to organize the team on a macro-level whereas other commanders focus on or combine it with organizing firefights on a micro-level. Despite that I think this could be too much information for new players or too much effort to follow (people want to have fun and won´t be focused at a level where it gets exhausting) it is another approach or part the commander can take or fulfill. In general, the commander role requires knowledge of the game, some sense for the current match and calm, positive behaviour. The few times I´ve experienced new players in the commander role or "angry" players, it lead to ignorance by the team but I have never seen the team rebel against a commander.

What can be improved

I would like to see the progress we made in communication to be continued in more complex matters: it would be great for commanders to have additional communication shortcuts (like those ctrl+#, alt+#, ctrl+alt+#) for organizing rushes. Actually it comes down to type of unit+number of units+meeting point. It might be a tough task to develop a suitable input or visual interface but this would really take the whole thing to the next level. Think about how great this would be to call multiple simultaneous rushes without big hustle.

The other thing that has to be worked on are the binocular functions: At the moment it seems to be impossible to delete set waypoints, attack, support or defence orders. There might be more things I don´t know, maybe others can help with this.

Then, there is some little screen visible for everyone on the bottom right corner where sometimes text appears. It was introduced with the comander feature. I think the only way to use it is via the attack/defend/support orders of the binoculars but I´m not sure. This could be used better if the commander was able to permanently write a message in there or something like this as the orders already appear on the locally set point. At the moment I think it´s just useless and nobody takes care of it or pays attention to it.

 

Thank you for reading all this. I´m interested in your advice on how to use the funtions or suggestions about what could be improved so share it :)

Edited by Fffreak9999
Adding commands that are missing, and fixed a few mistakes
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There seems to be a bug when playing fort: at least for me the commander function doesn´t work. It neither displays "playerXY is now GDI´s/Nod´s commander" neither will the "/..." commands be displayed as they should or the commander´s chat color turn pink.

Edited by lawANDorder
Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, Madkill40 said:

Be nice to type in a custom objective for the Objectives box, limited to 17-27 characters. 

If it can not be used, delete it. Nobody needs an empty screen. I would like to know how to use it at all: today i played around with the binoculars and I couldn´t get anything displayed in there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I think this thing could use some improvements.

1. Add ability to remove "take point" / "defend" marker
Many times I accidentally placed it on the ground instead of unit / harverster that I wanted to tag.

2. make /c message appear in the "Mission info" box (the one that people keep asking how to hide it)

I could try implementing those changes if I manage to learn UDK quick enough and if I don't accidentally code CABAL.
Is the source code for that thing already on my computer or do I have to ask Yosh to share it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...