[POLL] Radio Commands!

[Agent]

NOTE: THIS DOES NOT AT ALL IMPACT Q-SPOTTING.

Earlier today, the topic was brought up again that many of the radio commands often go unused. Since this had been brought up before by many people, I went ahead and generated some stats and made what I think might be an optimal layout for the radio commands based on usage. The suggested layout removes the Ctrl + Alt menu entirely (moving the most used commands to Ctrl or Alt menus), and prunes away a total of 14-16 commands, meaning we retain a total of 14-16 commands. This means all commands would be reachable with one hand, and the most common ones would be very reachable (sitting in slots 1-4). Ease of use is the goal here.

I wasn't sure when making this poll whether the two commands "Destroy it now!" and "I'm in position." were used enough by players to keep or not, so question 2 pertains to their removal. If kept, they would occupy slot 8 on the Ctrl/Alt menus.

The suggested layout for Ctrl:

Quote

1: Building needs repair (unmoved; usage: 13535)
2: Affirmative (usage: 33456)
3: Negative (usage: 4859)
4: Get in the vehicle! (usage: 13867)
5: Get out of the vehicle! (usage: 2664)
6: Destroy that Vehicle! (usage: 6715)
7: Defend the base! (usage: 4610)
8 (SEE QUESTION 2): I'm in position. (usage: 3385)

The suggested layout for Alt:

Quote

1: I need repairs! (usage: 48891)
2: Move out. (usage: 21095)
3: Defend the Harvester! (usage: 13952)
4: Attack the Harvester! (usage: 12510)
5: Follow me. (usage: 5671)
6: Hold position. (usage: 2068)
7: Fall back. (usage: 2465)
8 (SEE QUESTION 2): Destroy it now! (usage: 2162)

 

Let me know what y'all think! For reference, the removed commands are the following:

Spoiler

From Ctrl+Alt (total 7):
* Attack the base defenses! ()
* Attack that structure!
* Attack the Refinery!
* Attack the Power Plant!
* Defend that structure!
* Defend the Refinery!
* Defend the Power Plant!

From Ctrl (total 3):
* Watch where you're pointing that! (usage: 1173)
* Don't get in my way! (usage: 1298)
* Enemy spotted! (usage: 1761)

From Alt (total 4):
* Take the point. (usage: 1328)
* Cover me. (usage: 1022)
* Return to base. (usage: 720)
* Take cover. (1751)

 

 

The following would POSSIBLY also be removed:
* (Ctrl) I'm in position (usage: 3385)
* (Alt) Destroy it now! (usage: 2162)

 

And these are the numbers I'm originally working off of. They're very rough estimates of usage for the past nearly 2 years; actual usage is higher for all commands, but the proportions should be accurate:

Spoiler

    229 Defend that structure!
    477 Attack the Power Plant!
    549 Attack the Refinery!
    698 Attack that structure!
    720 Return to base.
    863 Defend the Refinery!
    928 Attack the base defenses!
    937 Defend the Power Plant!
   1022 Cover me.
   1173 Watch where you're pointing that!
   1298 Don't get in my way!
   1328 Take the point.
   1751 Take cover.
   1761 Enemy spotted!
   2068 Hold position.
   2162 Destroy it now!
   2465 Fall back.
   2664 Get out of the vehicle!
   3385 I'm in position.
   4610 Defend the base!
   4859 Negative.
   5671 Follow me.
   6715 Destroy that vehicle!
  12510 Attack the Harvester!
  13535 Building needs repair!
  13867 Get in the vehicle!
  13952 Defend the Harvester!
  21095 Move out.
  33456 Affirmative.
  48891 I need repairs!

 

 

Also before pushing this in any sort of patch, especially if the poll seems close, we may try this change out in a mutator first.

[Fffreak9999]

15 minutes ago, Agent said:

* Attack the Refinery!
* Attack the Power Plant!
* Defend the Refinery!
* Defend the Power Plant!

 

15 minutes ago, Agent said:

*Attack the base defenses!

I would not remove these, they are good spamming ones for various things, and while they don't get used much, their use is critical especially if you need to rapidly switch targets to a building out of sight, or some other reason you can't use Q to do it.

[Agent]

Also for context: it's possible we may look into adding in a couple other radio commands in the future, especially if these are pruned such as possibly "Check the mines!" or "[Building] secured!"

[Guest]

Add "mine mine mine" from finding nemo as a command.

For reals tho dont remove building specific commands, even if they arent used much their use is situational, lets say a rushing commander gets blasted, he needs to Spam that buildings radio command and /r it to oblivion for the team to open mass fire (you know how it is)

And please dont move around commands that are used much as hold pos, follow, move out, repairs, get in tHE VEHICLE. Mainly because those ones are 100% on muscle memory now

Edit: and movement commands should stay on the same page (as it is now)

Edited January 16, 2020 by Guest

[TheParachuteOpening]

.

Edited February 7, 2020 by TheParachuteOpening

[Handepsilon]

Quote

Watch where you're pointing that!

This to me sounds like one of the most nonsensical radio command to exist in the base game. Friendly fire has always been off (was told it was even *hardcoded* that way), and unlike Unreal Tournament, getting hit by friendly explosives (or any explosives) doesn't launch you to potential pit of doom.

Would've been more sensical if the quote was "Hold your fire" or something

[Reivax]

3 hours ago, Agent said:

 

  Hide contents

    229 Defend that structure!
    477 Attack the Power Plant!
    549 Attack the Refinery!
    698 Attack that structure!
    720 Return to base.
    863 Defend the Refinery!
    928 Attack the base defenses!
    937 Defend the Power Plant!
   1022 Cover me.
   1173 Watch where you're pointing that!
   1298 Don't get in my way!
   1328 Take the point.
   1751 Take cover.
   1761 Enemy spotted!
   2068 Hold position.
   2162 Destroy it now!
   2465 Fall back.
   2664 Get out of the vehicle!
   3385 I'm in position.
   4610 Defend the base!
   4859 Negative.
   5671 Follow me.
   6715 Destroy that vehicle!
  12510 Attack the Harvester!
  13535 Building needs repair!
  13867 Get in the vehicle!
  13952 Defend the Harvester!
  21095 Move out.
  33456 Affirmative.
  48891 I need repairs!

"Defend that structure" and "Attack that structure"... ok.. but.. which one?
"Building needs repair" which one?  also, it's more useful to write "PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP" or "HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON" in teamchat than to use this command
"Enemy spotted" eh.. yes? it's not like there are 32 enemies on the map..  
"Destroy it now!" yeaaa i'll destroy that.. these 3 med tanks, the MRLS, the mammoth, the 2 hotwire, the gunner, the havoc, the refinery, or you? 
"Return to base" and "Fall back" are basically the same command? i mean, they are used after rushes, and it means "oi lads be safe and come back, don't be killed by these bloodies mrls campers"
for me, the best commands are Affirmative (cuz my healers are nice) I need repairs (when my healers doesn't care about my mobi who are low HP with 350/375 HP  ) and Defend the harvester   
oh, and about follow me.. i Q-ping ppl and i shoot at their face with my volt rifle, it often works especially to find healers :ayaya: 
about the poll, "destroy it now" is.. totally useless. "I'm in position" is useful, when a engineer q-ping me to ask to a cover but i want not suicide to enemy snipers/mrls campers/tons of dozas, so i say I'm in position to explain that i'm in my position to hold the line and fight for the Emprah  oops wrong universe sorry 

[roweboat]

Yes please prune and move all useful commands to easily be used quickly.

 

Sure I've basically being using these same radio commands for nearly 15 years, but I felt even in 2003 that they felt outdated.

 

Please keep DESTROY IT NOW. It's silly , but awesome.

 

And IM IN POSITION, can be very useful for someone a bunch of people are saying MINES, DEFEND, C4 ON THE MCT!!

By spamming IM IN POSITION, I  can at least let a few know that the situation is under control. The command desperately needs rebinding though. Not easy to hit quickly.

[isupreme]

Quote

Also for context: it's possible we may look into adding in a couple other radio commands in the future, especially if these are pruned such as possibly "Check the mines!" or "[Building] secured!"

 

I think we are sorely lacking in any kind of communication that  is positive.      Building secure would be a good step.

Not everything should be screams of pain.   Some options that communicate a positive situation would help the overall tone of the game.

Edited January 16, 2020 by isupreme

[Madkill40]

12 hours ago, Agent said:

1: I need repairs! (usage: 48891)
2: Move out. (usage: 21095)
3: Defend the Harvester! (usage: 13952)
4: Attack the Harvester! (usage: 12510)
5: Follow me. (usage: 5671)
6: Hold position. (usage: 2068)
7: Fall back. (usage: 2465)
8 (SEE QUESTION 2): Destroy it now! (usage: 2162)

Why move so many for the damn Harvester VO? May as well keep at least 3 of them the same i.e.

1. I Need Repairs
2. Hold Position
3. Move out
4. Follow me
5. Defend the Harvester
6. Attack the Harvester
7. Destroy it Now
8. Fall back

[Agent]

I wasn't sure whether it would be more useful to try to sort them based on usage, or to try to keep things as close as possible to their current positions to aid in muscle memory. Based on feedback though it definitely seems like at least some folks would like at least the option to keep things closer to muscle memory positions.

[Madkill40]

20 minutes ago, Agent said:

I wasn't sure whether it would be more useful to try to sort them based on usage, or to try to keep things as close as possible to their current positions to aid in muscle memory. Based on feedback though it definitely seems like at least some folks would like at least the option to keep things closer to muscle memory positions.

What's the likeliness of having an options in the menu > Settings screen to allow players to assign their own numbers to the Ctrl/Alt list? [Post-prune of course]

[Agent]

It's possible; Havoc actually suggested exactly that (regardless of prune) and I think we'd totally love to have that, just needs the UI work which might take some time to get around to.

[Madkill40]

Just now, Agent said:

It's possible; Havoc actually suggested exactly that (regardless of prune) and I think we'd totally love to have that, just needs the UI work which might take some time to get around to.

@SMayhew needs more to do imo

[Agent]

The skill set needed is more just flash and wiring it up on the unrealscript side as well. It's more code than art that would be the constraint. Sam could definitely work on the mockup though

[Mystic~]

I use quite a few of the Alt commands still and think I prefer maintaining positions where possible, but Q spot has replaced the most obvious ones, which was a great innovation at the time.

New suggestions that would be really useful and I need to think about the question asked in the poll still:

Enemy rush massing
Enemy rush incoming + defend the base
Building breached, enemy inside
Airstrike incoming + take cover
Get into position
Thanks (this is so overlooked)

I don't know anything about where the audio comes from or who has recorded these in the past, assuming there were some new ones made up since original Ren.

[Reivax]

hey i've a weird idea! (once again)
is it possible to make our own radio commands?  
i don't know if it's possible, but my idea came from this fact:
each player use radio commands, but these commands he will use depends of his gameplay.
i.e., as "middle game" and "defender" player, i never use Attack the Harvester, but always  Defend the Harvester.
i never need to use Get in the vehicle or get out the vehicle, but a radio command called "RUSH INC INF PATH" could be interesting  
oh, and..
Kaunas said a command "mines mines mines" could be good.
he's wrong, cuz "MIIINES MIIIINES MIIIIINES MIIIIIIIIIIIINES MIIIINES MIIIIIIINES MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINES" is better   
especially as GDI on Walls or Islands

[rocky44r]

Pruning sounds good. The suggested layout would work for me, but there also have been some good suggestions in this thread... like letting people choose the layout.

All inaccurate radio commands ("Attack that building") are not useful without the building. With the spotting (where it actually writes the building in chat) it's great.

I would keep the "I'm in position". I use that to respond to chat often like "someone needs to remine". "Destroy it now" should be removed... i see no use... because if i'm defending and see 5 afk-engis repping a MCT i use the "Destroy that vehicle!".

Why not put a few of the pruned radio commands into taunt menus?  Just for fun! I can see the chem or flamer say "Watch where you're pointing that"

1: Watch where you're pointing that!
2: Don't get in my way!

1: Take the point.
2: Take cover.

 

Similarly a few precise radio commands ("Attack the base defenses") could be added to the commander menu... Just an idea though...

Edited January 17, 2020 by rocky44r

[R315r4z0r]

So I haven't played this game in quite a long time. I'm currently in the middle of redownloading it. But, if my opinion matters at all, I do recall using a lot of the ones you want to prune away. And I used them fairly frequently. I recall using "Take the Point!" and "Fall Back!" fairly often.

There is an inherent issue with relying on usage data when deciding which ones are more useful. Commands like "Building Needs Repairs!" and "Affirmative!" are going to have a lot of usage because they have the most practical applications. Every match you play, a building is going to need repairs. However, more specific and/or obscure ones like "Defend the Refinery!" or "Take the point!" are more context specific. It isn't every game that you're going to be in a position to see your refinery get attacked, but I'm willing to bet that 90% of the time a player does see this, they will use that radio command.

So what it ultimately comes down to is which commands are used practically, rather than which commands are used most.

 

If I had to make a suggestion, I'd keep them all but allow players to customize the keybinds. Then you can prune as many as you want.

Edited February 3, 2020 by R315r4z0r

[Xtractor]

I wish there was something for saying a specific guy to Stand still while I want to  Heal him not saying "Follow me "

[Snow.]

Some of the old radio commands are muscle triggered and I wish some of them back. (ctrl+7 Affirmitave, ctrl+9 Im in position << in my opionion very useful)

When I am honest with myself, some of them I rarely use and some are not needed anymore since Q-spot (I love that thing), e.g. "enemy spotted" (who? what? where?) "building needs repair" (which one?) are not necessary anymore.

But some radio commands I miss and would be very cool, examples:

- (Loosing...) MINES (...missing) --- It is annoying to type that always in team chat

- Inf/Tank RUSH INC and/or Enemy buffed

- Sneaker building XYZ (I dont know how to make it short enough)

- Stand still for repair (inf/tank)

- C4 detected (on tank/or inf)