why everyone hates commander?

[M.Warren]

Originally Posted by Jonny

Why not just limit the ammount of assets that can be placed without a CO?

Something like 2 FOs instead of 4.

Because that's usually all that players will build anyway. Rare is it that I see 3 to 4 FOB's up with or without a commander.

But yes, the Commander role was killed off awhile back. It was one of the largest mistakes made. If you don't have a Commander, you shouldn't be able to build team assets. Simple as that.

[Michael_Denmark]

Originally Posted by Levesly

You dont actually need a CO any more. Only for area attacks like Mortars or JDAM, everything else can be built without one

A CO in PR is always needed. Period. And furthermore one normally does excist too in those rounds where there aren't one.

More about all of that jazz in x time.

[AgentJadeD]

I actually had a good round when we had a commander.

[[R-DEV]Deadfast]

I haven't seen a commander since 0.8...

[Cobhris]

The commander needs to be essential, or else people won't play it. In BF2, the commander is often played because no commander means no UAVs, no omnipotent radar scan, no artillery, and no supply drops. In PR, not having a commander deprives you of the ability to place map markers that quickly become outdated as the enemy moves, and of the ability to drop an area strike once every hour or so.

The commander should be required to build firebases/bunkers (barbed wire, MGs, and other small assets should be SL placeable, but you still won't be able to get them without a commander to approve the FOB), for the spawning of logistics trucks (if possible), and for area attacks. Additionally, the commander should have access to a limited form of the top down camera from BF2.

[(gg) LVSOCOM]

I played with this dude (OP) on Karbala battlearena yesterday... Some highlights of his gameplay include:

1) As US commander: complaining at the Apache squad, which had two spotters calling targets and giving rough guesses of cache locations, was "wasting" the apache by attacking infantry instead of the caches. The real genious that happened here was that as squad leader I was relaying locations of suspected cache buildings when I saw three guys enter a building, then exit with RPG, Al Qud, and PKM kits. This info never made it from commander to the team. I had to relay it in chat.

2) Absolutely no ability to build firebases with this dude "commanding" because people figured he was AFK and would leave the area after waiting for build orders for 5 minutes without responce.

3) Laughing at the Apache getting team killed by an angry little bird squad. For future reference, "LOL OWNED" isn't a great way to respond to loosing a 20 minute asset who's squad is leading the team in points, kills, and teamwork score.

4) General guidance as to what SL's should be doing were Sun Tzu-like nuggets of wisdom like, "we need kill more!" and "u need blow up more cache"

I'll say it again Dannylmk... You're a moron.

[Jevski]

I was on that server too with danny as commander.

One thing you did wrong Danny You didnt LEAD! You didnt give any orders at all to any sqd. You did not try to make a plan and execute it, you actually asked us what we wanted to do, and that aint leadership.
Make a plan tell your plan to the sq leaders and execute it. You did nothing to gap the missing link between sqd leaders other than that famous Kill more, and blow up caches.

(they want to build hideouts and i can't accept much build orders at once, logistic bar take time to reload)

Eh what, have I missed something?
I was one of the many sqds you had trouble with on the US. As I said to you many times YOU need to coordinate logistics so that we can build a fb. We did not have any crates yet, you wanted us to build a fb. When I asked that you get an truck with crates to out position, you didn't respond and nothing happend again.

And no you where not kicked by an admin, you where !vk by the players who where tired of you missing leadership.

[DannyIMK]

Originally Posted by (gg) LVSOCOM

I played with this dude (OP) on Karbala battlearena yesterday... Some highlights of his gameplay include:

1) As US commander: complaining at the Apache squad, which had two spotters calling targets and giving rough guesses of cache locations, was "wasting" the apache by attacking infantry instead of the caches. The real genious that happened here was that as squad leader I was relaying locations of suspected cache buildings when I saw three guys enter a building, then exit with RPG, Al Qud, and PKM kits. This info never made it from commander to the team. I had to relay it in chat.

2) Absolutely no ability to build firebases with this dude "commanding" because people figured he was AFK and would leave the area after waiting for build orders for 5 minutes without responce.

3) Laughing at the Apache getting team killed by an angry little bird squad. For future reference, "LOL OWNED" isn't a great way to respond to loosing a 20 minute asset who's squad is leading the team in points, kills, and teamwork score.

4) General guidance as to what SL's should be doing were Sun Tzu-like nuggets of wisdom like, "we need kill more!" and "u need blow up more cache"

I'll say it again Dannylmk... You're a moron.

you sure that it was me? i don't remember something about apache squad and i wasn't afk, to give build order there is a logistics bar that takes time to reload

and there is not much orders to give at insurgency, the team have to find
caches and i can't help very much, i can't find caches from command post.

[Jevski]

Yeah as ins there is a bar. But not as US commander. And not much to do as commander in an insurgency map???!!!! If you think that, then you shouldn't be commander. And if you as you say cant do much as commander, why hinder our game, by being one, so that we cant place bunkers by not reponding?

C O O R D I N A T E !

PS: yes it was you with the gemstones like "blow up more caches" "kill more"

[[R-DEV]fuzzhead]

And not much to do as commander in an insurgency map???!!!

Disagree completely. Had an absolutely amazing round on korengal on Saturday, and it was all because we had a great Taliban commander that relayed information, set waypoints, called contacts, moved squads to reinforce areas that were under heavy attack, setup ambush kill areas, setup groups overwatching each other, retaliated against the enemy FOB's with mortar attacks, and got squads organized with a medic in each to ensure minimum loss of life and intelligence.

Commanding in PR v0.85 is very enjoyable for me so far, but you have to be in the right mindset.

Heres is a ss from a round on Ramiel, where I played as CO. It was a really fun round for me and I thank all the squad leaders under my command.



All squad movements (except squad 7) were 100% under my control. I got situation reports from all these squad leaders so I constantly knew the situation on the ground. I had complete support from the air units, which ran recon and also covered the flanks of the team when they were engaged in a fight. Blackhawk support dropped off any squad members that got seperated from the convoy. I worked together with my squad leaders to plan each attack route to the various cache locations, and usually after a successful mission I recalled the platoon back to rearm . This is all very possible on a public server with the current tools we have supplied the CO, you just have to find willing squad leaders who want to play in this way.

I've commanded about 5 rounds in v0.85 and each one has been very interesting and rewarding, I recommend giving it a try when you see squad leaders that you know are willing to listen and coordinate. Without willing squad leaders though, it can be too frustrating especially for your first time.

Again, I think the role definitely needs improvements and refinements, but to say its useless/unwanted is definitely a close-minded and jaded opinion, and is ignoring all the times where players have been great commanders and affected the mission outcome by a huge margin. I have seen myself and other players take the CO role and turn PR into a much more coordinated game because of it.

The v0.6 PR had commanders a lot more often, but it was extremely rare for them to actually coordinate and COMMAND the team. They were usually simply building workers and JDAM deployers, not really affecting the coordination of the team in any significant way. Now we have a lot less commanders, but the times that one does step in, and knows how to do it right will usually bring amazing gameplay to it. The key thing we need to improve on is getting new CO's to step up and making the role interesting for those first timers, so that we can see experienced commanders more often.

Look to the Tactical Gamer and other veteran communities for a glimpse at how commander can be used to affect the gameplay. Get together with the regulars of your server that regularly squad lead, and coordinate a time to all be on teamspeak/the server together and STEP UP AND LEAD instead of complaining that the role is useless. Its the player and communication that make the role useful, no matter how many goodies and extras you give the CO in the end that dont mean shit unless the CO is organised, disciplined, and has a clear plan and objective with the support of his men.