Commander Strategies

[=HR=Drayu]

Not to where I want it yet, but I thought it was an okay start.

Hey all, thanks for taking the time to read my take on Commander strategies in the Project Reality Mod! Project Reality is reality based so be ready to experience the commander in a very different way! The commander has been reworked, as has the squad leader, so read up and take note....this mod rocks if you give it time! If you disagree, post your strategies in a similar manner after this post, don't start a new thread and I will edit mine with ideas that I grab from you ! Enjoy.


The commander is one of the most vital positions in any map. The commander has vision of the entire battle and can see where the front line is and is going to be. He has the power to supply his troops, direct them to targets, give them preemptive strikes with arty, and help them communicate between squads. In PR, a commander has limited assets compared to BF2 (arty and supplies only) and those assets require a squad leader to call them in (you can not drop arty or supplies where you please, the squad leaders need to call them in, see the squad leader guide for more info). Your dependence on SL's may make you frustrated, but be persistent on VOIP and all squads will come around. In my experience playing Project Reality, Commanders are rare, but when you find a good one you talk to him A LOT! Try not to get into the fight if at all possible. If you have to go into battle do not offer yourself up to the enemy very easily, find a hiding place towards the rear of the battle where you can use binocs to see the battlefield and still be undercover. Using that position you can be in your commander screen and safe or out with your binocs to direct traffic.

Initial Thoughts
1. USE A MICROPHONE!!!! A silent commander is NOT a good one!!! There is no way you can type the information fast enough for your squads to be aware!!!
2. DON'T ZOOM all the way into a map position for long periods unless a squad leader asks you to. By zooming in you are losing your battlefield vision (where your squads are located, arty calls, supply calls, etc). Only do it if (and let the squads know that you are zoomed into their location):

a. The squad leader needs you to spot an enemy and keep them aware of where that enemy is going.

b. You are directing a hotly contested battle zone

3. DON'T use vehicles as you are too valuable to take off time pilot or drive, and to respawn when you eventually die!!! Also, when you are driving/flying, you can't use your assets, which is why you are commander!!!


Commander Assests
Artillery
In BF2 you could drop artillery without depending on anyone, but in PR you must depend on your squad leaders to call it in!
1. Always be aware of your arty status and make sure you let your squads know when it is available or when it is down.
2. Send in arty when your squads request it, but be sure to look where it is being requested (I sometimes send my initial request as SL and it ends up in the wrong place, if it looks wrong, it probably is and ask for a re-request). Don't send arty in when a squad is in a location unless the squad leader asks for it and they have cover. Check Twice, fire once.

3. Use arty as a preemptive strike at flags, or to help fend off a wave of attackers. Let your squad leaders know if you see a wave of enemy or a cluster near them and have them call it in on the enemy location! Remember, you can see where troops are that they can not, keep asking for an arty request when you know you need it in a specific location! Make sure you let your squad leaders know when it is inbound!
4. Don't blind fire arty. Make sure you just don't accept an arty call, look to see where it is requested first! If it looks to be in a wrong spot, ask for clarification before accepting!

In this example you can see that this arty call is not a good choice to accept

5. Fix this asset immediately as it is a huge advantage to your squads!!!

Supply Crates
In PR, Supply Crates do more than offer supplies to your squads, it also gives them one of the requirements to request kits (see this link for more detail: http://guide.realitymod.com/index.ph...=Kit_Limiting). Also note that supplies take a long time to air drop to the ground!
1. Communicate with the squads to let them know that supplies are available upon request.
2. Drop supplies when asked, but know the location of the drop. If it seems wrong, maybe it is, ask for clarification.

Communication
As a commander COMMUNICATION is of the utmost importance! You can never communicate too much on the battlefield. As a commander you should be communicating:
1. When commanding, talk to all squad leaders at once, but call out which squad you are talking to. Example: "Squad 6, there is enemy forces inbound!!!" It is important to say which squad you are referring to and what you want each squad to do by their numbers.
2. Enemy movements, especially the enemy front. As a commander you can usually pick out which is the united offensive by the enemy by talking to squads or zooming into clusters of friendlies to see the battle. You should ALWAYS be telling squads where the enemy is in relation to the sqaud leader.
3. You should be telling squads what they are to be doing, defend this flag, attack that one, hang tight, take cover, etc.
4. Always announce to your squads when an asset is available
5. Announcing when assets are available is important, but don't forget about vehicles. As the fight progresses, most squads stay near the front fighting it out. They end up forgetting about tanks or helicopters or apcs that may spawn at the main. As commander, you should be relaying to all squads that these vehicles have spawned and are available. Tanks can be as deadly as arty when used in the right hands, it is your job to put them in the right hands!


Commander Strategies
1. When directing your squads, KNOW their location!!! The worst thing you can do is send a squad clear across a map for no reason other than you want to!!! If you need to send a squad somewhere, make sure you tell them why, or you make sure they have transportation!!! (anecdote:The best ever is when I had 1 guy who was a squad leader be a chopper pilot. The only thing he did the whole game is pick up squads that I asked him to and transported them to other flag locations! It was the epitome of teamwork!)
2. Always have a few squads assaulting and the rest defending flags that you have taken. The best way to win a map is not offense, but rather it is defense!
3. Always have your assets ready to deploy for squad leaders when they ask for it, nothing better to get them to follow your orders than to supply them with what they need.
4. MAP KNOWLEDGE!!! You should know which flags you need to make the tickets run! Know the order of the flags to be captured!!!
5. Use tactics, don't send squads directly into battle. Think flanking, think pinching, don't be a Rambo with your weapons!
6. When near the front lines stay near a squad so that if you go down you can be revived.
7. Remember it is only a game, have fun!

[UKARMYCADET]

Thanks for that mate those are very good tips.

[DanDan]

well commander strats are good in theory but it doesnt help that the Squads dont listen, the commander doesnt have a mic, the commander does jack all, etc.

[=HR=Drayu]

well allrighty then.

[ArmedDrunk&Angry]

That is a fantastic guide.
It should be part of the official guide.
But please, if you are SL, talk back.
It gets very eerie when you are talking to yourself for 4-5 min at a time with no feedback from the SL's.
I play command often, although not as AD&D, and it's very lonely out there sometimes when squads don't really go where you ask or respond to questions on VIOP.
Remember to ask the commander often for zoom shots of an area, this is very important on larger maps with multiple squads.

[Michael_Denmark]

Good guide. As others already have said, this should be a part of the official guide.
---


Just one comment to commander strategies:

5.

Also think in tickets.
· Monitor the opposing teams ticket balance?
· Can you afford the tickets to attack now?
· Do you need to retreat the team temporarily, to get a tactical positional advantage, and letting the enemy team lose tickets? (Like form a defence behind a river)
· If a specific squad leader is using too many tickets in attacking, should you order the SL to defend instead?

[Daedal-Rogue]

Excellent guide, the few times I've tried to command I never get response back from most squads, and many do not listen at all, at best if I have 5 squads, 2 will listen partially and sometimes those squads are fragmented so they don't function effectively.

Though I think the biggest issue is people actually listening to orders thats why the command position has always been under run I think cause no one wants to listen.

[[R-DEV]eggman]

hehe well one thing to keep in midn is that you can update the wiki yourselves and make this stuff part of the "official" guide.

AND.. uh..

we're going to be overhauling the CMDR role in upcoming release .. so er... the guide will need updating

And uh.. we hope that with the changes we are planning the notion of the CMDR being boring and having little impact on the game will be a thing of the past.

If anything we might be having too much faith that there are enough good commanders around to utilise the tools we are planning to make available.

[kruck]

i dont like commander since this morning, i was commanding and giving a squad info on enemy locations at a flag he was sneakily assaulting with his squad, whilst another SL yells "commander; shut the f-ck up!" and a few other obscenities, i just was gobsmacked.

[=HR=Drayu]

Thanks Egg, I will update as appropriate with the next release.