Thinking in tickets

[Michael_Denmark]

Tickets...those very basic aggravating mathematical factors on the screen, always going down and typically in the end of that downed round, disallows you - the Commander - to organize that final "Massing in the open" attack which obviously would have turned the tide for your 150 tickets-behind brave and only slightly less focused team.



Tickets…




Questions

When playing Commander, how often do you actually think in tickets?

And if you do...then how?


Is it like?

Okay, West Beach and East Beach defence will cost max. 20 tickets each, but the Dam that’s more like 50 to 80 tickets, cause the MEC team still control those surrounding hills with what seems to be 2 full squads supported by at least one firebase and a AA gun somewhere. And these squads seem really skilled too.

Or is it like?

Until we cap Factory and City we need to gain an advantage of at least 50 tickets in order to have enough to cross the river before the final assault. But where do we gain that?
Which flag/position/area on the map can be used to gain that necessary advantage?

Or is it in some other way you think in tickets?

In a way where you focus on the enemy teams tickets before your own team?




---


Mike

[Doom721]

I don't command often ( rarely )

Though I do think in tickets, its obvious sometimes when you know your team, whether being commanded or not is sending waves and waves of troops into the enemy losing tickets.

Effective K/D ratios for infantry, effective use of armor/vehicles, and effective TACTICS ( What flag will cost more to take, and is it really worthwhile )

The above is kind of a choice you have to make as a team subconsciously..

Is it WORTH the lives to take a certain asset - or should you rather stay back until you have a more effective strategy?

( Wait for the armor, wait for a squad to sneak into say..... 7 gates citadel flag undetected etc. )

I think... thinking in tickets is a good thing, sometimes on maps like Jabal if you play it right as USMC and manage to funnel to one place and defend it, the MEC will burn through more lives trying to "defend" the flag they once owned.

My ... 5$ and 2 cents.

[Guerilla_Frank]

I think in tickets in the way that it defines the strategy: attack or defend. Counting how much tickets would a bridge's crossing cost is a pretty long shot and can easily be inaccurate. But I definately care about it. If one squad is about to attack a strong enemy CP I rather order them to wait for armored support or other squads to prevent the loss. The outcome of the round usually depends on the efficient work of one single squad anyway, so I try to support those "elites" as best as I can.

A tipical map could be River Qwai. It's pretty balanced, and big enough to require good teamwork. But making guesses there about the ticket ratio is nearly impossible. The strategical placing of the bunkers and firebases decide there.

[torenico]

Obiusly

[[R-DEV]Masaq]

I do it in the following kinds of ways:

If we can take and hold the next flag whatever the cost in assaulting it doesn't matter if we're 50 behind because that one extra flag is enough to put the bleed on them, and one flag is easier to defend than two

and

We're 50 behind and they've only 120 points anyway. I could place a bunker at this CP but it'll cost me more than it's worth at this stage.

and even

Shit shit shit shit shit no-one's bloody doing what I say and the squad leaders are all refusing to use VOIP and the map looks like a colour-blindness test card and it's all going to hell and we're 160 tickets behind and we've only got 15 left and I've given sound instructions all along and the only squad that followed them have more points than the other 5 squads put together and quite frankly there's no bloody way I want *my* name on that scoreboard as our commander in 2 minute's time when the scores come up so sod this, I'm resigning

[Michael_Denmark]

Seven out of fifteen say they think in tickets when commanding.

Maybe i need to make the next related poll public, cause i haven’t seen that many players, squad-leaders or commanders playing like if they were thinking in tickets, except from the main stream "Lets Cap until they bleed" ticket mentality. Besides of that i have only on rare occasions experienced someone mention tickets as a factor for a battle decision. But it’s probably just me, the old fart, being a bit X up in the head here...


Is it possible that some of you Yes-Guys could post the server name where you play often?

I wanna learn

Thanks


Mike
Static command is intense command.

[[R-MOD]Wasteland]

You rock Michael . I remember the first time I had you as a commander in 0.3. That was inspiring. And C5 was even better.

I rarely think in terms of tickets, to be honest. I only command on asymmetrical maps such as Al Basrah, where I can organize creative approaches consisting of squad-specific mutually supportive operations (Merlin support squad, long range fire support squad, mechanized infantry squad, VCP defense, etc.). In these situations I apply a general strategy and it usually works, but I never think in terms of tickets really.

Apart from this kind of commanding, I don't like to command because it's just too complicated. In an asymmetrical map, if you apply really good strategy and caution, there's little the insurgents can do against you. In a regular map, your strategy is only as good as you adapt it based on the opposing force's actions. That kind of on the fly thinking, all the while dealing with logistics, is just too complicated for me to have fun with. Maybe one day I'll get there.

[Outlawz]

I usually build, when there's a CP, that's secure. Most of the time, CPs don't last for 5 minutes, until lost again and if you start building there, the entire thing goes to hell, when the enemy overruns you and blows everything up.
Especially, when you're losing/having ticket bleed/slaughtered (Gulf of Oman springs to mind), those lost tickets from a never built bunker and destroyed commander truck can make a difference.

Also, I like to go a bit of lone wolf, when commander and search for enemy assets myself or RPs, making it easier for the team, so they can focus on something else.

[[R-DEV]fuzzhead]

outlawz no offense but i hate commanders that go lone wolf :P

i love commanders that dont risk themselves and coordinate between squads, and i love commanders that relay important information to other squads, and commanders that sort out squads that are just not helping the team (going to the enemy mainbase or some CP that is not anywhere close to the frontline)

i think its important as commander to build assets wisely and not just think about assets, but rather think of the 'grand scheme' of things. if assets would help in an area, start building, otherwise if theyre not needed, dont bother.

thinking in tickets is a great way to win an overall largescale map like kashan, qwai, oman and jabal.

[Outlawz]

Yes, but everywhere I go commander, the other team just slaughters us and my team doesn't know a thing.
On Ejod, I held off an enemy squad coming over the archway at East City with my M16 and a couple of well thrown grenades, even followed them, when they smoked everything up and their SL was hiding behind the corner, so they could spawn on him and killed 3, before I got mowed down.
Not to mention the hordes of MEC coming from all over, as the combat zone is miles away now, how am I supposed to build, if I get overrun all the time?