Plea To All Decent Commanders.

rebo

For all the good comanders out there, heres a suggestion. Once you have the game pretty much won, or at least well on the way. I.e. 2 hives turreted up etc. Please pass the riens over to a newby comm, this way that comm can learn in a relatively secure environment without it being a waste of everyones time. And in the even he does **** up at least it will be an interesting end to the game instead of the inevitable.

supadupafly

sounds like a good idea, because i'm pretty sure you will get pretty stressed if you start the game...
especially for one that is a newb to the hole game... someone that have played it sometime probably will do a little better

geldonyetich

Even a game that's "won" can be ruined by a newbie com that doesn't know what he's doing. I.e. forgetting to drop weapons, not informing marines that the aliens have overpowered a hive, ect.

Chances are you won't even learn anything if you begin comming in the middle of the game.

If you want to learn to com, try a less popular public server or better yet play a solo game with bots.

rebo

I suspect that the average 'punter' is not going to be concerned about bots and such like. We are not talking about forum users here. Similarly even in smaller pub servers a newbie comm will be utterly berated for building bad things at the start.

I think its much easier for a newbie comm to mess the start of the game up than to mess a 'win-situation' middle of the game up.

Obliterater

When all the Marines are standing around looking at eachother waiting for some one to break and run off to comm a newbie should be allowed in. Even if he messes up horribly the game will be pretty short and good practise for newbie comms

geldonyetich

Yes, but on a smaller server or by running a LAN game with bots (which are quite easy to install and use) you are not going to be impacting so many player's play experience with your futile newbie flailings.

Commanding isn't really that hard, once you've read the manual, but you need to get used to the interface. That's why a LAN game or a smaller server would be optimal.

Later version of NS will include a tutorial, so this own't be so much an issue.

There's also one more problem which means we cannot do this very safely: Grief comms.

"Hey! I'm a newbie com and we already won. Can you let me in?"
"Sure, com on in." (Yes, terrible pun)
"Hahah, Suckers! I'm going to recycle everything!"

rebo

The casual gamer neither will know what bots are or probably have read the manual. They just play for a bit of fun but are probably to scared to give commandering a try. Furthermore im not talking about llamas im talking about virgin comm players.

PseudoKnight

Having had a noob take over my command after we had secured two hives only to not even listen to our demands. (took us 30 min just to get a phase gate in second hive.. another 30 to get a turret factory in there... he also built three observatories after we commented on the second) We pleaded with him to get out of the command console and he wouldn't. Tried voting out the commander, and for some reason people wouldn't. We put up a vote to kick him from the server so we could put up a decent fight and it worked. Some other guy got in before I could and said we were screwed. I said to get out. He eventually did without informing me and the same guy (noob) got in and continued to screw us over.

One instance like that (it was hours of struggle and frustration) is enough to influence me not to let anyone take over my command console in the middle of the game again.

dexion

Problem with that is a good commander makes everyone have fun. I like to win only holding one hive. I can't hand the control over to a newbie then. It takes skill to win on only one hive. There is always a chance the aliens will push through with fades/lerks/gorges etc... Holding 2 hives/rushing the first hive is boring for both teams. Let them have fun.

dex

Dunsby

No, not my precious, i will not get out of my precioussssssssssss.

P.S - 1337 Avatar!!!

Eater1

It's not that hard to get started at comming. Just play a lot of games as marine, learn what good comms usually build, and do the same. If you do this, the biggest risk you run is not "building the wrong thing" but not being able to get your team to do what you tell them, which is not as bad.

Eater.

RandomEngy

My god Silent, your avatar is half a meg. Have some pity on the modem people!

0range

bad idea. Its even more stressful in the end game in my opinion.. A good alien team can keep you from winning. Granted a good alien team wouldnt let u get 2 hives but i play on a server full of mostly good players and more than a few times a good marine team can still secure 2 hives from a good alien team. However a good marine team cant end the game quickly against a good alien team without a comm droppin ammo/health or at least layin down a plan of some sort.

The end game would be much more stressful for a noob comm. Just do like i did. Wait till nobody wants to comm (usually in 4 on 4 games in my experience) then go and comm. Let everyone know your new.

however you should be an experienced marine and know what the build orders and basic strategies are before you ever try to comm

DanDaMan

well if you're worried about losing. You could always take 2 hives, then turtle up both hives and the spawn with 3tf's each and hundreds of turrets and sieges then spam hmg's ha's gl's jp's all over the spawn then hand over the reins to the newbie com.

Savant

Actually I don't think this is a good idea. Newbie comms need to learn from the ground up. Letting them take over a 'won' game teaches them nothing.

My thoughts on the best way for a person to learn to comm are as follows. They should play the game as Marine for at least 25-50 consecutive games. They should know how a Marine works. They should know how a Marine thinks. They should know what a Marine needs to do his job. They should also be VERY familiar with the maps. If they are new to a map, they should play as Marine on it, not as commander.

Then, when they have that down pat, get a copy of a bot program and fire up a lan game. This time learn the interface and how to drop/place items. Understand and get a feel for overhead view. Once they are comfortable with this, only THEN are they ready to move to a 'live' server.

They should pick a SMALL game. No more than 5v5. In smaler games Marines tend to stay together more, and this makes it easier on the commander. Once they command the small games they will get a feel for their skill as commander.

New commanders should NEVER try their hand commanding 6v6 or more games. It's just too much to handle. All they will achieve is to annoy a great many people and to get themselves ejected. Better to start small and then when they are good at small game, THEN they can try the larger ones.

Regards,

Savant

Ollj

Best way to learn commanding, no matter of other conditions, is taking place in an empty seat if noone else takes place there for a long time.
Its no problem if you suck a bit, as long as noone gets anoyed, because its just a game.
First time you hear moaning marines regulary without "no hes good"-counters better leave.