My super-duper strategies

BlessedBullet

<div class="IPBDescription">What's earned me the respect of my team</div>These strategies might not help you win the game but it will help you earn the respect of your troops.  A good hunk of these strategies can seem prety obvious but I have yet to see it done by a commander other than me.


1.  When attacking a hive, drop a cache of health and ammo ahead of the troops and behind the troops because A)  When they move up, they'll have the ammo and health to press on their attack or B) When they fall back to reload, they can pick up ammo and health.  

A simple strategy but it's has had amazing effects on an assault as well as earning the trust of your troops.

2.  When droping a waypoint, give a reason WHY you droped it.  When I play marine, I hate being given a waypoint without knowing the reason - am I attacking a  hive? Am I building a turret?  This is definately one of the best ways to get troops calling you "commander" instead of "that ####### who won't give me hvy armor"

3.  If they ask for it, give it to them.  If you can't, tell them why and what they can do about it.  Soldiers that get good gear really like their commander.  Soldiers that don't get gear at all vote their commander out.  Soldier's that don't get gear for a reason *respect* their commander.  Any reason, no matter half-assed or obvious it seems, is better than nothing. Reasons can look like "Sorry I can't give you gear because:

A.  Our tech isn't high enough - find some resources for me so I can give you gear.
B.  Not enough resource points - find more resouces
C.  Sorry I'm busy supporting a squad with health and ammo.  Remind me later to supply you.
D.  Sorry, I need to save resources for a [ insert structure here ] which will help me supply you better in the long run

4.  Learn to apologize and make up for it when possible.  You, the commander, are not perfect.  Soldiers can forget that easily so apolgize frequently.  

Sorry I havn't supplied you guys with gear lately, I'm droping hvy arm and mg at base right now.  
Sorry I can't give you gear, I need the resource for something else.  
Sorry I made you stand next to that resource point for so long.  The next 40 resource points are going to go toward you and and a hvy arm/mg.  


So yeah, simple stuff but very effective.  Do these 4 simple rules and your marines will be begging you to stay when you say you're leaving the server.

Narfwak

Damn, this is the only post I've seen by someone that obviously knows how to command and to lead.  Bravo.

D_6969

Uhhh telling people what they want to hear is an obvious skill, has nothing to do with actual commanding. When you have like 5 marines yelling at you to give armor it's pretty damn stressful. Especially when you are under attack yourself.

Danik

Haha.  Just wait until the correct resource model is added. I can imagine several irate marines camping the base for 5 minutes just to wait for their ha and hmg.

Narfwak

What may seem an "obvious skill" to some is most definatly not at the forefront of most commanders' agendas.  Many commanders mistakingly think of the human players under them as 'their little minions" and disrespect them a great deal.  Being a charismatic leader is by no means an easy task, and most gamers are arrogant and selfish, and tend not to bother to please their men.

I mean, come on, these are gamers we are talking about here, not West Point graduates.  This people can barely communicate in real life; how can you possibly expect them to lead and inspire a team of belligerent morons?

For this reason, I think BlessedBullet's post has very real relevence to NS.  Maybe if people realize that being a drill-sergeant instead of a leader isn't getting them anywhere, they would learn to grow up and respect their fellow gamers.

Flayra

GG BlessedBullet!  This is what is meant by the social part of "social strategy".  I love this aspect of NS and is one of the things that makes it stand apart from a regular strategy game.  To be truly effective, you must truly lead.

I'll be looking for you on the servers.

Tactician

The best way to earn your team's respect is to win.  The best way to win is by earning your team's respect.  It's a big fluffy cuddly circle.

Take the time to learn the names of your men so you can specially recognize the ones that do good deeds in your name.

D_6969

A few people in my family are actually West Point graduates so I guess not everyone but some are <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> . But anyone it should be common sense to be polite. That's what I meant. But actually the better strategy for attacking a hive is to put a turret factory just outside it and then upgrade and add turrets and a siege turret. The siege turret shoots through the wall taking things out and the soldiers just make sure everything isn't destroyed. So yeah a phase gate and armory are good right next to it too. So they can get ammo and come back to it if they die. My guys usually don't die though. I rarely lose soldiers when I play cmdr.

Aden

I like to respond with quick stuff like
"HMG not avail(able)" and "Need more resources" when players ask for something that I can't give them. If they want something and there is enough resources to give it to them, I usually do. Even when some people are screaming at me to give them "HMG!" or "NEED HEALTH", I usually stay cool and say "Location" to find out where they are. I try to keep a mental list of the tasks that need to be done, and if I forget, I'll ask "who needs anything?". I love being commander. Great job NS team.

Jikx

bravo with the responding!

i hate it when i'm sitting at 23 health, asking 'health please!' 'need some ammo' .. and then no reply..

just replying shows you care <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->

of course my personal favourite, commander - "where are you? I can't see where to put health!" me - *dead*

The_Seer

I have yet to seen a polite commander besides myself really. (I'm modest, I really am!) I guess it's just hard to respond when you're doing something, but I try. And for some reason, my voice comm thing doesn't work when I'm a commander. What's up with that?

But replies mean a lot. Of course nothing ticks me off more than a commander who isn't doing anything at all, and is very narrow-minded when completing tasks, I've spent countless times asking for health at a certain place hiding, and not getting anything for at least five minutes, in which case I could have died, and come back sooner with full life. But the worst thing is that I don't get a response.

I've been a commander about 5 times, and I rarely got complaints, I guess it's the whole actual responding thing. Every now and then I do hear them rambling about how they aren't getting what they want, I guess sometimes I miss their request, so yes, constantly asking "Does anyone need anything" is a good thing, but then again, some people get mad after asking for something more than once. That's the stressful thing I come by, extremely unforgiving troops, but besides that... yes.

Necro

very nice stuff there!

baby_seal_clubber

I've never played commander yet and I figure I'll try it out by myself on my lan with my sister or something, but I find that sometimes commanders get awfully stressed out when players are so unforgiving and impatient. One has to remember that there's only one guy controlling everything that goes on throughout the map and sometimes he can't get to everybody. If he's busy somewhere else I'll put in my request and if I don't get it I'll ask a minute or so later very nicely.

I worked as a teller for Bank of America for a long time and I found that I always liked helping the nicer customers than the demanding and bitchy ones. Like anyone in a customer service position a commander is going to be more likely to help you and cooperate with you if you're nice to them.

Mindmeldme

I almost always play as a marine and then most of the time i command. I play as [GTW]The Evil One. I've had people request me to command now in servers I join because they have heard of me. I play with a mic because i feel if your a commander you MUST have a mic. I always let my Marines know what's happening where, why i am sending them where I am sending them. To wait if I am doing 4 things at once and I will be right with them in a moment. I always drop them whatever they need or let them know I am just waiting the few seconds for resorces so I can give them gear, or try and leave a good cahce or weapons and armor at the spawn.

The biggest thing I have to point out to my new marines at times is that I need to know what they need...ammo, armor...etc but also where. I know I can use the space bar for request but sometimes marines move about...can't find them with it to fast. At times though I am like the hand of god in that I have had guys tell me I am everywhere at once. They get hurt suddenly health and ammo drops around them. They request a gun somewhere...in a moment the gun drops right at thier feet.

I feel as a commander you must always be cool...even with 5 people yelling at you about being under attack, needing gear, wanting something all at once. You make an excellent point of what to do as a commader but...the main thing is...build what is needed, when it is needed, listen to your men and just be attentive at all times. Sometimes...as a commander...your nothing more then a glorified babysitter.