If You Haven't Commanded Lately..
Paranoia2MB
Join Date: 2002-11-09 Member: 7832Members
Join Date: 2002-11-09 Member: 7832Members
<div class="IPBDescription">tell us why :O</div> I haven't fully commanded an entire game for a LONG while because i'm not really sure what is the right strategy anymore. People do hive rushes, or rush to secure a hive while leaving their base w/o a single trace of D besides some mines.
Myself, I would rather have a lightly secure based (no mines), but TF + Ts are a bit expensive. I use to go like 2 IPs / Armory / Observatory. After one bad game at the start by having the entire Marine team get **** at me for making and observatory..i just said enough..recycled it all and quit the server and I haven't done it since. I mean hell, the marines win the last 4-5 games by having other commanders getting MT first, but they complain at me. Go figure lol
So...what is your reason if you have commanded a full game.
Besides a stress overload and a chance to lose your voice yelling your butt off.
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Myself, I would rather have a lightly secure based (no mines), but TF + Ts are a bit expensive. I use to go like 2 IPs / Armory / Observatory. After one bad game at the start by having the entire Marine team get **** at me for making and observatory..i just said enough..recycled it all and quit the server and I haven't done it since. I mean hell, the marines win the last 4-5 games by having other commanders getting MT first, but they complain at me. Go figure lol
So...what is your reason if you have commanded a full game.
Besides a stress overload and a chance to lose your voice yelling your butt off.
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Comments
my marines ain`t following my orders.
my marines follow my orders we get stuff and they die.
Securing you base with a tf off the start is the easiest way to lose. The kharaa should have dcs up and be saving for the hive by the time you have enough turrets to stop unupgraded skulks. In the next few minutes, they'll have fades, and you'll have almost nothing. game over.
Otherwise, mines are getting more use, the marines are (usually) getting more aggressive, and the 2-hive lockdown usually gets abandoned for resource control and teching up. Relocation only happens on a few maps, mostly because the marine spawn sux compared to other places.
Exactly! <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
If i see that my team doesn't have anyone, who i know, i stay far away from that chair. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
Because i know that it is really hard to command them, i don't know how good shooters they are, how well they know the map, etc... And if we lose (eh....actually....when we lose <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> ) it is going to be my fault. "OMG our com is noob, he didn't gave me a hmg and HA after i next spawned, when i was just ramboing with those equipments and died"
When i see that i have few clannies or few peoples that i know it is easy to command, when i know how good they are and how well they obey my orders.
My favourite map is ns_bast. I just love commanding that map over and over again <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
Because if i have average team, they can pretty easily take atmo (that place with double res nodes) and feedwater. I can easily siege those OC's near engine from base and refinery hive is a good place for jetpackers.
my brain doesn't have to work as hard, hehe
Unfortunately, my computer is a little archaic, so the Comm Chair is not very nice to my comp at all. I run a 450 MHz P3 (That's 0.45 GHz, kiddies!) with a GeForce 2.
I find that normally, I can't react fast enough because my framerate drops to unmanageable levels in the Chair. My mouse doesn't track properly, and oh God, its a mess.
I find when i try to make an important order like to move to an item on the ground or to a small crawl space for camping it says invalid order and you have to type (i have no voice comm but i might soon get a mic) to them what to do and sometimes they dont understand.
Laso clicking on stuff is really hard, i try to open and lose doors for my marines when they attack so they dont have to worry about covering eachother evey time they need to open a door, ns_bast for example has that lift next to the marine spawn that rotates and that other one that goes down to the engine hive. I find this way too hard to use especially the up-down lift.
This is because you have to actually click the button on the lift/door (the actualy button not other surfaces) AND with the already buggy selection interface it becomes quite difficult.
Some multi-level support would be useful, eg in ns-nothing (the one with subspace hive i think) there is a big network of vents that sometimes go underneath the various passageways making it hard to assist a sneaky jp'er with health and ammo. (one thing i do with my jp'ers is build siege cannons in a vent like above a hive.
I rather shoot then watch others people shoot.
Plus it's stressful when your the commander.
How do you open doors as a commander?
I've been a commander for a series of times, but I could never seem to open a door. I would click on it like a madman, try using E..(not the drug, but the USE Key)..and well that's about the only thing I could do. Is it just the buggy interface?
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You know... "OMG COMM YOU STINK! GET OUT OF TEH CHAIR! FORKIN NOOB!" from someone can really ruin it for you.
I now realize why nobody wants to sit there: As soon as you login, everyone and their grandma starts screaming at you to drop this and drop that. "GG. OUR COMM IS A NOOB" I find this phrase extremely laughable (note the registration date under my avatar). Everyone wants to execute the latest "Ultimate Crushing Clan Strat" and can't understand why anyone would want to try something different. I can't believe I didn't know we were supposed to have won the round within 30 seconds because any longer than that and it's "GG NOOB COMM".
BTW, the constant whining about "ONLY 1 GORGE! OMG WE LOSE!" spamming over and over in my earphones is the worst. I've been in plenty of games where we actually had more than 1 gorge early on and still won the round.
It seems that we have too many "Experts" out there trying to control the teams as opposed to constructively Leading the teams. Too many chiefs and not enough indians.
Sometimes I've just had them on nozzle duty (holding a noz with motrack isn't too difficult), and then went on jp hmg myself if there really wasn't anyone who could do it.
I think NS commanding was meant to be a leader who could pull anyone together. That's pretty much the hardest part. And personally, I refrain from hive rushing strats beyond two marines pestering. Or processing. Or taking cargo in the beginning. Mix it up - the game gets a lot more fun that way.
This is because you have to actually click the button on the lift/door (the actualy button not other surfaces) AND with the already buggy selection interface it becomes quite difficult.
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For operating doors/elevators and such, double click on the door or elevator itself. not the switch. I know it works for the 2 doors that you mentioned(thats where i figured it out) and it seems that it works almost everywhere else
.....I don't command because i suck at micromanagement.
The majority would much rather find new ways to ignore the commander, shoot aliens regardless of what the rest of the team is doing and damand an expensive weapon so they can go hide (read: die with) it.
Basically, I think it just boils down to the "noob" factor on the pubs : not enough Marines know how to work as a team and get their job(s) done to be able to pull off a successful (organized) strategy. So, I often resort to some sort of hybrid tech-up-and-wing-it strat where I just hope and pray enough Marines get to a good location to build something decent, like a res, phase, and/or siege.
i know exactly what your talking about, and its really weak. the reason i dont comm any more is the same, i can micromanage, i can get marines (noonbs even) to follow my orders, i can win maybe 6 outta 10 with a good team, but even that wont help you if you get a chrushing defeat, even once, on a server. the whole marine team yealling, cussing, and gennerally telling you there 14, no GF, no life, so SUYF and get outta the chair, gets really old. once 1.1 comes out, command interface gets better, i think anyone with micromanagement skillz, and a deacent comp will be able to command relitivly well, but with how buggy it is now (no offense NS team, i wuv you guys, but you guys always say its a work in proggress <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->), ill wait till 1.1 to command again, even if i know the server and the poeple. besides its more fun to kill aliens than watch them eat marines >_<
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And develop an overinflated sense of ego : - P
Joking aside commanding is hard, if it takes you more then half a second to give people what THEY want (not what the team NEEDS) then the n00b accusations start rolling in. <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif'><!--endemo-->
But i prefer that adrenaline feeling i get when actually fighting.
Yeah i hate people who clomplain and whine cus i didnt do what they want, i also hate people who vote to eject cus i didnt buid say, the tf where they wanted it (this is usually clan members who have played alot of clan games and have their own strategies).
I find that you save a bit of res on medpacks and ammo if you tell people to be ready for a skulk rush, at this point u should only build one inf portal. Just think about what you would be doing if you were on the other team, and you should be able to tell the marines whta to expect. thats how i avoid the stress of annoying surprises (mainly rushes) and when my marines have a bit of foresight they find that they dint need bug guns and equipments so bad.
But being a big lerk guy, i find that i work better with a JP
Oh my, I feel your pain. I really do!
What are you doing with an onboard? Grab a TNT2, an old GeForce256 (first models) or even a GeForce2! ANY thing unless you got an old mobo with no AGP slot -_-
Oh yeah, an onboard and 500MHz usually means, 320*240 at 8fps in TFC <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> so with NS it's a lot worse for all you people who have not had the 'fortune' of trying such a rig out
Anyhow, I haven't played NS for quite a long time now...been busy with real life as you would say. I've comm'ed a few times, done fairly ok but I'm no innovator or great strategic mind. I just follow a fairly simple plan that I've seen or read and thus, copied with a bit of tactical leeway through improvisation incase things do not go quite the anticipated way. I can't handle too much heat though, my mind just locks up and I start to fall behind in giving orders (having a non-functional mic system also contributes ot the communication paralysis that I go through in those circumstances) I somehow do enough of a good job not to be the 'standard' treatment when the team looses and I was even praised when the marines clawed back one hive after loosing control of all 3 in Nancy but eventually losing due to starvation since the 'new' base was in the unnamed and the commander who took over while I wanted a bit of ground time dropped a large turret farm against fades -_-. Ah well...my fault for chickening out instead of commanding onwards and not giving in to the pressures of the job. Part of my tactical fault is also due to the fact I react to the aliens, not taking the tech fight to them. Should have locked down the kharaa with the big techs and pushing them back down from 2 hives instead of waiting till I had a sighting of Fades to get the gear rolling out
Generally, I'm just waiting on the hotkeys to come in then I'll start comm'ing more <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> and when I get my mic setup to work properly
Since I've been out of the loop for such a long time, while I was still playing my biggest problem when commanding was marines who did not follow my orders. I Waypoint them, I tell them through voice and text but they still do not follow my orders. They go and ask WTH I haven't gotten them HMGs, HAs until I point out the fact that they have not captured any of the res points I asked them to do and so we're still on the starting res and maybe one more point.
I'll go back to comm'ing when the hotkeys come in (thank goodness for that!) I get a proper mic and I pluck up the courage to lead the marines. Till then, I'll be roaming around as the 'model grunt' (takes orders, follows them to the letter, never ask questions, use what has been given, never ask for stuff until i feel I have 'earned' them, unless and a big unless, I have major objections to the comm's orders then I'll voice them) in the fireteam or prowling the corridors as my favourite skulk setup.
Oh yeah, unrelated point but I used to play Tribes so I got a lot of conditioning putting team before myself...especially since I was the self-appointed base janitor and runner for the heavy's ammo/repairs -_-