How do you motivate your troops?

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Silus, Jul 29, 2014.

  1. Silus

    Simple question, if you're a Platoon or Squad lead, how do you get the troops under your command to stop putzing around and actually capture objectives? Anything in particular you say or do?
  2. andy_m

    I dunno... I'm a follower not a leader.

    When I have been following, encouragement could be anything from being shouted at in squad/prox chat, kicked from the squad (understandable) or shot in the head. I bit like real life really :D
  3. Iridar51

    Are we talking about outfit forces or randoms?
    If outfit forces, then during "relaxed platoon play" or strict outfit operations?

    From the perspective of a follower, I have a higher chance of following a command if it's actually formed as an order rather than a suggestion or request.
    "Oh boy I wish we had a couple of bursters here" is vastly different from "Iridar, pull a burster MAX now!".
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  4. Silus


    Let's say...combination of randoms and outfit on a somewhat strict operation (Like "Well we're not going to win this alert but at least we can stop them from getting an overwhelming victory and costing us XP" kind of Op)
  5. andy_m

    I am assuming he is referring to randoms. Whenever I am part of an Outfit squad we don't need any motivation at all.
  6. RHINO_Mk.II

    Promise them certs.
  7. Iridar51

    Randoms do not want:
    1) Ghostcap and zerg, because it's boring.
    2) Being away from a fight for too long. Say no to:
    • Often redeploying from one fight to another. It is preferable to work along the same lattice line, as long as it doesn't mean ghostcap or zerg.
    • Gal drops. Nobody wants to abandon the fight, redeploy to Warpgate and then wait five minutes until they arrive to the next fight, which may or may not be fun.
    4) Capture territory. They simply don't care about it, and why should they? They might care for a base they're fighting for right now, but that's it. Randoms want certs and to look cool.
    Promise them that. There's a difference between: "Oh shi-, NC are taking X base! We have to protect!11" and "Hey guys there are some NC newbs pushing the lane, let's go kill them for free certs!".

    5) Being told to switch classes, even when it's necessary. But some of them genuinely don't know what to pick. So make sure to say when new people join: "Guys, if you don't know which class to pick, just pick an engineer/medic/heavy (whatever is appropriate)". This is an example of when a suggestion is preferable to a direct order.

    6) Constantly being told what to do. Reserve orders like "regroup" and "squad, on me!" for outfit ops.
    7) Not knowing what to do.

    It is important to balance the rules 6 and 7. Make sure that your squad always knows the objective they're working for.
    Tell them what you want the squad as a whole to be doing, but don't sit on their backs either. Designate a base you're fighting for with, mark enemy Sunderers, share the intelligence. That is enough. Leave the rest to your squad.

    Randoms want a good fight, where they won't get farmed, and where they all can have fun. Putting them in a fight with even numbers should be enough.

    If you're leading randoms, you have to give them what they want, while not forcing them to do what they do not want.
    As a unit leader, it is your responsibility to make sure of that.

    If the enemy brought farming vehicles, then you have to clear them out first. Make an effort of explaining it to your squad:
    "Guys, we have a couple of ****** farmers here, pull ASSET to destroy that FARMER! We'll have a hard time fighting here as long as it is alive".
    Where Farmer can be a Fury/Bulldog Sunderer, "Battle" Galaxy, ESFs with lolpods, etc. And the ASSET can be Skyguards, heavy assaults, tanks, whatever.

    As long as you provide your troops with good fights and do not force them to do what they want, you won't need to motivate them.
    Obviously, because of all of the restrictions, your operational freedom is severely limited. But people will LIKE rolling with such a leader. If they LIKE it, they will be inclined to join your outfit, and when they do you can MILK THOSE **** expect them to follow more complex orders, especially during outfit operations.

    When people roll through a couple of ops with you, they will see PS2 on a bigger scale than they used to, and they will see the power of gal drops/other aspects of organized play. They will be able to affect the outcome of alerts, and they will like the feeling of that power.

    Also check out Attlas93's youtube channel, he has leadership videos specific for PlanetSide, such as this one:
    • Up x 2
  8. M4gn1

    ^ this + keep talking. Nothing will make people leave or go on their own more than a silent platoon chat. Make sure people now their are led. Small commands like telling them to also clear the corners of the room sound silly but work. Kick people who are not listening/miles away.
  9. Iridar51

    Oh and almost forgot the most important part: your voice. Speak loud, confident, strong. Never show any doubt in yourself. This is the most important part. I can say that again: having a confident, strong voice that is fit for a true leader of men, is the most important part about leading.
    Voice pitch is not as important as emotional message. Never sound sorry or unsure.
    You ALWAYS know what to do.
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  10. Silus

    Ah, I suppose I have some things to learn and practice. When I squad lead, I tend to be a very on-the-ground kind of leader with an eye for trouble--spawn beacons, deployed Sunderers, flanking tanks, etc. and most of my orders are either "Okay boys, we're heading to X, mount up and move out after we cap this" or "There's a Y over there that needs killing, I want some rockets/C4/Mines/Grenades on it ASAP" or "Okay boys, get on the point/towers/defenses, I want mines down and turrets up, lock it down". Generally though I'm more content with letting the squad I'm in lead themselves in a "Ok we're at X base, there's the point/generators, ya'll know the drill" way.
  11. EGuardian1

    Iridar hit most of the points id want to say (that and lack of caffeine prevents a long response.)

    I will say, it's up to the leader to pick fights that are 'doable' or at the very least 'fun'.

    LIke, defending a Biolab against 1.5x your number can be fun, but agains 3x? Not unless you're all a bunch gf yoloswaggers.

    Taking breaks after long and arduous fights is a good thing too (drinking coffee, slowly waking up) as people do need to take a pee, grab a drink, or whatever else. Turning it into a "Okay, everyone take a 3 minute break at the Warpgate - we'll grab a Galaxy right after) lets some pressure off.

    Another thing is (i've found at least) when leading randoms is to explain why you're doing stuff. Easy enough to say "Okay, let's pull armour and go here." but it's better to say "Okay, let's pull armour. We're going to flank that enemy and hit them from behind while they're distracted. Follow me to get to the waypoint and watch for ESFs and Libs!"

    Oh another thing, don't be afraid to pass off leadership to someone else who wants to. It drains you very fast and having multiple leaders means a lot since the randoms can tell when you're tired.
  12. Clay

    What Iridar said.

    But I would also add I have made the experience that most people in a random squad/platoon will just do whatever the heck they want. Deal with it. You can try some things but in the end you are lucky when 50% of your squad actually follow your oders. If you want really coordinated group play there is no getting around joing a good outfit or rely on people you have played with before and have proven their worth.
  13. Hosp

    I guess to better answer this...is this geared toward any squad, or is this question posed to outfit squads as well?
  14. andy_m

    As a follower, and if my only options at the time are open squads (and I feel like doing squad play), I like to be lead. If squad/platton chat is quiet, and it's not obvious what is going on, I will ask the question, "okay, what is the plan here?"

    The responses are varied, from total quiet to quite detailed. The total quiet may be down to language differences, in which case it is still better to leave that squad and find a leader that can speak my language.

    Sometimes what is required is obvious and I'll spawn as a class which supports the better guys (engi/medic). If air or armour is the problem then I will react to that accordingly.

    Sometimes, a leader will say, "oh, we're just going to ghost cap this adjacent base to see if we can split the attention of the enemy." A squad beacon goes down, perhaps a spawn beacon too, and it's off to see what happens. I like to play Infil a lot, so if the leader does not say otherwise I will spawn as that and see if I can hack a term or an anti-air turret, always useful that. So, yeah, what I'm saying is that it can sometimes be flexible.

    What I totally dislike is if I join a squad and the squad or platoon lead is one of those guys who likes the sound of his own voice, constantly berating guys and calling them useless. I guess it's because I don't respond to that sort of attitude in real life either, so I certainly ain't gonna do so in a game.


    Sorry for the ramblings there... just sharing a few things...
  15. xboxerdude

    This has to be one of the best threads to come out of forumside in a while.

    I'll tell you a story of how I knew I would be a leader growing up (if I am to be a great one or a dunce is yet to be decided :D)

    It was middle school and the school had a policy in place that the kids had to go outside unless it was very cold like well below zero in the middle of winter before eating. They had a couple supervisors who would watch us and stand by the doors, well most of us wanted to go in and just eat our food and conversate and enjoy lunch instead of freeze outside. So we would stack up trying to be the first one in when they would go let us eat. Well one day I got the smart Idea to say to all my fellow class mates (about 180) "There are over 100 of us and 3 of them CHARRRGEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" and we straight up stampeded into the cafeteria with the supervisors chasing all us , the after affect was chaos .


    There is an energy in battles which you must become attune with, if your not in tune with the flow of the battle as a platoon lead, your orders will not be effective. IF you can feel the general energy of your platoon and direct it around and wait until the moment the energy stacks up and then start making the calls you will be very successful. Timing is key to success

    I feel a lot leading is just natural to me now, I have been working on becoming a leader in all aspects of my life, be it philosophical , social, political , sports, self improvement, gaming, women, justice, virtue etc.

    If you are a leader or aspiring to be one in planetside 2 and beyond (life etc) read this guy - http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2680/2680-h/2680-h.htm

    Edit: this one is good also http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.html


    You must be able to lead yourself before you can lead others
  16. Icedude94

    You need to understand that you are only a leader because those you are leading allow you to be.

    People want leaders who have 3 traits.

    1. Knowledgeable. You need to know everything about the game, game mechanics, and base layouts, weapons, etc.

    2. Experienced. You need to know what strategies work at which bases and which don't. Experience includes things like how specific enemy players and outfits fight so you can anticipate their moves. For example, for attacking the lattice lane from Tawrich Recycling to Scarred Mesa, you know that armor has very little use so you minimize the number of people in tanks and you get more people in aircraft.

    3. Creativity. This means you are able to quickly get your squad to react to new threats and take advantage of opportunities. For example, you're stuck in your base because the enemy has tons of armor outside, but the enemy can't get in due to there only being a couple entrances to the base(IE any base on Esamir). You make the decision to get your whole squad to use coordinated phoenix fire to focus down enemy tanks outside the base one at a time.

    It doesn't matter if you have a microphone, know how to set waypoints and have a sexy voice if you are lacking on those 3. I'm sure everyone reading this thread has experienced being under a bad leader who met those bare minimums but 1 or more of the 3 traits above.

    People stop listening when they see that you don't know the game mechanics, you don't know your way around a base or the map, or if your orders are so unimaginative that they don't go further than putting down a waypoint and just telling people to go there.

    Side note: My RL profession is hotel management. I am responsible for leading over a hundred staff. I regularly train other managers and supervisors at other hotels in leadership.
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  17. IamnotAmazing

    /orders farm at _____
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  18. Kevin

    • Up x 1
  19. Rift23

    I scream at them in voice chat to listen to me and tell them they suck. If that doesn't work, I go into /orders and insult the entire faction, typically followed by a demand to drop whatever they're doing and go to a certain hex.
  20. Canaris

    Just shout "free poontang at the point!"... they go for it every time ;)