Command Structure

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Paulus, Dec 10, 2012.

  1. Paulus

    There are tools provided, but it would seem there is little or no way of identifying a chain of command.
    If i'm running around as a regular soldier, i don't know if anyone online is the new game equivilent of a CR1-CR5 and have no way of passing information up the chain about bases, troop and vehicle movements or AMS locations. The same is true for me when i lead a squad, i have the 100 cert "command channel" but i have no way of seeing who else is at the same level, so am unable to work with other PL's and SL's to work on common goals. The map icons are all very well, but other than a pretty picture, they serve little purpose, they don't have any form of "encouragement" attached to them other than the native attack and defend benifits. The "team work" seems to mostly comprise of PuGs running around following a green waypoint, with little ability to have information sent up and down the chain, and for the key links in those chains to see where they fit, and who else is in thier tier (SLs can't see other SLs names in a chart or list, and nor can PLs).

    It would be nice if you could add something to address this, as the broken link between the soldiers, the squad command and the platoon command means information is strangled or people resort to using /y for tactial information outside of the squad/platoon enviroment (This is not a good idea for obvious reasons, but they still do it).
    • Up x 1
  2. Takoita

    +1 to this. When I scout out in search for enemy sundies, I need to relay that information to other players effectively.
  3. Aghar30

    get an outfit work with them, they tend to have command structures and named and well known people (within the outfit) that lead.
  4. Zelmanov

    give a way to mark waypoints "on screen" as opposed to by staring at the map, I hate having to describe five different landmarks to show where an enemy sunderer is (especially since marking while flying is bugged)
  5. Perry

    Can other players see smoke? When I find a Target of interest like a AMS I drop a smoke marker on it.

    Im against the idea of PS1 style CR5s, to many people thinking they are cool when they act like children writing rubbish on Global.


    When more squad leaders use leader chat, things will get more organised.

    Also this forum needs individual rooms for the servers so people can feel more like a community
  6. Paulus

    yes, but then how does the PL of that outfit know who else is leading a platoon out there so that they can discuss the bigger plan for the map? The command structure within an outfit is not transfered into the game in quite the same way, the game has no way of telling anyone else simple things like a list of active PL and SL.

    Let me give you an example to make my meaning more clear;

    I'm leading a 2 squad platoon on Indar, both are assulting Mao. You are leading a 3 squad platoon, and you are defending Rashinu. You're comfortably holdign Rashinu, but i'm struggling to take Mao, because i can see you are a PL, i ask you for one of your squads to be sent to help take Mao. You accept my request, you send Bravo squad and we both achieve our objectives. The empire prospers because we were able to deploy the correct proportion of forces dispite not being in the same platoon.

    Or, from a soldiers perspective;

    I'm scouting the edges of a conflict, i can see we are defending quite well at Rashinu, but the VS are massing a force over to the left flank, i know that while they are grouping up, they are vulerable and without the deployed units such as AMS, they will struggle to reform, but if they reach Rashinu, the force will give the attackers a foothold and the base will be lost. I can see you are one of the 2 PL in the area, and i sent you and the other PL a message about the force. You and the other PL at Rashinu have a brief discussion, and you both send 5 men in a strike team to knock out the force before it can deploy on your left flank and become a source of trouble. the empire prospers, your defence of Rashinu is unbroken, the attackers are routed, and Bravo squad does not have to be recalled from the assult on Mao, so the cap on Mao goes ahead as before.

    I hope these two interlinking examples show the kind of information flow that is lacking in game, which i tried to highlight in my 1st post :) It's not because people don't want to, its because of simple things like "who are the PLs"
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  7. Sabzi

    Anyone played Battlefield 2142? I loved the command structure there. There was a separate voip, if I recall correctly, where only the sl and the commander could talk.
    Obviously it wouldn't work in PS2(as is) due to it's size, but simply putting in more tier would solve that problem I think.

    EDIT: for those never played that great game there was one commander who could access a different map menu where he could gave orders to SLs. He was able to order orbital strikes, send in ammo/health packages, call in scout devices, etc. So the trooper in the squad could tell what's up to his SL and the SL could tell it to the commander(voip supported too).
  8. Paulus

    That ability already exists, all they need do is cert the ability, they don't even need to work for it. i should say i totaly agree with everything you have said though, in that alot of CR5s were mates of proper CR5s who wanted to act the big man, but lacked the command skill of thier friend. Sadly what we have right now, is all the negative of the old CR5 ability (global spam) but without a positive to trade it off against (competent and known CR5s). The good ones got known, and you soon worked out who was a fool and who was worth listening to. My worry is that because anyone can cert command and then flood global with nonsense, and the good command just plug away working with thier outfit, the majority of the playerbase will have no clue there is even a plan being carried out at the base next door. It breeds a very insular and detatched kind of play structure, each platoon has no way of seeing how it fits with the bigger picture, so the other soldiers not in the platoon running into battle beside you may as well be NPCs for all the contact and perspective you have.
  9. gobbybobby

    For some messed up reason if you have the command channel, and your are platoon leader, BUT not squad leader

    you are kicked out of the command channel??

    This needs to be fixed, If I am the creator of the platoon, and then set a squad leader I should still have have
    • Over all control of the Platoon, at this time if I assign someone as squad leader, and have myself as platoon leader, the new squad leader is given full control of the platoon, How does this make sense?
    • Access to the command channel I paid 100 certs for,
    Why is it only Squad leaders can get in the command channels?

    I would also like to see more tools given to the platoon leader.

    @ OP
    To find out if there are other platoons what you need to do is be in the command channel and say

    "Hey, any other platoons on <Insert continent name> I am looking for more squads for my platoon and or, I am going to attack or are defending <Insert base name here> and would like some help, the enemy have <Detail what you know about the enemy>"


    Anyone that regular leads platoons and or is an outfit leader should get the command channel Cert I have found it very useful.
  10. heavenzdead

    i really like your idea. really hope the dev will see this
  11. Tuco

    Too bad commanders can't draw on the map. Now that would be a real command tool.

    Chose which commander, or multiple commanders, that you know are useful in planning, hit a checkbox next to their name or something, then you can see what they draw on the map.
    • Up x 1
  12. Paulus

    Yup, i've already used that (and made some useful contacts on my server because of it). The trouble is, if no-one replies, there is no way to tell if thats because no PL are online, none of the SL have the cert, they're busy shooting at/shot by someone or because they just don't want to talk to me.
  13. gobbybobby

    Usually it means there nobody there, at peak time on there server I am on there can be 20+ in the channel, and it can get a bit spammy with people talking about the 3 continents, or when lots of people on different part of the map are using /orders/

    you know leading a platoon with all thos channels to be keeping an eye on, squads, platoon, outfit, local, region, command,

    I still havn;t figured out what the default key is to voice talk in the command channel? Do you know? Its not appeared on keymapping, as far as I can tell, but I hear people talking in there when I am a squad leader.
  14. Faidwen

    Aaaah the good old days of drawing funny faces on the map ;)
  15. Tuco

    *unclicks checkbox next to player's name doing it*

    What good old days? I don't ever recall that being a function on any FPS game.
  16. Faidwen

    PS1 :)

    .... and normally I was all serious when playing PS, but one day I logged on, and our platoon leader had drawn a great big phallic symbol heading towards the VS, I nearly spit my pop all over my computer, it caught me off guard... rest assured we took it to them hard!!
  17. Tuco

    That must have been added later. I quit after first 6 months the game was out: specifically because of the CUD cheaps.
  18. Faidwen

    Yes, it was added later. It certainly allowed better communications with the troops. You could lay out quite detailed plans. VERY VERY HANDY!
  19. Paulus

    I've not encountered a default bind myself, but then alot of my commands tend to be written, so i only use VoiP sparingly.


    I can only think my server must have a smaller number of certed people, the population is decent enough (usualy "High") but there is usualy only myself and 1 maybe 2 others who respond on /leader. This kind of goes to the nub of my gripe, is that because the other 20 SL and PL out there don't have the cert? I can't say with any certainty, because theres nothing else in game that works to inform you.

    I would also agree with the comment someone else made about not being able to use /leader if you're not in a squad/platoon, if i've just logged in, i'm deaf and blind until i can get a squad up and running.
  20. Faidwen

    I am hoping that ALL of this will change soon. There needs to be a much more comprehensive set of tools for squad / platoon management. I think that eventually some of the tools that we had in PS1 will migrate this way! At least I hope so.