What's the situation with Mattherson NC?

I'm super duper extra with a cherry on top curious at the moment, mainly because I don't run in outfits so I'm very much out of the loop.

What organizational command, if any, does NC currently possess?

I ask because quite often, it feels like the strategic decision making process on the NC side feels like it's in complete disarray. Seeing 48+ Platoons zerg over a 1-12 enemy hex in the middle of nowhere while our Biolab is being capped with a 12-24 force of TR and a grand total of 3 NC huddled inside a spawn room for warmth.

Or watching entire outfits decide to stay on a stalemated continent during a facility alert where none of our facilities are under threat, and meanwhile on the other continents, we're losing territory left and right because we have no bodies.

Quite often, you still hear NC players complain about VS or TR being OP, but battles here are not won or lost because one side has guns with a little extra pew-pew or dakka-dakka. You lost battles because you put your men in the wrong place at the wrong time.

So.

Who are the big outfit players on Mattherson NC these days, and who's calling the shots?

And how many of those folks need to be shot?

EDIT:

Also, ramming 48+ guys down a single choke point is not a recipe for success. It's not unusual for me to find myself alone with maybe 2 or 3 other enterprising hill climbers on a flank when an entire squad could have done a lot more damage. If you're going to lead a squad/platoon, I recommend being familiar with the lay of the land so you can get the drop on your enemy rather than rushing through the front door all the time.

Because the alternative is having that Prowler only 2 guys noticed lockdown and farm 200 certs off your freedom loving bodies.

EDIT EDIT:

Oh.

**** it.

MURICA!

From what I've seen, most platoons are just a hodgepodge of blueberries and random outfits, almost no coordination whatsoever from the majority apart from a few more elite outfits.

Having just watched one zerg commander try and charge his 20 vanguards up a hill with 4 prowlers on it and get wiped out to a man inside 3 minutes, I can't help but think we are sorely lacking in the organization and leadership department as of this moment.

And this is why till this day, I'd rather lone wolf it!

NC actually pulled a win last night on the Amerish territory alert. VS was getting close to victory after TR had held 52% around the 1 hour mark, but then suddenly VS was in last and NC was winning with only a few minutes left. The celebratory galaxy crash was glorious.

lulz, yep I hear ya.

-Ddolbok-

Yeah, I do see that from time to time as well.

Who are the big players in Mattherson NC outfit wise right now anyway? Maybe I don't pay enough attention to it, but I don't actually know of any huge zergy NC outfits off the top of my head.

The only outfit I remember at all from SolTech was AACE, and that's because Rubberses was an awesome guy. But I haven't seen him in a while and apparently the outfit got changed to 4ACE while I was away.

AACE was pretty awesome though.

This is the situation.

The only guys I know who are still around and kicking on a regular basis, or that I've seen recently, are VCO/SG/BAX. Haven't seen CML for a little while, but for all I know they are still alive and demolishing stuff. That's the full extent of it for the most part.

I was with 4ACE when NewLunarMoon decided to disband AACE and take his remaining active players over to 4 Aces. I guess AACE felt they didn't have enough active players, so Lunar is running 4 Aces aviation wing now. Not all his pilots went with him though.

The biggest player numbers wise afaik for NC right now is VCO, but they're not particularly zergy. They do a lot of redeploys and gal drops and they don't seem to have a systematic approach to combined arms, instead they just run light infantry. I haven't run in one of their pub squads for awhile now though so things may have changed.

VCO, CML, BL, SG, SMG, 4ACE, AACE, GOON, even some TAS seem to be active. Lots of other smaller outfit tags, rarely see more than one or two people together at a time. What I don't see is coordination between them. There may very well be coordination behind the scenes, it's not obvious though. There are no "OMG1!?!?#$* 2 platoons of NC just showed up out of nowhere at this critical base!!!" moments.

Compare this to Mattherson TR, AOD frequently runs 2 platoons and jumps it from base to base wherever needed. This leads to very obvious turns in battle flow. You just know there is some kind of non-random intelligence at work when base goes from getting spawn camped to aggressively pushing out and regaining control in a span of 2 minutes. I don't know what outfit or alliance is responsible for similar actions on VS side, but they can often pull off similar things. I am more inclined to attribute it to VS population advantage. It's not uncommon for VS to have 40% pop on continent.

Obvious coordination and element of surprise is exactly what NC seems to lack on Mattherson. NC do win from time to time though. In last 2 days I've seen VS win 2 alerts, TR 1, NC 1. So victories do feel a bit slanted towards VS, but it's not horrible or hopeless by any stretch.

NC outfits seem to be more specialized. They go for precision strikes, but don't hold up in prolonged fights. TR still throw loosely coordinated, non-micromanaged large numbers of infantry. They are quite good at zerg rush tactics. VS are more of a blunt instrument pushing with numbers, but even with even numbers they are very adept at pulling appropriate vehicles at the right moments. VS seem to pull a lot more armor/air/maxes than others. This phenomenon I can not explain. VS also have few very annoying tactics they use with infiltrators and small squads back-capping linked bases and denying progress to enemy zerg. You just don't see that from other 2 factions too often.

NC are too focused on small squad tactics, they only band together on defenses and never on attack (HUGE FLAW)/ TR are too focused on large zerg tactics, it's somewhat unsophisticated but effective. VS combination of both, which can really throw the opponent off.

You forgot TENC.

At least you guys have an actual faction population. Since the patch TR has consistently had low 20% range of global pop. It sucks losing every alert horribly because you can't just zerg spam everything like NC and VS.

Thanks for the detailed post. You've actually summarized a lot of what I've felt about NC over the past month of playing.

I remember way back earlier this year, SOE did an interview with some of the Mattherson VS leaders. I believe it was Azure Twilight since they were formed back during the PS1 days. It might have been during that interview where some of the outfit leaders mentioned leading combined Ops with some of the other large VS outfits. I'm guessing that at the time those would have been TEST and GOKU. I still see a lot of TEST, GOKU and AT on my farmboards, though a few newer VS outfits have started popping up as well. Point is, there's no difficulty in believing that VS outfits can coordinate large Ops, especially during Ops night Alerts.

When the VS attack, they definitely do feel like a blunt hammer. Just waves and waves of tanks and infantry. I've seen some Biolab caps where it's basically been squads of VS MAXes just bursting out of a spawn shield room straight onto a point, sometimes with more MAXes than defenders. That's not always when they have pop advantage either, they just seem much better at applied extremely localized pressure with the population that they have. It's exacerbated when they have a pop-advantage, but it's not a prerequisite for the victories that they pull off.

This is in contrast to the NC, where sometimes even when we have the pop advantage, sometimes by 3-4%, we're still losing territory, because we've have 12-24 here, and 1-12 there, and another 12-24 at warpgate, with a 48+ stuck in some stalemate in the middle of the cont flanked by both TR and VS.

I really can't stress this enough. We lose strategically because of manpower being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's got very little to do with the minutiae of this or that gun parameter, COF, recoil, bullet drop or otherwise.

That reminds me, if the VS and TR seem like they're double teaming us, I've noticed quite often it's because we've pushed a wedge in BETWEEN VS and TR. This is particularly noticeable on Esamir alerts sometimes where we actually don't give TR and VS much of a choice except to fight us. Instead of taking advantage of rush lanes to funnel the VS and TR into fighting each other, NC is more often than not, getting itself caught into a two-front war.

On the TR side, well, when TR gets going, they're pretty amazing. I don't get all the hate that some of the TR get from within their own ranks, but I just recently saw Rak's video regarding TR's command chat so it was a bit of an eye-opener for me and I'm glad he posted it. AOD, 903, VG, BWC, the HoneyBadgers, and a few other outfits on the TR side are all really good in their own way just on their own, they also have some extremely skilled solo players. If they pulled together and started cooperating more closely, they'd be a heck of a lot harder to deal with than they are currently.

I made a post on the forums a few weeks ago about a surprise ROFLSTOMP that a TR platoon pulled on Allatum where they snuck in a few squads of MAXes, medics and engies into a NC on VS Biolab fight. It seemed like at least 2 or 3 squads, but maybe it was less. It was still a significant amount of people and they managed, in the middle of a 48+ NC on 48+ VS fight, to sneak all that man power into a Biolab generator room and spent several minutes destroying anything that tried to poke its head in.

That's the kind coordination that obviously takes someone with solid control at the helm backed by skilled and disciplined players willing to follow the orders of someone who they know isn't going to derp around getting them farmed all day.

I've also seen base flips where NC has maybe 20 seconds on the clock before capping a hex, and all of a sudden, squads and squads of MAXes and engies just start swarming out of a spawn room, or dropping in from about 3 or 4 gals to flip a point completely back under VS or TR control. Like you said, that sort of thing is obviously happening because there's an intelligence in the back directing those movements. I just don't see that very often from NC.

Occasionally it does happen but here's the difference:

When I cap a Biolab or Amp Station from VS or TR, I'm always ready and expecting for a sudden influx of VS or TR from one or two oufits to just swarm their control points.

When the VS and TR are capping one of our Biolabs or Amp Stations, I have no such expectations from NC.

So I'm still wondering. Do the NC outfits coordinate closely beyond Orders chat from time to time? And if not, do they have plans to do so?

Without the great Warchief stew360 the NC tribe on Matherson has no thunder spirit to take the reigns of battle.

No offense, but this is part of your problem, and it makes me take the rest of your post with a grain of sand. If you're not part of an outfit, or actively leading squads and new players to victory, then you could not possibly know why or how the NC does what they do. I often hear people on Mattherson complaining about how "bad" the blueberries are. Well just remember, to them, /you/ are probably the blueberry.

As for the NC command structure, there are two primary alliances in play to keep outfits organized. They are the New Conglomerate Coalition (NCC), and New Conglomerate Strategic Command (NCSC). As far as I know, both alliances are open to any outfit that's willing to join, and they coordinate not only in /command chat, but also over a separate teamspeak channel to make sure that everyone is on the same page.

Now of course, this isn't always the case. Nobody can tell one outfit to do something they don't want. Remember, it's a game and everything you do in said game is voluntary. The NC has spent the later part of the summer and fall trying to work out all the kinks, and we're getting better each and every time. The problem is, most of NC playerbase that participates in these joint ops are low level BRs being lead by a very few experienced players. For the most part, NC BR 100s and experienced players love to lone wolf it, or operate in smaller squads that have little overall effect on the big picture. This doesn't do us any good either.

So the point I'm trying to make is (and again, I mean no offense with this statement, but), if you really want to know what's going on, join an outfit and get involved, because we sure as hell can use the support. That said, keep in mind that teamwork is the key. Criticizing the actions of other other outfits won't win you any friends here. It's real easy to come on the forums and complain about the NC on Mattherson, but that isn't doing anyone any good. If you really want to make a difference, get involved with those alliances and /do/ something about it.

I'm with NC10, and we do run a few squads daily at least. From what I've seen, NC's good at finding areas to move upon and attacking, but not so much at defending.

A lot of the alerts I've been in result in an NC loss even though they seemed fine at the 1 hour mark.

It does seem though, that NC can do pushes, but can't sustain those pushes, whether it be sunderers needed, man power needed, or simply more organization.

"Point is, there's no difficulty in believing that VS outfits can coordinate large Ops, especially during Ops night Alerts."

-Yeah, VS do seem to be very well coordinated on large scale. As a single player without much influence behind me all I can do is sit back and say "That was pretty damn smart, I wish I could coordinate something similar".

"When the VS attack, they definitely do feel like a blunt hammer. Just waves and waves of tanks and infantry."... " It's exacerbated when they have a pop-advantage, but it's not a prerequisite for the victories that they pull off."

- Yep... exactly that

"This is in contrast to the NC, where sometimes even when we have the pop advantage, sometimes by 3-4%, we're still losing territory, because we've have 12-24 here, and 1-12 there, and another 12-24 at warpgate, with a 48+ stuck in some stalemate in the middle of the cont flanked by both TR and VS."

- I see this far too often.

"I really can't stress this enough. We lose strategically because of manpower being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's got very little to do with the minutiae of this or that gun parameter, COF, recoil, bullet drop or otherwise."

- You hit the nail on the head. IMHO especially after last balancing patch. Some things are slightly better on some factions than others. Like NC maxes are still too situational. Overall though I think everything is close to balanced now.

"That reminds me, if the VS and TR seem like they're double teaming us"

- This I sort of disagree with. Honestly it often feels like that on any faction in my experience. Particularly during moments when you are in the lead. It should be expected for other 2 factions to double-team you.

"On the TR side, well, when TR gets going, they're pretty amazing."

Some disclosure on this part. I have been playing in SG for close about 8 months until last week. Exclusively NC. Recently switched to play exclusively TR and joined AOD. Both outfits have policies against being member of outfit on opposing faction. So I had to quit one to try the other.

"That's the kind coordination that obviously takes someone with solid control at the helm backed by skilled and disciplined players willing to follow the orders of someone who they know isn't going to derp around getting them farmed all day."

- So far, again in my personal experience, SG is light years ahead in discipline and tactics of anything I encountered in AOD so far. My opinion may obviously change as I see more. Compared to SG, AOD seem casual. At the same time their influence and numbers dwarf SG in every possible way. People from other outfits literally jump at the chance to join AOD run platoons, they never had problems filling them. That's some serious reputation. AOD leaders place great value on numbers, but they know better than to try to micro-manage squads. Perhaps at one time they tried and had a difficult time. They can not execute pin point accurate strikes or tactics, they simply herd their players and allow them to do what each individual feels best in given situation. Sturmgrenadier on the other hand clearly states "We will use this tactic now". Members are very highly disciplined, orders are followed precisely and instantly. Yet there is only so much they can do with 2-3 squads at most. I'm really enjoying the contrast between the two so far.

DISCLAIMER: my limited experience is only with 2 outfits, I am sure there are very precise outfits on TR like BWC maybe. Though there is nothing like what TE used to be or AOD is now on NC side, nobody can pull those kinds of numbers or commands such influence.

"I've also seen base flips where NC has maybe 20 seconds on the clock before capping a hex, and all of a sudden, squads and squads of MAXes and engies just start swarming out of a spawn room, or dropping in from about 3 or 4 gals to flip a point completely back under VS or TR control."

- I have lost count of how many times AOD was responsible for this type of thing happening in the last few days alone, while playing TR. Ridiculous re-secures and total domination over enemy with less than 10 seconds before losing base. Mind boggling. But unfortunately their only secret is zerg. When one outfit, one single person, is leading 2 FULL PLATOONS, he just tells them to go. They go. Amazing stuff happens. NC hardly ever do this, in my experience. I can recall maybe 2-3 moments like this in SG in last 6 months.

"So I'm still wondering. Do the NC outfits coordinate closely beyond Orders chat from time to time? And if not, do they have plans to do so?"

- There are 2 alliances on NC Mattherson. NCC and NCSC. They are somehow separate alliances, all major outfits are tentatively part of one. Possibly both. NCC is older dating back to Planetside 1, NCSC is newer and tried to fix flaws of NCC under new leadership. From infantryman perspective I can not tell how active either one is right now. Leaders organized ops, but details are not known to me. Personally I would not count on any kind of miraculous resurrection or increase in coordination in the near future. Again, I am sort of in the dark about these things. Outfit leaders may know more.

I experienced two drastically different play styles in this game recently. Each faction has to cater to BOTH. Outfits that are small and highly organized, AND outfits that are willing to lead independents. Kind of like spec-ops and regular army. NC has the former, but lacks the latter. I don't blame them.... it's hard to lead open platoons.... TR lacks the former, but has the latter down solid. VS seem to have both.

This ^ ^

Well before I say anything else, yeah I know.

I'm well aware that as a fairly dedicated lone-wolf, I basically contribute to the organizational problems that NC has. There is a grain of truth to the lone-wolf cowboy stereotype that TR and VS players throw at NC. I don't think it is true enough to apply to the majority of players, but I think it is truer of NC than the other factions.

Just to point this out, CML has left PS2 and moved to Darkfall.