Just one thing.
I remember it being mentioned in an NS2HD video about the idea of a sub commander. One able to log in via a tech point base and do some commander tasks to help take the pressure off the main commander. Is this something that was removed or is it something being worked on as honestly I think letting the Marines have a 2nd person at two tech points would help them a bit as it would mean one commander could focus on the battle while the sub worked on build orders and troupe movement for a second squad. this is as at present the Marine Commander is far more involved than the alien commander, with the Marine commander being required to do research, set build orders and movement orders and support the pushes. while the Alien commander can sit back, and do a bit of building and research without having to support the front lines as much.
How about a field sergeant who runs on the field of battle and is able to make drops through some kind of uplink to the commander. The sergeant could be allocated by the commander at anytime during the game (meaning they could also change who the sergeant is). Benefits would be - taking pressure off the commander to med/ammo a battle group, and it would encourage players to stick together (by following the sergeant), could also help with the new players by providing them with some guidance by having someone to follow etc.
1) The worst experience I have while commanding is that it's hard to give marines accurate medspam if those marines not on the center of screen. Sometimes I haven't time to move screen therefore I lose 50% of meds.
Perhaps I could move my screen medspaming simultaneously with arrowbuttons, if I were not had to press E-S buttons. So, as a partial solution of problem you able to add option to bind a medpack on mouse button.
2) Waypoints should be improved I think. I want Marine commander be able to give by hand folowing waypoints. First of all, "Hold the position" or just non-object Defend-waypoint (defend on area) OR both them. Second, non-object Attack waypoint that means marine should kill everything on this area. Also "Hide there" or "Sneak" waypoint that means marine should not discover his presence on the area.
3) It should be nice to give Marine commander the opportunity to produce voiceover command to encourage or discipline marines. E.g. I saw that marine killed 3 skulks in a row -> I am clicking a special grid spot -> marine hears: "God job, soldier!". Or, marine welding a Harvester, then: "You are wrong, soldier!" etc.
You can hotkey marines to re-center so you don't have to scroll your screen. Afaik, I'm the only on in the world who does this for some reason, but it's actually a pretty easy thing to do, it doesn't take much effort to adjust this in to your play.
Two year old necropost, but I think this topic is still relevant.
My take: commander mode is boring and a huge difference in play style.
If I have to make a suggestion, it's to mimic the Battlefield 4 commander mode's style of gameplay.
For perspective, as BF4 commander you gain squad points, which is gained when players fulfill commander-dictated objectives: so you gain points if they followed your orders. Commanders therefore had incentive to commit to the game by ordering squads to take objectives. Player squads in turn gain field upgrades, which were things like being able to carry more ammunition. The disparity wasn't so big that it was very noticeable, but not necessarily hard to achieve either: most people are going to be trying to take certain parts of the map.
These commander points are then expended as game-wide benefits, like deploying a drone that reveals all enemy positions in its aura. When squads kill revealed enemies the commander gains even more points, and of course the fact that the enemy is being killed off and losing strategic positions itself help the players of one side to win the match. Other resources include supply crates that replenish health and ammunition to nearby players (including enemies!). Faster spawn time and dropping vehicles are two more (though less useful and more costly) abilities.
In BF4 there are also map-related benefits, such as Gunship and Cruise Missile, of which are assigned to certain parts of the map: if your team takes control of those points then their commander can utilize these assets for their team's benefit. Gunships fly over predetermined routes, and players inside can shoot at enemies below. Cruise Missile is a big missile that slowly flies to target and kills any enemies at the designation, perfect for dealing with campers. Enemies that take over said points naturally prevent your team from utilizing these benefits, and in turn they get to use it against you.
Back to NS2 I can see the commander/ hive system being improved following the same basic tenets (without ripping off BF4 elements of course). Obvious one is that instead of dropping individual med packs to wounded marines, crates are dropped onto location that provide a set limit of, say, 100 instances of healing to players, a sort of miniature temporary armory. An identical version for ammo could be used as well. In terms of micromanagement, this cuts down on the need to spam medic packs for marines to pick up, but also means that the marines are forced into a more local area due to the crate's static nature: placed in a poor position, aliens can pick off marines huddled near said crates. But crates allow commanders to manage other parts of the map and not worry about marines constantly taking damage and following with spammed requests.
Squad-based temporary benefits could be things like faster reinforcing times for X squad, increased ammo capacity, slow self-healing and faster movement speed. All of these cost commander points to be used, points that need to be generated by accomplishing objectives that the commander sets: if a squad is assigned to guard a specific area, and they manage to kill a dozen or so aliens during that time, the commander can quite quickly gain necessary points.
There should be, of course, an Alien equivalent, utilizing an alien, animal theme.
1. I found strange, that alien commander can't give movement/attack order to lifeforms, but marines can! It contradicts idea of alien central brain. Alien commander can't give orders to bots also. That ruins Kharaa gameplay with bots.
2. It will be useful to select lifeform commander want from player evolve to. I saw a feature on Tactical server where aliens choose preferred lifeforms in score-table before round started. Why can't we do the same in vanilla?
Player or commander are able to select this.
Trying to place a medpack on a marine who is being attacked can be very difficult especially if the marine is jumping around going in random directions
I find it difficult to notice if a drifter is using abilities properly such as enzyme or mucous. It would be nice to see added UI elements to make it more clear when abilities are used. Some sort of bold colouring effect that only the commander would see.
Comments
How about a field sergeant who runs on the field of battle and is able to make drops through some kind of uplink to the commander. The sergeant could be allocated by the commander at anytime during the game (meaning they could also change who the sergeant is). Benefits would be - taking pressure off the commander to med/ammo a battle group, and it would encourage players to stick together (by following the sergeant), could also help with the new players by providing them with some guidance by having someone to follow etc.
Crazy idea but hey, why not.
1) The worst experience I have while commanding is that it's hard to give marines accurate medspam if those marines not on the center of screen. Sometimes I haven't time to move screen therefore I lose 50% of meds.
Perhaps I could move my screen medspaming simultaneously with arrowbuttons, if I were not had to press E-S buttons. So, as a partial solution of problem you able to add option to bind a medpack on mouse button.
2) Waypoints should be improved I think. I want Marine commander be able to give by hand folowing waypoints. First of all, "Hold the position" or just non-object Defend-waypoint (defend on area) OR both them. Second, non-object Attack waypoint that means marine should kill everything on this area. Also "Hide there" or "Sneak" waypoint that means marine should not discover his presence on the area.
3) It should be nice to give Marine commander the opportunity to produce voiceover command to encourage or discipline marines. E.g. I saw that marine killed 3 skulks in a row -> I am clicking a special grid spot -> marine hears: "God job, soldier!". Or, marine welding a Harvester, then: "You are wrong, soldier!" etc.
You can hotkey marines to re-center so you don't have to scroll your screen. Afaik, I'm the only on in the world who does this for some reason, but it's actually a pretty easy thing to do, it doesn't take much effort to adjust this in to your play.
My take: commander mode is boring and a huge difference in play style.
If I have to make a suggestion, it's to mimic the Battlefield 4 commander mode's style of gameplay.
For perspective, as BF4 commander you gain squad points, which is gained when players fulfill commander-dictated objectives: so you gain points if they followed your orders. Commanders therefore had incentive to commit to the game by ordering squads to take objectives. Player squads in turn gain field upgrades, which were things like being able to carry more ammunition. The disparity wasn't so big that it was very noticeable, but not necessarily hard to achieve either: most people are going to be trying to take certain parts of the map.
These commander points are then expended as game-wide benefits, like deploying a drone that reveals all enemy positions in its aura. When squads kill revealed enemies the commander gains even more points, and of course the fact that the enemy is being killed off and losing strategic positions itself help the players of one side to win the match. Other resources include supply crates that replenish health and ammunition to nearby players (including enemies!). Faster spawn time and dropping vehicles are two more (though less useful and more costly) abilities.
In BF4 there are also map-related benefits, such as Gunship and Cruise Missile, of which are assigned to certain parts of the map: if your team takes control of those points then their commander can utilize these assets for their team's benefit. Gunships fly over predetermined routes, and players inside can shoot at enemies below. Cruise Missile is a big missile that slowly flies to target and kills any enemies at the designation, perfect for dealing with campers. Enemies that take over said points naturally prevent your team from utilizing these benefits, and in turn they get to use it against you.
Back to NS2 I can see the commander/ hive system being improved following the same basic tenets (without ripping off BF4 elements of course). Obvious one is that instead of dropping individual med packs to wounded marines, crates are dropped onto location that provide a set limit of, say, 100 instances of healing to players, a sort of miniature temporary armory. An identical version for ammo could be used as well. In terms of micromanagement, this cuts down on the need to spam medic packs for marines to pick up, but also means that the marines are forced into a more local area due to the crate's static nature: placed in a poor position, aliens can pick off marines huddled near said crates. But crates allow commanders to manage other parts of the map and not worry about marines constantly taking damage and following with spammed requests.
Squad-based temporary benefits could be things like faster reinforcing times for X squad, increased ammo capacity, slow self-healing and faster movement speed. All of these cost commander points to be used, points that need to be generated by accomplishing objectives that the commander sets: if a squad is assigned to guard a specific area, and they manage to kill a dozen or so aliens during that time, the commander can quite quickly gain necessary points.
There should be, of course, an Alien equivalent, utilizing an alien, animal theme.
2. It will be useful to select lifeform commander want from player evolve to. I saw a feature on Tactical server where aliens choose preferred lifeforms in score-table before round started. Why can't we do the same in vanilla?
Player or commander are able to select this.