Rine chain of command
.trixX.
Budapest Join Date: 2007-10-11 Member: 62605Members
Budapest Join Date: 2007-10-11 Member: 62605Members
There has been a lot of discussion about the start of the game, how the commander should be selected, roles of the commander, and additional marine roles. Heres what I came up with (considering only the rines):
After team up a showcase of the map starts (a camera flying around the map, introducing key locations and stuff) and a vote menu pops up:
"Would you like to nominate yourself to be the commander? / 1. Yes / 2. No".
When it ends another vote starts:
"Who would you like to be the commander? / <list of nominated players>".
It would be pointless in public play to have 13 names to choose from because it would mean nothing to strangers. There should be additional info next to the player's name: 1. Total time played as comm, 2. Number of games as comm/Won games as comm. In the second vote menu the players would be ordered descending according to their total time as comm.
The players spawn and only the elected player can hop in the chair. Neither this vote-style election should render voteeject obsolete. When the comm gets kicked mid-game, there shouldnt be another vote because it takes too long, so anyone should be able to get into the chair (or maybe the one who placed second in the vote, if theres any).
The next concept is the field commander, or maybe sergeant?
Most importantly, people should be able to visually determine who is the sergeant: different outfit and/or colour (not skin-colour). Having a different shoulder plate wouldnt be sufficient.
The commander would have a window listing all the marines (imho here also should be some kind of history about the player: time played/total kills/total time spent as sergeant/etc) where he would be able to promote players to the sergeant role (there could be a ratio for how many sergeants there could be in a game, like 1 for every 5 players).
There shouldnt be static squads around the sergeant, because players die and respawn, move off to other tasks and so on. Squads would be formed dynamically, based on the radius of the sergeant. Also, this radius doesnt have to be static and could be implemented in the NS universe beautifuly:
Ok, this is all fine, but how the hell do we expect a public player to follow his superior on the field? It all comes down to motivation. Being in a squad (aka in the radius of the sergeant) means bonuses, like faster rate of fire, reduced damage, faster reload, faster movement etc... When the sergeant enters an infested area there would be different effects: his radius would contract and/or the bonuses would decrease (or even opposite, bonuses would INCREASE so this motivates people to stick together and not wonder off into the aliens' domain feeding them. Sergeant radiuses shouldnt overlay, so if two sergeants are next to each other rines nearby wont get 2x bonuses.
The chain of command
Waypoints could be enhanced so there are sergeant wayponts that show up for every private, but only for the selected sergeant (this way privates could have 2 or more WPs at the same time which MAY be confusing for less experienced players, but is required for the dynamic squad formation). Comm could specify how many players does he need at sergeant WPs, this and the number of players already nearby would be indicated on players' HUD. The sergeant moves to the waypoint where (and only in a specific radius of the WP) he can give orders. Aiming at various spots on the map would enable him to assign orders accordingly. Aiming at the floor would mean if he presses the "order assign button" a "Defend <area name>" order would be assigned. The "order assign button" should be a meta-bind, so when he keeps it pressed a menu would pop up with the "All" in the first place followed by privates' names in his radius (could be cycled with the mwheel).
I dont want to be more specific about orders, because I dont know what NS2 would look like. Though there are ever-green ones like "Build that <structure>/", "Clear vent", "Weld <player name>", etc... Regarding the "Clear vent" order, I think mappers should have a chance to include transparent brushes that contain text info about the command that can be assigned to them. This way sergeants at custom maps with different gameplay (like siege) wouldnt become useless.
This way the commander could concentrate on strategic stuff, while the sergeant can lead the team according to tactical concerns (no, the two stuff arent the same).
As you probably noticed I mentioned the history of players several times. In NS the main problem is the lack of trust. I join a server where are a bunch of people whom I dont know. Lets say someone hops in the chair and builds a TF, he wont last longer than 2 seconds before he gets ejected. But what if the guy is the member of the most pro clan in NS and knows his stuff, thats why he's using a different strat that would be extremely effective (ok, maybe the TF isnt the most probable example, but I couldnt think up any better). If the rines knew that he had commed 8512 times out of which he won 8511, it would be much less feasible that he gets ejected. If you know that hes good you wont seek friction with him, and you will likely follow his commands. In NS youre extremely dependant on your team, even the most skilled players cant win on their own. If you follow orders, that is the team acts coherently, you will be more effective and the game will be more enjoyable.
Imho, the history of players should be included regardless to all of the mentioned above, like in TF2. Its pretty cool to see your performance numerically.
Ideas, suggestions, disapprovals?
After team up a showcase of the map starts (a camera flying around the map, introducing key locations and stuff) and a vote menu pops up:
"Would you like to nominate yourself to be the commander? / 1. Yes / 2. No".
When it ends another vote starts:
"Who would you like to be the commander? / <list of nominated players>".
It would be pointless in public play to have 13 names to choose from because it would mean nothing to strangers. There should be additional info next to the player's name: 1. Total time played as comm, 2. Number of games as comm/Won games as comm. In the second vote menu the players would be ordered descending according to their total time as comm.
The players spawn and only the elected player can hop in the chair. Neither this vote-style election should render voteeject obsolete. When the comm gets kicked mid-game, there shouldnt be another vote because it takes too long, so anyone should be able to get into the chair (or maybe the one who placed second in the vote, if theres any).
The next concept is the field commander, or maybe sergeant?
Most importantly, people should be able to visually determine who is the sergeant: different outfit and/or colour (not skin-colour). Having a different shoulder plate wouldnt be sufficient.
The commander would have a window listing all the marines (imho here also should be some kind of history about the player: time played/total kills/total time spent as sergeant/etc) where he would be able to promote players to the sergeant role (there could be a ratio for how many sergeants there could be in a game, like 1 for every 5 players).
There shouldnt be static squads around the sergeant, because players die and respawn, move off to other tasks and so on. Squads would be formed dynamically, based on the radius of the sergeant. Also, this radius doesnt have to be static and could be implemented in the NS universe beautifuly:
Ok, this is all fine, but how the hell do we expect a public player to follow his superior on the field? It all comes down to motivation. Being in a squad (aka in the radius of the sergeant) means bonuses, like faster rate of fire, reduced damage, faster reload, faster movement etc... When the sergeant enters an infested area there would be different effects: his radius would contract and/or the bonuses would decrease (or even opposite, bonuses would INCREASE so this motivates people to stick together and not wonder off into the aliens' domain feeding them. Sergeant radiuses shouldnt overlay, so if two sergeants are next to each other rines nearby wont get 2x bonuses.
The chain of command
Waypoints could be enhanced so there are sergeant wayponts that show up for every private, but only for the selected sergeant (this way privates could have 2 or more WPs at the same time which MAY be confusing for less experienced players, but is required for the dynamic squad formation). Comm could specify how many players does he need at sergeant WPs, this and the number of players already nearby would be indicated on players' HUD. The sergeant moves to the waypoint where (and only in a specific radius of the WP) he can give orders. Aiming at various spots on the map would enable him to assign orders accordingly. Aiming at the floor would mean if he presses the "order assign button" a "Defend <area name>" order would be assigned. The "order assign button" should be a meta-bind, so when he keeps it pressed a menu would pop up with the "All" in the first place followed by privates' names in his radius (could be cycled with the mwheel).
I dont want to be more specific about orders, because I dont know what NS2 would look like. Though there are ever-green ones like "Build that <structure>/", "Clear vent", "Weld <player name>", etc... Regarding the "Clear vent" order, I think mappers should have a chance to include transparent brushes that contain text info about the command that can be assigned to them. This way sergeants at custom maps with different gameplay (like siege) wouldnt become useless.
This way the commander could concentrate on strategic stuff, while the sergeant can lead the team according to tactical concerns (no, the two stuff arent the same).
As you probably noticed I mentioned the history of players several times. In NS the main problem is the lack of trust. I join a server where are a bunch of people whom I dont know. Lets say someone hops in the chair and builds a TF, he wont last longer than 2 seconds before he gets ejected. But what if the guy is the member of the most pro clan in NS and knows his stuff, thats why he's using a different strat that would be extremely effective (ok, maybe the TF isnt the most probable example, but I couldnt think up any better). If the rines knew that he had commed 8512 times out of which he won 8511, it would be much less feasible that he gets ejected. If you know that hes good you wont seek friction with him, and you will likely follow his commands. In NS youre extremely dependant on your team, even the most skilled players cant win on their own. If you follow orders, that is the team acts coherently, you will be more effective and the game will be more enjoyable.
Imho, the history of players should be included regardless to all of the mentioned above, like in TF2. Its pretty cool to see your performance numerically.
Ideas, suggestions, disapprovals?
Comments
but i totally agree that the commander should be able to use a chain to hit aliens and marines if he wants to.