How to Fix the Commander
StixNStonz
Join Date: 2006-11-06 Member: 58439Members, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2006-11-06 Member: 58439Members, Reinforced - Shadow
<div class="IPBDescription">'How do you prevent a bad commander from ruining the whole game?</div>SO. I'll try to tackle this as much as I can in this post, but this is to be an open discussion. It seems a lot of people are criticizing the devs for either changing the Commander role too much, not changing it enough or not listening to them (the critics). But I really haven't seen many concrete ideas, or at least seen them in a cohesive thread.
So here it is.
Keep in mind that the 'The Commander Experience' thread is about the interface, not necessarily about fixing the underlying dynamics of commanding.
<u>FIRST AND FOREMOST</u>.
Video tutorials.
We've gone over this already a few times. The Comm tutorial would probably be the longest. You could make it optional, or you could make it a requirement before you hop into the chair. Regardless, it would really help a player to be able to SEE an explanation, while also hearing it. This would solve most of the problem, but of course, this thread is about other solutions, to hopefully solve ALL of the problem.
Oh and one specific note about the Comm tutorial: IMO it really, really requires a quick explanation of how the hotkeys work. They are SO intuitive, that once a comm decides to try them out, he can learn them within an hour, and start acting FAR more like an experienced commander. It unlocks the speed needed. A quick visual, of the keyboard ASDF overlaid with the comm menu, would quickly get this message across.
Other Ideas?
<u>---Auto-help, and 'Tip Ticker'</u>. In NS1, cl_autohelp is turned on as default, and has helpful little pointers.
How about an auto-help in the Chair? You could add a small button that says 'Auto-Help', and begins clicked on. Perhaps, when its on, there is a small textbox that is like a 'tip ticker', that continually suggests what the comm could be doing. The first thing it would say would be to drop an IP; perhaps then, it would either suggest a 2nd IP if you had more than 6 players, or it would wait two minutes before suggesting a 2nd ip, etc. You could program it any number of ways.
You would take the 'most basic' tech tree, and encourage the commander to follow it. This would be IP -> Armory -> 'Send troops to get resource nodes.' -> Arms Lab -> Choose an upgrade on the Arms Lab (Armor 1 Suggested) -> Observatory -> Etc.
The tip ticker would let a player be able to get help immediately, at any time; hence as soon as he needs it. All of us hopped in the comm at once point and just flipped out. I couldnt even get out for like 10 mins (for some reason the big red LOGOUT button isnt obvious).
With a little Tip Ticker, you'd see the instructions as soon as you hopped in the Chair the first time and looked around; from then on, you'd know where to look if you got lost.
You could also have <u>a little animation that directs the comm's eye to the suggested next step</u>: this could be done with a moving circle (it kindof expands and contracts around the structure to click on, or the menu with said structure), or simply light up the icon as orange (keeping the other icons blue, as they are now).
Of course, this auto-help could be turned off at any point, leaving a decent commander to go about his merry way.
<u>---Auto-Med</u>.
I suggested this some time back, and I think it still has merit. Basically, another toggle button on the Comm's HUD, which is by default <u>ON</u>. When a marine calls for a med or an ammo pack, he automatically gets it 3 seconds later.
Now, any decent comm would turn this off right away. It takes away so much of the commander's ability to micromanage his res. He cant give his usual lightning-quick med support. He cant yell at a marine with 95hp calling for meds.
BUT... these are all things that newb comms CANT do, or dont know how to yet.
There are two things that Comms get yelled at for. Teching, and medding. This would solve at least one of them. It isnt the perfect solution, but as far as I can tell, it is <u>the only solution yet proposed</u>, and it seems like it would actually work pretty well. Plus, the coding is already done; you have Resupply from Combat.
Consider also the other side of the coin; the marine players, who are having their game ruined by a bad comm. Teching aside, this would give each player his personal share of the res, to keep him adequately supported out in the field, enough so for him to enjoy himself. Currently, a newb comm generally doesnt med at all. Marines generally dont put up with that for more than two lives before they eject.
<u>---Comm Trainer</u>
This would kindof go hand-in-hand with a general 'single player NS trainer'. They pretty much already exist. Of the many friends i've brought into NS, one in particular started playing, and would only ever play on the Marine Trainer servers. These are the servers where all the players go marines, against alien bots; bots that dont jump, blink, etc. The marines turret farm every single node until they finally siege the hive.
Thats a horrible portrayal of the actual game of NS, but some people enjoy it. More than anything though, it lets them play with command in a forgiving environment. Take some basic bot code (the stuff out there currently could be used, frankly), and toss it in to a single-player Training mode. Just make sure its labelled 'Training'.
This Training mode could perhaps also make use of the Picture-In-Picture ability of Source, so that players would run around the training mode while watching the video tutorials.
Anyways, these were some of the ideas of how to 'fix' the commander issue.
Recap:
-Video Tutorials (required)
-Auto-Help with Tip Ticker and visible 'recommended moves'
-Auto-Med, a crutch for new comms, inefficiently taking away part of their micromanagement power to boost the enjoyment of all
-Possible single-player Training mode, filling both teams with bots.
And please keep it relevant guys. Don't go off on tangents. This isnt about adding in wall-mountable cameras, comm-operated turrets, special abilities or anything. This is about helping new comms perform their role in a way that can still create enjoyable games for all.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
So here it is.
Keep in mind that the 'The Commander Experience' thread is about the interface, not necessarily about fixing the underlying dynamics of commanding.
<u>FIRST AND FOREMOST</u>.
Video tutorials.
We've gone over this already a few times. The Comm tutorial would probably be the longest. You could make it optional, or you could make it a requirement before you hop into the chair. Regardless, it would really help a player to be able to SEE an explanation, while also hearing it. This would solve most of the problem, but of course, this thread is about other solutions, to hopefully solve ALL of the problem.
Oh and one specific note about the Comm tutorial: IMO it really, really requires a quick explanation of how the hotkeys work. They are SO intuitive, that once a comm decides to try them out, he can learn them within an hour, and start acting FAR more like an experienced commander. It unlocks the speed needed. A quick visual, of the keyboard ASDF overlaid with the comm menu, would quickly get this message across.
Other Ideas?
<u>---Auto-help, and 'Tip Ticker'</u>. In NS1, cl_autohelp is turned on as default, and has helpful little pointers.
How about an auto-help in the Chair? You could add a small button that says 'Auto-Help', and begins clicked on. Perhaps, when its on, there is a small textbox that is like a 'tip ticker', that continually suggests what the comm could be doing. The first thing it would say would be to drop an IP; perhaps then, it would either suggest a 2nd IP if you had more than 6 players, or it would wait two minutes before suggesting a 2nd ip, etc. You could program it any number of ways.
You would take the 'most basic' tech tree, and encourage the commander to follow it. This would be IP -> Armory -> 'Send troops to get resource nodes.' -> Arms Lab -> Choose an upgrade on the Arms Lab (Armor 1 Suggested) -> Observatory -> Etc.
The tip ticker would let a player be able to get help immediately, at any time; hence as soon as he needs it. All of us hopped in the comm at once point and just flipped out. I couldnt even get out for like 10 mins (for some reason the big red LOGOUT button isnt obvious).
With a little Tip Ticker, you'd see the instructions as soon as you hopped in the Chair the first time and looked around; from then on, you'd know where to look if you got lost.
You could also have <u>a little animation that directs the comm's eye to the suggested next step</u>: this could be done with a moving circle (it kindof expands and contracts around the structure to click on, or the menu with said structure), or simply light up the icon as orange (keeping the other icons blue, as they are now).
Of course, this auto-help could be turned off at any point, leaving a decent commander to go about his merry way.
<u>---Auto-Med</u>.
I suggested this some time back, and I think it still has merit. Basically, another toggle button on the Comm's HUD, which is by default <u>ON</u>. When a marine calls for a med or an ammo pack, he automatically gets it 3 seconds later.
Now, any decent comm would turn this off right away. It takes away so much of the commander's ability to micromanage his res. He cant give his usual lightning-quick med support. He cant yell at a marine with 95hp calling for meds.
BUT... these are all things that newb comms CANT do, or dont know how to yet.
There are two things that Comms get yelled at for. Teching, and medding. This would solve at least one of them. It isnt the perfect solution, but as far as I can tell, it is <u>the only solution yet proposed</u>, and it seems like it would actually work pretty well. Plus, the coding is already done; you have Resupply from Combat.
Consider also the other side of the coin; the marine players, who are having their game ruined by a bad comm. Teching aside, this would give each player his personal share of the res, to keep him adequately supported out in the field, enough so for him to enjoy himself. Currently, a newb comm generally doesnt med at all. Marines generally dont put up with that for more than two lives before they eject.
<u>---Comm Trainer</u>
This would kindof go hand-in-hand with a general 'single player NS trainer'. They pretty much already exist. Of the many friends i've brought into NS, one in particular started playing, and would only ever play on the Marine Trainer servers. These are the servers where all the players go marines, against alien bots; bots that dont jump, blink, etc. The marines turret farm every single node until they finally siege the hive.
Thats a horrible portrayal of the actual game of NS, but some people enjoy it. More than anything though, it lets them play with command in a forgiving environment. Take some basic bot code (the stuff out there currently could be used, frankly), and toss it in to a single-player Training mode. Just make sure its labelled 'Training'.
This Training mode could perhaps also make use of the Picture-In-Picture ability of Source, so that players would run around the training mode while watching the video tutorials.
Anyways, these were some of the ideas of how to 'fix' the commander issue.
Recap:
-Video Tutorials (required)
-Auto-Help with Tip Ticker and visible 'recommended moves'
-Auto-Med, a crutch for new comms, inefficiently taking away part of their micromanagement power to boost the enjoyment of all
-Possible single-player Training mode, filling both teams with bots.
And please keep it relevant guys. Don't go off on tangents. This isnt about adding in wall-mountable cameras, comm-operated turrets, special abilities or anything. This is about helping new comms perform their role in a way that can still create enjoyable games for all.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Comments
As for the med thing, in a competitive environment it would be used alot as usually the members of each respective team will trust one another. However, in pugs it could be abused and may never be used. Of course there are things like adding a delay, that can help fix situations like that, but another problem is, it takes out part of the commander's role. I've never really liked the idea of medpacks dropping and healing the marines for a large amount instantly, but theres just not that many ways to keep dropping medpacks urgent, and not tedious.
Back on the tutorial subject.... I think that Videos won't really help that much at all, as you may forget what to do, where as, actually doing it, with a step by step guide, Voice/Text or both, would really imprint the methods and tactics at the commander's disposal.
With a delay of 3 seconds, and the loss of control for the commander, any adequate comm would turn it off. It IS a crutch.
Commanding against a bot team teaches you the basics yes, but when it's real players we're talking about they work as a team, they use their strenghts against targets and not their weaknesses that much (like going against turrets), and the game goes SO much faster. I usually have the problem when there's more and more players then ofc the harder the micromanaging gets. That's where the good comms get separated from the bad ones. The only way atm to learn how to comm good is just by practicing it but it really ain't an option when it's the whole team's success and playing experience that depends on it.
This is exactly why I devised the Auto-Med option. Comms who can handle the micromanaging can turn it off. Perhaps some comms who can handle the micromanaging at 6 players, will turn it on when they command 15 players. Regardless, it would be a crutch, a way of helping commanders learn through experience, while letting the Auto-Med automatically satisfying part of the team's needs.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The only way atm to learn how to comm good is just by practicing it but it really ain't an option when it's the whole team's success and playing experience that depends on it.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The whole team's success will always depending greatly on the comm; but its the playing experience that they're trying to mend for NS2. You can still have a newb comm and lose, and enjoy the game, but I think this would be much more likely to happen with a feature such as the Auto-Med.
But I think that that may curb the enthusiasm after 6 months, if no one is on the training servers. So you run into a large problem there w/ this type of implementation.
I think having 15minutes of tutorial videos that are -almost- required to watch @ the very beginning b/f playing is by far the best and easiest option. A picture is worth a thousand words, and a video can make an 'essay' worth of information an easy bite-size niblet to digest quickly and get the general information that one needs to begin.
1. Trial by fire. First time I hopped in, I didn't know how to med decently. I was ejected almost instantly by my team who couldn't help but complain.
2. Finally, after about a year of NS, and no more getting in the comm chair, (I was almost terrified to go in after that; not knowing what buildings had what research, etc...and facing the slings and arrows of all the other marines...) someone was kind enough to teach me how to do it properly.
People shouldn't have to wait a year to be trained to comm for fear of their team going ballistic on them.