The stressful, unloved job of Marine Commander

2

Comments

  • bobrunbobrun Join Date: 2012-03-06 Member: 148235Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1943184:date=Jun 13 2012, 03:44 PM:name=ScardyBob)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ScardyBob @ Jun 13 2012, 03:44 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1943184"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Probably not before v1.0, but I think this was the idea behind the multiple comms concept. In a 6v6, one comm can pretty much handle the job, but not so much in a 16v16. I've always liked the idea of having mini-comms or even squad leaders with limited comm abilities (like med/ammo drops, can drop RTs, control MACs, etc).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    This! It would be nice just to assign a Veteran or Sub-Commander title to the marines. No bonus or power, just something so the marine have a status and give them the incentive to act accordingly. Or better, they could just go to the armory, or Command Station, and buy a free Squad Leader title. If one guy wants to manage a squad, he's free do to so, and can work to give local orders.

    Simply a tool to delegate orders easily, so the marines can work better together. 1 comm for 3 marines is easy. 1 comm for 10 marines is harder to manage. If on the 10 marines, 2 gets the Veteran title, they can each manage 5 marines locally, and deal on a micro level, while the comm can manage on the macro level. The comm don't have the time to tell the marines in a room to guard an entrance, but the Veteran have the time to do this sort of thing.
  • duxdux Tea Lady Join Date: 2003-12-14 Member: 24371Members, NS2 Developer
    bestmedsineu

    I love commanding, if anything I think it is too easy at the moment. But that's just me, I did a lot of commanding in ns1 so I'm pretty drilled into what needs to be done. I should say though that there is nothing better than to have a commander that looks after you, you feel a lot more comfortable and confident in knowing the meds and ammo drops are going be there at least 80% of the time, sometimes even needing to ask for them. I love those grizzled sexy commanders.
  • 1dominator11dominator1 Join Date: 2010-11-19 Member: 75011Members
    I think we should wait until the marine UI improves to actually promote teamwork and obedience to the commander before we make judgements. Cause atm it is rather minimalist and crap for a thing which is so fundamental to the marine experience (seeing as how reliant on team coordination they are).
  • .ADHd.ADHd Join Date: 2012-02-18 Member: 146565Members
    Interesting thread. I play NS1 still and I never will jump in the comm chair in that game. You will get instabanned from it within 30 seconds if you dont spend your res immediately. Hows THAT for stressful? :-P

    NS2 community is actually pretty understanding of new comms compared to NS1, and NS1 never had a shortage of comms. Once we get closer to a finished product more RTS players will learn about NS2 and you'll see a more diverse and willing group of commanders. The main problem is that the commanders themselves are impatient when it comes to learning, and as soon as they are criticized by the team they will often give up.

    Comming is simply not everyones cup of tea and that's fine. You have to have the patience and dedication to do it... and 2sblind... the marine comm can totally win the game for the marines!

    The good news is that commanding in this game is actually very easy and intuitive once you spent a handful of games trying it out. Don't be afraid and if people complain about you comming just ignore them and focus on improving where they said you failed. Don't ever take what people say over the internet personally....
  • TimMcTimMc Join Date: 2012-02-06 Member: 143945Members
    Will be interesting to see how much easier it becomes to marine comm once they remove energy. I don't imagine medpack spam and nanoshield spam will stay commonplace when you have to spend tres.
  • Jer9-CarverJer9-Carver Join Date: 2011-02-07 Member: 80728Members
    I generally dislike going commander compared to being just a silly marine, but I tend to go in it, if no one feels like doing it. It's better to have a sucky commander than none. ^^
    But either way, I think the only way to make Commanding easier is by socializing and with practice. Before you even jump into a commander chair, you should have atleast tried it in an empty server preferably with bots. It familiarizes you with the controls and how stuff works. It makes the gap for commanding a lot less stressful. (It might be useful to have some sort of tutorial level later on how it works or just tutorial video.)

    Another thing is to just talk with your marines, guide them to what they have to do or ask them what they want. I think it's because I give them a clear answers on questions in chat and tell important/emergency things through voice. If they get info on what you are doing, then they'll stay happy even though the match is going to end horribly.

    Which also works is getting new friends into NS2, who haven't played it before. Get them in mumble or any other teamspeak program and just guide them and give them tips. My friends learned how to play the game a lot faster this way. The benefits are that you have a small team that will follow your orders. Just make sure you also keep helping the other guys in the team. ^^

    So yeah, I think to make commanding easier is by just learning the basics first, socializing with your marines and maybe even get a few friends playing with you.
  • ZycaRZycaR Join Date: 2002-11-12 Member: 8263Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1943201:date=Jun 13 2012, 08:25 PM:name=dux)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (dux @ Jun 13 2012, 08:25 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1943201"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->... sometimes even needing to ask for them. ...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I remembered the sentence once used by commander:
    Marine: Drop RT.
    Marine: Ah it's already there :)
    Marine: Also gimme a med-pack!
    Marine: hell I'm already full... How did you know?
    Commander: I'm commander ... I'm reading your mind!
  • -Azona--Azona- Join Date: 2012-04-07 Member: 150074Members
    edited June 2012
    I dont find it stressfull but not always want to command, also reason no one dares to command is that they are afraid of beeying bad commander and people complain, though its not always commanders fault games lose but as marine its also annoying with commanders that dont build very smart.

    Ofc i try to help those try to command but if they dont listen to advice i start get cranky when running round with no mines or upgrades and commander wastig resourses on turrets, turrets are not bad in general but i find resourses more value for making upgrades and instead of spamming medpacks i try to place armory for them.

    Most annoyin for commander is team that does not listen, for example in hot battle i try put down a armory in hot zone 5 marines fighting and non of them building the armory but instead ###### me not droppig med packs and ammo while one could think by it self or even tell them hey i should build this and we can survive this.

    Find command fun and if no one listen then i dont care either and let them die, but when dont want to command no one dares to command in fear of beeying yelled at and called bad commander.

    Some servers just got asses, think there awsome but play solo all the time thinking there god and blame on commander if they die.

    What would be good is for the dev make a toturial where your commanding and bots following orders, and bot aliens that kinda easy but when you command bad in it you lose and give toturial information and tips what something does how you could use them, same for aliens, this way people can get used to controls and buildings with out beeying very stres full and berying yelled at.
  • WilsonWilson Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 72867Members
    edited June 2012
    The most annoying one is requesting a med to get rid of a parasite. "You're at 98hp, I'm not wasting a med on you!" or they drop an armoury >_<
  • IeptBarakatIeptBarakat The most difficult name to speak ingame. Join Date: 2009-07-10 Member: 68107Members, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow
    <!--quoteo(post=1943267:date=Jun 14 2012, 09:09 AM:name=Wilson)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Wilson @ Jun 14 2012, 09:09 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1943267"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The most annoying one is requesting a med to get rid of a parasite. "You're at 98hp, I'm not wasting a med on you!" or they drop an armoury >_<<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Which is why parasites should be time based instead of permanent.
  • ZycaRZycaR Join Date: 2002-11-12 Member: 8263Members
    or should be removed from Armory menu ... somethink where yoy can buy wepons, there should be also: "decontamination"
  • Locke504Locke504 Join Date: 2010-04-23 Member: 71511Members, NS2 Map Tester
    Marine Commander currently has the micro manage feel of an RTS, which I think is important. If you dumb it down to much you would completely miss the point of combining genres.

    That said, the UI for comming is really clunky right now. You can navigate all your tabs effectively with hot keys, but I find tabs (assist tab in particular) randomly deselect while I'm spamming meds and ammo. Tabs I didn't select will randomly get selected, and I'll have to hit escape or select other units to back out of the current toggled action.

    When trying to keep up with the action and the upgrades, these few lost seconds can make a huge difference.

    Hopefully this is an issue resolved at launch.
  • VitdomVitdom Join Date: 2012-04-30 Member: 151345Members, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Gold, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    edited June 2012
    <!--quoteo(post=1943373:date=Jun 14 2012, 10:21 PM:name=Locke504)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Locke504 @ Jun 14 2012, 10:21 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1943373"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I find tabs (assist tab in particular) randomly deselect while I'm spamming meds and ammo.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Yes, fix this. Also please display soldiers' health without having to select them. Is there even any reason for this procedure of selecting troops just to provide support to them?
  • kingmobkingmob Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 3650Members, Constellation
    I think commanding is very stressful.

    I think most of it is due to the players.
    - They don't listen
    - They blame everything on the commander....Where was my medpack?

    You guys should come up with a list of things you want from players.
    to make it less stressful.
    + Follow waypoints
    + Use a mic ... I don't because the built-in sound is awful
    + I dunno ... I only command for brief periods when no one will do it.
  • Cee Colon SlashCee Colon Slash Join Date: 2012-05-25 Member: 152581Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1943396:date=Jun 14 2012, 05:10 PM:name=Vitdom)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Vitdom @ Jun 14 2012, 05:10 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1943396"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Yes, fix this. Also please display soldiers' health without having to select them. Is there even any reason for this procedure of selecting troops just to provide support to them?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Yeah, I wish I could pinpoint why certain menus deselect over time.
  • KoruyoKoruyo AUT Join Date: 2009-06-06 Member: 67724Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited June 2012
    The reason why ppl qq here is because it actually takes a Little time practicing commanding to be good at it... if you practice enough it wont feel like stress it will just be natural, and compared to real rts games you might even be bored at times. (ofc there are some annoying things that hopefully get fixed soon, but i wouldnt want to see it watered down in anyway)
  • schkorpioschkorpio I can mspaint Join Date: 2003-05-23 Member: 16635Members
    <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=118918" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/in...howtopic=118918</a>

    <!--quoteo(post=1943485:date=Jun 15 2012, 01:48 PM:name=schkorpio)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (schkorpio @ Jun 15 2012, 01:48 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1943485"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->thats a lot of text lol - but this is a very cool idea man, expanding on your idea further:


    To encourage players to go to the areas that need attention the commander could place a pheromone trail that the aliens could follow - this would :
    1. give an instant speed boost running in the direction of the pheromones.

    2.maybe heal
    3.maybe restore energy
    4.short period where attack damage is increased

    This would be an amazingly powerful tool to encourage the team to follow orders.



    you could even do a nanite trail as a marine commander which could do a similar thing ( or maybe give other buffs, such as armor regen, or building things faster).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  • OnosFactoryOnosFactory New Zealand Join Date: 2008-07-16 Member: 64637Members
    edited June 2012
    Whilst I understand the *frustration* of watching a team completely mishandle an encounter, I don't think they should get too much flamerage, this effect after all is WHY WE PLAY NS2 - to have those moments where spearman kills tank, where 2 + 3 meets 3 + 2 and somehow the engagments score is 4:1, 2 meets five and perseveer, the ideas are endless.

    Bad marines are just an unlucky dice roll for a marine comm, you can always leave if you want, it's not like they are going to win anyway right?

    So don't hate the noob marine, cherish them, when they die blindly and your *thank f this elite joined* uses the meat shield occasion to dominate, rejoice! remember the bad times and lament wistfully, 'at least it's not me that gets gored by the onos 24 times. Each.'
  • _Necro__Necro_ Join Date: 2011-02-15 Member: 81895Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited June 2012
    The selection of other tabs occur, when you select something. This is very annoying.
    For example: If you want to select a medpack, sometimes because of bad fps your click isn't registered by the UI. And if you than click on the marine to drop the medpack, you select him instead. Selecting a marine brings up the waypoint-tab. Also clicking on buildings change the tabs and a selected marine dying seems to change the tab too.

    Solution? Not changing the tab automatically when selecting a marine. Could be unintuitive when using waypoints.
    Other solution: <b>Remove the waypoint tab! Add it dynamically on top of the tab area as stand-alone buttons, only visible when a unit is selected.
    This way the UI does not change the tab or key-bindings when selecting a marine on accident.</b>
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    This is on the list of things to do, gents, in the high priority section. Rest assured we know about it and it will be addressed, somehow, either by your idea or a 2 sec delay after a medpack drop, or a toggleable assist key etc etc.
  • WilsonWilson Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 72867Members
    Also add in the ability for the keyboard shortcut to display on each button.
  • UzguzUzguz Join Date: 2003-06-05 Member: 17016Members, Constellation
    Switching from an asynchronous input model to a buffered/event-caching model would help here. Devs: Which functions are used to read input currently?
  • XariusXarius Join Date: 2003-12-21 Member: 24630Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    edited June 2012
    I love being the commander personally and I consider it to be rewarding, as often at the end of a game I will have players on my team commend me on doing a good job. Then again, I consider myself to be very assertive, I'm one of those commanders that talks a lot over voice comm and gets everyone to fall in line (or risk getting scolded at :D) But I can easily imagine it's not 'for everyone', nor should it be.

    That being said, some ui improvements would already go a long way in making the commander experience less stressful. Heck, I reckon getting rid of the 'invisible' energy resource will already help as well. (Nothing worse than not having enough energy for a crucial beacon because you didn't monitor energy levels...) The task itself is going to remain 'stressfull' to an extent, no matter what, since unlike the alien comm, the marine commander simply has to micro-manage his troops a lot more.
  • DJPenguinDJPenguin Useless Join Date: 2003-07-29 Member: 18538Members
    i love alien commander, it reminds me of the Majesty games. build stuff and tell your team where things are, what needs to be protected etc. playing as the intel giving overlord is right up my alley.

    and then i despise the health/ammo portion of marine commander, from 3 sides of the fence. i don't like seeing my marine opponent getting a crutch in the middle of a fight with shields and health packs, i don't like playing triage as marine commander for all the "soldier needs health!" requests in the middle of fights, and i also don't like the feeling of winning a fight/skirmish as a marine <i>because</i> i was shielded/med spammed where my opponent should have won. such a fundamental mechanic yet it's the one and only reason why i never go marine commander.
  • AlignAlign Remain Calm Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 5216Forum Moderators, Constellation
    <!--quoteo(post=1943617:date=Jun 15 2012, 10:25 PM:name=DJPenguin)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DJPenguin @ Jun 15 2012, 10:25 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1943617"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->i love alien commander, it reminds me of the Majesty games.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Now I'm curious how doing it even more like that would work out (ie attack and explore markers that give pres rewards)
  • Master BlasterMaster Blaster Join Date: 2012-03-17 Member: 148908Banned
    edited June 2012
    If you think NS2 marine commander is unloved, you should have seen NS1 commander.

    Both involve a bunch of terrible people (in life and in the game) just whining and blaming everything on Commander.

    SO annoying.

    Some of these people get so angry at the Commander in this videogame that I cannot imagine what they are like in real life.
  • xDragonxDragon Join Date: 2012-04-04 Member: 149948Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited June 2012
    Commanding in NS1 was very different the NS2, if you were not doing certain things at the right times it was quite easy to lose, most players realized this and it sorta became expected from commanders after 8+ years. I've pretty much seen even the best commanders get ejected in NS1, even Annihilator lol.

    As for NS2, some of the anger comes from the commanders attitude, and how you command your team. Telling your team their terrible and your the best and most knowledgeable commander ever is not a good way to encourage them. Most marine commanders I have seen may not directly cause the loss for their team, but almost always have an effect on it. There are very few that truly play the role well, most seem to be watching their base entirely too much... if your marines are pushing into a room, you should be there watching, ready to assist. If you have two or three teams across the map you need to watch them all, it can be hard for some players to do that initially but thats exactly what is needed. Hotkey any tech structures (arms lab, obs, armory, cc and proto), and use those to research, you should almost never be looking back in your base.

    Also there is something to be said about trying new strategies, and how those are executed. Just starting of the match and going straight flamethrowers generally wont make your team too happy. If you have some kind of plan and explain it, generally people are a little more apt to accept it (or vote you out).
  • Master BlasterMaster Blaster Join Date: 2012-03-17 Member: 148908Banned
    <!--quoteo(post=1943621:date=Jun 15 2012, 01:42 PM:name=xDragon)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (xDragon @ Jun 15 2012, 01:42 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1943621"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Commanding in NS1 was very different the NS2, if you were not doing certain things at the right times it was quite easy to lose, most players realized this and it sorta became expected from commanders after 8+ years. I've pretty much seen even the best commanders get ejected in NS1, even Annihilator lol.

    As for NS2, some of the anger comes from the commanders attitude, and how you command your team. Telling your team their terrible and your the best and most knowledgeable commander ever is not a good way to encourage them. Most marine commanders I have seen may not directly cause the loss for their team, but almost always have an effect on it. There are very few that truly play the role well, most seem to be watching their base entirely too much... if your marines are pushing into a room, you should be there watching, ready to assist. If you have two or three teams across the map you need to watch them all, it can be hard for some players to do that initially but thats exactly what is needed. Hotkey any tech structures (arms lab, obs, armory, cc and proto), and use those to research, you should almost never be looking back in your base.

    Also there is something to be said about trying new strategies, and how those are executed. Just starting of the match and going straight flamethrowers generally wont make your team too happy. If you have some kind of plan and explain it, generally people are a little more apt to accept it (or vote you out).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    I get ejected for not having level 3 weapons 8 minutes into the game so I'm pretty sure its just cuz people are bad.
  • rantologyrantology Join Date: 2012-02-05 Member: 143750Members, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Gold
    I'm pretty sure the eject votes are broken also because a) it just doesn't work on aliens and b) it seems like you only need 2-3 people to kick someone regardless of the server size.
  • Master BlasterMaster Blaster Join Date: 2012-03-17 Member: 148908Banned
    <!--quoteo(post=1943625:date=Jun 15 2012, 01:50 PM:name=rantology)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rantology @ Jun 15 2012, 01:50 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1943625"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I'm pretty sure the eject votes are broken also because a) it just doesn't work on aliens and b) it seems like you only need 2-3 people to kick someone regardless of the server size.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Yes. It takes only 3 people to eject the commander. It happened to Prince earlier today for no reason.

    Some idiot named Docan was angry that I didn't drop him an armory so for about 5 weeks straight everytime he was on the server, he would get 2 of his friends to eject me every single time from the command station. It's ridiculous.
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