How to screw with your commander
FearOfCalamari
Join Date: 2013-07-22 Member: 186298Members
Join Date: 2013-07-22 Member: 186298Members
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this is gameplay of me getting bossed around by some people who never gave me a chance.
I do much better when it's me doing the thinking. That way we usually win, and faster than this, though not significantly.
BTW this is not really what I see in normal games. I was rushing the entire time, trying to make everyone happy and failing at it.
and in case nobody got it, this video is kind of a joke. Nobody really ever thought I could have thought this video would make me look like an amazing comm, right?
annnd somebody disagreed with this post. That logic does not follow. I was clearly unable to lead these guys.
this is gameplay of me getting bossed around by some people who never gave me a chance.
I do much better when it's me doing the thinking. That way we usually win, and faster than this, though not significantly.
BTW this is not really what I see in normal games. I was rushing the entire time, trying to make everyone happy and failing at it.
and in case nobody got it, this video is kind of a joke. Nobody really ever thought I could have thought this video would make me look like an amazing comm, right?
annnd somebody disagreed with this post. That logic does not follow. I was clearly unable to lead these guys.
Comments
honestly, as cheap as kits are, using them without thinking is just as bad as starting the game by building additional IPs as fast as your res income will allow. Same strategy too.
and if those guys in east wing thought it was a goood idea to buy flamethrowers and take them as far as they did, is it really my fault? The armory is back thataways, you aren't making any progress whatsoever, the aliens' base is obviously very close; conclusion: the aliens are watching your flank and expanding somewhere else. Best to save res for the rest of the team who is off making sure the enemy cannot fulfill your conclusion.
just sayin
also I have FRAPS set to not record my voice, as I also have this video linked to another forum and I kind of have a reputation for not talking there.
yes, I realize using my mic would have helped more here. That's something i'll need to start doing more.........so advice taken. thanks.
Commanding is difficult and often you will be expected to be extremely knowledgeable about the game - not just what each building does but also the metagame and such. If you've only logged 20 hours in the game I would suggest playing on the field a bit more and getting a deeper understanding of the game's flow before hopping into the chair and taking control of an entire team.
Lastly, as ISE suggested, you really should use a mic when you command.
of course I made mistakes.
the point of this video is it was a completely different game. I wasn't commanding, which i find to be pretty simple, I was struggling with how to deal with these people, trying to gauge their expectations. I am not a people person. I am a person who lives in my head and generally doesn't have a hard time of things unless it has to do with people. I didn't want to get kicked and I just wanted to put up a NS2 video, as I was having trouble beating other people to the comm chair.
I would consider Eve or Sins to be complex games.
Please don't complain about your team if your not going to play WITH your team... Commanding isn't a build order it's managing your team on that account this was a complete fail...
I'll say it again, this video does not represent what I normally do.
I know I have a lot to learn, and im planning for my next video to be a standard game so I can get some proper feedback on it.
and as far as confidence goes that's just because of the defining conditions of my victories and defeats so far, which have already been mentioned. If they do what I say, we win. If they don't, we lose. With the occasional zerg-rush, which usually fail anyway. This game was a special scenario, at least for me. I am not good with people.
I was mindlessly trying to figure out everything that wasn't the game. I was extremely distracted the entire game. please get that.
and everything I have said in every description of this video...............
I'd love to see a video of you under less duress and see how things go. I just think it would be wise not to act like you have authority over some of these people when you've only played for 20 hours and clearly are still missing out on some conceptual aspects of this game
Also if you are truly bad with people you may want to re-think your desire to command... I would say that being able to manage people is more important to being a good commander than knowing what build orders to use, etc.
Alright, reasonable.
If i sound like I was entitled to anything, as far as authority over those people, i am saying it wrong. ugh.
Straight from the start tell them what you want and then either tell them what you want next when they obtain it or let them make your strategy for you. example: Your pestering ninja marine Drunken Riddle. Either go with the idea he offers when there or tell him why you cannot or will not. Also never take anything for granted, including your marines, if you want them to hold a position or push it, let them know.
Long story short, no typing more mic'ing, and be flexable as a commander. I don't want to be sounding rude or to offend you any so please do not take this the wrong way but if this game overwhelmed you that much, you really, really need to practice some more. Again, sorry if this upsets you any.
You did well for a commander with so little experience and I look forward to playing a few matches with you should we ever meet. If the players all had different things going on 'tell' them what you are doing.
"I won't drop a phasegate there Drunken Riddle because I'm saving for weapons 2, why don't you try sniping the RT down instead?"
"You three marines, I want you to push into east wing and hold it, I'll give you an armory once you have it but until then I cannot med you as I'm more concerned with the push near lockers, and once you have East wing, stay there do not push out unless you honestly believe you can kill departures yourselves."
Please don't be discouraged and I look forward to seeing more of your videos ^_^
Being by yourself is one of the best ways to get a sneaky phase gate up in enemy territory. A phase gate and an armory in a spot like will put the enemy of the defensive very quickly while making more opportunities for you to push other areas a lot easier. You will eventually learn that this is a common strategy used a lot when the chance is presented.
You never dropped/socketed the power for him to build until about the 20th time he requested it. He sat there for a long time idle and could have easily gotten a gate and armory up in that time. You repeatedly tried to drop an RT there, which is the wrong this to do, and it was being blocked by a harvester anyways. Then you went on to drop a sentry battery, which is almost the same price as a phase gate, yet you want to criticize him? Sure, he wasn't nice about it, but I can see why he was frustrated, you just made a lot of bad decisions while trying to come off like you know what you're doing, when you don't.
Also, you need to learn how to manage your resources better and work on a better opening strategy. 3 ips and 2 com chairs opening up is a pretty bad starting strategy, but you're lucky you had a good ground team to make up for it. Then you had one point in the game where Bar RT and Caf RT nozzles sat without RT's for about 7 minutes before you finally got one back up. I never saw you once tell people, "hey, we need a group to go to X and get X back up".
I'm sorry, but you shouldn't be commanding. Want to know why? Because you didn't command anything. You played builder bob instead. Commanding has a lot more depth to it than dropping things for people to build. Your communication was pretty bad and typing just makes it even worse. Hell, I didn't even see you open up your full screen map once, which is your best tool as a commander.
If you still want to command, I recommend you stay on smaller servers and get a mic. From watching the video it's evident you can't multitask very well with large groups at this point.
And stop acting so smug and like you know better than others, when it's apparent you're still a novice. Hate to break it to you, but your team carried you, which I'm sure happens most of the time you win. People had to tell you what to do the entire time, including beaconing every time.
I wouldn't record a normal game than give it a title that hinted at anything other what it was than assume it was worth posting on here, except for people to criticize it and give me relevant advice.
which this video is not. Just enjoy it and at least appreciate that I posted it in the new player forum.
or don't enjoy it and....... ignore it.
as to dropping phases in intermediate area's, usually there's someone there to watch his back. I've never had someone go off by himself.
Easy solution for this is, if you think that he is being stalked while building your expensive phase gate, scan his location. Its a dead give away for any Aliens in the area that something important is going on there, but it'll give the builder some warning so he can prepare himself to either finish the gate and die or so he is able to defend your equipment.
for me i get a medpack request, and unless something else demands my attention, spacebar-E-S-click-s-click. much quicker than useing the mouse the whole time
also, talknig to your team with your mic really does hel pmore than you realise. your team was getting frustrated because it took you a little while to repond to things. at least if you use a mic you can talk to them extremely fast "can't drop, not enough res, hold there for a bit" and encourage them when they make a good push
also, don't jsut wait for medpack requests, i usually look at the map constantly, and flick between the team checking their health and ammo, i noticed you didn't really drop medpacks unless someone asked.
but yeah, you definetly arent a bad com, i've seen soem pretty terrible ones XD just listen to all the advice peopel give you, and you will be fine.
as to meds/ammo, i really hate them as a mechanic. i'm fine with having them in the game, i just wish they wouldnt seem so cheap and accessible, making everyone expect them from every commander for every strategy.
seriously, those guys defending main the entire game had no use for them.
thanks for the hotkeys.
if people do request them when quite obviously there is an armoury jsut say, "there is an armoury there, use it." well, unless they are getting swarmed and you reaaaaly want that room. well placed medpacks can keep someone alive just long enough to cear the area.
very very useful.
i forgot to mention, pressing spacebar when a request pops up flicks the camera to the location
and also remember to be checking your map, finding marines who are fighting and may need meds, and make callouts on rooms being attacked.
those are probebly some of the most useful skills imo. specially if you can drop meds right on the marine who needs it.
This game needs more commanders who are willing to drop medpacks for people in the middle of a fight and not just on request. It's causing marines a lot of problems in public play and is currently swinging the early game pendulum towards aliens which inevitably results in early map control for aliens > early fades > early marine GG. I've won so many games as a comm just through medpack/ammo support at critical times. We need more commanders and marines willing to take the initiative and think for themselves clearly and strategically.
Beyond that you'd want to learn the commander hotkeys ASAP. Med/Ammo requests need to be fast and spammable. Also if the marine is low on health, dropping only 1 medpack is rather wasteful. Drop him 2 so he's back to full health. A marine going from 10 to 60 hp still dies in 1 bite making the medpack completely useless.
Similar situation with the phasegate guy. Drop medpacks before dropping a building. You really can't blame that marine for "wasting" your phasegate. You need to get people to full health when they are protecting stuff that's higher value then the medpack. Also the moment he died you want to recycle the building to get some resources back.
I actually end up spamming medpacks too much on pubs but it usually works out well. If your marines can't aim then by all means let them die. This is something you can judge fairly easily the first few minutes into the game. I personally find map control more important then being wary with med or ammo packs. Once again communication is key. Ïf your marines are doing futile attempts and expect medpacks. Let them know you won't give them and why you won't. If below 2-3 rts mid game never med or ammo unless the medpack value is really worth it.
Early game you'll want to med spam for map control.
What I mean with value is relatively simple. A medpack costs 1 res, so lets say your marines are fighting a gorge. It would take 9 medpacks to lose more res then the aliens would by losing the gorge. So medpack. In short whenever your marines are attacking anything above a skulk you should always med spam them. Same goes for the defensive as keeping your buildings results in less loss of resources.
Course there's a few exceptions to every rule and the above guidelines are exactly that, guidelines. You'll learn the rest along the way. Just remember that map control is worth medpacks.
You are by no means a bad commander and for a guy with 20 hours in you're doing just fine. It takes while to learn the ins and out of commanding and it's easy to get swarmed by requests, overlook something or simply get a terrible team that doesn't want to listen no matter what.
Mike communication is a must in this game because so much of the strategy comes from reacting to enemy movement, and taking advantages in your opponent mistakes, and spawn timers.
I always start a pub match giving a short explanation of my starting strat, and build order. Eliminating unknowns allows for your guys to make better choices, and know what to expect down the road.
Playing as marines is all about winning fights and keeping a presence on the field, especially early game. You don't have the mobility of aliens. If you get wiped before phases gates it is hard to reclaim the field, and a good alien command will have built up. The most important thing a command can do is monitor his guys and provide support when needed.
Anyone can click buttons to upgrade, or research. A good commander is one that constantly talks to his guys. Letting him know that skulk just climb the ceiling and is behind him, coordinating attacks and defenses, sniping his guys with heals as they are in mid flight on a jet pack (actually easier then it sounds), supplying his best troops when Pres is low, ect.
The desire to be a commander is the first step. God knows we need more people who want to be a commander, and more importantly want to be good at it.
What does this mean? To me, it means using my mic to tell people where to go when I can't pay visual attention to them. This allows you to multitask and continue to progress on multiple fronts.
I may be dropping health packs and ammo on a immediate fight. Meanwhile, I'll say "Hey Player#1, build X building when you get there, Player#2 please repair the phase gate at X location, Player#3 standby at Y location, I'll drop you a extractor in a moment".
While it IS possible to win without using a mic, note team skill imbalance would be a large factor in making you believe you "do fine as a commander".
When up against a team of equal or greater skill, you using a mic has a noticeable impact.