Read The Blasted Teamchat Commander!
Lt_Warhound
Join Date: 2002-11-07 Member: 7654Members
Join Date: 2002-11-07 Member: 7654Members
Why is it, if someone is using a mic, they lose teamchat? Its the only explanation, teamchat must no longer show up on their screen. Public chat, yes, but not team chat.
I mean, they couldn't be not bothering to read it, right? They couldn't be ignoring most of their team, and only paying attention to the people with mics, right?
They couldn't be that fragging stupid, right?
Guess I should have posted this in the bug forum, cause its got to be a bug, losing teamchat when you use a mic.
*
lonely gorge types: inc to hive
builds another chamber, repairs some, spits at a marine
lonely gorge types: hive under attack
repair, build, fight
lonely gorge types: guys, they are building siege outside our only hive, help
bugged player with no teamchat but has a mic spawns at hive, gets caught in siege blast, dies, starts yelling into mic that the hive is under attack and why didn't anyone say something and why isn't anyone defending the hive...
lonely gorge goes to next server, random joins marines
lonely marine defending cargo hive types: inc to hive
shoot at skulk, empty pistol at onos
lonely marine defending cargo hive types: need help defending hive, turrets half dead, need welder
PGs back to base, reload, PGs back, empties ammo at hit and run attackers
lonely marine defending cargo hive types: Ping the vent in cargo, commander, ping outside, siege isn't firing!
aliens rush, lonely marine dies, PG dies, TF dies, gorge builds hive
commander with no teamchat but has mic says: Damn it, why didn't anyone say the hive was under attack? now they have all three, we have no res, you all suck, no one listens to the commander, I'm just gonna recycle all this crap.
half the marines F4....
I mean, they couldn't be not bothering to read it, right? They couldn't be ignoring most of their team, and only paying attention to the people with mics, right?
They couldn't be that fragging stupid, right?
Guess I should have posted this in the bug forum, cause its got to be a bug, losing teamchat when you use a mic.
*
lonely gorge types: inc to hive
builds another chamber, repairs some, spits at a marine
lonely gorge types: hive under attack
repair, build, fight
lonely gorge types: guys, they are building siege outside our only hive, help
bugged player with no teamchat but has a mic spawns at hive, gets caught in siege blast, dies, starts yelling into mic that the hive is under attack and why didn't anyone say something and why isn't anyone defending the hive...
lonely gorge goes to next server, random joins marines
lonely marine defending cargo hive types: inc to hive
shoot at skulk, empty pistol at onos
lonely marine defending cargo hive types: need help defending hive, turrets half dead, need welder
PGs back to base, reload, PGs back, empties ammo at hit and run attackers
lonely marine defending cargo hive types: Ping the vent in cargo, commander, ping outside, siege isn't firing!
aliens rush, lonely marine dies, PG dies, TF dies, gorge builds hive
commander with no teamchat but has mic says: Damn it, why didn't anyone say the hive was under attack? now they have all three, we have no res, you all suck, no one listens to the commander, I'm just gonna recycle all this crap.
half the marines F4....
Comments
me (no mic): 3 heavies incoming to hive
me (no mic): guys, take out those heavies, i've parasited them
me (no mic): ok they are building outside the hive
(5 minutes later)
someone with a mic: OMG our hive is being sieged!
meh
It does not. Everyone is stupid, humans are illogical creatures who serve only to advance their own goals, and god help them if they actually help defend someone else's part of the map.
i am guilty of it sometimes, but you guys have to relize that comming is very hard, and you do have to control a lot of things going on
my best advice is to use the right click menu, takes 100,000% of the pressure off instead of just saying "medpack please"
I do very much hate when I announce someone's going somewhere and five minutes later someone who could've helped us out much earlier announces the same thing. These people seem to live in their own bubble where only the things they are saying get broadcast out.
I played an ns_mineshaft game where the marines were trapped in tram tunnel and two gorges where guarding the MS side while the rest of the team continually threw themselves and died on the refinery. After repeatedly explaining to the team that we were only two gorges and it was hard to keep holding off heavy assaults and asking for help we were continually berated for not joining up with the rest of the team on the other side and rushing in one by one with redeeming Onos. Meanwhile, the MS side was lightly guarded and could've been run over very easily.
You'll notice these people are the same ones that accuse you of ramboing (please, god, all solo activity is NOT bad... get that through your head) while you run to a base that's about to die and they're humping the armory, or peek your head out a side entrance so you can get some shots at a skulk before he jumps into the base and xenocides.
Also, another thing that's tough to reconcile is commander styles. Some comms will give you waypoints and expect you to follow them every time no matter what you're doing right away, which is fine. However, it's tough to tell which kind your comm is, because some will spam WPs to everyone and expect them to have the common sense to know where they should be. Like when you're guarding a crucial outpost and the comm begins spamming a WP to marine start, does that mean the base is about to die and you should drop whatever you're doing, that someone else needs to get to MS, or that there's a couple buildings going up (it's tough to pay attention to the build queue sometimes in the heat of action)? A lot of comms don't really specify. I find that the good ones will use WPs as a supplement to voice/text chat, not a replacement.
Get a mic - they're cheap. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
I'm sorry but commanding can get hectic and I like to be on top of everything. I don't always have time to read incoming text.
If I am grunt or any alien I read team chat.
*Rant* Please do not command if you do not have a microphone. Your effectiveness drops a tremendous amount.
/Rant
me (no mic): 3 heavies incoming to hive
me (no mic): guys, take out those heavies, i've parasited them
me (no mic): ok they are building outside the hive
(5 minutes later)
someone with a mic: OMG our hive is being sieged!
meh <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
yeah thsi si exactly what I predicted would happen. MIC spammers dominate thei airwaves and the COMM doesnt bother to read chat. I prefer to work with people who dont use the MIC, in fact I found them to be more preceptive in game, since they are keeping en eye out for the chat messages they are looking at their screens more (just a thought) I've also noticed people with MICs like to play "backseat commander" always spouting orders, and sometimes people think thats Its what the comm actually wants. <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
I'm not talking about need medkit/ammo
I'm not talking about saying something once.
I'm talking about people that DON'T READ THE TEAMCHAT PERIOD (FULL STOP for our british readers). If, as commander, you can't read the teamchat, don't command. Communicating with your team is _required, not optional. And please, I've led 10 man teams in Tribes games, where we had three seperate squads doing offense, defense and support, where I was actively fighting and _still was able to read everything that the team had to say. Had to, to stay on top of the fight, and direct the team.
I'm talking about games where you type something 6 times:
PING THE VENT IN CARGO HIVE
PING THE VENT IN CARGO HIVE
PING THE VENT IN CARGO HIVE
PING THE VENT IN CARGO HIVE
PING THE VENT IN CARGO HIVE
PING THE VENT IN CARGO HIVE
and the commander never does, never responds, but you hear him chatting away with the other people that _do have mics.
This is not an isolated case. This happens _every _blasted _night. There are ALWAYS people with mics that pay almost or no attention to the teamchat. On both teams, in all positions.
BTW, here's a little secret I use when I think I missed something in teamchat, due to being busy as a skulk in an attack, hit `, take a quick (2 - 4 seconds) glance, and respond as needed. Its not rocket science.
I prefer to imagine I'm not playing the game with and against a bunch of 13 year old kids who can't talk without shattering windows. its kinda like seeing a bad movie of a good book, it ruins everything when you hear the main character sounds a lot different than you imagined he would.
if you use 1600x1200 res and can't 'see chat cuz yer eyes are F-ed' maybe you need to:
1) lower yer resolution......I can run in 1.6kx1.2k too on my comp but I find 1024res alot better on my eyes
2) you need to 'invest in some glasses at the local Lenscrafters' <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> j/k <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
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anyways.....speaking of mics......DON'T BUY A MIC......buy a headset <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
tons better for hearing skulks, etc. around corners and makes for a better experience imo (I like the 'yer in the action' kind of setting headphones gives ya since you cut down on outside noise)
theres decent headsets that have mics on them.......using a mediocre one right now that has a mic attached
Plantronics Audio 90......stereo (2 sided headset...monural is gimp <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> )
about 25 bucks
just seems like a better deal to me then spending a whole 10bucks just on a mic itself *shrug*
as for <!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->uhhh
if you use 1600x1200 res and can't 'see chat cuz yer eyes are F-ed' maybe you need to:
1) lower yer resolution......I can run in 1.6kx1.2k too on my comp but I find 1024res alot better on my eyes
2) you need to 'invest in some glasses at the local Lenscrafters' j/k <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
1) I use 1600x1200 because that's how the game looks the best (to me at least)
2) I wear glasses already <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> (and they're not an old perscription either)
The best way to get people's attention in-game is a mic. If you don't have one, get one!
/me rips off caps lock from keyboard
That said, buy a mike. I did. Use text for general stuff ("We should upgrade weapons", "I think they have archiving", etc...), however, for emergency/hectic situations, jam down the speech key and SCREAM, because half the team won't realize how urgent is otherwise, no matter if you type in caps, quote Caesar, or spam enough taunts to make the hive attack you.
Yes we should read the team chat - all of us not just the comm, and yes we do miss the teamchat because we are busy shooting/biting stuff or whatever. The Field Sergeant should of course be relaying team chat where he can with voice confirmation of the problem.
Reece types : "help hive under attack"
FS : "Commander, Reece is reporting heavy incomming to his hive."
Com : "Bugger, your right. Squad 1 phase to the hive."
the hive is saved
or
Reece types : "help hive under attack"
FS : "Commander, Reece is reporting heavy incomming to his hive."
Com : "Bugger, your right. Squad 1 and 2 get to your waypoints now and kill the hive."
Waypoint set for live alien hive. comm sacrifices locked hive to take live hive out of commision. Reece dies.
you get the idea. So who is the field commander? Hopefully someone who is a regular to the server, knows the commander in some degree and has a good idea of whats going on. He'll also need a mic.
Yes if you want to take the chair you need a mic. Headsets better but mic is essential.
HL's voice support is more along the lines of the Drive-Thru.
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah, I do the same. I end up muting like 90% of the people on my team because most of the kiddies talk too damn much. And they wonder why they just got pounded, when they're so busy talking that they didn't hear the skulks/marines coming around the corner. If someone is just using the mic for quick, useful information then I don't mute, but unfortunately that's not very often. Today I was hearing movie reviews, topical news about NY's power outtages, girlfriends, etc. I'm talking whole conversations, not just a quick blurb or something. Anyway, I too also depend a lot on teamchat, and prefer to use teamchat over my mic unless it is really urgent.
I'm sorry but commanding can get hectic and I like to be on top of everything. I don't always have time to read incoming text.
If I am grunt or any alien I read team chat.
*Rant* Please do not command if you do not have a microphone. Your effectiveness drops a tremendous amount.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
ditto. . . I'm sorry <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo--> but think about it. . . (out of laziness I?m going to write this in first person)
As comm I am trying to watch over my marines that are trying to take a hive location (dropping them a tf/ pg/ and turrets, plus health and ammo when they need it); plus I have a rambo at a hive yelling at me to drop him a pg, tf, and turrets. I have men at base asking what they need to do so I have to give them waypoints/ tell them to phase. I also have to stay on top of upgrades, watch over the rts that are under attack to either recycle them if they weren't turreted, or tell marines to get to it if they were. . . plus if you're preparing for an attack you have to make sure everyone has what they need on top of all that other stuff, then make sure they don't die once they get the stuff (dropping health/ ammo etc). Personally, I would be happy (res wiling) to give you/ do for you what you need as comm, but please ask in a way that will get my attention. I do read the chat but normally it isn't <i>that</i> important in the great scheme of things. If you were commanding, trying to concentrate on everything above, do you really think
?comm inc to base? would get your attention? At the very least if you aren't going to use a mic type with all caps,
?INC TO BASE COMM!!!!?
looks far more eye catching. Something players with mics can do to help is to verbally confirm what someone that was typing said, it not only helps the comm. But all the other players who might have missed it (p.s. for people that lag most of the time you miss a few lines of chat here and there, and out of laziness sometimes I don?t go back and check what was said, and I would think a lot of people (especially less social people <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> probably don?t bother going back and checking what was missed at all).
I?ve noticed, and this is what I do too, but if I have something like a side note to say (it?s not game relevant for example a hello, how are you, glad to see you are alive etc.), I type it, that?s what a lot of the ?typing chat? is with the more casual game play servers seems to be as far as I can tell. If you don?t like your voice/ don?t want people to know you?re a girl or whatever, don?t worry about it, buy a mic, when the hives under attack yell it proud! No one?s going to be like ?omg your voice is so icky, don?t talk?? seriously. Moral of the story get a mic, they?re cheap and very effective (kind of like turrets, you can?t help but to get them <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> ) who cares if you sound like you're three years old, or whatever reason you have for not using a mic. If you?re too lazy to use a mic then don?t yell at us when we are really busy and miss what you are saying.
I do apologize for all the times I have over looked team chat, it is very easy to forget to do things as a comm, looking over typed chat is just one of those things to remember.
--Jane
Great plan until you play on servers where people have different dialects and thus might not cope well with your own garbled dialect.
Get a mic is also a great plan if your voice has broken. Who listens to a screeching 13 yr old? Well, I do, but thats not the point. I mean, I also read the teamchat because, gasp, it contains vital information usually.
Finally, get a mic is all very well until zzzzkrshhhhhhhhhhkrshkzzzzzkrshzzzz or MEDPACK MEDPACK MEDPACK MEDPACK Commander MEDPACK have MEDPACK incoming MEDPACK MEDPACK HMG MEDPACK Onos HMG MEDPACK etc etc.
Since we are assuming COMPETENT players, there is no excuse for not reading the teamchat, especially since you can't zzzzzzzzzzzkrrrrrrrssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh in it nor can you spam indefinitely.
Annnnnnyhow, going back to my comment on lieutenants/sarges in another post, I say if you intend to listen to two people voicechatting then make it implicitly clear. Thats more a clan play thing, where you can tell 2 people in advance that they're sarges and must use Voice while the rest type.
I give waypoint to a group of marines to an outpost under siege and has a phase to it.
I say in voicecomm: "Everyone go through the phase to the waypoint, our measly outpost of.........2 sentries and 1 siege now is under attack by 12 onos."
All the marines hump the armory. All I see is a bunch of blue blips in base with happy armory humping sounds going.
I say in voicecomm: "If you go to the outpost now, I'll give you all HA/HMG."
All the marines suddenly stop humping and jump in the phase....really really fast.
Then they realize I only have 20 res. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
So with that, heres 3 simple mic steps:
1) Buy a mic, they're cheap <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
2) Configure it <i>properly</i>! There is <b>NO EXCUSE</b> for people who sound like they're talking over a wood chipper. All it takes is 15 minutes to experiment with placement, sensitivity, etc until you sound decent enough for all to understand.
Oh, and please tell other players when they sound incoherant so that they can fix their settings. Just a "dude you're too quiet/all static" is enough. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
3) Age is not important. Nor is gender. Or race.
The reason no one listens to the 13 year olds is because they're the ones going "<i>OMG COM GIMMY A GL OR I WONT MOVE FRUM BASE!!!</i>"
Its simple. The moment you start acting like an idiot, people will ignore you.
If your mature and helpful, I couldn't care WHAT you sounded like. You could be a 10 year old girl with a lisp - if I know you're trying to make helpful suggestions and inform me of whats going on down there, i'll be listening.
I've ran into all sorts of people online. Players young and old, players with obvious accents, even (beleive it or not <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->) female players. I don't expect everyone to sound the same, or fit into the typical "16-24 white male" category. What I expect is for everyone to try their best. Thats all anyone expects. Start being lame, and players will reach for the mute button. The bottom line is, its <i>your attitude</i> that gets you noticed. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Congrats. You can now shout for help when you really need it!
Happy hunting! <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::skulk::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='skulk.gif'><!--endemo-->
The point isn't STOP USING THOSE EVIL NASTY MICS AND TYPE DAMN IT!.
That wasn't the point.
Use the mic all you want. Abuse it and get muted, but please, feel free to use the mic.
Just read the damn teamchat, okay? A _lot of players won't use a mic for a lot of different valid reasons. Ignoring teamchat is just plain wrong, in a team based game. Even more so for the commander. And if you think you missed something, tap the tilde, glance over the last few lines, tap it again. Ain't rocket science. Even a mic user can do it.
Oh, and if your team says your mic is breaking up badly, stop using it. Fix it later, type for now, cause if you keep breaking up, you've been muted.
x3 times.
That will get their attention.
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Ya know, Evo, you missed the point.
The point isn't STOP USING THOSE EVIL NASTY MICS AND TYPE DAMN IT!.
That wasn't the point.
Use the mic all you want. Abuse it and get muted, but please, feel free to use the mic.
Just read the damn teamchat, okay? <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Exactly. Team chat messages are just as important as mic messages, and in many situations more important because Jonny and Billy are using NS to talk about what they've been doing all summer.
Although people often dont listen to mics all the time.
I was in ns_tanith earlier, and put up the hive farthest from Satcomm (I forget the name),a sens cham, and some OCs for defense. Ater I get it all set up, a lone marine walks into the OCs, but quickly takes off, back to the green boi-infested hallway. I type "Single rine outside (hive)". Then a few moments later, some of his buddies show up. Type "Need backup outside (hive), 3-4 rines". No dice, they start building a tf. Shout into mic: "THEYRE BUILDING A TF THEYRE GONNA SIEGE THE HIVE!!!". I type teh same message to make sure it gets out there. One skulk attempts to munch on a guy, then gets shot down, never returns. Seiges go up, shout "GET OVER HERE SIEGES ARE UP!!!" Nothing. Siege, all OCs, sens, all go down in a matter of minutes, the whole time I'm telling them about whats going on. I'm pretty sure most of them had me muted the whole time. So then, because I was in a bad mood, I kept typing to all about how I told my team wouldnt pay attention to what I had to say.
People in game are stupid, even when they have more than one way of obtaining information.