Cat got your PL - My StratGir System

[QuantaCat]

Right. Next time I do the StratGir outing, I want to set some basic rules, as to get certain things out of the way and cut down my administration time:

There will be 4 squads. Main squads will be Beta/Charlie, and Delta as general Aircraft squad. Which gives the added advantage that Beta and Charlie have two different colours.
Alpha, however, will be the overflow squad, and should never be completely full. They will also act as the squad I play in; however, I wont be squad lead.

The reason I am doing that is, near the end of my session on thursday, I found it a lot easier to handle it all when I was out on the field, playing in a squad. Some of you might say "well duh"; upto now, I didnt really consider that, as the maps changes so often, its often wiser to stare at it, to see whenever another territory switches, and rely on SLs to provide me with info, how the situation is looking. (as well as looking at the many radar signatures, etc; though it only gives me the ones where I last spawned/died, very annoying)

My Squad Leads should do the following:

• Put down beacons at good positions, close to their goal.
• Let me know if they encounter a situation where they will either a) take longer than expected or b) be driven out before they can reach their goal.
• Talk to their squad about our overlying goal. (which I will communicate clearly)
• When asked to "report", I mean they should give me a general status update, in the order of Beta - Charlie - Delta; Alpha doesnt need to report.
• If you have a good plan, let me know about it before going out and doing it, so I can give you support or cover from other squads.

Ill add to this post as I think of more stuff, but mumble has been organised already, thanks to cooper.

[QuantaCat]

Gal Dropping the Awesome Way

Next time we have a 10-12 player Delta/Air squad, I want to try having dedicated Gal drops.
- 2 Players per Galaxy from Delta, one to man the back turret, one to pilot. These pilots never drop to the warzone.
- Atleast 2 Galaxies, 3 are probably better. (which means 6 dedicated pilot/gunners)
- Every other pilot jumps in a scythe for AA.
- Alpha/Beta/Charlie squads dont engie up, except for combat engies that drop into the warzone.
- SLs have the job of putting down beacons as soon as they land.
- Important here is the NAMING OF YOUR GALAXIES: Specifiy which Gal is 1 2 or 3, try to make it as clear as possible for everyone.
- If possible, SLs should use coloured smoke for marking pickup spots.
- For the duration of the Galdrop, radio silence, except by SLs.

[QuantaCat]

this could all possibly suck, or not, we'll see.

[Cooper]

It helps iof you give the Gals names other than numbers. I've heard one called Andromeda. Clever. ^.^

I haven't named mine yet. We shall have a naming ceremony soon where I fly it into enemy aircraft screaming its name on proximity.

[QuantaCat]

I definitely want to give my lib a name. Because as you all know; each time a lib splodes, god kills a kitten. Or was that adolf?

EDIT: IVE GOT IT! EVA!

[Orius]

I see what you did there! You should get one of the lady decals on it as well. I'd consider calling mine Ormurin Langi but all the mispronounciation would drive me nuts. Going to have to give this some serious thought.

[RIDEBIRD]

How is there four squads? Pretty confusing in general.

Are we all in one channel? How are we communicating with delta? Will we only be playing galdrops and infantry?
Is delta like the transport squad?

[NickWhite]

it helps iof you give the gals names other than numbers. I've heard one called andromeda. Clever. ^.^

i haven't named mine yet. We shall have a naming ceremony soon where i fly it into enemy aircraft screaming its name on proximity.

: D i'm gonna call mine ngc 27770!!!....
ಠ_ಠ

EDIT: Also, i do really like the idea of using the Gals more. I'm sure there are people who wouldnt mind that dedicated platoon role, as it would stand for/require a lot more than just "driving the bus/plane".

Permanent air transport/CAS, if executed correctly, would make outing maneuvers and capping so much more efficient... Though it would have to prove itself a worthy stratagem, seeing as the platoon would be sacrificing a (potential) 12 man squad of Inf/Arm.

But yeah! If it works, it could be excellent! (Plus they look pretty in Purple and 'raffe)

[QuantaCat]

How is there four squads? Pretty confusing in general.

huh? I wrote it in the first paragraph.

Are we all in one channel? How are we communicating with delta? Will we only be playing galdrops and infantry?
Is delta like the transport squad?

All SLs communicate with each other, as Cooper specified in the mumble thread. if Beta needs a pickup, they should tell delta so, and preferably use coloured smoke for pickups.

Actually, the galdrop thing was just an idea, but delta is mostly air support, not necessarily transport. Just that, if we do galdrops, Id like to try it like that. We had that [the dedicated air squad] last time I was PL, and some people switched, some people stayed. We can always switch roles if their spawn timers are too long/theres too much AA. But Delta should definitely be the squad that has no problem running to the next best tech plant/warpgate and getting better vehicles/planes, while Alpha, Bravo and Charlie stay on the ground, near the main objective. (or in case they meander objectives, near their respective goals)

[Grible]

If I may just drop in a wee comment - the timer issue on aircraft means that as the deltas get shot down they tend to get out of sync with each other meaning that they can't get aircraft all together and so on.

The other thing I was going to say is it occured to me the other night that the game really likes 3 man "fire teams"
3 men is a pair of maxes and an eng, a lib crew,a sunderer crew, a mag and a supporting lighting type (at mag, anti inf lighting), a medic and two heavies and so on. I think it might be beyond us/the game to arrange but little groups of three with a stated special purpose would work well I think.

[Rotekian]

Yes, I noticed that as well. However I think specialized 3 man teams would have the same problem as aircraft sync issues. It might work better to have each 3 man team be flexible in what they can do, just so long as they all stick together and pick roles together. So 1 medic 2 heavy can switch to 1 engineer 2 MAX or a liberator crew.

Having a system where these 3 man fire teams can form naturally and quickly might be useful. Even if it is just something as simple as looking at your number (eg 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12) to find out what class options might work best.

[MrEclectic]

If I may just drop in a wee comment - the timer issue on aircraft means that as the deltas get shot down they tend to get out of sync with each other meaning that they can't get aircraft all together and so on.

Well, we in the other squads could provide you with aircraft while yours are in cooldown. Some of us I'm sure have pretty decently upgraded ones (ie my Scythe is Hover Airframe 2, A2G missiles with IR optics, A2A, Hailstorm Turbo Laser with zoom and Rank 2 Magazine upgrade, Flares, and a choice of Stealth or Nanite). I'd volunteer for the Flying Giraffes, but it's just that I'm a) not such a great pilot and b) I have a neck problem and I find it too tiring flying an ESF beyond an hour, an hour and a half at most.

The other thing I was going to say is it occured to me the other night that the game really likes 3 man "fire teams"
3 men is a pair of maxes and an eng, a lib crew,a sunderer crew, a mag and a supporting lighting type (at mag, anti inf lighting), a medic and two heavies and so on. I think it might be beyond us/the game to arrange but little groups of three with a stated special purpose would work well I think.

Excellent point. We could simply start doing something like that by simply making sure that, when we spawn or disembark, we wait a bit and move with someone else. Or, since we seem to have coms down now, this is the next thing we try to achieve during our Thursday outings.

[MrEclectic]

Yes, I noticed that as well. However I think specialized 3 man teams would have the same problem as aircraft sync issues. It might work better to have each 3 man team be flexible in what they can do, just so long as they all stick together and pick roles together. So 1 medic 2 heavy can switch to 1 engineer 2 MAX or a liberator crew.

Having a system where these 3 man fire teams can form naturally and quickly might be useful. Even if it is just something as simple as looking at your number (eg 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12) to find out what class options might work best.

Just as an example, I think DWG's system is everyone is an HA except 3 Medics and 2 Engies, and when a special need appears (MAX crash, need for AA, attacking an amp station and they need LAs or Infiltrators) the SL calls out for eg "2 AA MAXs". In this case, the first two to acknowledge over coms and respond, fill the role.

[QuantaCat]

Fireteams sounds like a good idea, but however, dont forget the importance of having a medic in a max team. But we dont need 1 medic per max, more like 1 per 2-3. So thatd mean:
max - max - engie - max - medic - engie

[Jesus_Phish]

*BIG EDIT*

I cut and paste all this into the other thread because it fits in there more and don't want to have two threads about the same topic.

[RIDEBIRD]

I try to say "two people go AA Max, call out" and that works. Fixed roles in this game does not work. Air squad works if all those in it can fly a Scythe/lib til their cooldown is down.

3-4 man groups is never going to work, I'm sorry, but no one can handle micromanagement on that level. Squad leaders should try to get a good mix though.

Breaking squads into Alpha Squad Unit A is an SL nightmare, and less then 12 are very rarely effective at anything. Making people choose classes is also not going to work and lacks any purpose outside of bio labs. People should play what they kill best with as long as the class spread is okay. Going mass heavies is still a must for defending against tanks and massing AA maxes is still a must against mass aircraft.

Regarding splitting on points, last thursday I just told some SL to split his guys between to points. Worked fine. Fixed units would just make this more confusing as people leave, join, and generally jump about. I hate to sound so negative but I think the best organization is a loose one, and that as small a group as 4-6 lack any purpose outside of ghost caps.

But - SLs and PLs need to call out more specifics and people need to respond. With good communication fixed roles and such is not needed (GET MICROPHONES).

[MrEclectic]

I would like to see us moving towards people taking focused rolls in squads. I can remember some point last Thursday where there was a need for some engineers in alpha. Next thing we know everyone bar two people is an engineer. The reverse always seems to happen that we never seem to have an infiltrator.

As for small groups of people, you could try cut everyone down into three four man groups or four three man groups but making them too small means you're going to start ending up with more people on healing reviving duty. I think the smallest a unit should be broken into is 4 or 6 depending on the base we're capping and how many squads we have there.

I think it'd be great if we could break say squads into unit A (members 1-4), B (members 5-8) and C (8-12), who would then go to those respective points and hold them. So you look at your squad, you look at your number and you know where to go when your SL tells you. That way we can also make sure that in say Alpha B we've got the right combo of a MAX + Engi + Medic + HA or whatever.

So to summarize:
-If we could get people to focus on being set to roles. Let them pick up to 2 classes they like and up to 2 vehicles.
-If we could make groups more organized.

I avoid militaristic themes, but I think the USMC have a saying "you only have to worry about 3 things in the Corps" (or something to that effect). They are organized into teams of 4, so you have to worry about the other three ppl in your fireteam.

I think it is the optimal number. 2 MAXs, 1 engie & 1 medic, or 2 HAs, 1 engie and 1 medic. And it should be fixed, and always moving as a single unit.

The organisation of a squad according to position numbers would be great, but, the way the UI is now, would add to the administrative overhead of the giraffe beacons and the BL. They'd have to make sure that the certed engies and medics fill the appropriate slots, and there is no way to move ppl up or down, so they'd have to do it when forming up the squads, by sending invites in a particular order.

[QuantaCat]

4 is probably too small for separate objective taking. I dont think spreading out an entire squad over a single zone with 3 objectives is a good idea. However, having fireteams, or telling people to cover different parts of a building, or etc, probably is.

6 magriders with 2 people, is an entire squad.

[RIDEBIRD]

Again, it would be an SL nightmare.

What you're saying is that the SLs will be mini-PLs. Just keeping track of splitting these teams is going to be a nightmare, and you can't play and lead well. Also, the situations where four people are effective only as four are extremely rare.

More communication and spread/flexibility on the fly negates the need for fixed fire teams, because most of the team you WILL need to move as 12 people together. Most of the time you need two squads on an objective.

[MrEclectic]

4 is probably too small for separate objective taking. I dont think spreading out an entire squad over a single zone with 3 objectives is a good idea. However, having fireteams, or telling people to cover different parts of a building, or etc, probably is.

Of course you are right. A cap point or a generator is always a squad objective. But first fireteam eg approaches from the left, second from the right and third provides base of fire. Or fire and maneuver. First advances while second and third suppress, then second, and so on.