19 replies to this topic

[Father Tork]

Hey warriors,
As it currently stands, nearly every match I'll take Company Command as soon as possible. This started because whenever I'd play with a pre-made group (most often just me and 1 other person), someone else would take Lance command and move us apart.

However last night I started making use of sending out orders. My W/L standings from last night were... impressive!

I'm not saying I only made awesome decisions, nor am I saying PUG players always listened, but as the night went on we started seeing more and more people jumping on board.

The biggest advantage? no more congealed mass of mechs all facing random directions or traveling single file into the enemy, instead by using orders to control a pace, most players traveled as a tighter group but more shoulder to shoulder. Often 2 lances would pincer the enemy(both assault from the front, but at a slightly wide angle), while the 3rd lance actually flanks.

Sure we still occasionally had groups holding back behind a hill instead of assaulting, but the entire lance held back, as a team. Or they all committed, again as a team.

I can honestly say it was one of my more enjoyable PUG experiences, and look forward to more of them. And I gotta thank all the players last night for being open to it, and the awesome teamwork, instead of the standard everyone looking out for number 1

[Kiiyor]

It's always refreshing to get some direction at the start of a fight. I tried taking command for a while, only to give bad orders that everyone would have done anyway.

Terra therma;
"Ok everyone, plan: A lance, I want you to {Richard Cameron} around at the start, charge to the middle, stop just before you get there and clog the entrance for everyone else moving up.

Everyone else, set your throttles to 2/3 and charge the middle. If the enemy is there, I want a MAXIMUM of 2 people stopped in the entrance firing at any one time."

Caustic: "everyone move to the crater. If you get separated, crest eery hill you see, IN SINGLE FILE"

Alpine:
"Ok everyone, split up, we can cover more ground that way. It works for Scooby-Doo! Half go low, the rest to the death ridges. Make sure MLAS boats to to the ridges to snipe."

Frozen:
"TO THE SHIP! Let's intelligently hang at the back, then get frustrated and try to flank right/go tunnel and die... SINGLE FILE of course!"

Canyon:
"Uuurgh....
Anyone without jumpjets, you have my pity. Lets all split at the start and be utterly unable to rejoin each other!"

Any map on conquest;
"EVERYONE CHARGE THETA!"

The whole theory behind it was reverse psychology, yet even though there were invariably some eloquent youn players informing me my plan was ****, they always end up obeying orders and doing it anyway.

[Zordicron]

Kiiyor, on 19 October 2013 - 03:05 PM, said:

It's always refreshing to get some direction at the start of a fight. I tried taking command for a while, only to give bad orders that everyone would have done anyway.

Terra therma;
"Ok everyone, plan: A lance, I want you to {Richard Cameron} around at the start, charge to the middle, stop just before you get there and clog the entrance for everyone else moving up.

Everyone else, set your throttles to 2/3 and charge the middle. If the enemy is there, I want a MAXIMUM of 2 people stopped in the entrance firing at any one time."

Caustic: "everyone move to the crater. If you get separated, crest eery hill you see, IN SINGLE FILE"

Alpine:
"Ok everyone, split up, we can cover more ground that way. It works for Scooby-Doo! Half go low, the rest to the death ridges. Make sure MLAS boats to to the ridges to snipe."

Frozen:
"TO THE SHIP! Let's intelligently hang at the back, then get frustrated and try to flank right/go tunnel and die... SINGLE FILE of course!"

Canyon:
"Uuurgh....
Anyone without jumpjets, you have my pity. Lets all split at the start and be utterly unable to rejoin each other!"

Any map on conquest;
"EVERYONE CHARGE THETA!"

The whole theory behind it was reverse psychology, yet even though there were invariably some eloquent youn players informing me my plan was ****, they always end up obeying orders and doing it anyway.

You forgot Crimson:
" Everyone go to the garage, and then try to use the tiny posts and buildings as cover and take on the whole enemy team with just your lance while 6 mechs go chase the spider in the open water so their LRM boats have somthing to kill"
Seriously though, I can deal with most of the bonehead trained dog tactics in pugs on the maps, but Crimson just, GAH why does everyone have to go to the garage to mill around until they die?

I dont take command to try to persuade people from avoiding a lot of this. But mostly, nobody listens, or maybe like 2 people will. And at that point, it pretty much is worthless to bother.

There is occasional success, I recall a match in Forest where our team was split up EVERYWHERE, not even kidding, from our base, to the water, one in tunnel, a couple in the hills, a light trying to cap. We had 3 in the water taking on 4 of theirs, so I put in chat " Everyone help our guys at the ship!" And that was all it took, surprisingly. Yeah, people took some fire(me too) bolting acorss the water to help, but when we were grouped again it was like 9 vs 4, so we wrecked them, then proceeded to march to their few base defenders and intercept the rest of their team at the endge of the water as a force. We would have been blown to bits one at a time, but instead it turned into face wreck victory.

So sometimes, maybe one out of 5 or 6, simple instruction at a critical point will actually work out. most of the time it just ,makes one guy come to your cause, but once in a while it turns into victory.

[Kiiyor]

Eldagore, on 20 October 2013 - 07:07 PM, said:

You forgot Crimson:
" Everyone go to the garage, and then try to use the tiny posts and buildings as cover and take on the whole enemy team with just your lance while 6 mechs go chase the spider in the open water so their LRM boats have somthing to kill"

"And make sure, MAKE SURE, that if you have a superior position on top of the garage, you ALL jump down, single file to chase one enemy spider right into the loving arms of the enemy team!"

[MirageES]

Kiiyor, on 19 October 2013 - 03:05 PM, said:

<snip>

Any map on conquest;
"EVERYONE CHARGE THETA!"

I'm reading this on my cell phone, and for some reason I found this particularly funny. I literally laughed out loud. I got some very strange looks in the break room at work.

[Blurry]

I will says this again. You get what you give.
People talk in chat ect then things usually go much better.
Plans hashed out ect - doesnt need command but a little goes a long way.

If you are in a premade - take your attitude and leave it at ready- work with people and stop fighting them.
You will see far better results if you work with people instead of running off in your 4 man then spend the rest of the match bitching you are so great dead.

[Burke IV]

Well done Father Tork, you made the game better for everybody else. I always make a point of saying "thankyou commander" kinda hoping i might encourage others.The other night somebody actually thought i was being sarcastic. Sometimes i wonder wtf? Its always good if you feel you have a good grasp of the map to jump in and do your best. And just think at the end the other team can see who it was that took them apart.

[Father Tork]

Thanks Burke,
I still often only grab command to avoid getting my pre-made split up. But on occasion will try and hopefully succeed

[Darth Futuza]

I enjoyed reading this because I realized I wasn't the only one attempting to make PUGs stategize. I feel rather accomplished when I know we've won due to the fact that we had a viable stategy and I managed to get my team to listen. Too bad there's no in game rewards for commanding well.

[sebmojo]

This is all good advice. It's not about micromanaging, it's just keeping an eye on the situation and issuing the right order/suggestion at the right time. My last Tourmaline conquest map I put all the lights in one lance and said CHARLIE IS CAP SQUAD - EVERYONE ELSE HEAD TO THETA AND MURDER EVERYONE YOU FIND. Nice and simple.

[Bront]

I don't always use the map commands (they're annoying at times, and become inaccurate quickly), but I try to form a plan with the PUGs. Sometimes it works well. Sometimes it works poorly (either because it was a bad plan, it is a place to experiment with them), it was executed poorly, or the other team was just superior (Yup, it happens).

Sadly, I generally get more bad feedback than good feedback.

On the other side, if I'm in a solo pug and find a Premade, it doesn't hurt to follow them or find out their plan. With my unit, we had some pugs say in team chat "Follow the Steiner Premade", so we took command and barked out some simple orders when we could. It was a pretty epic game as I died early trying to make sure we didn't get overrun (Traded my Thunderbolt for their DDC and took the focus of 3 large mechs to give my team time to regroup), and most of my premade got split off from the group, but managed to come around and fight their way back while we held ground. It was awesome.

That said, if you want to move people around, please ask. I've only done it once (moved folks around), and I asked first, and the players were greatful (and said yes).

Edited by Bront, 06 November 2013 - 10:21 AM.

[Geek Verve]

Father Tork, on 19 October 2013 - 05:24 AM, said:

As it currently stands, nearly every match I'll take Company Command as soon as possible. This started because whenever I'd play with a pre-made group (most often just me and 1 other person), someone else would take Lance command and move us apart.

As someone who spent my first few weeks in the game PUG'ing solo, I can say that most people in PUG's appreciate someone who tries to bring some organization to the cat herd. Even if the plan is flawed, and even if some players ignore command, at least the rest are on some semblance of the same page. Sometimes it makes sense to move as a huge wrecking ball of a group and sometimes it doesn't, but as long as everyone on the team is aware of the general strategy, they can avoid actions or movements that could negatively impact the outcome (leading enemy forces into the path of a flanking lance, exposing the position of LRM boats, etc.).

Like you, I frequently grab command just to keep people from shuffling my premade lance. I am happy to give it up if anyone expresses interest in actually providing leadership.

[DevlinCognito]

I PUG almost exclusively as my Merc unit from NBT hasn't made the jump to MW:O, and I always appreciate it when someone at least attempts to give the mob some direction.

[Buckminster]

A question for all you PUG Commanders out there - what mechs are you usually riding in?

I'll find myself thinking that I should grab command and move the chess pieces, but I've been running a Locust lately, and I figure that any time I spend standing still looking at a map is time that I'm dead. Or is it not that big of a deal?

[Bront]

Buckminster, on 07 November 2013 - 08:35 AM, said:

A question for all you PUG Commanders out there - what mechs are you usually riding in?

I'll find myself thinking that I should grab command and move the chess pieces, but I've been running a Locust lately, and I figure that any time I spend standing still looking at a map is time that I'm dead. Or is it not that big of a deal?

If you do it immediately, you're probably fine. If you do it mid-match, that's bad unless you're capping, but then you're out of touch.

[Father Tork]

Usually i'll bother with commands when in a heavy brawler, or LRM boat. And only usually at match start, let the PuGerrs work from where i send them first, though only when they actually play along.

[Redbeard the Elder]

I'm good about taking orders, I've learned a lot that way. There are some tricks on certain maps that I wouldn't have up my sleeve if it weren't for a few kindly veterans doling out advice.

That being said, don't be afraid to speak up if the orders are contrary to your strong points. I'm one hell of a sharp shooter and my Raven 3L loadout is perfect for it. I suck at chasing down other lights. So, if someone tells me to chase the spiders, I politely ask if they'd rather me knock the LRMs out before they get in range. A good commander appreciates the feedback as long as it is brief and respectful.

[Darth Futuza]

Buckminster, on 07 November 2013 - 08:35 AM, said:

A question for all you PUG Commanders out there - what mechs are you usually riding in?

I'll find myself thinking that I should grab command and move the chess pieces, but I've been running a Locust lately, and I figure that any time I spend standing still looking at a map is time that I'm dead. Or is it not that big of a deal?

I do it in my Jenner, so I guess its not too big of a deal. Sometimes I forget to help my teammates out though if I'm caught in a heavy fire fight.

Quote

Sadly, I generally get more bad feedback than good feedback.

That's just how leadership goes. If you're perceived as a leader, then criticism is sure to follow even if you're a great leader. The trick is helping your team think you aren't the leader, just their local friendly helpful intelligent teammate, when you are in fact really leading them.

[Ian Grahame]

My kid started playing MWO maybe two weeks ago. To be fair, when I say "kid", he's thirty and been gaming since he was little, so there's that... but anyhow. I see him jumping in all the time, taking command, trying to herd the cats, and doing a pretty decent job of it, even as a raw n00b. Even *some* direction is better than none, especially for the very new. The more experienced players will assess and pitch in most times. They generally won't follow boneheaded orders, but I'm good with that. I mean, would you?

Generally, I won't take command, not typing in chat, not when alive anyhow. I'm too spoiled with voice chat, and trying to get a PUG group to act as a team is like trying to deliver a wheelbarrow load of frogs.

[Alfa Tango]

As a new player i find it very helpful if someone of the experienced players takes command, especially according map knowledge. Even if we don't win, as stated, a bad plan ist better than none.

Edited by Alfa Tango, 08 November 2013 - 02:56 AM.