2 replies to this topic

[Snapt Gleipnir]

Hello. I'm no founder, but I've been around. I've seen the need for a new type of unit; one that fits the play style of less talkative pilots; one that still recognises their skill and grit.

Acausal Connecting Principal [Acau] is a no-voip unit.
In-game text chat features are used for planning on the fly.
Commanders and lance captains will email tactical briefings that may include images.

We paint our 'Mechs however we like; The Acau Tag is next to our names. If we must find tactical utility in a neon pink Atlas during a public drop, we will make do. If a unit member is under-performing because of their choice of paint-job, they won't be promoted.

Stats are not important. Skill is. After all, many Mechwarriors frequently try out goofy builds and poor tactics. Frustrated (or drunken) experimentation is normal, and shouldn't be punished.

The command hierarchy is simple, and includes awards for battlefield performance:

Spoiler

Unit Manager
Contact for recruitment.

Unit Co-manager
Drop-caller. May schedule both competitive and non-competitive tournaments and training, to be notified via email. May make battle plans and send them via email, but those plans may be overruled by the plans of any Field Coordinator on the field during a drop-call. Contact for recruitment.

Field Coordinator
Drop-caller. Makes battle plans. Sends emails with those plans. Includes scheduling for non-competitive group drops and other non-mandatory training activities. The Unit Manager or a Co-Manager respects the judgment of a Field Coordinator enough that they may invite or kick MechJocks to or from the unit, give awards, ranks, etc.

Syncronicitor
A officer of rank 'Field Coordinator' or higher has seen you fight in a coordinated lance or unit. They have been repeatedly impressed by the timing and accuracy of your peeks or pushes. They believe that you can be relied on to make what some refer to as a unified peek. You will stay good at it. You can coordinate one of these peeks in a lance of your Unit-mates when the need arises.

Lance Captain
A officer of rank 'Field Coordinator' or higher believes that you can make the decisions that turn a lance into a cohesive lethal machine.

Awarded -- Exemplary Tactics OTF
A officer of rank 'Field Coordinator' or higher has seen you make tactical decisions that resulted in a multi-kill come-back for you or your lance. You may have some form of extra-sensory perception.

Awarded -- Grit and Accuracy OTF
A officer of rank 'Lance Captain' or higher sees you going in and going hard, making pin-point shots in the middle of a lethal brawl.

Awarded -- Lethal Combatant OTF
A officer of rank 'Field Coordinator' or higher sees that you got a kill and did 8x your tonnage in damage during a drop with a fellow Acau Mechwarrior.

MechJock
You are a pilot who doesn't need a mic to perform well in a battle.

Contact me, ConstableQib, in game or through the forums (i.e. here) to enlist. Do not post your email here; instead, use in-game private chat to add your address to the Briefing Feed (which may occasionally be updated between officers of rank 'Field Coordinator' and up).

Edit: Some insight into the sort of communication available to no-voip players seems to be called for:

Scouts will use TAG or any lasers onboard to point overhead in the general direction of known targets. Slower 'mechs with TAG (or cold lasers) will point into terrain to indicate possible enemy peek zones. Lasers or TAG can be used to tell intended direction of travel during the start of a match (when no scouting is possible). Turning quickly from left to right indicates confusion when there are no enemies around, and should be considered a request for either an order or an enemy position. There are plenty of other subtle indicators that most mechwarriors already understand intuitively.

The Semaphoric Comms System:

(Fades Only)

Spoiler

[H]
[S] [E]
[T] [A]
[N]


Neither the 'HELP' [H] option nor the 'Enemy Spotted' [E] option of the command wheel disappear after making another selection, nor do other command wheel options disappear after selecting them. This makes them both into keywords that can attribute alternate meanings to otherwise normal command wheel phrases.

GROUP MANOUVRES
Fades: forward facing withdrawal, relative to expected enemy position.

[H],[T] : move more leftward
Typically this is considered an 'anti-nascar', since the slow bois will be more or less stuck out front as the enemy rotates into them. The key here is that faster mechs move quickly into firing positions to punish the most eager enemies.

[H],[N] : move straight back
Either the enemy is pushing hard and we need a firing line, or the enemy position is unknown and we need to stay ready to fire on new targets.

[H],[A] : move more rightward
Break from the nascar and fall waaay back to the outskirts. This is more 'straight back' relative to the rotation centre of the map, because by the time our firing positions are visible to the enemy, they'll have advanced through some portion of the rotation.

For all of these, staying coordinated after the first or second volley of the next engagment is expected.

P.S. House Kurita are a bunch of snakes. Screw those guys.

Edited by ConstableQib, 08 August 2019 - 08:50 AM.

[Appogee]

ConstableQib, on 04 August 2019 - 08:09 PM, said:

I've seen the need for a new type of unit; one that fits the play style of less talkative pilots; one that still recognises their skill and grit. Acausal Connecting Principal [Acau] is a no-voip unit.

With no disrespect intended, this seems an odd concept.

The old saying "no plan survives first contact with the enemy" comes to mind. I don't see how you could effectively drop call a battle, working to a pre-agreed plan but never communicating enemy positions and maneuvers etc.

Of course, if you have decent pilots and you're just dropping against pugs and/or pugtatoes, no communication is necessary. I've certainly been in plenty of groups where it was clear to all of us that no communication was necessary in a particular battle against vastly inferior opponents.

However, with the low player population, a useless matchmaker, and no plan from PGI to address either issue, you're mostly not going to be dropping against incompetent teams. I would think that any mildly-competent unit talking among itself during a battle would have a HHHHHHUUUUUUGGGGEEEE advantage over one that isn't talking.

Anyway, best wishes with your endeavour, and I hope to see you and fellow mutes on the battlefield

Edited by Appogee, 04 August 2019 - 10:44 PM.

[Snapt Gleipnir]

Appogee, on 04 August 2019 - 10:41 PM, said:

I don't see how you could effectively drop call a battle, working to a pre-agreed plan but never communicating enemy positions and maneuvers etc.

I understand your apprehension. Communication comes in many forms, and reaches far beyond the limits of the command wheel, without the need to speak.