What makes a good PO?

[Troika]

I thought this thread title read what makes a good poo for a second

[Chuckachu]

Communication is number one and two. Alamo (DS1) has to keep moving. Normandy (DS2) has to be listening and near your ship as you never know when a SL will call out for a fire mission or you suddenly needing to emergency evac someone at LZ2.

[Mark Wilson]

well after about 15-20 minutes it, it's good to ask the MTs to fortify your dropship. Also try to announce all your landings and despatchers, and do it at a reasonable pace

[carmelitadominguez]

Communication, knowing when to run, awareness and a good personality.

[StephenNelson]

Recently I've noticed that the POs for the Alamo have been getting torn up in their own cockpit/DS because no marine wants to stand around in a drop ship the whole deployment. Remember: if you are alone in your ship, and no marines are REALLY close to you, close the shutters. Just make sure you announce what you're doing over Comms, and be ready to open them quick. This way (Mature Hunter 69) doesn't decap you with a few lucky hits and force command to call up/send down the Alamo the rest of the round.

[kooarbiter]

Never stop going up and down

lewd

[CrimsonAerospace]

Actually speak with your fucking copilot. Nothing like sitting there staring at a wall for three hours while your partner sits there stiff as a board.

[completelynewguy]

If you want to be cool, use the term "Winchester/Winchestered" to indicate you're out of ammo.

[HR171]

When I play PO, I make sure to communicate, marines get hella pissed if you don't let them know when you leave.
Also, listen and to command comms, if you hear them talk about marines taking lots of casualties, tell them you can wait to pick up casualties, especially if there's no one on the ship you're flying.

Also, if you are a PO on CAS make sure you communicate, and remind SLs that you are available. Tell them what weapon load out you have, so an SL can ask you to only use certain weapons(e.g ask you not to use napalm etc.)
Also, as aforementioned use terms like "Winchester", "in the pipe 5 by 5", "CAS", and other terms

[Logi99]

click twice.

[Skimmy2]

click twice.

There is a lot more clicking in CAS, git gud transport fly boi.

[Mook476]

When the meme officer doesn't leave behind 35 marines to get slaughtered by memeomorphs cause he got scared.

[Imperator_Titan]

When the meme officer doesn't leave behind 35 marines to get slaughtered by memeomorphs cause he got scared.

This. Too many times have I seen pilots damn the FOB marines to the hive because a young runner snuck onboard and they're too scared to deal with it or have the marines onboard deal with it.

[Sir Lordington]

WHAT MAKES A GOOD PO? WELL, IF I WERE A BAD PO I WOULDN'T BE HERE DISCUSSING IT WITH YE, WOULD I?

Memes aside, talk, talk, talk. Talk to medical, talk to the marines, talk to command. Launch often. I like to launch every three minutes or so unless there are wounded that need loading. Always announce your departures about 10 seconds ahead of time in case someone wants you to hold.

On transport, be ready to defend your dropship. A shotgun with buckshot will make those pesky runners and hunters think twice about vandalising your cockpit, those damn hooligans. It goes without saying, but don't leave your dropship unless VERY special circumstances demand it.

As for CAS, find out which spec has the scout kit. Tune into those comms at the very least, if not all squad comms. You may want to remind people that CAS is available periodically, but don't overdo it. Bear in mind fighting takes place indoors a lot of the time.

In CAS, the cameraman is much more important than the gunner. Gunner is easy, you just need half decent reaction times and being able to click a few buttons. The cameraman needs to make judgement calls about when to fire, which ordinance to use, and when to stop firing. A good cameraman will improve the amount of aliens you get, reduce wasted ammo, and avoid FF incidents. I recommend having macros to call out ordinance for the gunner.

[Cpkeyes]

sit in the chair all round and dont fucking move.

Even if the xenos are boarding?

[Skimmy2]

Even if the xenos are boarding?

Especially if the Xenos are boarding!

[Kesserline]

Use your brain.

If you see that the situation is desperate (no comms, LZ getting slowly overrun), stay. No matter what, stay until the last second. Becase either you'll receive the order to full evac, and you hadn't leave so you can still gather all remaining marines, either the full evac order is not received yet, but you gather as many marines as you can and still evac.

You are a Pilot Officer, you are not a simple PFC obeying simple orders and nothing else, you have a certain authority and a certain capacity to analyze situations. Especially situations where you are needed to take a decision.

Leaving too soon, you abandon people.

You can never leave too late, especially if you have many marines on board, because if aliens get in, they die.

"Command gives me order to take off !"

Command can wait 2 minutes more to evac an overrun LZ, because sometimes, the evac order comes too late and you still need to gather marines in the DS.