Tips and tricks for Command Staff

[FGRSentinel]

Right, so I've noticed quite a large variation of quality amongst SOs, XOs, and even COs in the last week or so, to the point that it's getting maddening. To deal with this, and partially to vent, I've decided to compile a list of common sense dos and don'ts for Command Staff. Feel free to add onto it and comment. Consider the first ones the "Commandments" of CIC staff.



1. SILENCE AND IGNORING YOUR SQUAD IS DEATH. If you fail to report things your squad says that can help other squads, if you fail to coordinate them, if you don't respond to questions or concerns they have, they will die. Failing to respond promptly, failing to respond AT ALL, leads to your men dying. If you can't listen to comms as a PFC, you shouldn't be an SL, let alone an SO.

2. Use your cameras. The helmet cams let you see more than a single Marine can and let you get a wider image of the situation. Cycle around between squad members regularly and, if you hear someone got grabbed, use it to find out where they're being taken. They're busy trying to escape, fight off their attackers, or are even unconscious or dead. You, however, as sitting in a cushy chair up on the Almayer behind several protective walls. Reporting the location and condition of the Marines in your Overwatched squad is literally your job.

3. Think ahead, plan ahead. You want to find out who's on the squad, what their job is, and how many are following orders. Try to gauge how quickly they'll burn through their ammo, medical supplies, and materials and get Req to have a crate ready before your squad even considers they might need a resupply.

4. SASS: Short and Sweet, Stupid. If you can't type fast, keep your messages short, blunt, and to the point. Nobody gives a crap if the aCO spends five minutes writing this long, dramatic announcement saying to hold Hydro when they don't respond at all during the time they're typing it and the Marines lose the NEXUS as well during that time because they need orders.

5. Don't go into a CIC role if you can't parse large amounts of information. Best case scenario, when you have a full CIC and everyone has enough of a brain to communicate and do their job, every SO has to listen to a total of 4-5 comms channels: Command, Medical, their Overwatched squad, Requisitions, and potentially Engineering. Generally, if there's less than a full CIC and the XO or CO won't help overwatch, you end up with at least one extra comm channel to listen to.

6. "Ask CMO or a doctor for a HealthMate HUD. We have 12-14 spares in medbay among vendors, lockers and such. It lets you see the health status of marines through the Overwatch Console." -tobinerd

How to Avoid Mutinies

7. Build a rapport with your squad. Learn their personalities, their likes and dislikes, and how they act. Squads are more lenient towards Command Staff they like and that understand and get along with them, which can make them more willing to listen to you and less likely to blow your brains out should a mutiny occur.

8. Learn to read the atmosphere. If squads are getting frustrated and rowdy, figure out the cause before you slam the insub button. Try to figure out why the Spec's charging off solo and cussing out the SL whenever they try to give an order to see if you can resolve it without the MPs getting involved. Your squad's more likely to view you as a reasonable, but overloaded/inexperienced officer

9. NEVER show offense or hostility to being directly or indirectly criticized about how you're doing your job. Disrespect might be a crime by Marine Law, but if SLs are chewing you out and directly communicating to each other for coordination as if the CIC doesn't exist, you should take it as a sign that the CIC overall is failing their job. If you hear the PO or any other non CIC role reporting things your squad says into Command chat, it means you're failing specifically.

10. Think before you order an arrest. If someone's chewing you out for not doing your job, marking them for arrest is the best way to show you don't care what they think and give them a legitimate excuse to mutiny.

General Tips:

"If you are playing as the XO or CO you "need" to turn all the squad channels on. Take your headset off press "Z" and then turn them all on." -JJG

"Send messages and orders directly over the squad channels and send big updates pertaining all squads over Command Announcements.
On another note, I often see Command Announcements that have zero useful information or orders to marines in them. When you are making an Announcement make sure that there are actionable points for all squads in there otherwise don't bother and send messages directly to squads." -JJG

Adding on to the above point: just because you can make an announcement at a given moment doesn't mean you should. Ideally, an Announcement should only be used for pre-op announcements (briefing scheduling, reminders, briefing review, etc), important mid-op information that needs to be relayed to every squad at once (what the "crabs" do, that a squad needs to be reinforced and who needs to go where to do so, retreat/evac, giving out multiple orders to every squad at once, etc) or pre/mid-boarding (when comms might be down and it's the only way to get to most squads). This reduces the number of announcements and, if you're following the fourth point, your orders are likely to still be relevant when you finish.

"You can either say ":q Alpha go south from engineering and hold ETA entrance. Don't push!" Or you can say ":v Alpha go and hold ETA entrance!", and hope that the SL isn't a baldy and actually listens to command comms!
Or that there is a SO for Alpha that sees the message in command comms and then forwards the message." -JJG

"Make sure to use capslock when you're trying to tell those retarded fucks what to do
Example:
Alpha move to engineering through ETA caves, delta is engaged with cloaking humanoids at Lz2
Alpha move to ENGINEERING through ETA CAVES, delta is ENGAGED with cloaking HUMANOIDS at LZ2
Boom instead of waiting your time reading it you see WHERE, HOW and WHO" -Avalanchee

[tobinerd]

Let me add another tip:

Ask CMO or a doctor for a HealthMate HUD. We have 12-14 spares in medbay among vendors, lockers and such. It lets you see the health status of marines through the Overwatch Console.

Sometimes as CMO I just grab 4 of them and throw one into each corner of CiC

[FGRSentinel]

Solid one, I forget about that. Adding it now.

[KingKire]

Let it be known, healthHud only works with lvl 3 or 4 medical care If i remember.

Lvl 2 medicare only allows you to open pill bottles.

(side note level 2 medical is kinda crappy. Wish putting bandages and ointment on people were instant for level 2 medical)

[JJG]

If you are playing as the XO or CO you "need" to turn all the squad channels on. Take your headset off press "Z" and then turn them all on.

You are the Commander! If marines can't reach you and you can't hear what they say, you are effectively useless. On another note, when you are the XO or CO you should sit in front of the Tactical Map. You are the one thinking big picture!
Let SOs and SLs worry about the small stuff.

Send messages and orders directly over the squad channels and send big updates pertaining all squads over Command Announcements.
On another note, I often see Command Announcements that have zero useful information or orders to marines in them. When you are making an Announcement make sure that there are actionable points for all squads in there otherwise don't bother and send messages directly to squads.

Addendum: I personally prefer to have only two command staff. One SO that shoots OBs and SBs and deals with all the smaller problems a squad might have. And the XO/CO to deal with everything else.
Having a large number of SOs and Command Staff usually just creates overhead. (Too many cooks...)

[coroneljones]

You are the Commander! If marines can't reach you and you can't hear what they say, you are effectively useless.

Send messages and orders directly over the squad channels

Isnt this literally the SO's Job?

[JJG]

You have a choice.

You can either say ":q Alpha go south from engineering and hold ETA entrance. Don't push!" Or you can say ":v Alpha go and hold ETA entrance!", and hope that the SL isn't a baldy and actually listens to command comms!
Or that there is a SO for Alpha that sees the message in command comms and then forwards the message.

IMO by just sending the vital message to the squads comms directly you ensure that everyone who needs to hear the order hears it and you avoid miscommunication. On another note, don't rely on sending orders only to SLs.
It's simply not a reliable way to communicate in this game. The real SL might be dead and the aSL is a swamped medic who misses the message. Or the SL is a baldy that doesn't know the map. Or the SL is otherwise occupied with other stuff and misses the message.
By sending messages to entire squads you can be sure that someone will catch it.

[Avalanchee]

Make sure to use capslock when you're trying to tell those retarded fucks what to do

Example:

Alpha move to engineering through ETA caves, delta is engaged with cloaking humanoids at Lz2

Alpha move to ENGINEERING through ETA CAVES, delta is ENGAGED with cloaking HUMANOIDS at LZ2

Boom instead of wasting your time reading it you see WHERE, HOW and WHO

[FGRSentinel]

Updated the list.

[Sulaboy]

I completely disagree with JJG's idea of communication. I believe that if you are running an operation you should only be tuned into vital channels. As XO I'll tune out of all squad frequencies, medi-sci, engineering, and requisitions. This leaves just the command channel, and proximity chat.

My reason for tuning out of these channels is to promote a proper chain of information, and commands. An executive officer should be giving his lieutenant orders instead of the squad. A lieutenant working overwatch on a single squad should be so much more aware of the squad's situation than the commander peeking at their cameras over their shoulder. Hopefully the lieutenants should know individual marine's locations, and their current roles along with other more micro information than "move here". Lieutenants can help organize routes for the marines, and inform the squad of other marine's positions.

If there are a lack of lieutenants to work overwatch or I need to get in touch with a department it isn't difficult to tune into them quickly.

[FGRSentinel]

Generally I disagree with it, but I've added it in for a simple fact that not every SO properly communicates with the XO and CO. Sometimes a squad's overwatching SO does literally nothing and the squad loses their SL, leaving them screaming into the void for CIC direction. In cases like this, it's nice to have the XO or CO tuned in to the comms channels for more precise details if need be. There's a reason why I say that a good CIC player can separate information from multiple comms channels with little difficulty: even as a PO, it's a vital skill to have so they know when the situation's going bad.

[JJG]

I completely disagree with JJG's idea of communication. I believe that if you are running an operation you should only be tuned into vital channels. As XO I'll tune out of all squad frequencies, medi-sci, engineering, and requisitions. This leaves just the command channel, and proximity chat.

Think of my way of doing it as the meta game method. Yes, in an ideal world I would use your method as well. But the problem is that unless you know you are surrounded by competent people you shouldn't trust em to do their job.
Anyone can roll XO or SO and the amount of games I play where command is absolutely horrible at their job leads me to question peoples ability to play the role effectively.

For that reason, I believe that it is a good idea to cut out as much overhead in the communication as possible unless you know for a fact that the other command staff in the CIC know their job!

I have had games where the CO, XO, SO and SLs all give conflicting orders. And in cases like this if people aren't tuned into the squad comms they have even less of a clue of what's going on.

Edit: After reading what you actually said I am even more confused as to how you think thats a good idea. If you are only listening in on Command Channel you are primed for disaster unless you have a full CIC that knows what's going on and says it in the Command Channel. If an SL dies and no one is there to set a new aSL the squad is routed and you wouldnt even know because you cant hear their comms. If some MT is saying that the power is out and CIC will be hit in a second how would you know? If all squads channels are going crazy saying that medbay is incompetent and needs help, how would you know? You need to make plans around whats going on. You cant order pushes for example if medbay isnt doing their job and wounded are piling up, but again, how would you know any of this unless someone would tell you in the Command Channel?

[Sulaboy]

Edit: After reading what you actually said I am even more confused as to how you think thats a good idea. If you are only listening in on Command Channel you are primed for disaster unless you have a full CIC that knows what's going on and says it in the Command Channel. If an SL dies and no one is there to set a new aSL the squad is routed and you wouldnt even know because you cant hear their comms. If some MT is saying that the power is out and CIC will be hit in a second how would you know? If all squads channels are going crazy saying that medbay is incompetent and needs help, how would you know? You need to make plans around whats going on. You cant order pushes for example if medbay isnt doing their job and wounded are piling up, but again, how would you know any of this unless someone would tell you in the Command Channel?

I make sure department heads check in often. As for the CIC I walk up to my lieutenants and speak to them without the use of the radio. If they don't respond then there is an issue that I can take my own actions to fix the problem in command. Anyone who speaks English, and has at least a middle school level of education should be able to fulfill the duties of a staff officer. My goal as a commanding officer is to work with my subordinates personally to help them lead us to success.

What I'm trying to say is that you'll get more effort from your SOs if you work with them. Show them you can solve their issues of they're brought up to you, and they'll be more likely to report something to you of their own will.

As for shipside issues, I try to get my department heads to work closely with me. Randomly tuning into radio channels to check up on departments usually gets a response.

I also believe that if someone wants to reach me as the XO they'll need to have access to the command channel. If they do not they should report it to their head of department to relay it, if their head of department is the issue they could bring up the issue with the MPs. If the MPs are the issue then I would hope to have already cought onto that issue.

My biggest gripe with your commanding style is how it seems you expect those beneath you to be incompetent, when the issue is often a lack of delegation to them. I've had rounds where the commander or executive officer have never spoke to me as a staff officer.

Have you ever played as a SO for the commander or executive officer to walk up behind you and back you out of your cameras because they want to look at it over or shoulder, a much better way of accomplishing this would be to ask them about the situation, and to designate what information you want from them.

Every issue can be lessened by engaging, and communicating with the other players in this game.

[JJG]

Have you ever played as a SO for the commander or executive officer to walk up behind you and back you out of your cameras because they want to look at it over or shoulder

I don't do that as XO. I am supposed to work together with the people in the CIC not micromanage them. And I will generally leave them to do their job and communicate with them. But I will still keep an ear out on all channels so I notice when they aren't doing their job or if they need help without telling me.
Generally I also just don't check Squad Helmets. I just look at the tactical map. Between the little dots going out and people screaming over comms I have a pretty good idea if they are getting their ass whooped.

On another note: When the Alamo gets hijacked, have a Command Announcement ready for where you want marines to go. There is nothing more infuriating than no command announcement while the Xenos are coming on the shuttle because marines will have no idea where to go and everything is just a mess usually.

[RobBrown4PM]

It's a bit of a lengthy process, but writing out briefings and missions ops before hand can save you a ton of time, be more effencient, and add to the RP factor.

[Exodus]

On the topic of how to avoid mutinies...

Every now and then, I'll do something necessary or stupid, like abandoning Marines by remote launching the dropship or hitting friendlies with an OB.

I then proceed to announce something to the effect of,

"Lieutenant X has been Battlefield Executed for the absolute atrocity of that Orbital. What a pathetic excuse of a man."

Of course, Lieutenant X is not a real person, but rarely does a squad interact with the other LTs who aren't their OW, meaning they don't know that. CIC staff are unlikely to counter your lies either, and for good reason.

Congratulations. You've screwed up, but your men now think you're just and only looking out for them instead of incompetent. A mistake has earned you more respect instead of less.

Just a thought.

[Drover]

Always make a decision, whether it's right or wrong. Mid games have been lost because CIC can't organize a defense. If I'm the SL and I'm asking for direction, I will hold my squad where ordered. A squad in a position to cover the retreat of of the Marines not only delays the aliens briefly, but prevents a full on route. During a FOB holdout, I've seen CIC staff order Marines to TComms in the event of it almost being destroyed. While it's not a bad order, it finish offs the already bad cohesion between the squads. After that, I know it'd be practically impossible to re-organize my squad to move forward from the FOB because they'd be either hold TComms, the other portions of TComms, or somewhere between. And once a Marine is in the thick of it, they aren't going to leave to regroup with me.

TL;DR:
Make a decision, and stick with it.
Maintain squad organization, avoid general orders.
Giver credit for success, but take responsibility for failure.