Sounds easy, right? Apparently not for those Staff Officers who keep falling asleep two minutes into the round, tying up a valuable slot. Please, for the love of all that is holy, don't be that guy.
Send the boys - or at least the Squad Leader - a nice message letting them know you'll be looking after them, and to hit up Charlie comms if they need anything. This is a good chance to briefly RP if that's your thing.
While we're on the topic of the radio, here are the channels you care about and why.
:v Command. Squad Leaders talk here, POs can be reached this way, and - of course - the XO and CO will give orders through it.
:c Charlie. This is the one you really care about, assuming you chose Charlie.
:u Requisitions. Here is where you beg for supplies for hours before deciding to go down there and push the fucking crates yourself.
say Local. Be sure to listen to your surroundings. Sometimes officers will talk here so they don't make Command too noisy.
Here are the ones that you might talk to but probably don't have to monitor closely:
:q, :b, :d Alpha, Bravo, and Delta. Might be situationally useful if you want to advise them that your squad is coming to their aid or whatever.
:p, :e Police and Engineering. You can mostly ignore these unless they are being fuckwads.
:m Medical. Advise medbay of incoming wounded/infected from your squad when they hop on the shuttle.
; Common. This will mostly be cancer but you can occasionally overhear useful things on it, or announce all-calls for bored Marines to get on the shuttle.
Err on the side of communicating too much.
Staff Officer's Hierarchy of Needs
1. Is there urgent shit?
2. How is my squad doing?
3. Does my squad know what they're doing?
4. Does my squad have supplies?
5. Is there miscellaneous work to take care of?
1. Is there urgent shit?
Let's say you hear all of this at once:
CO: "Can someone get me Charlie's position?"
PFC: "I've found some kind of brown spider with a tube leaping at people's faces."
SSGT: "OB on my mark, X+5, Y-2."
LCPL: "I'm out of smartgun ammo."
The underlined calls count as urgent shit. Urgent shit can be tactical, as in the case of an orbital bombardment - there's often a very limited window for firing them and hitting anything. Urgent shit can also be strategic; the Commander needs to know where you are so they can send Bravo to help you. The Lance wants supplies, but stow that in the back of your mind. The Private has info on a new type of alien (which can help other marines know what to expect without metagaming), but this can wait. Both are part of your job eventually, though, so don't forget to relay the info later on.
2. How is my squad doing?
Being aware of your squad's health and proximity to one another helps you and the Commander understand how strong they are expected to be.
Make sure you're following your Squad Leader's helmet cam and periodically checking in on the rest of the squad's status. If several marines are a long distance away from the SL, advise the SL of it and help the squad form up again. The squad status will also tell you if marines are dead or unconscious, and sometimes it even gives a vague indication of where in the facility they are. If you want more details on someone who is hurt, you can check the Crew Monitoring Console, though this requires stepping away from your Overwatch Console.
You can also be reactive about this one. If a Marine screams for help, but doesn't give a location, you can help his buddies find him.
LT Adriana Zaun [Charlie (SO)] says, "Herman Briggs is 127 meters from SL's location. Underground Hallway NW."
Try to get seriously wounded marines to a shuttle for medevac. Talk to Pilot Officers and make sure they wait for any incoming casualties. Inform Medical in advance of the shuttle arriving. Some marines may die, just make sure Command is aware when you commit to battles that you're only at partial strength. If your Squad Leader dies, it's important to make it clear to the squad who their interim leader will be. SL succession is by rank:
- Specialist (Sgt.)
- Medic or Engineer (Cpl.)
- Smartgunner (Lance)
If you have a choice, pick someone who communicates and seems robust.
3. Does my squad know what they're doing?
Hopefully, you had a CO or an XO at briefing (if you were the poor SO who had to do it, I'm so sorry, just follow the Commander guides and try to find creative ways around not having an announcement/beacon/evac card). You'll periodically end up with your squad not being sure what to do next; maybe they've completed their objective, or they've heard of a situation to the north and want to get in on the fight.
Communicate their objectives with them on a frequent basis - even if it's "continue with your current orders" - but remember two things: 1) communicate strategic goals via the Squad Leader rather than directly to the men, and 2) don't be a prick about it. You need to maintain a great relationship with the SL, and that means giving them the freedom to translate your strategic goals into tactical decisions. And whether you're talking with the SL or the squad marines, you should be friendly, collected, and trustworthy. There should very rarely be any blame in your voice, because if someone has fucked up so spectacularly as to deserve it, the MPs are probably going to get them anyway.
4. Does my squad have supplies?
Make sure your squad has everything they need. In general, you shouldn't be stingy with supplies - the challenge isn't in getting the points to order them, but in delivering them to the planet. It goes like this:
1. SL asks for flares and puts down a supply beacon (you might have to remind him).
2. You ask in the Charlie channel, they will say "helmets" or "smartgun ammo."
3. You let :u know to prepare a crate for Charlie drop containing all of the above, and ask for a response from them.
4. They will not respond.
5. Bother :u again. A CT gets on and says the RO is passed out in a pool of his own vomit. Repeat the order because he didn't hear it.
6. Some engineer will chime in on Charlie channel moments later saying to add metal sheets.
7. The CT tells you it will be delayed owing to having to order the metal sheets.
8. Everyone forgets about the order, including the CT, who goes SSD too.
9. You eventually remember, walk down to Requisitions, and push the fucking full crate onto the purple "C".
10. Launch supply drop.
If it goes better than that, treat the Requisitions staff like gold. The bar is kinda low.
5. Is there miscellaneous work to take care of?
Sometimes there is work to be done on the Almayer that can be sorted out by an officer. You might volunteer to do that to take some load off the Commander's hands and mind. In general, unless you've been ordered to take care of these chores, they should be your last priority. Make sure you're still listening to your squad's radio channel all the while, ready to rush to their aid if need be. Your responsibility is first and foremost to your squad.
Congratulations On Your Promotion
So ... the Commander has gone rambo planetside and the XO is dead. All the other SOs are saying "not it." Now you have to be the person who does the following:
- Briefing marines on their assignment (read a Commander guide, say something inspiring, deploy them in a boring and normal fashion).
- Coming up with new objectives once they're on the ground, and making sure the other SOs and SLs know about them.
- Dealing with the absurd whims of the W-Y Corporate Liason (this can be fun but also incredibly distracting from real work, indulge sparingly).
- Making sure MP sentencing isn't boneheaded.
- Ahelp to make sure it's okay to grab the XO's card and raise the alert level on IBs who are murdering you all.
- Pizza has been delivered and the pizza man insists on speaking to your leader.
If you can handle all that without crying, you should just take XO next time while your Commander Whitelist app gets reviewed.