Equitable squad distributions

[Challenger]

We've all been there.

Alpha Squad. "FOB duty" are the last words you hear out of the commander's lips before you die inside. You're defibbed and given a pill of peridaxon to revive those insides, dragged onto DS1 and plopped down into the location of the future autism fort that the engineers are going to build for you while you just stay behind the barricades like a good, roleplaying, order-abiding marine.

If you're lucky, the marines are losing horribly and the fight gets brought to your FOBBIT ass after ten minutes, if you're unlucky they're having an hours-long protracted battle half the map's distance away. At worst, the marines are actually winning and fighting to clear the nest over at lambda or the caves and if you're a madman who actually obeys orders there's a massive chance the game will end without your seeing a single xeno the entire time. Sure, sometimes someone up high will remember that your squad actually exists past half an hour into the shift, but usually it's going to be the equivalent of moving the previously untouched corner pawn one step forward while the queen is checkmating the king at the other end of the board. "Alpha, go ahead and move from your FOB to [place that is 10% of the way from current FOB to the front lines]", where you're going to see just as little action and even less human interaction.

And as is tradition, the SL, SO, and CO will all join in their cacophonious autistic screeching of MUH FOB DUTY whenever you suggest at least leaving for ten seconds to take a "piss break", notwithstanding the fact that the FOB is more than protected enough by the presence of all the engineers, half the medics, the wounded, the recently dropped, and the PO.

Fuck rioting over attachments, we need to riot over shitty commanders who assign a squad to FOB duty then never update its objectives.

What should we be encouraging commanders to do, to avoid the classic situation of some squads seeing so much combat they don't have time to look at their text box and read the location-specific orders falling on deaf ears, while others stay so far behind the front lines that nothing in their viewport has moved in the last five minutes?

Should they be rotating squads? Not having ANY squad on FOB duty and just trusting that the FOB will be defended enough by someone? Encouraging "desertion"? What works to create an "equitable squad distribution of combat", and what doesn't?

[Marcus Jackson]

We've all been there.

Alpha Squad. "FOB duty" are the last words you hear out of the commander's lips before you die inside. You're defibbed and given a pill of peridaxon to revive those insides, dragged onto DS1 and plopped down into the location of the future autism fort that the engineers are going to build for you while you just stay behind the barricades like a good, roleplaying, order-abiding marine.

If you're lucky, the marines are losing horribly and the fight gets brought to your FOBBIT ass after ten minutes, if you're unlucky they're having an hours-long protracted battle half the map's distance away. At worst, the marines are actually winning and fighting to clear the nest over at lambda or the caves and if you're a madman who actually obeys orders there's a massive chance the game will end without your seeing a single xeno the entire time. Sure, sometimes someone up high will remember that your squad actually exists past half an hour into the shift, but usually it's going to be the equivalent of moving the previously untouched corner pawn one step forward while the queen is checkmating the king at the other end of the board. "Alpha, go ahead and move from your FOB to [place that is 10% of the way from current FOB to the front lines]", where you're going to see just as little action and even less human interaction.

And as is tradition, the SL, SO, and CO will all join in their cacophonious autistic screeching of MUH FOB DUTY whenever you suggest at least leaving for ten seconds to take a "piss break", notwithstanding the fact that the FOB is more than protected enough by the presence of all the engineers, half the medics, the wounded, the recently dropped, and the PO.

Fuck rioting over attachments, we need to riot over shitty commanders who assign a squad to FOB duty then never update its objectives.

What should we be encouraging commanders to do, to avoid the classic situation of some squads seeing so much combat they don't have time to look at their text box and read the location-specific orders falling on deaf ears, while others stay so far behind the front lines that nothing in their viewport has moved in the last five minutes?

Should they be rotating squads? Not having ANY squad on FOB duty and just trusting that the FOB will be defended enough by someone? Encouraging "desertion"? What works to create an "equitable squad distribution of combat", and what doesn't?

Problem is, that the squads have a random number of marines in them, and the specific jobs are not always filled. As SL trying to organize a squad of morons with none of the right equipment is hard when it's the same situation with literally every squad.

Sadly can't think of a way to fix that, but I'll tell you right now, when I play SL and my marines try to leave for a "piss-break", I consider blowing their brains out, since most of the time FOB is being put together by two engineers while 15 marines stand around and do fuck-all. You want something to do? Find a tool, break down some nonessential shit, and help the engiees.

[Challenger]

Okay, two of the marines picked up the only two wrenches at LZ1 FOB and deconstructed all the tables over the spawn of two minutes.

Now what are you going to tell your fifteen guys to do for the next half an hour?

[TheMaskedMan2]

Okay, two of the marines picked up the only two wrenches at LZ1 FOB and deconstructed all the tables over the spawn of two minutes.

Now what are you going to tell your fifteen guys to do for the next half an hour?

Build tables and mediocre barricades or help clean the huge mess literally everyone left behind instead of staring at a dark corner complaining you have nothing to do.

or yknow, get your SL to assign a fireteam of PFC's to go do stuff.

[Challenger]

>Build tables and mediocre barricades
Easy way to get yourself "accidentally killed by a stray burst from the mounted smartgun, which the squad engineers were totally using to fire at an alien in the distance" if you know what I mean.
>help clean the huge mess literally everyone left behind instead of staring at a dark corner complaining you have nothing to do.
The pile of bodies (and anything that takes more than thirty seconds to loot and clean up) doesn't really arrive until the battle's at the FOB already, and until then whatever you're cleaning up is just pointless busywork.

The fireteam approach is nice but first of all command sometimes won't care and will keep screeching MUH FOB DUTY and second of all it just pushes the problem back to the SL's fireteam that has to stay behind. On maps like Big Red there is just really nothing at all to do at the (LZ1) FOB except come up with elaborate FOB duty escape schemes.

So again, how do we encourage commanders to end this bullshit?

[Jroinc1]

I like FOB duty, but maybe that's because I play medic.

[Karmac]

I don't understand why people hate FOB duty. Do you really wanna go get killed by an alien that badly?

[Challenger]

Do you really want to sit around doing nothing of any use to anyone that badly?

[Karmac]

I mean that's easily what marines do 50% of the time when they aren't on FOB duty so that argument is pretty weak.

[Ikmalmn]

Sometimes, FOB duty is dutied by too many Marines. . .leading to problems.

Sometimes, FOB duty is at the hand of no one, which is even worse.

Frankly, as a medic, at least one guy should sacrifice the boredom and lackluster of FOB duty so that you save the few guys who are unstable and needs evaccing.

As a standard....BOI IS IT BORING. You just sit there and stare...waiting for someone or something to kill you. Your itching for a fight.

At least when I'm SL, I'll try and send a scout party to scout the building ahead and report for activities, to which point old FOB guys can react and release themselves (kek).

Also, sometimes a baldie won't listen to you early on and you'll end up with a dead weight useless squad member that has gone rogue and probably dead, leading to more problems. Which leads to less people to man the FOB.

[4thsurviver]

As a standard I normally ask the engineers what I an do to help. If they don't answer I normally do nothing. I don't want to just start randomly building little tables and things that might interfere with the defense plans.

Also FOB duty isn't that bad, the vast majority of rounds will see the FOB attacked by something. Its really a matter of time before something comes to murder you at the FOB and all the other squads that got other missions are already salting up deadchat.

If I feel really bored defending the FOB, I'll find a corner to build a little lounge in.

[Nick123q23]

FOB duty gives you an opportunity to mingle with your squad and whoever's else there so you start caring about the people around you when you inevitably drown in boiler acid. Good for RP

If everyone's a robot then just open up youtube until you hear gunfire, that's what I do.

[Szunti]

When I'm playing SO I try to let the marines out, but I have bad experiences. Basicly, if you let marines even a step closer to the front, usually you can never call them back. This is why rotation isn't the solution. I am always amazed when the CO thinks healthy marines will come back from the fight.

[coroneljones]

You know what is a good activity to do during FOB duty when you are bored and have nothing to do?
Roleplay, on this medium roleplay level server

[fatalityfun]

Yeah, RP on FOB duty usually makes rounds more fun for me, you'll get to know a squad member or two.

And then even better rp when they die and you're cpr-ing a corpse

[Kwin_Original]

FoB is definitely better for RP purposes since you don't have to fear to loose the squad when you type in some words.
I really like it as most times sooner or later the fight gets carried there and you got a shitload of things to do anyway.
Also, with the standard medical knowledge, even a grunt can run around and patch gauze on the lightly wounded to support the medics and have a useful activity.