What is it with these late deployments?

[awan]

What is it with these late deployments?
So, it seems that over the last month people are deploying later and later.
This is their choice but I still find it a little weird.
Even on low-pop, it is past 30 before we land on the planet.
These days I just have to tab out because I am sitting waiting for the briefing for 15 minutes because they announced it at 25 again with only 30ish marines in total.
When I am XO I try to announce briefing at 18 always since the round time at game start is 12:03.
There are people dying down there and marines should feel some surge of urgency to get down to the planet.
You are not sending down unequipped marines you are just taking it slow at this point. Even today it was 30 before we were on the dropship and 33 before we launched.
That is a full 8 minutes between the briefing and launch.
But also a full 8 minutes later than a 25 launch. I could have done 2 drops at 32 already. So anyone who did not yet manage to equip themselves can go on drop 2
What are your opinions on this?

!	Message from: awan
	The above is my opinion as a marine player. Awan as alien or staff member has no issues with this at all.

[Lukey111]

I agree. We alien mains are getting bored and ancient waiting for you marines. Getting down to the ground fast is pretty high priority, rather than waiting for ungas to get their attachments for 30 minutes (Stay like this marines so we can get ancient earlier).

[Varen]

What is it with these late deployments?
So, it seems that over the last month people are deploying later and later.
This is their choice but I still find it a little weird.
Even on low-pop, it is past 30 before we land on the planet.
These days I just have to tab out because I am sitting waiting for the briefing for 15 minutes because they announced it at 25 again with only 30ish marines in total.
When I am XO I try to announce briefing at 18 always since the round time at game start is 12:03.
There are people dying down there and marines should feel some surge of urgency to get down to the planet.
You are not sending down unequipped marines you are just taking it slow at this point. Even today it was 30 before we were on the dropship and 33 before we launched.
That is a full 8 minutes between the briefing and launch.
But also a full 8 minutes later than a 25 launch. I could have done 2 drops at 32 already. So anyone who did not yet manage to equip themselves can go on drop 2
What are your opinions on this?

!	Message from: awan
	The above is my opinion as a marine player. Awan as alien or staff member has no issues with this at all.

Competent requisition is harder and harder to come by every day. I also see fights break out in one out of three games I play that cause slowdowns or some other kind of mess.
It's kinda hard to reliably equip marines when you have one CT on it that's a baldie, and the RO is off to do something with his pack of HPRs at the range.

[zaniah]

I don't like waiting around, It only takes me less than a minute to get my equipment on, another few minutes if i go get attachments, depending on the line.

[awan]

Competent requisition is harder and harder to come by every day. I also see fights break out in one out of three games I play that cause slowdowns or some other kind of mess.
It's kinda hard to reliably equip marines when you have one CT on it that's a baldie, and the RO is off to do something with his pack of HPRs at the range.

That is what mp's are for. Just work with the mp's for once instead of seeing them as the enemy. Mp's are treated worse then the CL currently and that should be the other way around.

[solidfury7]

Cargo and it's attachments distribution is tedious.

The more tedious it I'd, the less likely you'll get "mains" for the role.

I think a lot of it is simply due to the roleplay side deployment has increased, at least on the command side. So you can't do it on the fly like you used to (if you want to do something mildly interesting plan wise)

[Forst]

Most of the time the PO's aren't ready yet.

Last night the XO released to do fuck all and just be on the shuttle at 12:18 for our radio brief by our SO.

We deployed at 12:32 because of fighting, a weapon discharge and the fact the SO kept arguing about meta and us needing a physical briefing.

[DefinitelyAlone0309]

Tedious Req line, tedious DS loadout process, tedious prepping for medics, tedious planning and briefing procedures from Command, and the 25 minute mark limit makes people just not care about deploying early except for COs (why go down early when you can just stay shipside a bit more to hang with your buds ?)

[Renomaki]

This has been bothering me as of late as well.

Sure, technically marines can't really USE the dropships until at least 12:20 (in order to prevent super early deployments that some COs *coughCarsoncough* used to use), but that doesn't mean you need to set briefing so far into the round.

back in my day, briefing at 12:20 was considered a LONG ASS TIME, but nowadays it has become the norm due to the massive population of marines and their UNGA DUNGA ME NEED ATTACHMENTS nature.

However, a lot of people tend to forget that the longer you take to deploy, the more time xenos have to prepare for you and the harder it'll become for marines to get a foothold, and trust me, it is not fun to be a marine on a xeno dominated planet.

I understand that a lot of commanding officers want to give their men generous time to gear up, but there surely has to be a better way to go about it. Maybe we need to increase the amount of service windows at cargo? We already have more CTs than is needed, might be good to put those extras to good use.

Of course, there are other factors as to why briefings can get delayed as well, such as the common "Hey, lets steal the megaphone because LOL" marines who hold up briefing for everyone, people starting drama during briefing, CO/XOs who are really, REALLY slow typers, or even those who just didn't have a plan in the first place, so they take forever to wing it.

And lets not forget about how difficult it is for dropships to launch on time, what with MPs often wasting everyone's time to arrest one marine for cussing or a squad specialist taking his sweet time to get to the dropship. So much shit just gets in the way that it is very common for the marines to be late on deployment.

[awan]

Well, I agree that cargo is tedious because it is not longer just attachments but also those extra things. I still feel as if you lose more then you gain. And po's not being ready is not an excuse I as a solo po can have everything in before that time. You can move all cas supplies later during the op.

[I_Solve_Practical_Problems]

Most of the time the PO's aren't ready yet.

Last night the XO released to do fuck all and just be on the shuttle at 12:18 for our radio brief by our SO.

We deployed at 12:32 because of fighting, a weapon discharge and the fact the SO kept arguing about meta and us needing a physical briefing.

Howdy, I was that XO last night. I've been trying to experiment with different tactics, although I definitely need to make adjustments to the 'virtual' briefing idea. The reason I did a radio briefing is because I'm not sure how much a physical briefing adds to a deployment. It just seems like something we do just because it's the meta. Worse, it shuts down req for 6 or 7 minutes which in turn splits up squads. PFCs also don't want to sit in a chair for 10 minutes and listen to command's monologue. I hope I wasn't perceived as a bald XO in doing what I did; I was trying to see what works and it's not something I'll do frequently (in my defense, we won a marine major).

To answer the question, I think there are a couple of factors causing late deployments. From an OOC perspective, we have a huge server population which overwhelms req, and I think the extra time gives the marines the resources they need to succeed. It can also take a few minutes to wrangle CIC, although it's usually not a huge delay. In any case, in my experience as XO and SO, marines do much better if they're well equipped and coherent on first drop, which is well worth the cost of 5 minutes. From an IC perspective, what does an extra 5 minutes make on a colony that has already been dark for weeks?

[Jonesome]

The reason I did a radio briefing is because I'm not sure how much a physical briefing adds to a deployment.

From my observations, physical sit-down briefings do help with improving morale and coordination for the marines. It lets the squaddies know who their command team are and feel more involved in the strategic process. More so than if it's just a faceless announcement over the radio from a commander they never see. In this way, the RP side of it bleeds over into better gameplay for the marines. That said, when the CIC staff is undermanned and you only have one SO or XO giving the briefing, it's probably better to just get them on the dropship asap and not worry about the RP.

[Ghostdex]

From my observations, physical sit-down briefings do help with improving morale and coordination for the marines. It lets the squaddies know who their command team are and feel more involved in the strategic process. More so than if it's just a faceless announcement over the radio from a commander they never see. In this way, the RP side of it bleeds over into better gameplay for the marines. That said, when the CIC staff is undermanned and you only have one SO or XO giving the briefing, it's probably better to just get them on the dropship asap and not worry about the RP.

I’d generally like to agree with this as it’s what I experienced from my time in the CIC but you generally only need one person for the briefing.

And about the late deployments, eh.

[waswar]

That is what mp's are for. Just work with the mp's for once instead of seeing them as the enemy. Mp's are treated worse then the CL currently and that should be the other way around.

The only time I see this is when the MP’s are either full of rogues that stunbaton every little thing, or when the CMP is anal about enforcing every little thing. I’m usually treated quite well as MP.

Liaison really depends. If we get a bizarre, pro-Marines Liaison, people tend to treat them ambiably. When I was Liaison, I generally have a respectful rivalry with uncooperative commanding officers and cooperative friendships with the others, and usually have sycophantic medical personal, and the usual marine that will give you something from the colony before asking for something from the Company, with a healthy mix of skeptics and a few who oppose the Company.

I did have a demonstration in my character’s office as Liaison once.

Reqs doesn’t seem to be doing too bad, it’s mainly if something administrative or an MT or misbehaving marine disrupts things that the process grinds to a halt.

[Rohesie]

I have some disagreements with what has been posted. Firstly, I often latejoin to fill in needed roles, and Requisitions Officer is always taken. I don't find it tedious at all, nor as a player who has high chances of playing it when latejoining feel like it's lacking. Maybe the ones that grab them are a little bald, but that can't be helped.

That said, I enjoy late deployments. Mostly because I like having time to properly prep, as it's unlikely I'll get another chance to equip as I want unless I'm wounded. And a lot because I main Charlie and we often have nice RP interactions during breakfast, always cut short by briefing. It never starts too late for me. But I'm aware not every squad has that advantage.

[Omicega]

There's no real excuse for a regular round having a deployment any later than 12:25 - the earliest the dropships unlock. Attachments are optional and whether everyone will get one or not is entirely up to the ability of the people manning each req line, and every groundside role now has negligible prep time - including medics, ever since their prep rooms were buffed and the medical update hit us. Before, I would regularly have to skip briefing and get into medbay pre-drop in order to have enough pill bottles, a QC/inap hypo, and a chance at getting peridaxon, but now you can make a perfectly viable medic loadout without ever leaving the confines of your prep.

[awan]

Hence I say a 12:25 deployment should be possible without any major issues. I hear people making excuse but I have the feeling we just stopped trying.

[Morgan]

Late deployments happen for a number of reasons mostly during high-med pop when there are no requisitions staff or just one slow cargo tech and it seems that a lot of XOs/COs think that the solution to this is delaying briefing/deployment instead of just getting an SO or a synth to assist with the requisition lines, Or the command staff are new and need time to devise a plan and to prepare the briefing speech, And sometimes both at the same time,

Oh and the last major one and my favorite is ofcourse briefing shenanigans

Sometimes however it isn't caused by an issue at all, some XOs or COs simply consider 12:25 briefing to be the 'norm'.

[Mann handle]

Late deployments happen for a number of reasons mostly during high-med pop when there are no requisitions staff or just one slow cargo tech and it seems that a lot of XOs/COs think that the solution to this is delaying briefing/deployment instead of just getting an SO or a synth to assist with the requisition lines, Or the command staff are new and need time to devise a plan and to prepare the briefing speech, And sometimes both at the same time,

Oh and the last major one and my favorite is ofcourse briefing shenanigans

Sometimes however it isn't caused by an issue at all, some XOs or COs simply consider 12:25 briefing to be the 'norm'.

This sums it up really.

Going in order of the worst delays

Extremely bald command staff.
Extremely bald Pilots.
Lack of cargo staff.
Bald cargo staff.
Fights.
Bald MPs for shutters.
Lack of a decent command staff with a plan.
Shenanigans and the frequent beatings that MPs will have to hand out when someone starts to meme during brief.
Time.

In the order of easiest to fix

Shenanigans. If MPs were on the ball and not harassing someone over trivial technicalities and retarded interpretations of marine law (while not often but I've seen some really dumb shit pass over the time I've played) then this should be easy to solve. Run to megaphone, hide it behind blue doors. Safe! Heck even staff officers upwards can do that role at round start. In brief, just have 2 MPs watch over it.

Bald cargo or the lack of them. If a synth is on, send the synth in. If not, send the XO/CO down. Sometimes one cargo tech is all you need however... It should only take 20 minutes to gear most if not all marines up (So long as the marines don't all come with shopping lists) and you can always order cargo to close the lines and reopen them once marines have touched the ground.

Bald command. In general this is rare but if it does happen an Ahelp might get you somewhere in the most extreme cases but for the most part if the guy was a regular and just started dipping his toes into the command roles, he'd most likely understand how a briefing works at least and a basic plan that has been repeated 100 times before to follow as a guide. Do your homework before jumping into the hot seat.

Bald MPs. Yep you see that squad waiting to deploy but are stuck behind shutters? be a good lad and open the bloody things, Staff officers upwards along with the MP can do it.

Fights. Sometimes it happens and cargo waiting times tip marines over the edge, a brawl kicks off. All you can do is call the MPs to arrest the ones fighting and to break it up. Just hope the MPs can get then in time however.

Pilots after eating tidepods. OH yes the times where marines would be delayed because a pilot sent the alamo 5 minutes early or worse off set the damn transport on to flyby. It's annoying but when it happens by accident. not much can be done. When, however, a pilot hold back the launch times due to some arbitrary thing such as waiting for a certain time that THEY are happy with. Remind them that you're the boss ( As command staff) and give them the foot up the arse they need to start the engines.

Time. Sometimes 12:25 is when the commander wants his briefing to begin and it has become a standard now. Nothing wrong with it and I don't mind it.



It's a shame really as well when it comes to cargo. On a bad round you'll have 1/4 of the total marines go back to the queues just to they can get attachments and ammo meaning that Specs and even squad leaders neglect their squads just so they can get ungas. All it leaves is split squads that SOs either get lost trying to work out where his squad is, or general confusion between squadies.

[Bronimin]

RO after the price rework isn't as interesting to me. Used to be you had a small budget of 'must haves' and squads usually wouldn't order much more than that, and a large budget to screw around with and order what you want, maybe throw extras onto the crates as they went down. These days every point is valuable and every supply drop can bankrupt you which is a perfectly valid way to balance it but it's not my thing.

[Blade2000Br]

This is why I make paperwork RO. Every attachment counts.

But yeah, briefings could just be 12:18 and be done with it.

[Renomaki]

This is why I make paperwork RO. Every attachment counts.

But yeah, briefings could just be 12:18 and be done with it.

To be honest, I went CT recently and to my surprise, there were TONS of attachments in the vendor. I'm talking like, 40 mag harnesses, 10 Barrel chargers, and tons and tons of other pieces. Nowadays, you got plenty to spare well into the round.

Although in this same round, I couldn't help but notice that marines were asking for even MORE attachments (3 per marine!), which takes longer to collect and provide (moreso with the oddly slow click speed I have when it comes to it, taking me much longer than needed). We really shouldn't be handing out more than 2 attachments per marine (with SLs and specs having 3), not just because that is a rather tired and true rule of cargo, but also because it speeds things up.

Would also help if the other vendors were easier to reach, though. Maybe in the future we'll get a rework of cargo that'll be more fluid.

[DefinitelyAlone0309]

It's pretty simple, marines are asking for more stuff because there are more stuff. Also, the 2 attachments per PFCs rule, while helpful in speeding through the line, still doesn't account for all the random shit like webbing, AP mags, M39 holster, etc ....

I find that attachments are easy enough to grab that the rule is quite stupid and limiting for marines, and the big thing that bogs down Req lines are the back vendors. If you don't have a Req staff throwing shit out at the ready, the trip to the vendors every time you need to grab an AP mag or a .45 pistol is a bit akward

[BillyBoBBizWorth]

AWAN! You said you would post about this, and you did! Good on your sir.

Ive been thinking about this for a while, and ive come to the conclusion, atleast in my own opinion.That the only way to have quick briefings, therefore quicker deployments, is to have attachments in vendors ready at the marines preparations rooms.Its honestly the only way you can ensure, that once a marine is fed, hes geared, therefore he should be at briefing! Not this middle-man thing of lining up and hoping there is any staff even with access to do REQ for you on high population, let alone mid-low population.

Sadly, that takes away from some of the tasks of the effected roles, however still have a ton of things to do.Also could be a positive in the sense, that the CT's and RO now have the option, time and ability to craft together default or customized supply beacon crates before the OP even starts, with the basics that are usually asked for anyways.Like metal, plasteel, food, flares, standard ammo etc.I'm sure there are people that will think of other possibilities as well!

Its a thought that i have a funny feeling people in the admin/dev team may have already ponded themselves.I could be wrong though.

This would, as far as i can think of, be the most effective way of cutting down on briefing time, across all population volumes, cut some forms of griefing/chaos out(if you want that,however does seem unwanted from my observations), allows a briefing to possibly be more detailed and maybe even have a 1-2 minutes question and answer with the current superior officers and fully understand their orders, the list goes on really!

[Jonesome]

Also, the 2 attachments per PFCs rule, while helpful in speeding through the line, still doesn't account for all the random shit like webbing, AP mags, M39 holster, etc ....

that's true, it was easier when the vendors came preloaded with grenades in the UGL, and AP mags, and it was easier to get webbing from medics and engineers as well. Now having to ask for that at req eats up valuable time with each order.