Interested in CO, any tips?

[Dirt]

I've been trying to slowly wean myself into command roles, starting from RO and currently working on being a good SO, but I'm really interested in being able to be a CO.

My worries are that I won't know enough to pull off wins or make the round interesting for the marines.

Any tips? They can be anything from how to treat POs to tactics and squad moving or whatever.

[ThesoldierLLJK]

Win rate doesn't matter to get white listed. You just need to be able to roleplay and multitask. Play SO a few rounds until you get the hang of it, and take notes of what strategies are used on each map from each CO.

When you think you have the hang of SO, move on to playing XO.

After a few rounds of XO if you want a chance to lead the operation and think you're ready, let the CO know.

When it comes time to make your CO Application, look at the others who have been accepted. Also you should try to make yourself unique, but not be overly crazy about it. A unique personality, quirk, etc...

[Imperator_Titan]

CO isn't about being a robust round winner or anything of that sorts. It's just a filter between the experienced and new players. Although, you should practice with XO regardless since you'll be incharge of all 4 squads and need to learn how to multitask.

Getting your name out there and being well known assists us in gauging if you're causing problems or anything else of the sort and allows others to respond positively or negatively depending on their interactions with you. Don't forget to fill out the actual application too. That's all I can offer as advice really.

[Sir Lordington]

Wins are overrated.

XO is a very similar position. Play it, get the hang of it, show people you can be competent and RP.

[Lorem123]

I suggest not listening to what the staff are saying. The players are going to like you as a CO if you are both good at getting wins and also being fun to roleplay with, so try to make your character interesting and be good enough at strategy to make wins happen.

[Chaznoodles]

I suggest not listening to what the staff are saying. The players are going to like you as a CO if you are both good at getting wins and also being fun to roleplay with, so try to make your character interesting and be good enough at strategy to make wins happen.

This. Be positive and a team player. Don't play for memes or for yourself, remember you're in a role designed to make the round fun for other people on your team. The prime question you need to ask yourself is: Is this fun for everyone else?

[Dirt]

I've seen some people utilize paperwork for both RP and mission usage, such as having formats for squad readiness for roundstart and also giving command staff a paper copy of what the orders will be. Should I try and do that?

[ThesoldierLLJK]

I've seen some people utilize paperwork for both RP and mission usage, such as having formats for squad readiness for roundstart and also giving command staff a paper copy of what the orders will be. Should I try and do that?

It's usually helpful if you offer to write that stuff down and photo copy the squad objectives for each OW desk. Also one of the things you should do is find out right away how many medics/engineers and what special weapon your squad has as an SO and report it. That helps the XO/CO formulate a plan for that squad.

If you want to gain notoriety/fame just talk to your squad, and other players. If you're well known, most players will remember what you did and give you a +1 if you decide to put in for the whitelist.

Everyone of us has our silly gimmicks, just try to be unique and create your own.

[Gnorse]

Do tell the commander (if there is one) that you're new to the XO role. That way, if you make a mistake, they won't be as harsh.
Feel free to ask for tips in LOOC or IC. Commanders -USUALLY- know their shit.

[FGRSentinel]

For more immediate advice, I suggest reading Sun Tzu's Art of War. Basic understanding of tactics and strategy is a must for XO and CO positions and you can find a lot of useful tips in Sun Tzu's writing. Try to get a grasp on and use the basics, then once you have enough influence and understanding to do so try to use some of the more advanced parts of it or start branching off on your own.

Work on establishing a defined personality for your character as a CO and find out what leadership style you prefer. If possible, try to find out how well you synergize with you XO and SOs. If you prefer aggressive or decisive actions, you probably want to identify quick-thinking SOs and give them and their squads more autonomy, for instance. If you prefer leading from the front as CO and your XO is either absent or not that confident a leader, you may have to take one for the team and stay in CIC.

It's also important to note that there's a number of unspoken rules regarding CO and XO that basically fall under the "don't be a dick" heading. The only one I've heard explicitly stated is that banning standard-issue equipment is taboo for obvious reasons.

When it comes to insubordination or other issues that can lead to an arrest, learn to pick your battles. Flying off the wall at every little thing is how you get your head blown off while trying to BE someone that refused to remove a clown mask.

[Dirt]

I really haven't figured out my commanding style. What I wanted to go for was a kind of a kinda' planned CO, with the paperwork n' shit, since I got REALLY into paperwork while working as RO. Though, I wondered if that would cut into my ability to quickly react to information if I kept trying to formalize everything, but I've heard that it can actually speed up and improve the round start.

Also, as for not being too strict on insubordination, I think I played a round as SO where this guy named Carson was the CO and beat me to death for trying to fax high command that he was refusing to EVAC the marines.

[FGRSentinel]

Carson's ironically both one of my least favorite people to deal with and one of my preferred COs to work under. The reason being that, when he's SO, he's basically everything I hate and pretentious as hell... but as a grunt he's fairly reliable and as a CO he prefers aggressive tactics that line up well with my character's quick analysis and preference toward decisive action. Learning the quirks of every CO, XO, and SO will go a long way to being a good CO. For instance, I tend to despise COs and XOs that just use my OW console instead of asking for an update (a justified frustration, actually) but respect those that are able to react quickly to issues.

[Renomaki]

As an old CO player myself, one thing I suggest is to try and keep in touch with your squads whenever you can. I feel it boosts morale to hear the CO's voice (or rather, see their text), as well as let players know you are paying attention. Nothing makes a marine feel uncared for than a CO that is rather silent for the majority of the mission.

Another tip is to make use of that ANNOUNCEMENT SYSTEM. Provided events aren't happening too quickly, announcements are a useful vital tool for coordinating marines and giving status updates. However, don't forget to add a little flare to your posts.

In fact, personality is an important element of a CO as well! Having good charisma can mean the difference between a CO that immerses people and a CO that takes you out of the experience. It is a HIGH RP ROLE, after all, so try to add some flavor to your interactions, moreso during briefing. Nothin sucks more than a robotic, soulless briefing conducted by a CO player that clearly doesn't give a crap about anything other than winning.

Winning is fun and all, but creating an experience should be your main priority. Experiment with different tactics, crate interesting RP scenarios that can spice up a round passively and give the mission a new, fresh context, and most importantly: Don't be a trigger happy douche.

Oh, yeah, and don't worry about losing. Even in defeat there is a positive somewhere here and there. I myself like to pat meself on the back for holding a planet for 2+ hours, since that means we had a lot of back and forth and made the xenos earn their victory. After all, steamrolls are boring...

[Sir Lordington]

The fact of the matter is winning or losing is more often than not out of the CO's hands, so judging a CO by their winrate is objectively mistaken.

Good COs are those who make sure rounds are fun. Part of that is being competent. Part of that is being unique. Muh winrate is worthless as a metric, so long as you're competent and communciate well. A CO who has fun rounds that end with a marine loss is better than one who no-RP rushes the hive and wins in forty minutes.

[FGRSentinel]

Don't be a trigger happy douche.

But then you can't be a George Patton style general giving speeches that'd make a Predator want to follow you.

Seriously though, the more presence you have in a round as CO, the more easily the experience sticks with the Marine players. If you can get the marines hyped to drop and spark a frenzy at the drop of a hat, you're doing something right. If you can get Bravo (often considered the most cowardly squad or the least likely to help people from other squads, at least in my opinion) to hold the line, lead the charge, or rescue wounded, you're doing something right. If you can somehow get Delta and Charlie to work together without them wanting to kill each other, you're doing something right.

Be graceful regarding mutinies. If the mutineers are upset about a decision you made that you're able to reverse, try to talk it out with them. If you know that, realistically, there's no way you can put down a mutiny without a large number of wounded or KIA marines, there's nothing wrong with stepping down. It might not be as interesting, but it's better to step down and be remembered as the level-headed commander that went to the front after being removed from command than it is to be remembered as that ass that lost the round because they let a mutiny drag out ten times longer than it should have.

Good COs are those who make sure rounds are fun. Part of that is being competent. Part of that is being unique. Muh winrate is worthless as a metric, so long as you're competent and communciate well.

Yeah, if a CO is too interested in winning it sucks a bit of fun out of things. The COs that take the role just to be a glorified smartgunner waste the RP potential. Even a CO being a bloodthirsty psycho is fun at times if they know when to back off and let it rest.

[Grubstank]

always remember that the only sensible use for Alpha is a non-consequential defense/distraction or a suicide mission -- preferably both at once.

[RunAwayScientist]

Tactical:

- Have an initial strategy for the map

- Have a plan for where you want marines to group up on Alamayer when Alamo crashes into it

- Be clear and concise on simple orders. Commit. Changing orders leads to Charlie squad mutinies. (real story)

- Get req to continually issue metal and claymores to FoB


RP:

- Give your char a flavor. Heinz is hilariously German. Carson is a double-crossing coward. Tex is Texan.
- Have a random creative 'event' thought up. Annual basketball games between Charlie/Delta, pizza day at kitchen, Wey-Yu wants their research retrieved, or Heinz's idea where he had req charge space dollars for attachments (brilliant).


That's all I got for you of my shameless repost from Rebeca Lee's similar thread.

[ThesoldierLLJK]

Some other things that a XO or aCO can do to spice things up.

-Hand out a few of your tactical shotguns from CIC to squad leaders and have them pick a marine to carry them into battle

-Check with requisitions if they have a Heavy Pulse Rifle that was free in their initial spawn, and choose a random marine to have it assigned to as a lottery type thing

-Form Echo Squad. Sometimes this takes extra work, but I’ve seen some rounds where the CO forms a special squad and outfits everyone with command armor, weapons, supplies, and assigns them to delta squad. They usually do special missions and act as an elite QRF

-Offer rewards for various objectives, you have a cabinet full of booze, many times I’ve offered a squad a bottle of alcohol as a RP incentive for doing a good job

[FGRSentinel]

- Give your char a flavor. Heinz is hilariously German. Carson is a double-crossing coward. Tex is Texan.

The irony is that the only round I've played with Carson as CO was also my most successful SO round, even though I was commanding Bravo. He seems to like aggressive tactics and I processed information, reported events, and came up with plans so damn quickly that he more or less gave me full autonomy. Bravo lost most of their force, but they were probably the only squad where anyone got medals and more or less led every charge even though Carson had every req point given to Delta so they could be the Special Forces squad. It was hilarious because we had a little chat in LOOC at the start of the round joking about how the inevitable mutiny our disagreements and attempted murder of each other would cause would go down in legends, but the round ended with us saluting each other and me saying I'd be happy to serve in his CIC any time.

[LittleBlast]

Tactical:

- Have an initial strategy for the map

What do people use to make these maps? They seem VERY useful.

[FGRSentinel]

Presumably photoshop or something similar. The problem is that maps like that are good to have for the first few minutes of an OP, but after that if they can be carried out they're either extremely good or the xenos in that around are just not capable of fighting back.

[RunAwayScientist]

Photoshop. Brush size 5. A little shadow drop on the lines make them stand out better.


The maps are an initial deployment and movement plan. How it plays out will differ, and they're a general guideline to break-up the monotony of current stagnant marine metas.

[Frans_Feiffer]

Two tips I can give, things I think I could that haven’t been talked about too much, is to make a “game-plan” paper for the beginning of the round, as well as play a good bit of SL.

When you first start a round (if you’re XO or CO) forming a plan is key. If you can get the composition of all your squads. Courtesy of your lovely SOs, then devise a game-plan from there. Decide which squads would do best and where they can be most effective. If Delta has 1 Engineer, but Bravo has 3 you know for sure, they’re getting FOB duty. When you’re making your plan, it helps to write it down for mumerous reasons: 1. During Briefing you can copy-paste what you wrote so you don’t have to type things, further speeding up the process (but don’t soley rely on this. Still find way’s to make briefing fun, and use it as a way to show off your characters quirks to your men. Talk with your men, ask if they have any questions, etc. etc.). 2. Now all your SOs have a paper stating objectives, meaning they have no excuse to mot remember what there squad is doing, and latejoiners that missed briefing or something can also figure out almost immediately what any given squad is doing, and can fill in accordingly. 3. There’s probably more I could talk about, but that seems like the important bits, and this is getting too long.

Now, for more immediate effects, i’d suggest playing SL quite a bit. As SL, there’s a shitton of things that’ll help you know how to lead in higher command roles, RP, and so forth. As SL, you won’t be in command of the OP, but you will be in command of a squad of marines. As such, you have direct contact with the men working under you. Get to know them, practice your roleplay with a smaller audience, little things that will help get you known in the community, even if it’s just a small part of it. You also know firsthand what orders work and don’t work. You can usually tell due to how early the screams and sounds of limbs being ripped and torn off by Benos starts. You’ll get a sense of what things work, what Marines hate or like, and get to know those marines fighting the good fight on a more personal level then if you were in the CIC with em’, cause more often then not you’ll be dying with them. One final thing to boot, it gives you a better idea as to what the maps are like, where certain shortcuts are, where not to go, just things that out when formulating a better game plan later down the line. All in all, SL is a role that I believe everyone should try before just hopping into the CIC, else they may take longer to find tactics they could’ve found earlier if they were leading the charge groundside.

So there ya have it, those are my two tips on ways to get yourself prepared for CO. I really hope they helped. As a side note, now I feel like making a more in-depth guide with all the stuff I know to help those that want to get into Command roles and eventually become a commander of their own, hah.

[Dirt]

I've been trying out a lot of your guys' tips! Thanks a lot!

Though, if getting CO is more about being recognized and trusted, would it be taboo to ask if anyone who posted recognizes a character named Craig Adams? I've mostly played SO, RO, and some XO.

[FGRSentinel]

Not sure, but if you want I see no reason why asking what people thought of your character after the round ends or you die would be a problem. I've had enough people respond positively to my character as SO (sounding pleased/happy when I announce I'm on OW for them, getting depressed/upset when informed that my OW over them was hijacked/given to another SO, or even people just casually saying I'm the only competent SO in that round) that I've started to consider trying to play as XO. It's honestly better to find out after a round since people will still have the round fresh in their minds.