What is a good commander to you?

[Renomaki]

While I haven't dabbled in the role of commander often, I had tackled it enough (either by will or by force) to form my own style that I feel comfortable with and that I believe is what a good commander should be, but sometimes I wonder if I am still lacking?

When I go commander, I always ensure the clocks are set for easy time reading, set a date for briefing, and... I spend the whole time before briefing looking over a map and writing down my game plan on a digital sheet of paper so I have my plan for the mission already set up before briefing. I feel it is a good way to spend the time before briefing, and helps to properly collect thoughts before getting up on stage. After all, nothing sucks more than a commander who wastes everyone's time trying to think up a plan on the spot.

I like to view myself as a person who takes his command role seriously, who really wants to be a good commander.. But sometimes I wonder I can better improve myself to the point that marines feel confidence in seeing me take the lead, instead of just groaning at having a baldy take over and blamed for every single failing, regardless of the one truly at fault.

Maybe we can share tips and advice here for everyone to use to better themselves as a commanding officer, and maybe even a lower role like BO or XO, who are needed to lead just as much as a commander. I know I yearn to be a respected commander one day. I know I used to make a decent captain back on Paradise when I used to be a regular there, as frustrating as a lot of those experiences were...

[Sarah_U.]

Commander fax USMC at least once and he gets eternal recognition.

[Kreydis]

A good commander is someone who can reliably make decisions and delegate tasks properly.

Assuming normal conditions, good luck not happening. Everyone's going to yell at you for shit and you can't be 5 people at once.

Also, stop fucking ordering retreats when you easily have 20+ ALIVE marines on the ground. It's completely unfair to the aliens, and absolutely boring to everyone else.

[Sarah_U.]

A commander is a master of knowledge and information. He or she gathers all specialists and try to keep them alive under his/her rule by associating their skills.
You ask the CMO for numbers and status on your squads.
You ask the RO for appropriate supplies.
You ask the CL not to blow the ship.
You ask the CE to do shit. Anything as long as the ship is in order and safe.

Your squad leaders? You tell them to keep their marines in check. Marines need to be told exactly how they should act otherwise they improvise and oh no you don't want them to think they are gonna do anything outside what they should do.
If you're pushing a location you do it with good logistic going to support the field and support so that the wounded don't become bodies or numbers, but back onto the field to shoot some more.
Stuff like that really. You'Re the common sence guy, and the master of war. You dictate what's to be done or not and you're generally the guy that gets the most stress doing the least clicking.

[Kreydis]

You ask the CMO for numbers and status on your squads.
You ask the RO for appropriate supplies.
You ask the CL not to blow the ship.
You ask the CE to do shit. Anything as long as the ship is in order and safe.
Your squad leaders? You tell them to keep their marines in check.
Marines need to be told exactly how they should act otherwise they improvise and oh no you don't want them to think they are gonna do anything outside what they should do.

Going to break this down for fun.

XO - Might leave halfway through the game or will be a /great/ asset to you
BO - 2/3 are going to go afk 10 mins in
CMO - can do that for 10 mins after landing and then perma surgery / stabilization
CL - Ha, he doesn't give a shit, he's the reason why you're losing!
CE - AFK the whole time
MT - Useless or busy blowing up the ship
RO - 50/50 competent or absolute garbage ordering black market crates instead of explosives
CT - causing riots
SL - Dead on landing / Trying to be robust when their helmet is more useful then them.
Marines - Incompetent fuckwits
Specs - Busy friendly firing or getting shot to death by marines
Docs - Surgery all day long

You, the CO - Taking the blame for everything going wrong while trying to fix it. / Are completely trash at everything and continues to give retreat orders leading to the deaths of many marines. Inevitably causing a Mutiny against you.

So, while Sarah's advice / desires in a great CO are good, good luck, 1/2 of the leadership / important roles are going to be garbage at everything they pretend they can do.

[lucashunter608]

Going to break this down for fun.

XO - Might leave halfway through the game or will be a /great/ asset to you
BO - 2/3 are going to go afk 10 mins in
CMO - can do that for 10 mins after landing and then perma surgery / stabilization
CL - Ha, he doesn't give a shit, he's the reason why you're losing!
CE - AFK the whole time
MT - Useless or busy blowing up the ship
RO - 50/50 competent or absolute garbage ordering black market crates instead of explosives
CT - causing riots
SL - Dead on landing / Trying to be robust when their helmet is more useful then them.
Marines - Incompetent fuckwits
Specs - Busy friendly firing or getting shot to death by marines
Docs - Surgery all day long

You, the CO - Taking the blame for everything going wrong while trying to fix it. / Are completely trash at everything and continues to give retreat orders leading to the deaths of many marines. Inevitably causing a Mutiny against you.

So, while Sarah's advice / desires in a great CO are good, good luck, 1/2 of the leadership / important roles are going to be garbage at everything they pretend they can do.

Don't you dare insult my crates...i gonna rip you apart

[Renomaki]

A good commander is someone who can reliably make decisions and delegate tasks properly.

Assuming normal conditions, good luck not happening. Everyone's going to yell at you for shit and you can't be 5 people at once.

Also, stop fucking ordering retreats when you easily have 20+ ALIVE marines on the ground. It's completely unfair to the aliens, and absolutely boring to everyone else.

Can't agree with this enough, honestly.

Falling back to the FoB is understandable, but retreating all the way back to the ship when the marines could easily regroup at a location planetside is quite excessive. Even if you are bound to lose, it is better to put up a fight than to run and turtle in vain aboard the marine's ship.

That, and very often it is hard to be a commander juggling everything when you are lacking in staff. Even moreso when your SLs lose their helmet cams, leaving you with very little intel outside of coms.. And if coms goes down, you are buggered. The best you can do is to try your best to ensure your staff are helping to ease the burden while you focus on other things, like ensuring the ship and pod are constantly moving so the aliens can't sneak aboard and ambush you with a stealth attack.. It has happened a few times in my experience, and it blows.

[slc97]

First and foremost, a good commander has to give an actual briefing in the briefing room. I see it all the time when I'm BO, that the CO will just walk in and do briefing over the command console. Your men need to see you and they need to be inspired by you.

Second, a commander should be listening all channels at all times and be interacting with each department appropriately. He should not be ordering a black market crate because he wants cool guns.

Third off, a commander should be interacting with each squad, without overstepping the BO assigned to that squad, so that the squad knows you're still there and they feel important. This does not have to involve giving orders, just making it known that you're there. If you hear alpha squad took down a big xeno, give them a simple "good shootin' marines".

Fourth, Do not lord yourself over command. You may be the end all be all, but do not act like it. It is better to be feared not loved, but in this case it is better that command fear what your bad side may look like than what it may do.

Fifth, if there is an Executive Officer on the station, there is nothing wrong with being seen planetside. If a squad is on FoB duty and is getting restless, pop down there and tell them how well they are doing, but only do this if there is an XO aboard.

Finally, just don't be a dick. People follow people that they like not people who are constantly yelling at them and reminding them who they are. In the words of Tywin Lannister "Any man who must say 'I am the King' is no true King."

[LordeKilly]

A good commander actually cares about casualties but isn't afraid to assault.

Also not going SSD 20 minutes in helps.

[Mech__Warrior]

A good commander is someone who can reliably make decisions and delegate tasks properly.

Assuming normal conditions, good luck not happening. Everyone's going to yell at you for shit and you can't be 5 people at once.

Also, stop fucking ordering retreats when you easily have 20+ ALIVE marines on the ground. It's completely unfair to the aliens, and absolutely boring to everyone else.

As a commander, I constantly hear over the radio marines begging for a retreat even though High Command tells me that retreat isn't an option. I can't give my men the will to fight, only the tools and information.

My advice is constantly staying in contact with High Command. Giving them updates on your situation helps them know what's actually going on and perhaps RP some things out. Usually it's high command that enables the pods and evac, even though I repeatedly tell them that scuttling the Sulaco is for the best.

[Renomaki]

As a commander, I constantly hear over the radio marines begging for a retreat even though High Command tells me that retreat isn't an option. I can't give my men the will to fight, only the tools and information.

My advice is constantly staying in contact with High Command. Giving them updates on your situation helps them know what's actually going on and perhaps RP some things out. Usually it's high command that enables the pods and evac, even though I repeatedly tell them that scuttling the Sulaco is for the best.

It would help if the MOTHER scans were a tad more accurate. I think the reason marines beg to retreat so often is because they have no idea if they are losing or not. After getting burned by MOTHER so many times with inaccurate information on troop numbers (claiming there are 50 marines fit for duty, when in reality it is probably half that and the other half are currently PoWs), the marines get confused and lose the will to fight simply because they don't know what to believe anymore.

I do wish there was a better way to calculate able bodied troop numbers. Then maybe retreats wouldn't be so wasteful anymore, and commanders can focus more on tactics instead of, well, surrendering the moment things don't go their way.

[Mech__Warrior]

It would help if the MOTHER scans were a tad more accurate. I think the reason marines beg to retreat so often is because they have no idea if they are losing or not. After getting burned by MOTHER so many times with inaccurate information on troop numbers (claiming there are 50 marines fit for duty, when in reality it is probably half that and the other half are currently PoWs), the marines get confused and lose the will to fight simply because they don't know what to believe anymore.

I do wish there was a better way to calculate able bodied troop numbers. Then maybe retreats wouldn't be so wasteful anymore, and commanders can focus more on tactics instead of, well, surrendering the moment things don't go their way.

I think I figured that bit out. Check out the medical console the CMO has or the console you have. You can roughly get an idea of things.

[MrMafioso]

Steps to being a good Commander.
1. Malcolm 'Homesy' Holmes is giving all access, and full control over every squads.
2. Watch as the world burns before your eyes.

[Bigchilly]

A good commander can keep his squads together and in shape, as long as there is a bridge crew and comptent marines and SL's to assist him. Even if there are comptent marines, command will fuck up orders and get whole squads killed. Its what command is made to do.

[Sadokist]

Somebody that gives clear and concise orders
Isn't too stern
Compliments their marines when they're doing a good job
Makes good decisions

A lot of the time the command staff gets shit because they act way more stern than they need to be. Nobody wants to listen to you if you're gonna be an asshole. Every time I'm command staff my squad kicks ass, cuz i'm not an asshole so they listen, and when they do their job i congratulate them.

[SagaSword]

Accurate presentation of a Very good CO to me...

Protagonist : CO

The Victims : Muhreens

Savior : XO

Clown : Maint Tech...Literally...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkYRmCKMCLo

[Shyguychizzy]

Always have his ceremonial Sword in backpack/Sacthel. I say whenever leading an assault charges with le sword. (Either laughed at or morale may boost seeing you single handedly took our a couple of em with it).

Showing the CL who's the boss of the ship if he starts giving shit on radio, also makes you a tad respected amongst the marines for not taking his shit and serving it back at em.

[EMT_321]

Be competent, keep orders simple and short. Highlight the important actionable portions.

ALPHA/BRAVO move to MEDICAL DOME and secure NORTH WEST APPROACH.

CHARLIE/DELTA secure HYDROPONICS and secure NORTH EAST APPROACH.

RO send HELMETS via the DROP POD.

ALPHA/BRAVO/CHARLIE, move NORTH WEST into CAVES to SUPPORT DELTA RESCUE.

Each of those are very clear, and present more insight then "Go set up a FOB".

Don't get into dick measuring contests with marines, its a waste of time. You can get an accurate ID of your troop numbers by using the squad consoles. Dont get tied up in RP while people need leadership.

Dont be willfully incompetent.

[EXOTICISME]

Someone that's not leave at the half round leaving marines confused about what to do.

Just don't do it... please..

[Renomaki]

Someone that's not leave at the half round leaving marines confused about what to do.

Just don't do it... please..

Indeed, I been in many rounds when the CO just kinda poofed, or didn't even come on at all.

Just like the captain in vanilla, your don't realize how important having a commander is until they aren't around.

[Edgelord]

Don't try and reinvent the wheel.

[Warnipple]

One who handles execution with grace and speed. An exceptional Command announcement is necessary and spacing the condemned must be done without fail.

[Karmac]

Accurate presentation of a Very good CO to me...

Protagonist : CO

The Victims : Muhreens

Savior : XO

Clown : Maint Tech...Literally...

This is way too close to the truth, I'm literally dying right now.

[Warnipple]

To add to my previous post. A good commander doesn't let this happen.

[Renomaki]

To add to my previous post. A good commander doesn't let this happen.

I was thinking he let all the air out before closing the door properly, but then again, he wouldn't be laying there...

What killed him behind the glass?