Just got my Expert Command Badge. 10,000 commander points and 30 minutes IAR as commander.
Here are my tips about commanding:
Do scans. The single best way to help your team is to do scans for enemies and pinpoint their location. In Karkand, telling when somebody is moving to Suburb or crossing the river to Cement or Factory is vital to protect these flags and save the game. Scan often and scan well. Mark scanned enemies as spotted, but only those that are important. Do not clog the intercom with many 'enemy spotted' messages, as this will only irritates the team (typical newbie).
Drop UAV. Once an enemy unit is pinpointed, you can drop UAV on it, making it easier for your team to follow and eliminate it. Drop UAV when your team is about to take a flag and before the flag is neutralized and the enemy can spawn at any moment. Even knowing where the enemy is for 2 extra seconds can win the fire fight. Be ready to drop UAV when a squad requests it. Drop UAV on the front line so all know were the enemies are hidden.
Drop supplies. Drop supply at newly captured flags, as your team then will most often need new health and ammo. Drop supply close to friendly tanks/APC so that they can soak up hits. Drop supply by snipers and AT guys, so they continue to have ammo. If your friendly airfield is taken, drop supply so that your choppers can have a repair point. Use drops to repair destroyed assets if no engineer is around. Be ready to drop supplies when a squad requests it (or tell them in how many seconds a new drop will come).
Give orders. Try to place your squads on the map so that they all work as a whole, no double assignment. In Karkand is is important to allocate one squad to protect Suburb while another protects the river. Sometimes it is necessary to give an order simply to make a squad aware that a flag has fallen. Do not give a whole lot of orders (typical newbie) as this only irritates the squad leaders. Only give important orders. Try to give orders to squads that stay together on the map, as these squads will usually follow the orders too.
Drop artillery. Scans tells where the enemy is concentrated. These are prime spots for your artillery. Drop artillery on flags newly captured by the enemy. Do not drop artillery in contested areas, as this usually results in teamkills. Use the mic to warn if a friendly unit is about to enter your artillery.
Defend home base. Play spec-ops and place C4 around the home flag, or Engineer and place AT mines around flag. Sit in Ground Defense so you can easily go out of Commander Screen and fire a missile at incoming tanks/APC/cars. If it is not too distracting, if you don't want to waste a supply drop and no friendly engineers are around, then play engineer and repair your own damaged assets. It is particularly important to keep the UAV wagon operational. Do not go out of Commander Screen often.
Act the Commander! By this I mean boost the morale of your team. Do some role-playing. You are after all the senior on the team! Write messages like 'Good Work Team' or 'Well Done Team' when things go well. Write messages like 'Go Go. We can still win!' when your team is a little behind. If everyone still believes they can win, they may do just that little extra that will give those extra points and the win...
Sometimes, when I have been able to spot enemies and avoid our home base being taken, I have felt personally responsible for us winning. It's a great feeling to know that out of 32 players, you personally were responsible for the win. That is what is great about commanding....
