BF2S Forums The Great Commander Post Pt. 2: The Commander's Guide

why in the name of monkeys did you waste your time making that

Panzerbjorn - great thread, and a great intro - thanks!  Taking on the responsibility of Command is a full-on job and rarely recognized, but when it works it's fantastic and exhausting!

Some squads are busy from the off, and my first orders often mirror what they're doing anyway.  After several scans and UAVs you get a plan together - which flags to hold and defend, which teams to flank around the back - and this evolves throughout the game.  I believe that if you LISTEN to your troops and work WITH them, they're more likely to work WITH you later, rather than blaming you if things go wrong.

When in-charge I favour the engineer class so I can fix my UAV and artillery toys when the enemy breaks them.  Some favour the sniper though as I'm told they're more easily hidden from troops.  Sometimes there's a chess-like 'war-within-a-war' where the enemy commander seems to be 'flushing you out' of your hiding-place with artillery strikes and troop movements.  :-o

Agamemnon's post made me laugh - abusing your position and the tools-at-hand to look after your OWN skin when flushed from a hiding place can be a great laugh!  Just today I cleared a path back to my hiding-hole with airstrikes and squad-movements after a quick run-out to fix the UAV radar  :-)

The commander 'single-spotting' is a trick I didn't know about, so I'm hardly an expert here, and I do have to zoom-in more for the detailed-fights (and when I find a squad doing their job properly I'm sure I will!)
Troop spotting IS important however, as twice today I ran into what I thought was a FRIENDLY 'blue-spotted' village only to be caught in the crossfire of the non-spotted RED-dots!  (is that a GTA Vice-City radio advert?)  :-)

Communication seems to be the key, but I find VoIP frustrating as it's often quiet, broken-up and just not often used by players on public servers.  Proper use of the basic squad-leader/commander options seems the best bet so far with a few 'personal' messages where possible.  Private servers between friends will be a different matter though.

My favourite non-Com class is Spec Ops - sneaking behind the lines SAS/SBS-style (air/boat) to destroy the enemy com's toys - and I loved INCSOC's idea of having your own 'Rambo' figure going your dirty work :-)
A lone Spec-Op DOES need that supply-drop to destroy ALL the enemy artillery guns along with their radar & base!

Public servers can be frustrating to command, but sometimes the majority just want to have fun and kill!
If so then leave the Com post and join in!  Or find another server - there's plenty out there  :-)
If more people TRIED commanding (or just understood the role more) then we'd all be better team players.
N00b Com's can be annoying, but we've all got to start somewhere!  Just preferably after reading this thread and practicing offline first!

Oh blimey, that's a lot!  (sorry!).  Thanks to all of you who have contributed!

I hope to see you all soon as a little red dot, just before I select 'Artillery!'  ;-)

P.S. Has anyone else seen 'Jarhead' just to feed their BF2 addiction?  What about playing some old Vietnam tracks from the Rolling Stones or the Doors or the 'Ride of the Valkyries' from Apocalypse Now?
(And don't even get me onto the face-paint & camoflauge gear to wear when you're playing...)

Yesterday I was playing on Karkand with just eight per team on the 64 player map. Our commander must have been asleep, because I didn't see a UAV the whole round. By contrast, their commander was doing a great job. Everywhere we went the other team was waiting for us. The teams were reasonably well matched too, but it was difficult for us to cap any flag, and impossible to keep more than two. That is how powerful and important the commander is.

Commander is by far the most effective role I can play for my team, and not just because I can't get that "aim before you fire" thing right. I've been playing a grunt or squad leader a bunch of times when our team was consistently losing rounds by 50-100 and I pull out a win by 50. Next round somebody else takes the commander position, and we are back to getting spanked.

I'm not saying I'm the greatest commander who ever played the game; anybody who follows the basics as Panserbjorn outlined will make a huge difference for their side. Even an inexperienced commander who makes it their PRIMARY job for that round is a big improvement over someone who just wants to run and gun. Commander is a FULL TIME JOB, not something you do while flying a jet or defending flags. When I command the UAV is in the air at least 90% of the time, and the arty doesn't sit idle for long either. Those assets can't help you team unless you use them!

[PHH]Spookz wrote:

When in-charge I favour the engineer class so I can fix my UAV and artillery toys when the enemy breaks them.

I used to do the same thing, until somebody suggested medic so you can see the casualties. That is really a BIG help in tracking how your troops are doing and to help you know when send in the arty. Now I go as medic all the time; I can always scan for enemies and drop supplies to fix an asset once they have left.

Excellent guide, not that I get to play Commander often; as I'm still a learning noob!

nice man, its great that some people are willing to offer so much time into making these threads.

keep on the good work

While playing the Wake map a Chinese attack chopper was just owning us. Great pilot and gunner. There were only about 10 on each side, and nobody on the US team was living long enough to cap even one flag. they even came out to the carrier and tore us up.

Well, revenge is sweet! When they finally went down, I arty'ed the chopper pad every time their chopper respawned. They were out of business for most of the remainder of the round, turning a sure victory for them into a triumph for us. I even managed to steal the Chinese attack chopper late in the round, and sat in it back at the carrier to keep it out of their hands.

I had never thought to use arty that way, to consistently suppress their air power, but it sure worked!