Jan. 18th Spec Ops [Pros and Cons review]

About the problem with too many people in Spec-Ops why don't we just set up a rotation each week? If needed, I could make it and send it to Talron for approval or rejection.

Gentleman thank you for your feedback regarding last night's Special Operations.

You guys make very good points.

A few points I would personally like to go over highlighting your guys feedback.

From Killiden's points I completely agree with having only 12 members max for Special Operations Nights. Last night got extremely difficult having 16-17 guys with organizing 4 squads. I believe next time we will be running with three squads of 4 people with self efficient squads of infiltrator,medic,engineer, heavy assault or heavy max.

I also believe that breaking us up into fire teams worked well as opposed to just one squad. It is a hell of a lot easier for me to say Bravo go to Garage, Charlie head to 2nd level of tower and hold positions rather than individually calling out people in Alpha squad 2,3,11,12 head to blah blah blah etc...

Communication

Decent for calling out targets and covering each other but I need the random clutter of "Hey this girl just called me she wants to fuck" NOT Necessary and nobody in Special Forces wants to hear that while we are doing an operation. That doesn't mean at down time we can't joke around and have fun but when we are doing a live operation KEEP the CHATTER to a minimal and professional.


Tactical suggestions are awesome.

"They are great, they are gold and they are certainly very useful. So do it AFTER the operation by heading to the forums and writing it up as an AAR. Making suggestions to the CO during an operation just hinders everything from flow to efficiency. At the very most, it undermines the CO and I find that insulting. Respect your CO by doing what he says, not questioning him. Afterall, you agreed upon it "5. Are you willing to listen to your CO AND LT without hesitation and contradiction?"

Very valid point Nomad. I understand your guys concerns regarding the map being capped back on Indar but command already knows whats going on. Keep your suggestions to a minimal and let Command handle situations. I myself am always trying to look at the map and constantly trying to listen to orders and make suggestions for our next objectives to Command.


Operational Codewords

"I would like to make a few Operational Codewords for use because during combat/comms traffic it can get really confusing. Because I got confused a little just now weather we're supposed to go to warpgate, or spawn here/there, redeploy, hot drop, etc."

Absolutely will be implemented next Spec Ops and will be discussed at our next briefing before we go live next friday.

The Galaxy

Galaxy will be implemented with the first person back to warpgate will be pulling galaxy and calling it out. "Charlie 5 is first back to the warpgate and pulling a gal.

Rules of Engagement (RoE): Will always be implemented for next Friday. Great suggestions Nomad.

Practice nights?

When would that work for everyone? Defiantly a good idea to have a practice.

Calender for Spec Ops Registration

A Calender to confirm members appearance at our Friday night ops will be worked upon. This will confirm who we have for Special Operations. Basically the top 12 guys who register will have priority to be there and we will either have to let the the reserve guys sit out until next Friday or substitute them later on during the second half of Friday night ops.

Check out our Ops of last night on Killiden's stream:

Pencil Prick here. Just a few things I'd like to add, especially from the infiltrator perspective.

Firstly, a point on our combined operations night, not specifically regarding Spec Ops.

I think that our resources and numbers were not well utilized. Whoever was planning the strategy did what many seem to do- capture key points, take big bases, engage head on in big fights. This makes for some good combat, but isn't the most effective way to take a continent. Anyone who has played when I'm platoon lead knows that I like to take the path of least resistance to cut off enemy territory, and bring the big fights to where WE want them while screwing them out of resources, e.g. troll and roll at the NC warpgate.

I know not everyone is gonna use the strategies I like. That said, I kept my mouth shut while I watched a dozen territories with no enemy activity go uncapped by us as command led the TR as some sort of super-zerg at big bases. We had the numbers to do it both ways at once, and could have taken a much larger QUANTITY of territory, while leaving the bulk of the force to deal with the really big fights. Our Spec Ops squad in particular could have rapidly moved to take lots of uncontested territory.

This was especially problematic for our spec ops. We performed well in whatever mission we were assigned, but we were definitely sent into a lot of situations that this unit wasn't really assembled to do. A lot of the things we did could have been accomplished by any other force that isn't as well organized. We shined with some of those satellite base captures and a few other fast, in-and-out ops. We do best when we need to take on a target with speed and efficiency, and were under-utilized in that role. I don't think that would have been the case outside Combined Ops.

On to our operations.

We ought to get more accustomed to "Galaxy 1" and "Galaxy 2", always having alpha-bravo in 1 and charlie-delta in 2. We got a lot better about that by the end of the night. Had we used that method on the first drop, we wouldn't have had the confusion.

Right now, we have a lot of people with only vanilla galaxies. That can change soon, it doesn't take TOO many certs to make a big difference. I think we'd be faster and more efficient if we made EVERY galaxy trip a one-way trip. Even if we know we're moving to another nearby base, we can do it in flashes, as it's just too time consuming to load back into the galaxy, and have the pilots evade the AA, and all that nonsense. When we all invest in our galaxies, it will be easy to make EVERY trip a one way trip, and load back into a new one after re-deploying. Safer, faster, more efficient. Plus, we can have 100% of our people on the ground immediately, instead of our pilots having to land or fly away.

I think the fire teams went extremely well. I think we could further refine that concept by dedicating each squad to a specific tactical function even more closely. Delta squad and the squad with the MAXes both had well defined roles, but depending on the op, and what we're capping, some other sort of roles might be appropriate for a squad. For some ops, a squad of C-4 toting light assaults would be a good full time asset, both for rapid sunderer-hunting and for scaling any of the many towers we have to capture. For ops that revolve around keeping a sunderer alive, a squad dedicated to sunderer defense would be appropriate, with an AA max, a medic, and an engineer at least. Just some ideas. The fire team thing rocks, we can run with it and expand on that concept.

On to my experience as an infiltrator in Spec Ops.

I want to preface everything I'm about to say with the following: Most of this is just regarding me and my playstyle and how it did or didn't fit with how we rolled. I agreed going into this squad that I'd abandon all that, all the ego and the self and my KDR for the squad, and I stand by that. These are just my thoughts.

I completely understand the wisdom of always having the heavies go in first. That said, my playstyle as INF might differ from most, because the few moments after the heavies breach the door are exactly when I have my best opportunity to get behind the enemy/to the terminal/wherever. Cloaking doesn't hide you, it just helps hide you. To be stealthy, you need to utilize all forms of cover, including the distraction of a thick firefight. Outside of Spec Ops, sneaking right through the thickest part of the fight is what I do. So for me, that heavy-first attitude isn't compatible with how I do my best infiltrating. I'll heed those orders if they're given, but there are definitely situations where I'd do better infiltrating with more independence. This is particularly important for a close quarters, toe-to-toe infiltrator like myself. I use the scout rifle far more than the sniper rifle.

Building on the above statement, allowing the infiltrators a bit more independence could be beneficial to getting a sunderer pulled behind enemy lines. If I go in first as an INF, rather than the heavies, and have the heavies enter the vehicle bay as soon as I get to the terminal, that tactic would be a lot more successful. When I'm part of the full, regular platoon, and lead calls for someone, anyone, to pull a sunderer, that's how I do it, and I take pride in the fact that I'm successful at it far more often than not. Again, I get that it can't always work like that, and I 100% believe that it is more important for me to fall in line with the organization of the unit than it is for me to perform my best doing things my way. But if getting a spawn behind enemy lines can be the most crucial part of an op, and the infiltrators are the most crucial part of getting that sunderer, just wanted to throw out some alternative methods that can get that done better.

Just a reminder that I have a well-certed MAX and Light Assault and Sunderer in addition to my main of infiltrator. I spent my certs primarily to do one thing in Planetside 2: Sneak in, pull a sunderer, keep that sunderer alive. We only have a few dedicated infiltrators, so I'd expect to remain in that role most of the time, but I can be well utilized in many other roles as well. When vehicles move in, the infiltrator squad becomes basically useless. I was never clear on how much individual autonomy we had when it came to switching classes and dealing with threats like that. Being a heavy and taking out tanks wasn't my role, so I left it to those dedicated to that so that I could fill what WAS my role at any time. That said, I did a bunch of standing around when the tanks showed. More clarity on our flexibility in that regard would be appreciated.

And that's it. That was an awesome experience. Being that organized and doing those fast, high risk, high pay off, adrenaline pumping ops totally changed the way the game felt. Thanks for having me, and sorry for writing a novel here.