Post by Pencil Stick on Jan 26, 2013 18:44:39 GMT -8
PencilPrick here. Gonna keep this brief and to-the-point in the Spec Ops spirit.
We ran with a group of 9 operatives in the aftermath of the Ultimate Showdown disaster. Here are my thoughts on the ops, please feel free to contribute below.
What worked:
Organizing squads by objective/role, rather than by unit type.
Being in a squad of infiltrators, I didn't have a clear idea of what to do once everything was hacked and sniped, especially if armor rolled in. Being in a squad whose primary role was to secure the points, I always knew exactly what to do, even after my class role was fulfilled. This form of organization also ensures that all tasks are being performed without the need for specific instructions for all. We show up, do our jobs, and the only communication needed is for intel/progress updates and the like.
Class Flexibility.
Rolling in objective-based squads rather than class-based squads frees us up to select the class best suited for our role. When I was with Bravo, in charge of suppression, trading Engineer for MAX with Killiden, things were going smoothly, and I didn't feel confined to a role. Rather, I used the class that could accomplish our goals. This is a good thing, it empowers us to get the job done using the best tools we have available. Granted, if you're a dedicated infiltrator or medic for a squad, this won't apply to you, but if I were in Alpha (the point-taking squad) as an infiltrator, the freedom to switch to a shotgun-wielding light assault to cover the point once I was done hacking terminals would be a boon.
One-Way galaxy trips.
This was a big improvement over last week. There was never confusion or delays associated with re-deploying.
Efficiency.
Granted, we were facing mostly soft targets with little resistance until we made it to the sattelites, but on average, it took us about 60 seconds from the time we dropped out of the galaxy to hack all the terminals, scope out the base, flip the point, and have everyone in their assigned positions. That's pretty damn good. Every night should go like that, it felt like what I think Spec Ops should feel like.
Comms.
Like I said last night, it could just be that we were all tired and depressed after the failure of the Ultimate Showdown, but we did a lot better keeping small talk and chatter off the comms. We did well providing locations of threats as well. When we did chit-chat, it was at appropriate times. Good job.
What didn't work:
The Ultimate Showdown.
But seriously...
I have very few complaints about how the op went. Not that there isn't still room to improve, but that was overall pretty good.
9 members at times seemed a bit under-powered. We got the job done, but we would have more flexibility with a full 12. 12 is definitely the magic number. 16 was too chaotic and hard to organize, 9 was wanting for a few more people in specific roles, 12 would likely be perfect.
A suggestion for future Spec Ops: Since we have more people who want to do this than can in a night, we should pre-plan shifts. We have multiple people that can fill each role, if we swap them out after, say, an hour and a half to two hour rotation, we can also reduce fatigue, and you can get all that small talk off your chest in the main platoon. This will almost certainly be messy the first time we try it, but I think it's a good idea.
That's all. Good rolling with y'all.
We ran with a group of 9 operatives in the aftermath of the Ultimate Showdown disaster. Here are my thoughts on the ops, please feel free to contribute below.
What worked:
Organizing squads by objective/role, rather than by unit type.
Being in a squad of infiltrators, I didn't have a clear idea of what to do once everything was hacked and sniped, especially if armor rolled in. Being in a squad whose primary role was to secure the points, I always knew exactly what to do, even after my class role was fulfilled. This form of organization also ensures that all tasks are being performed without the need for specific instructions for all. We show up, do our jobs, and the only communication needed is for intel/progress updates and the like.
Class Flexibility.
Rolling in objective-based squads rather than class-based squads frees us up to select the class best suited for our role. When I was with Bravo, in charge of suppression, trading Engineer for MAX with Killiden, things were going smoothly, and I didn't feel confined to a role. Rather, I used the class that could accomplish our goals. This is a good thing, it empowers us to get the job done using the best tools we have available. Granted, if you're a dedicated infiltrator or medic for a squad, this won't apply to you, but if I were in Alpha (the point-taking squad) as an infiltrator, the freedom to switch to a shotgun-wielding light assault to cover the point once I was done hacking terminals would be a boon.
One-Way galaxy trips.
This was a big improvement over last week. There was never confusion or delays associated with re-deploying.
Efficiency.
Granted, we were facing mostly soft targets with little resistance until we made it to the sattelites, but on average, it took us about 60 seconds from the time we dropped out of the galaxy to hack all the terminals, scope out the base, flip the point, and have everyone in their assigned positions. That's pretty damn good. Every night should go like that, it felt like what I think Spec Ops should feel like.
Comms.
Like I said last night, it could just be that we were all tired and depressed after the failure of the Ultimate Showdown, but we did a lot better keeping small talk and chatter off the comms. We did well providing locations of threats as well. When we did chit-chat, it was at appropriate times. Good job.
What didn't work:
The Ultimate Showdown.
But seriously...
I have very few complaints about how the op went. Not that there isn't still room to improve, but that was overall pretty good.
9 members at times seemed a bit under-powered. We got the job done, but we would have more flexibility with a full 12. 12 is definitely the magic number. 16 was too chaotic and hard to organize, 9 was wanting for a few more people in specific roles, 12 would likely be perfect.
A suggestion for future Spec Ops: Since we have more people who want to do this than can in a night, we should pre-plan shifts. We have multiple people that can fill each role, if we swap them out after, say, an hour and a half to two hour rotation, we can also reduce fatigue, and you can get all that small talk off your chest in the main platoon. This will almost certainly be messy the first time we try it, but I think it's a good idea.
That's all. Good rolling with y'all.