Post by Pencil Stick on Feb 28, 2013 10:56:39 GMT -8
I'm just gonna come right out and say it: We're totally hitting our stride, and I have less and less to write about every week.
We didn't accomplish every objective we set out to do last night, but in terms of OUR performance, it was spot-on. When we didn't conquer, it was primarily because of forces outside our control- overwhelming numbers, mostly. We couldn't have done much different, we were a well-oiled machine.
I thought for quite a while about whether I was going to say this at all, because I don't want anyone slacking off, feeling overconfident, or getting complacent. The level we ran at last night is not the end goal, it is the baseline. EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. Should run like last night did.
As I discussed with Talron last night, we pretty much have down "the basics", deployment, redeployment, objective coverage... the basic operations of every base or satellite we capture. Everything I've been timing, we've managed to trim our times down to the point where I don't believe there's any huge improvements to be made. For all stages of our operation, provided there are no hiccups, our standard practice can't be improved much more than maybe 5-10 seconds. Nothing game changing.
We managed to incorporate most of our suggestions into the past two OPs, but we haven't had quite enough practice with all our newest tactics and suggestions to get complacent, especially dual-drops on our Galaxys, which need more practice and fine-tuning.
As for future suggestions, I've got some ideas on how we could continue to evolve Spec Ops. The basics we're mastering basically allow us to do the same thing a regular infantry platoon can do, but faster, better, and with fewer men. We need to transcend that.
Talron and I discussed a few things last night that I'll share in brief here.
Firstly, one of the biggest problems with Spec Ops is how our unit is utilized. Last Friday where Talron was giving orders at the top, he was able to send Spec Ops after targets that are well suited to our abilities, and it showed. I think that Patty is absolutely one of the best commanders we have, and possibly our most brilliant strategist, but being less familiar with how Spec Ops rolls, we were sent to lots of targets we weren't well suited to deal with, like we were just a normal (but super-powered) infantry squad. We were sent to a lot of fights where we were outmatched by far superior numbers, eliminating the big advantage we have- organization. I literally cringed when we were asked to pull tanks. That dynamic was a major hurdle for us.
To solve this, I've suggested we figure out a way for Spec Ops to become more self-directed and independent from the main platoon. Ideally, we would be informed of the overall plan of the main PL, and decide for ourselves how best to assist that plan- such as taking the surrounding territories of a Biolab while the main platoon moves in, or arriving as a first-strike team and disabling the base completely (without trying to take it) ahead of the main invasion. The more general and nonspecific our unit's orders are, and the more room we have to do the job our way, the better off we'll be. The same way Infiltrators are self-directed within Spec Ops, ignoring general orders to accomplish our specific tasks because we aren't useful in the same way everyone else is, Spec Ops should be pursuing an analogous role within TXR writ large. This may be problematic and difficult to figure out, as orders and strategies are constantly changing, and are developed in real time depending on what the situation on the map is.
Secondly, I think we need more sub-squad organization. (This is a new one, Talron.) The way we currently organize our fire teams are in mixed forces, with one objective per squad, with infiltrators the exception- we just do infiltrator jobs. This allows us to accomplish those one objectives very well, but I've got an idea on how we could be more versatile. Each class should be in its own squad to do that class's job. If all the heavies were in one squad, the heavy lead could coordinate focus-fire attacks with launchers more effectively in in-game chat. Medics could communicate amongst themselves to keep people alive. I'd still put heavies and engies in the same squad, but they'd benefit too. Our current setup, we basically have two primary objectives- get the point, cover the spawn. In this system, we'd replace Alpha-Bravo assignments with Odd-Even number assignments- Odd numbered players go to the point, even numbers cover the spawn. If armor rolls in, all the heavies can easily be recalled and coordinate amongst themselves to deal with the threat, for example. If more people are dying on point than on spawn, the medics can re-position themselves accordingly. We can be more dynamic, provided we continue properly sharing info and maintaining effective comms the way we do now.
So, tl;dr on that one, we should re-orient our squads to focus on each class to to its job best, rather than starting with the job and working it out from there. This will enable us to tackle more tasks in more situations than if we were configured primarily for base capture.
Finally, pursuant to the above reorganization, we need to start thinking about other things Spec Ops can do. There are a couple things we've done well, but haven't intentionally utilized yet- like quick-deploying from a Sundy to take out a target, or something we did last night that I think has potential- using a Galaxy to get behind enemy lines and to move around a given fight at one territory. Spec Ops has the ability to be the quick-response infantry equivalent of an orbital strike, to take out that one pesky sunderer you can't get to from the tower, or get behind and flank those tanks, ect. When it absolutely, positively, HAS to die now, call Spec Ops.
I'd love to hear any ideas from anyone else about what else Spec Ops might be capable of doing. Post below!
We didn't accomplish every objective we set out to do last night, but in terms of OUR performance, it was spot-on. When we didn't conquer, it was primarily because of forces outside our control- overwhelming numbers, mostly. We couldn't have done much different, we were a well-oiled machine.
I thought for quite a while about whether I was going to say this at all, because I don't want anyone slacking off, feeling overconfident, or getting complacent. The level we ran at last night is not the end goal, it is the baseline. EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. Should run like last night did.
As I discussed with Talron last night, we pretty much have down "the basics", deployment, redeployment, objective coverage... the basic operations of every base or satellite we capture. Everything I've been timing, we've managed to trim our times down to the point where I don't believe there's any huge improvements to be made. For all stages of our operation, provided there are no hiccups, our standard practice can't be improved much more than maybe 5-10 seconds. Nothing game changing.
We managed to incorporate most of our suggestions into the past two OPs, but we haven't had quite enough practice with all our newest tactics and suggestions to get complacent, especially dual-drops on our Galaxys, which need more practice and fine-tuning.
As for future suggestions, I've got some ideas on how we could continue to evolve Spec Ops. The basics we're mastering basically allow us to do the same thing a regular infantry platoon can do, but faster, better, and with fewer men. We need to transcend that.
Talron and I discussed a few things last night that I'll share in brief here.
Firstly, one of the biggest problems with Spec Ops is how our unit is utilized. Last Friday where Talron was giving orders at the top, he was able to send Spec Ops after targets that are well suited to our abilities, and it showed. I think that Patty is absolutely one of the best commanders we have, and possibly our most brilliant strategist, but being less familiar with how Spec Ops rolls, we were sent to lots of targets we weren't well suited to deal with, like we were just a normal (but super-powered) infantry squad. We were sent to a lot of fights where we were outmatched by far superior numbers, eliminating the big advantage we have- organization. I literally cringed when we were asked to pull tanks. That dynamic was a major hurdle for us.
To solve this, I've suggested we figure out a way for Spec Ops to become more self-directed and independent from the main platoon. Ideally, we would be informed of the overall plan of the main PL, and decide for ourselves how best to assist that plan- such as taking the surrounding territories of a Biolab while the main platoon moves in, or arriving as a first-strike team and disabling the base completely (without trying to take it) ahead of the main invasion. The more general and nonspecific our unit's orders are, and the more room we have to do the job our way, the better off we'll be. The same way Infiltrators are self-directed within Spec Ops, ignoring general orders to accomplish our specific tasks because we aren't useful in the same way everyone else is, Spec Ops should be pursuing an analogous role within TXR writ large. This may be problematic and difficult to figure out, as orders and strategies are constantly changing, and are developed in real time depending on what the situation on the map is.
Secondly, I think we need more sub-squad organization. (This is a new one, Talron.) The way we currently organize our fire teams are in mixed forces, with one objective per squad, with infiltrators the exception- we just do infiltrator jobs. This allows us to accomplish those one objectives very well, but I've got an idea on how we could be more versatile. Each class should be in its own squad to do that class's job. If all the heavies were in one squad, the heavy lead could coordinate focus-fire attacks with launchers more effectively in in-game chat. Medics could communicate amongst themselves to keep people alive. I'd still put heavies and engies in the same squad, but they'd benefit too. Our current setup, we basically have two primary objectives- get the point, cover the spawn. In this system, we'd replace Alpha-Bravo assignments with Odd-Even number assignments- Odd numbered players go to the point, even numbers cover the spawn. If armor rolls in, all the heavies can easily be recalled and coordinate amongst themselves to deal with the threat, for example. If more people are dying on point than on spawn, the medics can re-position themselves accordingly. We can be more dynamic, provided we continue properly sharing info and maintaining effective comms the way we do now.
So, tl;dr on that one, we should re-orient our squads to focus on each class to to its job best, rather than starting with the job and working it out from there. This will enable us to tackle more tasks in more situations than if we were configured primarily for base capture.
Finally, pursuant to the above reorganization, we need to start thinking about other things Spec Ops can do. There are a couple things we've done well, but haven't intentionally utilized yet- like quick-deploying from a Sundy to take out a target, or something we did last night that I think has potential- using a Galaxy to get behind enemy lines and to move around a given fight at one territory. Spec Ops has the ability to be the quick-response infantry equivalent of an orbital strike, to take out that one pesky sunderer you can't get to from the tower, or get behind and flank those tanks, ect. When it absolutely, positively, HAS to die now, call Spec Ops.
I'd love to hear any ideas from anyone else about what else Spec Ops might be capable of doing. Post below!
