What we need for command

[Mackenz]

I actually like the twitter-like system, although at first blush, it seems pretty exploitable. But as long it has suitable refinements (further below), I think it has a chance to work.

First off, any system is exploitable, *especially* computer generated leader boards. Got 10 guys in NC and 10 in TR trading an outpost over and over = win for example. The variations are endless, and I think the devs recognise they will be fighting a lost battle no matter how smart the computer arbitration tries to be.

So, it seems like twitter leadership will be a leader popularity contest gamed by an outfit with 500 players. Lets look at that:

1) The leader with the most popularity should be derived by those player's *online*, and can be seen at a glance. 500 player outfits with 10 guys online losses to a 50 player outfit with 30 guys online;

2) You follow the leaders you want to follow, and ignore the rest. No need to down vote - just ignore them. Sure, they may put up a zerg, and quite frankly, that is fine. Why? Well now you have all the zerglings in one spot, and sooner or later those that want something better will ignore the zerg leader. If folks *want* to follow a zerg you are better off letting them do so;

3) Player controlled leader voting is more transparent that dev computer generated methods. If the devs give the leader system the tools, I believe the leadership will be sorted into those that you ignore and those that are worthwhile;

4) Sure, some folks will follow a leader just because they like them and have fun, whether or not they are effective. And so they should - it is game after all, and nobody is actually drafted into the armed forces here.


The platoon system was something I did like, and I am concerned about it being missing (ATM). Of course, I always felt higher organisational groupings would be nice too, but the ability to control that is limited by the limited feedback that a group could get back up the chain. And no the command to tell the next CR up the chain was pretty lame.

Being able to put alert tags on bases/outposts/locations (almost 'hexes' now) would be nice, and give higher level commanders feedback on what is going on ('TR platoon gal drop on outpost'). I mean, we do have satellite comms right (and that would lead to infiltrators having the ability to jam signals pending an attack for example).

I am not sure about whether addons will be allowed in PS2 (there were none in PS1) - a lot of organisational helpers could be supplied by the community.