Armies Coordination and Command in PS2

AncientVanu · 2012-01-25, 08:08 PM

After watching that video explaining how the battlefield in PS2 will be divided into territories and basically each of the 3 armies will be occupied with taking and holding more territories and resources, I started wondering how these huge armies comprising of several hundred soldiers each would be organized? In the real world there is a chain of command which helps the army achieve the strategic goals, even if the army is broken down to platoons and squads they all have their place and objectives, they take orders, and their objectives can often change depending on the situation on the battlefield.
So if we assume every single one of us when respawning would be made part of a similar squad how would all these squads be coordinated in order to achieve the army goals. Or is it going to be just chaos, every squad for itself, every soldier for himself.
In games like Battlefield or CoD this need for global coordination is not so great as in these games we are talking about 3 capturable points with teams reaching 32-64 players max. Here it is different, the battlefield is huge, the armies are huge, overall it’s a different scale we are talking about here.
I don’t know the game’s mechanics and I’m away from the thought that humans could coordinate and command the armies but it seems to me that an AI Coordination and Command for instance could give individual tasks to squads. These tasks could be based on territory control, resource shortages, enemy armies’ actions (for instance the enemy is trying to capture one of your territories, so the AI gives a new mission to a number of squads to defend or recapture that territory) etc. etc. factors. So when I respawn I’m immediately given a mission based on my, my team’s, the enemy’s possition, territory control, etc. This would encourage teamplay, especially if completing the mission brings more XP. Of course you won’t be obligated to follow the objectives and can go on a trip with your ATV to watch the sunset in the desert for instance...
So is there any info on such features being implemented in the game or it’s going to be just: “Here, take this weapon and go fight the enemy... just kill the guys with different uniforms from your own.”

Metalsheep · 2012-01-25, 08:23 PM

The only thing i am aware of currently is the Objective/Mission system. You join a squad, and it will give you a list of objectives to complete along with your squad. Other than that, I do not know.

In PS1, there wasn't really a system, there were CR5s who could try to coordinate the Empires either globally or Continentaly. But you were easily ignored and everyone did whatever they pleased. Known as Zerging. The only organized teams were outfits that communicated outside of Planetside.

DayOne · 2012-01-25, 08:28 PM

I'm pretty sure this is why there are outfits. I also imagine they will bring back the CR5s who can issue global "orders".

And the mission system, these can be randomly assigned, i.e. "Take outpost X", or player assigned for a much more organic feel to the game. Hopefully there will be some distinction between player and computer set missions and maybe even who set it. This would allow you to prioritise player set missions as they are probably more important.

AncientVanu · 2012-01-25, 08:44 PM

Originally Posted by DayOne

And the mission system, these can be randomly assigned, i.e. "Take outpost X", or player assigned for a much more organic feel to the game.

The thing is if they are randomly assigned and not based on the battlefield situation then then they won't be helping win the war. Someone has to be looking at the big picture and taking decisions who to send and where, and this has to be done on a global scale. Only then we can say we have an Army and not several hundred individuals each one with his own agenda. It's organization against total chaos. Basically we need some of those Chess playing computers, that are already invincible, to monitor the battlefield and assign its available resources where there are most needed.

Tehroth · 2012-01-25, 10:03 PM

I would like players to elect commanders through the game due to their sheer abilities with weapons, vehicles and tactics and those commanders be able to issue orders. Perhaps if an outfit follows through and does something to achieve victory they can be rewarded with ranks through to let their position be known. Like best squad at recon ect ect.

Figment · 2012-01-26, 08:40 AM

Originally Posted by AncientVanu

The thing is if they are randomly assigned and not based on the battlefield situation then then they won't be helping win the war. Someone has to be looking at the big picture and taking decisions who to send and where, and this has to be done on a global scale. Only then we can say we have an Army and not several hundred individuals each one with his own agenda. It's organization against total chaos. Basically we need some of those Chess playing computers, that are already invincible, to monitor the battlefield and assign its available resources where there are most needed.

It was said that if you had certain command certifications, you will be able to create the missions as a player, while some would be generated by the game as well.

Thuull · 2012-01-26, 09:22 AM

If they do it right, then CR players being able to create missions that are faction wide will help guide the zerg...which is what will sway the overall battlefield.

PS2 will be a lot like PS1 in that there are two games going on at the same time. The first will be the Outfit game, where coordinated teams are taking specific objectives and accomplishing specific tasks that need that coordination.

The other will be the zerg play. These are the more casual players who log into for a couple of hours, find something to do, and go blow stuff up for a while.

Coordination for the two was a problem in PS1. If outfits specifically went after objectives that matched or at least ran parallel to what the zerg was doing, the faction as a whole would do better.

Unfortunately, as with any time that you're dealing with a large group of humans that has no clear leader, the zerg is stupid. It flows around and does things that don't make much sense.

I'm *really* hoping that the player mission system can and will be used to guide the zerg. Outfit leaders with appropriate CR certs will set up a series of player missions that focus the zerg at least into a particular area that supports the operations that the big outfits want to do.

The zerglings log in, see their missions, and go "Oh, cool...extra xp!"...and they go zerg in places that are actually useful to the overall battle.

/hope

Exoskeleton · 2012-01-26, 09:28 AM

"The zerglings log in..."

Shogun · 2012-01-26, 10:58 AM

higby told us, that players will be able to set up missions that can be done for additional xp.

2 things will happen:

1.the zerg will follow these missions just to get more xp. i am sure this will work

2. zerglings will set up missions just near them to exploit more xp for normal zerging.

so the only problem left is how to determine who will be able to set up missions, to prevent useless missionspamming.