A question about commanding.

[Dkamanus]

Hi there.

I know the game isn't out yet, but is there, at least a hint, of some sort of commanding skills, able to assign waypoints and stuff to platoons and squads in the game?

I did see a tab where you'd get a high view of the battlefield with lots of icons of soldiers, tanks, planes, etc. Does it have such a feature? If not, would it be something people would like to have?

[Crator]

This is what we know (From the PS2 Info Thread):

• How will the Command System function? Commanding is not based on command rank like in Planetside. Rather commanding is based upon a cert tree within all of the other certifications. In order to be a deeply specialized commander you need to give up some other perks. Also, squad leaders and commanders will be able to create “missions (think quests from an RPG) that average players can follow in order to receive bonus experience. The orbital strike is making a return.

• Question: Is Commander or Squad leader going to be a role as such? Or are you command certs going to carry over if you play a medic?
  
• Higby: You can be a squad leader as any class, you get some awesome passive perks and coordination tools.

[Dkamanus]

So no RTS-style commandering? Something like Natural Selection commander (without the construction, more with troops directioning)?

[MCYRook]

Originally Posted by Dkamanus

So no RTS-style commandering? Something like Natural Selection commander?

Well kind of. We haven't seen the mission system in action yet, but I do imagine that commanders will assign some of them via the continental map (others maybe via direct menu interaction in FPS view?).

But it won't be something that you spend most of your playtime with, as a marine commander in NS does. You don't get to watch "your" soldiers in top-down-view either, so in that sense, it's not like an RTS.

[Hamma]

Squads, Platoons, Waypoints all already in the game or planned to be in.

[Crator]

There are some resource harvest and NPC ideas from SOE floating around that could lead to RTS sort of game-play. It's just being discussed right now as flat ideas. I would lean more towards resource harvesting being a RTS element then the NPC one.

Check out: SmedBlog: Harvestable Resources & SmedBlog: NPC Enemies and Armies

[Dkamanus]

I wouldn't even talk about a full fledged RTS playstyle. But, thanks to some sort of infolink to a satellite or spaceship, you, as a field commander, be able to have an overvier of the battlefield from above.

I could make the idea of what I mean a little beter:

Say you have some sort of Certificate (Field Commanding 1~5) lets say. You'll be able to get, under your wing, 5 squads of 12 people (1 lvl per Rank). Sort of like a Raid, but more on a support role. Since it would require you a cert, it would branch into some new form of support, which would be command structure support (do this, do that).

Inside this Command Area, you'd get another certificate (unlockable only after Field Commanding lvl 5, lets say), call Strategic Infolink (Rank 1~5 again, this time, increase the ammount of information your suit could feed you, say 400m at rank 1 and 2 km at rank 2). This skill would be able to give you and overview of the battlefield for 2 km around you, where you'd be able to see the battlefield movement of units displayed on the map you're on (Covert ops units could have a counter certificate for that, if they wanted, make it have some requirements so NOT everyone would get them, just covert ops).

That said, with field commanding, you'd have control of waypoints, and requisition of a platoon, being able to order them to do things in a RTS manner, and, if the soldiers under your wing were good, would look much like a real RTS for the commander, plus the extra intel he could provide for the soldiers.

I read about missions and stuff, but so far no way on how they are gonna perform this. And since we already have a overview of the battlefield when you look at the map, I guess integrating such a functionality wouldn't be soo hard.