Commander Mode explained [Updated]

[RichardWhitely]

Shamelessly stolen from totalbf2.com forums

How to become a commander:

Once you're in the game press "Enter" unless you're in the spawn screen and click on the "Squad" tab and you should see "Commander" with the option to apply for the commander, mutiny the current commander and be the commander, or resign from being a commander.



Apply for Commander

If you apply yourself, you have to wait a while until the game picks who should be the commander. If it has chosen you, a message should appear on your bottom left screen asking wheter to accept or decline the position of commander.

Press "Page Up" key to accept
Press "Page Down" key to decline.

Mutiny the bastard!

If you pick the option to mutiny the commander, the game will present a vote to the team with the option to:

Vote to kick the current commander
or
Vote to keep the current commander

So, far I have not yet seen a commander actually get kicked, thanks to the fact that this voting system has a very low profile in people's HUD's and the fact that NO ONE CARES ABOUT THEIR TEAM! If one does get booted, then damn, that commander must have done something extremely wrong.

Also, some servers have turned off the mutiny option so if you have a lousy commander with this server-side option on, you're out of luck.

Resignation

Resigning makes you quit being the commander, quite obvoius.

How the Game picks the commander

The game claims it has chosen the player with the highest rank out of the players who applied. If the two or more candidates have the same rank, I believe the game will choose the player who has the highest global score or has the highest score. I cannot confirm it right now.

Congrats, you're now the commander, now what?

Once you have accepted to become the commander, press the "CAPS LOCK" key to open up your commander controls. You cannot access to this if you are dead.

Commander Mode:


The eye of the commander: Map

This Map is a non-transparent full map showing your squad leaders, friendly teammates, and flags. What many don't realize is that you can actually zoom in and have a bird's eye view of the map real-time showing everything, including the enemies. I could say this is almost like a map hack. To zoom into the map to a certain area, left click that area and then use your scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in or out. Now, if you do not have a scroll wheel, check your control options to see which key is used to zoom. This is damn useful for anyone who has a mic assuming he doesn't babble and actually say useful things. You don't need a special option to do this, you always have this, the only thing is you have to search for enemies or key objects.

Zoomed:


Commander's 4 basic action

There are 4 basic and eye catching options for the commander. They are easy to use and pretty easy to understand. Just click that option and then click one of the map you want that action to be executed except for "Scan" which scans the whole map.



Scan:

Basically this is a one time radar that scans the whole map. The enemies will show up as a red big dot. This option is useful when you use Artillery or want to monitor enemy movements.

This option is disabled if your radar is destroyed:


Scan in progress:


Artillery

Most likely the reason why many want to become a commander, this option makes the 2 or more howitzers launch multiple rounds at a concentrated area that is selected by the commander. The impacts are always random so it might not hit the target you want to such as directly on a flag or an armor. Artillery is very effective against infantry and light armors but never on heavy and medium armors such as the M1A2/T-90 or the LAV-25.

This option is disabled if someone destroys your artillery pieces. However, you can also repair them:


Artillery barrage in Commander's view (You feel like god and pity those who are in your screen of death):


Artillery barrage in-game (Screw duty and loyalty to my unit, i'm getting out of here):


UAV

This option launches an invisible unmanned recon aircraft that constantly scans an area equivilant to a grid size constantly for a long time. Enemies will blink as red targets such as a red dot (infantry) or a red tank (armor). This is very useful when you are monitoring an area to find hidden or camouflaged enemies such as in a flag zone. Another great thing about this UAV is that your teammates will also see the enemy that is detected by the UAV on their radar.

This option is disabled if your enemies destroy the UAV trailer:
]


UAV scan upclose:


UAV scan size:


Supply Drop

This option magically makes a supply box appear out of the sky and falls down by parachute. Anyone can use this and it is destructable. You can actually kill infantry if the package lands right on them, but quite rare. This will most likely become useful once people learn how to request ammo! Right now, I just use it for myself on sabotage missions. Another great thing about this, this package also repairs vehicles and key buildings!

I have not yet found a building that enables the commander to use this (probably bugged).

Basic Option's Time Chart



Accept Commander: The time it takes for each ability to be available once a member become a commander.

Deployed: The time it takes for each ability to be available once it has been used.

Runs For: The time each ability lasts (i.e, UAV scans the area for 30 seconds until it goes away).

Before impact: Time it takes for the ability to "hit" the target (i.e, it takes 7 seconds for the supply to land on the ground).

This chart is made by Anders who is from a PoE Tournament known as Total-War (//www.total-war.com).

Squad info & comments

One of my favorite part about being a commander, ordering a squad to do something...which no one does.




Squad Info

On box on the middle left side shows the Squad info such as how many squads you have, how many members each squad has, and what kits each member of the squads have:

Special Forces: Sword/Sabre
Assault: FAMAS weapon
Medic: Equal Cross
Anti-Tank: Rocket
Enginneer: Wrench
Support: Machine Gun Mounted on Tripod
Sniper: Crosshair

If one of the member has a vehicle icon (Tank, transport, helicopters, etc.) it means that he is in a certain vehicle that relates to the icon.

To select a certain squad, simply click on that squad info and it'll become highlighted or simply press the number key on your keyboard that corresponds to the squad # such as pressing Key 3 to select squad 3*
*Contributed by Konquerer

To select more than one squad, simply press CTRL or Shift and select the squads with the mouse. This can save a some time by not having to go through squads one by one.*
*Contributed by Bloodening

Squad Comments

Right click the squad info to make comments such as:

Commend (Good Job!)
Rebuke (YOU SUCK AS A SQUAD LEADER!)
Follow Orders!
Artillery incoming
Artillery Availale
Supply Drop Available
UAV Available

Commander & Squad commands



These are the tools to command your squads effectively and quickly. You can bring these commands up on the map by dragging the mouse over the point you are concerned about and right click on it. There are 2 categories of commands:

Squad Commands

These are the squad commands that are brought up:
Move to this position (Yellow Arrow)
Defend this point (Purple Shield)
Attack this Position (Orange Sword)
Repair this object (Red violet wrench)
Destroy this target (Hammer)
Mine this point (Mine)

This will save time from having to type to the squad and you can quickly pinpoint the exact location the action to take place. It also has a better method of gaining attention to the squad leader than just regular text.

Commander's action

Zoom
Spotted
Call in Artillery
Deploy UAV
Drop Supplies

Zoom

Do I have to explain this? It's the same as zooming in and out of the map except you do it differently. The former option makes you left-click on the point and scroll the mouse wheel to zoom (or press a key that's assigned to zoom) while the latter option makes you right click on that point and select "Zoom." I prefer the former option since it's faster.

Also I have to say that if you do not have a mouse with a scroll wheel, buy it damnit! It'll make the game and internet browsing more enjoyable than having to drag here, click here, pull down here method.

Spotted

There is this one particular squad command in which works similar as using the "Spot command" in-game. Obviously it's called Spotted and the way it works is if you detect a target such as a sniper, you can give the "Spotted" Command over the target and the enemy will appear in your teammates radar for a short period of time. This can really save you a lot of time and not to wast the UAV ability just to show your guys one or few enemies.*
*Contributed by Konquerer

The other three commands (Artillery, UAV, Supply Drop) are the same options as the 4 basic options I told you. The only difference is how you order these actions. The former option makes you click and drag the "crosshair" of the action over the map. The latter option makes you right-click over the point and select the action.

Squad Leader's Request

Squad leaders can request commanders to take certain actions to help and aid the squad in their mission or goal. They can request:

Orders
Artillery
UAV
Supplies

Orders- When they want orders, an exclamation mark "!" will come up in the squad info of the squad requesting the order. If this happens, it's common sense to give an order to the squad than just doing nothing as if the squads got a dead commander pigging for points.

Artillery, UAV, and Supplies- When a squad leader requests any one of these, a yellow icon will show up that corresponds to the action in need:

Gun surrounded by circle: Artillery is requested
5 pointed object: UAV is requested
Parachute: Supply is requested

To accept the request, right-click the map and two choices, Accept and Decline, will appear. It's highly recommended that you accept requests as it helps your team and you get +1 in your commander score. If the action is available, and you accept the request, the action will take place where it was requested. However, when the action is not yet available for use and you accept the request, the squad leader will get an excuse of why his request cannot be accepted.

If there are two or more requests from squad leaders at the same time and you only want to accept certain requests such as only UAV and Supplies, right-click and accept over or near the request icons you choose to do. This should only accept the requests you choose to do without accepting another request you choose not to do (i.e. accepting to start an artillery barrage with 5 of your men in the area).

Finding a specific unit or kit to do a job



In the bottom of the Commander screen, you'll notice several icons of weapon kits (and types of armors. This toolbar is used to find infantry with a certain kit or in a certain vehicle by eliminating other teammates of the map that does not fit the description. So let's say you need an infantry with a Special Forces kit to destroy the enemy's artillery, simply deselect "All" (Default setting) and punch in the SF icon (Sword), then the map should only show infantry who has the SF kit:



Now you need to find the closest medic for a certain squad, so punch in the medic icon:



This also applies to vehicles too. However, I believe you can easily find which vehicle you want than trying to find an infantry with a certain kit. Also, you can punch in more icons than one. So if you want to find two or more infantry with certain kits that are different from each other at the same time, just punch in their icons and they'll be the only infantry to show up on the map. This toolbar is an excellent way to find the right man for the job in short time in searching and execution.

Every commander's woes and annoyance

Now honestly, almost no one follows your orders. Those who do are most likely going to be your squad leaders only because Commanders can only communicate to squad leaders when using the radio commands. Now not only you have to worry if squad leaders are willing to accept, but you also have to worry wheter the squad members will follow the squad leader's orders.

However, if you are blessed with a fully functional squad, even only one squad, then with your intel and support, that squad will DEVESTATE anyone in their paths. I once monitered a six man squad from the opposition and damn, they were running and overwhelming my guys like hundreds of fire ants going through a maggot's nest. I had some squads that did what they were ordered to, but never had a squad as I saw as I mentioned.

Final Remarks

Commanders are the key to winning the battle, or at least in this demo. A bad and useless commander is nothing but a waste for the team as that means they lost a crucial supply resource, inteligence, and large-destructive support. If you're a commander just for the artillery, then by all means don't be the commander, you're better off camping for a Havoc or Cobra. Commanders also need to be very talkative or typeative to communicate info and missions. I hope my FAQ will make you readers a better and well-mannered commanders that will help the team in winning the battle.

[RichardWhitely]

I'm starting to see a few people actually spotting enemies now which is a good thing (note to newbies: not spotting by using the UAV but by zooming in on the map with the mouse scroll button and right-clicking enemies). Still not nearly enough spotting going on though. Spotting enemies is the commandersÃÆ'Ã,¢Ã¢ââ,¬Å¡Ã,¬Ã¢ââ,¬Å¾Ã,¢ most important job - WAY more important than calling artillery strikes - so DO IT! You are your team's keenest eyes and it's brain and if you don't report enemy movement to the team, your team is both blind and dumb and will lose unless the team's general skill level is a lot higher than the enemy's. A bad FPS skill team that communicates well will beat an uncoordinated team of skilled FPS fraggers.

Let me give you a few examples of bad commanding and explain how to improve. The first one here is the most common one and it's a quick way for your team to lose:

A squad leader is requesting orders. He is standing near a friendly flag. The commander tells the squad leader to attack a flag some distance away. Just as the squad leader is about to affirm, the flag behind him is neutralized (greyed). The squad leader had no idea enemies were there and so he correctly rejects the order and turns to defend the greyed flag, swearing at the commander for not warning him.

Never send squads off to attack before making sure your current flags are safe first. In general, defence is always more important than offence. You gain nothing by winning a flag if you lose another one. It is also much easier to defend a flag than to attack one so try to be the one defending. Make the enemy fight up hill whenever you can.

This is also a classic example of lack of communication/spotting. ALWAYS spot enemies that are near your forces so your men won't come under a surprise attack. A good commander can make it IMPOSSIBLE for the enemy to sneak up on his team since the commander can see all enemies at all times. In this example the commander should have spotted the enemies before they were even at the flag so the nearby squad had a chance to defend.

The commander is moving - even flying - around rather than using the command screen.

This is the worst kind of commander you can possibly get. Call a mutiny vote at once; take over and save your team. On small maps, though, the commander might and often should actively take part in the battle (preferably in a tank or other vehicle that offers some safety while using the cmdr screen) - but NEVER on medium or large maps. Commanders are the single most important units on the battlefield - do NOT waste your powers playing as a simple grunt.

The commander uses the UAV to search for enemies.

No, no, no! Use the scanner to find enemies then reveal them to your team by right-clicking --) choosing "Spotted".

Commander doesn't monitor team's health status.

On the commander screen one can see if i.e. a friendly tank is about to break down. Click the icon of the tank. The tank will light up on the map. Drop supplies for the lucky driver. [Note: This is another advantage to being in a squad - commander can't check your status if you're not in one]

Your team has the majority of the flags on a Conquest: Head-on map meaning the enemy has "ticket bleed" - loses tickets automatically. The commander, however, keeps assigning squads to attack more flags. The teams' forces become spread thin and the enemy soon captures many flags back.

When you have the most flags, start playing defensively. Prepare for the enemy to attempt to "restore control" and stop ticket bleed, because they will certainly try, and very soon! Keep the pressure on the enemy; do not offer him a chance to make a comeback!

[Note: Assigning people to defend flags has a very neat side effect: It stops the "flag chasing" mechanism by preventing the enemy from turning flags. This builds up the need to attack in major force and thus, creates huge battles rather than small skirmishes]

[RichardWhitely]

Squad leaders can contact the commander using the T key to request artillery, supplies, etc (very useful feature and I see more and more people using it now, which is good). Also, squad members have less options that the leader, but can request things from the leader so that he can contact the commander.

[Calibrax]

Just to mention something that wasn't clear in the initial post - a commander can repair his artillery, UAV trailer or radar simply by dropping supplies on them. This is usually quicker than trying to get an engineer to do it.

[RichardWhitely]

Just to mention something that wasn't clear in the initial post - a commander can repair his artillery, UAV trailer or radar simply by dropping supplies on them. This is usually quicker than trying to get an engineer to do it.

This is a bug and will apparently be fixed in 1.3 patch. With spec-ops getting points for blowing commander assets up from next patch and hardly anyone being an engineer, I recommend you get all your commander points and Commander badges you want now.

[Malakith]

Just another point.... if a shell Directly hits an APC (maybe a tank, not sure) it goes up in flames even if it had full health at the time.