pilaslaedere
03-24-2005, 01:33 AM
I'm proposing putting strategic controls into Legends. These controls would let you call football-type plays from a playbook, and, the players would see prompts to help follow/modify the plan. This message contains my introduction to what this would look like.
I want to know if you would play a Tribes variant that had something like these strategic controls. I'm not looking for technical suggestions or questions, just gut feeling.
Design of Strategic Controls for Legends
1.Issues with current Tribes2 implementation
1.1.Teamwork is paramount in Tribes2. However, with larger numbers of competitors and more options than Tribes1, the ability to control all these resources has not kept pace. As a result of this problem, the game designers apparently made the maps deficient in turrets, and in general, the game is slower than it could otherwise be. If automatic defenses were more numerous or weapons were more lethal, it would require more coordination among assaulting players than is currently possible. As a result, these improvements would have resulted in large numbers of stalemates. Yet, without strong turret defenses, it is currently possible to use vehicles to engage bases almost without opposition. As a result, taking out turrets and even heavy defenders is optional on many maps. This compromise makes the game more playable by allowing easy penetration of defenses with air vehicles and fast skiers, even when the defense is skilled.
1.2.While the command screen is much improved and allows for assignment of duties (which people mostly ignore), large scale strategic deployment is not possible. The command screen is only of minor use once a "plan" is established, and is not actually useful for establishing a strategic plan or moving large numbers of troops.
1.3.Given the number of choices to make, beginners are lost.
2.Design goals for strategic controls
Strategy takes the long view and big picture of how to approach a conflict, while the tactics involves a series of actions carried out by individuals or small groups in order to win an immediate fight. Strategic controls avoid telling people precisely how to fight but instead tell them where the fight is, when to engage the enemy, what sort of move to make (in general terms) and what equipment will be necessary. Strategic controls should allow for:
1.Large scale movement of troops in an offensive manner
2.Large scale deployment of troops in a defensive manner
3.Development of infrastructure (resupply, deployed items, repairs, etc.)
Strategic control requires commanders who control the selection of strategic plans and, to some extent, their execution. Their responsibilities cannot remove them from the action of the game, otherwise, nobody will want to hold the position. Commanders will fight alongside their troops.
3.Executive Summary of Strategic Controls Proposal (long)
There will be an offensive and defensive commander on each side of the game. These commanders will select strategic plans from a list and give limited orders on how to carry them out. The orders that commanders give during the game will be limited to when, where and to some extent by whom the plan will be carried out. They will use text messages, v-chat menus, keyboard commands or real-time voice communications to make this happen. In order to keep things simple, there will be limited options. The commander can also do things like call off the plan to regroup or allow a free-for-all if the plan is busted. The commanders will use subcommanders if the task assigned calls for one. This further limits the number of things any one commander is responsible for.
Flexible strategic plans will be composed prior to a game using a strategic plan editor (a modified command view) and stored in a playbook (local and networked versions). During a game, commanders will execute these plans by naming them or by querying the playbook using a Plan Manager to locate a suitable plan. The plans (which are small files) will be uploaded to the server, if they are not already resident. These plans may require a fixed number of players or may be set up to allow for variable numbers. These plans may be map and side specific (such as moving to a pre-determined point on a specific map before launching an attack) or may be general purpose (such as flying defensive air cover). The partition of players between offense and defense will be by agreement among the offensive and defensive commanders, who hopefully will agree on that one thing. The plans, if properly designed, will automatically adjust to the number of players available and will distribute the players among the different fighting groups.
In order to put a plan into effect, a commander calls the players to a staging area where assignments are offered to all the players. The assignments take the form of circular decals which appear on the ground (or floor) of the staging area. The decal design conveys the armor class and the nature of the mission, while the decal color conveys which company (functional group) the player will be joining. For example, a red circular decal with an outline of a bomber and the driver's seat flashing would indicate the assgnment is for red squad (offense) bomber pilot. If there were a thin black ring around the decal, it might indicate medium armor, while a thick ring would indicate heavy. Players stand on the decal of their choice and view a simple text description of what their role is going to be. If they accept this assignment, the decal vanishes and their loadout is changed to reflect their assignment. Once a player accepts an assignment, they must get their new loadout, get mounted on vehicles and group together with their company. Text prompts on their HUD will tell them what to do.
Each player will experience only a small part of the plan, unless they are commander or subcommander. Each player can call up the entire plan in a viewer, if they are interested. The player will be prompted with text prompts and visible waypoints (if necessary) to move them around during critical steps, so, memorization of the plan is not necessary. Most waypoints will be fixed from the time the plan was designed. However, the commanders and subcommanders will be allowed to move waypoints or create temporary ones. They can move waypoints in one of two ways: by using the command screen or by using a command wand (special targeting laser) to move people around. Commanders and subcommanders will be provided with rapid and easy-to-use voice and text chat so that they can control the direction of fire and get info from their people. Obviously, the task of shifting fire rapidly is better left to a subcommander, which is why we will need them.
At this point, let me run through a few examples of how things will be experienced as a player, just to flesh out the ideas a bit more.
Suppose you are with a defensive company made up of snipers; call it blue company. You accepted the role when you were at the defensive staging area. You saw groups of different colored decals on the ground. By standing on a blue circle with a sniper symbol and using a keyboard command to signal acceptance of the assignment, you joined the company as a sniper. You were told in a text window that you would be sniping close to the base. Once you get your loadout, you head to an initial checkpoint, which is a flashing white 'x' visible in the HUD or command map. You can tell the other members of your group because they all have navy blue arm bands added to their skins. Once your company is assembled, your subcommander tells you to move out. You travel to the next waypoint, which is a ridge in front of the base. Your subcommander uses his command wand (modified targeting laser) to move just you up into a tower on that ridge. You see your white 'x' waypoint move up into the tower and hear a command "move to new waypoint". You also see a red 'x' on your HUD which is where your subcommander wants you to focus your fire. Now, that's just a suggestion about where to direct fire. You can fire anywhere you want. But, the subcommander is using the command wand (modified targeting laser) to assign responsibility to people who are sniping heavies coming over the hill from the other base. It would be a good idea to cover your area. Now suppose that your group is attacked by a bigger group of O-snipers. The subcommander calls for everyone to fall back off the ridge and move back to base. This is a pre-set part of the plan;- an alternate waypoint if you will. You get repaired at an inventory station, and, your respawned group members rejoin you. You are now ready to make a stand with the help of defensive heavies. When the invading O-snipers are repelled, your subcommander moves you forward to the ridge again. That's a very simple plan.
Now, let's try a harder plan. You have joined red company as a heavy deployer riding on a transport. You knew that would be your assignment because the decal on the floor at the offensive staging area was a red circle for red company (hot colors for offense & cold colors for defense), and the design in the decal was alternating between a transport ship outline with a passenger seat filled-in and the outline of a portable inventory station with a thick black ring around it for heavy. The inventory station outline on the decal indicates the expedition type, namely, that you will be a deployer for the company. Other expedition types would be things like reconnaissance, search & destroy, hold target, maintenance, etc. The description in the text box that appears says that you will take transport Red-1 and set up a portable inventory station, sensor jamming devices and then bombard the enemy base. When you accepted the assignment, a specially named loadout called "company 1" was automatically updated so that you could immediately get the equipment you needed. However, you check the loadout and change the regular grenades for smoke grenades before boarding the transport. You boarded transport "Red-1" as instructed in the text box. You could tell it was transport Red-1 because it had a big, red number '1' on the sides and bottom. This skin was applied to the transport when your pilot (who was assigned to pilot Red-1) created the vehicle. Once your company is assembled, your subcommander gives the "move out" command to go to the first waypoint. The pilots in your company fly low over the terrain and set down in a valley behind a hill within mortar shot of the enemy base. You can hear the sensor jammers from other members of your company. You see a flashing message to deploy your inventory station. You jump out of the vehicle and deploy in the valley. You now see a flashing text message to deploy sensor jamming devices. Because your loadout has automatically changed from "company 1" to "company 2", you are able to step into the portable invo. station and get the jammer right away. After setting up a few jammers around your vehicles, you hear "load up and move to new waypoint", which is at the top of a hill. Your new loadout is now changed to "company 3" which has an ammo pack. The subcommander is spotting the targets on the enemy base with a targeting laser and you hear "fire at will", at which point the whole company lobs mortars (or disks if they are lights). A few smoke grenades are set off to evade the snipers. After a few shots, you hear "incoming bomber". Your vehicles are discovered and the subcommander calls a return to vehicles while the company tries to shoot down the bomber. The bomber takes out one transport and half the company, and, the plan is now busted. Rather than return to base or move operations to a new location, the commander calls "attack the enemy base" and the whole company charges the base, most likely getting cut down on the way.
One final description;- a long one... the experience of a subcommander. Suppose that the offensive commander has selected a plan that calls for three offensive companies: laser blue company is a bomber squadron with escort shrike, red company is a small heavy assault unit for a false attack and orange company is a large flag stealing unit composed mostly of lights with concussion and whiteout grenades. When your offensive commander took command, his plans were automatically relayed to your command HUD. You see two plans, plan A and plan B. Plan A (which has been activated) is named "O-CTF-Sanctuary SE-B-[Gunz]XXX-Two Wave Light Attack". The name has seven segments: the "O" indicates offense, CTF is game type, "Sanctuary SE" is the map, B indicates the Blood Eagle side of the map, [Gunz]XXX is the original author, and "Two Wave Light Attack" is the name of the plan. You recognize this plan. It calls for a bomber plus fighter escort to perform an initial bombing run, then the heavy unit starts a bombardment of the enemy vehicle station the from the top of a hill. The heavy unit has a few snipers to protect them. The idea is to draw the defense out of their base so the bomber can make a second run at them. Immediately after the second bomber run, the lights in shrikes come from the opposite side of the base. The first wave mines, whiteouts and concussion grenades the defenders, while the second wave grabs the flag. Everyone then protects the flag carrier and returns to base if they are able. A reconnaissance agent may want to stay out in the field to size up defenses, but, that's a special designation from the commander (and not part of the plan). In order to become the subcommander for the red company, you stand on the solid red circular decal on the floor of the staging area and accept the assignment. All solid colors represent subcommanders. No information about what armor or vehicle position is given, since it is presumed that command-level players are proficient in all aspects of the game. Most of the players lining up for assignments don't even see the solid colored decal because their proficiency ratings are not high enough (more on this in the full specification). Some offensive commanders like to get into a shrike and fly reconnaissance around the battle field. Your commander selects a tail gunner position in laser blue company which automatically makes him the subcommander of that company. This position should give him time to use the command map, since the 'g' key in the command screen is still mapped to the flare grenade. Once you take command of your company, you see a brief description of the plan on your HUD. If you wanted, you could call up a detailed view of the plan. But since you know it, you call up the subcommander screen, drag and drop an assembly point on the "Vehicle Station" icon. As a result, everyone from your company is going to assemble there. You take a position as a heavy passenger on transport Red-1 (a position that was preassigned in the plan) and use the v-chat menu to call "red company move out". Once you are in a company, the people who receive your chatter is restricted to the company unless you specially select from a team or global list. Because you are subcommander of red company, the only people to hear this call are the offensive commander and your company. Certain v-chats as well as special keyboard commands update the waypoints of everyone in your company. Because you are in an unescorted transport, there is a need for stealth. Your tail gunner and one of your other players both have sensor jammer packs, while you have an energy pack. You notice in your HUD that one player with a sensor jammer pack is a novice level. If they fail to turn their packs on, you may need to use a voice or text command to tell them to turn on. Most plans don't specify the route for the pilot to take, however, this particular plan specifies the route, and, the pilot is following a special flight HUD (ball in the boxes) to stick to the flight plan. However, as you are crossing the map, you notice in the command view that a tank is guarding the vehicle station. This is going to be a problem. Your commander sees it too and texts for you to attack the tank first before performing the fake heavy assault. You drag and drop a temporary waypoint in your command screen which will put the tank in range of your missiles. Now, the commands you can give are simple and limited. You use a keyboard combination to issue the command to go to temporary waypoint. You then text your people to attack a tank near the vehicle station using missiles. When you broke the pre-set plan, your pilot's flight HUD stopped giving him path directions, and, since he is experienced, he knows to fly high enough to see over hills but not so high you get shot down or can't see the tank. As you approach the tank, you see the bomber squadron making a run on the tank and vehicle station. Your company fires six missiles and destroys the tank. You then issue a keyboard command to go the the original waypoint #1. The commands that are available to you at any time are up on your HUD, along with the key combinations to call them. When you arrive at waypoint #1 (a valley behind a hill), you are undetected because of sensor jammers. You issue a keyboard command to execute deployment. You and your company put up an inventory station, sensor jammers and spike turrets. As subcommander, you see in your HUD all the possible commands that you can give at any one time. The commands available on your HUD change to : return to base, free-for-all attack, return to vehicles, load up and advance to waypoint #2, advance to temporary waypoint (because you forgot to clear the temporary waypoint), defend against vehicle, and defend against attackers (the last two are always there in case attacked). That's 7 commands with special keypresses to activate. These are all specified in the strategic plan. Your commander texts you to see if you are ready for attack, you text back yes. Only you and the commander see these messages on the command channel. The commander orders "attack", you order "load up and advance to waypoint #2". You see your company changing packs at the portable invo's. You use the command wand to put your pilot (who is a sniper) slightly further down the ridge. You do this by selecting the command wand as your weapon, and using the move player mode (keyboard combo). You point at your pilot then roughly at the spot you want him. After switching back to a targetting laser, you advance up the hill and call "attack" while using your targeting laser to spot the vehicle station for your heavies which have wisely remained below the ridge line. Your sniper is defending you and you are dropping smoke to evade enemy snipers. A small group of defenders with disks and gattling guns comes out after you, and, you are cut down by disks and a sniper despite the smoke. But you wait to respawn so you can see how things turn out. The bomber, right on schedule, comes over your hill, kills the defenders that killed you, along with flag defenders. The first wave of lights comes from the opposite side in shrikes dropping flares, whiteout, and concussion grenades along with mines. You see mortars being fired by hidden defenders. However, the mortars stop for a few seconds and the second wave (which hasn't been blinded) grabs the flag. Your company is still mostly alive. You could re-equip, grab a shrike and rejoin them. You can still command them, so, you give them a free-for-all attack command. This is just as well because the offensive commander has just changed to plan B while your flag carrier is returning to base.
I would like to point out that using this command system, many of the simple assignments can be carried out by bots. Personally, I'm looking forward to having a company of deployment & repair bots to command instead of having to repair things myself. Any actual combat from bots would be pure gravy.
That's the longest executive summary I've ever written. If you like it, the actual specifications for the strategic command system are likely to be 30+ pages. The question is, will people play this way? There would be more to learn and more to do for the advanced players, but less for the novice. I think it could work in some form.
I want to know if you would play a Tribes variant that had something like these strategic controls. I'm not looking for technical suggestions or questions, just gut feeling.
Design of Strategic Controls for Legends
1.Issues with current Tribes2 implementation
1.1.Teamwork is paramount in Tribes2. However, with larger numbers of competitors and more options than Tribes1, the ability to control all these resources has not kept pace. As a result of this problem, the game designers apparently made the maps deficient in turrets, and in general, the game is slower than it could otherwise be. If automatic defenses were more numerous or weapons were more lethal, it would require more coordination among assaulting players than is currently possible. As a result, these improvements would have resulted in large numbers of stalemates. Yet, without strong turret defenses, it is currently possible to use vehicles to engage bases almost without opposition. As a result, taking out turrets and even heavy defenders is optional on many maps. This compromise makes the game more playable by allowing easy penetration of defenses with air vehicles and fast skiers, even when the defense is skilled.
1.2.While the command screen is much improved and allows for assignment of duties (which people mostly ignore), large scale strategic deployment is not possible. The command screen is only of minor use once a "plan" is established, and is not actually useful for establishing a strategic plan or moving large numbers of troops.
1.3.Given the number of choices to make, beginners are lost.
2.Design goals for strategic controls
Strategy takes the long view and big picture of how to approach a conflict, while the tactics involves a series of actions carried out by individuals or small groups in order to win an immediate fight. Strategic controls avoid telling people precisely how to fight but instead tell them where the fight is, when to engage the enemy, what sort of move to make (in general terms) and what equipment will be necessary. Strategic controls should allow for:
1.Large scale movement of troops in an offensive manner
2.Large scale deployment of troops in a defensive manner
3.Development of infrastructure (resupply, deployed items, repairs, etc.)
Strategic control requires commanders who control the selection of strategic plans and, to some extent, their execution. Their responsibilities cannot remove them from the action of the game, otherwise, nobody will want to hold the position. Commanders will fight alongside their troops.
3.Executive Summary of Strategic Controls Proposal (long)
There will be an offensive and defensive commander on each side of the game. These commanders will select strategic plans from a list and give limited orders on how to carry them out. The orders that commanders give during the game will be limited to when, where and to some extent by whom the plan will be carried out. They will use text messages, v-chat menus, keyboard commands or real-time voice communications to make this happen. In order to keep things simple, there will be limited options. The commander can also do things like call off the plan to regroup or allow a free-for-all if the plan is busted. The commanders will use subcommanders if the task assigned calls for one. This further limits the number of things any one commander is responsible for.
Flexible strategic plans will be composed prior to a game using a strategic plan editor (a modified command view) and stored in a playbook (local and networked versions). During a game, commanders will execute these plans by naming them or by querying the playbook using a Plan Manager to locate a suitable plan. The plans (which are small files) will be uploaded to the server, if they are not already resident. These plans may require a fixed number of players or may be set up to allow for variable numbers. These plans may be map and side specific (such as moving to a pre-determined point on a specific map before launching an attack) or may be general purpose (such as flying defensive air cover). The partition of players between offense and defense will be by agreement among the offensive and defensive commanders, who hopefully will agree on that one thing. The plans, if properly designed, will automatically adjust to the number of players available and will distribute the players among the different fighting groups.
In order to put a plan into effect, a commander calls the players to a staging area where assignments are offered to all the players. The assignments take the form of circular decals which appear on the ground (or floor) of the staging area. The decal design conveys the armor class and the nature of the mission, while the decal color conveys which company (functional group) the player will be joining. For example, a red circular decal with an outline of a bomber and the driver's seat flashing would indicate the assgnment is for red squad (offense) bomber pilot. If there were a thin black ring around the decal, it might indicate medium armor, while a thick ring would indicate heavy. Players stand on the decal of their choice and view a simple text description of what their role is going to be. If they accept this assignment, the decal vanishes and their loadout is changed to reflect their assignment. Once a player accepts an assignment, they must get their new loadout, get mounted on vehicles and group together with their company. Text prompts on their HUD will tell them what to do.
Each player will experience only a small part of the plan, unless they are commander or subcommander. Each player can call up the entire plan in a viewer, if they are interested. The player will be prompted with text prompts and visible waypoints (if necessary) to move them around during critical steps, so, memorization of the plan is not necessary. Most waypoints will be fixed from the time the plan was designed. However, the commanders and subcommanders will be allowed to move waypoints or create temporary ones. They can move waypoints in one of two ways: by using the command screen or by using a command wand (special targeting laser) to move people around. Commanders and subcommanders will be provided with rapid and easy-to-use voice and text chat so that they can control the direction of fire and get info from their people. Obviously, the task of shifting fire rapidly is better left to a subcommander, which is why we will need them.
At this point, let me run through a few examples of how things will be experienced as a player, just to flesh out the ideas a bit more.
Suppose you are with a defensive company made up of snipers; call it blue company. You accepted the role when you were at the defensive staging area. You saw groups of different colored decals on the ground. By standing on a blue circle with a sniper symbol and using a keyboard command to signal acceptance of the assignment, you joined the company as a sniper. You were told in a text window that you would be sniping close to the base. Once you get your loadout, you head to an initial checkpoint, which is a flashing white 'x' visible in the HUD or command map. You can tell the other members of your group because they all have navy blue arm bands added to their skins. Once your company is assembled, your subcommander tells you to move out. You travel to the next waypoint, which is a ridge in front of the base. Your subcommander uses his command wand (modified targeting laser) to move just you up into a tower on that ridge. You see your white 'x' waypoint move up into the tower and hear a command "move to new waypoint". You also see a red 'x' on your HUD which is where your subcommander wants you to focus your fire. Now, that's just a suggestion about where to direct fire. You can fire anywhere you want. But, the subcommander is using the command wand (modified targeting laser) to assign responsibility to people who are sniping heavies coming over the hill from the other base. It would be a good idea to cover your area. Now suppose that your group is attacked by a bigger group of O-snipers. The subcommander calls for everyone to fall back off the ridge and move back to base. This is a pre-set part of the plan;- an alternate waypoint if you will. You get repaired at an inventory station, and, your respawned group members rejoin you. You are now ready to make a stand with the help of defensive heavies. When the invading O-snipers are repelled, your subcommander moves you forward to the ridge again. That's a very simple plan.
Now, let's try a harder plan. You have joined red company as a heavy deployer riding on a transport. You knew that would be your assignment because the decal on the floor at the offensive staging area was a red circle for red company (hot colors for offense & cold colors for defense), and the design in the decal was alternating between a transport ship outline with a passenger seat filled-in and the outline of a portable inventory station with a thick black ring around it for heavy. The inventory station outline on the decal indicates the expedition type, namely, that you will be a deployer for the company. Other expedition types would be things like reconnaissance, search & destroy, hold target, maintenance, etc. The description in the text box that appears says that you will take transport Red-1 and set up a portable inventory station, sensor jamming devices and then bombard the enemy base. When you accepted the assignment, a specially named loadout called "company 1" was automatically updated so that you could immediately get the equipment you needed. However, you check the loadout and change the regular grenades for smoke grenades before boarding the transport. You boarded transport "Red-1" as instructed in the text box. You could tell it was transport Red-1 because it had a big, red number '1' on the sides and bottom. This skin was applied to the transport when your pilot (who was assigned to pilot Red-1) created the vehicle. Once your company is assembled, your subcommander gives the "move out" command to go to the first waypoint. The pilots in your company fly low over the terrain and set down in a valley behind a hill within mortar shot of the enemy base. You can hear the sensor jammers from other members of your company. You see a flashing message to deploy your inventory station. You jump out of the vehicle and deploy in the valley. You now see a flashing text message to deploy sensor jamming devices. Because your loadout has automatically changed from "company 1" to "company 2", you are able to step into the portable invo. station and get the jammer right away. After setting up a few jammers around your vehicles, you hear "load up and move to new waypoint", which is at the top of a hill. Your new loadout is now changed to "company 3" which has an ammo pack. The subcommander is spotting the targets on the enemy base with a targeting laser and you hear "fire at will", at which point the whole company lobs mortars (or disks if they are lights). A few smoke grenades are set off to evade the snipers. After a few shots, you hear "incoming bomber". Your vehicles are discovered and the subcommander calls a return to vehicles while the company tries to shoot down the bomber. The bomber takes out one transport and half the company, and, the plan is now busted. Rather than return to base or move operations to a new location, the commander calls "attack the enemy base" and the whole company charges the base, most likely getting cut down on the way.
One final description;- a long one... the experience of a subcommander. Suppose that the offensive commander has selected a plan that calls for three offensive companies: laser blue company is a bomber squadron with escort shrike, red company is a small heavy assault unit for a false attack and orange company is a large flag stealing unit composed mostly of lights with concussion and whiteout grenades. When your offensive commander took command, his plans were automatically relayed to your command HUD. You see two plans, plan A and plan B. Plan A (which has been activated) is named "O-CTF-Sanctuary SE-B-[Gunz]XXX-Two Wave Light Attack". The name has seven segments: the "O" indicates offense, CTF is game type, "Sanctuary SE" is the map, B indicates the Blood Eagle side of the map, [Gunz]XXX is the original author, and "Two Wave Light Attack" is the name of the plan. You recognize this plan. It calls for a bomber plus fighter escort to perform an initial bombing run, then the heavy unit starts a bombardment of the enemy vehicle station the from the top of a hill. The heavy unit has a few snipers to protect them. The idea is to draw the defense out of their base so the bomber can make a second run at them. Immediately after the second bomber run, the lights in shrikes come from the opposite side of the base. The first wave mines, whiteouts and concussion grenades the defenders, while the second wave grabs the flag. Everyone then protects the flag carrier and returns to base if they are able. A reconnaissance agent may want to stay out in the field to size up defenses, but, that's a special designation from the commander (and not part of the plan). In order to become the subcommander for the red company, you stand on the solid red circular decal on the floor of the staging area and accept the assignment. All solid colors represent subcommanders. No information about what armor or vehicle position is given, since it is presumed that command-level players are proficient in all aspects of the game. Most of the players lining up for assignments don't even see the solid colored decal because their proficiency ratings are not high enough (more on this in the full specification). Some offensive commanders like to get into a shrike and fly reconnaissance around the battle field. Your commander selects a tail gunner position in laser blue company which automatically makes him the subcommander of that company. This position should give him time to use the command map, since the 'g' key in the command screen is still mapped to the flare grenade. Once you take command of your company, you see a brief description of the plan on your HUD. If you wanted, you could call up a detailed view of the plan. But since you know it, you call up the subcommander screen, drag and drop an assembly point on the "Vehicle Station" icon. As a result, everyone from your company is going to assemble there. You take a position as a heavy passenger on transport Red-1 (a position that was preassigned in the plan) and use the v-chat menu to call "red company move out". Once you are in a company, the people who receive your chatter is restricted to the company unless you specially select from a team or global list. Because you are subcommander of red company, the only people to hear this call are the offensive commander and your company. Certain v-chats as well as special keyboard commands update the waypoints of everyone in your company. Because you are in an unescorted transport, there is a need for stealth. Your tail gunner and one of your other players both have sensor jammer packs, while you have an energy pack. You notice in your HUD that one player with a sensor jammer pack is a novice level. If they fail to turn their packs on, you may need to use a voice or text command to tell them to turn on. Most plans don't specify the route for the pilot to take, however, this particular plan specifies the route, and, the pilot is following a special flight HUD (ball in the boxes) to stick to the flight plan. However, as you are crossing the map, you notice in the command view that a tank is guarding the vehicle station. This is going to be a problem. Your commander sees it too and texts for you to attack the tank first before performing the fake heavy assault. You drag and drop a temporary waypoint in your command screen which will put the tank in range of your missiles. Now, the commands you can give are simple and limited. You use a keyboard combination to issue the command to go to temporary waypoint. You then text your people to attack a tank near the vehicle station using missiles. When you broke the pre-set plan, your pilot's flight HUD stopped giving him path directions, and, since he is experienced, he knows to fly high enough to see over hills but not so high you get shot down or can't see the tank. As you approach the tank, you see the bomber squadron making a run on the tank and vehicle station. Your company fires six missiles and destroys the tank. You then issue a keyboard command to go the the original waypoint #1. The commands that are available to you at any time are up on your HUD, along with the key combinations to call them. When you arrive at waypoint #1 (a valley behind a hill), you are undetected because of sensor jammers. You issue a keyboard command to execute deployment. You and your company put up an inventory station, sensor jammers and spike turrets. As subcommander, you see in your HUD all the possible commands that you can give at any one time. The commands available on your HUD change to : return to base, free-for-all attack, return to vehicles, load up and advance to waypoint #2, advance to temporary waypoint (because you forgot to clear the temporary waypoint), defend against vehicle, and defend against attackers (the last two are always there in case attacked). That's 7 commands with special keypresses to activate. These are all specified in the strategic plan. Your commander texts you to see if you are ready for attack, you text back yes. Only you and the commander see these messages on the command channel. The commander orders "attack", you order "load up and advance to waypoint #2". You see your company changing packs at the portable invo's. You use the command wand to put your pilot (who is a sniper) slightly further down the ridge. You do this by selecting the command wand as your weapon, and using the move player mode (keyboard combo). You point at your pilot then roughly at the spot you want him. After switching back to a targetting laser, you advance up the hill and call "attack" while using your targeting laser to spot the vehicle station for your heavies which have wisely remained below the ridge line. Your sniper is defending you and you are dropping smoke to evade enemy snipers. A small group of defenders with disks and gattling guns comes out after you, and, you are cut down by disks and a sniper despite the smoke. But you wait to respawn so you can see how things turn out. The bomber, right on schedule, comes over your hill, kills the defenders that killed you, along with flag defenders. The first wave of lights comes from the opposite side in shrikes dropping flares, whiteout, and concussion grenades along with mines. You see mortars being fired by hidden defenders. However, the mortars stop for a few seconds and the second wave (which hasn't been blinded) grabs the flag. Your company is still mostly alive. You could re-equip, grab a shrike and rejoin them. You can still command them, so, you give them a free-for-all attack command. This is just as well because the offensive commander has just changed to plan B while your flag carrier is returning to base.
I would like to point out that using this command system, many of the simple assignments can be carried out by bots. Personally, I'm looking forward to having a company of deployment & repair bots to command instead of having to repair things myself. Any actual combat from bots would be pure gravy.
That's the longest executive summary I've ever written. If you like it, the actual specifications for the strategic command system are likely to be 30+ pages. The question is, will people play this way? There would be more to learn and more to do for the advanced players, but less for the novice. I think it could work in some form.