Communications guidelines

Methods of communication

XBL chat, private chat, private message, in game squad chat.
Reasons for communication: Call out orders, acknowledge orders, notify squad/fireteam location, identify tango location(s)


CO: this person is leading all squads and fireteams. They are responsible for the overall gameplan for assault and/or defense. They identify the potential threats and generate appropriate response to those threats. The buck stops here.
XO/Sergeant at Arms: this person is responsible for keeping order in the chat channels. They ensure that the orders the CO has handed down are being followed. Any excessive clutter within the chat channels will be dealt with by this person.
Squad leader/Fireteam leader: These individuals are responsible for listening for the calls of the CO and following them at their discretion. They formulate the appropriate plan for following the CO's order and makes the neccessary outfit selection for his FT and announces via chat.
Squad/Fireteam member: listen for the outfit callout by his/her respective Squad/Fireteam leader and make the appropriate choice based on the outfit called.

Each member is responsible for staying with the appropriate outfit determined by their respective leader. Should new members join the party they will be assigned a respective squad/FT and notify that leader so they can be informed of the current outfit.

Callsigns

Create a callsign for yourself. Typically this is done by shortening your gamertag or taking just a portion of it. For example Primalfury would be primal and Ghettosmurf would be smurf.

Fireteams

Will be identified by the following callsigns:
Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, and Zulu. Each FT should contain no less than 3 members if at all possible. It is better to have 1 FT of 4 than 2 FT's of 2 or 1 FT of 1 and 1 FT of 3. That said, it is better to have 2 FT of 2 than 1 FT of 3 and 1 FT of 1. The reason is that you have a better chance to respawn remotely than back at your respective base.
When identifying yourself, avoid the use of pronouns (ex: me, I, you, etc...) and identify yourself by your callsign to prevent confusion within chat channels.
Do NOT call out the location of an enemy. The reason is simple, eight people all talking at once to report an enemy is counterproductive and clogs the comm channels. Also, chances are by the time you report that enemy’s locations, he will have already moved for it to have served any value. If you must call out a location, use something like “he’s around bravo”. If the enemy is not near an objective, save your breath.

Communication with 8+ members (more than the XBL party can handle)

In the instance where we have more than 8 members present for any scheduled practice OR any other day, the squads and communication should be broken down as such:

Fireteams Whiskey and Xray will remain in the 8 member XBL chat. They will discuss and adjust their plan based on the current attack/defense set up by the OPFOR. That said their primary responsibility is to attack or defend alpha and bravo Mcomms. The third FT Yankee is will not be in the XBL chat (they will use in-game squad chat) and will be the response team for defense and a probe team on attack. They will also assist with FT Whiskey and Xray in their roles.
Should more than 12 members be present, these additional members will use the ingame squad chat designated FT Zulu to provide honest OPFOR pressure. Use their best ability to win and take note of what pros and cons they see in "our" the 12 man teams attack and defense plans so we can adjust accordingly.
I would urge the members of FT's Yankee and Zulu to NOT use the XBL to join in chat with each other. This is simply to avoid any undue chit chat as well as if the FT Zulu member states that they are pushing MComm alpha the Yankee FT will not stack Mcomm alpha.

With all this said, each team should have a competent and properly ranked FT leader to lead each FT. While it would be ideal for each FT to contain only members from their respective squads, this is not likely to happen in the best of cases. So in the interest of sanity and provide the best structure, play with the members you are "assigned" to and learn their play style and try and compliment it with your own. Chances are that they will not play with you at the next scheduled practice.

Communication within XBL or squad chat should be kept to a minimum. In the ideal situation the CO makes the decision to take certain objectives. He then assigns the fireteams a directive. The FT leaders formulate their actions make the loadout calls to their teams and the teams respond with an affirmative. Once onsite at the location, the FT leader makes the call to the CO stating their position. Given that the battlefield environment will change throughout the battle, the CO will alter his objectives and reassign the FT’s accordingly. It is up to the FT leader to assign a rally point at the given objective that his squadmates can meet up at should they be separated. It is also suggested that the FT leader assign a fallback point in case the squad is overrun. In the event that the FT is overrun with enemy fire, the FT leader should notify the CO, and the CO might see fit to reinforce the objective with a second FT.

Profanity

Profanity is both not needed and discouraged. It is disrespectful to the other members present. While most of us playing are adults there are a few minors in our ranks and although they are likely to have heard such things, lets not introduce it to them. While I understand the occasional slip is unavoidable (I am guilty of this) please limit it to this and even avoid this if possible. Should the profanity become a nuisance, the FT leaders need to report the suspect member and the CoC will take appropriate measures.

Yelling

Like profanity, yelling or raising your voice will not be tolerated. If the comm channel is being used by someone, do not overtalk them by yelling to get what you want out. The only person that would ever need to talk over someone on the comms is the CO or XO in the event that an emergency was occurring.

Moderators, can you sticky this

It will be done

I like this thread.

Excellent post D.

I would like to add. When playing as Yankee/Zulu FTs, it's not hard to follow the 8+ XBL linked squad members sans communications, when you are familiar with the various map & tactics threads. Yankee/Zulu might also consider starting their own XBL party chat so they can coordinate more effectively as an independent force.

On defense, when Whiskey/Xray are split to cover A/B objectives, Yankee/Zulu can float to the side with the greatest threat. Such as going to the BOAT side on Laguna Presia.

Yankee/Zulu might also run as Zombie/Medic support, covering the rear for other tactically equipped FTs.

Basically, the 8 XBL linked members have the tactical advantage for a more cohesive attack, but the smurfed squads can still effectively contribute. For instance, grabbing the Tank spawn when attacking base 2/3 of arica harbor, providing serious fire support to where you see the main body attack OR providing a diversion to draw attention away from the main body.

Regarding a lack of compass and true north... we might adopt a method of calling the current attacker spawn as NORTH when obvious landmarks are not available. This would work for attacking and defending. When defending, we are facing the attackers coming from the north. When defending, we are moving south toward the base objective.

We might need a call word to clear the comm for special comm traffic. Such as calling out "alert" followed by a brief pause to allow for the comm to quiet, then followed by the alert comm traffic. The XO/SaA should not have to repeat the alert announce. If he does, we are not doing it right. The alert traffic might also have a conclusion call, such out "alert out" or just "out".

Thanks again D.

good stuff, fellas. hope to see the implementation of this tonight.

Unless Yankee and Zulu are both providing opfor to whiskey/xray I would advise against a seperate xbl chat. This serves 2 purposes:

1: cuts down on conflicting reports
2: they're on opposite teams. If Yankee ft leader calls for a smoke/c4 assault on alpha mcomm, then the Zulu team can be there waiting for them (spying on chat). The only way we will get better is to fight against honest opfor, especially when they know our own playbook, by Yankee and Zulu in the same chat it essentially boils down to cheating.

As for directions, north south/ front back makes no difference to me but it needs to be simple. That way when the call goes out, players don't go "where is that?" or "say that again!". It defeats the pupose of the original call.

primalfury97 wrote:

good stuff, fellas. hope to see the implementation of this tonight.

I have been testing most of this the past several practices and have had positive results. I just now got it on paper so everyone can follow.

oh....

This thread is now a sticky.

What about to indicate direction...we use the analog clock system (12 o'clock)? 12 o'clock will ALWAYS be from our direction towards the enemy. To explain better, If we are attackers on Arica Harbor, when we first spawn...the road the tanks are on would be 12 o'clock.

Or another use would be to give directions using it. For example: Arica Harbor when attacking, Sniper Hill from the road leading into the defenders base would be "10-11 o'clock". It's used to give quick general directions to other team members. It's a little rough of an idea, I will explain more in detail since I'm currently at work and on my iPhone.

fun

fun with explos wrote:

What about to indicate direction...we use the analog clock system (12 o'clock)? 12 o'clock will ALWAYS be from our direction towards the enemy. To explain better, If we are attackers on Arica Harbor, when we first spawn...the road the tanks are on would be 12 o'clock.

Or another use would be to give directions using it. For example: Arica Harbor when attacking, Sniper Hill from the road leading into the defenders base would be "10-11 o'clock". It's used to give quick general directions to other team members. It's a little rough of an idea, I will explain more in detail since I'm currently at work and on my iPhone.

fun

I like it

Does this apply to PS3?

Ferddy876 wrote:

Does this apply to PS3?

I am unsure of the limits for PS3 party chat, but I am sure it can be altered to fit any situation. As far as the way calls go it should be fairly universal.

Updated

A few sections added, and a few altered.

fun with explos wrote:

What about to indicate direction...we use the analog clock system (12 o'clock)? 12 o'clock will ALWAYS be from our direction towards the enemy. To explain better, If we are attackers on Arica Harbor, when we first spawn...the road the tanks are on would be 12 o'clock.

Or another use would be to give directions using it. For example: Arica Harbor when attacking, Sniper Hill from the road leading into the defenders base would be "10-11 o'clock". It's used to give quick general directions to other team members. It's a little rough of an idea, I will explain more in detail since I'm currently at work and on my iPhone.

fun

Uhh, I don't actually know how that whole "TANGO 6 O'CLOCK" thing works. Not sure what it all means.

Also, good ideas I guess...

moot point, no longer calling enemy locations

Guys, I am bumping this thread. Please read it. If you have any questions please ask. This system will be reimplemented soon.

i don't like the whiskey, xray, zulu squad thing. can be confusing as to who is who and such. i do like the xbox live thing with 8 when we can. even if we have a team full of 12, 8 people in a chat and the other 4 in a squad game chat would work best.

also, i agree with the identify yourself thing. i hate hearing, i'll be right back or i'm leaving. who is i'm? 'ghost is out for the night'. i say it every time.

In lieu of the whiskey xray fireteam names, how would you propose we identify the fireteams?

Alpha, Bravo, Zulu

i like the alpha/bravo idea when we are defending. zulu really doesn't matter. but i was thinking more along the lines of who's running the team that night.

spammin team, nero team, etc.

i dunno. i just don't think we need to be so critical on FT names each night.


on attack, we should try and proceed a bit more teamed up focused on one mcomm instead of trying to get both at once.

GHOSTBEER wrote:

i like the alpha/bravo idea when we are defending. zulu really doesn't matter. but i was thinking more along the lines of who's running the team that night.

spammin team, nero team, etc.

i dunno. i just don't think we need to be so critical on FT names each night.


on attack, we should try and proceed a bit more teamed up focused on one mcomm instead of trying to get both at once.

Agurred.

GHOSTBEER wrote:

i like the alpha/bravo idea when we are defending. zulu really doesn't matter. but i was thinking more along the lines of who's running the team that night.

spammin team, nero team, etc.

i dunno. i just don't think we need to be so critical on FT names each night.


on attack, we should try and proceed a bit more teamed up focused on one mcomm instead of trying to get both at once.

The system is flexible enough for that and considering the spatial differences in Vietnam it might be more beneficial that way.

also, as a side note to this, alpha and bravo team should be the 8 person party chat. the 'zulu' squad should be talking amongst themselves in game. this way, you know your positions. if we happen to have 12 - 13s online and playing in one game, you basically know your role by the chat communication.

the 'zulu' squad that is chatting in game knows to be up front disrupting the attackers. the alpha and bravo team can communicate a bit more behind the lines guarding the mcomms.

on attack, we just all need to man up and go together towards a unit. for instance, on cold war, the last mcomms, alpha needs to be had first. that dam thing is hard to get, but if our whole team swamped it, we'd get it each time i'd imagine. too many times i see tons of smurfs go for bravo to knock it down then alpha. bad strategy. on nelson bay, the last bravo is much more tough than the alpha unit. just examples of things we should think about.