The Admiral

[JeTBarionIV]

This is an idea that has been cruising around my brain for a while. By reading in the news the excellent “Play like a Pro” with insights from Clans’ Commanders, I thought it was time to put it on written.

 

The Extra Player: basically there should be one extra player that assumes the role of leader of the fleet. He doesn’t play a ship, but rather gives directions to his team. I guess he should spend most of the time by watching the battle in bird view, pretty much like we do with carriers. He should also have a special set of quick messages like those invoked by pressing “B”, but more suited for his role; stuff like: «Push in» or «Pull out», «Focus Fire» (on a specific target), etc.
In the same way as we play planes squadrons, he could select one ship and command it in one specific direction; of course this translates only in a suggestion for the real Captain of that ship, who may or may not, given the circumstances, go in the indicated location.

 

The Catch: this player, as a matter of fact, is too in the battle. Like in real life, where the Admiral’s Flag ship still does have its own Captain who handles it, the same happens in the game. Before or at beginning of the battle, the Admiral choose his flag ship. Usually it would be a BB or CV (but it could get more wicked) and if that ship is sunk, he’s gone too: no more quick commands; maybe even banned from chatting until the end of the battle.

Since very often one can survive a lost battle, we could also say that by killing him the other team get extra points; in some circumstances it  could overturn the verdict of a battle.

 

I guess this would take WOWS more into the ground of Strategic Games, something that is already a bit true for anyone who is not a an occasional player.

I don't know. Maybe it's a terrible idea or maybe it could be interesting.

Any idea or comment is welcome

[SV_Kompresor]

Lel, in most cases players can't even focus down a target let alone work together with an actual tactic in mind. They'd just be like: "Don't tell me what to do". And i'd imagine there wouldn't be many players lining up for that position anyway.

[Yogibjoern]

Thinks this is only useable in clan battles to be honest.

[Tungstonid]

17 minutes ago, JeTBarionIV said:

This is an idea that has been cruising around my brain for a while. By reading in the news the excellent “Play like a Pro” with insights from Clans’ Commanders, I thought it was time to put it on written.

 

The Extra Player: basically there should be one extra player that assumes the role of leader of the fleet. He doesn’t play a ship, but rather gives directions to his team. I guess he should spend most of the time by watching the battle in bird view, pretty much like we do with carriers. He should also have a special set of quick messages like those invoked by pressing “B”, but more suited for his role; stuff like: «Push in» or «Pull out», «Focus Fire» (on a specific target), etc.
In the same way as we play planes squadrons, he could select one ship and command it in one specific direction; of course this translates only in a suggestion for the real Captain of that ship, who may or may not, given the circumstances, go in the indicated location.

 

Please no. The amount of freetime admirals who want to give orders to the team (and rage about why noone follows their orders) is already high enough. I doubt anybody wants a 45% tomatoe/unkown player/player he doesn't like officially in charge.

Battlefield 4 tried it and from what I have seen (haven't looked into it in detail, though) this is nothing I want to have in WoWS. Neither as part of the game nor as playing it myself.

 

17 minutes ago, JeTBarionIV said:

The Catch: this player, as a matter of fact, is too in the battle. Like in real life, where the Admiral’s Flag ship still does have its own Captain who handles it, the same happens in the game. Before or at beginning of the battle, the Admiral choose his flag ship. Usually it would be a BB or CV (but it could get more wicked) and if that ship is sunk, he’s gone too: no more quick commands; maybe even banned from chatting until the end of the battle.

Since very often one can survive a lost battle, we could also say that by killing him the other team get extra points; in some circumstances it  could overturn the verdict of a battle.

 

I guess this would take WOWS more into the ground of Strategic Games, something that is already a bit true for anyone who is not a an occasional player.

I don't know. Maybe it's a terrible idea or maybe it could be interesting.

Any idea or comment is welcome

 

So he basically "dooms" a ship by making it the priority target for every enemy in sight as soon as it is spotted? And maybe the affected player can't even reject his decision? Doesn't sound very appealing.

I already can see players sinking friendlies or players just suiciding to silence the annoying commander and his orders. And depending on the behaviour and competence of the commander I'll gladly consider to be part of the latter group...

 

Sorry if my post sounds a bit harsh but I just can't see how this is a good idea.

[wilkatis_LV]

I'd definitely enjoy xXxPu**yDestroyer2008xXx with his 30% WR commanding me about what I'm supposed to do Add to that him speaking klingon instead of english to make it even more fun

[hellhound666]

27 minutes ago, wilkatis_LV said:

I'd definitely enjoy xXxPu**yDestroyer2008xXx with his 30% WR commanding me about what I'm supposed to do Add to that him speaking klingon instead of english to make it even more fun

this would be very good indeed

[Infiriel]

In CB: yes
In Randoms: Hell no

[JeTBarionIV]

Fixing 2 things.

 

1) Since I mentioned that article about Clan's Commanders, I thought it was clear I meant Clan Battles (or s.t. anew where players know each other or are willing, by default, to take orders - or penalties apply). You can still play your game, but you also believe in strong teamwork. You could think of it like as having a Guardian Angel or a Rally Co-Pilot/Navigator that tell you what's coming next.

If there's one thing where Wows is a bit spare, that would be Game Modes

Random Battles stay like now.

Yogibjoern and Infiriel got it right.

 

2) hey Tungstonid, of course the enemy WON'T know which is the Flag Ship. No markers!!! That's what I meant when I said "it could get wicked".

One might guess from how the Captain, not the Admiral, is behaving. And yet the enemy may not, depending how much one likes to play with danger.

A fast DD? A bulky BB? Who knows... One more thrill to deal with.

[Tungstonid]

55 minutes ago, JeTBarionIV said:

2) hey Tungstonid, of course the enemy WON'T know which is the Flag Ship. No markers!!! That's what I meant when I said "it could get wicked".

One might guess from how the Captain, not the Admiral, is behaving. And yet the enemy may not, depending how much one likes to play with danger.

A fast DD? A bulky BB? Who knows... One more thrill to deal with.

If you want to include something like a special commander position only for CBs, maybe add that to the title/OP? Despite the link it was not clear if you want to limit it to certain game modes or if you want to have it as a new feature for every game mode. As I said, other games have/had it in their random battles, so to say.

 

I can't say if it is necessary solely as an additional position. Usually CB teams should have their commander (as normal partcipant) and voice chat, so planning and coordinating should not be a problem. Although I can see the use in some minor situations.

If you want to make killing the enemy commander a (secondary?) objective I think there should be some kind of marker. And if it is just a slightly different symbol on the mini map. Doesn't have to show the commander's position 24/7 but at least when he is spotted.

[Major_Damage225]

It sounds good in theory but with the average joe in wow's it's mission imposible, as others have mentioned either you get the couch admiral who knows everything about nothing screaming jiberish, or you get one who knows what theyr doing just to see him eat a bucket of calming pills as a result of noone listening to him. 

[JeTBarionIV]

3 hours ago, Tungstonid said:

If you want to include something like a special commander position only for CBs, maybe add that to the title/OP?

You're right. I tried to change it, but I don't know how to do it; the title seems un-editable. Help.

[Desteban]

I don't see a problem with this suggestion. Infact when I started online gaming with Battelfield 2 this game had something similar.

 

A commander that could give orders to squad leaders and had a sattelite view of the map. He also could order UAV, Arty and supplies for the soliders.

Worked pretty well actually, if you followed orders you got exrra points. If the team won he got awarded double points, else he was usually at the bottom of the stat table.

He got awarded very low points for each action. So naturally the more he did the better but only winning really was rewarding. 

 

To become commander you had to apply for it at the beginning of the round and the highest ranking player of all those that applied was chosen as commander.

If none wanted to be you simply had no commander. If the enemy had one though it certainly was an uphill battle but not impossible.

Just looked it up and that game was from 2005. So I don't think it would be a revolutionary bad idea...

 

 

And if those orders aren't mandatory but rather suggestions this is actually a win win situation I don't see the any reason to go crazy over this.

[13Ninjas]

10 hours ago, JeTBarionIV said:

This is an idea that has been cruising around my brain for a while. By reading in the news the excellent “Play like a Pro” with insights from Clans’ Commanders, I thought it was time to put it on written.

Some interesting comments about this plan, but, I would be interested to see what a Pro-Player ( @Flambass ) thinks about the OP's idea of "The Admiral"

[KarmaQU_EU]

Not necessary and not compatible in current game state. The idea isn't a new one. And you need to present more reasoning on how this would be a great mechanic, when presenting your ideas.

[RAHJAILARI]

I have toyed with the same idea too, but it does present many problems (all of which will be presented by our esteemed colleagues, no doubt). However I still kinda like it. It would give additional depth to gameplay and it could indeed be Fun!

 

Players could earn some extra Captain XP by obeying orders (roughly), by defending the Flagship or by sinking the other team's Flagship and perhaps the Flagship and Admiral player could be auto-magically selected based on player stats (of course, one has to come up with a reliable way to assess this) and ship class. Also Admiral players could be ranked by their winrate when Admiral, so if several in team the best would get appointed. To sweeten the deal for the unfortunates thus selected, perhaps there could be an automatic 50% or 75% Credit and XP bonus given for every game played, as Admiral.

 

Orders could be issued by simple map pings, such as defend or attack B-cap or any other certain area (perhaps some kind of a temporary cap-circle appearing there covering a larger area or a sector of the map and all, who act accordingly would earn extra XP for it, that seems simple enough to do. Also, to keep it exiting the enemy team should not actually know, which one is the Flagship just to make the chase more interesting. You would just get a notification about it, once it has been sunk or some such. Maybe give the Flagship a "heal" radius like in operations sometimes, where other ships could go to repair some damage during the game (this might be the only practical way to implement "Flagship" concept in randoms actually). Hhehehe! The opportunities for fun and interesting additions are boundless here. 

 

In my mind, there is no point in appointing a DD player, as the admiral, since they rarely have time to be giving commands or checking the overall situations, same goes for Cruisers. So perhaps requirement should be a CV or a BB player with clearly above average stats, just to make sure no potatoes will be offered the chance to ruin everyone's game and who knows perhaps a good "Admiral" may have the side effect of improving overall skills of other players (and the much maligned gameplay, as a whole) by occasionally giving them some useful on-game tips?

 

Though all that said, I too have some doubts as to how this would work in practice. I do not always see our players as the highly cooperative kind and whipping up a good battle plan on the fly is a rare skill indeed. But then again, perhaps just give it a try in operations, coop, Clan battles and develop the idea from there? I is worth a try at least.

[lup3s]

12 hours ago, Tungstonid said:

Battlefield 4 tried it

 

BF1942, BF2, and BF2142 had a commander role as well; and it was actually quite good imo (don't know how it was in BF4). No idea why EA left it out of BF3 though... but then again EA f'ed up their whole BF franchise after BF3 imo - catering too much to the lowest skilled players.

 

OT: I don't think such a commander role would really benefit WoWs. After all you're on TS anyway in CBs.

[EmilyFara]

For randoms this won't work... But for Clan Battles, I think this would be awesome.

[philjd]

Like most here, I think this would be superb for team battles such as Clan Wars, KotS etc - it would enable the 'Admiral' to actually direct the battle without worrying about having to fight their own ship. Yes some of the best 'commanders' can do both to very high standards, but I suspect that most cannot do that (I certainly cannot as I suffer from too much tunnel vision when driving a ship).

 

For random teams/battles, it won't work due to language, ego, enforcement and competency issues.

[Tungstonid]

3 hours ago, lup3s said:

 

BF1942, BF2, and BF2142 had a commander role as well; and it was actually quite good imo (don't know how it was in BF4). No idea why EA left it out of BF3 though... but then again EA f'ed up their whole BF franchise after BF3 imo - catering too much to the lowest skilled players.

 

OT: I don't think such a commander role would really benefit WoWs. After all you're on TS anyway in CBs.

 

I have played BF Vietnam and BF3 and only had a quick look at 4. So I can't really say how it was, nor can I compare it to previous titles with similar functions.

However, I think videos like this perfectly sum up the whole problem with such roles.