The follow is a design Concept of the Commander by Battle(non)sense.
The link to the official design thread: http://cte.battlelog.com/bf4/forum/threadview/2985968005618803365/ Design Concept: The Commander
Version: 002
State: draft
Updated: 2015-01-05 Please post your feedback
- WHAT IS THIS ABOUT
1.1 BF4 Commander A lot of people, including myself, are not happy with the commander as it is in BF4. A lot of the choice that were made seem strange, because they were obviously not good choices and DICE did a much better job already many years ago with the Commander in BF2 and BF2142.
These were not perfect, but a lot better than what we have in BF4, where i have the feeling that DICE stopped development during E3 as it did not change anymore after what we seen back then.
So in this topic i want to discuss different solutions to get the Commander into a state where it is useful and fun to play.
1.2 Can this be done in BF4? I honestly can’t see any feasible solution to dramatically improve the Commander in BF4. So the design concept of this topic will be about a FUTURE Battlefield title, and it will possibly require a game-design that is less casual friendly than BF3 and BF4.
- DON’T REINVENT THE WHEEL
2.1 starting point of this concept I could take the BF4 Commander as it is and start to dissect it and show you what is not working and what needs to be changed. But there is so much wrong with it that it is better to do a different approach, and that is to take the Commander mode of Battlefield 2 as startingpoint for my proposal, and show you what can be done better to come up with what I hope to be the best implementation of the Commander that we ever had.
If you never played Battlefield 2, then you should have a look at this video here to get a quick crash course.
[youtu.be]
2.2 physical entity The commander has to be a physical entity on the map.
This means that:
- he can get killed by the other team which will prevent him from doing his job
- he can actively defend his mainbase against the other team
- the player can take the Commander position and resign without leaving the server
2.3 Commander Assets Commander assets (SAT Scan, Artillery, UAV, etc.) are physical elements on the map that can be destroyed by the other team and also get repaired again by your engineers.
Both Commanders have access to the same Commander Assets. This guarantees that the match is balanced.
With the system we have in BF4 where a captured CQ automatically gives a Commander Asset to just one Commander, creates a massive imbalance between the teams and can prevent that the other team even gets back into the game.
2.4 non-verbal communication
2.4.1 VoiceOvers presets (fully localized)
For these a Voice Actor is used who has a very authoritative voice, so you get the feel that you better do what you are asked to.
The Commander has a variety of orders he can give to the Squad Leaders:
-move (any location on the map)
-attack (Control Point)
-defend (Control Point)
-repair (bridges, enemy commander assets, etc.)
-destroy (bridges, enemy commander assets, etc.)
-mine (place mines)
The commander can make the Squad Leader aware that:
- Artillery is available
- UAV is available
- Supply Drop is available
- Vehicle Drop is available
He can also choose from a variety of preset voice over messages to tell the squad that:
- they are doing great
- should split up in 2 squads
- should merge with an other squad
- should better start and follow his orders!
- warn them about incoming artillery on their position
2.4.2 Text Chat:
Commander is able to open a Chat-Channel to:
- everyone on the server
- team only
- selected squad only
- HOW TO IMPROVE THE BF2 VERSION
3.1 Commander Class A problem in BF2 were players who only took the Commander position to have access to his assets. This means that they choose the SpecOps class, and then ran around like rambo, instead of doing their job.
To prevent this, I propose that once you are accepted as Commander, your active Class changes to the “Commander” class, and it’s purpose is to take care about mainbase defenses as well as commanding his team.
This means that his primary and secondary weapons will be restricted to short range weapons and minor magnification sights.
If the Commander Assets are located inside, or close to the mainbase then he could be given a repairtool to be able to repair these himself if all the Engineers are out on the Battlefield and can’t return to the main base.
He might also be able to deploy a limited about of base defenses like AT-Launchers, sentry gun, anti air unit, etc.
If you resign from the Commander position, then your previously selected class will be activated automatically (or you get a window which allows you to choose the class you want without the need to re-deploy)
3.2 Command Post Since you are a physical entity on the Battlefield, you had to find a good place to hide while you were inside the Commander map. This looks rather silly because you had your Commander lie around somewhere behind a tree of bush.
So the Commander needs a place where he is relatively safe while he takes care about his job to command his team. For that I would place 2 or maybe 3 Command Posts in the mainbase. These could be different depending on the style/theme of the map, like actual bunkers or mobile command post vehicles/trailers.
These Command Posts are destructible, so the enemy team is able to kill the Commander. The challenge is to find out in which of the Command Posts he is actually sitting.
Depending on how long the rounds are meant to run you could either say that the Commander is able to repair a destroyed Command Post (which should take very long) or once it is destroyed it is simply “gone” and his options to “hide” are limited.
3.3 Communication (VoiceOver) The Commander is able to:
- talk to everyone in his team
- talk to all squad leaders in his team
- talk to one specific squad leader
- talk to all members of a specific squad
3.2 Squad Leader Requests
3.2.1 Transport:
If a squadleader requests transport, then the Commander will also see that request.
He can respond by sending a vehicle drop, or order a Pilot to pick up that squad.
3.3 Pilots Pilots of Jets and helicopters show up as individual entries like squads.
The commander can order the pilot to:
- provide C.A.S (CloseAirSupport)
- pickup a specific Squad for transportation
3.4 Assets - depending on the design/theme of the map the commander has access to a Artillery or Cruise Missile, never both
- Commander can spawn an aircraft in high altitude, at any specific point he wants, that is used as spawnpoint for an inf only helo-jump (first few seconds could be a thrilling cinematic with a variety of different animations so it won’t get boring)
3.5 Bonus/Rewards - following the orders of the Commander will give bonus points
- following the orders of the Commander will be tied into the medals/ribbons/ranking
All said above is from Battle(non)sense and I fully support it.
