User Tag List

Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 35

Thread: Should squad stereotypes be reinforced through gameplay?

  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2019
    Posts
    115
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Question Should squad stereotypes be reinforced through gameplay?

    Alpha is where the new players and veterans go, FF is high.
    Bravo is where the engineers go, and will be on FOB duty.
    Charlie does the chores and has the best cohesion throughout the game.
    Delta is full of robustos who prefer to run at the enemy full-pelt rather than listen to command.


    It doesn't say so on the wiki, there is no guide in CIC demanding that you reinforce these perceptions through orders, but by God: You will suffer if you try to play against type.

    These general statements run true, and are the absolute law for the player base. Attempting to reign-in behavior as an SO will have you ignored, telling Bravo to go to the front will result in grumbling and a lacking turn-out, and someone will be shot to death by seeming accident in Alpha.

    The issue is that the Squads get the same sort of orders close to every round, but this is not reflected in Gameplay.
    • While Alpha - as a consequence of having the highest concentration of new players and being used often as a Quick Reaction Force - will face a high amount of injuries, they lack the medicine and weaponry to minimize injuries.
    • While Bravo may get FOB duty every round, they still often hit their engineer cap, and don't have anything special in the way of materials, or long-ranged weaponry that would benefit a defense-heavy squad the most.
    • While Charlie is a safe bet for setting up power, guiding the IOs, and reinforcing other Squads, they lack the the ability to easily prepare for a multitude of tasks.
    • While Delta greatly utilizes a blitzkrieg-style assault "strategy", many still forego armor in favor of speed and are easy to overwhelm shipside crew should they turncoat, moreso even than the other Squads.


    What's my solution for this?

    No fucking clue.

    It's a semi-complicated issue. Devs already have to balance the attachments that go on weapons that are used by marines of varying skill levels with different kinds of armors under the influence of various orders and drugs as-is, so the additional balancing act of "it works fine for Alpha, but what if a Delta took advantage of it" would probably be a great pain.

    At it's simplest, I think it wouldn't hurt to give the Squads minor boons for their stereotype. Give Alpha medics more vendor points or some of the special mixes of medicine (TriBica, ImiAlky, KeloDerm, Iron just to name a few), Bravo Engineers more points in their vendor, Charlie more of the technical kits (Experimental trooper, M-OU53, J-TAC), and Delta access to jackets that allow speed and the stowing of a weapon or pointier bayonets.

    All of these are inevitabilities of the round and will be reinforced sooner rather than later (for the most part, Alpha medics aren't guaranteed to shape-up, nor Charlie to be so tactical). If not, it will after the round, or in dead chat.

    To the further end of the spectrum is unique equipment or abilities for the Squads, but I see this as unlikely: More IFF-enabled weapons like SMGs and rifles for Alpha, sophisticated scopes and a stronger mortar for Bravo, motorbikes or trucks for Charlie to reinforce moving tacticooly about quickly, and Double-barreled shotguns for Delta: All ideas that vary from welcome, to novel, to disastrous.

    At this point, I'll just sound repetitive, but at the end of the day: We've engrained the Squads into their roles, and they're here to stay. The question is if we should give the squads advantages to playing the role that they either logged in to play or are expected to play, or if we shouldn't compromise the mild flexibility of the Squads.

  2. #2
    Head Ukraine
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
    Posts
    292
    Mentioned
    1 Post(s)
    Tagged
    1 Thread(s)
    I have an old idea that I had to put into a long drawer of my ideas that were at least semi-liked

    Give 5 minutes after round start for SLs to pick squad specialization and then this would unlock additional options to every member of that squad in their vendors.

    I'm not ready to work on this or have someone work on this because we have bigger goals ATM

    Also, although I like to meme on this topic, but there is literally zero differences between squads code-wise

  3. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2019
    Posts
    115
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by NethIafins View Post
    I have an old idea that I had to put into a long drawer of my ideas that were at least semi-liked

    Give 5 minutes after round start for SLs to pick squad specialization and then this would unlock additional options to every member of that squad in their vendors.

    I'm not ready to work on this or have someone work on this because we have bigger goals ATM

    Also, although I like to meme on this topic, but there is literally zero differences between squads code-wise
    Personally, I really like the idea. Not sure if that amount of power is appropriate for a Squad Leader, though. They'd be able to make more use of it, but the influence makes more sense as a Staff Officer or above.

  4. #4
    Ancient Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2019
    Posts
    572
    Mentioned
    3 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Giving LTs more stuff to do is always a good thing in my eyes. I usually ask to just deploy when I am a LT, since you can pretty much have just 2 people handle all of CIC.

  5. #5
    Ancient Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
    Posts
    567
    Mentioned
    2 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Bravo should be defaulted to fob construction with additional tools. Currently and in the future.

    It takes a special kind of player to enjoy fob construction. And there is a somewhat meta expectation that bravo will build the fob. To order those fob builders to go somewhere else just ruins the round for everyone.

    For future I would increase the number of engineers in bravo, decrease the number of marines, assign the IOs and tank to them, and make it a "logistics sand construction" squad.
    Have the mortar always spawn with bravo. Give their leads req channel access by default. Etc.

    If you want to get really wacky and put them under the command of the CE. He is the one in charge of construction anyways..

  6. #6
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2019
    Posts
    6
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Shit dude, I think this is a great idea and Neth’s suggestion is a p solid implementation. It’d be p epic to see actual differences between squads to provide some buffs, it adds flavor and variety to rounds, which is always a good thing imo

  7. #7
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2019
    Posts
    190
    Mentioned
    1 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Squad identity has been dead for months and people still pretend......

  8. #8
    Whitelisted Captain 50RemAndCounting's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2019
    Posts
    623
    Mentioned
    1 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by Don View Post
    Squad identity has been dead for months and people still pretend......
    Or are ignorant, or don't know better.

    Squad identity is deader than dead, the memes are beyond stale at this point.
    Sheeesh this boy LRP as hell!

  9. #9
    Banned
    Join Date
    Dec 2019
    Posts
    64
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    >Alpha friendly fires often

    Which way, Delta main? I've had less trouble getting friendly fired by Alpha newbies than any other squad primarily because they fucking shit themselves at the sight of a veteran ravager or any other tier 3 and run the other way. In my experience, they're the only ones to actually listen despite lacking some skills, even the bald medics try their best. Hell, I've probably friendly fired more each round than my squad mates combined. Alpha has to remain a hybrid squad, it functions better this way.

  10. #10
    Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
    Posts
    52
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Well the squad culture that has survived is Charlie and Delta still call each other names and get in the occasional fist fight, but yeah the squad 'identities' are basically just a caricature of the reality. It's still fun to pretend all the squads always act a certain way or have a history of this or that.

    Found this posted on discord, thought it would be a good illustration.
    Last edited by Trench007; 01-27-2020 at 07:10 PM.

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •