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Thread: Should special roles be auto-assigned to squads before round start?

  1. #1
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    Should special roles be auto-assigned to squads before round start?

    Asking for thoughts on this, here’s my take:

    Most of us have been there; after multiple rounds of rolling spec or smartgunner, hoping to get a frontline position, you finally get it, only to realize that you have been assigned to Bravo. Or similarly, you rolled an engineer with the hopes of working on the FOB, only to be assigned to Delta.

    You got the roll you wanted, but not the role you wanted.

    This results in all manner of unneeded insubordination, such as Bravo’s SG or Spec goes to the front lines, despite the SL or SO’s protestations, or other squad engineers staying to work on the FOB all round.

    So, what if all the specialty rolls were not assigned to squads at round start?

    Without changing the number of available slots, you just set all Specialists, Smartgunners, Medics, and Engineers to either echo squad, or to no squad. Then, either in the cryo bay, or in the cafeterias, you put up colored (for your convenience) “squad assignment consoles” (I need a new name for it, I just realized the acronym is SAC, intern your sack jokes here) where you swipe your dog-tags, and then boom, you’re in the squad you want, and have access to their prep areas. Command could, of course, opt to change you to fill a specific need, like if (somehow) there are no engis in Bravo, or if (again somehow) all of the specs joined Bravo.

    Anyhow, my reasoning is thus: As a PFC, you get to choose your squad. As any other squad role, depending on your number when run through the roll and squad assignment algorithm, it’s really a toss-up as to whether you get assigned where you wanted to go. I do not know the specifics of how that assignment works, but I assume everyone gets a number, then a player is checked against their job preference first, if it available, they get it, then their squad preference is checked, if not available, they are then assigned to the next available squad. I also do not know if it tries to balance engineers and medics between the teams. If it does, then depending on the order, someone who wanted bravo could be assigned to alpha, while someone who wanted alpha could be assigned to bravo, during the same turn. But, that’s all based on an assumption about the assigning algorithm.

    My point is, players being able to choose the squad, and thus, the role they want will cut down on insubordinate acts just by the merit of ensuring people are where they want to be.

    Obvious downsides include squad stacking, a lack of certain roles in certain squads, the aforementioned super squad with 4 SG and 4 Specs.

    And others I prolly can’t think of. But I’m curious to know what everyone else thinks.

  2. #2
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    Can command still reassign squads? Because if that wasn't removed, that's pretty much the answer. Bravo usually sends a fireteam to the front anyway.

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    And what do you do if none of them want to go to one of the squads?

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    Quote Originally Posted by juliansl View Post
    And what do you do if none of them want to go to one of the squads?
    None of them? Well, the idea was that they’d have no access to any preps till they chose a squad. But that’d be a disruption on par with that one time Delta quit Delta (obviously didn’t quit being Delta) and became the CL’s Personal little army.

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    Sorry for the large blocks of text here, I’m just going through my reasoning.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tharinoma View Post
    Can command still reassign squads?
    Yeah, that was the idea. If Command needed certain people in places due to shortages or due to their standard brand of insane planning, they could reassign. They also need that ability for survivors and whatever PMC / Freelancer / whatevers come on board.

    Because if that wasn't removed, that's pretty much the answer.
    And therein lies the problem, within the proposed solution. Getting a squad assignment changed at round start is nigh on impossible unless the CIC already had plans to reassign people and were set up for it. The CIC staff are just too busy dealing with the cluster that is the operations briefing, and planning the OP. They really just don’t have time. Believe me, I’d like nothing more than an RP opportunity surrounding a squad transfer, but that would pull aside either the CO or XO, of which one or both may not even be present, which could then disrupt CIC, which then screws with everyone else’s round. There’s a reason that almost no one changes squads, even if they’re in a squad they don’t want to be a part of, and that’s because it’s a hassle to do so.

    Bravo usually sends a fireteam to the front anyway.
    Yeah, and that’s all well and good when the front needs a few extra bodies and the FOB doesn’t. The issues I’m talking about are when you’ve got an SG and Spec that take off to the great white north when the SL needs bodies at the FOB.

    I definitely get where you’re coming from on this, less is more. I pared back my original ideas a bit. Ultimately, the goal I was aiming for with the proposed solution was to allow an OOC decision (choosing squad based on preference and removing the random element) to prevent IC issues (people ignoring squad assignments and doing whatever).

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    A way easier method to achieve the same goal than to add in these "SACs" and all that would be to just assign all marines to their squad preference in the setup with no limits or high limits. Maybe expand the preps for specs or SGs but that'd be it.

    Although I can tell you now you'd just get 1 SG in Alpha and 3 in Delta every time. Charlie would probably mostly get specs out of people either setting it to random or them picking Charlie for the shorter walk to their prep.

    That said, being a Bravo spec just for the SL to tell you to hang out with Delta feels really dum.

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    Or just add a preference for "Squad pref over role".

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    Quote Originally Posted by DefinitelyAlone0309 View Post
    Or just add a preference for "Squad pref over role".
    Great solution!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Nyvrem View Post
    just assign all marines to their squad preference in the setup with no limits or high limits. Maybe expand the preps for specs or SGs
    This is a good idea, and much simpler to implement (I think) than having to code an object that interacts with other objects to change variables around. I like it because it wouldn’t mess with the odds of you rolling the job you wanted.

    That said, being a Bravo spec just for the SL to tell you to hang out with Delta feels really dum.
    Yeah, this idea was originally mainly focused on Specs and SG, and how many will essentially do what they want and abandon their squad because it wasn’t what they wanted, and it’s hard enough to get spec as-is.

    Quote Originally Posted by DefinitelyAlone0309 View Post
    Or just add a preference for "Squad pref over role".
    This is a very promising idea. It’s simple and yet solves the squad vs role issue I was worried about. I wonder how it would change the dynamics as to who gets what role.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by DefinitelyAlone0309 View Post
    Or just add a preference for "Squad pref over role".
    ive been waitin for this for years

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