The Medical Training|
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So, unfortunately I have to actually mention this because many people seem to forget that the SO is basically a medic, but better in every way. You have medical training, use it. Get an analyzer, and health HUD. The HUD is NOT OPTIONAL. I will repeat one last time: If you do not have a Health HUD as an SO, you are doing a disservice to yourself, and the marines under you. Get one at all costs.
If you are going planetside, get a belt, lifesaver preferably. Dump out the autoinjectors, they are trash. Replace them with bicardine, tramadol, kelotane pill bottles, splints, and trauma kits, maybe custom meds if medbay has enough, but definitely get some oxy pills since they should be shamefully easy for chemists to make. If they give you grief about making kindly remind them that there's a fridge right next to the chemmaster that has oxy in a bottle already. Take not one but two defibs. Medbay is swimming in defibs and you will go through them fast if you are anything like me. Grab a stretcher and stasis bag too, two of each if you can, but stasis bags are fairly valuable and hard to come by, so if you can't get more then don't sweat it.
You might be asking, "Phi, why the fuck do I get two rollerbeds? I can only pull one." The answer is simple. Use the forbidden roller jutsu. Pull one rollerbed with your patient on it, and push the other with your face. Now you can push and pull two patients at once! Also sometimes a cheeky runner will destroy your precious bed, so having a backup is always nice.
If you are going planetside, get a belt, lifesaver preferably. Dump out the autoinjectors, they are trash. Replace them with bicardine, tramadol, kelotane pill bottles, splints, and trauma kits, maybe custom meds if medbay has enough, but definitely get some oxy pills since they should be shamefully easy for chemists to make. If they give you grief about making kindly remind them that there's a fridge right next to the chemmaster that has oxy in a bottle already. Take not one but two defibs. Medbay is swimming in defibs and you will go through them fast if you are anything like me. Grab a stretcher and stasis bag too, two of each if you can, but stasis bags are fairly valuable and hard to come by, so if you can't get more then don't sweat it.
You might be asking, "Phi, why the fuck do I get two rollerbeds? I can only pull one." The answer is simple. Use the forbidden roller jutsu. Pull one rollerbed with your patient on it, and push the other with your face. Now you can push and pull two patients at once! Also sometimes a cheeky runner will destroy your precious bed, so having a backup is always nice.
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Don't glue yourself to a chair. I see a lot of SO's do this, and it's a very bad habit to get into. Every few minutes, stand up, go check on other terminals. Prioritize empty ones, then go just check the cams of the other squads. Do they have an SL/ASL? Where are they at? How is their cohesion? These are things you need to know. Good SO's will keep you updated on their squads, but very few are this good, try and be this good. Update your squads position over the command channel every time they move. This makes the XO/CO's job easier, and helps out your fellow SO's, and the SL's on the ground.
Other SO's may get annoyed that you mess with their cams, but honestly they should be swapping cameras often anyways, and if you politely explain most will back off.
Another thing to remember is that the squad leader on the ground usually is going to have a better read on the situation than you. TRUST YOUR SQUAD LEADERS. Unless the Squad Leader gives you reason not to trust them, let them make the final call. Yes, you have rank, and yes, sometimes you need to force your hand and make them do something, but overall you should be letting the SL make most of the judgement calls. This takes stress off of you, letting you spend more time monitoring and flipping through cameras.
Click the ignore locations button until you are ignoring everything but the planet. This will make your life much easier. If you have a second monitor, enlarge the pop-up window until you don't have to scroll it at all. Never click that hide dead button. Never ever. If you are having issues organizing, change your sorting so it sorts by health. If you hide dead, there's a good chance you will miss someone dying who was very easy to save, or important intel that comes from that dead marines cam.
Cohesion is one part Squad lead, two parts Staff Officer. Watch the distance from SL meter, and make sure to check on stragglers. Eventually you need to cut your losses, though. Yell at them to group back up, ask them if they need help or guidance, and if they keep ignoring you? Ignore them. If they are purposely only staying with one squad because they're dicks who don't care about cohesion, transfer them and tell the SO in charge of that squad why.
Do not threaten marines or give them shit. If you are antagonistic, you will never get what you want, and marines have very little reason to fear you when you are up in the sky. Rule with love, not fear. DO NOT ANTAGONIZE THEM. The only time you use that insubordination button should be for extreme cases. There is no way to make your squad turn on you faster than reporting one of them to the MP's. Do not talk down to them, be friendly, and polite, even if they aren't.
Do not assign ASL based on rank. First, ask for volunteers. Does anyone want ASL? Usually someone steps up. If you know someone who is a good SL in that group already, ask them if they want it, then give them it. Even someone like me who plays a lot of SL does not always want to play SL, so please ask first if you have the luxury. My priority for SL goes like this: People I have seen play SL>People who are communicating well>Medics and engineers. Engineers can be an okay choice, but generally speaking they have better things to do. That being said, it is almost always preferable to have half a medic and a good SL, than it is to have a bad SL and one full medic. SL is the most important team role, so remember that this is an incredibly important decision.
My last piece of general advice. DON'T WORK AGAINST YOUR COMMANDER. Even a shitty plan that is being executed correctly is better than a good plan that is being executed incorrectly due to conflicting orders. If you must rebel against your commander, do so discreetly using the console to send messages. But generally speaking, don't work against them, even if you think their plan is bad. Also, being cooperative means they are more likely to let you go planetside, and I think we all know you desperately want to do that.
Other SO's may get annoyed that you mess with their cams, but honestly they should be swapping cameras often anyways, and if you politely explain most will back off.
Another thing to remember is that the squad leader on the ground usually is going to have a better read on the situation than you. TRUST YOUR SQUAD LEADERS. Unless the Squad Leader gives you reason not to trust them, let them make the final call. Yes, you have rank, and yes, sometimes you need to force your hand and make them do something, but overall you should be letting the SL make most of the judgement calls. This takes stress off of you, letting you spend more time monitoring and flipping through cameras.
Click the ignore locations button until you are ignoring everything but the planet. This will make your life much easier. If you have a second monitor, enlarge the pop-up window until you don't have to scroll it at all. Never click that hide dead button. Never ever. If you are having issues organizing, change your sorting so it sorts by health. If you hide dead, there's a good chance you will miss someone dying who was very easy to save, or important intel that comes from that dead marines cam.
Cohesion is one part Squad lead, two parts Staff Officer. Watch the distance from SL meter, and make sure to check on stragglers. Eventually you need to cut your losses, though. Yell at them to group back up, ask them if they need help or guidance, and if they keep ignoring you? Ignore them. If they are purposely only staying with one squad because they're dicks who don't care about cohesion, transfer them and tell the SO in charge of that squad why.
Do not threaten marines or give them shit. If you are antagonistic, you will never get what you want, and marines have very little reason to fear you when you are up in the sky. Rule with love, not fear. DO NOT ANTAGONIZE THEM. The only time you use that insubordination button should be for extreme cases. There is no way to make your squad turn on you faster than reporting one of them to the MP's. Do not talk down to them, be friendly, and polite, even if they aren't.
Do not assign ASL based on rank. First, ask for volunteers. Does anyone want ASL? Usually someone steps up. If you know someone who is a good SL in that group already, ask them if they want it, then give them it. Even someone like me who plays a lot of SL does not always want to play SL, so please ask first if you have the luxury. My priority for SL goes like this: People I have seen play SL>People who are communicating well>Medics and engineers. Engineers can be an okay choice, but generally speaking they have better things to do. That being said, it is almost always preferable to have half a medic and a good SL, than it is to have a bad SL and one full medic. SL is the most important team role, so remember that this is an incredibly important decision.
My last piece of general advice. DON'T WORK AGAINST YOUR COMMANDER. Even a shitty plan that is being executed correctly is better than a good plan that is being executed incorrectly due to conflicting orders. If you must rebel against your commander, do so discreetly using the console to send messages. But generally speaking, don't work against them, even if you think their plan is bad. Also, being cooperative means they are more likely to let you go planetside, and I think we all know you desperately want to do that.
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One of the most important aspects of being an SO is keeping the squads together, and notifying your SL when cohesion is failing. Sometimes that just doesn't work out. Maybe you were busy and there were ghosts in CIC. Potentially a private just wasn't listening to comms. Shit happens. But now you've got a dead Spec, and the xenos have dragged him off to some god forsaken obscure closet to try and ensure he is never found again. You are the foil to this. Immediately check his cams, which he hopefully has. Since you picked up a Health HUD, you already know if he can be revived. The first thing you should say is, "SL, Spec dead, 34SW, Reviveable, Meta closet."
Let the SL make the call as to whether or not to rescue, but if you think they are truly a safe bet, scream at them. Scream at them until you are hoarse. In very extreme cases where you need to get someone's attention, use squad messages. If even that fails, set the person who is ignoring you as SL. I have done this a few times with medics, since they tend to get caught up triage. Set them ASL, send them a squad lead message, and I can almost guarantee you they will notice it and follow instructions. Keep them updated on the body, contacts near it, things like that.
As an SO, one of the most important things you do is help retrieve the recently dead. Never forget that.
Let the SL make the call as to whether or not to rescue, but if you think they are truly a safe bet, scream at them. Scream at them until you are hoarse. In very extreme cases where you need to get someone's attention, use squad messages. If even that fails, set the person who is ignoring you as SL. I have done this a few times with medics, since they tend to get caught up triage. Set them ASL, send them a squad lead message, and I can almost guarantee you they will notice it and follow instructions. Keep them updated on the body, contacts near it, things like that.
As an SO, one of the most important things you do is help retrieve the recently dead. Never forget that.
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Delegate, delegate, delegate. Remember what I said about trusting your SL's? Put that into practice in the extreme. A good example was when I was the only SO, playing with Juilo, who had to cryo early. That round I had Uriel as Delta SL. Now I know Uriel. Uriel is a very good SL, one of the best even. So what did I do? Turned on Delta comms, checked in on them occasionally, and otherwise let him run the squad. This let me devote most of my time to Charlie, who was working with a woefully inexperienced SL who had communication issues. So when you find that you have to run two or three squads at once? Find your Uriel. Find the squad lead who is going to be able to best lead the squad solo, and make sure you are covering the FOB squad, as they are usually quite hands-off until they QRF; by which point you should have some help in CIC because command staff players tend to take note of a sparsely populated CIC.
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This is probably going to be the most controversial portion of this guide. Many people have strong feelings about Staff Officers going planetside, and few are willing to budge on that issue. That having been said, I am of the belief that a smart SO planetside can make a huge difference.
The first question I want to answer is: When do you go planetside? The answer is pretty complicated, and a lot of it will be gamesense, but here are some general rules I go by.
1. Do most squads have good leadership in some form?
2. How close are most squads to each other? Have we devolved into the deathball mode?
3. Is my overwatch able to accomplice anything significant right now?
Depending on how I answer those questions, I may ask to go planetside, or, in some cases, sneak planetside. Granted, if Faust is your CO, don't ever count on sneaking planetside. The man watches CIC like a hawk. But in some cases you can get away with it. Just be prepared to suffer a hell of a lot of brig time if you come back.
First things first, though. If you are going planetside, grab a pulse rifle from the armory. The tactical shotgun is an amazing weapon, but you shouldn't be close enough to make it effective. Make sure you have a medic belt and defib. On the battlefield you should be doing two things: Organizing marines hands on and making sure the defenses are good, and treating patients. Think of yourself as a very hands-on medic, but prioritize organizing marines first unless there is a lot of wounded. It is much easier to organize troops on the ground than it is at the console. As an SO you are valuable, your orders are second only to the commander themselves and the XO. Issue orders constantly, have a macro for it. This is one of the major reasons you are so powerful on the planet.
Stay in the back, keep your head on, and get a helmet if you can. Xenos can and will single you out, and if you die you aren't much good to anyone.
The first question I want to answer is: When do you go planetside? The answer is pretty complicated, and a lot of it will be gamesense, but here are some general rules I go by.
1. Do most squads have good leadership in some form?
2. How close are most squads to each other? Have we devolved into the deathball mode?
3. Is my overwatch able to accomplice anything significant right now?
Depending on how I answer those questions, I may ask to go planetside, or, in some cases, sneak planetside. Granted, if Faust is your CO, don't ever count on sneaking planetside. The man watches CIC like a hawk. But in some cases you can get away with it. Just be prepared to suffer a hell of a lot of brig time if you come back.
First things first, though. If you are going planetside, grab a pulse rifle from the armory. The tactical shotgun is an amazing weapon, but you shouldn't be close enough to make it effective. Make sure you have a medic belt and defib. On the battlefield you should be doing two things: Organizing marines hands on and making sure the defenses are good, and treating patients. Think of yourself as a very hands-on medic, but prioritize organizing marines first unless there is a lot of wounded. It is much easier to organize troops on the ground than it is at the console. As an SO you are valuable, your orders are second only to the commander themselves and the XO. Issue orders constantly, have a macro for it. This is one of the major reasons you are so powerful on the planet.
Stay in the back, keep your head on, and get a helmet if you can. Xenos can and will single you out, and if you die you aren't much good to anyone.
