Platoon leadership

Vonic you have to understand that some poeple will disagree and complain. I always give the option of leaving and doing your own thing.

Some players are objective based.
Others are 1 vs 1 base.
Some want to farm KDR or certs.
Support based.
Some are a combination like me.

You have to understand these playstyles. When I lead I try to please all of them ( because I am a mix of all of those myself.). When things get boring I'll be like: We're kicking the Nc hornet nest, we'll get a good fight. ATM objective and support players are happy. The 1 vs 1 and Farmers are not.

You start to hear complaints about being Farmed. this is probably a support or objective based player getting upset. Meanwhile the KDR/Farmers 1vs 1 are racking up points. And looking at the support/objective players like they're crazy.

When farming bio-labs etc it's good to get into the habit of setting squad up in different areas. That way KDR/1vs1/farmers are happy because they're melting faces. Support players are engineer/medics getting points. Objective based players now have an objective defend X.

Saying "Oh this is a BIO-farm stop your complaining" or "We're farming TR or NC here" isn't the proper response. The objective players are like "Umm, whats the point of a bio-farm" Support players " Are trying to figure out what to support" and usually end up dying a lot.

Also while losing it's good to give a purpose: This slows down their advance or their wasting resources and massive amounts of troops/etc/.
This helps the other play types understand why we are still here.

If they continue to be vociferous , I'll give them the option to leave and do their own thing because, clearly they do not want to participate. If things escalate I'll boot them from platoon ; if they are a outfit member give them a warning and possible boot if they're nasty and making nonsense.

Chatter during a casual ops is fine, however, Sit-Reps take priority. However during serious ops, no chatter about weapons etc,etc.

 

In Deathrus' terms I'm probably a mix of objective and supportive, so when left without orders I have a tendency to find someone familiar, such as Kowlefe and follow him around.

In regards to the PL I definitely prefer it when they presents the purpose of their orders, it usually makes it a better experience for me, at least.
As have already been mentioned personal requests, are a good way to go if you want results. On the other hand I don't really recall any efficient PL who didn't use some form voice chat, although some orders should probably be accompanied by a text message, recall orders in particular.

 

This thread has turned into the gold mine I hoped it would.

I'm throwing some suggestions out here:

I LOVE the idea of "Casual Operations" and "Commencing Formal Operations". Casual operations can have a more relaxed TS, PUG, lone wolfing, less tactical and more farting around. I suggest that when the platoon gets full and /or the situation calls for it, an officers makes the call and says "NNG is now commencing formal operations" and we go into serious mode. Any PUGS we have at that time get put into their own squad with an SL thats patient and enjoys recruiting.

With regard to people saying such things like, "we're outnumbered", "We're getting farmed" etc. I think that is relevant tactical information as long as it isn't bitiching and repetitive. For instance being in a squad holding a point and the rest of the platoon is somewhere else, and the situation is obviiously hopeless. But then again that should be in squad talk and for the SL to say. The point im trying to make is we dont want to throw the baby out with the bath water here by being too strict in TS. We play this game for fun and part of that is the commaradery which is developed playing with friends. During casual operations we should be able to talk freely, within reason, during quiet moments. Lets not turn it into work. That said, and to reiterate my original post, there should be zero tolerance for criticising the PL in TS. If something has to be said, do it in a private channel or on the forums.

If we want this outfit to grow and be even more respected we need to be even more organized and structured. This will mean operating by a set of guidlines and rules.

I love that other PL's from other outfits are PUGing and seeing how we do it and I for one want to show them out its done. Before I joined NNG I came from a superbly run Outfit called Spetum Pro Vita. Unfortunately they are on a low pop faction on a low pop server and a little too hardcore for most people as they are run by real life military guys. The TS comm was amazing, "I have eye's on multiple tangos, N by NW", "In the hole five by five" whatever the fk that means, etc etc. It was very impressive how a small extremely organized and skilled group of guys could crack so many hard nuts. One thing we did was always tried to group up and not run back into a hot zone alone. That is huge and something we should try to do. Yes it involves waiting impatiently for people to group up but it makes all the difference int he world.

 

I think a PL guide would be awesome. It doesn't have to be the definitive rule book that all PLs have to follow, but a personalized method the particular PL sticks to. I would like to see how different PLs prefer to issue commands and how they micro manage squads. What I would really like to hear is scenario based platoon lead decisions. If we are attacking the crossroads and the PL calls for a foot zerg from one direction and an armor column from another, I would benefit from understanding the decision process as to why. Because when it works, I sometimes wonder how they arrived at the well timed decision.

 

While I agree we all like different things, a goal of "make everyone happy" is a dream far off.

What I think really aggravates me.. Why in vanu's name are you joining the platoon if you ARE NOT WILLING TO FOLLOW THAT PLATOON THOROUGHLY IN ALL OF IT'S MANEUVERS AND ACTIONS?

I'm sorry but I play in personal squads or alone if any part of me is feeling impulsive. Joining the platoon needs to not be something you do when you sign online. It should be a dedicated decision to FALL IN LINE no matter the personal opinion.

What Vonic has said comes across harsh and with little slack for good reason. We don't tolerate nonsense here, so bringing it into our platoon in any measure is offensive to most of all, the platoon leader.

As platoon lead Vonic and I give massive respect and praise to those following command. We are only asking for that same respect returned to us. The responses he has written are direct results of members disrespecting not only current platoon leaders, but ranking officers of the outfit.





Edit: I know some will say we run relaxed platoons from time to time and the rules get bent more, I say tighten up.