Please give Squad Leaders a voice comm channel to communicate with each other.

[vbl]

Thanks.

[Vetsin]

You're welcome.

... I've always wished bf2 and 2142 had a better talk system.

[Kurt]

Hmm, good idea that. In theory it's the commanders job to coordinate squads but this sounds like a great idea to take it further.

[Riggz]

cool..something else for 90% of squad leaders to ignore

[Flasheart88]

I totally disagree. The commander is the central coordinating authority - all that would do is muddly the chain of command. What purpose does it serve for squad leaders to be able to talk to each other? All it would do is complicate matters, so, potentially you could be hearing as many as 13 voices (max 8 squads, I think?) instead of only 6. Unless you're playing with people that you know personally all the time, you'll be hearing multiple voices that you can't recognise and it'll be next to useless.

[CRIMS0N_W0LF]

But squad leader needs to know "My squad is going for Silo 5" and Squad no 2 "My squad is defending silo 3"

[cantina_fly]

Why you're at it, at vehicle comms too so I can talk to the other random guy who jumped in the tank/walker/gunship with me...

[Kurt]

Why you're at it, at vehicle comms too so I can talk to the other random guy who jumped in the tank/walker/gunship with me...

Personally I WISH there was this feature. The number of times I've had to type..

"Where the f**k are you going you blind muppet?"
"Look out for that tank....... never mind, too late"
"Are you just going to sit here and spam?"
"I was repairing that damn tank"

And the classic yesterday - I hopped into a tank and got hit by a rocket - looking around I saw a head pop up on a building nearby - I hopped into the gunners seat and waited - he popped up for a second shot, I shot him but he ducked before I could kill him. It was a fun game, trying to shoot each other, using active defence etc, completely ruined when someone jumps into the tank and drives off with it. HOW MUCH do I wish I could have had a "chat" with that guy!

[natron-DSC]

But squad leader needs to know "My squad is going for Silo 5" and Squad no 2 "My squad is defending silo 3"

And in reality? Look at a random public server....

1. the commander spares no effort in setting a target for each sqadleader.

2. 75% of the SL's dont even press the page up button, even if they are at the exact spot to gain extra points for themselves.

3. From the 8 ore more squads in the team there are like 6 or 7 that consist of only one person, the SL himself. The remains of the team are lonewolves who will not get any message from a commander.

4. IF the SL says "my squad is going for silo 5" ... this means in reality "I, the SL try to make my way to silo 5 ..."(running on his own feet the 500 meters because a squadmember stole his freshly repaired vehicle and drove over him while driving away)"... while the rest of my squad is shattered around the map and doing god-knows-whatever".


At the beginning I was confident with the new SL- bonus- system and the other new team- forcing stuff but now I start to realize that even with all this there is not enough incentive to work as team. Again.

As long as there are several opportunities to get a dozen of gold stars without even being part of a squad and without working together with this squad... there will be no true team play (besides the fact that there are playing lots of little childs in the age of 9 or lower years- I know it, bc sometimes the say something in the voicecomm and then you can hear their wispy voices yelling like "can anyone hear me-can anyone hear me- hellohello-can anyone hear mehello- anyone??????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!").


In other words- there is not much need for more comm channels but much need of using the existing ones correctly.

[Warhawk]

But squad leader needs to know "My squad is going for Silo 5" and Squad no 2 "My squad is defending silo 3"
It is the commanders job to coordinate which squads are going where. Squad 1 could care less were squad 2-6 is going, as long as the commander coordinates it properly and they follow orders there is no need for squad leader comm.

[El Cid]

I'd like to see a combined vehicle chat/local chat channel. If you're in a vehicle, you hold down the key and can be heard by everyone else in the vehicle. If you're not in a vehicle, you hold down the same key and can be heard by everyone within, say, 10 meters.

[vesuvan]

How about allow squads to see what their fellow squads orders are? It can show up in the HUD or hit the capslock key to see a view of the map. The commander is still in charge, but Squad 2 now knows that Squad 1 is going to defend their flank and they can stay focused on their main objective.

Also, n00b question here, how does the commander talk to a particular squad? Do you simply click on a squad, hit your push to talk button, and start chatting? I've done that many times, with no text reply confirming they can here me. Squads can't talk back to the commander right? Please enlighten me on this.

[Capital88]

The VOIP could do with a lot of work, an upgraded command channel would be better than the squad channel.

Here would be the way I would structure the VOIP:

Channel 1 - Local: Any soldier (ally or enemy) can hear what you say within a 20 meter radius. This would mean that you could talk about what you needed as opposed to using the commo-rose which is useless most of the time. Phrases like "Behind you!" and "Hey, don't steal my tank" would become useful.

Channel 2 - Squad: You can speak to and hear everyone in your squad (already in place).

Channel 3 - Direct Command: A direct, private line to the commander (already in place).

Channel 4 - Team Command: You can speak to and hear all squad leaders and the commander.

Channel 5 - Vehicle: Context sensitive, and redundant in terms of local, but basically you can hear and talk to anyone in the vehicle you are currently occupying.

Granted that is 5 buttons (ohh! scary!) and 5 ways to get miscellaneous chatter in your ear, but communication is a huge part of warfare. It might get people to really "cut the chatter" when they are talking about something unnecessary and clogging the channel, and it would also further heighten the immersion. In real modern warfare, you have communications in your ear at an almost constant rate, and it takes a trained ear to filter out the stuff not meant for you and listen to the stuff that is vital.

[Drevor]

Well, how do you second something without looking like spam? anyways ... completely on your side on that one.

[Sawell]

Can't stand the VOIP on bf2142, trying to talk to people is just pointless. I wish idiots would stop applying for commander, twice now I've had to get the guys with my to force a mutiny, then I have to leave my squad to coordinate a battle, don't get me wrong it can be fun - but I didn't buy bf2142 with it's awesome graphics to be staring at a 2d map!

No qualms with those who choose to do it though of course, and I'd do it rather than lose :)

[insidiousx]

I thought i read somewhere that a squadleader / command channel was supposed to be implemented?

I believe the manual states that the comm can select a squad, and use V to chat with that SL alone, while B is the comm channel for all SL's. I haven't received any indication (verbal or otherwise) that this is inplace and working, as i'm always hidden behind a command map.

I know the all SL's channel is open, but individual (or multiple, selected squads) is pretty ambiguous.

On the plus side, i've heard alot of good suggestions regarding communication and SL enhancements today - i only hope community managers are made aware.

[vbl]

A few of you intuited the gist of my post. The idea is to allow Squad Leaders to better coordinate in lieu of a commander that may not be doing his job, or the lack of a commander altogether.

Seeing other SL's orders would also be helpful, except that many SLs don't set orders.

I think it'd be very handy to have the ability to say, "Hey, Silo 4 is being capped - who can go get it?"

And typing rarely works since it takes forever, BF2142's keystroke accuracy sucks, and with all of the other interface spam most folks don't even see the text.

I've long believed that the commander role was awkward and mostly uninteresting, and that DICE should concentrate on beefing up the communication and coordination tools between Squad Leaders.

[dycrophiliac]

They need ranked lockable passworded Squads

[Agent_Scarlet]

half the ideas in this thread are really awesome, but unfortunatly they would be ignored by almost everyone playing/abused. Which would make the game worse. You know there will be one random idiot who spams the Numa Numa song over voip without end.

[vbl]

half the ideas in this thread are really awesome, but unfortunatly they would be ignored by almost everyone playing/abused. Which would make the game worse. You know there will be one random idiot who spams the Numa Numa song over voip without end.

Just mute em.

Most (not all, of course) people who start squads are at least somewhat interested in teamplay, and allowing them to talk to other SLs would be a great help.

[r0279s]

YES, indeed!

[Seppuku]

SL chat seems both more useful, tactical, and more easily implemented than vehicle or proximity chat. because it seems that 104109120918 of the 104109120919 dudes who decide to play commander have screwdrivered the B key off their keyboards...:rolleyes: