Level 3
BoneCraKeR Mensageiro:
Biker_J Mensageiro:
@Snowing pig
With the language you mean basically, if one of us is playing a game (or all) and something unexpected happens, and we go "Ah *****" or "what the *****" sort of thing is ok? Just as long as your not saying it in a way to deliberately offend people?right on target biker, those kind of "Ah ****" always happens even if we dont want to
basically just dont offend other ppl and we'll all get along
Yup, that's it in a nutshell. The warning is mostly to make sure people know that kind of thing will happen, so if some would-be member finds that kind of language objectionable, they should rethink their application or learn how to live with it.
ExUK Mensageiro:Just to let you know, I wont be playing MAG on 27/28th of October as I will be going to Eurogamer Expo in Leeds (MAG will be there). Unsure if I was meant to message this to my SL (and then who my official SL would be) or how far in advance you need to know (24 hours, a week or ASAP?).
Thouroughly enjoyed last nights session and playing with some different members.
Again, D will most likely iron out the grouping details in preparation for the upcoming 24/7 server availability (that is, if EU beta participants will be allowed on that stage without pre-order codes like they're doing in the US and Canada). Until such time, just let two or three people you usually play with know that you're not going to make it. If that includes one of the more "senior" members, even better.
You can do this during the in-game voice chat sessions, as there's always plenty of time for it in between the friendly banter; on one of the text chatrooms that people log on to before and during matches or simply by posting here.
This is mainly so that if a certain number of players usually group together, they'll know you won't be making it, and will be able to include someone else in your stead.
As for how far in avance.. Well, if it's a last minute thing, as long as it doesn't become a habit 
, noboby will hold it against you. Same for last minute or in-session PSN troubles, internet connectivity issues, etc. If, on the other hand, it's something to do with the person's schedule for a particular day, set of days, weeks or month(s) -- which would mean you have prior knowledge of said incompatibility -- then try to let people know as far ahead as possible.
But unless it's something like a good few weeks of unavailability, which might prompt a change in "rosters" (if and when they come) and might therefor take longer to iron out, then the week before at the most (or as soon as you know of said impediment) would be quite sufficient.
sandystrachan Mensageiro:Last night ( 1am session ) was ace even tho to start with ( maybe the first hour ) couldn't group up with my regulars , but after that things were back to normal . Tho when i accepted the invite to join the main team ( was around 4ish ) , the game loaded and just as i spawned PSN logged me out
i sent a couple notices of this to members of team . Just as i was about to click MAG from the game folder my internets went down , and thats it just back up and running at 3:45pm on saturday afternoon .
They really should sort out the clan and friends list on MAG how else do they expect us to group up , so i will see you all again monday at 6pm in game .
Yeah, we thought it was odd too. Since it has happened quite a few times to other people, we tried to see if you were coming up again, and would probably even quit the game in progress to get you back in -- unless you'd be fine with waiting 15 minutes.
We did try to get you over again when that match ended, but the people who have you on their friend list (which doesn't include me *sniff*) said that you weren't on. I admit I was a bit worried you might have taken the way things went the wrong way. Really hate it the way some things are right now on MAG -- people getting kicked out of groups for no reason, being in a group but not deploying to a match with the rest while still staying in the group, the random disconnects and all the other weird grouping issues.
Yesterday (afternoon, I think) for example.. At some point, we were all kicked from the server. When we logged back in, none of us were in the group, as you'd expect.. But after a few seconds, the group was magically reconstituted, even though some people had even restarted MAG. Of course, the group itself was all messed up, we could no longer talk to each other and to top it off we couldn't even quit the group properly. You quit the group, but it kept bringing you back a few seconds later. SO annoying.
In any case, Sandy, hope next time will work better for us all and I'm looking forward to playing a few rounds with you. 
str160 Mensageiro:
BoneCraKeR wrote:you can do that
just press select then R1
oh.lol
Yeah, I was wondering what you were on about myself, mate. Not being a COD player, I thought it might just be a case of lack of context.
Were you using the mini map solely? And setting Fragos and strikes through the down button on the D-Pad? No wonder you thought the thing was painful to use.
EDIT: those doubts prompted me to write the next looong post -- I swear I try to be concise, but can't seem to help myself. What that says about me, however, I probably don't want to know. 
Level 3
Leadership roles, Abilities, Objectives and other important stuff
For those (really) new to MAG, you should know that there are "special" roles that can be played by anyone who meets certain criteria. Those roles come with certain perks but also with the responsibility of looking out and directing the people you'll be leading. This is integral to MAG's gameplay and gameflow style since the game is about teamwork first and foremost. So, in order to facilitate that, all players on a map are organized into squads of 8 players, and every group of 4 squads is organized into a platoon. It is therefor necessary to assign a player in each unit type to be leader of said group, prompting the creation of leadership roles.
Three types of leadership roles will be available, though the top rank will only be present on the "Domination" mode: Squad Leader (SL for short), Platoon Leader (PL) and Officer In Charge (OIC -- effectively the whole team's leader).
Squad Leader
All players whose rank is 15 or above can apply for squad leader on the "Deploy Queue" pop-up, or the Group Panel pop-up. Squad Leaders are responsible for the smallest unit in MAG, the squad. It's the SL job to set Frago points (FRAGmentary Orders). Those points and their immediate vicinity give everyone on the squad a nice XP bonus when they kill or assist in killing an enemy, revive or heal a team mate, plant/defuse charges or perform repairs. With Fragos and voice communication, SLs direct the actions of his or her squad, while at the same time coordinating the squad's actions with the Platoon Leader.
For this, SLs have access to a second communication channel, Platoon Chat (keep "Up" pressed on the D-Pad and cicle channels using R2 or L2 -- follow the on-screen indications), which allows them to talk to other SLs in their platoon and, of course, their PL.
Don't worry about missing out on communication if you've switched to another channel. As long as you don't mute a channel, even if you've switched to another, you'll still be able to hear all the channels you're "entitled" to. Rule of thumb: if the name of the person who's talking comes up in yellow, he/she is in the channel you're currently switched to, if it comes up in white, it's another channel.
That act of "switching" between available channels is simply a way of choosing to which channel your voice will be sent to when you talk. You'll still hear it all. Also note that you can only switch channels while you're in game and "alive".
A SL will also have access to 2 certain abilities (which change depending on whether you're attacking or defending) that they can use to give his/her side temporary tactical advantage. These can include air strikes (which cause an area to be subject to several explosions), guided artillery strikes (which are a single strike, but can take down any objective or vehicle/helicopter) and UAV sweeps that for a short period of time, reveal any enemy activity/location in the area selected.
Generally speaking, the better job any leader does, the more "Leadership Points" (which are completely separate from XP or experience points, skill points and respec points) he or she will earn, though there's a limit to the number of leadership points that can be gained on a single match. There is no discernable way to account for what gives you points and how many, but a victory is a sure way of racking up the most points.
Platoon Leader
Only players who have earned 50 leadership points as SL will be able to apply for PL. It's the PL's job to coordinate actions between the four squads in his/her platoon, as well as "keep tabs" on how well the other platoons are doing and interface with the OIC if present. For this purpose, in addition to the SL's "Platoon Chat" -- which allows talking to all 4 SLs -- a PL will have "Company Chat" -- allowing communication with other PL's and the OIC if present -- as well as "Platoon Broadcast" over which a PL can talk to everyone in his/her platoon. Note, however, that only SLs will be able to answer back, but everyone in the platoon will hear you if you switch to this channel -- it's not a good idea, therefor, to keep this one selected the entire match, as not everyone will need to hear every single remark you make and you'll likely be getting in the way of important squad chatter.
PLs also have abilities which, depending on if they're attacking or defending, allow direct intervention. For defense, the abilities are not that great: "Gas Bombardment" will fill the selected area with poison gas similar to the poison grenades and "Sensor Sweep" will reveal all enemies in the area selected for a short period of time. For offense, however, PLs have much more useful abilities: a Precision Strike can take down any structure or vehicle at the press of a button; a Strafing Run will fill a wide area around the point selected with 3 barrages of strikes which will likely take down anyone (and I mean anyone, including teammates) unlucky enough to be there at the time.
Officer In Charge
Only players who've earned at least a total of 150 leadership points, performing either as SL or PL, can apply. In addition to this, this role will only be available on the bigger maps, ie "Domination" mode (256 players in total; 128 players organized into 4 platoons and 16 squads per side).
The OIC is effectively the Team Leader, and it's the toughest role to perform well. On the one hand, the sheer number of players to organize, as well as the gigantic maps on which Domination takes place, can be quite overwhelming -- you are entirely dependant on your PLs and their ability to both interface well with you as well as the SLs "under" them. On the other hand, the abilities of an OIC are less of "direct action" in nature than those of SLs and PLs and more tactical and indirect, consisting mostly of things that either help your side's capabilities or disrupt the other side's. Which means that, for the "top man" in a 128v128 match, it feels very underpowered at first.
However, when actual teamwork and good communication takes place, an OIC's job can be quite effective in tipping the scales, both by organizing efforts between platoons as well as timing the use of his/her abilities to coincide with actions which may turn out decisive.
To achieve this goal, and in terms of communication, an OIC has almost the same voice channel scheme as PLs. The difference is that instead of "Platoon Broadcast", an OIC has "Company Broadcast" -- which allows him/her to address all players in the team at the same time. Same caveat as the PLs "Platoon Broadcast", though: choose wisely when to switch to this channel and keep it short. You'll be disrupting Platoon and Squad chatter if you keep barking orders or idly making noise on this channel.
As for abilities -- and I hope I don't forget any -- an OIC has:
- "Communications Jam", which introduces static into the enemies voice comms (it's a pretty cool effect actually) and prevents them from being able to switch channels;
- "Signal Jamming", which blocks the enemy's use of their CNI, effectively preventing them from accessing the Tactical Map, using their own abilities or even changing voice comm channels;
- "Rapid Deploy/Blockade" which, depending on whether you're attacking or defending, can either take 10 seconds off your team's maximum spawn time, or add 10 seconds to the enemy's maximum spawn time -- this ability only lasts for a short while, however;
- "Satellite Sweep" will reveal every enemy's location everywhere on the map for all 4 platoons, letting each PL and SL better plan their unit's moves;
- "Tactical Refresh", when activated, immediately refreshes all SLs' and PLs' abilities -- for this one, the best course of action is to get on the "horn" and let all PLs (and SLs) to use all the abilities they have and giving them about 2 minutes to do it in. The idea is that, since all attacks and sweeps will be once again available for use once the OIC uses his TR, to not waste a single one of them by not using it before it gets refreshed.
When you're Squad Leader, using the D-pad "down" button for setting quick fragos on objectives that are right in front of you can be extremely useful if you don't want to waste time or the situation is intense. Otherwise, you should be using the Tactical Map.
Select brings up the CNI (Command Network Interface, I believe) Tactical Map.. It gives you a birds-eye view of the entire map (and I mean entire map, not just your platoon's side) and has every single structure, objective, fortification, etc marked with stand-out colors (red if they are the enemy's, blue if they're your side's) -- that is, if they haven't been destroyed, in which case it becomes a sort of greyish-white colour and can be hard to spot.
It also shows all your side's players' locations and those of the enemies that are either in direct view of team mates, shooting at them (unless they're equiping supressors/silencers) or being detected through electronic equipment like the Acoustic Locator, Montion/Stealth Detector and, of course, SL/PL/OIC Scanning/Sensor abilities.
Every player can access the Tactical Map through "Select", unless you're playing Domination and the other side's OIC has used the ability to jam TCM and CNI signals (an icon pops up when this is happening). Aside from that, everyone can use it, and the first "tab" of it is the same for everyone -- there's a short list of the main objectives to the left of the map that you can scroll with "Up" and "Down" on the D-Pad; pressing "Triangle" will automatically make the map center the "sights" on the objective highlighted.
It's also on this first "tab" that Squad Leaders can set Fragos (FRAGmentary Orders) -- by moving the marker with the left analog stick to any "main" structure and pressing "X" -- as well as waypoints -- same procedure, only you can set them on anything but "main" structures. The right analog allows you to zoom in and out (by pushing up or down) and pan the entire map (by pushing left or right).
Everyone should take a few minutes to get intimitely acquainted with the Tactical Map, how to find your way around it, how to navigate it, how to make good use of it. You'll find the minimap is quite limiting and it pays to keep an eye on the "bigger picture" every now and then, even if you're not performing any leadership role. As with the real-world Armed Forces out there, self-initiative (within reason) should be actively encouraged, and you shouldn't need your SL/PL/OIC to tell you *everything*. Use your own reasoning skills and maximize your usefullness to the team -- which is where the Tactical Map can play a pivotal role.
For Squad Leaders, Platoon Leaders and Officers In Charge, there is a secondary tab on the Tactical Map, accessible by pressing R1 or L1, which lists, on that left slider, the available abilities. SLs and PLs will have to set the "marker" to the location where they intend to use the ability, highlight the ability they wish to use with up/down on the D-Pad and press "X" to activate it. Note that all four SLs and PL in each platoon share the same command network, and to prevent ability/attack spamming, a "Command Cooldown" countdown slider will appear in between ability uses, amounting to about 20 seconds waiting time between successive uses. Each ability also takes quite a while to "recharge" so you should take the time to do it right.
Note that SL and PL abilities and their effectiveness depend on the status of certain structures on the battlefield! For example:
- When Attacking: in order to use any ability, SLs and PLs will need to make sure the enemy's AAA (Anti-Aircraft Artillery) for their side of the map is down. As long as the Anti-Air is up, you'll just be wasting attacks, as it will shoot down any aircraft that comes close. Since abilities take a few minutes to recharge (3 to 5, apparently, the specific time varies with the kind of ability in question) it's highly unwise to use them until air superiority has been achieved. Once the enemy's AAA is down, all abilities can be used. Another perk of bringing the AAA down is enabling forward spawn: Attack Helicopters on one side of the map (with a nice bonus of two usable turrets per chopper) and being able to parachute in on the other. Note that while usually it defaults to forward spawn when it's available, it sometimes doesn't so you'll need to choose it from the spawn location menu -- the same applies if you don't wish to use the forward spawn locations: for example when your squad has been assigned APCs and you want to spawn back and drive them into the enemy's base or spawn into one that's already inside their base.
- When Defending: you'll need the Mortar Battery up and running in order to use any kind of strike (Gas Bombardment, Guided Artillery, Cluster Bombardment). For Sensor Sweeps/Scans, the Sensor Array (the sattelite dish-like thing on the map) needs to be up. This also means that, when attacking, if the enemy has these structures up, even if their AAA is down, they can still hit back. For defenders, this means all three structures (AAA, Mortar Battery, Sensor Array) in addition to the main objective are important and you'll need to keep an eye on them if you wish to be successful.
- Squad Leader, Platoon Leader and Officer In Charge roles also carry with them other perks, some of which "spill over" to apply to nearby teammates and any APC or turret they may be in. Keep this in mind when you decide what you want to do. The list of extra perks that come with each role is available on the Leadership tab inside the Barracks section of MAG's main menu.
Only an opposing OIC can block an OIC from using his/her abilities through TCM and CNI Signal Jamming.
As with everything, getting the hang of things takes some time and you'll end up making some mistakes. That is fine, just try and learn from them. Take your time planning the use of your abilities, and check the whole platoon's map, not just your current location or your own squad! Often times, your side can handle the situation well enough while others may be getting hit hard -- so don't be selfish. Remember that leadership roles, even moreso than regular "grunts", are about the whole team and the overall primary objective, not just you, your squad mates and what you're doing at the time.
This applies to the other platoon too, especially when defending. SLs and PLs should keep an eye on what's happening on the other side of the map. Even if your platoon is keeping the enemy at bay you'll still lose if the other platoon got over run. If you see that their frontline defenses are crippled (bunkers, AAA down), maybe you should consider dispatching a few people to go in and lend a hand.
Another note about Fragos: use them primarily to highlight what you want your squad to be doing. If you choose to go around helping other squads and/or fixing or repairing stuff, that is perfectly fine, it's what support troup types do and it's important, but if you're the SL don't be selfish and assign the Frago to what it is you are doing so you can hoard the Frago bonus points! I see this happening way too often and frankly, it's unseemly. As Squad Leader, you are in charge of your entire squad and directing their actions should be your primary concern. Keep the Frago where you want your squad to focus -- anything else, and IMHO you are not "officer material" and certainly not worthy of the role.
Above all, don't apply for leadership roles if your playing style is too "in your face" -- you will likely not have enough time or patience to keep an eye on the Tactical Map and make careful, well thought out decisions. You should also consider the fact that if you don't have a headset/microphone and therefor can't communicate with neither your squad mates nor the other SLs or PL, then maybe you shouldn't be applying for leadership -- and if, somehow, you still got the role, you should consider giving it up when the match starts (bring up the squad scoreboard with "Start" and follow the on-screen options). Once people start getting a bit more serious about the teamwork part of MAG, communication will be of paramount importance, so you should take that into consideration if you don't have a headset/microphone you can use.
Remember that for each platoon of 32 players, there will only be 4 Squad Leaders and, of course, a single Platoon Leader -- which means that you don't have to do leadership roles to be an important member of the team. Every single player counts and can make a difference, regardless of role. Think about it: on the biggest maps (Domination mode), featuring 128 vs 128 gameplay, 4 Platoons for each side, only 21 players will be "leaders". The remaining 107 players will be regular troups.
Which do you really think will make a difference in the end? The 21 players with leadership roles or the 107 regulars?
It's a trick question, dummy -- it's MAG, it's about teamwork, they all count. But for the most part, leaders will simply be trying to organize and coordinate actions, as well as using their abilities to make life easier for those 107 "regulars". And much more often than not, it'll be those "regulars" and their hard work who'll make the difference between bringing a victory or a defeat home.
Level 3
Thanks Snowball.. It's really good article .. Definitely worth Kudos.
And.. even thought there are plenty more 'regulars' than leaders it does not mean everyone has to choose similar role. So it's ofthen not what the team can do for me, but what I can do for team..
I allways keep my MedKitIV with me, often with silenced assaultrifle+ assorted set of electornics making enemy detection as easy/early as possible. I know this equipment won't give me maximum number of kills, but the overall success is much more important than my personal K/D ..
Level 3
GT-R32_Skyline wrote:
Well as you know i play every day in the first slot (here it's from 20.00 to 23.00) and will play from now on but don't play in the night slot (from 03.00 to is it 06.00) cause i'm usually a sleep and playing in my dreams
It's 03 to 07 ... And yes, it can be a bit tiring to play trough them on 5 days a week.. X-)
Level 3
zonaw wrote:
GT-R32_Skyline wrote:
Well as you know i play every day in the first slot (here it's from 20.00 to 23.00) and will play from now on but don't play in the night slot (from 03.00 to is it 06.00) cause i'm usually a sleep and playing in my dreamsIt's 03 to 07 ... And yes, it can be a bit tiring to play trough them on 5 days a week.. X-)
Ahaa thanks for clarifying the time
Level 3
D-from-Oxford
HighTony
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zonaw
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1am-5am:
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Level 3
zonaw Mensageiro:
It's 03 to 07 [am]... And yes, it can be a bit tiring to play trough them on 5 days a week.. X-)
Yeah, I honestly don't know how you people do that.. 
*sigh* ADDICTS, THE LOT OF YOU! 
Hmm? What? What are you looking at me for? I don't play it that often! So it's been 80 hours the past three weeks, so what? I'm not an addict! I can quit anytime I like! In fact, I won't be playing at all this Sunday, not even for a bit, so there! How do you like them apples? I can control it! 
What is it now? I'm shivering, so what? It's cold over here, that's all, nothing to do with withdrawal! Maybe I have the flu, thought about that smarty pants? 
Ok, that's it! I'm done talking to you! I'm gonna go and cry in my corner just like I do everytime the servers close! 
STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!
