just to poll and see how others see it THIS IS ABOUT CURRENT STATUS, NOT THE DESIRED STATUS answer what fits best, if no complete fit is in here i dont give a shit edit: with "The C F does not have the power to influence combat more then any other "good" player would " i mean individual infantry combat, the cell was not big enough to explain more accurate
"The Command Function gives the commander the tools to increase fun for the average player" says 2 instead of 1 (even though it only shows you voted for it) because I edited the poll to add myself to that after I couldn't revote to do it properly.
"The C F is a liability to your team depending on who occupies it" Thinking of hobs were you? Im gana go with "The C F is a chore, undesirability makes it hard to find a proper candidate" as it seems to be true often.
imo the poll is meaningless, everyone agrees that commanding in the current state is not good ... where we dont agree - and since what you call CF is crucial when considering any bigger gameplay decision is not so easy to get around - is how to solve the issue. currently we have a dilemma. on the one hand mass targets are a great way to guide troops and get the job done, on the other hand it kills all aspects of a FPS, which empires still is for the biggest portion of players. something as powerful as a wallhacks should only be really limited. commander powers or that UAV thing are the best solutions - mass targets the worst. wait, no that'd be constant targets always everywhere for everyone.
Broadly speaking I think commanders need new tools and ways to interact & motivate players. FPS part of the game has got better IMHO, so now give the Commanders we all rely on something to get excited about. Targets are probably the biggest talking point but there are loads of great ideas and small improvements on the boards that are based on improving what we have, not re-inventing the wheel and I think that is key. I don't think anyone can really argue that commanding would become too complicated by adding more stuff as commanders are almost always experienced players who are smart enough adapt quickly as that is pretty much a necessity already. As Flasche has said, the question is not whether something should be addressed - its how you go about it. Especially considering that there are limitations in what can be feasibly achieved within a given time. IMHO tweaks to the commander would be the best way to improve the game at the moment and hopefully it would do so with the least amount of time invested.
When you command a smart team, it's not a chore. In every other case, you have to boomtank to get any enjoyment out of the process.
comm is lacking some tools, as evidenced by the "attack this move order!" that has become so popular.
I don't want the comm to be able to make people do stuff by use of tools. Those tools make me the tool. "Attack this target" has always missed the text "...that is halfway across the map in a vehicle you can't do anything against with your weapon layout" I want people in there with a mic acting like a commander. Tools just make noobs THINK they can command, but i'm not going halfway across the map when ordered without the reason why. A skilled comm with mic can send me across the entire map if he wants; he doesn't need tools. If there is a 'tool' that could make the comm more important without turning the other players in zombies, it's the ability to place icons on the minimap for the entire team to see. Icons for "defend this area", "capture this res spot", "enemy base here", ..etc; which still requires the comm to truly comm, and makes it easier for him to make things clear. And i wouldn't have to remember stuff, as it'd be in the minimap.
Savage, which has a similar concept to Empires has the possibility for the commander to administer several "buffs" to individual players, like healing, attack bonus and the like. My only impression about it is that it put unreasonable demand on the commander to "babysit" every player. And the commander should be no ones babysitter.
Being able to give whole squads special commander bonuses? Interesting concept, albeit I am a bit adverse to enemies getting bonuses that I cannot count on myself.
It's essential. Its what makes empires, empires. If we didn't have the command function as it is, then it would be like every other FPS with RTS elements. And every game in the FPS with RTS elements category is a hell of a lot more polished than Empires is. The FPS/RTS hybrid is a sexy beast, and attempting to neuter just kills its sexiness.
Of course it's a good way of helping your team. Yes it is fun. But of course, like everything else it can be improved a lot. Like giving him more abilites to do, killing stuff is fun, explosives are fun, spamming red lines and getting yelled over that there are not enough red lines on the map, is not fun.
