A Path Beyond Additional Voice Commands

[des1206]

This one is for the future. But with all your battlefield experiences, what global voice commands have you often wanted press/say but it's just not there? Remember all voice commands now identify the speaker unit/vehicle. The commands should be time-sensitive warnings where either 1. you are too busy to type out the details, or 2. it's an urgent message that needs to be heard over a flood of text. Remember also urgency can be achieved by spamming a VC multiple times instead of needing a new line. 

For me, we should have these new ones:

Incoming attack force - people can be alerted and then read the specific enemy type (tank/air/naval/infantry/demo) and direction in chat, for more urgent rushes just spam the message multiple times.

I need support! - This can replace "I need repairs", nearby mech/medic will understand. Furthermore, it can also be used for when your glass-cannon unit/ore truck/MAD tank is getting attacked and you need your teammate's help, or when you are trying to organize an infantry infiltration and need your teammate to cover you,

I need a distraction - When you are hiding/behind enemy lines with a high damage/low health unit like engin/v2/phase/LT/TT waiting for good time to strike. You can follow up with a attack the building command to be more specific. 

Beware sniper - A global warning because snipers can often cover half the map and get the first drop on a lot of unware infantry. 

Infiltrator alert! - For when you spot those pesky spy/thief/tanya/engineer/enemy infantry rush incoming or already in-base.

I am on route - Good to let your teammates which reinforcement is incoming.

 

Here is I think what we can get rid of:

Beware enemy mines - I think it's a given on maps with minelayers Soviets will always mine their base, Allies know that. When Allies lay AT mines it's not usually an urgent matter (people following the victim tank can see the damage, other Soviet tanks travel slowly so there is plenty time to warn over text.

Bolster our defenses - please bring back "defend the base" instead. The latter is more urgent.

That's real / That's decoy - usually the multiple "defend the base" message spam gets the same job done, plus if it's a decoy it's not urgent enough to warrant a global message anyway. 

Enemy forces to the north/south/east/west - Usually the direction is more complicated and people just often type it. Four separate messages is a waste of space.

Retreat - I don't see this one used often. We don't retreat in APB  . If people see you running backwards with low heath spamming "move out" /"negative" I think they will get you message. 

I need repairs - See "I need support" above.

[Pushwall]

We can separate radio commands by team now. We may be able to get BattleLaf back soon to voice them. Here's what I was thinking of going with:

Trying to avoid shifting too many of them around to keep them recognisable.

"Enemy forces inbound" covers all of the cardinal direction ones and leaves us room for 3 more in the Alt8/9/0 slots, while "Engage enemy forces" kind of covers the now absent "Attack the Ore Truck" which had to be shoved out to put all the buildings in the same place.

I'm aware AT/AP mines can be used in places besides the ones the commands say but it should help newbies as it's too often that I see a base full of AT mines or AP mines littering the field in places allied infantry will never walk.

"Cover me" covers the non-repairing aspect of "I need support" while also letting us replace "I need repairs" on the Soviets with something that actually matters for them - a spy warning.

"Beware sniper" might not be that useful as you can hear snipers from half the map away. It's very unlikely someone will notice them before they've made the first shot and alerted everyone to their presence.

[ChopBam]

Going to miss "Attack the Ore Truck," as that becomes useful on money-clincher maps like River Raid and Camos Canyon, and really any time after the War Factory has been destroyed but the OT is still alive.

I get it that you want to just keep all the attack commands in the ctrl+alt slots, but as I said in Slack they're among the most useful commands in rush situations when you don't want to slow down to type.

[Pushwall]

26 minutes ago, ChopBam said:

Going to miss "Attack the Ore Truck," as that becomes useful on money-clincher maps like River Raid and Camos Canyon, and really any time after the War Factory has been destroyed but the OT is still alive.

I get it that you want to just keep all the attack commands in the ctrl+alt slots, but as I said in Slack they're among the most useful commands in rush situations when you don't want to slow down to type.

I could roll that, Refinery and Silo into "Attack the economy"? That could also apply to Pipeline/Hostile Waters capturing enemy money structures.

[ChopBam]

"Attack the Silo" is kind of useful as a dual command between the Ore Silo and the Missile Silo. Of course, if it's rolled into "Attack the Eco" then it'll free up the current Silo slot to then perhaps be "Attack the Missile Silo"? Maybe also keep "Attack the Power Plant" as Ctrl Alt 5 and "Eco" as 4 to "keep them recognisable" as you say.

But then again it looks like for organization's sake the factories are the first part and the other structures are in the last part of the list. I guess it comes down to a balance between recognizability and organization.