Captain TEXT chat

[Shinkurex]

I'm going to apologize first, and then just give it to you straight... If you are the captain, and do not know at least the captains of your teammates ship, then you're not going to win... Teamwork is the main highlight of this game... I agree that it may be a nice feature, but in the long run, completely unnecessary. It is the captain's job to perform the overall tactics of this game not knowing who your allies are is poor tactics... find a good group, and stick with them....

[Helmic]

I'm going to apologize first, and then just give it to you straight... If you are the captain, and do not know at least the captains of your teammates ship, then you're not going to win... Teamwork is the main highlight of this game... I agree that it may be a nice feature, but in the long run, completely unnecessary. It is the captain's job to perform the overall tactics of this game not knowing who your allies are is poor tactics... find a good group, and stick with them....

I... fail to see how that's a reason to not make text-based communication easier for captains.  If you can communicate with the other captains, memorizing their names isn't sacrosanct, especially for pickup games.  I mean hell, nine times out of ten I'm just called "gunner" or "engineer" or "captain" and we do just fine.  It's faster to identify somebody by a symbol and role than by their name if you're unfamiliar with that person.

[Jazzza]

Usually the contents of the message gives away if it is an internship communication, or regular crew chat. For authenticity sake I try to add "*my ship name* to *team mate's ship name*" before the message such as:
"Golden Phoenix to Azura's Wrath we are running under the clouds to the south of your position, hostile pyramidion spotted  East of us and moving in your direction."

In the midst of battle that's usually not enough if there are other people talking.

I think a similar effect like developers yellow and CA orange in the chat would work pretty well.

[Shinkurex]

Usually the contents of the message gives away if it is an internship communication, or regular crew chat. For authenticity sake I try to add "*my ship name* to *team mate's ship name*" before the message such as:
"Golden Phoenix to Azura's Wrath we are running under the clouds to the south of your position, hostile pyramidion spotted  East of us and moving in your direction."

In the midst of battle that's usually not enough if there are other people talking.

I think a similar effect like developers yellow and CA orange in the chat would work pretty well.

Well I guess worst case, Muse makes the change... everyone hates it... and Muse reverts....

[Pickle]

I'd rather see the Match text chat channel implemented in the prematch lobby first.  That's the one that will have the greatest benefit to the game.

Wanting to keep secrets from the crews on the team? - sorry if I choose not to be on your crew.  If you're a team then everyone needs to know the strategy, which are the priority targets, etc.  Captains voice chat is very useful during the game for calling in help, directing tactics on the fly.  I'd like to see the C channel open in the prematch lobby for Team voice chat - greater communication within teams, not greater exclusivity between Captains.

[Jazzza]

Usually the contents of the message gives away if it is an internship communication, or regular crew chat. For authenticity sake I try to add "*my ship name* to *team mate's ship name*" before the message such as:
"Golden Phoenix to Azura's Wrath we are running under the clouds to the south of your position, hostile pyramidion spotted  East of us and moving in your direction."

Well the [Crew] usually lets you know if its crew chat, I'm talking about making the captain distinct so that in Team chat the other captain can tell who's who as its not uncommon for a crew member on another ship to speak up in their captain's place if they think their captain isn't communicating enough.  Having him show up as distinct in the other channels is more for consistency's sake.

I agree. Sure you can spend a few seconds to work out who's who, but it can't hurt to highlight captain's names. It'd make it that much easier to realise it's a captain chatting and it'll draw attention to the chat more, especially when you need it (or you need the other captain to see).

I'd rather see the Match text chat channel implemented in the prematch lobby first.  That's the one that will have the greatest benefit to the game.

Definitely.


The main reason why I suggested this in the first place is to differentiate captain from ordinary crew member. I agree that the crew should be kept up to date on the captain's plans, but at the end of the day I'd rather actually know I'm reading what a captain is saying.