Messages

1

General Discussion / Re: Pilots?

« on: May 28, 2013, 12:04:01 pm »

@Squash: The pilot is in the position to look around and see where ships are at. He also has the ability to see where his crew is at and direct broadsides and that sort. If a captain was an engineer or something, he would have to leave his natural state to look around and see what's up, yet the pilot is already in that position. So pilots have to be captains.

I believe that all captains are a bit masochistic, we operate under enormous stress, we shout and yell at people, and we have to fly by the seat of our pants.

2

General Discussion / Re: What makes a good captain?

« on: May 25, 2013, 02:38:44 am »

What makes a good captain? Who knows, good is subjective. The question should be what makes an effective captain.

While I can't make a blanket statement for what a captain needs to do and needs not to do, what I can say is what I do and how I gel together a crew.

The first thing I do when I chose to be captain is start talking. Right off the bat I greet my crew, ask how's it going, and whatever. The point being is that I engage them and make them talk back. This is also a critical time to start building a rep with them. If I'm likable, I find that more people will tend to listen to me. So we talk, I find out what's happening with them, how experienced they are, and what positions they want to take. In between I joke and pal around with them constantly building that rep. This also is my chance to find if who will listen and who won't listen. I'll be very very reluctant to captain if my crew doesn't talk back to me.

The second thing I do is start to gauge my teammate and the opposition. Once again I talk to the other captain and see what's up with him. I see what ship he chose and his loadout. I then chose a ship that will complement him. I look at the opposition and find out what ship would be easier to engage and fight against. While I'll talk to the opposition I won't try to guess how they play, I want to set the tempo to the upcoming battle, not them.

Third thing I do is start doling out duties. I'll assign my crew to position where they feel most comfortable at. If they are really good I change things up different rounds so that people rotate positions so that other people have the chance to play different positions. Changing positions keeps the crew happy.

Then I'm set for the battle. My crew will have the general idea of what they'll be doing and there won't be a clusterfuck in the beginning.

Now for in-game.

Off the bat I group up with my teammate. I'll talk to them and plan a hasty order of battle. Once things are set I make sure my crew are in position and ready for the fight. Then, I'm off.

At all times I keep my head on a swivel. I'm now looking around for enemy ships, planing where I'm going to head about 1-2 klicks out, watching my teammate to be sure we're together, and watching my crew. At the same time I'm keeping my ears open for contact reports and sitreps from both my crew and teammate.

Now for battle.

I shout, I shout, A LOT. This isn't because I'm angry or an asshole, this is to make sure people hear me and understand me. I give clear orders and inform people on the statuses of ship parts. I make snap calls at what to fire and what to repair. I also have to talk to my crewmate, keep my head on a swivel, and plan two to three steps out. ALL AT THE SAME TIME. Of course there is the saying that the best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry, when things fail its time for improv and basically flying by the seat of my pants.

Then the rest is history.

So basically to recap:

I communicate a lot. My job is all about talking and making sure what I say gets done.
I accumulate information. An apt analogy is that I am a sponge and all the information that is bombarding me is a firehose, I got to soak all of it up or I risk missing something important.
I plan all my moves out. I take the information I gathered and through experience and my anticipations create plan to beat my opponent.


Being Captain is not everyones cup of tea. It's extremely demanding and a lot of people are expecting you to pull though and win. It's a lot of pressure to be under but as Captain I thrive in that pressure. So that's what I think it takes.