Captain Chat

[Thomas]

I think it would help if captain chat became more of a 'team chat', instead of just the captains. There's a few reasons for this:

• Captains may not have a mic or be listening, while their crew does
• The Captain might not always be the pilot
• Captains can leave the match and force another crew member to take the helm
• Captains that don't communicate well, but have a crew that's willing to do so

There's also my own desire as a pilot/captain to not have my crew and fellow captains talking at the same time without realizing they're doing so. With a crew chat and a team chat (instead of captain chat) players can hear when someone is talking in either chat. So there's less of a chance of them talking over each other.


Failing that, I'd at least like some kind of symbol to display when captain chat is active. Letting your crew know that someone else is already talking to the captain, and shouting into their mic isn't idea at that point.

[The Djinn]

I think it would help if captain chat became more of a 'team chat', instead of just the captains. There's a few reasons for this:

Oh god, please no.

As a pilot I have enough to deal with communicating with my team and the allied captains. I don't want their crews to ALSO be able to talk on the channel, as that will really clog up the airways extensively. I know uncommunicative captains are an issue, but I don't think allowing EVERYONE onto a single chat is a good solution.

[Thomas]

I could see that being a problem on occasion. I'd at least like the crew to know when Captain chat is active (captain is talking or being talked to) so they don't start shouting "Turn Left! Turn Right! Argh, where are we going!? What's the other ship doing? Who are we aiming at? We need to go lower!" while the other captains are also shouting "Lets focus on the Pyra! I'm going to ram him! Hey, you're about to hit me! Get to point B, we'll head to point A, and that ship down there head to C. Let's all meet up on XXXXX. Where are you?"

And then one or the other getting upset when you don't respond to them fast enough.


With a good crew on each ship, they tend to know better than to shout over each other. It's like how the clans use skype/party/teamspeak/vent/etc to all talk to each other, even while being on different ships. In an ideal situation, they would know to use it only when they need to tell the other ship something, and not confuse it with the crew chat, in which they generally shout whatever occurs to them at that moment. Like "We need to go lower!" as your ship is already descending.

[The Djinn]

I could see that being a problem on occasion. I'd at least like the crew to know when Captain chat is active.

This would be very useful, yes.

[Mattisamo]

Maybe change it so that they can hear the captain chat, but not speak in it.

[Ariden]

Maybe change it so that they can hear the captain chat, but not speak in it.

I agree with this, otherwise I wouldn't like a chat where everybody can speak. Just captains is fine with me, even though it doesn't always work out it's better than having everybody in the way.

[Garou]

Party chat works quite well for exactly what you described. When our clan flies in competitions we use it for just that reason.

[Thomas]

Party chat does work great, but people only use it with their friends or pre-formed teams. Random assortments tend not to take the time to get that benefit. It's also in the random groupings that the other problems occur (captain leaving, captain not communicating, captain not being the pilot). So really the Team Chat is more for when the crew needs to talk with their ally ships.

The issue more commonly faced by everyone else, even in preformed teams, is players talking over one another, completely unaware that you're trying to pay attention to someone else. This actually happens to me more when the players have better teamwork. The crew and other ships try to communicate often to work together, and you get bombarded on both sides. Giving some kind of display in the UI (like a sound symbol showing up) to let players know that the captains are talking, or even letting them hear what's being said so they don't talk over each other would be really nice. Personally I want to believe that the player base is mature enough for a full on team chat (still being able to use their crew chat) in the cases where they need to tell the other ships something and the captain isn't there, or the captain can't (no mic/no sound/refuses).

[dragonmere]

Yup, volume levels can be a slight issue at times. But I'm pretty sure that we're getting volume level priority in an upcoming patch:  Captain > Party > Crew   That should solve any problems I've had.

Issues where random crews would want to talk between ships is a rare enough occurrence that I believe Party Chat fills the need. And many organized teams or clans already use third party voice chat such as TeamSpeak.

Also, when running with an organized crew or team, remember that communication skills are a part of teamwork. Managing voice communication just as you would any other part of strategy is extremely important in this game. If you are having issues with team members speaking over one another, you are probably having issues with overall team organization.

[Spud Nick]

Last time I looked there was already a button for team chat.

[Thomas]

There is a team chat button, but that's for text, we're talking about voice chat (sorry I didn't clarify).


It's true that a lot of organized clans use a third party voice system, but that also shows the benefits of a full team chat. And this suggestion is mostly for the benefit of random players that decide to group up. Organized teams tend to use the party chat or a third party system just fine.


A volume priority is certainly handy, since it allows you to hear one person over the other, but at the same time you can't quite hear the other; and they have no idea you can't. Which is why it would be nice for them to hear, or be aware of the other chat taking place.

[Captain Rico]

When captaining a ship i love it if my crew starts to chat. Once the people start talking they are used to talk while playing and give more calls.
"enemy below us!"
"spot cloud four o'clock high"

Flying with a mute crew sucks. And 3 guys talking is okay...but 6 or 9 is too much.

[GreyTea]

how about instead of captain chat, have commander signals, like team but only the commander of the teams can see that way, they can relayed on each ship and over comes the no mic issues, and if the pilot leaves the commander goes to the next member so their is always a way to communicate

[Sammy B. T.]

Voice chat would be horrendous over a team.  However if the voice commands  could work as just team messages that could work without overwhelming the ears.  If there was a "target ship 1, 2, 3, or 4" the number corresponding to ship name, them that could be nice.