Suggestion For Improving Observer Role & Support Control

We all know being an Observer is like being the Commanders plaything. Constantly having to endure the game shouting at us "Observer!!! Come Here!" "Where's my Observer!".

What if instead of using the stick, we used the carrot and made being an Observer more interesting and fun, by giving the Observer additional responsibilities when calling in certain supports.

The suggestion is this: After the Commander calls in certain supports (non mortar) on a location, the Observer is then required to choose a DIRECTION for that call before it gets sent. (possibly using a popup rotary wheel with all 8 cardinal directions on them, unless a better/quicker/funner option is available) In addition, for insurgents it would be the on-site Observer who pilots the IED drone (lets be honest the AI controlling that thing is terrible).

This would greatly increase the sense of accomplishment for Observers (instead of just being forced to play your part by being near the commander) and would increase the sense of teamwork between the Observer and Commander.

This would also have the added benefit of removing the randomness/luck of getting a good attack direction when using A-10 runs, drone bombing-runs, Attack Chopper rockets, etc.

last edited by AMURKA

@amurka This would open up soooo many griefing opportunities.

Care to explain? How would being able to control which way an A-10 run comes in enable griefing? Be more specific.

And even if there were some ways for this to be misused by trolls, the benefits would far outweigh that downside.

I'd like to see something like this:

any player can call in mortars and smoke if a radioman is nearby, on a long delay
commanders can call basic company level support any time, like mortars, AH6, or small arty barrage
commanders need radio for brigade level fire support like A10, rockets, gunship, or battery fire artillery
snipers can call smoke or spot targets that commander can "approve" strikes against

I really like the idea that other classes can call in target locations, and have those be "approved" for action... but only for insurgents. It's far more believable that Insurgents would have a much looser chain of command for this sort of thing, so calling them in and having the "guy in charge" approve them would be a cool mechanic. It would also make the radios on each insurgents vest actually make sense.

last edited by AMURKA

I'd like to see the tagging disappear. Another suggestion would be this:

The commander choose 2~3 coloured smokes grenades in his inventory. (one colour for one type of strike like right now)
He has to throw the grenade where he wants the strike and the observer has to look at the smoke grenade directly through the binoculars (from anywhere on the map) until the strike is confirmed.

This looks a lot more like team work than just staying together...

What do you think?

Well in the US Army, there is either a dedicated forward observer who calls in fire and has his own radio, or a COLT/FIST team that acts as one unit.

As a line unit radio operator, I was regularly tasked with calling in all forms of support, from medevac to air strikes, under the direction of a rifleman or squad leader.

So if approving requests from the team is a viable mechanic, then it ought to be available to both sides to keep the experience consistent.

I like the idea of having the commander able to mark a spot, and then have the radio guy see it and call in fire.

What would be really neat is if we had to use the map, call in fire on coordinates, and be able to adjust fire with the radio guy.

That would let the initial request be done without exposure to enemy fire, but getting it dialed in for maximum effect would require a spotter to observe the target and transmit orders.

Correct me if i'm wrong but does the Observer also not get any score for calling in fire supports? Atleast getting some score as recognition for your work would be nice.

last edited by Shields

@shields It might of changed but during the beta#1 but both the commander and Observer got kills for firesupport

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