Interesting post and i agree with most of what the OP says.
Getting a group of random players to follow a plan ain't easy. And what Corwin says is also true; teaming up in small subgroups can be really effective.
Things to try:
- participate in discussing a plan while dead (can't stress this enough, it's really important. confirm plans and repeat)
- after spawning, look around. make 'eye contact' with players you like to team with and salute them. stick with them.
- make a sub-batallion and say so to your team. for example, say in teamchat: "making melee group, bat 2. <insert basic plan here> follow the white flag"
I've noticed that the players that actually look around, make 'eye contact' after spawning and / or salute (block upwards or jiggle shield up and down) are the guys to team up with. The guys that run in a straight line towards the enemies without looking back once to see what the team does (grind / leech mode) are the least valuable.
So make it a habit to look around after spawning. You don't have to type, just use non-verbal communication. Don't be afraid to grab one of the battalion flags. Maybe say in chat what you are going to do (e.g.: bat 2, melee group flanking left).
About the use of caps and repeating commands: yeah, i know it sucks. I hate caps. But it works. So we live with it. I'll try not to repeat commands too much, but it's tempting to spam if you have 'em macro'd like me.
The OP also suggests that the best general strategy is to take an advantageous position and hold there (CAMP / HOLD). It's the easiest plan and often effective.
But: i've also noticed that camping will make people passive. Often, when camping, many players are inactive and lose their initiative and kind of hang back.
The other basic plan is the charge (be it left, right or just a straight-at-the-enemies-charge). The advantage here is: everyone is trying to get a kill. So every player is being 'dangerous' and is actively hunting enemies. No passivity. Ranged classes and people with low athletics often have a harder time, because they need to keep up with the rush and don't get to shoot much.
The gread advantage here is momentum. Enemy positions are generally easily surrounded and overwhelmed. The risk is splitting up. The longer the charge lasts, the more the team gets seperated. That is where the battalion flags come in: use the red batallion 1 flag to indicate a regroup point. Shout 'regroup at flag' in chat.
Alternating between short camps / regroups and charges seems to work best on most maps.
The key, i think, is doing both: first you group up (camp) on some advantageous position (hill), then you wait for the enemies to get close and you charge them before they get to disrupt your ranged classes. This ensures both good positions for ranged and the momentum advantage for melee.
The main problem here is deciding who calls the charge. Having only one leader is risky, because if he dies the rest of the team becomes passive and the camp-charge turns into a passive camp only. Don't be afraid to discuss who leads or
to take the lead if there seems to be no leader. The one class i haven't mentioned is cav. I've come to believe that letting the cav charge forward and hunt stragglers and afkers is a big waste. Too many cav gets lost to enemy ranged fire whilst chasing low value kills. Instead, i believe that cav is a
support class.
Instead of charging ahead, the best cav can do is stick with the melee group and use their horse to block enemy cavalry or threaten enemy melee when they engage your infantry. That way, you prevent your cav from getting isolated and mobbed away from the main fight. Cav needs to be there at the 'big clash' to bump enemies and put pressure on their rear, forcing the enemy to face multiple directions and breaking their charge.
(The proof of this, for me, is that on most normal maps, like ruins, the most effective tactic by far is: "hold middle ruins, kill enemy cav" (or "hold gate, kill enemy cav" for the other team). Cav always charges in first, gets piked or shot and after that infantry and ranged can spread out and surround the enemies without getting picked off by cav.)
P.S. ages ago i wrote a guide on tactics. It's outdated, but if you haven't seen it, take a peek (
http://forum.c-rpg.net/index.php/topic,27.0.html).
I like this thread. Keep it coming!
