BF2 Commander

Once you're in the game press "Enter" unless you're in the spawn screen and click on the "Squad" tab and you should see "Commander" with the option to apply for the commander, mutiny the current commander and be the commander, or resign from being a commander.

Apply for Commander. If you apply yourself, you have to wait a while until the game picks who should be the commander. If it has chosen you, a message should appear on your bottom left screen asking weather to accept or decline the position of commander. Press "Page Up" key to accept. Press "Page Down" key to decline. Mutiny the commander! If you pick the option to mutiny the commander, the game will present a vote to the team with the option to: Vote to kick the current commander. Vote to keep the current commander

(Some servers have turned off the mutiny option so if you have a lousy commander you're out of luck.) How the Game picks the commander: The Battlefield 2 Commander mode is based on this player ranking system. When a game begins the player with the highest ranking on each team will have the option of becoming the Commander of that team. If that player decides against it, the next ranking player will be given the option, and so on. Commanders can be voted out of "Office", but you will need majority vote. Congrats, you're now the commander, now what? The Commanders main job is to disperse squads into strategic locations. The commander will be taking in information from other squads on the map and can assign and dispatch assistance when necessary. The squad leader does have the option of taking, or rejecting the Commanders orders. Once you have accepted to become the commander, press the "CAPS LOCK" key to open up your commander controls. You cannot access to this if you are dead.

Commander Screen

The Eye of the Commander

Zoomed
This Map is a non-transparent full map showing your squad leaders, friendly teammates, and flags. What many don't realize is that you can actually zoom in and have a bird's eye view of the map real-time showing everything, including the enemies. I could say this is almost like a map hack. To zoom into the map to a certain area, left click that area and then use your scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in or out. If you do not have a scroll wheel, check your control options to see which key is used to zoom.

Commander's 4 Basic Actions

There are 4 basic and options for the commander. They are easy to use and pretty easy to understand. Just click that option and then click the location on the map where you want that action to be executed except for "Scan" which scans the whole map.

Scan
Basically this is radar executed action that scans the whole map. The enemies will show up as a red big dot, teammates show up in blue. This option is useful when you use Artillery or want to monitor enemy movements.

The scan option is similar to the UAV but operates separately from the UAV. Its results are only viewable by the commander. He then can point out the enemy to the rest of the team.

The scan option is disabled if your radar is destroyed.

Artillery

This option makes the 1 or more howitzers launch multiple rounds at a concentrated area that is selected by the commander. The impacts are always random so it might not hit the target you want to such as directly on a flag or armor. Artillery is very effective against infantry and light armors but never on heavy and medium armors such as the M1A2/T-90 or the LAV-25.

Artillery barrage in commanders view.

Artillery barrage in-game view.

This option is disabled if someone destroys your howitzers.

UAV

This option launches an invisible unmanned recon aircraft that constantly scans an area equivalent to a grid size constantly for a long time. Enemies will blink as red targets such as a red dot (infantry) or a red tank (armor). This is very useful when you are monitoring an area to find hidden or camouflaged enemies such as in a flag zone. Another great thing about this UAV is that your teammates will also see the enemy that is detected by the UAV on their radar.

UAV scan up close.

UAV scan size.

UAV: The UAV (unmanned air vehicle) scans the local area and when enemy troops are present they show up as red dots. The UAVs output could be seen on the players mini-map on the top left corner of the screen. UAV is best used after a scan, this way the scan can find the flanking enemy, or show the attack squads what they are in for.

Supply Drops
Supplies: Are the only means other than support and medic players of players healing and getting ammo. Squad leaders can request these boxes to their location with the T key. The commander has to accept the request and the box will float down to the squad leaders position.

Orders
The Commander can order squads to certain position and do things like repair, attack, destroy and more. This puts some order in the chaos of the battlefield. Playing without a commander is extremely hard as he is responsible for so many things.

Squad Information
On box on the middle left side shows the Squad info such as how many squads you have, how many members each squad has, and what kits each member of the squads have: Special Forces: Sword/Saber Assault: FAMAS weapon Medic: Equal Cross Anti-Tank: Rocket Engineer: Wrench Support: Machine Gun Mounted on Tripod Sniper: Crosshair If one of the member has a vehicle icon (Tank, transport, helicopters, etc.) it means that he is in a certain vehicle that relates to the icon.

To select a certain squad, simply click on that squad info and it'll become highlighted or simply press the number key on your keyboard that corresponds to the squad # such as pressing Key 3 to select squad 3. To select more than one squad, simply press CTRL or Shift and select the squads with the mouse. This can save some time by not having to go through squads one by one.

Squad Comments
Right click the squad info to make comments such as: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Commend (Good Job!) Rebuke (YOU SUCK AS A SQUAD LEADER!) Follow Orders! Artillery incoming Artillery Available Supply Drop Available UAV Available

These are the tools to command your squads effectively and quickly. You can bring these commands up on the map by dragging the mouse over the point you are concerned about and right click on it. There are 2 categories of commands: Squad Commands These are the squad commands that are brought up: 1. Move to this position (Yellow Arrow) 2. Defend this point (Purple Shield) 3. Attack this Position (Orange Sword) 4. Repair this object (Red violet wrench) 5. Destroy this target (Hammer) 6. Mine this point (Mine)

This will save time from having to type to the squad and you can quickly pinpoint the exact location the action to take place. It also has a better method of gaining attention to the squad leader than just regular text. Commander's action 1. Zoom - it's the same as zooming in and out of the map except you do it differently. The former option makes you left-click on the point and scroll the mouse wheel to zoom (or press a key that's assigned to zoom) while the latter option makes you right click on that point and select "Zoom." I prefer the former option since it's faster. 2. Spotted - there is this one particular squad command in which works similar as using the "Spot command" in-game. Obviously it's called Spotted and the way it works is if you detect a target such as a sniper, you can give the "Spotted" Command over the target and the enemy will appear in your teammates radar for a short period of time. This can really save you a lot of time and not to waste the UAV ability just to show your guys one or few enemies.* The other three commands (Artillery, UAV, and Supply Drop) are the same options as the 4 basic options I told you. The only difference is how you order these actions. The former option makes you click and drag the "crosshair" of the action over the map. The latter options make you right-click over the point and select the action. Squad Leader's Request Squad leaders can request commanders to take certain actions to help and aid the squad in their mission or goal. They can request: Orders Artillery UAV Supplies Orders- When they want orders, an exclamation mark "!" will come up in the squad info of the squad requesting the order. If this happens, it's common sense to give an order to the squad than just doing nothing as if the squads got a dead commander pigging for points. Artillery, UAV, and Supplies- When a squad leader requests any one of these, a yellow icon will show up that corresponds to the action in need: Gun surrounded by circle: Artillery is requested 5 pointed object: UAV is requested Parachute: Supply is requested To accept the request, right-click the map and two choices, Accept and Decline, will appear. It's highly recommended that you accept requests as it helps your team and you get +1 in your commander score. If the action is available, and you accept the request, the action will take place where it was requested. However, when the action is not yet available for use and you accept the request, the squad leader will get an excuse of why his request cannot be accepted. If there are two or more requests from squad leaders at the same time and you only want to accept certain requests such as only UAV and Supplies, right-click and accept over or near the request icons you choose to do. This should only accept the requests you choose to do without accepting another request you choose not to do (i.e. accepting to start an artillery barrage with 5 of your men in the area).

Finding a specific unit or kit to do a job!

In the bottom of the Commander screen, you'll notice several icons of weapon kits (and types of armors. This toolbar is used to find infantry with a certain kit or in a certain vehicle by eliminating other teammates of the map that does not fit the description. So let's say you need an infantry with a Special Forces kit to destroy the enemy's artillery, simply deselect "All" (Default setting) and punch in the SF icon (Sword), then the map should only show infantry who has the SF kit: Also, you can punch in more icons than one. So if you want to find two or more infantry with certain kits that are different from each other at the same time, just punch in their icons and they'll be the only infantry to show up on the map. This toolbar is an excellent way to find the right man for the job in short time in searching and execution.

Basic Option's Time Chart

1. Accept Commander: The time it takes for each ability to be available once a member becomes a commander. 2. Deployed: The time it takes for each ability to be available once it has been used. 3. Runs For: The time each ability lasts (i.e, UAV scans the area for 30 seconds until it goes away). 4. Before impact: Time it takes for the ability to "hit" the target (i.e, it takes 7 seconds for the supply to land on the ground).

Voice over IP
As a commander, communication is crucial as you have a clear bird's eye view of the map. Therefore, relaying real-time messages is a great aid to your squad and team. To talk to a certain or individual squad(s), the CO should highlight the concerned squads then press the "B" key to communicate. Using the "B" key allows for voice comm *only* to the highlighted squads. Using the "V" key by default sends the CO's comm to *all* squads.

To talk to a specific squad, press the squad's number on the keyboard*, then press B to talk to only that squad. CTRL+numbers* followed by B will talk to those selected squads. V talks to all squads and works outside of the commander window. B does not. The number keys are what many call "hotkeys" or "bind keys." For these number keys, you select the squad that corresponds with the number you pressed (Key 3 = Squad 3).

Commander Points and Commander Bonus

The formula for commander points is: Total score earned points by the team / # of players = Commander score. Example of the formula in the works: In the first half of the match, your team consists of 20 players who earn a total of 400 points. However, due to Team kills and other related incidents, your team has an overall total score of 325. In the 2nd half, 10 players from your team disconnects the server and thus you have a total of 10 players in your team. They earn a total of 300 points but due to TKs and other related incidents, your team has an overall total score of 250. So with the given information, what's the total possible score a commander would get before the 2x bonus? Lets see: 1st half: 400 points earned / 20 players = 20 points per players = 20+ for commander 2nd half: 300 points earned / 10 players = 30 points earned per player = 30+ for commander The total score a commander could have before 2x bonus is 50.

Commander Bonus
As you know, only Commanders get 2x bonus if his team wins. However, it's not actually a 2x bonus but it's good enough to describe it generally. In truth, the game doesn't actually double your score, but actually adds the commander points you earned to your total score. The significant effect of this rule is -Even if somehow, such as team kill, you lose points, the bonus will still account for that point -No one can double their points simply by becoming the commander just before the round ends. So let's say you had the total of 50 commander points and overall of 50 points. You score 2 team kills, giving -8 to your overall score to 42. The round ends with your team winning the round. Instead of 42 x 2 = 84, you actually get 92 points. Why? Because the game actually adds your overall score to the commander points you earned, so it's actually 42 + 50 = 92. Conclusion, the formula is: Total Score + Commander Points Earned, not Total Score x 2.

Finally, players who rack up a lot of points by kills, teamwork points, and flag captures and quickly be commander before the round ends do not double his score because he had no commander points to be added to his total score at all.

MISSCELLANOUS COMMANDER TRIVIA

1. Do a scan to know where the enemy is grouping up or flanking. 2. Drop a UAV on where the enemy is concentrating or the most threatening. People will usually attack where they see the enemy on their radar so the UAV can guide squads without giving them orders. 3. Drop arty on where you think the enemy will be in about 10 sec. 4. If any of your assets are damaged then DROP SUPPLIES ON THEM!!! It is usually faster then trying to find an engineer to travel over and fix them. 5. What many don't realize is that you can actually zoom in and have a bird's eye view of the map real-time showing everything, including the enemies. This works great for dropping supplies to a specific location. 6. Commanders should be scanning the battlefield as often as possible. This will allow you to follow enemy troop movement and predict where attacks will occur. 7. Use Artillery to soften enemy base and Send UAV just before arrival showing remaining enemy, and be ready with supplies, drop the supplies just behind any armor, but with flag range if possible). 8. UAV should always be running, unless you are preparing for an attack within the next 30 seconds to 1 minute UAV is the best way to get disobedient squads to go in the area you want (squads that do not listen tend to be self serving, so they follow the UAV) UAV is best used after a scan, this way the scan can find the flanking enemy, or show the attack squads what they are in for