i do think it’s a bit weird how instead of making Echo and Foxtrot the new two aux squads (alongside charlie) we’re jumping to straight to Kilo and Oscar, which doesn’t really make sense with the current ABCD as it would jump from ABCD to KLMNO
if not Echo and Foxtrot (for the reason they are already ingame), then maybe Gulf and Hotel as an alternative
maybe im stupid, maybe this is acid glop, who knows
The reason is that it sounds cooler and fresher and that’s about it, though I do agree with your point that it technically should just be Echo and Foxtrot and onwards.
As Joe DaThrow said, it’s easier to sell “hey guys look now there’s OSCAR and KILO isn’t that cool!!” versus “hey guys there’s echo and foxtrot every round, don’t ask what squad the ghost roles wake up into”
What if we had ARES generate a randomly assigned squad name for the two new squads every round.
Being series I don’t really mind Oscar and Kilo. Its ‘fresh’ as others have said and its less work than having to also rename and retheme Foxtrot and Echo.
I would rank this akin to how we don’t rename Bravo squad. Echo and Foxtrot have been sorta grandfathered in through the years.
In my opinion it doesn’t really matter the name of the squad, but as it stands using echo and foxtrot would make it much easier infrastructure wise since we already have comms for those squads. Just need to add a color for foxtrot.
Additionally, not sure if this is intended. But the second FTLs of an ABCD squad were spawning on foxtrot squad. CIC consoles had no access to foxtrot and it was not possible to transfer them.
This is correct.
The name is ultimately arbitrary. I don’t want any pre-existing sentiment or attachment to whatever name they ultimately end up being. Nivrak and I are experimenting with this, and seeing pretty key results. Watching squad cultures develop in real time is awesome and refreshing.
born to be the best SG ever on charlie, forced to eat crayons and join delta
kinda cool tho, i like flex squads
What if I am a 5318008 man?
if we’re following the naming convention the ghost squad is going to be Hotel and Echo’s replacement is Golf
It’s better if it’s a consistent two squads. Not everyone knows the NATO alphabet by heart (tragic as that is).
I hope kilo and oscar get renamed Golf and Hotel so then it is ABCDEFGH
The memes would be off the charts.
On a serious note, the rationale is based on what things we consider to be positive:
Does this allow for the development of new culture, traditions, and roleplay?
Does this have a pre-existing reputation to be drawn from?
Is this beholden to an order laid out by a legacy system or structure therein?
Can it be appropriately contextualized into the desired framework while sustaining interest beyond the base function?
These are the guidelines I was working with when I laid this out 2 years ago. Echo and Foxtrot obviously don’t work well with (2), and the names like golf and hotel didn’t really stick with (4), sort of straddling existing stuff and limiting flexibility (3). The whole name thing can pretty immediately be proven in testing where Kilo almost instantly gained a culture and a following (max capacity every round), where Oscar was lagging significantly behind. The name matters a lot. A real critic would say that to fulfill (1) we should be replacing all the legacy squads in favor of a new system entirely for maximum growth. In case you guys haven’t been paying attention, we’re entering a wild west era of CM where nothing is really off the table (except mechs and flying bugs), so let’s have fun with it.
I knew you didn’t completely disregard my flying queen comment. Theres a chance!
it is easy to code flying xenos, but I do not think anyone rly wants them
…So, sword marines and mag-fed shotty coming up?
Marines dont kow their ABCs so its okay if it doesnt
What if you made the squad only open to people named Oscar, this will fix it, trust
I did peep that you can set your specialist preferences to now include melee specialist or whatever the meme one is, so….maybe?
The only ABC any good marine-main should even bother to concern themselves with is ‘,abcd CHARGE!!!’.
Honestly, I do not like A.S.S. It changes things that don’t need to be changed currently. I am also very against the changes to Charlie squad I and many other role Charlie because of the RP culture and the fact that Charlie Listens. I play a lot of Command and If I need something done, I send Charlie Because THEY LISTEN. Alpha and Delta Sit around and USALLY Does not listen. I have XO noticed that Multicomms is not good enough to Support all 6 comms AND on top of that the Naming schema for them Is really shit you are not going to go ahead and skip over squad names it’s not logical from a military perspective. There is Many fundamental issues I have with A.S.S After playing multiple Rounds with it. I get the point the devs are trying to make but its not something that is good for CM
Skipping phonetic designations is actually already supported by the lore, so it could make sense. The entire company was decimated during the Tychon Tackle. Its the same reason we don’t have much AP or any HEAP + why our vehicles are in shortage and we don’t have any logistics vehicles. Clearly the squad/platoon phonetics in-between took heavy casualties during the operation and were not apart of second platoon.
This is actually the entire argument for ASS and one that I think is very important. Charlie currently has no mechanical or rule support for being specifically a roleplay/order oriented squad, its just loose culture (that as a Charlie main even I can admit seems to not be followed as much anymore). With the ASS system and the addition of Kilo/Oscar (and Charlie also becoming a smaller unit) we now have the ability to slot in players who are solely dedicated to the role rather than having a gamble on whether the population of the squad that day is interested in RP and/or following orders.
The system doesn’t allow for you to address multiple squads yet, so I don’t think this is a fair argument. Its pretty obvious that once this gets further into development those kinda issues are gonna get smoothed out, kinda unfair to grade it on that now.
I personally have NEVER had this level of cohesion and immersion in CM13, the rounds I played with ASS (both as an SL and rifleman) I genuinely felt like I was playing PvE rather than normal CM. This is a big step in a good direction for raising the overall RP quality and returning to soul and true MRP focus.