Tablet + senior command computer means that you can send out announcements continuously every 15 seconds for the entire operation. You can blow up marines ears by spamming OW messages. They don’t even look at chat anyways. SLs and FTLs often have RTPs on their back and use that to call req or command for OBs or supplies already. Chances are you can do second comms on the way to the caves on whichever map you’re in and let the backliner hunting mute freaks deal with it.
Three squads rushing the hive without giving the xenos a chance to get caps through chokes is much better than 2 squads being stuck at a choke for 15 minutes. Like, you are a murder ball, how can you lose?
RTPs are in fashion. With generous SLs, you get 21 RTPs per shared req (Alpha+Bravo/Charlie+Delta) which you could supplement with req. You could probably get everyone a phone on lowpop
Sounds like someone not old enough to see full 4 squads ungaball on highpop and still lose to xeno. On the comms, yes we do need it otherwise unga gonna run round and round like headless chickens.
Comms are essential because it allows marines to rely on one another for communication instead of purely CIC (who is often incompetent and/or incapable). In addition, if command orders you to fallback to FOB and there’s no comms… yeah, fuck that. No one’s going to follow that order until they see everyone else doing it over the radio.
The real meta is to set up the FOB ground side and get all the PVTs in Echo squad so you can use them as runners to hand deliver orders to the SLs. There’s nothing more soul that sitting at the wire with your binoculars, watching a lurker drag off your screaming messenger only to turn around and calmly call “next man!”
Comms is really nice to have especially when xenos try to pull off a flank. Any pvt can radio in that they hear queen footsteps or a large xeno force coming from X direction. If CIC is on point, they can quickly relay that information to all squads and allow enough marines to respond and counter that flank.
Otherwise without comms, you need an SO on overwatch to catch the flank or someone to radio telephone it in, but at that point it’s too late and the flanking has already occurred. If the xenos did a good job, it could mean a good portion of marine forces are wiped and the operation is pretty much done for.
Oh hell no… Please can we finally stop messing with marine comms? Just bring portacomms back. Herding cats is already hard enough and FOB sieges are just sucky when the grunts can’t radio each other. The whole radio backpack thing was absolutely the worst thing to hit CM. It does not fit the setting, it’s not adding anything to the gameplay.
In exchange for portacomms how about we give xenos 2 ravengers, but who are also like trappers too. Like literally anything.
What are you talking about? This is “IMMERSION" as this is the 80s and we only have shortwave AM radios, there’s no cool and hip techs like satellite or interstellar communications. Be glad we don’t have to decipher Morse code to understand the announcements…. yet…
as this is the 80s and we only have shortwave AM radios, there’s no cool and hip techs like satellite or interstellar communications. Be glad we don’t have to decipher Morse code to understand the announcements…. yet…