Heya Wallick! Not going to put a +/-1 down yet until I get more rounds with ya, but a few bits of advice from seeing you as XO over a few rounds!
To start, I think you have a wonderful grasp on trying to stay in character and not just be “John Marine but in CIC”. Its a breath of fresh air to have Briefs in CIC or the Conference Room and make it feel official like orders are coming down from on high.
I only really have two main points before seeing how you rock and roll in round:
- To quote Soomis from your last CO app:
I understand that quriks help give a character more pizzaz or whatever adjective you want to apply. But, as CIC, your singular purpose is to clearly and concisely relay information to the Marines on the ground. Something like this -
contains exactly 12 characters of useful information (Evac x3). Everything else is fluff that is going to confuse the hell out of a newer player. The fluff bits are nice for wake-up announcements or calm moments, but in the heat of the moment you dont need fanfare and trumpets to roll out every announcement.
- Ditto to above - use words that a newer player isnt going to be confused by.
Fluff for non-critical information is fine. Hell, I myself dont say “guys” and tend to call people “lads” (damn the brits!) so I’m no stranger. But - and this is speaking from someone who only started playing CM early this year - it gets very confusing when I’m getting hit by all these terms and have a hard time figuring everything out because I have to learn another set of goofy military terms. And thats coming from someone with a decade of MilSim knowledge outside of funny spaceman game.
Some examples:
- Please please please do not replace any directional wording - there was a round where I saw you turn “North-East” into “North-Echo”. Not only does that make no sense, its not even shortening the word!
- I understand that its fluff to call Squads Sections (or any of what I have been told is a british-ism). But personally its a massive immersion break to have a United States Marine company get called by British terms. If it was the Royal Marines, sure, but not the Americans (obligatory we dumped the tea in the harbor for a reason). Fluff up stuff about your backstory or maybe some slang, but an Officer should be using terms that the Corps uses. Its also a lil confusing to go full-brit with a character that grew up around UPP regimes according to your story.
Communication is the heart and soul of CIC (and frankly, Leadership as both an ideal in real life and as a skill in game) and is personally my main concern for anyone playing an Officer in-game.
I have full confidence - as Kirsh pointed out on your last app - that youve poured a lot of energy, effort, and passion into playing XO and going for CO, but I worry that some of the comments from the last app werent taken to heart.
Either way, I look forward to seeing you in CIC over the next weeks to see how youve grown from last time!