…why is it that the bravo SGs and bravo specs assume they’re to also stay to do fob duty. Only time that doesn’t happen is if its specifically ordered otherwise. Like literally I can see IC reasoning for it, and I dont think anyone will punish them ever for it.
That being said, please SOs, if bravo is going to be fob as it is always, set the FTL, commtech, or even a PFC as aSL, not the sg or spec.
They are part of a squad and thus expected to fallow squad orders unless said otherwise
I mean yes and no. Briefing time is limited, every minute you delay drop hurts your chances of winning, so it’s a lot easier for XO/CO to just say “Bravo is on FOB” than clarify who exactly in bravo is on FOB.
I can’t think of a single scenario where someone wants a SADAR and SG rotting at FOB instead of fighting at the front, and if that were the case, I’m sure the XO/CO would specify it.
HOWEVER you’ll never ever see command give direct orders to sg/spec to stay at the fob and NOT help win the game
Untrue, there are many such cases
Rare, but it does happen more often than you’d think
I play bravo SG because it’s freeform. I take my bets on the least stupid squad I want to follow or do my own thing. This includes:
Backlining
Covering comms later into the round once it starts being attacked
Being aSL for FOB based on seniority and my Coolness factor (yawn)
QRF
Frontline backline (medic covering or general flank awareness)
I think people underestimate how helpful stuff like backline squad for free movement of marines between FOB and front and QRF to immediately unfuck any backline or flank wipes is. Probably 60% of the time I stick with some other squad at the front, 30% I do the other stuff, 5% of the time I’m stuck as aSL. I don’t know what I do the other 5% of the time.
If I wanted to be unga dakka at frontline, then I’d roll alpha or delta on prio and I do have a separate character for that.
Like, I get it, you won’t shoot anything from FOB but being Brav SG and ready to pivot has really helped backline on LV so so many times
In terms of TTK on front, how often SG synergize, etc. I find most scenarios involve and are covered well by two SGs. Not that third and fourth can’t frontline or shouldn’t but you need really two good SGs to carry front and everyone else usually doesn’t pay attention enough to stack on opportunities and make a difference. Orrr they got capped already.
You say as though people protecting FOB aren’t helping win the game… That’s kinda disrespectful from your part
I spent a looong time as a Bravo main, and one of the most common requests came from specs, SGs, and medics asking to deploy to the front.
The majority of the time when a fight reaches the FOB the marines have already lost, there are rare instances of a queen tunneling and taking the fob and bravo CAN prevent that but largely CM is a momentum based game.
What matters more than the FOB is the supply line to the front, if wounded and ammo etc can get from the fob to the front then the marines will do great, if backliners are sniping all reinforcements and wounded then you’re cooked. Hiding behind cades doesn’t fix those things.
80% of why the FOB works at all is because the Xenos are metaing that it’s there.
Anyway, the second Bravo stops looking at the FOB is the very second that a xeno sneak attack comes.
definitely a bit guilty of this TT I got to re-read the engineering guide
I should have clarified, I meant a lot more than what I posted. wholly agree with what you’ve said.
While bravo specs and sgs sitting at fob only happens every then and now, its been nagging me a bunch recently. I’ve had quite a few rounds where the spec/sg doing literally anything useful would have made a significant difference, citing myself from a recent LV round in the discord.
Obviously this is an outlier where in this circumstance very little useful cades were being built, and nothing was being done productively in FoB (yes it was manned with commtechs and PFCs). In terms of backlines, it was particularly fucked that round as well. The delta commtech (Thanks Levine) saved my ass multiple times despite being on the front, dragging me to fob and I was sitting there as a ghost watching all 5 of bravo doing fuck nothing.
I absolutely agree there are useful things for a SG to do in the backlines (Ignoring the spec part of my post, not withstanding scout who lives and dies in the backlines). Those rounds where theres a stupid amount of backliners making holding comms, intel collection, moving to front impossible a SG in a team is very useful to counter backliners, providing they arent alone. Covering comms while its being attacked by backliners/when front has fallen is very useful, though much less so as a regular protection force.
That being said, sitting in fob or even just doing SL stuff in fob could be much more effectively done with a simple PFC in any situation. A bravo SG who wants to be more than a frontman should consider the effectiveness of where they are. They can win rounds at the front and at the back. Its up to the player at the time to decide, and command by extension to decide how its most useful.
Fair enough! I’m symapthetic to the balance between “Wow that person has been afking on a wooden chair in FOB for one hour” and “Wow that person isn’t using the role the way I would”; I figured you meant the first type! I offered what I do just as perspective. Mostly, perhaps, so anyone who is playing bravo SG or scout/sniper and doesn’t know how to make themselves useful aside from rushing front has some extra ideas!
If it’s any credit to them, i think that player was new to SG and probably felt bad about not playing “safe” and potentially wasting the slot. Of course, people seem to forget that the target over your HUD also does help you get PFCs to follow you so you can organize a save squad. I can’t blame them for being timid (I am often enough still too), and I can’t blame anyone else for wishing they were more proactive (I also wish a lot of jobs were more proactive).
Unless it was me then I was probably busy picking my nose and doing paint-by-numbers (important things).
Side addendum but when the bravo spec is scout, that’s just Peak, I love rolling backline with them as PFC, HM, SG, anything
To be fair if you’re in CIC all you have to do is tell them to go to the front. 95% of the time, people sitting at FOB are either there because they assume that anyone in bravo is on FOB, or some asshat ordered them to stay on FOB despite their wishes.
The amount of people who actively look for excuses to AFK at FOB when they roll spec/SG is miniscule.
Yeah, but that’s a bad decision.
You consider that Bravo is not just a bunch of FOB building NPCS. They have a multifaceted job that’s pretty important. In many instances, the fact that they sent their SG and/or specialist off plays a huge role in Marines losing a lot of the time, and we have a large portion of our player base that doesn’t have the pattern recognition to see the problem. (And as a guy who is default aggressive, I ALSO UNDERSTAND sometimes it’s hard to revv up the second brain cell.)
Just thoughtlessly throwing Bravo SG to the front means it’s going to do plinking while denying them their most powerful tool to deal with backliners (A task Bravo should realistically always be doing.)
Specialists do get a little more wiggle room, as not all of them are great at Bravo’s job (like the SADAR, regular snader, heavy sniper, Flamer spec, which are usually WAY better on the front). But a Scout/ reg Sniper/and or arguably SHARP can lock an area down with just basic teamwork.
The fact that people NPC out on Bravo duty is a different matter. You shouldn’t be encouraging people to rush to the front without thinking. You should be encouraging people to be proactive about obvious problems.
you claim that bravo should always be doing backlining when in fact it’s a moot point, trying to assign any squad to such a high-skill task is doomed to failure. backlining naturally arises from skilled players disillusioned from the frontline, regardless of squad. As it is, most SG players are either not experienced enough or via IFF do not grow bored of the frontline . . .
an SG on their own with bravo has a significant chance, depending on the pop, of being completely surrounded by people who either dont have the confidence, dont have the skill, or dont have either to be able to effectively backline, which turns a powerful support role in the backline into either a free cap or trapped in the FOB waiting for a hero to offer to go backlining
They should be. The fact that they have a skill issue is a reason it should be assigned more. You don’t get better at a task without practice. Backliners dedicate time because they can activate the second neuron and realize, “Hey, if they keep wiping out our reinforcements before they can reach the front, we might lose.”
Without actually having nuance, is how we got into the position of the game meta being Bravo doesn’t get to play the game, which led us to this point full stop. Counterplaying backliners full stop is an essential aspect of the game, and to thoughtlessly remove tools from a squad that’s assigned to be defensive and expect them to be effective is a byproduct of an inability to make a functioning thought.
For what it is worth, though. You ARE correct in that they COULD fail. But that is part of the game. SG’s support in protecting their teams, specifically outfitted with IFF to cover from runner ambushes. On the front line, MOST of them do little to do good as is, as they empty their guns into random ass blips. 
I don’t say this to be cruel. But if you keep using half ass excuses like it could fail as a reason to keep doing the same shit that you know causes the marine force to fail multiple times a day, you are doing nothing to make a bad situation better. I would rather see more people become part of a solution than a problem.
You definitely have a point. Unfortunately, as for me, I don’t play command… 
mostly to avoid that hard decision
I think you should always order Bravo SG to the front so there’s no SG in the backline and I can just run around giving people fracs while they’re too scared to fire because of FF.
I don’t even think it’s command issue. I think the community managed to gaslight itself into actually thinking bravo isn’t useful or plays the game even the consequences of that slap us daily.
