GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE VOICE COMMS IN RO2 ************************************************************************************* SUMMARY Winning consistently in RO2 obviously has little to do with hardcore

FPS skills and everything to do with well-coordinated teamwork resulting in domination over the OPFOR. This initiates at the commander level but only becomes effective from the bottom up. Therein lies the true fun at the heart of RO2having said that, the role of the commander or squad-leader might not be as fun to play per se (certainly depending on your definition) but remains essential to fulfilling the intended RO2 experience of team-oriented tactical ground combat. Ive noticed that people strain to communicate with brevity and clarity in RO2. In the end, one gets a Faulkner-esque stream of consciousness from all involved that clogs the airways and steps on others comm traffic. Sometimes more is less and lots of words can ultimately mean nothing resulting in more confusion on a battlefield already replete with entropy. The ambiguous statements: Hey, uh, guys ....let's attack"...or "we need smoke over here" are useless without context. As an aside, Im clearly not against chatter if things are slow or were owning the OPFOR, but be courteous and keep in mind that the 25+ other players not using voice comms might not want to hear non-relevant discussions. Ill leave tactical discussions to the hot shots and focus mainly on strategic implementation of communications based on my experiences in RO2 thus far. Practice makes perfect but it would be nice if everyone had some common foundation for phraseology that would be amenable to RO2. ************************************************************************************* ROLE SUMMARIES (more thoroughly explained elsewherejust quickly summarized here): Quick summary of Commanders roles: 1. Intimate map knowledge (esp. friendly/enemy spawns, objectives, and ammo dumps). 2. Strategic coordination of battlefield (voice comms to team VOIP required!) 3. Provide situational awareness to squads (including but not limited to aerial recon) 4. Coordinate plunging fire (artillery, mortars) 5. Smoking concealment for maneuvers (constantly refill at ammo dumps!) 6. Tactical presence during capping (increase force ratio) 7. Provide Situational Awareness (SA) updates with regards to Aerial Recon 8. Provide SA updates regarding lock-down times // reqd objectives and reinforcement levels 9. Provide SA updates on Force Ratios in your current cap zone 10. Provide SA updates on next available arty // recon. 11. Provide SA updates on enemy recon (and arty sometimes one can hear the OPFOR calling it in) Quick summary of Squad Leaders roles: 1. Intimate map knowledge (esp. friendly/enemy spawns, objectives, and ammo dumps). 2. Tactical coordination of battlefield (voice comms to squad/cmdr VOIP highly desired!) 3. Provide situational awareness to Commander (e.g., enemy contact reports) 4. Coordinate plunging fire (artillery, mortars), enfilade and flanking maneuvers.

5. Smoking concealment for maneuvers (refill at ammo dumps when able) 6. Tactical presence during capping (increase force ratio and provide spawning point) ************************************************************************************* GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE COMMS: Brevity and clarity is critical; one must always think before speaking (this might cause delays in action, especially at first this might result in one getting killed more often, but later the correct comms will become second nature while youre simultaneously finding/fixing/flanking). Heres the one simple structure one should always aspire to follow: WHO; WHERE; WHAT Friendlies: [Who you are]; [where you are]; [what you want or need to convey] OPFOR: [Who they are]; [where they are]; [what they are doing] Examples of common comms in the game: Squad Leader at Charlie; request smoke for Charlie/Delta transition Rifleman in East Park, request smoke in West Park Machine Gunner in Grid B3* requesting ammo resupply Squad Leader in Grid E1 requesting smoke in Grid F3 Marksman** at Pavlovs reporting 5 tangos enroute to Charlie from Foxtrot Squad Leader in Grid G5 requests 2nd Squad converge on me to defend South Charlie. Commander defiladed in Gullies for cap boost Rifleman in Delta; force ratio even 1st squad rally Grid H6 Aerial Recon shows 5 tangoes flanking South Charlie from South Village Commander south of Delta popping heavy smoke into the Park SLs prepare to smoke Alpha/Charlie transition Commander in Bravo smoking Bravo/Charlie transition Smoke popped at Bravo/Charlie, attack if able Engineer at South-west Charlie, satchel charge on door, fire in the hole

**For the purposes of voice comms in this game, I would recommend that the one uses Grid [Letter]+[Number] (e.g., Grid G6) for grid coordinates and the phonetic alphabet for objectives (e.g., Golf, Bravoetc.) to provide clarity. **For the purposes of voice comms in this game, I would recommend that the term Marksman be used for friendly forces while the term Sniper be used for OPFOR to prevent ambiguity. (Sniper always makes peoples ears perk up and think bad guy). NOTE: This can also be used inversely to only convey OPFOR contact reports: Enemy sniper, top floor of Foxtrot, covering Charlie

Enemy MG, basement of Charlie, covering North-South hallway 7 tangos moving east to Charlie from Foxtrot/Echo NOTE: Sometimes even MORE brevity is useful as in scenarios where youd like to inform teammates youre fragging an area with grenades (or that you just put a frag under their legs): Grid E6 frag out! Northern Refinery frag out! [Teammate name] bad frag! Bad frag! Southern Bravo frag out! *Dont call every frag, just when you might be endangering teammates* REMEMBER!! WHO; WHERE; WHAT OBVIOUSLY, THIS IS NOT ALL-INCLUSIVE BUT YOU CAN USE A MIXTURE OF THE ABOVE AND BELOW PHRASEOLOGY TO CONVEY ALMOST ANYTHING IN RO2JUST SWAP OUT THE WHO; WHERE; WHAT. BE BRIEF!

************************************************************************************* OVERALL STRATEGIC CONTEXT OF COMMUNICATIONS: Generally, the team should follow this mantra for attacking (defense is more complex and dynamic): CMDR and SLs mark; recon up; Arty or mortars onto rear OPFOR/OBJ (to suppress and area denial for reinforcement waves); CMDR announces last salvo; CMDR/SL prepare to pop smoke; pop smoke; all charge while MGs give covering fire; assault clears rooms & take ground; rifleman take ground at OBJ and keep distance; SLs squat at/near OBJ for respawn; CMDR moves up for cap assist; all mop up objective; SLs/CMDR recharge smoke at ammo dumpsREPEAT! For defense, things becomecomplicated. But heres an example of how I run a match in Spartanovka (highly dynamic, but this is generally how it plays out): [Designate deep left Alpha mark to prevent flanking into South Village Grid G3 and direct westerly advance to Bravo] Arty inbound deep Alpha in 10sec Aerial Recon up Arty now falling danger close on Alpha near gullies SLs mark south village and church if able [Heavy/medium/light] arty casualties2 salvos left [If heavy casualties I defilade in Alpha to help cap, light casualties I squat in Bravo to provide capalways while picking off an errant German] Force ratio in Bravo, even Force ratio in Bravo, 3:1 bad guys [throw concealing smoke on the friendly spawn approach to the church so they dont get picked off by raking fire from the south village or flanking gullies!] Arty in 90sec Arty in 30sec

Aerial Recon up SLs recommend next arty drop [Drop it where the SLs and recon indicateif still holding B put a mortar strike on the backside to prevent entry enemy infiltration into the church while friendlies safely defend from within or on the friendly side] [if capture of B inevitable, fall back to Grid G5 radio CMDR cap presence Charlie] [Designate frontside church, call in Mortars on South Village or full arty on churchyouve already got a pre-designated mark on the South Village if your SLs are helpful] SLs mark North Charlie and South Charlie flanks for future arty [Provide Commander cap power to Charlie, advise on feasibility of retaking Bravo based on Arty casualties and force ratio] Force ratio in Charlie, 3:0 good guys Squad Leader at Bravo, force ratio 3:1 good guys REPEATfalling back and digging in incrementally until you sap their reinforcements. ************************************************************************************* OTHER TECHNIQUES/SUGGESTIONS: Use cardinal directions to indicate locations: Top side of map = North, Right side of map = East.etc. One can really only use Right side and Left side effectively on Spartanovka, so thats an exception Use standardized alpha-numeric NATO phonetic alphabet for Objectives: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet Always specify whether youre dropping Arty or Mortars. This matters for barrage duration and intensity; trust me, your guys wanna know whether they are danger close to a 155MM shell or just a 80MM shell. o Heavy arty for longer area denial, widespread damage, and to weaken infrastructure, such as destroyable doors and roofs. When attacking, use arty to weaken and suppress an enemy position and use danger close mortars to prevent enemy approach/infiltration on objectives. When defending, use arty to redirect or funnel the enemy attack towards your defensive fortification (but be ready for a counterattack in once friendly arty lifts!), use mortars to quickly decimate troop concentrations in heavy cover such as trenches. o Mortar barrages for clearing objectives of entrenched OPFOR in concentrated areas, rapid recharge, and danger close plunging fire. o Rockets do not appear to be worth the time-to-recharge considering the cost:value. Its so much easier to hold F and designate arty (especially at distance) with your right mouse button. Forget the binoculars; they are very difficult to use accurately! Announce time until next barrage and aerial recon at least every 90sec. No one should ever be asking you whens the next arty coming? If so, youre not doing your job well. Always announce when recon is up so SLs/snipers can use Tactical View to spot tangos. Constantly re-spawn Aerial Recon if ableif one calls it in right before Arty, then calls again when immediately available, it will be available again right before the next Arty barrage. If one uses mortars, do not call in recon in the interlude as it will not recharge twice before next mortars recharge (except for Stationbut these mortars appear to be arty rounds). The CMDR only must stay within ~5 meters of the radio once he/she initiates the recon and artillery requests. This should allow the CMDR to aim down sight and get away from the radio since the audible request is a dead location giveaway to alert OPFOR.

Announce results of arty barrages so the team knows how many tangos have been killed (force ratio impact). This can either elucidate a force ratio advantage in the case of heavy casualties that may warrant attacking the objective OR demonstrate that the bulk of OPFOR must be present in another region in the case of light casualties.both useful pieces of information. Always announce significant changes in Force Ratio (SLs should as well). I use bad guys and good guys so I can use those terms when on either side and avoid potential confusion. Of course, Nazis and Commies or Axis and Allies would be suitable if you can deconflict correctly when things get hot and youre playing on another side. Be CAREFUL with calling in artillery on defensive maps! If youve designated an artillery strike within a capzone and that capzone becomes overtaken by OPFOR, the arty will void and the recharge counter begins fresh. This happens all the time with rookie CMDRs on Spartanovka where losing a single arty strike can be devastating. Use the SLs to designate current AND fallback arty markers so those marks will be ready for future barrage. NOTE: Theres a risk and reward to future arty marks by SLs. Reward = quick drops on OPFOR if the SLs know the maps well. Risk = dropping onto friendlies. Example: If I have 4 arty marks on the map, the crappy designation system still manages to surprise me about 5-10% of the timejust click on the arty marker you want and hope it falls there. When you click, it doesnt always turn orange, sometimes it disappears, and sometimes it falls onto a random marker (even through the Commanders marks have default priority). Use affirmative=yes, negative=no, roger=OK, copy=understood, say again=repeat No please, no thank you, no sorryif youre not familiar with hand-to-hand combat training, then the saying goes If you must, get all the g*dd**ned sorrys out of your system before we start, because youre going to hurt someone today!so apologize for future TKs right off the bat if youre a noob. Certain TK apologies can be the exception, especially if gratuitous or rare. Of course, always forgive by typing np into chatif it doesnt show up in the chatlogit worked(?). Regarding critical items (such as danger close plunging fire inbound), it may behoove the commander to repeat certain items in order to prevent excessive TKs and the dubious title of Most Dishonorableor worst case, getting kick-banned from the match for server max TKs. In such a case, one might follow the mantra Tell them what youre gonna tell them, tell them, and then tell them what youve just told them. Example: Mortars inbound danger close on Delta, 10 seconds, take cover on lower floors if able.mortars inbound on Delta.mortars falling on Delta Commanders and SLs: learn defilade principles MG and rifleman: learn enfilade and raking fire principles Assaulters: learn areas of responsibility and work in pairs to sweep rooms Marksmen: report OPFOR contacts For OPFOR contact reports, use top floor, ground floor(=1st floor), basement when able, otherwise specify OPFOR building contacts as follows: [building]; [side]; [floor]; [opening]. Standard nomenclature might be difficult to follow (1B3 = front side, 2nd floor, 3rd opening from left).so Id recommend keeping it simple for those not SWAT-trained, example: Zabs house, North face, 3rd floor, 3rd opening). Always use opening, not window.theres lots of holes here and there Rorce ratios are RATIOS, not numerical counts3 blue guys and one red guy doesnt mean theres literally 1 OPFOR in an objective. For example, with CMDR alone in a capzone, the ratio might indicate 1:1but this likely means multiple riflemen against a single CMDR, or a single CMDR against a single CMDR, or lots of such derivations.so take care when clearing rooms