Development Cycle Archive
Thread: IC 1-5: Combat Roles; Commando
U.S. Army Rangers
U.S. Navy Seals
British Royal Marines Commandos
Do a little searching, and you'll find that a Commando is MUCH more than just a human heavy weapons platform.
I hate to reply in my currrent state, but here it goes. The small idea I've come up with has to do with unarmed. If we were given the ability to use center of being while being equiped with a commando weapon, that would make our unarmed useful. Think about that 10 seconds after a flame, if we were able to focus on avoiding damage for half of it, we would feel as if unarmed had some kind of use. This would at least leave us some what satisfied with the unarmed 1-4 skill point sink. Hmmm.....ran out of words.
Keep letting the ideas flow....
ok....well i think its gotten a little of balance here .....people r getting hung up on the title we r given and not our role in combat.....if we r called commandos or kitten candy club our role is that of explosive and heavy weapons experts. now the question is how do we want our role as this to fit into game in a well balanced way that sets us apart from all other prof.
our role should b that of the ones who take out turrets and ATST and even ATAT type obsticals. as part of a TEAM....not a one man army. which is what we do now however the tools we have to do this and the way in which in needs to b done is what needs to b addressed. for instance tactics that r involved in this should b a much bigger part of the whole. setting mines and rigging explosives should b part of this. blasting a hole in the armor of an ATST to let other players attack it...or finding the 'weakspot" to this type of vehical......in taking out bases we could b the only one to set the self destruct sequence.....or have to set the explosives to do it.
our use of heavy weapons help us now in this and the flame DOT also works well on such things.....but it takes very little thought or planning to flame single 2 an ATST then start in with the rockets or what ever. it would be so much better if we had high tech equipment to scan it find its weakspot then exploit it .......this could b done by making a new attack target on the ATST.......to center all the attacks on....or such.
the flame thrower is all in all a good weapon for us....the DOT works well and makes up for it not being or having any AP........the launcher pistol is a good weapon if you also were in the pistoleer prof. but as being only commando i find little use for it.....except for creating lag.. 
and i do use alot of the rockets and other heavy weapons...the one thing that we do have a whole tree of and i find useless is the acid rifle. that is something that really needs to b taken care of.....and along with grenades need to b set explossives of some type. grenades in general need to b much more effective in PvP.....as in war they r a staple...if it was made so it would b the edge we need to compete in one on one or one on multiple fights. One thought that i had on this was if grenades carried with them status effects such as dizzy or stun or even high explosion KDs......something our prof. totaly lacks. flash grenades to blind......that sort of thing.
next is defences and this is a tricky one........ours is an offensive prof. with our main abillities and skills being for the heavy hitting weapons. how ever we should be well suited for attacking large targets...and thus need some sort of good defences to this.....fighting something that incaps a non buffed armored toon in one hit makes it a risky task indeed. but here is where the planning should b most viable!!!....if tactics were a larger part of it i dont think it would b as much of an issue. i dont recall anyone in the movies ever trying to stand toe to toe with an ATST.
so imho the commandos roles is that of a demolition expert and master of taking out heavy armored transport and military type vehicals.....making him a very valuable part of every team.
and as far as our skills need to get here...think of it as basic training....while in the military you go through all basic training.....if if you go on to become a sniper you still learned basic unarmed combat in basic!! so dont make a boxer out of a sniper because he had to learn a little to get there.
master commando...master TKA
tarquinas
2/ rename commando to Heavy Weapon Secialist
3/ Start a new class called the commando based on infiltration, demolitions (explosive charges), unarmed (quick kills if unseen), and light weapons (assault rifles come to mind)
4/ Stealth should be invisible to radar as well and only active if prone. If moving while prone you will appear as a blip on radar but still invisible to the naked eye. Makes for good ambushes against raiding parties and leads to a spy class with better stealth to report those raiding parties.
5/ Get rid of all current commando weapons, make them good decorations for houses. Give the rocket launcher to the Heavy Weapon Specialist class with the E-Web (me likes that but not for Commando).
6/ Give the commando x2, x4 bonuses to damage for a first strike but after his initial assault he gets no bonuses. A commando should own pvp if he has the element of surprise but should lose to other elite classes if he does not.
7/ He should not be able to target any specific HAM. He may be able to do massive amounts of damge but it should be random. That way if he does health damage, the pitoleer needs to clean up. If he does action damage then the carbineer needs to clean up, and so forth...
There are alot of good suggestions in this thread and i especially lean towards infiltration rather than heavy weapons but i hope some of these ideas do get implemented.
That said... i quietly fade away...
/shrug
I hadn't seen any whines for quite a while actually... Anyways, keep up the ideas!
What defines theCommando role in combat?
What basic combat elements should they possess?
Ranged and few melee elements eventually.
What offensive abilities?
Long range and close combat abilities, the commando has been trained to use a large scale of weapons, from sniper rifle to garrot or vibro knife, all of them being weapons usually silent.
What defensive abilities?
A lot of dodge, duck, cover, commandos are supposed to not be seen when they operate.
What unique abilities?
SNEAK, commandos should sneak, they are small combat teams (even sometimes 1 man unit) that sneak behind the enemy lines, sabotage or assassinate his/her target, so it should have a sneak ability, since no other class has it (rifleman has cover bu not sneak), it should have access to detonite packs and the like to be able to blow off turrets without being noticed, do sneak attacks, backstabs and such.
Should add what advantage or asset in group combat?
Commandos should be specialized in GCW in blowing off turrets, or sneak pass the guards to verify if base vulnerability is on or not, and also sneak pass players to target their docs or combat medics.
In PVE it should be a damage dealing class like the rogues in EQ.
How could/should they interact with other professions?
Like any combat prof, friend with his armorsmith/weaponsmith.
What interaction / dependencies should exist with other combatants?
NC.
What should be their unique role in the Galactic Civil War?
Combat Role
The real world concept of a Commando is a light, short term,self supporting infantryman based in a team of multi-talented(trained) personnel.Able to act with stealth, to hit a target hard and to extract himself in the face of a hostile enemy.
The SWG Commando is more like a Combat Engineer. Trained in demolitions, explosives, flamethrowers etc (but not neccessarily Heavy Weapons per se. This is a specialisedInfantrymans job). His main responsiblities should be to clear the combat zone of of hazards (turrets, enemy minefields, destroy buildings or vehicles etc) in support of the main attack.
Thunderheart wrote:
What defines theCommando role in combat?The Commando should be used strictly as a "frigate killer," i.e. destroyer of large armored targets, such as AT-STs, Turrets, and Bases.
What basic combat elements should they possess?Whatever they bring with them from their Basic Profs.
What offensive abilities?The ability to dish HUGE damage on a target, but over slow periods of time. Smaller targets should receive a bonus on dodging Commando attacks.
What defensive abilities?Certification for the heaviest available armor, and a good Block ability.
What unique abilities?Their unique abilities should simply be their weapon certifications. They have the ability to use the highest damage weapons in the game.
Should add what advantage or asset in group combat?Groups with a Commando will be able to defend themselves against AT-ST and other large/armored targets, and be able to take out enemy bases. It should be seemingly impossible to do so without a Commando.
How could/should they interact with other professions?
What interaction / dependencies should exist with other combatants?
What should be their unique role in the Galactic Civil War?Commandos should be used almost exclusively for Base attacks and fights involving AT-STs. Their unique role is the ability to successfuly knock out base-turrets and other armored targets. As such, they are not AS potent in a 1 on 1 PVP situation with their heavy weapons, but a weapon specialization would help balance this, i.e. the player takes Commando AND Carbineer as professions.
I have recently become a Commando myself, and I love what I have so far seen. Big guns and even bigger explosions.
My thoughts are simple - If DOT on Flamers is taken away, then how about blacking out on the HAM bars any damage done before the Fire Extinguisher was used - equvelant to burns, that only a medic should heal
Secondly I fully support the idea of being able to breach structures - through walls etc, anti-personell work and ATST killing through Rocket Launchers and bombs.
Commandos I think act best in small spaces for hand to hand - so how about taking into account there environment. In the open, with no cover we should be very vulnerable, but indoors, or in forests etc - we should be silent and deadly and in our elelment.
But what I would most like to see is a stealth mode, the ability to sneak on our targets and inflicitng huge damage silently. This stealth would have to have a negative - if when sneaking on a target they notice us, then there first one or two shots are double effective.
What defines theCommando role in combat?
The ability to take on AT-ST's, turrets and such. The enemy personel are not their concern.
What basic combat elements should they possess?
Excellent weapon certifications - this is already in place, it's just the weapons themselves that need the work.
What offensive abilities?
High AP weapons, focused on Heat, Blast and Energy damage.
What defensive abilities?
As it is now, not much on block / dodge etc. What I do think should be implemented is that commandos should be the only profession certified to wear heavy armour at reduced HAM penalty. Perhaps in the Heavy Support tree, starting at 10% penalty reduction at Heavy Support I, so that at Master you get 50% reduction.
What unique abilities?
Again, should all be in the weapons. Some type of mine / explosive would be good, and also in the future temproary gun emplacements would be excellent. Grenades should be excellent for the price they are - at the moment you'd need to throw 25 of 'em to match what a CM can do in one throw!
Should add what advantage or asset in group combat?
Should be able to soak up damage through greater benefit through armour than other professions, so in effect a ranged tank.
How could/should they interact with other professions?
Should be relatively ineffective against personel, requiring them to be part of a group. I really think the game needs to do more to define how differently an AT-ST defends against commandos to a player.
What interaction / dependencies should exist with other combatants?
Well, we always need to keep well stocked in armour and munitions. I really think the RL etc. need to start working on ammunition, because the amount of skill-points we have left leaves us nothing to have an income-based profession, and it's very expensive to stay stocked.
What should be their unique role in the Galactic Civil War?
RazerWolf wrote:
What defines the Commando role in combat?
He's the group tank, the Juggernaut, the Goliath. He's the Chaingunner from TFC that storms in and lays down the supression fire while the snipers pick off the stragglers and the scouts infiltrate behind enemy lines. He's the colossal suit of 3" thick armour that soaks up the enemy fire. He's the guy that causes a huge dent in the enemy force, the sledgehammer which crushes the opponent totally if used on a weak point. He's the guy that stays standing, guns blazing until someone finally gets in a fatal wound. He aint got time to bleed.
He's also the guy that's slow, and draws a LOT of fire.
What basic combat elements should they possess?
Huge offensive capabilities, good defence. Makes things go boom. Tough as nails in a firefight, more vulnerable to being mobbed up on by groups of melee fighters or melee MOBs. Works best on the very front lines of battle.
What offensive abilities?
Nothing flashy in terms of statuses, KD, bleeds etc. Lots of Boom, lots of blunt force trauma. Preferably swap some trees round, use Grenades (and fix 'em), the current Disposables (to some degree of accuracy, especially at Master), One tree for Flame/HAR type weapons, another tree for a Heavy Repeater and maybe a Concussion Rifle. Some specials for the Launcher Pistol would be nice.
What defensive abilities?
Not so much defence in terms of melee def / ranged def as now. The Commando should get hit a lot, but not take much damage and be able to stand firm and shrug off things like Dizzy and especially KD. Possibly has a reduction in armour cost, or a bonus to protection from armour. Maybe a bonus to buffs recieved on the 3 main HAM pools. Or possibly a bonus to ranged and/or melee toughness? Or possibly Melee Mitigation 1, especially with the Unarmed requirement.
What unique abilities?
Use of huge weapons with little-no HAM cost. Doesn't have to worry about HAM being eaten when using specials in armour. Excellent at anti-armour himself. Has a couple of rare damage types, especially blast. LP and RL should be more useful.
Should add what advantage or asset in group combat?
Essential for taking out the heavily armoured. Plenty of high AP weapons for killing AT-STs, Krayts, Nightsisters, Kimogilas. Currently Riflemen and Swordsmen are more use against such targets.
How could/should they interact with other professions?
Regular Customer at Weaponsmiths for Grenades, Disposable weapons. These'd be worth crafting if they were cheaper and hit more often, not 30k for a 28 shot Rocket Launcher which misses almost every shot under 40m. Literally more bang for your buck.
Best friends of Docs and Dancers for buffs.
What interaction / dependencies should exist with other combatants?
Vulnerable to the faster targets. Commando hits hard, but hits slow, so enemies should be able to surround and pound him before he manages to kill them all. Ideally needs a melee friend to keep things from getting too close, or a medic to keep him stimmed up.
What should be their unique role in the Galactic Civil War?
Base cracker. Turret destroyer. AT-ST/Tank killer.
See also: http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=in_concept&message.id=182#M182
*****