Squad Leader Archive
Thread: Volley Fire Use
I am trying to use this skill and i am a litle confuse about how it works
I tested wiyh a friend yesterday and realized that the volley fire must be used IN COMBAT.
And not BEFORE COMBAT
Like if u kneel, select a target and then /volleyfire, nothing will happen, the group memebers will not select ur target and even not start attack.
But if u start attack and the volley fire, if the skill get sucess it will work and yhen the group will select ur target but i want know if volley fire make the entire group attack or simplely select ur target?
Is this the best way to use volley fire?
whats really dissapointing about the volley fire is that it only makes your group members fire at your target ONCE, then they switch back to firing at their original targets.
Volley fire should allow the SL to switch the target of all the squad members..sort of like making them /assist you.
My perfect ideal of volley fire would be one that works somewhat like a macro like this:
*squad leader issues volley fire*
*each player gets the following macro in their combat queue:*
/target squad leader
/assist
/overchargeshot
That would be the perfect volley fire for me.
You need to do what they did in Xwing vs TIE Fighter. Squad Leader initiates volleyfire and it brings up a message on the screen. "Squad Leader orders you to attack this target. Press Spacebar to switch targets"
Although that should be a different move designed for targeting.
As for the actual volleyfire shot, it should be a very recognizable and sudden burst of shots towards one target. And it should count for far more damage.
Well, if you dont want to actually LEAD the group during an action, then why be or why even group with a squad leader?
The current volley fire does nothing. zilch. nada. It may help the group kill a (baby) or some 500 ham creature, but aside from that, its useless because it only fires 1 normal shot at the target.
The X-wing vs Tie wouldn't work very well either... because of reaction times. By the time
1) the squad leader sees the target that has to be volleyed (aka, the baz biting your medic's head off)
2) squad leader targets the creature/player that is to be volleyed
3)squad leader presses the volley button
4)the game actually 'fires' the volley
said target may already become a serious threat to the group. Aka, the medic is 50% life.
Adding extra steps like
5) players in group see command
6) players in group press the 'accept' key
7) game switches targets and fires the volley
it would be too late. Volley only works in-combat, remember that.
A better solution would be to add a little checkmark by your own char's ham bars that will allow/disallow the squad leader to 'puppet' you with active abilities.
The drawback to this is that when you have that checkmarked, you wont receive ANY of the SL's abilities, that meaning no ranged defense, no melee defense, no terrain negotiation, no active abilities (rally,form up, aim,etc).
tacwraith wrote:
Well, if you dont want to actually LEAD the group during an action, then why be or why even group with a squad leader?
The current volley fire does nothing. zilch. nada. It may help the group kill a (baby) or some 500 ham creature, but aside from that, its useless because it only fires 1 normal shot at the target.
The X-wing vs Tie wouldn't work very well either... because of reaction times. By the time
1) the squad leader sees the target that has to be volleyed (aka, the baz biting your medic's head off)
2) squad leader targets the creature/player that is to be volleyed
3)squad leader presses the volley button
4)the game actually 'fires' the volley
said target may already become a serious threat to the group. Aka, the medic is 50% life.
Adding extra steps like
5) players in group see command
6) players in group press the 'accept' key
7) game switches targets and fires the volley
it would be too late. Volley only works in-combat, remember that.
A better solution would be to add a little checkmark by your own char's ham bars that will allow/disallow the squad leader to 'puppet' you with active abilities.
The drawback to this is that when you have that checkmarked, you wont receive ANY of the SL's abilities, that meaning no ranged defense, no melee defense, no terrain negotiation, no active abilities (rally,form up, aim,etc).
What you propose is not LEADING a squad it is CONTROLING it. If you want that kind of power you should be a Creature Handler. Again I will say I have never needed that kind of control in any group I was leading. Most rational players will notice the change in target and at least look to see why, most of the time they will switch without even a word being typed.
It is a command like that that non Squad Leaders fear. They do not want the feeling that they can join your group and just let you control them like they are personal pets. If you need that level of control try educating your team, not crying for mind control.
I think the best solution to solve this problem is make the volley fire like that
SL use the /volleyfire
the /volleyfire has sucess, then
1-Group Members select the mob and the radial menu shows up and tehn if the GM(Group meber) click on attack then he will change the target otherwise he will shot 1 time and then come back to his previous target
2-Groups Members receive an option in the chat windows:
2.1- PRESS MOUSEBUTTON1(or any other key) to ACCEPT THE SL COMMAND
2.2-PRESS MOUSEBUTTON2(or any other key) to REFUSE THE SL COMMAND
But i think the volleyfire like is working today isnt very usefull and should be improved to be more efficient.
"What you propose is not LEADING a squad it is CONTROLING it."
Leading implies you already have control of those who you lead. Control given to you at their free will. The whole point of having a squad leader in the group is because you know that person has the abilities and hopefully, the skills, to makethink of the squad as ONE fighting unit.
Again, i'll point to Dathomir as a good example of this. Grab a group, even a group of guildies or friends. Go out, hunt baz. This time though, go as anobserver. Dont fight,dont heal, dont help. JustWATCH what people do on their own when they are in a group.
Even in the bestgroups, where you have friends and people who know how to hunt together (tapping nest, killing baz first,using pets tohold aggro while groupshoots the baz,etc), thereare always moments of what i call 'group chaos'. In this best of groups, a baz can pop in the middle of the group and start biting away at someone...and thanks to the way the game's interface is set, sometimes thesize of the CH's pets doesn't letpeople see what goes on around them.. sometimes people are too concentrated on their combat queuerather than their groupmate's health bars or radar... those'sometime' situations happenconstantly even in these'best of groups'.And it gets worse the bigger the group is.
And thats where thesquad leader's role steps in. To direct fire, to be the one who keeps an eye on what is happeningTO THE GROUP (not just to himself), to be the one that has the tools tobe able to counter those 'group chaos' situations.
"They do not want the feeling that they can join your group and just let you control them like they are personal pets. If you need that level of control try educating your team, not crying for mind control."
This is what I think is your whole issue with what I say. You think these commands make others be 'my pets'. I dont believe that is the case. If your group was too busy shooting one baz while another pops and attacks the group's only medic, I'm sure that IF (key word: IF) *everyone* in that group notices that, they would switch fire to kill that baz (instead of shooting at the baz that is attacking the pet graul). But, in the 'group chaos', not everyone in group will see that baz attacking medic. Not everyone will react fast enough, not everyone can click-target (terrain or pet graul covering screen) or tab-target (and guess which of the **edit** baz is the one hitting medic) and then attack that baz. The volley fire I suggested above crunches all those*very* potentially fatal delaysin danger recognition andreacting toit, into one squad leader's ability...because it IS the squad leader's role and duty to be the one watching out for those 'group chaos' moments and react to them, leaving the others free to concentrate on THEIR roles: shooting, meleein'g or healing.
Matter of fact, I believe the SL should have some 'puppetting' abilities you dread so much.. as long as the individual player has the option of clicking that check box I suggested to not allow the SL to do that.
I'd love to see a command for formations (with formations themselves giving bonuses and penalties), commands to make sub-groups inside the group so you can issue certain abilities, bonuses or commands to that sub-group.. i'd love to see the ability to issue 'cease& holdfire' commands.
It will still be 90% player and 10% abilities that will make a good SL. Abusive SL's will quickly not get groups... I know there's like more than a dozen people in my 'hate' list that I will never group with (griefers, people that get groups killed by tapping nest while the rest fight the creatures that spawn from it..even after you tell him 10X not to do it but he keeps doing it 'its good xp dude, dont tell me how to play my game' kindof people...but who cry to be let in groups anyway... you know what I mean, those kind of people). And thats the beauty of it: Our SL abilities are worthless if we cant get groups to lead.
I have several issues with this after playing Shadowbane. Yes it's a pos, but it did have more squad/group related functions than SWG.
First of all, if people are paranoid about loosing control put switches in the options window for each SL ability with like 3 options, automatic, prompt and no f'in way. heh heh
Another possibility for a skill like volley fire is to have it switch to the new target and back like it does now, but upon the player hitting tab it will automatically move to the target of the volleyfire instead of the next target out from the currently targeted mob.
The last thing why can't they attach the formations to the follow command? Then put the ability to fall in and out of formation as needed. SB does this and it works wonders with no complaints from the players. 
Volly fire should work how it works now, except it should do more damage than it does now, have a higher success rate, lower HAM cost and have more people actually fire (usually I only see 1 person volly fire out of a 20 person group in combat window, and its for around 100 damage, when their regular hits are doing 200-500)
Why not just have the Volley Fire skill increase the % to hit ratio, or perhaps add a damage modifier for a fixed duration of time upon a single target? Allow the Squad Leader to function as a modern day spotter for Laser Guided Bombs with the use of /volley. This could serve multiple purposes:
1.) When a Squad Leader announces /sys Volley on %TT !! - itoffers an incentive togroup members to focus on the Squad Leader's targeted enemy, while still enablingeach individual memberto retain the choice of sticking with their current target.
2.) It gives us an opportunity to become very useful in PvP.
3.) It gives us an offensive capability to match our current defensive ones.
Tevoo