I have been training comming a bit on LAN with RCBots versus Whichbots, and I can see already why it is considered stressful. I found myself being quite engaged pushing research forward, and at the same time watching my two RCBots doing (mostly) stupid things. Imagine 6 of those (which, incidentially, will be my next step, I guess)

I would like to hear from some of you how you effectively use shortcut keys etc. for everything. Any special binds you are using, etc... How do you watch whom, when, etc. When to use keys, when to use mouse.

I am not a new player, but new to comming, so to speak.

Hmmm...Binds...I don't use them personally. Just stick with the normal qwert so forth and so on. Depending on the game size you should have atleast 2 Squads (break people up into squad 1 and 2, of course) Ohhhh major one, dont let your team mates boss you around! Sometimes you gotta convince them that a RT is alot more helpful in the long run then a Shotty. Comming is EASY if you dont let your Team rush you and scream through their Mics that they want a HMG or HA (or even both)

Biggest friend of comm is minimap and "jump" shortcut to go to last alert.. Just learn to quickly drop medpacks/ammo during fights and when you have enough time go back to base to upgrade.. Or give your arms lab to some squad.. you should have observatory in squad anyway..
Im using mostly mouse click on minimap and space for going to alerts, sometimes clicking on icons for ammo/med requests.. I have default binds otherwise, they work well.
If you have very organised/small team you can manage to keep them in cohesive squads and then use squad number to go to them quickly. But on large servers (18+) they are usually too spred and ignore WPs so its hard to keep them in squads. On such servers im changing squads quickly to reflect real situation (eg. I see 2 marines together in some place, so I assign them a squad and periodically check them.. or if you need some good marine for special ops. (like sneaking near hive to put PG while rines are fighting elsewhere) then squad is very usefull).

But most vital part of comming is actually watching over map and deciding.. do you want to attack hive right now, or wait one more upgrades/conserve res for attack? Do you think your lone marine can build PG or is he going to die second after you drop it? Do you really need guarding marine or turrets in captured hive or is 1 pack of mines sufficent for now?
You must just play to learn it by experience..
MT is best friend of commander, with motion tracking you see all moving aliens on map and can prevent many disasters if you warn marines ahead.. I think comm benefits from MT more than marines, im not rushing for this upgrade though.. if skulks are good, armor upgrades are usually what your marines need..

I find that comming gets really hard when you have to split your forces to two sides of the map. For example, I have group one working on the right side to get RTs while group two is on the left side destroying enemy RTs and going after the hive. I also have trouble deciding when to put down an RT. Sometimes the open node is close to a hive and im not sure if I should put it down or not because it will get destroyed before it pays for itself.

comming isnt hard when you practice, just go in a pub server jump in the chair and try your best you'll get used to it.

1. Always push for a hive. If the aliens are busy defending they wont attack your other bases left.

2. Have a plan, but never in detail. Have a general goal and try to adapt as things unfold.

3. Never expect things to go as you planned

4. Use hotgroups for things like the armslab, obs' and maybe also the diferent groups of marines.

5. Learn the maps, make sure you know which rooms are important.

6. Become familiar with the hotkeys(the ones ingame are plenty)

Biggest mistake i see commanders make is not sending people to attack early in the game. You only need 1 or 2 players to cap nodes while you send the rest to kill nodes and pressure the hives. The goal is to keep the aliens busy so they dont have time to attack yours.

Second biggest mistake is spending all the res on capturing nodes, but not actually using any to tech up until its too late. Upgrades are reletively cheap so its more of a case of time rather than cost. Aliens can have fades within 5 minutes, be prepared for them.

Comming is an extremely taxing job, but it can be very rewarding. Nothing can prepare you for the verbal abuse you will get when comming. Just try to be open to ideas and look for the players you know are sure to give you good advice. Its nice to begin comming on a server you are a reg on because people will be much more forgiving. The best advice I can give you is to just keep trying. The Frontiersman Strat Forum has several threads on beginning comms, so head over there.

practicing wif nsbots are very accurate,just for the fact that pub players are stupid idiots. no offence to em, but wen ya look at em you just think, WTH.

also regular on servers ya wanna comm on, this way you know youre not giving that shotgun to kill the fade to somebody who changed their name from Nsplayer two minutes ago.

and if nothing else works, get ya plows out cuz its farming time!

Yeh learn to comm on pubs because most people are friendly enough to give advice.

One minor thing...

Mention you are new and ask to comm...

Sometimes you will play on a server where either they aren't fans of new comms, or someone already wants to comm..

I usually find people are hesitant to comm, so that's when I can try it..

Also use voice communications it makes asking for your troops to do things easier, as well as making sure people know what our "general" plan is.. (That was a great piece of advice BTW) such as "Grab Horseshoe, then proceed to Maintenance"

Also use Waypoints to help guide new players, (it's easy in later game to forget about that but....) It's important so that they aren't just wandering around..

It's also useful to have people move in groups from Marine start that way new players can learn routes and be an extra gun in battle..

All in all, Good luck and Have fun.

Thanks very much for all the helpful pointers.
This should help me out a lot.

I wouldn't practice against bots man, you will get much better experience with real players (although usign bots to learn the basics of comming isnt a bad idea). Anyhow just remember the key things of commanding.

1. Be adaptable with what you do, dont keep your mind set on doing something if it looks like it isnt going to work, try something else.

2. Cap as many nodes as you can hold (usually you start from the oposite side of the map that the aliens start on)

3. Have your pressure team, and your node team

4. Always have something upgrading, if your arms lab is just sitting there, thats not good (always get upgrades as soon as possible and as fast as possible) A thing is see a lot of pub comms do wrong is they lock down hives and turret them off but never get upgrades. The arms lab NEEDS to be a priority, here is the logic behind it, if you take more hits to kill and do more damage with your bullets its easier to hold your ground as marines right? Well there you go.

5. Phases are good on larger maps, put them at choke points.

6. Tf's in base = bad, electrified nodes = bad

7. Dont be afraid to use mines to guard base

8. By far what makes or breaks a commander, is how you pay attention to your marines and communicate with them, be clear and decisive. And be SURE to med your marines and give them ammo as needed. It gives them confidence if you give them meds during a fight, and also keeps them alive .

A handy little tip for medding marines, highlight them so you can see their hp easier and keep track of who needs to be medded.

Hope that helps some.