For many players, the thought of taking charge of a map as OIC can be a very intimidating idea. I've heard tell of people actually running away, screaming and flapping their arms, when asked to take control of the map for a few. It can definitely be a challenge. Axis HC "Pwnado" has a few words of advice for those guys. Read on for some great insight and some suggestions for making the Map OIC job a little less scary.

Taking the leap

When I took my first MAP OIC shift, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by a number of veteran officers more than willing to assist me. A call was made for a new MAP OIC, and I jokingly stated that I would volunteer if it wasn’t for that fact that I was so new. I had only been in HC for a few days, but this didn’t stop them from giving me the map. They made me an XO for a while so I could learn the ropes with simple brigade movements. After that, they made sure that all of my questions were answered, and I ended up being the official MAP OIC for seven hours.

Again, I was lucky. Unfortunately, not all new officers are as lucky as I am. Some new officers might feel that they are still lacking in information. Others might have no information at all and take MAP OIC only because they are the only ones logged in, which has happened a few times already with the veterans and might even have happened already with new officers. If it hasn’t yet, it’s still a very possible occurrence. In light of this fact, I’ve decided that it would be of great benefit to provide some information to new officers that might help their first experience as MAP OIC run as smoothly as possible.

Stay Calm and ask questions

The first thing to remember is always stay calm. Never panic. If you need assistance with assessing the situation, always seek guidance from fellow officers. If you’re all alone, or no one is responding, then don’t be afraid to request help from the playerbase. Don’t do this by flat out telling them that you’re all alone and are having a nervous breakdown. That would be bad, LOL. Instead, ask them questions or request suggestions. For example: “How are you guys doing in (insert town here)?” “How’s supply there?” “Do you guys have any ideas on what you’d like to attack next?” “What about an AO on (insert town here)?” “Can you help me make it happen?”

Keep the comms flowing

Always communicate with your fellow officers and playerbase. Other officers are the keys to getting things done. They will ask what is needed and you will tell them. Also, the players love to see your presence whether it be on the ground, on the sea, in the air, in text, or a combination of all four. It gives them confidence and lets them know that someone actually cares about their experience in game. If you are all alone or not getting any responses, it’s time to talk to the playerbase even more. Instead of giving the usual encouragement, you now also have to request specific help from them. To do this, simply state what your plans are and what you need to have happen so that they can take fruit. It’s that simple. If you’re ever requesting help at FBs and you get a comment from a player about why HC isn’t doing that, you can assure them that HC is in fact doing it in multiple places and would love all the help they can get. In the instance that no other HC members are on, that statement would still be true because we all know that HC members would be performing that task if they were able to be on. It’s fine to let them know that HC member count might be a bit lower than normal, but always give reasons for this and never admit that you’re all by yourself and are overwhelmed. That creates the illusion of instability and is very bad for morale.

Planning is critical

Staying calm and communicating is only one half of the “big” aspects of being MAP OIC. The other half involves brigade movements and planning. We’ll discuss brigade movements first, as it’s difficult to plan if you end up so overwhelmed that you forget what your OCS manual told you. Some of what will be said is not in your OCS manual and will be in other manuals I have yet to have access to or can be heard from veterans or just comes from first hand experience.

When it comes to timers for brigade movements, all movements involving a frontline town as either the origin or destination force the brigade to not be able to move again for 60 minutes. Backline to backline town movement only has a 30 minute timer. Now this doesn’t mean that a brigade will take 60 minutes to be able to move TO a frontline town from a backline town. It means that once it has occupied a fronline town, regardless of its next destination, it cannot move for 60 minutes. Timers begin once a brigade has arrived in its destination.

For planning, it’s always good to have a number of plans. The most important plans are your current plan and your back up plan. If you ever want to increase your number of plans, you could work up to something like having current plans for each objective, including your new defense plans in the instance towns are lost, and your back up plans for those plans should something unexpected happen. You can even have plans for the future, which are also very important because it gives our team something to work towards and can sometimes open themselves up earlier than planned due to random ingame events and can be quickly taken advantage of if you realize the occurrence.

Proper brigade placement

When it comes to planning for the future, whether it be attacks or defenses, brigades need to be in the proper place. I don’t have much experience in planning a day or so in the future yet, but I do try to keep brigades in smart places if I’m given the opportunity. For attacks, it’s about having a bit of a brigade advantage, but not leaving anything too weak. This can be done if you pay attention to links. Linked towns not only give extra places to attack from, but it also gives extra opportunities to stop enemy FB assaults and prevent the entire attack from dying. If one FB goes down, you know the rest are about to, so it gives you a headsup that you need to make sure that you properly communicate the importance of FB defense so that the entire attack isn’t killed. Links also mean that brigade stacks aren’t needed everywhere. When someone mentions six brigades attacking three enemy brigades, some newer officers might think that those six brigades occupy a single town. In reality, they most likely occupy two or three towns, each with links to the town being attacked.

If you ever encounter a situation in which there is only a single link between our town and an enemy town and you have a large number of brigades there, don’t stack them all on that frontline town. Normally, have an infantry and an armor brigade on the front line and another infantry and armor brigade in the town behind it if the numbers allow you to. This is for supply rotation. If you put all four brigades on the frontline, you can almost guarantee that they will all be used by the playerbase at the same time in the instance that the town is attacked by the enemy. And I say “almost guarantee” because simply telling someone not to do something, like use all brigades at once, doesn’t mean that it still won’t happen. If you lose supply in all four of those brigades, there won’t be anything fresh to move in so that you can move the attritted brigades back for resupply. If other frontline towns link to the town in question, those brigades can be used for resupply, but only in the instance that you know that town won’t be attacked as well. If I was the enemy and had a spare AO, and saw attritted brigades being swapped with another frontline town that had no chance of reinforcing itself, I’d smash those attritted brigades to pieces.

Linking frontline and backline towns

When looking at the map, pay special attention to backline towns that have multiple links to frontline towns. Having brigades in those towns means that they can be moved to a number of frontline locations depending on where they’re needed most. This is great for defense purposes as it gives you multiple options and smart enemy commanders also keep this in mind. The only thing worse that having a single link town that can move in reinforcements is having a number of connected frontline towns that can do the same. And this is what everyone should watch for when planning attacks. The number of links that the town has that is going to be attacked and the number of brigades that are in those links. If those links aren’t going to be attacked simultaneously or those links are backline towns, they are all valid locations for supply rotation. If an enemy town has two brigades in it, but has links to four other brigades that won’t be attacked anytime soon, you should think of it as a six brigade town instead.

There is definitely a lot to experience as the MAP OIC, especially when it’s your first time. Hopefully this information can help the new officers figure out ways to handle the overwhelming feeling a bit better and allow for more new officers to be able to step up and take the hotseat. I know I’ve left out so much information simply because I haven’t experienced enough of it yet, but I feel like these are the most important things to be aware of when you’re brand new.

The most important things to remember are to stay calm, always plan, always communicate, and always adapt as best you can. Being calm eliminates the feeling of being overwhelmed and allows you to think as clearly as possible. Always have a plan and never forget the importance of adapting. Sometimes all of the things you’ve ever learned just don’t seem to be working. In that instance, it’s time to keep calm, assess the situation, and come up with some brand new plans and tactics based on your own ingenuity. Communicate with your fellow officers so they can assist you. Communicate with the playerbase so they know what the plans are and can assist you as well. Always be as honest with them as you can without lowering their morale. They will trust you for it and you will find that eventually they will start to line up by your side and be ready to charge into any battle with you as their leader.

In closing, I’d like to applaud all of the new officers that have stepped up to the plate and taken on this huge responsibility. Regardless of the results of your actions, remember that you stepped up when no one else would or could. That courageous action alone, in my eyes, is worth more than winning any number of campaigns. It makes me proud to have been given the opportunity to work with officers capable of such action, and it’s an immense honor to be able to fight by your side.

S!
Pwnado"