Order to self

[Polar Bear]

Representing this request here, it comes from a thread in the General section:

You should be able to issue an order to yourself, that will remain in effect until you cancel the order or complete it. For example, you should be able to order yourself to go to STEALTH or HOLD FIRE or MOVE to a waypoint. Any order you could give to any of the AI's.

The purposes is to enable command continuity across a team switch. If you then switch out to a different AI via a team switch command, the AI that takes over the unit you were playing will be subject to the command you issued.

This would be especially useful if you are in a situation where you are ordering your squad to sneak up on an enemy, and then you want to switch to the sniper or marksman to take a shot.

Currently what happens is the AI takes over the commander unit, stands up, and starts firing pot shots. Also, starts ordering other squad members around in ways totally contrary to the plan you had in effect.

With this modification you could order yourself to HOLD FIRE, and upon switching the AI taking over would be subject to the HOLD FIRE order. It could also be ordered to take cover, go stealth, etc, and would do so.

This is more realistic than the current behavior because there is no realism in a schizophrenic switch in personality such as occurs with a team switch. This allows some continuity in behavior before and after the team switch, which is realistic.

Some considerations:

For an order that expires, like a MOVE order, the AI would resume complete control upon completing the order. For an order like HOLD FIRE that has no expiry we could debate whether it's better to leave it in effect until a player switches back in and cancels it, or whether it should expire after some time out, so that the AI eventually gains complete autonomy on its own.

Also for a behavioral order like HOLD FIRE or STEALTH when issued to the commander of the team, the commander should turn around and issue that behavior to the rest of the team. It's logical if you tell the commander to do something, you really mean for the whole unit to do that. The AI upon taking over would issue orders to other team members consistent with the order it is subject to, in other words.

In any case it would solve a long standing defect in the team switch capability, allowing you to switch between team members while seamlessly maintaining the same overall strategic plan or tactical position in a consistent way.

[CarlGustaffa]

Move is already supported, just shift + left click on the map and it will show up on the gui if difficulty settings allow it. No need to order yourself to go there. I don't care much about Hold Fire, to me that is more a reminder of the current ROE. It's my commanders that give me that order, not myself, and such I prefer it to be mission driven. For Stealth/Aware (as I like the voices), I've added a special button on the Domino settings screen that allows me to toggle it.

[DMarkwick]

Move is already supported, just shift + left click on the map and it will show up on the gui if difficulty settings allow it. No need to order yourself to go there. I don't care much about Hold Fire, to me that is more a reminder of the current ROE. It's my commanders that give me that order, not myself, and such I prefer it to be mission driven. For Stealth/Aware (as I like the voices), I've added a special button on the Domino settings screen that allows me to toggle it.

I think the desire is for it to be tactics driven, i.e. what you wish for the entire squad to do at that particular moment. If you give a "hold fire" order to maintain surprise, then teamswitch into a subordinate, the squad leader you just vacated will reverse the "hold fire" command, meaning that a premature firefight will erupt.

As a squad leader, when you give an order its for the entire squad - including the squad leader. In a way, it's the player who's playing the entire squad (with teamswitch enabled) and there ought to be a way to solidify a particular stance or situation that the squad leader has specifically set up.

[CarlGustaffa]

Yeah okay, point taken on the teamswitching. It's not a feature I use much, but I understand how it could be useful for those who use it.