Debriefing: dmakatra

If you have not read the post "The Last Session", I suggest you do. This is a debriefing, I will allow everyone that participated in the project a lot to write something what they thought of it. Some may write a lot, others just a few notes, but I think it's important that (especially the cadets) get their views of the project out there. These debriefs will pop up in the next few days so even if the project is over, keep and eye open for updates.

This debriefing is a little special, as I, dmakatra, am writing it. If you somehow missed it, I'm the creator of this project. I trained these lads, fought with them and had so much fun with them. I will do this the simple and boring way, by going through everyone of them in order.

U_U
Whoever said that the guy in the front did the greatest achievements. Of all those that participated in the project, I have to say I am most proud of U_U's work. I can't think of any other in the group that has progressed so much. I am so overly impressed, chocked and stunned by his achievements. U_U isn't the guy that is doing all the wise-cracks on voice-comms when we're in the lobby. He isn't the guy that is first to volunteer for driving that car. But he's there, always. He's there, watching his angles when even I slack. He's there, taking his orders without hesitation. He's there, firing his rifle and supressing his own individuality to make the machinery of an effective combat unit work. He's not a leader. He's the middle-man, the worker, the grunt and he's fucking good at it. He's silent, a little shy perhaps, but he never lets his guard down. He's just there, doing his job. There's a war to fight, and U_U has parked on the front line. U_U, I hereby give you the title of OFP-veteran.

h3adache
If I were to explain h3adache's effort with one word that word would be responsibility. He's never there for fame or glory, nor to put himself in focus. He's one in the lot, but he understands that to be one in the lot he needs to take his responsibility. He knows his weaknesses and his strengths and utilize them into a fierce combination. He's not over-ambitious about things he shouldn't touch for the sake of the outfit, just because it's 'fun' to do those things. He's also good at analyzing the information I give him. Others, especially notable when leading, just tries to copy me straight off and think in the lines of "what would dmakatra do in this situation?". h3adache can see the problem, analyze it with the knowledge I've given him, and attack it through his own line of thought. You can say that h3adache understands the logic of the battle as he understands all that is happening fundamentally. This makes h3adache the most valuable leader of the cadets, a gift I hope he will polish because he will turn out better than we can imagine. h3adache, I hereby give you the title of OFP-veteran.

quicky
Ambition and with a true love for the game. That's quicky for you. Driving he likes. Piloting he likes. Shooting he likes. Commanding he likes. And his name suits him, because he's one quick-thinking lad. Idea here, idea there. Always on his toes. And always in a vehicle if possible. It's hard to define quicky actually, as he's just... well, hard to define. He's spontanious, and probably the greatest rifleman and individual player of the lot. And he's funny as hell. It's just hard to put quicky in a specific classification, quite possibly because he's all over the place - all the time. He's quick, he's fast, he's here, he's there and ever since that hilariosly chaotic game of OilWar - he's now also known as Rally-quicky. A name that sum him up better than any words I can put here. quicky, I hereby give you the title of OFP-veteran.

Ices
Back in the days when the gaming market was still small, creative and unpoluted by populist crap put out by EA there existed a strategy-series known as Close Combat. In these games a squad consisted of a leader, an assisting-leader and a couple of grunts. I never really understood what the hell an assisting-leader did. Now, finally, I know. Ices is the backbone of our combat unit. He's always giving advice, helping the leader when in need of help, pointing out key-points and always taking iniative - smart iniative. In the abscence of a good leader, Ices is more likely to be the actual leader even if not formally giving the commands. If he throws a smoke grenade and get into cover, others will follow while the un-experienced leader is stuttering. And when there is a good leader, it's like his iniative is linked with the line of thoughts that the leader has. I've never, ever had to say to Ices to undo something in the field that he did on his own iniative. He sees what needs to be done, and does it with great results. Ices, I hereby give you the title of OFP-veteran.

Stealth
Stealth. He's getting better all the time (I'm fixing a hole where the... oh, nevermind, get the reference and win a cookie!) but it is slow work. He's slower than the others, in his way of adapting, thinking and utulizing the training I give him. But he's there in the formation, and he's got a willpower like no-one else. Sometime he has surprised me, being more resourceful than I thought. Sometimes he has made my face go grey because of frustration. The last few weeks he didn't manage to show up, I don't know why, and he excused himself a lot. It's a shame really, because I think if he had just been active the last week before summer break ended as well, he would've been quite good when the project closed. But the stuff I've seen from him now isn't well enough for me to give him the title of OFP-veteran. I'm afraid not. Hang in there Stealth, even if the project is closed we will still continue to play - and we want you there on the server with us.

dmakatra
Yes, I'm going to evaluate myself as well. Self-critic is good, and I haven't been perfect. To start off, I've had very limited experience in OFP MP. I've been in the 23rd a few weeks but quite soon hopped off due to various reasons. I've played quite a bit with the lot at #swepack and #dfofp, but that isn't exactly organized played. So most of the tactics we've used and I've taught have been made up by my extremely limited experience with MP and my own common sense as a 5-year vet. And I think I did good. I'm not the greatest tactician, nor do I know every field manual in the world, but I think we did good. My main problem has not been the tutoring or the leading, but instead keeping the interest up. Playing on the same bloody mission day out and day in can get quite boring, which it also did, and several periods there were times when OFP felt like a routine. OFP, routine. I don't even know how I put those in the same sentence.

That was all, this was my debrief. I hope you've enjoyed reading about this project and learnt something from the results and conclusions that I drew. I'd like to thank the OFP-vets that has helped my out (especially Redkid and JW), those of you that follow the project and especially my five cadets. I fucking enjoyed this. Bilda kolonn på mig, 200!