Commander Position

One of the biggest new additions to Battlefield 2 is its inclusion of a commander system, where a single player is able to get a bird's-eye-view of the battlefield and order squads to certain hotspots on the map. Having a commander in a match is optional, but it'll probably be pretty helpful in most situations, as commanders have a number of options available to them to help support and command their team.

When you join or begin a match, you can attempt to elect yourself as your team's commander, but there are some restrictions to this class. The first is that, when multiple people want to become the commander, the game will default to the player who has the highest rank, so if you're a Lieutenant, and there's a General who wants to become the commander, then you'll probably have to defer to their judgement. The second is that, if a commander is performing poorly, the players underneath him can mutiny and attempt to elect a new commander to replace him.

The commander screen is somewhat daunting at first, but is fairly easy to get used to after a bit of play.

Lastly, commanders do exist on the game map as soldiers, and since the commander screen will prevent them from actually seeing any of the game world while they use it, they can wind up being sitting ducks for enemies that happen to spot them. You can raise and lower the commander's screen as you like, and can run around and shoot people if you wish, but most dedicated commanders will want to find a nice, quiet, out of the way hiding spot, lie prone behind a box, and use their commander's screen to help all of their teammates instead of seeking out personal glory.

The commander's screen, as mentioned, will get you a bird's-eye view of the entire game map, which you can use to zoom in and out on the game map. Your maximum zoom will take you down to around 1,000 feet of elevation, which will let you spot tanks with ease, but which will make it difficult for you to spot enemy infantry, unless they're moving or unless you've used your Scan ability . With this view of the playing field, you'll be able to cue in your teammates as to enemy locations, tell them which flags need attention, and use your special moves to support the ground forces.

Support Options

Commanders have the ability to use four special support options to help their teammates. Each of these options works on its own unique timer, so after you use a support option, you'll have to wait a minute or two before you can use them again.

Scan

When you hit the Scan button, you'll get an instant snapshot of all enemy locations on the map. This information will quickly become outdated, as enemies move and die, but it'll still help you get a bead on enemies near your unprotected flags, snipers that are picking off your troops, and so on. Information is power, after all.

After you scan the battlefield, take note of enemy positions and use the info to clue in your squad leaders and soldiers to the location of enemies, especially those close to your flags. If a single enemy is heading towards a flag, then use the right-click menu to issue a Spotted command, and reroute the nearest squad to take him out. If the opposing forces are coming in force, then you might want to risk a teamkill and start an artillery strike centered directly on the flag they're headed for; this will give your troops ten seconds or so before the enemy gets near the flag, as they'll usually spot the artillery and hold off on the perimeter before heading in.

A Scan command can't distinguish between types of enemies; all you'll get are a bunch of red dots, each of which might be anything from an infantry unit to a tank. You have a few ways of identifying units based on scan data: you can check on each dot by right-clicking it and issuing a Spotted command, which will identify the type of unit; you can zoom in on its location and get a visual ID; or you can attempt to gauge its speed. The slowest-moving units are generally going to be infantry, while the fastest will be jets. Everything in between will be some sort of vehicle.

Note that opposing Special Forces units won't appear on scans, so even if you think your base is clear of enemies, it may not be.