Battlefield 4 Commander App: tips to command and conquer

By Alex Angove

Last updated 23 December 2013

You may think that Commander Mode in Battlefield 4 isn’t as fun as general play on the PC. You’re probably right, but when it comes to tablet gaming it’s a great way to extend your BF4 multiplayer experience on to a portable screen. With some easy tips you can quickly start topping server scores and rack up a tonne of kills while you’re at it.

Crushing with cruise missiles

Cruise missiles are where you make the real points. Obliteration Mode is definitely recommended for this. You usually have missiles as a Default Asset and players’ tendency to clump together makes for huge hits with multiple kills.

Alternatively, picking a map like Flood Zone or Shanghai where players clump together on rooftops is also a good option. Flood Zone in particular is great for missile strikes because they hit within about 5 seconds of you designating a target.

It’s also wise to save your Proxy Attack for just after you launch a missile strike. Disabling the other player while your missile comes in is the only sure-fire way it’ll reach its target.

Try to avoid the biggest maps. The fighting is usually too spread out to get many kills and you’ll end up doing nothing but scanning and EMP strikes all game.

Understand EMP

If the other commander has access to missiles then save your EMP UAVs. To explode a missile just place your EMP in its path as it comes in. Be careful not to jump the gun. If there’s a 15 second wait between targeting and strike then you need to wait about 11 seconds before you EMP. To be safe just wait until you see the missile start moving in a place it then.

Alternatively, if you’re the one with missiles then wait for the other player to use their EMP. Bait them with scans if you can. As soon as their EMP attack wears off, launch. The only way they can counter now is with a proximity attack, which they probably won’t have ready.

Talk to your squad leaders

Holding down the mic icon in the bottom right allows you to talk to the captain of whatever squad you have highlighted.

Do not issue orders as if you outrank them in real life.

Remember, you are not an actual commander; you’re just a gamer trying to have fun like they are.

Ask them politely if they’d like to ‘head on over to Bravo’. Give them a quick explanation. They know that you have a better vantage point than they do so they should be willing to listen.

Generally squad orders go ignored if there’s no communication between the commander and the captains. With just a little back and forth both you and your captains can rake in the bonus points.

How Commander Mode works

Commander Mode pits you against an enemy commander. You have three kinds of assets: Default Assets, Squad Assets and Objective Assets. On the app, most of these are used by dragging its corresponding icon from the edge of the screen and dropping it on your target.

Default Assets

Your Default Assets are the same on every map. They refresh based on timing and are unaffected by other game developments.

Scan UAV: The most basic and useful tool with the fastest refresh rate. It spots enemies within a target area. Your opponent can see where you are scanning, so be careful not to give a sneaking squad away by scanning around them. The other commander may catch on and drop a scan of their own.

EMP UAV: keep your team from showing up on the minimap and have a relatively slow refresh rate. They are the counter to the Scan UAV and should be used wisely.

EMP UAVs also explode incoming Cruise Missiles. To do this you must block the missile’s path with the EMP area of effect (AOE).

Evacuation Order: Evac Orders usually for when a missile is incoming and you lack the resources to stop it. You get a free 10 points for issuing a sensible order, but it’s usually ignored by most players.

High Value Target: HVT can only be used when a solider reaches a killstreak of 6. Drag and drop the HVT on to such a player. From now on they will always show up on the minimap and you will gain bonus points when they die.

Proximity Attack: This tool disables your enemy commander for about 15 seconds. It will disable all active enemy UAVs and explode or cancel an incoming missile strike. After a Proxy Attack, all Default Assets and Objective Assets must recharge as if they have just been used. It has an extremely slow recharge and should be used very sparingly.

Squad Order: Drag from a squad’s icon and drop on a target. If the captain chooses to accept the order you will gain points. If they then fulfil the order you will gain more. Placing an order generates a dotted line between the squad captain and the target. If the order is accepted it becomes an unbroken line. If it is denied it disappears and you will be unable to reissue the same order.

Accepted and successful Squad Orders are how you can Squad Asset points.

Squad Assets

Squad Assets appear in green at the bottom of the asset column. Your squad points are represented by the bar to the left.

Vehicle Drop: Vehicle Drop spawns either a quad bike or jet-ski at a target location. This is best used in obliteration mode. Dropping a fast vehicle near the bomb carrier can be incredibly effective.

Rapid Deploy: Rapid Deploy gives a squad almost instantaneous respawn for a short time and can be devastating when used correctly.

Supply Drop: A good supply drop can bring in a lot of points, but be careful not to drop it on a team member or you’ll kill them. Squad captains can request supplies. If they do their squad icon will flash in indication.

Promote Squad: This gives the whole squad a boost to their kits. It’s best to only do this to reward a good squad for following orders or helping the team.

Objective Assets:

Objective Assets work similarly to Default Assets, except that they are only made available when your team conquers specific points.

In some game modes, such as Obliteration, some maps will have Objective Assets like the missile as Default Assets. Which objective gives what asset is easy enough to see.

Just look at the letter to the left of it in the list. Here you can see that Bravo gives the Infantry Scan, Charlie gives Cruise Missile and Delta gives the Vehicle scan.

Infantry Scan: Infantry Scan is a slow scan performed in a vertical line across the whole map. It’s not super useful to your team, but it can give you a good idea where the enemy is, especially if they’re trying to be sneaky.

Vehicle Scan: Same as Infantry Scan except only detects vehicles.

Cruise Missile: This is the money-maker. Depending on the map, Cruise Missiles take a varying amount of time to strike after you’ve designated a target. Some maps, like Hainan Resort, can make you wait over 14 seconds. Others, like Flood Zone, give you almost immediate satisfaction.

Gunship: Players can spawn in the Gunship and rain fire down on their enemies. Alternatively they can use it as a deploy-and-parachute point. It will not get you as many kills as a well-placed cruise missile, but it’s better than nothing.