Communication

The first rule of communication: If you are not moving or shooting, you should be talking. Once you are detected by an opponent, you should be talking to your teammates. This doesn't mean incessant chatter. It means that you are relating any information that you have that your teammates may not be aware of. Since your opponent knows where you are, communication can only help make your team more effective.

Critical Game Information:

• Opposition
• Number
• Location
• Eliminations
• Distress (gun problems, etc.)
• Team
• Eliminations
• Distress
• Location
• Movement
• Environment
• Time
• Critical Locations
• Game Goals

Cross-talk to your teammates is important to confirming that you have received and understood their message and possibly relayed it to other teammates. This lowers the confusion from large firefights and keeps players focused on the critical messages.

Silence on the field during a firefight is an indication of inexperienced or self-absorbed players. A team should be communicating constantly if they are engaged. More organized teams may use brevity codes to indicate common in-game ideas. This reduces the effects of letting your opponent know what you know. For instance, if a you have a problem with your gun, you may use the codeword "mockingbird" to let your teammates know that you are repairing your gun and unable to fire, without letting your opponent know of your vulnerability.

When you are not engaged, verbal communication should be kept to a minimum to reduce chances of detection. Hand signals, brief conversations, and radios can all help keep your location concealed. If you don't have a critical piece of information to convey to your teammates, you probably shouldn't be talking.

"Smack talk" can be part of a paintball game as well. Taunts, jeers and general noise can have several benefits to your team. First, taunts can disrupt an opponent's game. Intimidation can be a very real factor to inexperienced players. Some players let their pride get the better of them and can be coaxed into unfavorable positions. Second, a player who is loud and vocal draws more attention and fire than a quiet one. This can be valuable when trying to control the firepower game.

Keep the language in your game non-personal and non-profane. Also, do not make accusations of rules violations or hits unless you intend to back them up with facts. If you see a player take a hit, let him know. If he needs a ref, one will find him. Be aware that false accusations can be considered tantamount to cheating (to occupy other players with ref attention) and can get you kicked from a game. Constant paint checks or accusations of cheating are unsportsmanlike and often against the rules as well.

Radios can help a team increase the area they can control, by allowing dispersion of players to greater distances, even beyond visual range. This can increase the information available to a team, which can be valuable if the information allows your team to make decisions quicker than your opponent. Radios are also useful in large games with resurection of players, as they make it easier to find your teammates.

Make sure your radio communication is short and to the point. Distraction from radio chatter lowers situational awareness. Use ear-bud speakers to avoid giving away your position with audible radio sounds.

Radio communication does not dramatically increase their ability to place fires on a given place on the field. There is also the danger in letting radios make your line too thin, where players cannot easily move to support one another. Your radio use should focus on the practical, versus the novelty.