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Quoted from Koeitje

[…]

Not as clear cut as that. If another player notices a reason why you shouldn’t push that way (sniper, stickies) he should mention that!

Depends on the situation; I agree with the (c)’d persona that until the main caller gets 100% confident, you just follow his calls even if they’re bad ones and discuss it afterwards
Once he’s fine on that aspect though, you can allow for more fluidity in your calls
edit:
also, even a bad push which everybody commits to is better than a good push to which only half the team commits to

Quoted from Hildreth

I think there was a guide to main calling somewhere on the interwebs, perhaps if you find it may be a helpful.

Is this the guide you were thinking of?
http://communityfortress.com/tf2/blog/momentum-in-tf2-a-push-guide.php

Quoted from Dummy

[…]
Depends on the situation; I agree with the (c)’d persona that until the main caller gets 100% confident, you just follow his calls even if they’re bad ones and discuss it afterwards
Once he’s fine on that aspect though, you can allow for more fluidity in your calls
edit:
also, even a bad push which everybody commits to is better than a good push to which only half the team commits to

Not if half of the team runs into a sticky trap and dies or your medic/demo gets headshotted instantly ;). Should be like this:

1. Push X
2. Don’t, sniper/stickies
1. Ok, push Y

Quoted from Koeitje

[…]

Not if half of the team runs into a sticky trap and dies or your medic/demo gets headshotted instantly ;). Should be like this:

1. Push X
2. Don’t, sniper/stickies
1. Ok, push Y

This. Just because the main caller might have a good understanding of the metagame and what’s going on, doesn’t mean that they know where everyone/thing is at any given time. At the end of the day we make calls based on as much information we have at the time, this is why we need teammates to call what they see so that we can make the best decision.

It seems like the main idea is the degree of autority you want to employ. I prefer a more “flat” command structure where whoever can make a call as soon as they’re certain enough of it’s viability. Since a well functioning team is expected to rarely make any bad decision a silent consensus is preferable to minimize chatter, and otherwise a plain no will do. Make sure that you don’t push your teammates to actions on the brink of stupidity just for the sake of obedience. Sometimes, the most aggression you can manage from your side under a agressive push call is hanging back and staying alive, and that’s perfectly fine. When everyone is equally well informed the main caller handles things, the other players should override, when an opertunity arised or the situation is getting out of hand. The individual player is like a feedback system. You try something, evaluate if the action put you in a more advanageous position, check how your teammates responded to your move, evaluate the possibilities, rinse and repeat. Opertunities can fade quickly in this loop and a clear direction from whoever rather than channeling the decision through the main caller can buy you the time to cease it as team. Encourage the creativeness of your teamamtes. Take extra care to call disctinct transitions in offense and defence when e.g. scouts don’t have visual feedback of what you’re doing. To many times have I rushed in to late/early because of bad main callers or been left to die as they suddenly pulled out without notice. This is by far the greatest calling related nuisance from my perspective as a scout. Having one or two people going in from another angle in pushes can be really effective, but it relies heavily on that the rest of the team let these people know what they are up to to that they can time their approach properly (skeej is pretty thorough about this. hi skeej :D). I have never been able to trust any of my own teams on this, and usually have to resort to visual feedback. A feather in your hat if you can pull that off. Also make sure to check with people maining as different classes to see what part is particularily important for them to be able to fulfil their roles, common pitfalls if you like.

oh, here we go again, wall of text…bet I killed this tread just like all the others :/

Main calling takes a lot of time to become even vaguely proficient at imo, the only way to do it is jump in, make mistakes, realise that every call you make WONT be perfect, even more so starting out, and work with your team.

As medic I call my percentage often so the flanks will have a decent idea when we’re pushing anyway, then a little countdown as we approach the doorway or choke, “pushing in 3….2…..1…..we’re in”, I’ve found it much easier to spend a bit of time with your team going over pushes, walking around the map, so in-game comms and calls can be short and sharp, “go aggro right” for instance is a much easier call than “Boomeh up on crates, Kaidus go balcony, Bybben and Wltrs charge med pack….” or w/e.

You cant micro manage, give them the ‘when’, let them sort out the ‘how’.

I started main calling about a year and a bit ago and I’m still terrible. I was much worse. Just go for it, ask your teamates to follow you whatever you call, work it out from there. Analyse mistakes after the round or match. Count uber. Count player numbers. If you have a 2 man advantage, demo or medic up to theirs down, or full uber to them with none…FUCKING PUSH!!!!

Good luck.

regardless of your division your input is still worth the read so i wouldnt put yourself down so quickly :)