Greetings Strategist!
If your like me, you are always trying to come up with better ways to play, better ways to lead, and more efficient ways to command. To assist you with this, I have created a training game called MAPPING. Here is how it is done.
Solo, or with a small group of commanders and strategists, go into a WvW map with a lot going on. Look for something with all 3 colors, and constant flux is always a plus. Now, enter this, join a group with your fellow strategists, and open your map. From here, you can draw, ping, and see all you need to see on your new map.
Now, while watching the map, pay attention to the battles, the crossed swords (both orange and white), and dolyaks, and road markers. Also watch where your ally commanders are going, as this definitly helps.
Now, try and predict what is actually happening on the map. If you see crossed swords on a camp, try and predict who is hitting it. Now here are a few tips.
Dolyaks and sentry markers are AMAZING tells to what is happening in the region. When you see a sentry vanish that is yours, then a dolyak further down the road vanish, odds are you can guess where they are going with those 2 pieces of info. Also, camps are almost ALWAYS the precursor to an attack, at least it indicates a force is in the area. Once you have gotten very good at this, you will be able to tell the approximate size of a force hitting a camp from 2 indicators. One, how long has the camp been the color being attacked. If it has been less than a few minutes, then the supervisor has the buff. Two, how quickly does it turn over. If you know a camp was recently flipped, and it goes from crossed swords to cap in less than a min, your looking at a MAJOR force in the area. If white swords are there for 2 – 5 min, its probably a small team operating in the area.
Now, do this until you start to get pretty decent at telling who is fighting at crossed swords on a map, how to track an enemy force using dolyak deaths and sentry/camp flips as a notification. One you feel your getting pretty good at predicting your enemies, here comes the advanced class. Start attackin players, joining with teams, or simply PVEing around the spawn. Get into a habit of remembering how the map was 30 seconds ago when you last did a quick spot check, and try and use that mental image to guess where the next move is.
Once you have this down, commanding becomes a LOT easier! Its like playing chess, you dont need to look at the board intently at every single move available every time you look away from the game. You look at key points, key areas, and if your already proficient at strategy, the play you believe the enemy is doing. If you think an enemy force is heading to a supply camp, then you kill for 1 min and look back, seeing the supply camp flipped and crossed swords at a sentry point nearby, odds are you are tracking the same team!
Just some more commander advice, hope it helps, and stay classy!