History Main / StraightForTheCommander

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', during the defense of Garreg Mach after the TimeSkip, the enemy commander will charge toward Byleth near the end of the map, hoping to take down [[PlayerCharacter Byleth]] in a last-ditch attempt to seize victory.
** On the Verdant Wind route of Three Houses, during Chapter 19, Claude will advise Byleth to take down the two enemy commanders- [[spoiler:Hubert and the Death Knight]]- at the same time, lest enemy reinforcements overwhelm the protagonists, and Seteth gives similar advice in Silver Snow(in which the battle takes place in Chapter 18). Unlike the Azure Moon route, the protagonists are infiltrating [[spoiler:the Imperial capital of Enbarr]] rather than invading it with an army. Since it's relatively late in the game, it's up to the player whether to take the advice or try to get as much experience as possible.
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage'', during the [[DownloadableContent Fell Xenologue campaign]], Chapter 3 has [[PlayerCharacter Alear]], along with the twins Nel and Nil and the Four Winds encounter the armies of the alternate Elusia and Solm, headed by their respective queens, fighting. Nel, who's used to employing stealth and running from fights she can't win, proposes using the chaos of battle to attack the enemy queens and reclaim their Emblem bracelets, since both forces are numerically superior to the heroes by themselves.

** Most Covenant Grunt squads are led by a lone Elite or Brute; killing said leader will usually cause the Grunts to temporarily panic and run away. Post-''{{VideoGame/Halo 3}}'', though, it might have the opposite effect of their Grunts [[TakingYouWithMe going suicide bomber]].
** Much of ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}''[='s=] first half is spent hunting down one of the Covenant's Hierarchs, the Prophet of Regret. [[spoiler:While his death doesn't have any direct effect on the Covenant military, it does start a chain of events which result in the Covenant falling into civil war.]]
* Recurring both ways in the original ''Videogame/{{Homeworld}}'': the enemy, be they the Taiidan Imperial fleet, the Turanic Raiders, or the Kadeshi, goes straight for the player's Mothership, while in two battles against the Taiidan the enemy carrier, serving as flagship, must be taken out as quickly as possible to prevent it from escaping and bringing home news of your fleet's existence and thus causing the enemy to hunt you down with their full force.

* ''{{Videogame/Warcraft II}}'' has this be a SubvertedTrope -- the Orcish Horde's leader, Orgrim Doomhammer killed the leader of the Alliance of Lordaeron, Anduin Lothar, during the final battle (originally, Doomhammer especially performed this by ambushing him specifically, though this was {{Retcon}}ned to be a more nebulous situation). Instead of his death demoralizing his troops, Lothar's lieutenant Turalyon took up the man's sword and rallied the Alliance into a battle-equivalent of RoaringRampageOfRevenge which ended the war right there.

* In ''{{VideoGame/WarCraft}} III'', the hero class is essentially the in-game commander. However, this trope's tactic is usually ''not'' a good idea -- even the weaker heroes are generally fairly difficult to take down unless you can surround them, and while you're trying to focus on them, the other team can be wiping out your army. That being said, if the opportunity to take out a hero quickly presents itself, successfully doing so severely weakens the other team, as well as denying experience to that hero.

* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwordsAdventures]]'' has the [[MookCommander Chief Soldiers]], who lead enemy Soldiers into battle against the Links in their quest to rescue the Shrine Maidens and Zelda from Vaati and [[spoiler:Ganon]], since if they're defeated while any Soldiers are still standing, they become directionless and start to explode if not defeated fast enough.

** Averted in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. The Separatist army keeps fighting after General Grievous is killed, and the rest of their leadership is taken out ''after'' the army has surrendered.

** [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E19StormOverRyloth "Storm Over Ryloth"]]: After the first attempt to break the Separatist blockade over Ryloth costs Anakin most of his fleet, his second attempt consists of sacrificing an entire (damaged and empty) cruiser to ram the Separatist command cruiser by pretending to surrender in order to take out the commanders of the fleet and leave them directionless when Ahsoka arrives with the ''Resolute''.
** [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS2E10TheDeserter "The Deserter"]]: It's implied the commando droids who snipe Rex, thus putting him mostly out of action for the rest of the episode, choose him as a target because his NonUniformUniform made his status as an officer, and thus the one in charge of the patrol, obvious.

* ''VideoGame/{{Palworld}}'': When faced against a hostile human that uses Pals to attack, attacking him or her directly is not only viable, it's the quickest way to end the fight. Conversely, enemies will prioritize attacking you over your Pals.

* Dicussed and then played straight (for laughs) in the ''Series/MASH'' episode "The General Flipped At Dawn". General Steele decides the 4077th has to move -- not for any practical reason, but because "[[InsaneTrollLogic the "M" stands for "Mobile", and mobile you shall be.]]" While scouting out new locations with Burns and Blake, Steele demands a salute in open country. Blake and, in one of his only instances of being allowed to be the OnlySaneMan, ''Burns'', advise strongly against it, mentioning that the snipers can use that to figure out the chain of command. Steele brushes their concerns off, orders a salute, and sure enough, cue snipers. As Blake and Burns are scrambling to get into the jeep under as much cover as possible, Steele nonchalantly hops in singing "I Love a Parade".

* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', Natsu and Happy attempt to go directly after Emporer Spriggan [[spoiler:AKA The Black Wizard Zeref Dragneel]] during the war with the Alvarez Empire, but Happy forces Natsu to retreat.