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Guidelines for War; Because really, that's why we're here
Topic Started: Jun 6 2012, 04:06 PM (547 Views)
zzSkyenet
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Dirty Zionist™
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International Conflicts, or How to efficiently wage war while ensuring all sides have fun

It is no secret that 21c is a very unbalanced “game”. In my opinion, this is completely alright, as 21c is not a “game” to me, it is a way to cooperatively tell a story. That means, to me, there is no winning or losing. The only way I would see losing in this game is when someone is not having fun playing 21c. We lose creativity and potentially even lose that person entirely.

Therefore, I’ve decided to write this short set of guidelines that, in my opinion, will help people have more fun engaging in international conflicts, for me, the most fun part of the game. Do note that these are not rules, this is advice. I personally believe in freeform, and as such, I hope that you take this advice, as in 90% of cases it will make for a better RP, but if you don’t, there is nothing that says your RP will be worse off.

I - ORBATs or Order of Battle
This is perhaps the most important part of international conflicts. It should be the first thing you work out during a conflict. Effectively, it is a list of units involved in the conflict from your side and some details around them.

Alfa and omega in an ORBAT is describing which units are involved. This does not mean simply saying “4000 men”, which is incredibly vague, but specifically which units are involved, for example “the 4th Military Base” of the Russian Ground Forces. Without this, your ORBAT become vague, hard to read and makes it seem like you just threw out a number. So, example of the most basic form of unit descriptions you should have in your ORBAT:

Example 1
 
4th Military Base (Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade) - 3,500 men
6970th Aviation Base - 4x Su-24
6972nd Aviation Base - 4x Mi-26, 12x Mi-8
Moskva - Slava-class Cruiser
Ladnyy - Krivak-class Frigate
B-871 - Kilo-class Submarine


You don’t have to use this template, but it does illustrate what sort of details are the minimum. Adding information is always a good idea. Location, orders and hardware (number of tanks, vehicles, etc) is always a good thing to have easily available.

II - Details
Details are also important. The more detailed your post is, the easier it becomes to come up with a reply. An example of a bad post would be:

Example 2
 
The Pacific Fleet responded to the Japanese submarine contact with two destroyers and 2 Tu-95s.


That may be over exaggerating, but I see far too many instances of short, undetailed posts that are thrown together in just a few minutes. Please, spend at least 30 minutes trying to write something. If you’re out of ideas, ask someone via PM if they think there is something that can improve it. So the above example could perhaps become:

Example 2.1
 
As the contact with a Japanese submarine was reported, the Pacific Fleet tasked the Admiral Tributs and the Admiral Vinogradov, both Udaloy I destroyers, with intercepting the contact and drive it to the surface, or if necessary, sink it.

In addition Russian Naval Aviation scrambled two Tu-142 Anti-Submarine aircraft carpet bomb the area with sonobouys. In the words of the commander, they would ’Render the Japanese deaf with sonar’.


Another very important is locating your units. What I have found works is essentially asking yourself, after reading your post this: “If someone had to place my units on a map, could they based on this post?” If the answer is no, then you should make sure they can. It doesn’t have to be down to the 1/100th decimal degree, but a general idea is always nice. Continuing with the example from above:

Example 2.2
 
As the contact with a Japanese submarine was reported, the Pacific Fleet tasked the Admiral Tributs and the Admiral Vinogradov, both Udaloy I destroyers, with intercepting the contact and drive it to the surface, or if necessary, sink it. Both destroyers were conducting exercises approx 200 kilometers south-east of Vladivostok, and were now racing towards the contact in the Sea of Japan.

In addition Russian Naval Aviation scrambled two Tu-142 Anti-Submarine aircraft carpet bomb the area with sonobouys. In the words of the commander, they would ’Render the Japanese deaf with sonar’.


This assumes that it has been specified where said contact is in the Sea of Japan. You could now place the two destroyers, as well as the Tu-142s coming out of Vladivostok heading to the area of the submarine.

III - Incorporating Subjectivity
Subjectivity is hard, or at least I think so. Whenever I try putting down what I imagine in my head as Putin wearing a black Russian Navy uniform, on the smoky bridge of the Kirov as he orders the launch of every last Granit at the USS Enterprise, barking orders at his fellow Comrades, it comes out stiff and unnatural.

Hence my military posts (and indeed most of my posts) end up being very impersonal, a sort of Real-Time Strategy view of the world, rather than a First-Person Shooter or Role-Playing Game view. I do however know that a lot of people here are very good at writing on a personal level, and that is fine.

However, in the interest of clarity, please mix the two up if you want to include the personal approach.

Rather than starting with “The lonely private sat in the back of a Stryker, wondering what his mother was doing at this moment...”, combine it with a more practical approach, possibly like so:

Example 3
 
As the 2nd Battalion began setting up defensive positions along the hill, some 35 kilometers north of the enemy, the lonely private sat in the back of a Stryker, wondering what his mother was doing at this moment...” (Probably crying because her son is a capitalist imperialist pig rather than a Glorious Russian Comrade Hero of Soviet Russia)


IV - Cooperation
Many consider 21c to be a competition. A way to prove their superiority over others. While I enjoy proving that I am shrewder than most (maybe except for Schwer, whose subtle way to making the world burn at his will still eludes me to this day), as I said earlier, I treat this as cooperative storytelling, with emphasis on the “Cooperative”.

Before you start a conflict, get together with your opponents and allies, either via PM, IM or IRC (#21c on irc.esper.net) and discuss the conflict. How you want it to progress, what the likely outcome will be, etc. This creates more enjoyment for all, cuts down on unnecessary arguing in the OOC thread and makes the entire process of waging war more streamlined, allowing for more focus on being creative than on arguing over who has the biggest force.

V - Final Note (So far)
As a final note, the goal of 21c is to have fun.

Also, if a military moderator tells you something, you accept it, and if you absolutely need to argue, do so in PM to the specific moderator. If you feel the moderators are being unfair, you can either talk to CSJ, our unofficial guru who has de facto leadership of military matters, or to Dax or Schwer directly. (Disclaimer: I, the Military Moderators or anyone but yourself are not liable for damages, physical, mental or otherwise, contracted during interaction with Schwer to yourself, items of your or anyone elses ownership or your loved ones. You may or may not foreit your life if Schwer decides so. You have been duly warned.)
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