How to make Battle Strategies

Getting a good combat outcome from a big event requires a bunch of steps, and is honestly just as much about manipulating the game rules as it is about getting into the head of your writer psychologically and convincing them to give you a good outcome. This guide is going to go through step by step and explain how to get the most out of a combat outcome. Step 1: Making the Right Action There are several different actions that can lead to combat, and picking the correct one is the first thing you can do to give yourself an advantage. By far the biggest advantage you can get is from the Overwatch action. This allows you to set traps for an attacking enemy AND pick favorable terrain through its free Relocation. However, Overwatch is a bit of a gamble. If you are not attacked, you wasted your action for the day. Overwatch is a good idea when you know somebody is going to attack you, or when you are waiting for reinforcements in an area and need to be as healthy as possible when they arrive, following some combined operation. If you know your opponent is going on Overwatch, the best thing to do is to just not attack him and do something else instead. Let him waste his action. Following Overwatch, the best thing you can do is to Ambush somebody. Even if they Ambush you at the same time, this will create a pitched battle in which neither side has an inherrant advantage. Paradropping allows unprecedented maneuverability, but has the disadvantage of not cancelling Assault actions and being more vulnerable to patrols. Whether to Paradrop or simply move to a sector and ambush the following day is pretty case by case. Sometimes moving normally is the better option. Artillery range attacks generally deal less damage than Ambushes, but are less dangerous as well. They are a good way of doing slight amounts of damage to somebody while staying healthy yourself, to then follow up with a larger, more full scale attack while the victim is still damaged. If you're know you're going to be fighting in a bad climate, doing a Harsh Climate Refit beforehand is generally a good idea. It will prevent any VP loss from Heat/Cold, and prevent any of your units from breaking down. It's especially a good idea if you're on a ship. The ship can move into the area while you refit for it. Step 2: Picking the correct Armaments It's important to pick the right armaments for your battles. However, it's also important to not be too anal and specific about it. I know from experience that often times if you're too detailed in your email about which mobile suit carries what armaments, the writer will just not include it. For NPC units with multiple configurations, generally Config A is a machinegun option, and Config B is a cannon or beam weapon or bazooka option. The Machinegun option is normally better against large numbers of weak targets, such as aircraft or tanks. It can also be better for fighting enemies with much more VP than you or much faster units than you, using the Machineguns higher Accuracy rating to your advantage. The Bazooka option is normally better against ships or very highly armored targets in small numbers. It can also be better for fighting enemies with much less VP than you, as you are more likely to make every hit count and the Bazooka does more damage. Note that beam weapons can be dangerous in the hands of a pilot with low VP. While they are extremely powerful against any armor class, and quite good against ships as well, they can cause a reactor overload if they hit an MS reactor. Because of this, you should be conservative with who you let use beam weapons. Some MS have a C Config as well, which is usually something a little special. For GMPGTs it's a Beam Rifle config. For Zaku Kai it's a configuration that carries both a machinegun and sturm fausts, for a lot of firepower at the expense of extra ammo. For the Dom Funf it's a configuration with external fuel tanks for long battles in space. When choosing armaments for your player MS, be conservative with what you pick, and try to have some sort of plan about it. Ask yourself the following questions. Should your primary weapon be a machinegun or a bazooka? Is taking a second weapon even necessary or will it just confuse the writer? If you take grenades what type should they be? I strongly suggest only taking a single type of grenades, otherwise it will likely confuse the writer. Are extra things such as leg missile pods or sturm fausts necessary, or will the speed and maneuverability reductions they give harm more than the extra firepower will help? Step 3: Terrain and Weather It's important to try to get terrain and weather on your side. These are general rules about what sorts of terrain and weather are good for what. It can be difficult to manipulate terrain and weather to your advantage. Weather is random and what terrain you fight in can at times be soley up to the writer. However, you do have limited control over terrain type through Relocation actions, and you know for every region what terrain/weather is possible and what isn't possible, so you can do some preparation through guesswork in that regard. Terrain that gives cover such as Forest, Mountains, Urban or Shoals are good for ambushes and short or medium range combat, but bad for artillery strikes. Stormy or Foggy weather is in general usually very bad for artillery and aircraft. It isn't really good for anybody, but it affects close combat units like Goufs and GMs less than other units. Harsh climate terrain like Desert or Tropical, and weather effects like Heat, aren't really good for anybody, but harsh climate equipped units are unaffected by these things, while other units take VP penalties. Night battles tend to give an advantage to ambushers and Stealth class units, but initiating a Night battle carries with it the guaranteed 1 Fatigue damage. Night battles are a good thing to keep in your back pocket for the right occasion, but it's not something you should be doing regularly. Step 4: Picking the right Services Although they can be expensive, Services are very, very good. They allow you to temporarily fill holes in your unit composition, to give yourself fewer weaknesses. I suggest buying services for every battle that is larger than just a small squad to squad skirmish. Minovsky Particle Interference can be thought of like a weather effect. If your side has a lot of aircraft with guided weaponry, and your enemies do not, it is beneficial for you to not have any particle interference. Likewise, if your opponent has more guided missiles than you do, you may want to buy an M Particle Service. Artillery, Air, MS and Ground support are in general good in all situations, except in weather conditions where they are not allowed (severe storms, dust storms & thick fog). Which is the best of the four is based on your and your opponents unit composition. If you cannot win the air battle there is no point in contesting it. If your opponent has way more VP than you, tanks are likely not going to do very much damage. Artillery support is best in good weather and sparse terrain. MS Services are good in all situations, but they are also the most expensive. Balloon services can give cover in space where there otherwise was none. They're good if you're expecting a lot of artillery fire from your opponent. Hangar services are sort of an odd duckling. They're good if you're expecting the battle to be converted into a Long Event, but are somewhat useless otherwise. Step 5: Designing a Battle Plan Remember when designing your battle plan that the writers have to both read it and write it. Therefor, it should be as simple as possible. I've read a lot of battle plans over the years and it is very common for me to get one that is several pages long, but only needed to be two or three sentences. Here are some good ideas of how to write a battle plan: "We will divide into two groups. Group A will attack frontally and provide a diversion, while Group B will try to attack the enemies flank. Below are the lists of who is in what group." "We will attack in a rather straightforward manner, but ____ PC will specifically target ____, while ____ PC will specifically target ____" Those plans are very simple, easy for a writer to follow, but provide enough detail to give you an advantage and make for a fun event. There is a more detailed explanation of how to make a good battle plan on the "How to Officer" tutorial, as they are the ones who typically make the battle plans. If you are not making the plan for your side but merely following it, it's a good idea to add a little bit of RP detail in addition to stating that you want to follow the plan. Saying something like "My character is in a pissy mood today and really wants to blow up an enemy ship" may seem blatant and obvious, but a little line like that will get into a writers head, and make it more likely for you to blow up an enemy ship in the writing. However, it also might make him write your character not following the battle plan so he can blow up an enemy ship, which might be bad for your side overall. But maybe your character doesn't care about that so much! ~