Heres some basic tactics information. some of you may know
most of this, but it never hurts to make sure. Principles of Organization Whenever you enter the field, you have a role to play. Be
it sniper, scout, assault, command. None of these roles is better or
worse than any other. None of these roles is more or less honorable
than any other. A gunslinging expert pilot private is as valuable as
a Sergeant, or even a Major. The simple fact is, you all have
skills, and for the most part, your skills are different from each
others. You may be a great pilot, but poor at command; or
conversely a great commander but a horrid pilot. There is no shame in being a
private. There is shame in doing your job badly, whatever it may be.
Positions within the unit are granted on the principle of abilities,
not merit or time. You are placed in a role where you can best serve
the Unit. Principles of Battle Sun Tzu once wrote, "All warfare is based on
deception." In order to implement our strategies, and to negate the strategies of
our enemies, we must be organized. That is why there are field commanders. The position of Field Commander is not a
position of glory, but of duty and responsibility. The Field Commander
bears the brunt of defeat, and the blame for it. If we have two
people on the field attempting to give orders, they will likely be
contradicting, and we will not be organized. If nobody listens and obeys
the field commander, we will not be organized. You may know better
than the Field Commander what should be done. You may have a
brilliant idea that would win the battle, but the Field Commander does not
see it. If you chase after your idea, then the battle will be lost.
There is a saying in Latin: 'Una salus victus nullam sperare salutem' - The one hope of
the doomed is not to hope for safety. Whatever plan the Field
Commander gives, you MUST follow it through from beginning to end.
You must not deviate from it, or change it to your own ideas. Even if it
results in defeat, you must not abandon it. In a unit working as a
team, even a bad plan can result in victory. The instant members of
the team begin to deviate from the plan, the battle is lost. At that
moment, we are no longer a team, but a group of individuals each
with his own agenda. Remember this, and when on the field, live it. Beginnings of Battle The moment you enter the field, you should immediately find
your Field Commander and form on him. Then turn your radar off.
Be VERY careful to avoid collisions with the rest of your lance.
Collisions result in damage, and you running into someone before
battle even begins could be the difference between victory and defeat.
Once you have formed up, await orders. Do NOT shoot your weapons,
destroy buildings, or anything else of that nature. A lot of the
time, stealth makes the difference between victory and defeat. A
single shot can ruin the element of surprise for the entire team. Fire Discipline Upon entering the field or making contact, the Field
Commander will designate primary and secondary targets for everyone. You
MUST attack your designated target above all others. Why do we
designate targets? Imagine there are two teams of 4. Team 1, the Black Wolves, concentrates all of its fire on one person from team 2.
Everyone in team 2 shoots a different person of team 1. Assuming
identical mechs, and identical accuracies, by the time the first person of
team 2 dies, everyone in team 1 will be 1/4 damaged. By the time
the second person in team 2 dies, everyone in team 1 will be 1/2
damaged. When the third person in team 2 dies, everyone in team 1 will be
3/4 damaged. We now outnumber the enemy 4 to 1. It does not
take a genius to see who wins from here. Now while completely concentrated fire can be devestating,
there are times when a field commander may choose to designate
separate targets for people. An example is for fire support harrassment. It
does not do to leave a missile boat sitting happily on a ridge
killing our men. In this case one, two or even three of the team may be
given a different target than the rest of the team. No matter who
your target is, you MUST hit that target before all others. Now, there will be times in a battle, when perhaps two or
three of the enemy will concentrate their fire on you, and it will
be tempting to leave your designated target and hit the people who are
hitting you. You MUST NOT DO THIS. Alone, you will not be able to
take out any one of the three enemies attacking you before they kill
you. However, if you stick with the designated targets, you can
still take out at least one of the enemies before you die. But it gets
even better, and this is where a good Field Commander comes in.
A good Field Commander will notice that you are being heavily
attacked. And he will name the next kill after the current one as someone
who is attacking you. And lo and behold, before you know it, the
whole team is coming to your rescue, and you may make it out alive.
But the moment you leave the designatd target to try and save
yourself, you doom not only yourself, but the entire team. "Una salus victus nullam sperare salutem" - The
one hope of the doomed is not to hope for safety. You must stick with the designated targets at all costs,
even if it results in your death. Targets of Opportunity Now that you understand the principle of the fire
discipline, you must understand Targets of Opportunity (TO). It is
important that you stick to the designated targets. However, let me paint a
scenario. Billy-bob is given as the primary target. Your lance is
running around, and they make contact with an enemy scout, named
Billy-ray. There are no other enemy mechs in sight, and Billy-ray has
spotted you. Does it make sense to leave Billy-ray untouched just
because he is NOT Billy-bob? No. Common sense would be to shoot
Billy-ray until he dies, or you see Billy-bob. Now if you are chasing
Billy-ray and you run across Billy-bob, that is the time to change
targets. If you are in the heat of battle, and Billy-bob ducks behind a
hill and there is another enemy mech there, by all means shoot the
enemy mech. But keep chasing after Billy-bob and hit him when you can. Radio Discipline Radio discipline is something that is of extreme
importance. If everyone speaks whenever a thought pops into their head,
then commands from the FC cannot be heard, and the whole point
of voice communication is lost. There are two people on a team who
can speak freely on the radio: the FC, and the Scout. Only these two.
If you are not the FC or the scout, be quiet. So when can you
speak? Acknowledge commands with a brief 'roger'. If you make
contact or are hit, you say 'contact, heading blah' where 'blah' is the
heading from which the fire came, or the heading you saw someone at. The
last instance is if you lose all your weapons. In this case a
simple "Merlin here. Lost all weapons." is enough. 'I'm being hit here guys, help me out, I'm about to blow,
oh no, I've lost a weapon, I'm critical, help me, I'm hit, I'm about to
blow' DOES NOT HELP THE TEAM. Unfortunate though it may be,
everyone gets hit at some time. Most good teams use target lists, and at
some point or another, you will be on the enemy's target list. You may
not like it, it may not be fun, but telling the whole world about it
and jamming up the radio will not help the team or yourself in
any way. Forming up A standard command given by a field commander is 'form up
on me'. What is meant by this? It does not mean we bunch up like a
group of sardines. It does not mean we become like a group of guys
rushing to the keg at a party. It means we make a formation. The
standard and default formation is line abreast. For this and all other
formations, refer to the advanced tactics section. There is a reason
for formations. They do not just keep the team together. They
are designed to give us a maximum field of fire. How often have
you run into a fight and not been able to shoot because your
teammate was in front of you? I'd say often. Formations are designed to
keep the team together, but also provide us space to move and fire. So
when you form up, do NOT stand on top of the person next to you.
Make space, give the team room to breath. Collisions are a bad, bad
thing. They damage our mechs, and do the enemy's job for them. Space
out, make it harder for them to hit us, and harder for us to hit
ourselves. Stealth Do not run over trees if you can help it. A tree
'crumbling' can be seen from a very long distance away. This can give away the
position of the unit to our enemies. Also, avoid outlining yourself
on a ridge. Use the contours of the land to stay hidden. Sacrifice If you lose all of your weapons you should do one of two
things: 1) If your mech is not in too bad of a condition, try to
draw fire from the enemy. 2) If your mech is flashing red, try to collide with one of
the enemy, and catch him in your death explosion.
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