Post by Jenno on Aug 1, 2007 12:21:41 GMT -5
With the Advent of the Rim Wars, it has come to my observation a problem with the idea of attacking a planet. There are three points I will discuss here for the instruction of planetary conquest.
1. Hyperspace
2. Battlefields
3. Progression
1. Hyperspace.
As most of you know, in Star Wars, starships are able to travel at speeds faster than that of light along ever-changing Hyperspace routes. Now, for our little war here, this presents a problem. Logically, the entire sith fleet should be able to send all its ships to Coruscant and attack it. Well, while that's good for the sith, it is really bad for our plot. So, I did some research as to Hyperspace technology of this era, and by pure luck, I found a very interesting piece of tech: The Hyperspace Beacon.
A Hyperspace beacon is either a satellite orbiting a planet or a tower on that world that transmits the planet's hyperspace coordinates so that other computers can read them via their navcomps. They do this by triangulating signals from nearby systems.
Now, these beacon signals can be encrypted and reprogrammed from the capital or from the beacon itself.
So, let's say that, in a time of war, the Republic would begin a mass encryption of all hyperspace beacons to protect worlds from being reached by sith forces. Makes sense. So now, only republic ships can go from world to world.
But let's say the sith took over Dantooine and unlocked it's beacon. Then they would have the locations of nearby systems also, thanks to the triangulation signals. And then the Republic would have to launch any counterattack from a nearby world, also.
So now, fleets and armies have to jump from one planet to the next to reach Coruscant or Muunilist, respectively. And now, it's just like a game of Risk.
2. Battlefields
But, unlike Risk, it's not that easy to conquer a planet as it is to conquer a territory. I mean, planets are huge, armies would be spread, and any kind of RPed conquest would be impossible. Or would it? Let's look again at Dantooine. It's a mostly Grassland planet. Not a whole lot there. Not a whole lot to attack. No need to wage some epic battle on a field out in the middle of nowhere. All you have to do is take Khoonda and the Jedi enclave, reprogram the Hyperspace Beacon, and the planet is yours. That is the way planetary war will work. On any planet, there will be a number of targets, from military instalations to administrative buildings, that must be taken to control the planet. On Dantooine, there are two: Khoonda and The Jedi Enclave. On A world such as Ilum, there may only be one, the Jedi installation there. On a world such as Coruscant, there may be many more.
I will begin posting these targets under each planet to describe how difficult they are to conquer/defend. Ilum is a difficulty of 1, Dantooine 2, Coruscant, much higher. For Plot sake, if you conquer them all, the planet is yours, and you can keep going.
3. Progression.
But it really is all in HOW you keep going, isn't it? Planetary conquest needs to be organized. It's not like fighting a person. It's like fighting an army. There are similarities and differences. For the sake of order, I've created a simple progression of planetary warfare.
I. Selection. This is the first step. The attacking party needs to decide where to attack. This is very important, as it can strategically change the entire war. Now, the key here is Justification. Which involves the difference between IC and OOC information. Now, you may know for a fact that there aren't many forces stationed on one planet, and that it would be easy to conquer. But if your character doesn't know, then he can not use that knowledge. So, when choosing a planet to attack, all choices must be fully justified, IC. No "I'm just attacking 'cause I feel like it." You have to be smart about it, come up with good reasons for it. That's done IC in the Military HQ.
II. Prologue.
This is where troops are prepared and transported to a planet, as well as the firt invasion. Now, though it hasn't been posted yet, the three armies concerned here have exact numbers associated with them. There is an exact number for how many Republic forces are stationed on each planet. There is an exact number for how many sith forces are in any invasion force. And all armies have a number of reserve forces across various worlds. To gather, equip, and move forces to a given world takes about a week, depending on distance. One day to send orders out. One day to organie troops. One day for armament. One day to get forces shipped out. About a day of travel, and then a day to re-station. Some parts will take longer, though, depending again on how far, and how many. So be smart as to the number you move at any given time. An attack might just be a feint to deplete forces from someplace else. Now, these exact troop numbers will be hidden from most users unless when needed, to prevent OOC information from impacting IC decisions. Xaojii has the sith numbers, Myn the Republic numbers, Axelpro the Mandalorian, and I have them all.
III. Battle.
Here's the big one. The Battle. We know now where to attack, and how many we have to attack with. For each target, I will create a crappy map like the one I made for Dantooine, complete with positions of troops. Then battles will function a lot like player-to-player combat. Forces will move forwards, different troops will meet at other places. And when two groups of forces meet, their leaders (either PCs or NPCs) will engage in the same kind of round combat that players engage in, only with each, more forces will be killed and it's more about strategy. On this point, I need to make another jab at Justification. Don't attack the right flank just because you know nobody is there. Unless your character knows, of course. Also, detail is extremely important, too. For instance, let's say you make this post:
"Private Steve sent a message back to Headquarters to relay his position"
What you say is EXACTLY what you do. Meaning that, because you did not post that this was an encoded message, enemy forces could easily intercept the message. Cross all of those "T"s.
Of course, on the battlefield, player-to-player combat will ensue, but we've covered that already. So, this continues until all targets are taken.
How long this takes, is up to you guys, but we will have a day system. Meaning Day one is the invasion. After a certatin number of events occur that seem like they would take a day (standard day), we switch to Day two. This way forces being prepared to reenforce know which day to come in on.
IV. Epilogue.
Almost as important as the Battle is the aftermath. It sets the planet up for the next battle, if any, as well as placing new troops for movement. If you attack a world and then just stop posting there, then when you come back and need those forces, they won't be ready, and you'll have to spend a few days prepping them, and then you come in later in the fight. Again, justify it.
Whew! Read this over and over, and you'll be ready to lead your own forces into battle.
DISMISSED!
1. Hyperspace
2. Battlefields
3. Progression
1. Hyperspace.
As most of you know, in Star Wars, starships are able to travel at speeds faster than that of light along ever-changing Hyperspace routes. Now, for our little war here, this presents a problem. Logically, the entire sith fleet should be able to send all its ships to Coruscant and attack it. Well, while that's good for the sith, it is really bad for our plot. So, I did some research as to Hyperspace technology of this era, and by pure luck, I found a very interesting piece of tech: The Hyperspace Beacon.
A Hyperspace beacon is either a satellite orbiting a planet or a tower on that world that transmits the planet's hyperspace coordinates so that other computers can read them via their navcomps. They do this by triangulating signals from nearby systems.
Now, these beacon signals can be encrypted and reprogrammed from the capital or from the beacon itself.
So, let's say that, in a time of war, the Republic would begin a mass encryption of all hyperspace beacons to protect worlds from being reached by sith forces. Makes sense. So now, only republic ships can go from world to world.
But let's say the sith took over Dantooine and unlocked it's beacon. Then they would have the locations of nearby systems also, thanks to the triangulation signals. And then the Republic would have to launch any counterattack from a nearby world, also.
So now, fleets and armies have to jump from one planet to the next to reach Coruscant or Muunilist, respectively. And now, it's just like a game of Risk.
2. Battlefields
But, unlike Risk, it's not that easy to conquer a planet as it is to conquer a territory. I mean, planets are huge, armies would be spread, and any kind of RPed conquest would be impossible. Or would it? Let's look again at Dantooine. It's a mostly Grassland planet. Not a whole lot there. Not a whole lot to attack. No need to wage some epic battle on a field out in the middle of nowhere. All you have to do is take Khoonda and the Jedi enclave, reprogram the Hyperspace Beacon, and the planet is yours. That is the way planetary war will work. On any planet, there will be a number of targets, from military instalations to administrative buildings, that must be taken to control the planet. On Dantooine, there are two: Khoonda and The Jedi Enclave. On A world such as Ilum, there may only be one, the Jedi installation there. On a world such as Coruscant, there may be many more.
I will begin posting these targets under each planet to describe how difficult they are to conquer/defend. Ilum is a difficulty of 1, Dantooine 2, Coruscant, much higher. For Plot sake, if you conquer them all, the planet is yours, and you can keep going.
3. Progression.
But it really is all in HOW you keep going, isn't it? Planetary conquest needs to be organized. It's not like fighting a person. It's like fighting an army. There are similarities and differences. For the sake of order, I've created a simple progression of planetary warfare.
I. Selection. This is the first step. The attacking party needs to decide where to attack. This is very important, as it can strategically change the entire war. Now, the key here is Justification. Which involves the difference between IC and OOC information. Now, you may know for a fact that there aren't many forces stationed on one planet, and that it would be easy to conquer. But if your character doesn't know, then he can not use that knowledge. So, when choosing a planet to attack, all choices must be fully justified, IC. No "I'm just attacking 'cause I feel like it." You have to be smart about it, come up with good reasons for it. That's done IC in the Military HQ.
II. Prologue.
This is where troops are prepared and transported to a planet, as well as the firt invasion. Now, though it hasn't been posted yet, the three armies concerned here have exact numbers associated with them. There is an exact number for how many Republic forces are stationed on each planet. There is an exact number for how many sith forces are in any invasion force. And all armies have a number of reserve forces across various worlds. To gather, equip, and move forces to a given world takes about a week, depending on distance. One day to send orders out. One day to organie troops. One day for armament. One day to get forces shipped out. About a day of travel, and then a day to re-station. Some parts will take longer, though, depending again on how far, and how many. So be smart as to the number you move at any given time. An attack might just be a feint to deplete forces from someplace else. Now, these exact troop numbers will be hidden from most users unless when needed, to prevent OOC information from impacting IC decisions. Xaojii has the sith numbers, Myn the Republic numbers, Axelpro the Mandalorian, and I have them all.
III. Battle.
Here's the big one. The Battle. We know now where to attack, and how many we have to attack with. For each target, I will create a crappy map like the one I made for Dantooine, complete with positions of troops. Then battles will function a lot like player-to-player combat. Forces will move forwards, different troops will meet at other places. And when two groups of forces meet, their leaders (either PCs or NPCs) will engage in the same kind of round combat that players engage in, only with each, more forces will be killed and it's more about strategy. On this point, I need to make another jab at Justification. Don't attack the right flank just because you know nobody is there. Unless your character knows, of course. Also, detail is extremely important, too. For instance, let's say you make this post:
"Private Steve sent a message back to Headquarters to relay his position"
What you say is EXACTLY what you do. Meaning that, because you did not post that this was an encoded message, enemy forces could easily intercept the message. Cross all of those "T"s.
Of course, on the battlefield, player-to-player combat will ensue, but we've covered that already. So, this continues until all targets are taken.
How long this takes, is up to you guys, but we will have a day system. Meaning Day one is the invasion. After a certatin number of events occur that seem like they would take a day (standard day), we switch to Day two. This way forces being prepared to reenforce know which day to come in on.
IV. Epilogue.
Almost as important as the Battle is the aftermath. It sets the planet up for the next battle, if any, as well as placing new troops for movement. If you attack a world and then just stop posting there, then when you come back and need those forces, they won't be ready, and you'll have to spend a few days prepping them, and then you come in later in the fight. Again, justify it.
Whew! Read this over and over, and you'll be ready to lead your own forces into battle.
DISMISSED!
