P.O.W. #11:

Fort Knox

"Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity." ~Oprah Winfrey

<<June 13, 1998>>

Your superior paces the room. As of yet, he's given no indication of why he called you in for a private talk. You didn't THINK you'd done anything wrong . . .

He looks up. "Well, I suppose you've heard of the enemy outpost Beta-four."

A grin fights to engulf your face. Enemy outpost Beta-four . . . . known almost exclusively by its nickname, "Fort Knox". It was a varitable wealth of equipment--buckets and entire inflatable pools full of water, over a hundred weapons, and nearly a thousand water balloons--that is, if rumor could be believed.

But your superior quickly interrupts your thoughts, "We've been waiting and waiting, trying to find a good way to attack it," he says, then breaths heavily. "Our best tactical advisors can find none."

You nod solemnly. That was to be expected.

"As rumor has probably told, there's a minimum guard of twenty soldiers on duty at all times, typically armed with CPS weapons."

"Actually, sir," you chime in, "Rumor put it at thirty-five."

He grins, a rare event. "Well, INTELLIGENCE says twenty. Anyway, we've considered every angle we can think of, and there's simply no easy way to take it out." He clears his throat before continuing. "You, as the victor of the Tamana incident, have been chosen to lead the forces."

You feel your stomach's knot tighten. That had been the battle to get you this promotion. You had requested to attack the Tamma-One outpost with a small force and were denied. The soldiers went with you anyway, and you managed to pull it off because you had noticed a weakness in the defenses (namely, there was a two-hour lapse between the second and third shift rotations)--that kind of victory wasn't something you could just conjure up at will.

Your superior continues, "You will be given fifteen men. Weapons are as follows: five XP 110s, five XP 250s, five CPS 1000s. You may choose any weapon for yourself you wish."

The knot in your stomach becomes so tight, you're surprised to find you can still talk. That building, although with no "safe zones" (places where water is forbidden on the floor), posed a great advantage to the defenders--numerous windows, even on the second floor, allowed great firing positions (not to mention the roof). Numerous sinks allowed for several people to refill simultaneously. There was even a phone, for unblockable and un-monitorable communication! The area around it, inversely, was very sparce. Mostly open fields, with only a few trees.

"Uh, sir? Three-to-one forces are considered necessary to carry out a direct-frontal assault."

He nods solemnly. "I'm afraid its out of my hands. Good luck."

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First I can assume that there are 1000 water balloons and 100 weapons inside in addition to the 35 men. I will also assume the worst and assume that each guard has a CPS weapon. However if one hit kills it won't be so great as I would rather have an XP 110 than a CPS 2000 in that case. However the weapon I would choose for myself would be a CPS 2500.

First I would deploy the troops in 2 groups for assualt. Because we havent attacked yet I can assume only normal guards (20) will be in position to defend it with the other 15 inside the building doing something else. This is reasonable because intellegence could not get inside the building therefore they could only see the normal guards.

The 2 teams are:
Myself:CPS 2500
7 Troopers:CPS 1000 x2,XP 110 x5.

The other team would be 8 troopers with the following weapons:
XP 250 x5,CPS 1000 x3.

The first team should get somebody at the base to phone them with some suitably long and drawn out script designed to get at least 1 person away from the phone. Then I would set off several seconds into the script and charge the front enterance which incidentally is the last place I'd be thinking about attacking. If all the windows were open and they scrambled to an alert we should still only have to face about 5 people upon entry. The second team should climb up outside while we were busting into the front door and barricade themselves in bathrooms with anywhere I would have them pour water onto the floor from sinks so it would leak all over and hit enemy troopers. Meanwhile if any of my troopers survived the inital assualt I would disable the main power switch by means of a blast from the CPS 2500 as well as shooting the walls and any carpets to make the house inhabiatable. In this case it would be time to evacuate and come back with the report of your sucessful damage to the base. The enemy will be none too pleased that you wrecked a house of theirs and neither will their parents be. Also the details did not state to capture it but to take it out. I would not choose to stay in a poorly defended soaking wet house if with about 80 weapons left if I could evacuate to a better location. A loss of 16 men is acceptable for a major target like this. Basically I dont think it would be a good idea to make a direct tactical attack because the odds of surviving while just shooting mean are very high. Also by destroying any possibility of keeping B-4 a major enemy base you are basically forcing them to evacuate because they would be without power,dry space or security precautions. Besides I'd like to see the reaction of the parents when they get back from vacation (No sane person would turn over a house with those amnemties to their children for a waterfight.) You might not have any friends after that but I only have friends because I am a tactical genius anyways. Anyhow if you understand this you would realize that even though it would work great it wouldent be nescarrily the most popular decision afterwards.

~Thomas Warwick

Let's see, I assume that the idea with the phone was to call someone in the house to keep them away from the battle and keep the phone busy while you make an assault? That's a good idea, although there would probably a "Sorry, I've got to go. Call you back," as soon as the battle started.

As far as charging the entrance . . . . I would expect each entrance to have as many people as could be spared and still have every direction WATCHED, if not defended effectively. You'll still face fewer guards initially, but saying 5 is the most generous I'd be willing to be.

I doubt your attempt to destroy the base would be effective, however. Even shooting all throughout the house and flooding the bathrooms wouldn't prevent the base from being effectively defended (ever hear of waterproof boots?), and couldn't take more than an hour or two to clean out (and they've got enough personnel to clean and defend simultaneously). I don't think that you could take out the power by shooting the external power box with a water gun, and the one inside would undoubtly take longer than your lifetime in there searching to find unless you've been in the house before and already know where it is (and then its still questionable).

As far as the kids getting the house, many people have played with Super Soakers clear into college and probably beyond . . . . in other words, they may own the house. Also, you don't KNOW its a house, just a building. It could be some form of mostly wood, uncarpeted lodge designed for get-togethers rather than living -- there might not even be bathrooms! (but if not, there would probably be outhouses).

Ok, first of all i could never imagine someone going that overboard with waterfights. But the way i see it is, they cant use all their weapons at once. If they do, theyll be heavily logged down. I guess the main thing you have to do is break their outer defenses and get inside. Then you have a chance. I would tell my superior to offer like 10 more men, armed with guns and balloons to follow us, but stay back aways so they couldnt be seen, but could see the door. I would also try to get shields, which can cover a lot, and carry things(i making one that can carry a 95, water balloons, and more). I would then tell me men, "Water dosen't hurt you." If my men are as insane as i am, they would just charge with me, not caring how wet they get, and break into the house. I would then call for my reinforcemetns to come in.

Whoa! Wait a minute! Your superior just told you that it was out of his hands when you pointed out that three-to-one odds are considered necessary for a direct frontal assault. It's VERY safe to assume that you can't get any reinforcements or additional equipment--that includes the 10 guys with balloons, the shields, all of that.

If this dosent work, try to get to a payphone or something and order them pizza. The pizza guy would deliver the pizza, accomplishing the objective of the opening the door. Then just charge in and hope to catch them offguard.

Um, you'd have to figure out their address (if they have one), get the delivery guy to actually come out there, and you'd probably have to get him to willingly and intentionally try to keep the door open while you run in because your approach with the pizza guy would be monitored (through the windows AND externally posted guards).

And if all else fails, just dont attack. Sit on their lawn, far enough from firing distance, and make loud noises, enough to draw out some people. You then either capture the guards, if you outnumber and outweapon them. Or you send a small unit of your best men, you including to infiltrate when the guards are out.

One of the most common mistakes people make when sending in POW solutions is to think that they can lure people out of the base. Odds are that you can't, and even if you can, it wouldn't buy you much in this case. Your infiltrators wouldn't stand a chance.

If you cant win, then ask to join them...

~Mike

...and be ready to get several simultaneous CPS blasts in the face as they laugh at you and chase you off.

The phone has nothing to do with it.

The idea is that if you convince them that they'd need help to defeat you, then they can literally call for reinforcements.

I would make the decision to sacrifice a man to lure as many guards away from the door there evening up the odds. If the guards didnt moveand my man survived I would send him back to take out as many people as possible.

Most likely, the guards would stay there, or a maximum of two would follow and quickly kill your man before returning. When you send him back to attack, the most likely outcome will him being shot down before he can do any damage, and its highly unlikely that he could take out more than one man.

I would then send a force of 5 men to mop up the rest and create a diversion.

To "mop up" the rest??? You've gotta be crazy! There's at least 20 guards there! 5 people have a negligible chance of surviving that assault, and you're not about to tell me that they easily overpower the 20 guards!

The rest of my men and I would run toward the door and get in side.

It's unlikely you'd manage to get in before being cut down, juding from the fact that you've juse sacrificed 6 of your men and your chances of having brought the number of defenders down even to match yours are not good.

Once inside I would post a guard at the now locked door, while my men and I pound through the interior destroying everythine in sight. Evacuation will follow the victory.

~Brandon Wallace

If the door is locked, what good is a guard? And how do you know there won't be a ton of defenders inside? Or that surviving external defenders or arriving help won't just use another door or window?

I would infiltrate in the water supplies of the building, and cut off their water. Then I would make them waste all their water, for example passing down the windows with snipers. And I'd use the "hit-n-run" tactic for the guards. Then I would take guards as prisoners and interrogate 'em. At the time, I would have someone to make irritating phone calls to the "Fort Knox"s phone until their morale is pulverized. Than I would break in the house with the team and soak up everyone. SO: GOOD BYE BETA-FOUR!!!...

~Enver Haydaroðlu

It's highly unlikely that you would manage to infiltrate, and even if you did, chances of being able to disable all their water supplies are negligible (plus the maneuver is futile, they've got enough spare weapons and reserves physically there to last your attack even if they squander them).

It is also not likely that you could eliminate all the guards without losing most or all of your men, and even doing so, it would take awhile (and you would get no prisoners, although interrogation for information on the base would be a good idea if you did manage to get any). Also, I doubt phone calls would deplete morale enough to give you much of an advantage (except maybe in surprise) and "break in the house with the team and soak everyone" is hardly an insignificant task.

The trick up my sleeve would be water balloons.

What water balloons?

Let's see . . . . you were assigned no water balloons . . . . you weren't granted unlimited supplies or run of the supply depot . . . you were told you could choose any WEAPON (singular) for your own use, so I suppose you could get ONE water balloon . . . . of course, then you'd have no gun . . .

Assuming that Fort Knox is a 4 sided building, there would probably be about 5 guys guarding it on each side, with the remaining 15 (if they exist) inside.

Very good, you didn't blindly accept the rumor. If I were you, I would've ignored it completely.

Before I left, I'd divide my force into 4 teams of 4. The man on each team would hand his weapon over (temporarily) to another man, while he carried a bucket of a dozen water balloons.

I'll assume you meant "the" man you put in charge.

YOU STILL NEED TO GET WATER BALLOONS!!!!

Also in that bucket would be a launcher, of the bike helmet type. There should be several of these in the armory, and if there isn't, both the commander and the quartermaster should be shot.

The Commander and the Quartermaster are obviously not in charge of supplying the army, just commanding it and looking after what supplies it has (respectively).

Actually, I myself am totally unfamiliar with "the bike helmet type" of water balloon-launcher, but most water balloon-launchers are generally banned from waterfights because its dangerous to actually use a water balloon slingshot (general type of "launcher") on a human being.

So one each team there is a man with some form of heavy weapon, a man with a medium sized weapon, and a man carrying what ever's left. The fourth man carries the balloons and launcher.

Now each team moves through the forest to a point about 30 yards off of the side wall.

Forest? What forest? I specifically said that the terrain around the base was mostly open fields, with very few trees.

All members of the team except for the one with the gun with the greatest range stop there and set their weapons down right next to them in easy reach. The man with the gun crawls through the forest to within range of the guards, and there he waits in hiding.

I pointed out at least once (and probably more) in the description of the POW that there was no significant cover!!! There is no forest, and you could not wait "in hiding". In addition, crawling up to the base would just slow your advance and make you look stupid.

Meanwhile, back with the team, they're preparing to launch water balloons 3 at a time. The glory of a launcher constructed of a bike helmet and rubber tubing is that in the hands of someone who's used one before, they have a range of over 50 yards (yes, we have tested this) and weigh no more than a couple of pounds.

BUT ITS ALMOST DEFINITELY UNAVAILABLE AND TOTALLY FORBIDDEN!!!!!!!!

So anyway they start launching 3 balloons at a time at the guards. Hopefully with the first volley they take out at least one guard.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah . . . . . . . . . . .

One thing I know from experience is that water balloon slingshots are horrendously unreliable and you most certainly CANNOT aim well enough with 3 balloons at once to hit a human-sized target which is probably trying to dodge from a distance of 30 yards (or at least not reliably)!

As they start running into the forest,

WHAT!!!????? You must think these guys have the combined IQ equivalent to a speck of dust!

the man in hiding should be able to take out at least one more before he is killed.

If he COULD be hidden close by, I'd agree with you . . .

In the second water balloon volley, a few seconds later, one more guard should be eliminated.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha . . . . . . . . . . you've got an overactive imagination.

The handicap that the guards have is that they're trying to plow their way 30 yards through dense forest with a gun the size of southeast Montana while trying to avoid water balloons whizzing past their heads. With only 2 guards left they should be easy pickin's for the last water balloons.

Hehehehe . . . . the guards would be inside before you could load and fire the second volley, with their guns at the windows ready to blow you away when you came within range! On top of that, they could (from the windows especially) easily dodge any more water balloons (or just close the window, depending on the type). They've also got the second floor, which will increase their range and decrease your own considerably when you actually try to advance.

That happening on 4 sides simultaneously,

All right, let's assume (hypothetically, of course) for a moment that the terrain conditions you're depending on exist, the equipment you're depending on is available, and the guards are in the rough positons you're depending on even though they almost definitely aren't. You'd stun me with surprise if you managed to pull off what you've described on ONE side, and your chances of doing it on all four sides is so infitesimally small you could probably dedicate a lifetime to trying to make it happen and never succeed.

that should leave 12 of your force left, give or take a couple. If there are no guards on the inside, walk in, take 5, call your base and wait for reinforcements. If there are still 15 inside, they'll have heard the commotion outside and would be waiting inside. They won't come outside for fear of you doing to them what you did to the other guards.

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Since they won't be outside, have a man run to the back of the building and locate the phone line and snip it.

Once again, this is almost undoubtedly prohibited -- in fact, if it is not specifically allowed, you've committed a federal offense by doing it.

This is to insure that the remaining guards, if they haven't already, don't call for reinforcements themselves.

If you DID manage to do what you've attempted, they already have, although they might still be on the phone giving more details about what's happened.

Now have your men wait by the windows, running and dodging to get to them, and stand flat against the wall. The only way they could get them is if they held their weapon out and just sort of fired blindly. If they pull a stupid stunt like that, it should be no trouble evading, since they don't know where your men are, and as you and your men evade, drop your gun and rip his out of his hands.

Once again, you're forgetting the 2nd floor. From the 2nd floor, they could safely poke not only their gun, but both arms and their head out, and could fire at you intelligently with virtually no danger from counter-fire.

Then you hold that gun out and you yourself fire blindly into the window. You should take out a couple of guards.

In your DREAMS!!!

If they don't stick that gun out the window, do the same thing, except with your gun. You should work them down one by one to the point where the few guards left are distracted at the windows, and you and your men storm the front door.

Team Casualties: 1-8
Enemy casualties: 35

~Royce Huntley

Promise me something, Royce: don't EVER try to do anything REMOTELY like this in real life, OK?

Well I would choose a CPS2500 for myself and I would deploy the troops into 4 teams, And send them out. Then 5 members on my team would try to find the outbox If I could find the Outbox I would turn everything I could find off so they would have no power, Then we would regroup by the phone. Then if the building is a four sided building, There should be around 4 or 5 guys on each side and the other 15 (if they even exsist)inside. So what I would do I would send The fastest guy I have (unarmed) (This is a suicide move),To run around all four sides of the building and run towards us while we either wait in trees Or behind bushes If anybody follows they will be dead bye either the guy in the tree (if he doesn't see him)To get him(or them) with a xp110. That means some guys will follow them and we will take out however many comes along, Then we regroup and decided to see if we could climb up on a roof or go through a window. If we can get in they would Find places to hide and wait for people to go by and get them, If everything goes according to plan, We end up with the key to the room and we get lots of weapons Yaaaa, If we don't there is always the next fight.

~Nathan

All right, ignoring for the moment that you'd be exposing yourself to superior firepower without any plan to defend yourselves during your search, and the fact that you should have explained the exact formation of each team if they weren't going to be even (15 or 16 divided by four does not leave 5), you're also broadcasting to the entire opposing force that your're conducting an attack on their base, and they're more likely to be better prepared for you when you actually ATTACK -- if the enemy values this base at all, they'll have defenders which aren't so incompetant as to run off after a single unarmed runner when they know there's roughly 15 armed opponents with their eyes set on the base; your decoy couldn't even LOOK like he poses a threat if the power is already off.

Next, because the approach to the base is likely to be at least as hard as the entry, I suggest that you make your plans in chronological order. Hoping that you'll be able to use a window to get in if they close the door isn't an attack plan.

I would pick a CPS 3000 for myself. We need all the heavy artillery we can get to take out these guys.

I'll assume that the enemy probably has from 50 to 100 people to use the 100 weapons. I would then divide my team up into 3 squads:

Squad 1: 2 people with XP250s and 2 people with XP110s
Squad 2: 3 people with XP250s, myself with a CPS 3000 and 4 people with CPS 1000s
Squad 3: 3 people with XP110s and 1 person with a CPS 1000

We would then divide up the jobs. Squad 1 would go and try to decoy the guards nearest the entrance. Squads 2 and 3 would stay out of range and pretend to be battling each other. Squad 3 would attempt to take control of the entrance to a small part of the fort, while Squad 2 would try to raid it for the supplies. Then Squad 1 would enter and we would try to take the fort using the supplies we found.

Let me sum this up: your plan is to have 12 people pretend to battle each other while 4 people go and try to secure the entrance to a base you estimate is guarded by 50-100 people.

I'm sorry, I simply can't see any sense in that.

P. S. Here is my other solution, to be used if my first does not work.

Choose my Super Soaker Keychain, which is ALSO named Beta-four (I swear, and I did name it before I read this thing), and pick it up. Then I would have taken Beta-four.
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<cut short to save space>

~Nathan M G Hannon

Have 5 guys go in and stir 'em up a bit. they'll suspect a trap but oh well.keep sending in 5 3-8 times an hour. hopefully reenforcements will come and you can pick em off. it'll at least wear em down. have your men fan out and attack from all sides. 1 side first so they'll think that its just another raid. then all sides attack.

~Anonymous

Well, the first problem with your plan is that continuously sending in 5 attackers against a minimum of 20 well-armed defenders in a good base isn't going to wear them down, its going to wear YOU down - most critically in that you'll begin running out of water. Furthermore, repeated attacks will increase their vigil and make it that much harder to actually do damage.

Also, if they did send in reinforcements - and I doubt they will, especially if they think that the defenders have you outnumbered at least 4 to 1 - they'd send a fairly large group of troops who are expecting to run directly into battle, not a couple of lightly-armed idiots who are so oblivious that you could ambush them in completely open terrain.

Also, I doubt an attack from just one side will make them think that its "just another raid", because a base like this probably doesn't experience raids - I'd be surprised if they'd even ever had any kind of attack. Its conceivable that an attack from one side would draw defenders away from another side and allow you to attack, but because the terrain is so open I think they'd see you coming and fanning out and would maintain defense on all sides even if your men weren't attacking.

ok well by reading the previous postings, i was extremely disgusted, picking up a key chain, lets be serious here.

Anyway, I would take a cps 2000 for myself , and then promptly switch with the best sniper we've got. Id promptly trad until i got a xps110, and then id assign positions, the sniper was to climb the best available tree, where he was protected and had sufficiant rang to provide cover fire.

I sense a critical mistake that may become an issue later in your plan: specifically, if you can get the sniper up into the tree safely, it means that he's either out of range of the base, or very nearly so, which means he won't be much help unless the enemy charges you which, considering that THEY have a base, would be pretty stupid in almost any circumstance.

Then id take myslef as well as a special-ops team of two to dissconnect the buildings water supply.

You'd better have a much, much better plan later down that digging up the water pipes and sawing them apart.

meanwhile the remainder of my troops would be sp[read arond the base just out of their range. they would throw rocks or whatever thgey could in hopes of attracting some attention to themselves.

You'd better have a pretty good arm to throw rocks farther than the range of any CPS weapon fired from the roof of a two-story building. I don't think you'll need rocks to get their attention.

Me and my team would then move to find the nearest hose bib and use whatever we could, tree branches, rocks, etc. to make it somwhat defendable. I would make this my filling station in case supplies started to run low, and send on of the special- ops team back to tell the men about it.

Are you assuming there's going to be some kind of oasis-like water spigget out in the middle of the plains that's used to run some kind of sprinkler, or do you actually think you're going to waltz up to this building without being spotted by 20 armed guards and then defend it, knowing full well they can fire at you from the roof and (probably) several windows? I don't think either is a likely possibility or a good idea.

meanwhile the enemy would be somewhat annoyed by the man surrounding their base throwing things and hopefully send someone ouside, well i wouldnt count on it. id takem myself as well as the other man with me and try to sneak up on the outside circuit breaker. after disabling it i would drench it, considering that simply praying wires will get you electocuted.

Deliberate destruction of such property can be assumed illicit.

if i hadnt been discovered by now,

Dream on!

i would force a window and put the nearby hose in it full blast, assuming they hadnt found me.

Even if, by some miraculous act of God, you managed to pull all of this insane stuff off, your weapon would do a better job of mowing down opponents in the room, and its not like they're not going to notice the hose.

then id leve to see the rest of my men and see what had happened so far. id re-asess from there. if we had had any casualties i'd order a retreat until a better plan could be establishe, howver hopefully a guard had come out, this would be foolish to assume, and the sniper would have picked him off.

I hope that the phrase "foolish to assume" is being applied to both the possibility of guards coming out and the sniper getting them if they did, especially since everyone in the base will know about the sniper, having watched him get into position (that's what guards are for). Even if any guards did come out, it would not be a single, loan guard who could be "picked off," it would be at least 10 men who could plow past the sniper without all being eliminated even if they ignored him completely.

Saying, after doing all this useless and impractical stuff, that you're going to re-evaluate the situation or come up with the better plan is just a cop-out: this POW's been up nearly 18 months, you've got a little more time to work on your solution if its incomplete.

also i liked the delivery boy idea, providing my sniper was in range of the doorr, id have the delivery boy open the door, and pick off as many people as we could before they shut the door.

As I noted earlier, if you're in range of the door with the sniper, that means that in addition to being obvious, snipers on the enemy roof can probably pick off your sniper, which would put an end to that. Furthermore, all the problems associated with this tactic which I noted the previous time it was suggested (used in the 2nd solution to this POW, which is 8 above this one).

Id prceed until dark with my antics.

What antics? Stuffing hoses through windows and throwing rocks with an arm that a major-league baseball pitcher would envy? You won't survive the first attempts!

because we have diconnected their power, they will have little chance of spotting us under the darkness of cover.

However, because you didn't disconnect the phone, they'll be calling in reinforcements, the power company, and the police. Good luck!

This would give my scouts time to sneak around the outside and try to figuer out a weakness in their defenses, such as the one at tamma-one.

The base was already scouted to get the number of guards and no such weakness was observed, and since I assume you would've reported how you took the base, I'm sure the scouts would have been told to look for one if it was possible to do so without being instantly drenched.

this would continue until i was certain i had something to go on, or time was right to launc an attack. Id pile up some sort of defensible structures close to the base,( remember stargate) and keep inching forward.

I have no idea what you mean by "remember stargate." Furthermore, I have no idea when you think that "the time is right" or where you're going to dredge up "defensible structures." You can't simply add new equipment to your inventory because you'd like to have it. The Commander doesn't have control over the mission, so there's not really anyone you can appeal to without inciting mutiny, and if you're going to go that far get something better than "defensible structures!"

i know i will not be brought supples so we will use anything available. hopefully we could get as many enemy men taken out of commission before the attack. also i would try to maek them talk, using the chinese water torture meathod with the hose bib. i would use anyhting i could get before making the final assault.

~Sean " Maverick" McKee

The Commander's hope does little to win the battle. You're insane if you think either that you're allowed to safely come in, capture dead soldiers, and torture them or that you could capture any of them alive.

Its easy to say you'd use anything you could get, but you'll only find what you're looking for even if its right under your nose, so it shows absolutely no thought to say so without at least giving examples.

I would've expected someone so disgusted with the previous attempted solutions to come up with something better than this!

I would Pray to god because the only way i am gonna win is divine intervention.

If that dosen't work i will phone them with a phoney report like "Beta-three (asuming there is a beta-3) is under attack! Send reinforcements!" and hope they do (send reinforcements). Assuming they do, i will then move in from the forest... Just kidding! i'm not THAT dense! I would then move in fron behind whatever cover there is, if there is any, (you did say there were a few trees) and try, and i emphasize TRY, to run in and attack, hopeing like hell that they don't have the 15 guys inside, and try to get in the door. If that fails, i will just yell "Water is nothing! ignore them!" and, ignoring them, TRY to get in the door, window, Chimney (yeah, right!), etc... and take the base. if THAT fails i will yell "Retreat!" and run like a headless chicken. Of course, if the enemy team is anything like the people i play against, i will win on the second strategy 'cause MOST (not all, most) of 'em are DEMENTED!

~James Stewart

P.S. did i mention my weapon is an XXP 275 (i know they are big, but the one i have is sooo reliable!)

Regardless of how pathetic your usual opponents are, making hypothetical scenarios where the enemy is that stupid is pointless, because you don't even need to try in order to win.

Giving them a false distress call sounds like a good idea, provided that you can gain access to a phone. You should immediately hang up afterwards, as if you were in a hurry, without letting them say anything, or they might catch your hoax on some basis of enemy protocol that you don't happen to know.

As for the charge, I recommend a more detailed plan. A few trees aren't enough cover to hide the approach of an army, so that's out.

And as far as ignoring the water is concerned, defending anything tends to be pretty ineffective unless there's some penalization for getting shot, so the water probably isn't nothing. If it was, the only way to keep you out would be to physically block the entrances, and for that you don't need to use weapons, you can just hold all the doors and windows shut or something. Locks would be optimal, but installing locks and distributing keys requires $$, which isn't necessarily available in a water fight.

I would pick a Monster XL for myself, there are several points at which a weapon like this would be needed.

That's not exactly fair. As you'll note at the top of the page, this POW was posted on June 13, 1998. Super Chargers hadn't even been invented yet. Giving you access to the `00 line doesn't really make sense, but for the sake of argument, we'll give you a Monster XL.

I'm going to assuming that this base has four sides, and there are five guards to a side. They will probably all be on the second floor, or on the roof. Since there is a normal guard of 20 gaurds, there are probably 20 relief guys. There probably is five upper windows to a side, and there are probably rooms, and each room probably has two to four windows in it.

Assuming that the base has 4 sides is probably OK. Assuming that it has rooms only makes sense. Assuming that you know the exact positions of all the guards and details of the outer architecture of the base does not.

It stands to reason that the guards will be bored, because they obviously don't get attacked often. Therefore, to minimize risk of unwatchfulness, it stands to reason that guards would be positioned outside and/or on the roof to maximize their visibility range. Of course, we can't necessarily assume that our opponents are going to be competent, but its very dangerous to assume that they're not.

Assuming exactly 1 window per guard on the second floor and all guards on the second floor is definitely setting yourself up for a nasty surprise. Intelligence supposedly did some recon of the base, and they SAW twenty guards, which means that if they're all in the 2nd story windows, the scouts or spies saw ALL of them, which means they were ALL constantly in view of the windows, and that just doesn't make much sense. Troops get tired and bored. How long can you stand to look out of a window intently when the chances of seeing anything are minimal?

I would find the side that has a fire escape (if there is no fire escape, I would find something else that would work as well. A fire escape seems logical though). A full assault on one side would give me the 3 to 1 odds I needed. The 1000s would be in front, as to get as much range as possible. Getting to the wall, we would probably lose about five guys (I am also assuming one shot kills, otherwise everythings turns into a mess). They would probably lose two to three guys. Once flush against the wall, the guys on the roof are useless (unless they feel like hanging out over the edge), the guys in the upper windows would get shot as soon as they stuck their head out the window.

It should be noted that if you expect to lose five guys in this assault, and your 1000s are in front, at least four of those five guys (if you estimate is even correct) can be assumed to be your 1000s. I'm not sure you mean to sacrifice so much firepower to begin with.

Also, even assuming that your guess about the defenders' positions is correct, as soon as they see you they'll raise an alarm and every guard in the base (including relief guards, if there are any) will be armed and ready to fight within 90 seconds. I can pretty much guarantee you that some of them, at least, will be on the first floor -- maybe even outside on the first floor -- and there's a reasonable chance some will be on the roof.

Now, hugging the walls is all well and good, but even if they don't stick their heads out, they can stick their guns out and fire randomly. Since you have a lot of troops, there is a very real danger that some of them will be hit by blind firing. Furthermore, while your ment are looking straight up to try to shoot down anyone who looks out, they're more vulnerable to attack from other vectors.

Oh, and by a fire escape, do you mean an external staircase? Very little chance of that. Things like that are usually only built in extremely urbanized areas, which this isn't. More likely, I expect that if they have some kind of "fire escape," it will be a rope ladder that they can throw out one of the top windows and climb down.

If there is a fire escape, it stands to reason that the door is either locked or barricaded on the inside, or will be within 30 seconds of your army being spotted. Its not like there's a huge fire danger in a building with so much water.

I would trade around until all the 1000s were back in use (the 1000s would be the first guys to be shot).

Er, yes. Do you think that rules in a one-hit elimination game would allow your 1000-holders, after being hit, to continue walking over to the wall to hand off their weapons? They can probably drop them on the ground, but then someone has to go out and pick them up.

Once we were sure that the room above the fire escape was empty, a 1000 would go up and secure the doors. Then I would follow and stand by the door with both barrels on spread. The 1000 would cover the guys below while they came up the ladder. We would upgrade to CPS guns where possible, refill, and take as many water balloons as we could.

How do you intend to make sure that the room is empty? Even if it is empty, how do you know more guards won't walk in at any minute?

Also, it seems unlikely that much of the armory will be on the top floor. People have gone to great pains to make the base very difficult to take, so it stands to reason that they'll assume the armory is safe. The priority then shifts to being able to get out weapons, water, etc. as quickly and easily as possible in case of an emergency, and that means the ground floor.

At this point, it seems likely that the guards don't know we are in the building. We would send out three guys - preferably two 1000s and one 3000 (if we hadn't found a 3000, I would go with my Monster XL) - to find and guard the stairs to the lower level (the 20 relief guys are probably downstairs).

Likely that they don't know you're in the building? HA!

I'm sure they've scrambled their defenses by now, and someone on the ground floor has looked out a window and seen your troops going up the fire escape, if by some miracle there is one. They don't merely know that you're in the base, they know where you are, approximately how many of you there are, and what you're armed with.

Furthermore, you seem to think that there's at least another 15 guards on the second floor. If this were the case, you certainly don't have the run of the floor. If your plan worked up to this point, there's still a 75% chance that you'd have to fight your way to the staircase.

Also, if you think there's 20 people downstairs with access to pretty much any kind of equipment, I think you'll need more than 3 guys to guard the staircase. What happens if they upturn one of those inflatable pools and use it as a shield or something? What happens if they pelt you with 50 water balloons thrown blindly from around the corner?

Once they were in place, a group of four - all or most with CPS guns - would be sent to scout out the other rooms and try to kill as many guys as possible (the last three guys would guard our first room). They would probably be able to take one or MAYBE two rooms (about five enemy guys) before an alarm was called.

If you can get within weapons range of the base without an alarm being called, every single guard is a colossal fool. If that's the case, a much less elaborate plan would suffice.

Unless the guards are idiots, they will be forced to stay at the windows. If another group of our guys came to attack and they were messing around inside, the base would be taken in a minute (they don't know we're the only guys).

Its true that they don't know you're the only guys. However, they are 100% sure that you're there, and they know there are no other enemies within visual range of the base if they look out the windows. Therefore, unless they are idiots, they will definately NOT stay at the windows. A maximum of four guards would stay on surveillance (one on each side), and they on the ground floor or roof (or even outside). Everyone nearby you will make killing you their top priority, guaranteed.

The 20 relief guys would try to come up the stairs, and get totally blitzed in the process. If they charged, they would lose maybe ten guys, and we would lose three - and lose our foothold, but their losses would be tremendous.

If the staircase is narrow, its unlikely they'll lose more than a few people in a charge, because even if they die when they get shot, they don't disappear. They'll continue to block water for at least a few seconds, whether by intention or accident, and that'll give their buddies enough time to drench your general vacinity.

And, of course, if they are intelligent about this, they can attack your position in a much less haphazard fashion. Blind firing or throwing balloons from around a corner would probably be used to at least distract you. People will run around the corner in at least triplets firing CPS weapons madly, and unless their reflexes and yours are both extremely good, they'll fire for at least a second at you even if they get hit immediately, which is more than enough time to kill all your defenders.

Furthermore, even if they lost 10 guys in the charge and you'd already wiped out the entire 2nd floor -- which is doubtful -- the rest of your troops can now be taken by surprise, and they're still outnumbered and outgunned.

I find it unlikely that they would charge up the stairs though. We would probably hit three guys before they retreated to try to figure out what to do.

Er, doubtful. If they were in a really big hurry and it didn't even occur to them that you might be guarding the stairs, and on top of that they were clustered extremely close together, maybe. But doubtful.

The other team would keep taking out the guards with as few losses as possible (easy enough said, but I don't know the layout of the base).

If an alarm does get called and the guards are ready for you, your 4 killers are outnumbered and would probably be wiped out with a significant number of enemies left on the floor.

The team guarding the top of the stairs could lob water balloons down the stairs and take out a few of the relief guys.

Um, where exactly do you think they've retreated to? Six inches out of range?

Once the top part of the base was secure, a ladder to the roof would need to be found. There is no way I can think of to eliminate the snipers on the roof with few losses, so we would just have to blitz them as quickly as possible (again, I don't know the layout, so I can't be specific).

You're going to blitz the snipers on the roof . . . up a ladder . . . with a maximum of 8 guys and probably less . . . while at least 17 guys are downstairs trying to find a way to get up and massacre you from behind?

I'm sorry, but that just doesn't sound plausible.

Then we would have to hold out until reinforcements would arrive (command would know our little group couldn't possibly hold the base for long). As for the phone, forget it. By the time they decided they were in trouble, we would have the upper level pretty well covered.

Sounds like they don't intend to give you backup until you send a messenger back telling them that you have complete control of the base. Meanwhile, the phone could be used to call in an almost unlimited number of enemy reinforcements (or so I would assume), which means unless you finish taking the base quickly, its unlikely you'll take it at all.

Our end losses would be about 10 guys. Their end losses would be 25 to 30.

~RabidMoth

I guarantee you're not going to get a stalemate here. One side will be totally wiped out. And you're estimating that they'll have about two to three times as many troops left as you, while they know the layout of the base while you don't. Furthermore, they probably have much more equipment at their disposal, and in all liklihood get the first reinforcements.

I wouldn't give this plan a high success rate.

Man, that's a little overboard, anyway...

First I would have some-one call, as someone suggested above, as some one from a base requesting a small number of soldiers for backup, while having a few of my men make background noise. I would then set an ambush for them with all of my men take them prisoner, ask for all they knew about the base, take their guns, then promptly execute them.

Hrm . . . IF you can convince them to send reinforcements -- which is certainly possible, though uncertain -- I find it unlikely that you could take them prisoner. Two reasons:

First, the terrain is very spartan, so an ambush is pretty much imposible, except from very far away. The farther you try to lure them, the more time this eats up, which lowers the chances that they'll believe you in the first place and increases the chances that something unfortunate will happen by chance that reveals your scheme (running into another soldier, for example, who knows that there's no battle over there -- or perhaps a phone call really asking for reinforcements).

Second, is that these troops will be restless and used to having the advantage, having guarded such an enemy stronghold. This increases the chances that they would either run away or fight a hopeless battle rather than being captured. If your troops expect docile prisoners and get taken by surprise, this could be bad news. Otherwise, you could merely expect a few casualties, wasted water, and no info.

Then I would try to get all of men to shut off the water (most house, I assume that's what this is, have an oustside switch to turn off all water to the house.) Then, if there is one (most likely not) try to shut off power to the house by using an outbox. i should be able to do this fairly easily without casualties, since most water main switches are out of a CPS's range.

You should keep in mind that even if this can be done without casualties, they'll know what you're doing. Also, keep in mind that their range is extended by height, and they just MIGHT have access to weapons with longer ranges -- for example, a giant water balloon slingshot. The chances are probably slim, but you don't have an inventory of the base.

Also, they supposed have quite a supply of water inside the base already, and if they were using electricity for anything other than lights you probably couldn't shoot inside for safety concerns (electrocution).

I would then divide my men into 6 teams, 4 with an XP 250 and a CPS 1000.

That's not real clear. Sixteen people doesn't divide evenly into 6 teams, and the phrase "4 with an XP 250 and a CPS 1000" is extremely ambiguous.

Each of these I would station at one side of a house, and have the CPS 1000 climb a tree, just out of range from the base.

Yeah, climb a tree . . . if you can find one . . .

Their orders would be to shoot any one who enters or exits the base while still staying out of range from the base.

That must be a pretty small base. I did the math, and if the base is square (which would be optimal), and we assume the range of CPS weapons to be approximately 45 feet (which I believe was Larami's estimate), then the base would have to be less than 28 feet to a side or enemies could get in and out on any side between your snipers.

I would station myself with an CPS 3200 with a XP 110 and 250 as bodyguards at the water main. The reaming men would be the scouting crew, who would patrol the area to make sure no one entered or left beta-4, and warn of approaching enemies. If the water source was successfully turned off, I would organize a few mock raids on the place to try make them loose their water.

~ A. Newbie

In all probability, you'll run out of water LONG before them.

If they actually felt threatened, they could also use the phone to call for reinforcements (deactivating power doesn't cut off phones, except for cordless ones or the special ones they use in businesses to manage half a dozen lines at once -- most are mechanical).

Also, you're taking advantage of an ambiguous chronology. At the time I wrote this POW, the 3200 didn't exist. In fact, at the time I wrote this POW, super charger technology didn't even exist. To be fair to people who solved this earlier, you should limit yourself to a 3000.

Now then, that means that you've got your guys in trees starting down an enemy force of superior numbers and arsenal . . . or rather, starting UP in all probability, since this is a two-story building. Kind of intimidating. How long do you want your snipers to stay up in the trees? The defenders could easily have packed lunches.

If they did decide to storm out of their 28-foot-long base, do you think your snipers could take them all out? A dozen troops storming out, even without protection, shouldn't have a hard time getting to you at the water main with at least half that many left, which could probably overwhelm you. And what if they turned those inflatable pools into shields? Or what if you accidentally misjudge the distance to the base and they manage to hit your snipers?

And do you really think you can wait them out?

Many people automaticly take CPS's for this mission but they waste water that i dont think my force has.

I will take a xp110 due to its light weigt, manuverablity and it doesnt waste water.

It should be noted that your age has a lot to do with how "maneuverable" a weapon is. A teenager with a 1700 can probably move a lot faster than a seven-year-old with a 110, and fire a lot more accurately, too.

But your point is well taken.

Ok, you say considering the building has 4 sides is good so i will. I read almost all of the other solutions and many said that they see put 5 people at each side. Now even though rumor has it that there are 35 troops there, rumors get exagerated so i'm going to say that there are only 20 men. there could be more but we will have to make that evaluation upon arriving at the base. The problem with saying that there are 5 people on each side is that if there are truly only 20 me, why would they all position themselves outside?

Precisely, and I believe I was arguing exactly the same point two or three POWs up. If I ever said 5 people to a side myself, it was done as an example to show the lowest possible highest resistance on one side.

They have a huge building with tactical snipering spots behind them so i would have to say that there would be 4-8 men outside tops.

If there are only 20 guards, I'd say less than that.

Placing all their forces outside would be a foolish mistake.

my second observation is that our strategy must rely on fighting skill because the element of surprise is obviously not on our side. We will be spotted a mile away so we should stay far back and take time to evaluate the fort. I doubt the defenders would come to attack us because they wouldnt send the whole force and what little they might spare wouldnt be able to take 16 troops. If they did send enough to engulf us they would suffer heavy losses in the open leaving fort knox in shambles.

I agree. If they're stupid enough to leave their base to engage you without somehow being forced to do so, they're so stupid that even if they somehow miraculously defeated you when you reported back to your superiors they could quickly organize to eradicate the base.

The problem with my forces staying back and evaluating is of course the phone. I would simply call the base. You pointed out that they would just hang up on us, but if we dont hang up we are still tying up their line, so that should buy us a little time.

That's not true. If they hang up for more than about .05 seconds the connection is automatically reset by the phone company and they can then call anyone they wish. You can't tie up their phone line unless you can redial every time they hang up fast enough that they can't pick up the phone before your call goes through (if they even pick it back up, you'll get a busy signal). This might be possible for a computer, but not a human.

Going back to the fact that only a force of morons would put there entire group of soldiers outside of a fort, we need to figure out how to take down the outside forces which i again estimate at about half of ours. What makes this hard is that i do not know the exact positioning of the troops, i dont know the window number, exactly how the house is situated, etc. But assuming there are 8 soldiers on the outside i'd say 2 per side of the house, which doesnt really matter because they will more than likely resituate to the side we're on, including window people. So before approaching i would split up my force into 2 teams of 8. My team would approach the base making ourselves clearly visable while the other team lays low in the open fields(which usually contain tall grass)

I don't care if that grass is ten feet tall, 8 people make a big enough disturbance to be seen a long way off by someone two stories up (roof). As you stated earlier, you can't surprise them.

When their men move to our side of the base our other team would spring into actiontaking out the moved men from behind with hit and run tactic allowing us to regroup.

There's this big fort between you. That means that even if you could sneak up, you'd then have to go AROUND THE HOUSE -- yeah, right. If the enemy has ONE sentry you'll fail. If your troops make audible noise, you'll fail. If one of the enemies happens to glance to the side at the right moment, you'll fail.

Of course, the whole point is moot because you can't launch a surprise attack in the first place.

Of cource they wouldnt get all the men and some of them would probably die but this would weaken forces to about 16 and ours to about 14.

That seems awfully optimistic. If I were defending the base, I wouldn't station anyone outside except for sentry purposes, and probably not even that. The window snipers have an awfully big advantage here and could probably take out quite a few of your men -- that is, more than two.

still not good odds for us and now whatever surprise we had is gone. the outdoor forces would more than likely move inside due to uneven numbers. That puts there 16 inside which is probably 1 per window (after the first back attack i would assume that they would guard all sides).

They don't need to guard all sides, just all sides with usable entrances. If they can lock or barricade all doors and windows on the ground floor of one side, then they don't need to guard it. Also, I would expect them not to guard all sides evenly if they can see a large body of your troops.

The rest is frankly d--- near impossible.

Swearing is not permitted on my site.

Since all guards have CPS weapons we have to have a brave man run up and attack, we need our fastest person to go.

Historically, the unit that led a charge on enemy fortifications during a war was called "cannon fodder."

CPS guns are heavy, bulky, and not that hard to dodge.

ALL weapons are hard to dodge, by virtue of the fact that they shoot water faster than you can move. Eight -- or even four -- guns pointed at you at once while you're charging is sure to get you fast. For someone who was so steadfastly against longevity in a water fight when evaluating my solution to Solved POW #4, you sure seem optimistic.

The sacrafices job is not to kill (although if he nails a guy thats all the better) but to get them to empty out on him, it takes about 45 seconds to a minute to pump a CPS to a point where it is useful. If the guy survives he can take out as many as possible while we move in to help. If he gets hit we move in to hit alone. This should take out 2-3 troops. that either levels the playing field or puts them 1 above us.

You mean, if your troops have triple their accuracy and your previous plot also somehow miraculously worked? They're firing from WINDOWS, for goodness sake, and you're running through an open field. They're harder to hit, less tired, and have a range advantage. Furthermore, if they have extra weapons they could have another 3 guns lying next to them, pre-pumped for when their first weapon runs out of pressure -- which so many defenders probably wouldn't taking out a single attacker.

If we accpmplish this task we can enter throught the windows and clear the downstairs. (like i said probably 1 per windowand if the sacrafice does his job that leaves 6 downstairs which our 13 to 14 could handle) Then we cover stairwells.

The people on the top floor will know the exact moment you step into the house. The alarm, if they have one, will be ringing loudly. You don't have time to clear the bottom floor before covering the stairs -- even if your plan worked up to this point.

We now also have the advantage of the sinks. Send people 1 at a time to refil to full strength. Our final assault will place CPS guns in front. We slowly go up the stairs 1000's in front, if they're waiting for us our 1000 will clear out some before being shot then the rest of the force moves up with our long lasting guns to finish Beta-four while they finish pumping. Even if we lose Beta-four should end up being no match for the rest of our army(thats not on the mission)

~sXorpion _

If YOU are the ones advancing up the stairs, it stands to reason that THEY will get the first well-aimed shot, because you have to give away your positions BEFORE you can determine theirs. Also, there are any number of maneuvers they might try if they have sufficient resources on the top floor, including turning the stairs into a waterfall or maybe even just locking/barricading the door and calling for help.

In any case, this is a . . . one . . . two . . . three . . . four . . . five-miracle plan! Pray hard, good luck, and make sure all your final affairs are in order!

<<August 30, 2000>>

first i'll take the plan to call them and say the'll be attack from the front then i'll attack them from the front i'll use all men to shoot snipers or any body in that matter down . then send the 1000's in to secure the door waythen i'll com in with my monster xl and spray every body that comes down the stairs while the the 1000's look for the guns then the'll move em into on room swich to better guns and the just wait til' they come down then take em down

~mystic-gun

Have you ever heard of the period?

Let's see, I don't know how many times I've said this, but the gun you're using didn't exist at the time the problem was written, so it's not exactly fair to use it. I guess I'll just have to assume that your enemies are now equipped with `00 weaponry too.

That means that the smallest gun you can expect any of the guards to be using is the CPS 1200. You are now officially not merely outnumbered, but every troop except yourself will have a lower-power weapon than any enemy.

But let's take your plan in order of events.

First, you call ahead and make sure that the enemy is ready for you. This means that the enemy who was previously probably sleeping on the job from boredom now knows that he's got to be ready. You even gave them your angle of attack -- now, if the enemy commander is extremely suspicious, they might minimize guards in that direction, but if he's either trusting OR intelligent, he'll at least be ready to shiftt he bulk of his forces to the front at a moment's notice, which means you won't have an advantage in numbers.

Then you decide to eliminate their snipers. Consider that the enemy has a superior position (height and cover), and that you will be forced to advance while they calmly watch your approach from a long distance with their guns braced on the windowsill. They will have superior accuracy and be harder to hit. They will be able to fire from a longer range. In short, you can expect that you will lose MORE troops than they do as you eliminate any ready snipers, probably whoever you put at the front of the charge.

Now, it sounds like after you "eliminate the snipers," the 1000s will lead, so in the lack of other information, I assume you'd probably send them in first to take out the snipers as well. If you do, this will give the enemy a bigger advantage, because they will be taking out your longest-range weapons first, thereby giving themselves more time to prey upon your unit.

Any plan must take this into account.

Then you are sending your 1000s in to secure the doorway. Have you ever fought in a doorway? Does the phrase "restricted deployment" mean anything to you? There will be a small, obvious area that all of your troops will pass through when entering the base -- the perfect location for an ambush. Your vision will be blocked until you enter and expose yourself to the fire of any enemies guarding the door, and furthermore your troops will probably only be able to enter one at a time. The CPS 1000 is your least-suited weapon for this, because you will be fighting at very close range and the enemy will have significant cover (presumably). The CPS tendency to run out of pressure quickly will be a major disadvantage, and the range bonus will probably be worthless. Actual entry into the building is the most costly maneuver you have to perform in this mission, and you are not doing it efficiently.

You then plan to bottle enemies in the upper floor by guarding it, alone, with your Monster XL. This assumes that the only way to get between the two floors is a single staircase, which may very well be a valid assumption. However, you leave out crucial specifics regarding how it is to be defended.

Now, a staircase itself can usually not be defended well from the bottom, unless you have very effective shielding or other cover so that you are nearly impossible to hit from the top. The most effective way to do this would be to guard a corner in the staircase (if there is one), or just around a corner at the bottom rather than the staircase itself. Your plan makes no explanation of how you intend to guard the staircase from an unknown number of enemies with unknown but probably manifold high-end weaponry supplemented by water balloons, and I would submit that it cannot be done without careful planning, reasonably favorable structure of the stairs, and a lot of luck.

Then you plan on using those same 1000s, most or all of which are probably dead by now, to clear out the rest of the first floor and collect the remnants of the enemy arsenal. If we accept my appraisal of your other two maneuvers so far (taking down snipers and occupying the doorway) as being hazardous enough to warrant at least equal casualties on your side as on your enemy's, and we accept the reasonably incompetent and unimaginative defense plan of equal distribution of enemy forces, you've eliminated 3 second-floor snipers and at least 3 ground floor enemies and are now left with no more than a total of 10 troops, including yourself, and there are another 7 enemies on each floor. If you shuffle around your arsenal so that the 1000s are all wielded by live troops, and we accept the obvious reaction of the other troops on the floor being ready for you, then we have a plan, but not one with a very good outcome.

Every room your men take can be assumed to be guarded by at least two enemy soldiers if it is guarded at all; that much consolidation should be obvious. Furthermore, you will have to enter this room through a door, and you cannot hope that you will have more than 2 doors available as options for entering. Therefore, any time a combat ensues, the enemy will be immediately aware of your presence because they are able to watch all entrances simultaneously, and you will be faced with the same restricted deployment problems as when you entered the front door. The 1000s, of course, will be equally unsuited to this situation as well.

Judging from my earlier appraisal of losing at least as many of your own as you eliminate of the enemy with this tactic, your five 1000s will all be lost in an attempt to wipe out the remaining 7 enemies on the ground floor, and will not succeed. This leaves at least 2 enemies left on the ground floor who now have significant time on their hands to plan, and will either be ready for another charge or will attack you now while you are still guarding the stairs waiting for your forces to return.

Even if we accept the unlikely outcome of your dispatching these remaining 2 soldiers without losing any more troops, that leaves you with 6 against 7 left on the top floor who are probably armed at least as well as you are, and do not necessarily have to come down, even if your defense of the stairs had been accomplished.

This brings up an interesting question: in a stalemate, who is the real victor? You have control of the lower floor, but they have the upper still. If there is a phone on the upper floor, they will call in reinforcements and you will be caught in a pincer-attack, outnumbered on both sides, and will not have a chance.

However, this is all based on that even distribution I mentiond earlier. Even if this unlikely distribution is in place to begin with, though, I do not think it will remain. Once you've finished eliminating snipers, new snipers will come in to take their place, while other troops from both floors move into position to guard the doors. I do not think any of you will set foot inside of Beta-4 with this plan.

<<December 9, 2000>>

Tell your men to go take a nap because there gonna be up late.

at twenty four hundred hours (or Midnight for those whoo don't know military time) Wake em up at 8:00 tell them to Air load their guns both ways (pumping air in to the tank for better range, and pump water into the tank for a extra shot) and Fill them up with LUKE WARM WATER

I should point out that although doing a combination of both air-loading techniques is possible, that it reduces the effectiveness of both. Also, it is not necessarily to do the former (extra air in pressure tank for increased range) because it also reduces the amount of water you can hold in the pressure tank, thereby requiring you to pump more often.

move within visible sight of the base or Water Balloon range whichever is shorter there should be many people either asleep or gone home for those who are awake take pot shots at them it makes them want to go to the bathroom(i'm serious)

Yeah, right. We have passed the bounds of reason now.

If you start shooting, don't expect them to run away and go to the bathroom. Expect them to fire back. Then YOUR troops will have to go to the bathroom too! :P

they go to the bathroom 1 man sneaks in the least valuble and give him these exact orders:
"Your mission is to get inside fort knox unlock and crack all the windows possible but do not let them see you opening the windows now GO"

after he has been soaked and probably turned into a P.O.W. the windows are cracked

No, after he has been soaked and possibly taken prisoner, any windows which he miraculously touched beforehand have been re-sealed.

and 1 person goes into every window and we blitz the base 2 men will be searching for the weapon store as soon as they find them take as many as you can hold and throw them out the window and carry them back to the base continue like this until all their soakers are gone then it's easy peasy 1-2-3'sy

~psyco

Um, the weapon store doesn't contain weapons that the enemies are actively using, so getting rid of it doesn't help with the immediate battle, so even if you manage the previous three consecutive miracles (making them desert their posts, opening windows, and finding the weapons stash without being intercepted) the last part of cleaning up is still not going to happen easily.