Convoy
"A military force is nothing without merchants willing to risk their assets for the good of the war effort." ~Prince Hanse Davion
<<August 1, 1998>>
You took a seat at the table and examined your options. This time, the convoy HAD to get through.
You had acquired two wheel barrows which you needed to use to carry supplies to one of your outposts which was fighting off attacks almost every day now; unless you could get them more water and fast they were done for. You could fit plenty of water into the wheelbarrows (contained in gallon-size jugs), but the convoy never seemed to be able to make it, even with an escort.
You had a few choices. First of all, you could send it through the northern woods. That had the advantage of a lot of cover, but it would be somewhat slow because of the navigation hazard. You had 20 troops in that area which you could pull to escort it, but the fighting in that area was almost exclusively with CPS weapons, which weren't optimum for an escort mission.
You could send it through the hills to the south, which would help prevent the route from being predited because of all the forks in the path, but there was very little cover (except the hills themselves, only useful at long range) and there were plenty of good positions to ambush the convoy. You could pull as many as 15 troops with almost any type of weapons for the job, and they could even be elite, but it might not be worth the risks involved.
And of course, you could send the convoy straight to the outpost, through the open fields. There were a lot of skirmishes in that area and there was absolutely no cover, but that meant that you couldn't be ambushed and you already had so many troops in the area that you wouldn't need to pull them, you'd just need to have each unit detour slightly to provide cover for part of the trip, with at least 17 guards on it at all times. That path would also get the water to the outpost the most quickly, which was something to consider.
There had to be some option you weren't thinking of, but you don't have the slightest idea what; sending it even further north or south would have no chance of getting the supplies there in time.
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First off I'd take the route to the South as that's probably the hardest one to be found on and they can't prepare an ambush for every trail. Also I'd travel early in the morning. The weapons would be as follows:
(I'm pushing a wheelbarrow so I can't shoot a weapon.)
1-XP 105 (On Riotblast.)
2-XXP AS 275
3-XXP 175
4-CPS 3000 (On Typhoon.)
5-CPS 2500 (On 5x)
6-XXP 275 AS
7-CPS 2500
8-XP 110
9-CPS 1000
10-CPS 2500
11-XP 105 (Normal Mode)
12-XP 110
13-XP 85
14-CPS 3000 (Typhoon Setting)
15-CS MDS
They would walk down the path like this:
(North is pointing up)
1 2 4 6 14
3 8
5 Me 9
7 13
11
12 15 10
The logic behind this formation is that I'm protected from all sides and can probably make a dash for it if we come under attack. Because this is early morning and you always try to attack out of the sun I therefore have more defenders on the west side. By running in formation it should be easy to deliver the water.
~Thomas Warwick
All right, you've made a couple unfortunate mistakes. First of all, there's two wheelbarrows, and you're probably off doing something else and not pushing either of them. In addition, because this is being posted on a web page you can't have several spaces next to each other, so that diagram you made is pretty much worthless -- and if you were going to make a diagram, you could have made it a little easier to assess by using the numbers of the weapons (110, 3000, etc.) instead of assigning arbitrary numbers to each soldier and having another place where you explain what weapons there are.
As for your plan itself, its not as unlikely that they'll find you down in the hills as you make it sound, and what happens when you leave the hills to take it to the actual outpost? Having the fewest possible soldiers for that could really make the final stages of delivery tough.
And another thing: if you can send your convoy north, south, or center, that means that you're either traveling east or west, and you don't have a whole lot of troops in front or in back of your convoy if you keep that in mind -- a blitz strike from the front or back could probably take out the convoy before you troops could react.
Considiring the options I would send half the convoy out in the open and the other half through the woods to the north of the base I would exhaust 1/3 of my forces gaurding the open convoy. Since I will have other troops in the area it should either be a quick easy way in or an unforgiving massacare that I wouldn't have survived with all the troops anyway. The second convoy will have the more sneeky solders go out front as scouts and behind to make sure the convoy isn't tailed.
If the enemy has enough man power to take out both convoys and the reserve force in the open field and to elude the scouts as well as killing the woods convoy then our side was screwed anyway and we couldn't have won.
ok that's it!
~Chris Jones
Splitting up the convoy was almost definitely a good move, if you put all your eggs in one basket it makes it that much easier to take them all out, and the way this POW was structured you can actually utilize more defenders by splitting it up.
Your choices of routes was also probably good, by sending a convoy through the center it attracts attention and unless they've got a very good strategist themselves they may not even suspect that you've got another convoy to the north -- "All warfare is based on deception."
However, because stealth is more critical to the northern convoy, it was probably better to keep most of your escorts nearby to avoid attracting too much attention -- the more you spread out your forces, the less ground they have to cover to spot them.
OK...... What I would do is get a 21 troop escort with the weapons like this:
CPS 1000:6
CPS 2500:6
CPS 3000:2
XP 105:7
Then I would split the men with the 1000s into 2 groups of 3 each and send one group to the outpost by way of the north side of the fields. I would then send the other 3 to the outpost by way of the south side of the fields. That way it would supposedly neutralize any enemies the groups found and give the base reenforcements if the convoy did not get through. I would then send 3 XP 105s up the middle of the field as a decoy to draw the enemies away from the real places they should be. I would then split the group into 2 elements. I would send one element around the north end and one element arond the south end. The escorts would be armed like this:
North End:
CPS 2500:3
XP 105:2
CPS 3000:1
The South End escort would be armed in the same manner.
~Joshua Altom
No, no . . . . describe the scene, then the action. That solution would make a lot more sense from the beginning if you had started by saying that you were sending the convoy straight through the central fields.
One of the major problems with your plan is that with all the skirmishing in that area, its unlikely you could pull out that large a force on such short notice -- in addition, the enemy is probably moving in large enough groups that any of your units could be easily overpowered, and with absolutely no cover all it takes is a pair of binoculars to see which elements have the wheel barrows.
Well I would take two teams, each consisting of one wheelbarrow, two people on left and right of it with Xp 110's, 3 people in front of it each with XXP 275's, 1 person next to both sets of the Xp 110 people with CPS 2500's, 4 in back (2 have CPS 3000's and two have CPS 1000's), and 10 people would encircle them carrying CPS 1000's.
The 2 teams would then travel next to each other. they would go as fast as possible without getting winded. If attacked they would spilt up and maintain a distance of 12 feet at least and no more than 15. (This should allow for a stronger defense by giving a larger attack range). If they were desperate they could always merge into one or call in other troops in the area.
You did not describe where the teams would be traveling, but even assuming the best circumstances, you don't have the 30 fighters (certainly not in ADDITION to the 2 people to actually PUSH the wheelbarrows) to devote to this operation. This was outlined in the POW and several other solution responses. In the North you get 20, in the South you get 15, in the center you can't pull troops to escort it the entire way.
This solution sounds like you read the POW, then later re-read only the first two paragaphs before spending roughly 5 minutes writing a solution.
This strategy is made by:
~Chris "Weasel" Biesele
Let me explain something to you: that is not a strategy. That is a tactic. There is a significant difference. Relevant dictionary definitions are:
Tactics: The military science that deals with securing objectives set by strategy, especially the technique of deploying and directing troops, ships, and aircraft in efficient maneuvers against an enemy: Tactics is a required course at all military academies.
Strategy: The science and art of military command as applied to the overall planning and conduct of large-scale combat operations.
Therefore, strategy would be the overall planning of this entire battlefield and all its components and combatants, including the unrelated battle plans in the various regions. GET IT RIGHT!!!
Since the water is contained in gallon- size jugs, Id take advantage of the fact that they are easily carried by one man, and a human bening can move decently fast carrying such a small load, while defending, Ive done it myself on several occasions.
A human might be able to carry a single of the gallon-sized jugs and a weapon at a single time. The arm in which they carry the water will be useless for fighting purposes, so the person will fight exclusively with their other hand. Because most people will use two hands to aim anything larger than an XP 65, the accuracy will go down and rate of energy depletion will go dramatically upward with proportion to the size of the weapon. Furthermore, this person will be unable to pump their weapon at all . . . and, of course, this scenario was written prior to the advent of the Super Chargers.
In other words, this person's fighting ability will not be significantly hindered for at least the first 15 seconds of combat, but after that any fighters so burdened will decrease in usefulness FAST. You'd better have a good plan for this!
Heres what I'd do, Id pull as many troops as i could for the Northern Route
. . . 20 . . . read the scenario . . .
and assign them each a gallon container to carry. Meanwhile since the middle route wouldnt have the same trops the whole way, i would figure out the least number of men at one time,
. . . 17 . . . read the scenario . . .
then id disperse that many to the frist group, so that at the end of their run, they could rendezvous with the nexy group and pass it along.
You're missing one major point, which is that the idea in the middle route is that there will always be allies nearby who can protect the convoy if its attacked, but generally they wouldn't be travelling with the convoy. Sending runners with the water through the battlefield, therefore, wouldn't be practical. Even done as a relay, it would be a significant detriment to your forces in the field and give opponents a probable edge in any skirmish.
Finally Id pull as many troops as possible from the south(roughly 15) id give 7 of the men a 1 gallon jug to carry, and the rest as escorts, because while the men carrying can shoot, they lose speed and effectiveness. Thus the enemy would have to intercept and destroy all three units. Its safe to assume that at least one would be lost, but also one would probably make it. Losses would be sustained, but the base would be saved.
And so you plan to, what, send a runner down to the south ordering those exactly (not roughly, exactly) 15 troops to come back to base and pick up the supplies and then make a run through the pass? Time is of the essence! It is doubtful that they would make it in time at all even if they weren't attacked, and then when they arrive at a base overrun by enemy troops they're as good as dead.
Also, as already noted, the center shipment will probably end up being disorganized, slow, and possibly even forgotten and lost by your troops due to the situation in that area. Meanwhile, your troops in the north are all using CPS weapons one-handed, thereby ensuring that a force of one fourth the size with a nearly-competent commander would have not the slightest bit of trouble taking them out.
Therefore, unless your luck in sending this shipment can be assumed to improve from "really bad" to "incredibly good," all three of the convoys are futile and the base is doomed.
Meanwhile, by pulling all of these troops to make the three shipments you're carving an enormous rut through your defenses in the middle (assuming things go according to your plan, which is why I think they won't) and weakening them in the north and south. Though a single convoy passing through one area would be bad for defenses, it would not be nearly so bad as the method which you plan on using, and you're creating weaknesses in every border location instead of just one.
In other words, you'd better hope upon hope that the enemies redouble their efforts to take the base you're trying to save and kill it before any of your shipments can hope to get through, because otherwise their forces have a good chance of punching through your primary defense line, dividing your forces, possibly capturing your HQ, and just generally gaining a decisive advantage in the way.
Just a note: Just because you are offered something doesnt mean you have to use it. Such as the wheelbarrows, they would be too slow moving to defend, and heavy losses would definately be sustained.
~Sean "Maverick" McKee
Does the irony of that escape you? You depended on getting maximum resources possible from each source if you used only that one, but from all three, thereby probably overextending your forces, weakening your defenses, and inviting the enemy in. The only thing you did NOT use was the wheelbarrows!
At least if you use the wheelbarrows, the people driving them can leave them and fight with both arms if there is an attack, or a small piece of the convoy can try to get away while the escort holds back the assault!
ok, first off i would send the wheelbarrows in opposite directions, one through the woods and one through the center.
That's not exactly opposite. Also, keep in mind that the more troops to use to guard the separate convoys, the fewer you'll have elsewhere, so the estimates on the number of troops you could use might change by taking them from multiple positions (although in this case, through the center is unlikely to create that much of a logistics problem).
the one in the woods would be protected by 5 men in the back with cps 1500's, four on either side with 2500's. 3 in front with sc500's. 1 man 10 feet behind with a cps1000, 2 on either side 10 feet out with 1000, and 1 10 feet in front with a scpp.
You're using a distinct advantage over the previous participants in this POW -- when this POW was posted on August 1, 1998, the Super Chargers didn't exist. The closest CPS swap would be to give you 1000s for the 500s and a 3000 for the power pak.
As for your formation . . . what exactly are you geared for, an attack from the back? The heavier weapons, because they can shoot farther but need to be pumped more, should take the more sheltered positions at the back of any battle formation -- in other words, putting the backpack weapon in front is a bad idea (although less so if you've got a power pak instead of a 3000), and I'm not sure why the people on the sides have 2500s while the people in the back have 1500s, or why there's the most people in back and the fewest in front (you're moving forward, which means that the chances of a random encounter are most likely there).
the other one would go through the fields with all the guards carrying 3000's. the 3000,s should work as a good attention getter. But the convoy going through the fields would be hauling empty jugs so that when the get inevitably killed, we loose no precious water.
The idea in the center, for the nth time, is that you don't have the same guards with them all the time; you just have whoever's nearby for each particular stretch of the trip keep an eye on them. That also means no weapon choices. I'm sure the convoy will still attract some attention, but I'm not sure that two dozen people are going to be happy about being sacrificed when the convoy "inevitably" gets killed.
Meanwhile the other convoy should make it through with minimal encounters due to the heavy disturbance in the middle. but if they do face enemy forces theys hould be light which the guards could handle.
~sXorpion
I don't think one wheelbarrow is going to make that much of a disturbance, and I have absolutely no idea why you tink that any encounters in the forest are going to be light because of it. Interesting plan, but I just don't think you can throw the kind of resources at it that you'd need for it to be effective.