Critical Path
"Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least." ~Goethe
<<May 6, 2000>>
You let out the first battle cry, and charge into the fray firing your XXP 175 madly, most of the rest of your team in tow: five men with two 110s, a 250 with the fan nozzle chopped off for riotblast fire, and two 1500s.
The enemy team is completely surprised, and the four guards outside the base are wet before they can fire. They've got bigger weapons -- a 310, 275, 2500, and 3000 -- but you've got two more people, and your troops have made evasion into a science. You blind someone for a second with a shot to the face, and slip around the side of the base and into the door.
You catch your breath. Sitting at the opposite end of the single-room base, just out of weapons range, is a young boy with an XP 20, smiling at you.
You had thought that the other three members of the enemy team were out scouting for your flag. Normally you wouldn't care about such puny weaponry, but if you got shot you weren't allowed to touch the enemy flag until you dried off again, which would defeat the purpose of the raid.
"Welcome to our base. Were you looking for something?"
You smile ruefully at him and look around for the enemy flag. You don't see it, but you know its here. The room is filled with bales of hay for cover, and there are dozens of miscellaneous objects at the walls that could serve to hide the flag.
You hear shouts from outside that tell you the battle is heating up . . . or that one of the enemies realized that you got into their base. There was one other exit, but the boy with the 20 was sitting on a chair that blocked the door from being opened.
Your team is waiting for you. Finally, you decide on a plan and spring into action . . .
This is an archive file, available for viewing only. No additions will be made to this page.
Order the kid to surrender. If he refuses, swipe his 20 (if you're fast enough) and take him hostage. Command him to show you the flag. After you have it release him (but not his gun) and join the battle.
~psychokitty200
He seems much too cocky to surrender, and if he's across the room its unlikely you could disarm him without being hit. After that, giving him a command is probably totally useless, because if he's not even on your team, it stands to reason that you have absolutely no authority over him.
After you get the flag, you should then RUN, not start fighting. If you get hit, you can't carry the flag anymore, which means you wouldn't be able to capture it and the entire stunt was for nothing.
First, I would have the person with the CPS 1500 soak the boy with the XP 20 ( I know it's supposed to be a raid, but it would make finding the flag a lot easier because he would be out,) and have the people with the 110s and 1500 guard the door.
Then the person with the 250 and I would search for the flag. Once it was found, I would call my team to go out the back door, a person with a 1500 watching the main entrance.
~Xscifikidx
Apparently, this is NOT a single-hit elimination. The guards outside fought back after getting wet, so it would seem that being wet only keeps you from carrying the flag, not from guarding it. If you call attention to yourself (for instance, by calling for backup) then there are five enemies, rather than one, who know where you are and that you're after their flag . . . not a good situation.
As you mentioned, the rules are quite vague. Obviously you can get wet, but you will then not be allowed to touch the enemy flag until you dry. That doesn't mean you can't look for the flag!
Timing is critical here. I warn right now that this is a particularly vicious way to win, but in war you do what you must. I'd have both of the 1500's move towards the boy while ordering the 250 to watch the door (the riotblast should hold that door). The boy can soak the troopers all he wants, but as the soldiers head to him (with a fully charged tank, I assume...if not I'd have them pump to full pressure)I'd begin the intimidation. Specifically I'd say this, "You have two ways to go here, kid. One, you get up, drop your gun and leave, or two, my friends here introduce your groin to two full power blast...you have till the count of three."
OK, first dilemma: By getting help from the rest of your raiding party, you'll be calling attention to the fact that you're inside the base. At that point, a riotblast isn't going to hold off four enemies for long, even through a doorway (have you ever used one? The pressure evaporates in a few seconds, and they take a good while to repump). And, of course, the other door is already controlled by the enemy, and could provide very easy access to them depending on what happens next. If this kid is fairly little compared to everyone else, his teammates could force the door open even with him blocking it.
Now the kid's got choices (and more than I gave him, but he may not think of that). If he's scared (and who wouldn't be facing those guns?), he might do as he's told.
I won't deny that there is a distinct possibility that he'll just slink away, but I guarantee that the rest of his team won't, and when he opens the seconds door to leave . . . well . . .
If he's brave and decides to rush us, the 1500 troopers will act as the shield for the rest of us...remember that only one of us must remain dry, so the other troops can also shield our flag bearer if need be. I'd prefer that didn't happen, and considering the XP 20 hasn't got a great amount of force or stream width, the 1500 trooper should be able to block everything.
The question is whether the kid will TRY to get you wet. If your other troopers have been holding off the enemies, there is a very good chance that most or all of them, unlike you, are already wet. If the base is big enough to warrant internal barricades, the kid'll have plenty of space to maneuver and get you wet if he makes that his goal. Your last shield is not the 1500's, it's your opponent's stupidity.
The kid might just sit there...in which case I WOULD carry out the threat, and I'd use my 175 on his head at the same time. The kid might also attempt to "protect" himself. In this case I'd have the 1500s, 110s and myself hose him, still keeping the 1500s in the front to absorb what retaliation they could. If that kid can sit there under that barrage, there's no choice but to literally have a 1500 trooper attempt to grab the gun or at least stand directly in his line of fire at very close proximity.
In my personal experience, little kids are easy to scare. You don't even need to fire. You don't even need to have a decent weapon. The problem is, they won't STAY scared. You can get them to run for about three seconds, and then they're back in your face hitting you with whatever they can muster, regardless of whether they stand a chance or not. So I don't think it would come to dragging him out . . . but I don't think you could get him to stay out (if ever he gets there) long enough to do anything.
Dealing with the kid is, of course, only the first problem. Once he's neutralized (either by running him out or covering him...or the offhand chance he defects), we begin the search, still leaving the 250 at the door and strengthening it with a 110. I'd use a fairly quick search pattern, me and a 1500 searching the hay bales and the other 110 looking around the room elsewhere. If the kid's sitting on the flag, he'll get another dousing to make him move...and unless this is Rambo's kid, I can't believe he'd stay through that deluge. The search must be quick and efficient, no talking or wasted comments. Of course, if the kid did defect, his first loyalty test is to show us the flag (after turning over his gun, naturally).
Hmm . . . I think that if he defects you'd have to spend too long fast-talking him into giving up his gun for it to be worth the trouble.
I should also point out that, in a situation such as this one, you'd waste more time telling your teammates not to make unnecessary comments than the unnecessary comments would cost you.
I have to assume that the flag can be found in somewhat short order...this isn't stated, but the room is small and though you can hide things well, my troops are used to looking for such things (again, an assumption, but they seem to be vets with experience in capture the flag). With the flag secured, it's time to make for our base.
I would assume that with 3 people looking, you could find the flag in about 10-20 seconds, unless it's hidden some place really devious not noted in the text. Hay bales can be checked in short order unless you suspect the flag is jammed INSIDE of one, and with only a few dozen other objects to check by the walls . . .
The enemy will have likely realized we're in here...and the kid may have yelled as much while being soaked in certain scenarios.
Let's see, you post someone to guard the door immediately and pull your entire team into the enemy base, but you haven't talked about people outside noticing you until you've dealt with the sentry and found the flag. That's what I call "wishful thinking."
I'd send the 250 and a 1500 (the wet trooper if he's still got any ammo and the kid is otherwise dealt with) out the door we came in. Their mission is to distract, and they are to yell that they have the flag (the 250, who is hopefully still dry, should be the most vocal). They are to try to pull as many enemy troops away as possible, then, if possible without leading the enemy to us, to regroup with the already moving main force.
Depending on what's being used for a flag, it may be impossible to conceal, which would mean someone who doesn't have it couldn't pretend to have it, and someone who has it couldn't pretend not to have it. For the sake of this solution, let's assume you luck out and it's just a small piece of cloth or something.
Meanwhile the actual force moves through the door where the kid was sitting. If he hasn't moved at this point, I suggest one last deluge from the other 1500 (which is likely out of ammo now) and a final threat of bodily injury if this kid doesn't do what's good for him.
As you've already explained twice before, the kid should have moved by now. If the first two tries didn't get him, though, I see no reason why the third would. Fortunately, you can probably just slide his chair aside with him still in it.
Opening the door is the duty of someone other than the flag bearer. Since I'm the commander, I assume I have the flag (makes sense for now). The 1500 has point while the 110's take up positions to the left and right, a pace or two behind the 1500, and myself a pace behind the 1500 directly, forming a loose wedge. The idea is for the other three to take any incoming hits, and to return fire while you keep going. They are your "linebackers" and you are the "quarterback". You've got two options here...run like h*** or try to sneak. Since the POW has zero data on the exterior field, I can't give an intelligent answer on this.
Necessity is the mother of invention. You'd be surprised what you can infer.
First of all, in the first charge, you surprised the guards outside. That means that they probably only have (or had) guards on one side of the base, from which you can infer that both doors probably open on the same side, but that this is the long side, since the sentry blocking the other door is at the opposite end and out of weapons range. Also because of the surprise, you can assume that there is probably pretty good cover towards the direction you came from, but because all the guards were hit before they could react, that they didn't have very good cover.
There is significant room to maneuver outside where the guards were, since you were able to avoid being hit yourself, and probably some concealment because you were able to slip into the base unnoticed. Because the internal sentry is blocking the second door, you can infer that they thought the enemy more likely to try that door (which probably means that they weren't guarding it as well, but could also mean that it was harder to defend or easier to get to).
Based on this information, if you wanted to sneak, you're probably going out the wrong door.
And, of course, I would expect that by now the enemies are either already inside the base or trying to force their way in through BOTH doors, which has the potential to make this whole issue a moot point.
One last contingency - the enemy may have someone outside the closed door. If this is the case, the 1500 lays down suppression fire and then slams the door shut. We then, unfortunately, have to take our chances out the other door. Hopefully the 250 and 1500 have made a good enough distraction, but again, without info on the enemy and landscape, the escape part of this POW is impossible to plan.
I'd be more concerned about my lack of information about external terrain if you could convince me that you'd make it back out of the base with the flag, but I'll concede that I probably should have drawn up a map.
That's just a rough concept. The first monkeywrench I see being thrown in is the kid not moving, but I want serious justification for a "young boy" to sit there while being doused repeatedly and having his family jewels threatened with two 1500s (which would really hurt!).
I don't think he'll sit there and take it. I would be concerned about return fire, though.
Also, there's the chance the enemy HAS noticed us, but holding the door isn't really practical when our mission is to get the flag. If nothing else we might screen one flag bearer to run like h*** out of there...again, depending on the unknown exterior terrain.
Screening worked excellently in medieval times when fighting was done with melee weapons, pretty well a couple centuries back when weapons had to be reloaded after every shot, and now isn't worth much against automatic or (in the case of Super Soakers) constant-fire ranged weapons. A screen would keep you drier, but probably wouldn't keep you dry. Ditch your weapon and put all your money on sheer speed while everyone else creates the longest possible delay.
Comments welcome...I'm sure there are holes in this plan...however, if they come because of lack of information in the POW, then the author of the scenario is more to blame.
~Mike Shaffer
Like I said, I'd be more concerned about the holes due to lack of information if you could close the holes not due to lack of information. However, I will give you points for the only solution so far that doesn't directly contradict the information in the original problem, and the plan COULD work, though I don't think that it would.
Get out of the fort. His attitude leaves us with a few possibilities:
If you do not get out, find some way to signal for backup (this is supposed to be impossible without bringing guards on you), then, if you have signaled in backup without attracting enemy attention, have your backup take a long-range weapon in and start a firefight with the guy. (This is near-impossible, but it could be a feasible plan or last ditch attempt)
Do not engage him one-on-one, as his attitude may be the result of a booby trap you will spring if you get any closer. (check for any wires in the base).
~ Joshua "Commodore 7" Altom
An amusing plan. I particularly liked the part where you said that something is supposed to be impossible, and then continued based on the assumption that you could do it, even though you presented no plan for accomplishing this impossible task. It makes it so much easier to evaluate a plan when it depends on something that the planner admits is impossible.
This may seem naive to you, but I really would write off his attitude as simple confidence that he can defend the flag, without necessarily having any plan, backup, traps, etc.
Think about it: if you shoot him, he gets wet. If he shoots you, your entire raid fails. He doesn't need traps, superior numbers, or superior firepower: he just needs a chance to pull off one clean shot.
None of the four options you listed are the obvious possibility, which is that the situation can be taken at face value. Overestimating an opponent can be as disastrous as underestimating them. Many are the times my plans got messed up because my enemy did the one thing so stupid I assumed that it couldn't possibly happen.