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DispatchMetaGameplay

by The Republic of Anatea. . 198 reads.

Strategic Rules of War

STRATEGIC RULES OF WAR

PROLOGUE

These rules were written by the Republic of Anatea (Anteria Region) to avoid and suppress a problem that characterizes all the war roles in NationStates: cheating and godmodding. If you are tired of seeing your opponent inventing new armed forces from nowhere or seeing him win always because he wants so, these rules are right for you, in order to avoid these too frequent inconveniences. The rules focus mainly on the realism of combat, a little on the randomness of unit losses during the clashes, but above all the strategy, a very important factor in war. So be free to take advantage of these rules and adapt them to your roleplays (Without passing the regulation for yours obviously!) and if you want another kind of gamemode i've created even the Dynamic Rules of War!

CONTENTS
  • Initial Instruments

  • Assembly of the War Map

  • Organize your Army

  • Units

  • The War Map

  • The Battle Map

  • Quick Battle Mode

  • End of a Battle / War

Before starting a war, of course, you will need a historical background that will lead to the outbreak of the conflict (that it's up to you!) but above all four important elements: a War Map of the combat territory, a list of armies / defenses of the nations that will collide, a Randomizer and a Game Master (GM).

War Map of the territory : this is very important, as it will be what will allow your armies to move and fight on the battlefield. This map can be drawn in any way but it is important that it is divided into small numbered areas, as it will be through these small areas that your contingents will move, create bases or fight. An example of strategic map is LinkTHIS.
List of Armies / Defenses : it is also important as it will define the forces you will have deployed on the field and the numbers, allowing you to assemble your strategies in order to face the enemy. Moreover, it will prevent any player from creating units and defenses from nothing, making the war de facto realistic. It will be explained how to assemble your army in the next chapters.
Randomizer : this will rightly be used to calculate casually the losses during clashes, in order to avoid cheating and godmodding. An excellent site suggested for a randomizer is LinkTHIS.
Game Master (or GM) : the game master will be the character at the base of the war, as it will check that the whole conflict and the actions done by the players are valid and respect the rules, moreover he will calculate the losses through the randomizer and start the battles when the contingents collide. It would be better to choose a gamemaster possibly not partisan during the conflict, so as not to give advantage to either side.
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Assembling a War Map is very simple: you can create it in any format through drawing programs like Paint, Photoshop or Paint.NET. As in the example below the map will have to be divided into areas, trying to respect above all the morphology of the territory in which you will fight, such as mountains, plains, rivers, etc ... as it will be in those areas that the battles will take place. Obviously it' s good to divide as much as possible the areas between the different geological elements of the territory, in order to define well which territories are actually predominantly mountainous, desert, plains, seafarers etc, since from these elements will depend the fate of many battles (you are free even to specify with a small word the type of territory in which there is an area, just to avoid inconvenience during the game!)
The main territories that are used for the areas and which can give advantages / disadvantages to the units are: plain, mountain, city, sea, forest / jungle, hill, desert and tundra.
LinkWAR MAP EXAMPLE
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This is the most informative part of the regulation, so pay attention!
On the War Map the units that will move and collide are called "contingents". Each one of these contingents (comparable to 1 division) may contain a maximum of these numbers and the following units at the same time:
- 10.000 infantrymen
- 100 vehicles (tanks,jeeps,transports,artillery,rocket launchers etc.)
- 40 aircrafts (fighters,transports,tankers,helicopters,bombers etc.)
- 20 ships (frigates,landing ships,cargos,battleships etc.)

cannot be contained numbers higher than those described here. Each contingent can only station and move in one area at a time for each turn, this means that in every area of the War Map there can't be more than one contingent.
Also, a very important rule, in each War Map each faction can deploy a maximum of 15 contingents. The number is reduced to 15 to avoid cheating and godmodding by each player. If a contingent is weakened after a battle it can only restore its strength if it is in an allied city (as long as the faction in his army has units to restore losses) and it's away of 1 area from any enemy unit. Units can not be transferred from one contingent to another ( to prevent cheating of infinte troops that could be supplied from other contingents ), still they can be left in an allied city for then be incorporated from another contingent in another city or later in the same city .
The non-deployable contingents on the War Map will be counted as if they were present in every city, so a contingent, once destroyed, can be created in any allied town (as long as you have vehicles and troops necessary to create one).

On the Battle Map the contingent that will collide with the opponent's contingent will be divided into units. On the Battle Map it will then be possible to deploy 10 units (at the beginning,then during the battle you can split them between other little squads) each formed by a maximum of:
- 1.000 infantrymen
- 20 vehicles
- 4 aircrafts
- 5 ships

You can not contain higher numbers than those described here and the units of both armies must be deployed to the opposites of the Battle Map (or if some units are entrenched around a city / strategic point, they may reside there, but not the whole contingent!), also you have to see if the forces left in a contingent are sufficient to create more units on the Battle Map,so it could happen that you may deploy only 6 or 8 units instead of 10.
Unlike contingents, however, units can reinforce each other, or transfer soldiers and vehicles from one unit to another to restore suffered losses. About movements,each unit has its move range per hexagon but in case there are different units with different movements if you want to move the squad together every unit in the squad must adapt to the slowest unit movement.
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There are many units that you can command in your army, and they are divided into genres to let players know easily which units can attack other units and which other units can donate benefits during the Battle Map phase or give unimaginable advantages.
In the following list, units are divided in three sections (terrestrial, aerial and maritime) and clicking on the kind of unit you can see the specific information about each of them and their special abilities.

LEGEND:
Unit: the genre of unit.
Who can attack: the units that your units can engage.
Attack bonus: the attack bonus of x 2 that you can inflict to some kind of units.
Attack malus: the attack malus of ÷ 2 that you can inflict to some kind of units.
Land advantages: the covering bonus that some kind of terrains gives to your units.
Land malus: the covering malus that some kind of terrains gives to your units.
Range of movement per hexagon: the maximum radius of hexagons in which the unit can move.
Range of attack per hexagon: the maximum radius of hexes your unit can attack.
Not viable land: the kind of terrains that the unit can't move on or through.
IRL units lookalike examples: the vehicles that can be used for example to explain the various units.
Special abilities: the special abilities that some units can use every few turns.

TERRESTRIAL
Link- Infantry
Link- Commando
Link- Partisan
Link- APC
Link- Tank
Link- Artillery (Rocket launchers and not)
Link- AA Gun
Link- SAM
Link- Transport
Link- MG Bunker
Link- Artillery Bunker
Link- Fixed SAM Battery

AERIAL
Link- Fighter
Link- Stealth Fighter
Link- Bomber
Link- Stealth Bomber
Link- Air Transport
Link- Tanker
Link- AWACS
Link- Attack helicopter
Link- Transport helicopter
Link- ICBM

MARITIME
Link- Frigate
Link- Destroyer
Link- Cruiser
Link- Battleship
Link- Aircraft Carrier
Link- Cargo / Landing Craft
Link- Attack Submarine
Link- Ballistic Submarine
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As introduced in the "Organize your army" section, the War Map will be the main screen of the war theater where the contingents will carry out the only action that they can do for each turn among those listed here, such as:
- Move/Attack (Attack: it will take place automatically when two opponent contingents are in the same area)
- Retreat
- Build defenses
- Supply
Each contingent can move only one area per turn, while to make two contingent opponents clash they will have to reside in the same area at the end of the turn, so you can start right after the Battle Map phase. The same thing applies to the supply of a contingent, in case it has suffered losses, in which it will use a turn to supply the units.
Retreat instead will allow one or more contingents to be able to withdraw from an area without engaging in combat or suffering losses (except for attacks by ICBMs), being able to move two areas but the whole contingent (sea and air units included) they will suffer a disadvantage that will halve their attack during a Battle Map phase, which will last for 2 turns (practically they are disorganized for two turns from the suffered retreat).
Building defenses instead will use 6 turns, so in those 6 turns the units will not be able to attack / defend themselves, thus making them easy targets (but will still allow them to move and retreat). To complete the construction of a defense they will have to stay for 6 turns in a row in the place, in order to ensure the proper construction. In case the action is interrupted the units will have to again pass 6 turns to build the defenses. At the end of the construction there will be 2 MG Bunkers, 2 Artillery Bunkers and 1 Fixed SAM Battery on that area (to be deployed at will in the Battle Map).
Pay attention to the encirclement, because if one of your contingents will remain encircled on all sides without having connections with the rest of the allied areas, in the event of a battle on the Battle Map each unit will have an attack penalty of ÷2 when it attacks a unit for the duration of the battle (see bonus and malus attacks in the next paragraph), halving the attack strength needed to fight at full force.
This disadvantage can be avoided if:
1) The encirclement is broken
2) in the contingent there are at least:
Ground Forces = 5 Transports, 4 Air Transports, 4 Transport Helicopters
Aerial Forces = 3 Tankers
Maritime Forces = 2 Cargo
If these units were destroyed during the Battle Map phase the contingent will have throughout the game the attack malus from the lack of supplies.
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The Battle Map phase will be activated when two opponent contingents will find themselves on the same area in the War Map phase. A map will be created for this phase that generically reconstructs the battlefield in which it will be fought (for example, if you will fight each other in the mountains you will have a scenario composed mostly of mountains, in the city you will have a scenario composed mostly of buildings and urban areas etc ...), dividing it into hexagons and numbering them to give precise coordinates (like LinkTHIS MAP Link(with the legend) ).
At the beginning of the battle the units must be deployed on opposite sides of the map, unless defenses of a certain nation are present, in that case at least a quarter of the units can be deployed in the central area of the map (it then depends on what type of battle you will obviously have to perform). Each unit will have the option to perform only one of these actions per turn:
- Move and Attack ( Move: you can only move in the maximum number of hexes that the units can move per turn // Attack: it will take place when two opposing units are in an area adjacent to each other or when they are within reach of the attack range. )
- Retreat (The unit may withdraw from an area without engaging in combat or taking casualties [ except for attacks by ICBM ], being able to move for two more hexs than their normal movement range but suffering a disadvantage that will halve their attack for two turns.)
- Entrench (the unit will entrench itself, this will give the units a half-defense bonus, halving any losses during a fight. Once the units move the built trenches will disappear, having to spend time again entrenching themselves [it takes 2 turns to entrench themselves.])
- Separate a group of units from the main group / merge units to the group: for example, one unit can be divided into two (or more), giving greater opportunities to ambush enemy units, or two separate units can be assembled into a single unit (as long as they do not exceed the limit of soldiers / vehicles allowed for each unit.)

How do attacks between units work?

then you will have to count the losses for each attack using the randomizer, by letting out a number from 1 up to the maximum number of units that will have to attack ( for example 30 tanks attack 25 tanks, a number from 1 to 30 will have to come out to simulate the attack of each tank.)

After the clash the players can decide to continue the fight until:
- One of the two units will be totally destroyed
- One of the two units will withdraw from the battle by moving
- One of the two units will retreat
They can also choose to not attack obviously, but as an action during a firefight it is not very wise!
The units may also decide to surrender, turning into POWs ( Prisoners Of War ) without moving until an enemy unit/allied unit will incorporate them in their unit for save/hold them captive ( as long as there is space to accommodate them in the group ).Once liberated they can return to fight as a normal unit.

In case there were advantages / disadvantages given by the various types of terrain, the fight of before would have taken place in this way:

BLUE UNIT
- 30 tanks attack 30 enemy tanks
- 200 infantry soldiers [ in a forest ] attack 300 enemy infantry soldiers [ on a plain ]
- 40 infantry soldiers attack 30 enemy tanks

RED UNIT
- 30 tanks attack 30 enemy tanks
- 300 infantry soldiers [ on a plain ] attack 200 enemy infantry soldiers [ in a forest ]
- 20 infantry soldiers attack 30 enemy tanks

LOSSES:
BLUE UNIT
- 30 tanks destroy 8 enemy tanks
- 200 light infantry soldiers [ in a forest ] destroy 36 (random number: 18 x 2 [x 2 is the increased damage as the enemy is in open territory] = 36) enemy infantry soldiers [ on a plain ]
- 40 infantry soldiers destroy 1 enemy tank

RED UNIT
- 30 tanks destroy 15 enemy tanks
- 300 infantry soldiers [ on a plain ] destroy 78 (random number: 156 ÷2 [÷2 is the reduced damage because the enemies are in a territory with cover] = 78) enemy infantry soldiers [ in a forest]
- 20 infantry soldiers destroy 1 enemy tank

The remnant units are:
BLUE UNIT
> 14 tanks
> 122 infantry soldiers

RED UNIT
> 21 tanks
> 264 infantry soldiers

In fact, the more defenses / malus there are, the more the defensive number increases or is divided by 2.
Examples:
> One infantry unit entrenched (÷2) in a forest (÷2) will have a protection against any attack of ÷4 when it will suffer some damages
> One infantry unit entrenched (÷2) in a plain (x 2) will have a protection from the attacks of 0 when it will suffer some damages ( as the advantage of the entrenchment and the malus of the plain cancel each other out, guaranteeing stable ground for the unit ).

It should be noted that the covers are valid only for land units, the naval units are without them, while the air units use AWACS.

Important little rule!
If a clash between some little squads happen, the units instead of start to kill from 1 unit to the maximum amount they can, they will start to kill from 0 to the maximum amount they can, for simulate the lack of shooters in a squad.
It's considered a little squad (on the Battle Map of course) these units and their numbers:
TERRESTRIAL
- 10 infantry
- 5 vehicles
AERIAL
- 2 Aircrafts
MARITIME
- 2 Ships

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The Quick Battle mode is a simple way to solve in a short time (and unfortunately in a less strategic way) a battle. This mode is activated only when a battle between contingents on the War Map begins.
The mode is divided into two phases: Attack and Result

== ATTACK ==
The battle will start when you have chosen which enemy units your units will have to attack (making it in fact equal to the attack phase in a normal battle phase). You must choose the target for each individual unit, because in a single turn the losses and the result of the battle will be decided. Pay attention that the terrain on which you will resolve the short battle will affect the units.

== RESULT ==
The result is easily achieved by randomizing the losses of your units in the same way as the Battle Mode ( therefore choosing a number from 1 up to the maximum number of units that can shoot ). As for the outcome of the battle it is always decided by the randomizer: in fact you will have to decide first of all which of the two factions will be even or odd and then you will have to insert a number from 1 to 6 in the randomizer in order to get a number out 3 times (like a dice rolling).
If even numbers have been issued several times, the faction with the even number will win, same thing for the other faction if more odd numbers come out.

After this short phase the battle is resolved, being able to return to the War Map.

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The Battle map phase ends when one of these requirements is met:
1) All the enemy units are annihilated
2) All the enemy units have left the battlefield ( to leave they must approach the sides of the scenario and then say, the next turn, to leave the battlefield )
3) All the enemy units surrender

Instead the War Map phase ends for various reasons chosen by the players, among these there can be the total annihilation of the enemy army, the total submission of the opposing nation, an armistice / peace negotiation etc...

The Republic of Anatea

Edited:

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