Postchivalry said:
That's simply because we haven't HAD peacetime deployment in years ICly or even OOCly with Yamatai.
I meant things that aren't necessarily straight-out, ship-to-ship warfare. E.g. there are plenty of ideas about taking on other ships, as well as subverting an enemy population. It made it kind of confusing to read.
Postchivalry said:
I've been thinking a lot on the aforementioned wiki entry, and made a couple of additions.
However, I think it's best if there's some agreed consensus on what's most important to address. That way ideas can be logically and cleanly organised, and thus doctrines realised.
Another thing that bugs me is that there isn't a clean division between a war deployment and a 'peacetime' deployment in the tactics page.
A possible way to organise this information is by the types of predominant forms of operations undertaken by the Yamatai Star Army. Then we can move onto things like what are the best ways of achieving goals in those different types of missions? And make references to past roleplays as both benchmarks.
I think it is completely unfair to force the other faction GMs to list out their tactics. First off, it seems to me that none of the factions deal with situations the same way that Yamatai does. This is good, gives variation to the setting. Second, it means that the other factions deal with situations on a case-by-case basis. Third, Postchivalry, why are you trying to create bureaucracy where there doesn't need to be any?
A possible way to organise this information is by the types of predominant forms of operations undertaken by the Yamatai Star Army.
Yamatai is the most powerful state in the setting. This does not make it the best. Just because Yamatai does it doesn't mean that everyone needs to.
We also have to take into consideration that the in game mechanics are not equal to all real life tactics.
I don't understand.
It means that a game doesn't match real life. Having an "agreed consensus on what's most important to address" and "doctrines realised" may be useful IRL, but in a game it's just BS. Bureaucracy that's unneeded. Otherwise, after seven years, don't you think we would have made some by now?
I know in several gaming sessions it isn't uncommon to have about 5-6 wiki tabs open for weapon systems, power armor, and ship data to keep everything straight.
And so your argument is that it's too complex to think up guide lines for using these systems? I'm not trying to be smart here, I'm just trying to understand where you're coming from.
She means that she has the technical pages open, for detail. She knows how to use them, it's making sure she remembers the details of what they are correctly.
My two cents on the whole thing boils down to this:
You can have a tactical guide. But the only thing that achieves are the following:
1) It exposes your tactics to the enemy, or to players of another faction who may use OOC knowledge ICly. As Kim mentioned, we try to keep them separate. If they get a hold of your tactical guide, then you're screwed unless you deviate from that.
2) Players are going to deviate from a guide anyway, so why have it.
3) Wes' comment about a guide being needed for training the future officers is groundless. While a guide could be used IRL, it isn't practical for teaching tactics for RP. Training is not simply done by handing someone a guide and saying "have fun!" You can also teach them directly. It's called "mentoring" and, as long as we have senior roleplayers around, there will be people available to teach the next generation of officers.
4) It cuts down on creativity. Not all situations are going to be exactly the same (and if they are then the GMs aren't doing their job well : p ). If you have a guide with exactly what to do with what equipment at what time, then that's going to be a monster of an article. And if it isn't and is just a vague "do this and this and this, see these articles for more information", then that's just going to add to all of those tabs that Kim and other players have open. Getting down to it, multiple tabs or a very good memory are going to be necessary with or without this guide you're asking for. Having a guide, tactical or not, is just one more tab to have open during a JP or SP session.
If it becomes a necessity that we have a guide then it should be offline, a text file that is distributed among the players of a faction, and not be a binding list of what to do in a situation but a list of "hey, this worked, it might help you too" ideas.