The December Newsletter

Topics about water war tactics, water war planning, and past water war stories.
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Belisaurius
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Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2004 1:00 pm

Post by Belisaurius » Fri Dec 24, 2004 5:46 pm

Hydrotimes
12/20/04

I. Table of Contents

1. Reports from the Battle Zone (Introduction)
2. Combat Calls
3. Experience vs. Skill - Belisaurius
4. A Design for a Simple Fort - Nibordude
5. The Aquabatalicus - Doom
6. The First Struggle - Guderian, July 9, 2004
7. Reflections
8. Links Resource

1. Reports from the Battle Zone

Welcome to the December Newsletter! I'm afraid that nothing significant has changed, and I regret to report that content is also down. I'm having tons of ideas, but I broke my wrist the day before Thanksgiving and I have been busy or unable to type since roughly then. Although there was some discussion regarding the creation of hardcopies of the newsletter, there is no way that there is enough content at the moment to even keep the newsletters interesting. At the very least, I get my cast off next Tuesday, so a) I don't have to open my Christmas presents with my teeth (although my b-day on Friday may be another story...) and B) the February newsletter will either be amazing or you can throw me through a window.

Doom sent me the ENTIRE Aquabatalicus, but I have decided to pick a few particularly good sections and leave the rest for you to discover on SSC for yourselves. I intend to do this for all articles that go up on websites. I'm really dissapointed with what I've managed this month, and extremely frustrated with my wrist and all the problems it causes in everything I do. I want to make this into a nice newsletter, with enough stuff to keep you busy for a while. For now that's a little hard. Thankfully, my cast came of 12/22/04, so now I can completely devote myself to this.

I'm sorry that it's not better, but I have nothign else to offer for this newsletter.

Belisaurius

2. Combat Calls

Firstly, Guderian sent in his solutions to the last combat calls:
1. Water Supplies:

After initial success against the opposition, you decided to move deeper into their park. You arrived at a small clearing, with a low ridge to your right and a stream to your left. The path continues along the stream bank and re-enters the forest about 100 ft. ahead of you. Dense brush lines the path on both sides of the clearing, and the entire visible rim is densely vegetated. You can reasonably assume that there is no other access point to this area. The ridge is about 100 ft. to the right of the path. The stream is about 15 feet to the left. For most of it’s length it has step banks, but in this spot the bank slopes down gently enough o allow for easy refilling and quick escape across the stream, which is about 15 feet wide and no more than 3 feet deep in this spot. The far bank has a similar opening a little downstream. Because of brush it is not possible to flank the ridge, although enemy troops could attack along the path.

You move your men forward, a pointman in front, followed by a diamond shaped formation of 6 with a supply cart in the center, followed by 2 rearguards. The pointman and two of the soldiers in your main formation are outfitted like grenadiers, with a lacrosse stick, two waterballoon holders with about 20 water balloons each; your rearguards both have a CPS2100; You personally have a XP270, a liter of extra water, and a water balloon holder with about 20 water balloons; one of the 3 remaining soldiers has a Monster X and the other two have CPS 4100’s. The lacrosse sticks increase range by about 10 feet, but is inaccurate unless the user has experience and is most effective as a terror weapon, which from personal experience I can say that it really manages to do. All 3 of your grenadiers are accustomed to using this weapon as scouts and as suppressing fire in combat. They have a 3 out of 4 chance of accurately hitting a target. Your supply wagon floats, contains around 100 extra water balloons, 2 extra XP270’s, camouflage cloth for caching, 200 feet of rope, scissors, a first aid kit, spare clothing in plastic bags to keep them dry, and 3 liters of extra water. You remember that you are playing 1 hit kills with 3 “lives,” based on dry shirts, and that after a hit the person must change their shirt to re-enter combat. Only DIRECT HITS count. No one on your team has lost a life so far.

Suddenly, when you are about 50 feet across the clearing, a number of water balloons fly up from behind the ridge. They all fall clear of your formation. 7 enemy troops appear on the top of the ridge, and one of them blows a whistle. They have 2 Monster XL’s in position on the flanks of the ridge, with an opponent for each. Along the crest of the ridge, the 5 remaining opponents have arrayed themselves. They are lying belly-down on the ground, using the ridge to protect as much of their bodies from return fire as possible. They have a 4100 in the center, with a 2100 to the right and left. 2 opponents have advanced down the path in front of your formation, one with a XP270 and one with a CPS 2100.

What do you do? Tell me how you will distribute your men to face the attack and whether you would stay and fight or flee, and where you would go if you chose to run. I will write an ending for each solution I receive, reflecting how I think it would turn out and any major issues I think there are with your strategy. I’m also going to write up my own response to the assault and put them all in the next newsletter.

2. Your men have been pursuing the retreating forces of your opponent. Finally, they fall back across a stream about 15 feet across, with steep banks at both sides except in a few well-known fording locations. Although the stream isn’t more than 3 feet deep, the steep banks prevent crossing at any point. You regroup at the ford your opponent has just used, and review the situation. Should you…

a) Send light troops across to secure a foothold on the other bank, and then reinforce the position with your heavier troops. Each group can provide cover fire while the other is crossing.
Split into two groups, and send them across two nearby fords. One of them is bound to get across, and then that group can reinforce the other group.
c) Put the majority of your forces across at another ford, and then use that to catch any enemy waiting in ambush in the rear.
d) Other. Your own brilliant strategy!
Tell me the choice you would make, and why

3. You stand on the top of a low hill and consider the situation. The pathway ahead of you leads into the opponent’s territory. The green foliage on either side provides cover for any enemy troops that may be lying in ambush. Another path enters the park a few feet away from your current position, and is less heavily vegetated, but you do no have any further intelligence on that area. Which path would you choose and how would you deploy your men to enter the enemy territory?
1. Well, you've certainly set up a tricky one. What an ambush.
Now, if I were a generic hero character, I would order a charge up the ridge
and get everyone slaughtered, thereby ending the battle. However, I am a more cautious type and it seems that to make the first move in this situation would be imprudent. I would get my team up against the river and keep the fording position at my back. If the supply cart were too unwieldy to drag with us I would take the most useful things and leave it in no-man's land. This would be my only course of action. We are clearly at a disadvantage, but if the enemy makes the first move we will stand a better chance of surviving. If we are out of range and not moving, the opponent's superior defensive position would be rendered worthless, and if we continue to maintain our position, they will almost certainly grow impatient and attack us, thereby leaving the ridge, thus (literally) leveling the playing field. Not exceptionally brilliant, but then again I wouldn't have walked into this situation in the first place.

2. Another doozy of a situation. For lack of anything better, A.

3. I would send a scout down the unexplored path to gather the lay of the land, and two scouts down the other path to try and flush out any ambushes. When the single scout returns I would use whatever information he has gathered to make the next decision, especially if the other two get ambushed themselves.

- Guderian

And now for a new Combat Call:

Your men are advancing against a fortified enemy hill position surrounded by open ground. You have 8 men againt their 5, but they have height adavantage, an MXL, a few hundred water balloons, water for an hour worth of combat, a WMG, and three CPS 210's. They are protected on all sides with a network of waterballoon mines and a low palisade around each person's position. You have no choice but to attack. You have a WBL, an MXL, a CPS 210, two CPS 4100, an XP270, and a CPS 2100. The two guys who man the WBL also have lacrosse sticks and reserves of waterballoons on their person. The hill is surrounded by an open, grassy area, but the grass is relatively tall and may provide camoflage if not cover. The hill is small, with no more than a 50 foot defensive circle surrounding the supplies of the opposing force. A few trees have grown in that area, but they do not protect the defenders at the perimeter from being hit by waterballoons, although the actual supply dump may be protected from behind their trunks.

3. Skill vs. Experience - Belisaurius

Often when choosing positions for the administration of teams or specialized roles, there is a conflict between experience and skill. Someone with experience may not be best for the position, but battle experience ideally assists with decision making and the employment of their role in battle. Meanwhile someone can be skillful and yet lack of experience will result in someone else fulfilling the role they are best at.

I feel that skill is the more important of the two to consider. You can have all the experience in the world but be bad at specialized positions like sharpshooting, heavy weapons, waterballoon launchers and so forth, whereas skill can provide an immediately more effective person in the position even without experience. Addtionally, you can always increase the person's experience through regular skirmishes and drills, whereas natural skill can only be developed after lots of hard work.

For instance, water balloon launchers require a fair amount of skills and practice to operate. You need to be able to recognize how much pressure is necessary to get the waterballoon to the target. You have to judge things like wind speed and trajectory. Many of these considerations are not taken into as great an account when we battle with just water guns, but a certain amount of skill is necessary for manning water balloon launchers effectively. No matter how necessary experience may tell you that a water balloon launcher may be at a certain moment, if you are unable to deliver the necessary result then that knowledge is worthless.

Training is necessary to increase the success of specialized persons, whether or not they have skills in the specific role. But skill helps green troops serve better under stress in their respective positions until they can compliment their skills with experience. Because of this I feel that even in issues of administration and tactics it is better to have someone who is skilled than someone who just has experience.

- Belisaurius

4. A Design For A Simple Fort

Okay, so you want to make a fort that won’t take much time to build? I have the fort for you. This is a very simple.

Materials:

4 short stakes (about 3 feet high or lower)
1 large stake (make it 7 feet high or more)
Large netting or a tarp for the roof (helps if its camo)
String or Rope
Hammer
Drill and a 3/8's drill bit
Scissors

Instructions:

So now you have your materials. Take out your short stakes and drill holes through the top ends with your 3/8's drill bit. Next with scissors cut SMALL holes near the ends of the netting or tarp. Tie string around those areas to mark off where it is. Next cut small holes in random places in the tarp or netting. They need to be large enough for soaker nozzles to stick out of them. Now, take you large stake and drive it a foot or more into the ground. Next, place the tarp over the stake with the center of the tarp resting on the stake. Now have four people pull each end of the tarp out so it stretches and have each person drive one of the smaller stakes about 6 inches to a foot into the ground where the tarp ends. Then tie the tarp and stake together. Take your scissors and cut 2 small triangles on 2 different sides from the bottom of the tarp to about where you think someone will have ease getting in. You now have a nice netting or tarp fort. And once the war is over, you can take it down.

Uses:

This base is not meant to take a lot of beating from water balloons and other heavy attacks. It will not stay up if such an attack occurs, so you might want to establish a, “No water balloon throwing at bases,” rule. Although, it can take firing from guns so that won’t matter too much. This base is just to store things, forming plans, Starting at, ect.

- Nibordude

6. The Aquabatalicus - Doom

Composing a team

Your team is an entity, as a whole; strong, but apart; weak. Draft as many as you can, for the size of your team will provide more power than any other force we will discuss. Similarly, which weapons you use will make a large difference in how powerful your forces are. Training is also key, however, training will not make the largest difference. The tales of a "trained" XP 310 user taking out an "untrained" CPS 2500 user are common, but rare is the truth in such encounters. Training for our purposes mostly involves having knowledge of tactics, less of physical training. Water warfare isn't the army, don't treat it like it is.

When drafting, do not go overboard. You do not want to draft everyone interested in water warfare, for you will have no enemy to battle. On the opposite side, do not draft anyone and everyone. Look out for people with large arsenals or good guns, draft them first. If you're team is inadequate in size after that, then draft those who may need a weapon or two. But most importantly, make sure that there is a gun or two for everyone. Also measure dedication, if someone doesn't show up for the battle, they may not be interested and are not in the best interests of your team.

The strength of your weaponry will play a key role in winning. You will need diversity of power and shot time in your weapons. Range is the most important factor to look for in a water gun. If you have weaponry that can reach your enemy farther than your enemy can reach you, then you have the upper hand. Shot time follows behind as the second most important fact. Many times it is important to keep pounding your enemy with a steady flow of water, it can cause a retreat and for you a victory. Output can be called overkill many times, but if it instills fear among your enemy, by all means use it. Riot blasts from powerful weapons (such an APH) can provide effective shows of power.

Also, develop some special weaponry of your own. Look at modifications, maybe even homemades if you're adventurous. There is nothing more intimidating than knowing that your enemy has improved weaponry, it's like comparing an ape to a human. Evolution at work, only the strong will survive.

Train your army. Physical training I believe is less important, unless of course you plan to out-run or last longer than your enemy. Train them about their weaponry. Teach them a few tricks. A good example of a trick you can teach them is to pump while shooting to extend shot time, sometimes indefinitely (as long as the reservoir doesn't run dry). Teach them to fire in short bursts. Conservation is a good skill to learn. Also teach your team to get an extra shot out of one tank; fill up your gun fully, pump it fully and then refill the reservoir completely.

Pre-war planning

The team that has a plan for victory when entering the battlefield is destined to win. As I have said earlier, do not over-plan. You want your plans to be simple, making complicated ones reduces your chances of victory because you can not always be sure if they will be carried out successfully.

Knowledge is power. Those who are familiar with where they are battling in will have an advantage. Arrive early, maybe even days before the battle, to survey the lands. Study the terrain. Look for possible sources of water, areas of raised elevation, hiding places for troops or water, and possible obstacles. Take note of them, remember them. Make a map and distribute it to your team. You can get aerial photographs (though stamped), from GlobeXplorer.com. You will not be able to see the elevations, but such a map still will be extremely helpful. Mark elevated spots if you find it necessary.

Creation of a permanent structure to use as a base can be helpful. Though, when you have a permanent structure, there is the chance that it can be captured and used by your enemies. That is nothing to worry of, for you should keep it guarded and have a backup plan either way. Remember to make any base you have elevated. The elevation will help make it more defendable. Also, having a roof over your base will be an excellent addition. Roofs will protect you from overhead firing. On level ground they will prevent your enemy from firing angled, greatly reducing their range, while you can still angle your guns.

Also, at your base keep a ready supply of already filled weapons. Do not pressurize them unless you expect to need them quickly, you are not supposed to leave water guns pressurized for very long. Someone may run in with a broken or completely empty weapon and need a new one quickly.

Discuss tactics with your team. Show them this manual, and others. Make sure that they know of tactics, and will use them. Your team is only as good as one that doesn't know of tactics when they do not use them.

Find out some information about your opposing team. This is the farthest I will go into reconnaissance in this battle manual. If you know their armory, the location of their base, and what (if any) strategies they'll use then you may have already won. Deceive them by lying about the strength of your own armory, say it is weaker than theirs. They will now be overconfident. Go to their base and study it. Find any entrances they may not know of. Design counter-tactics to their own. There is much you can do knowing something of your enemy.

Do not worry about making your battle as short as possible. The most fun comes from long battles, victory is our goal, but ultimately what matters is fun (that is why you play). Plus, the only reason you may try to shorten the length of a battle is the reduce causalities. In water warfare, there almost always is some form of reincarnation or everyone is invincible. Also, your troops do not die from further battles even if they are out in the current one. To say that each battle is to be as short as possible is to quote from ancient battle manuals and not actually think fully through the situation.

Remember to arrive at the battle early. Fill your blasters completely when you are there, and make sure everyone has a weapon or two. Test all weapons brought as well, you don't want any broken guns. Do any preparations you haven't done already. Check if everyone knows your plan, and has what they need such as water balloons or a QFD. Get a few people to hide for a quick attack when the battle starts. You'll have an early advantage you can keep if you arrive early.

Establish a clear set of rules

Before battling, you should establish a clear set of rules. To have full advantage, you must know these rules, when to call them on your enemy and how to bend them. There are many common battle rules, one being "You cannot attack while one is refilling." A good way to bend that rule if you use it would be to attack before or after they are refilling. Keep the rules in the back of your head, you will need to know them to win more effectively.

FOR MORE OF THE AQUABATALICUS, FOLLOW THE LINK AT THE TOP OF THE ARTICLE!


7. The First Struggle-Part One

This is the last battle, really a skirmish, that was fought some time in July. By this point in the summer I’ve stopped checking the date, so sorry.

Anyway, this was a series of small skirmishes, each defined by team composition and strategies. The first skirmish was:
Belisaurius and I (Guderian)
Subotai, Locke, Nibordude (Please tell me I’m spelling that right&#33 ;)

Belisaurius and I had usually worked very well together in the past skirmish, on the…the…date in June. However, our performance this time was sadly lackluster. We were delegated the ridge as a starting point which was fine by me, but after ten minutes of waiting, Belisaurius and I decided to go investigate what on earth the other team were doing. Tweezing their back hair, perhaps? We thought. Ha.

However, they were, I’m ashamed to admit, preparing an ambush. A dang good ambush. We were rounding a bend, chatting quietly about what idiots the other team was, when I, who was point, saw Locke and Nibordude up the path a few yards. I charged forward-and was splashed in the face by Subotai, who had been hiding in the bushes to the right of the path. Luckily for my clothes (though it was too late for my pride), the foliage absorbed most of Subotai’s shot. I realized then that we were in serious trouble, and that we needed to get out of there.

I fired blindly at Subotai, then together with Belisaurius we sprinted back along the path. After 40 or 50 yards we found a spot that looked like a good defense point: rocks on one side of the path, and the bluff on the other. We hung out for another ten minutes before they finally decided to show up, at which point I realized that the ground was too open and that they could surround and destroy us. Belisaurius and I sprinted away down the path once more. As I ran, I reflected on, as I often do when fleeing, that the great advantage of having lighter guns than your opponents is you can outdistance them.

As we reached the point in the path where is ran above a gravel bank in the river, Belisaurius decided this would be a good place for an ambush, and I agreed. We got down behind the bank and waited. I tried to peer through the undergrowth to see the path, but I couldn’t. I sat back and figured that Nick, who could see the path from his position, would tell me if the other team was coming. Big mistake. We’re sitting their awhile, with me peering into the bushes again, when Nick shouted out “Guderian!”

I turn and find Nibordude standing five feet away from me on the gravel bank, with Subotai and Dogsinave not far behind. The enemy had managed to get behind us on a fifteen-foot gravel bank. I raced into the water, dueling with Nibordude as I did so, with little effect on wither of us. I shouted to Belisaurius "How had this happened?" It turns out he had seen them coming, but didn’t know whether to fire at them of not. So he didn’t tell me and let them get close enough to see us.
But back to the moment. Belisaurius must have managed to clamber onto the path and get away in the confusion, but I didn’t know because I was wading downstream, trying to find a remote place to get back ashore. Alas, Locke found me. We exchanged pleasantries and ineffectual fire, both of us shouting for reinforcements. Fortunately for me, Belisaurius was the only one who showed up. I noticed throughout the first skirmish that the most helpful thing for Belisauirus and I was the opposition’s terrible communication.

With Belisaurius’s help I was able to get onto the path and back in the battle. We drove evan off, then decided that we should fall back. We ran back down the path to Telos Groven, the supply depot of the game. There the enemy had imprudently left most of its water balloons, which we helped ourselves to. I am embarrassed to tell you of how poorly we threw those. I will only say that the most useful outcome of our chucking those balloons was that they denied the opposition from using them.

With the balloons gone we retreated back down the path into the jungle. The enemy were apparently wary of venturing down the path (for good reason, I might add) and so decided to do a two-pronged attack against us. Locke and Nibordude went into the jungle, Subotai stayed back to guard the path. This was perfect. In battles with 3 person teams, whenever the team tries some sort of tactic there’s always an odd man out. I always go for that guy. So was the case now. We charged down the path with me screaming my Celtic/Maori warcry, firing at Subotai, who to his credit, didn’t flee too far down the jungle path.

We both knew that Locke and Nibordude would respond to Subotai’s calls, so we didn’t pursue him but kept going. We ran all the way down to the fork in the paths, waited awhile to make sure our pursuers sighted us and so didn’t wander around searching and thus waste time, then headed for the bridge. The opposition went as far as the debris dang, then stopped to formulate strategy. I was patrolling along the bridge, and I reached its center just in time to see Subotai and Nibordude picking their way across the dam to reach the West Bank. I had figured as much, since Nibordude had pulled a similar trick at the last war (see prev. post)

Yelling, Belisaurius and I charged down the path towards Locke, who evidently decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and fled down the path, calling for Subotai and Nibordude. But for the second time that battle, Locke would be cheated, for there would be no help coming for awhile. But luck smiles on those whose hour is at its darkest, for Belisaurius and I had turned to shout to Subotai and Nibordude. Belisaurius turned his head just in time to be blasted by Locke. A gun battle erupted which for a short minute before it was broken off, both sides realizing Locke’s reinforcements were actually showing up. Beli and I retreated farther up the path, where he came up with a seriously good ambush. He would hide behind an enormous tree next to the path, while I would move forward and act as bait. Someone would chase me down the path and into the waiting jaws of our traps. Everything worked like a charm, until the part involving Belisaurius.

What went wrong is too pathetic to mention, and I will say nothing other than to remind other water warriors that when you’re the lynch pin of an excellent ambush you should FREAKING PUMP YOUR BLOODY GUN UP BEFORE IT SO THAT WHEN YOU LEAP OUT INTO TOTAL SURPRISE AND PULL YOUR TRIGGER, SOMETHING MORE THAN A SMALL TRICKLE OF WATER COMES OUT! AAAAARRRGGGH!

Ok, that’s all. Anyway, that was pretty much the end of the first skirmish. The second skirmish account will follow this one in a few hours when I’ve gotten some sleep.

- Guderian, co-CO of Waterbridge, writing about a skirmish on July 9, 2004

7. Reflections:

Generally the newsletter has been well recieved, but this is the telling issue. The first one was decent, but this one is probably closer to what to expect, and the mess with dates and releases is probably closer to how things will really work out each month or so.
I must say, I'm impressed. I had come to expect the usual XPBackfire-esquepy newsletter,
but this one was actually interesting to read and more!
Said Guderian of the last newsletter. Hopefully this time there will be similar reports.

I was unable to do two of the more standard sections: the links, and a featured website. They should appear in every newsletter. Although I have not expanded the links resource, I do have the links copied from October and posted below.

8. Links Resource
http://www.isoaker.com/ - The largest website of the soakage network. Plenty of excellent information, and easy to navigate. Be sure to check out the growing forum!
http://www.sscentral.net/ - The largest forum and attached website. Good information and easy to navigate. Specializes in water warfare tech.
http://waterbridge.4t.com/ - Hydrotactics, which is designed specifically to cater to teams and commanders.
http://www.soakology.net/ - While still in development, this website will be a great resource upon completion, something already evident in the planning stages.

Squad Contact Data:

Waterbridge:
http://waterbridge.4t.com/
Ridgewood, NJ
In existence since June 2002
yhrght359 on AIM or nick[at]mayr.com
Victory to Unit 1!

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SSCBen
Posts: 6449
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2003 1:00 pm

Post by SSCBen » Sat Dec 25, 2004 1:24 am

I printed this out and am in the process of reading it. Good work from what I've read though!

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