Which Sun Do Tzu Orbit?

[seabolt]

Yes, it's a terrible pun.

Given that everyone who ever owned a monocle or riding crop penned one, military maxims are cheaper than cannon fodder in the Iranian OOB. As detailed as this game already is, it's hard to spare the intellect to keep more than a handful in mind as guiding principles. I've chosen three as an arbitrary number.

The question is, which three maxims are most important to you? Mine are:

1. Pair strategic/operational offense and tactical defense: I read a history arguing that Julius Caesar first understood this concept, though I don't recall whether he articulated it as such. The point is that you need to *move* your troops to a spot that requires your opponent to attack them. In Gaul, Caesar would try to cross a supply line or move to threaten a town, such that his legions enjoyed the tactical defensive because the Gauls were compelled to bring the fight to them. Strat/op defense (sitting in a trench and thinking positive thoughts) suffers the disadvantage of allowing your opponent to mass his forces for a localized breakthrough (and of course to burn up several thousand artillery shells prepping for the assault). Tactical offense, of course, allows the bad guys to take the first shot ...

2. Know when to fold them: Well, OK, it's a poker maxim that applies equally to this game. At some point in learning poker, the difference between winning and losing isn't in knowing how to play winning hands, but in knowing when to discard losing hands. (The answer being: immediately, before they seduce you into investing further.) In this game, no matter how well things are going overall, there's usually one or two localized spots where you're getting your butt kicked, even against the AI. I try to recognize those places early and get out quickly. The counterargument is that, even if getting mauled, your units are pinning down units that could be diverted to tip the scales elsewhere. My countercounter is that, yes, but I'd rather those units become more meat fed into fights where I'm the one cranking the grinder.

3. All else being equal, the guy who displays *this much* more aggression will win. I don't know that I've ever seen this theory in print, but it's implicit in scores of Westerns and mob movies. The trick in just about any fight is to measure how far your opponent is willing to go and go a little further. It's suicidal to go way further---he'll decimate you with ATGMs/AT guns/SAMs in this game or check-raise you to the felt in poker---but you've got to take just enough more risk to seize the initiative. Exactly how much is just enough is kind of a subtle thing to assess, however ...

Anyway, those are mine. Please contribute yours.

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