How do you go to battle?

[klanx171]

Its an age old question that but to paraphrase Clausewitz its easy to know what to do but no easy to do it.

Having a battle plan and knowing your weapons as well as you Opponent and his weapons cannot hurt.

The meachanics of the game engine do not preculude either tactics or strategy but they do require some modifactions form life to make them work.

Having a plan and knowing the terrain dont hurt either but are not a sure road to success.

I tend to make detai8led plans, draw maps and look at the terraina and then as many other players do whats required, but I do try to think what my Opp will do and I do try to stay one step ahead through surprise and deception. My problem is mostly that I need more time in game as I rarely play and have gotten out of the groove and thats what seems to work the best, that swing of things when you are playing a lot and just keep on moving along no matter who you play.

Clausewitz spoke of the need for Genius in battle and the Coop doil or the all encompassing glance which take its all in and leads to that gut feeling which most of the time turns out right, sometimes i follow that gut feeling but often I try to plan better than the gut and loose badly (the last few games i play) but I make the distinction between

a.) plans for battle
b.) Battle itself

I belive that planning for the battle is important, getting the right weapons, knowing the ranges and ammo loadouts of weapons, knowing how much armor it can go through and all the other little variables such as terrain features and dead ground and bottle necks and the like, placment of formations and units is also important and having an idea of what the objectives are is also important. Knowing the enemy is also something that can be guessed at even if Im not right.

But once the battle is on all bets are off and often where units have been placed or deployed can decide many an outcome as once joined in combat its hard to get them out of it, the enemy will surpise and often do unexpected things and its at that point that you will know if you plan is working, sorta working or just plain sucking, I find it pretty easy to know if I have a chance, a fighting chance or I am just plain screwed just by looking at how things are going by about halfway or sometimes earlier.

I find defence easier than attack but attack is more likely to produce a victory unless its a defensive battle. But how you set up can make the difference and my victories have always come from a good setup my losses from a bad one, sadly I learn more from my losses than victories and therefore have to get a loss to see what I should have been doing.