Massed Combat

Several factors go together to produce massed combat in FaerieMUD: Scaling, Actions, Quality, and individual combat.

Scaling

Scaling requires that each of a military unit's statistics be derived from the statistics of its constituent units and from its unit assets, which will include things like regimental artillery... er, magicians, leadership group (a covenant object?), unit historians, bards, banner-carriers etc.

Statistics for military objects are derived by:

SupportHold?:

• Primary -- Unit Economy? -- the economic level of the unit which is determined by the technological level and the economy of the entity which raised it
  • for independent commands -- determined by the skill of logistics officers, but limited by the wealth? trait of the raising political entity
  • for sub-units -- determined by the skill of the logistics officers, but limited by the unit economy? of the unit of which it is a sub-unit
  • for mercenary units -- determined by the skill of the logistics officers, but limited by the ???
• Secondary -- Supply? -- the weapons, armor, tools, food, paymasters, physical objects and material resources which define the supply of the military unit and the means by which those physical objects and material resources are made available in a particular instance
  • for independent commands -- starting from the level determined by the unit economy? but reduced by the amount allocated to the next-lower sub-unit
  • for sub-units -- arbitrarily set and paid for by the logistics officers of the next-higher unit and reduced by the amount paid to any lower-level unit
  • for mercenary units --

CommandHold?:

• Primary -- Leaders? -- those who make decisions for the whole military unit. They are represented by a composed object of the covenant class?, which may be a party? or a guild? (for instance, an Officer's Guild) or any other group which has covenanted together to lead a military unit. The value of the leaders? statistic comes from the trinary trait which places FunctionHold? first (SkillHold?). Note that CommandHold? does not scale in the sense that it derives neither from subunits nor from superior units of which the unit is a subunit.
• Secondary -- Respect? -- that which determines the degree to which the whole military unit follows decisions made by the leaders

ManHold?:

• Primary -- Warcraft? -- the skills and proficiencies which enable the members of the military unit to accomplish their functions.
  • Period 0 units must have combat skills of at least incorporative period to create units (not a difficult requirement to meet).
  • Period 1 units must have combat skills of at least impulsive period to create units (still not a difficult requirement to meet).
  • Period 2 units must contain individuals half of whom have combat skills of at least imperial period. All others must have combat skills of impulsive period. Training units must all be at the imperial level.
  • Period 3 units must contain individuals half of whom have combat skills of at least interpersonal period. All others including all trainer must have combat skills of imperial period.
  • Period 4 units must contain individuals one eighth of whom have combat skills of at least institutional period. All others must have combat skills of at least the interpersonal period. Training units must all be at the institutional level
  • Period 5 units must contain individuals one eighth of whom have combat skills of at least interindividual period. All others including all trainers must have combat skills of at least the institutional period.
• Secondary -- Effectives? -- the actual membership or sub-units which define the function as well as the personnel of the military unit. Each unit's effectives statistic derives from the effectives statistics of the units it is made up of. Period 1 units are made up of Period 0 units; Period 2 units are made up of Period 1 units; Period 3 units, of Period 2 units; Period 4, of Period 3; 5, of 4.
  • A Period 0 statistic can derive from a individual soldiers. The unit can call itself whatever it wants ("squad," "maniple" or whatever). The group number is determined by the number of fighters in the Period 0 unit.
  • For each Period 1 unit, the group number must be derived from the number of Period 0 units in the Period 1 unit, with the proviso that no unit can have a group number higher than the lowest group number of its constituent Period 0 units.
  • For each Period 2 unit, the group number for the A series must be derived from the number of Period 1 units in the Period 2 unit, with the proviso than not unit can have a group number (in the A series) higher than the lowest group number of its constituent Period 1 units. The group number in the B series is determined by unit assets? at the Period 2 level. Thus the unit cannot get beyond Group 2 without unit assets which are not assigned to individual sub-units.
  • For each Period 3 unit, the group number for the A series must be derived from the number of Period 2 units in the Period 3 unit, with the proviso than not unit can have a group number (in the A series) higher than the lowest group number of its constituent Period 2 units. The group number in the B series is determined by unit assets? at the Period 3 level.

RightHold?:

• Primary -- Values? -- the sense of right and wrong which allows the military unit to express its culture's mores giving it a kind of collective soul. If the unit is made up of sub-units from different cultures, then the primary RightHold? statistic derives from the culture with the lower set of ethical standards.
• Secondary -- Standards? -- the rules and regulations which allow those values to be expressed

BannerHold?:

• Primary -- Traditions? -- the histories, banners, stories and traditions which serve as the collective memory of the military unit and as templates for complex actions
• Secondary -- Pageantry? -- the quality of the storytelling by which these traditions are communicated to the membership of the military unit

Actions

Actions are

Morale

Period	Levels
-1	Rout
0	Rout	Assaulting
1	Rout	Halted	Assaulting
2	Rout	Retiring	Halted	Assaulting
3	Rout	Retiring	Halted	Probing	Assaulting
4	Rout	Retreating	Retiring	Halted	Probing	Assaulting
5	Rout	Retreating	Retiring	Halted	Probing	Advancing	Assaulting

Contingencies

Situations arising from combat which are passed to subunits.

See also Individual Combat and Military Units?

— Scotus - 19 Nov 2000