eRep Military Science == Rocket Science?

Day 715, 11:13 • Published in USA USA • by PigInZen


Is military strategy in eRepublik rocket science? My opinion: Maybe. OK, I'll be a little less couched in my response to that. Better answer: it's definitely complicated. But over the course of my time in the Executive Branch during the past four months I have been observing, asking questions and learning. I have come to the following conclusions that make up the bulk of my beliefs in regards to military theory. For terms of this article, JCS = current formal military and encompasses all branches.

Grand Strategy
* Initiative is EVERYTHING
* Attack multiple regions to split opponent's forces
* Multi-tiered attacks
* Timing

Organization
* Rely upon JCS and existing structure
* Focus on Militias
* Develop mass civilian damage
* Mobility

Synergies
* Domestic programs are military programs
* Alliances
* Learn from best practices
* Tech-base Intel



The Master Plan - A Systematic Approach

Initiative

First and foremost, initiative is key. This was the top lesson learned during our occupation and subsequent breakout from Florida. Seizing and maintaining initiative in a war is the key to being able to properly attack and take territory. Without initiative you're, well, I want to use a six-letter word beginning with "f" and ending with "ucked". I'll use JACKED instead. When we were unable to get initiative during the latter part of HR's term and the first part of Emerick's term we were well and indeed, jacked. However, once we were reduced to Florida it became much more difficult for our occupiers to maintain initiative. With some help of our allies and some clever maneuvers we were able to regain and keep initiative. The results were obvious.

Focused Damage

After initiative being able to dictate and focus damage is the next key. One of the strategies for focusing damage is to think of not bringing the MOST we can to a specific battle but rather forcing an opponent to make a decision on defending multiple territories. This was used to great effect recently in the battle for Alaska where we forced Hungary to defend Heilongjiang ("Hello Kitty&quot😉 and made them split damage there and other PEACE members in several other regions. This is actually a classic Real Life military tactic: force your opponent to commit to what HE wants to defend. You choose the battlefields and timing, your opponent will have to pick the best option from the choices you present. Obviously the High Iron region of Heilongjiang was deemed more valuable to Hungary than Alaska.

Tiered Mass Attacks

Multi-tiered attacks is another strategy that has become well-developed in the USA since the start of WWIII. It's a simple concept and one upon which the military itself is structured. We have multiple branches in the military for a reason: they do different damage levels. This gives us the opportunity to commit different force levels at different times of a battle, again to force an opponent to commit his damage in response. In a nutshell, from the ground up, civilians and non-military citizens, the Mobile Infantry, the Army, the Airborne and finally the Marines. Typically we've reserved the more elite (i.e., higher rank and strength) forces for later in a battle.

Battlefield Timing

Finally, timing has become critical. We've learned that starting battles at certain times can actually REDUCE the ability of opponents to commit damage to a battle and INCREASE ours. Case in point: typically most of our citizens are online after 0900 eRep time, peaking at 1900. This makes sense since those times are 9AM - noon and 7PM to 10PM and correspond to our time zones. But Indonesia is 12 hours different than we are, and if I'm not mistaken, Hungary is 7 hours different from my time zone (EST). This means that we're starting battles when a majority of their citizens are either asleep or doing other things. Timing is also used when committing forces. The military has been employing timed mass attacks for maximum effect for some time now.




Getting Organized - How to Position the USA for Battlefield Victory

The JCS Structure

Fortunately we have much of the structure in place, organization-wise, to give the USA a great future with regards to the military. The JCS structure, along with its concurrent force definitions will continue to provide the USA with the focus that will be needed to accomplish the previous ideas listed in the Master Plan section: Initiative, Focused Damage, Tiered and Timed Attacks. Relying upon this structure will give us a good footing and base for building upon our capabilities.

Militias

The rise of smaller, even more focused, self-sufficient militia organizations has been a new wrinkle to our larger strategy. Groups such as the Bear Cavalry, Seal Team 6 and the Eagle Militia give the USA the ability to project power in new ways. By employing and developing the militia infrastructure we relieve pressure on the traditional military structure to expand their forces. Militias can also serve a "sleeper cell" function to start and conduct Resistance Wars to free allied occupied territory, block opponents from gaining initiative and force opponents to split damage and commit their forces. Militias are fast becoming a critical component of larger military strategy and the question that I ask myself is whether or not it makes sense to think of further force structure in terms of militia organization rather than the traditional structure employed in the JCS. I lean towards developing smaller, more self-sufficient force blocks. I think that makes sense but this is a decision that requires input from all sectors of the military as well as USA citizens.

Develop Mass Civilian Damage

One of the big components of Jewitt and my policy proposal is pursuing methods to develop the non-military components of our society so they can contribute more mass damage. The push for weapons disbursements and targeted ranking programs is all aimed at maximizing aspects of our society that have HUGE potential. Getting citizens up in rank brings a 20% bonus to damage for each level. At the Captain level damage is assess in full - at 100% of potential. Damage is reduced 20% for each rank under Captain until the Private level at which damage is 20% of potential. There is also a damage multiplier but the important aspect is Rank - it dictates damage in conjunction with strength. I am strongly in favor of getting our populace to have as many Captains as possible. That's the benchmark position and can be obtained through targeting weapons disbursements to those near ranking up.

Mobility

The ability to PROJECT power globally should be a military goal of the USA. We have a current level of mobility that is quite high. It should be higher. Projecting power is the ability to relocate military forces to regions outside of our shield of MPPs where we cannot fight from home. Militias have played a large role in this as have the traditional JCS structure. There's a reason why one of our branches is named the MOBILE Infantry, after all. I happen to be a Platoon CO in the USMI and have given up my ability to run for Congress or Party Presidency in large part because of my belief in the value of mobile armed forces. This isn't a new part of military strategy by any means. All nations with developed armed forces have some form of deployable force. EDEN is known for the EMC (EDEN Mobile Corps) and PEACE has its' PEACEkeepers (a true oxymoron if there ever was one). In order for the USA to become the preeminent military power in eRepublik focusing on increasing our mobility will be key. This will entail one of two development projects: expanding the traditional JCS structure or building more militia organizations.




Synergies - How Domestic & Foreign Policy Contribute

Synergy. An interaction between two or more components that allows for a greater result than any could produce alone. SYNERGY is the buzzword of the Jewitt/PigInZen platform. Unifying policies across domestic, military and foreign realms to produce the biggest bang. Synergy can be achieved in policy by maintaing a Big Picture focus and by employing technology and management to provide the means necessary to get us working together.

There's a common conception that eRepublik is divided into realms of expertise: Economic, Social, Political, Foreign Relations, and Military. I cannot tell you how many people have chosen to compartmentalize their thinking in this manner. It is basic human nature to do so; one need only look at library classification and language to see how we as humans compartmentalize objects and data in order to understand our world. I hold a Master's Degree in Information Science and a large part of the fundamentals of that discipline is centered around classification of data. This is how libraries and databases came into being and without that classification there is no way in which we could organize our world and make sense of complex matters.

Domestic programs == military programs

In eRepublik, much as in real life, classifications are not perfect. Jewitt and I believe in a holistic (i.e., all-encompassing) approach to policy. By funding domestic programs to expand our populace (10,000 Fists), increase citizen retention and interest (Tech for targeting newbs via the Welcoming Committee, Mentoring Program and the host of Interior Programs), and increase citizen rank (Guns for Huns) we actually give a huge boost to our military capabilities. It's well past time to stop thinking of domestic programs as in competition with the military for resources, attention and mindshare. Our future success and goal to be the most powerful nation in eRepublik hinges upon our ability and commitment to develop ourselves collectively. It will pay off in spades to our military capabilities.

Alliances and International Relations

Foreign Policy is critical to positioning ourselves for the best success possible. Whether this means joining EDEN or using "soft power" to convince weaker opponents that they should rethink their strategies, using the State Department to increase our military capabilities is an important contributor to military success. Allies fulfill a vital role militarily. Our Allies devoted their forces and monies to our liberation. The sacrifices made by North Korea, Norway, Switzerland and Canada were total: those nations ceased to exist for a period of time. Other allies militaries were essential to our battlefield success through their damage committed. In short, we are not a power that can forgo alliances and having friendly nations that view us as a critical component of their security. There may be a moment in the future in which we will be so powerful as to be able to pick and choose our alliances more selectively but until that time we need to place strong emphasis on maintaining those relationships we currently have and work harder to building better relations with those nations that we do not.

Best Practices

In my other job (outside of my job that is eRep) in Information Technology I make use of industry-recognized best practices to make my duties easier. Best practices are elements of function that many people have agreed upon to be the most productive and efficient. Many of the current military policies employ Best Practices. In fact, this document is highlighting so many it's not funny. We need to be able to identify new Best Practices and make them vital components of our broad strategy. Militias have become the newest Best Practice as have Guns for Huns and a targeted ranking program. These things make sense and not employing them is counter-productive and detrimental to the USA reaching a collective full potential.

Tech-based Intel

Intelligence gathering will become more and more important as systems become more complex and our opponents begin developing their own capabilities. I've been a strong proponent of employing database technologies to increase our intelligence capabilities. One manner in which intel could provide an obvious advantage would be to track the region or location of members of foreign militaries or mobile forces. This kind of knowledge can be reached in game only through intensive, click heavy methods that require far too much personal attention. However, using a database that accesses the eRepublik API to download citizen and region data we can easily accomplish this and provide a daily report (or more often if need be) concerning the locations of specific targeted citizens. This level of intelligence gathering is relatively new but can give us advance warning of an opponent's strategy. Intel like this is critical to being able to predict and counter opponent moves.




Conclusion

We're Not In Kansas Anymore. Let's stop acting like we are and bring a complete approach. Military Policy is about more than troops and attacks - it requires full commitment of all of our resources. Jewitt and I will bring this commitment.

Vote for Jewitt and PigInZen tomorrow, November 5th, 2009.