Combat Orders Redux

Day 2,078, 01:07 • Published in Australia USA • by Majester


WTF Combat Orders

A new game innovation has recently been introduced called Combat Orders. In essence, it allows Military Units to pay soldiers for damage. The damage is paid pro rata at citizen currency per million (ccpm), that is, you earn the money per hit as part of a million.

The formula is basically:
CCPM * Your Influence Dealt / 1'000'000

Parameters
Military Commanders are able to determine who qualifies. This can range anything from prerequisites of citizenship, MU, and Division. You can make it a free for all to a focused selection. This flexibility is a Good Thing™. There are a few limitations though which are a Bad Thing™.



Base Mechanics
Sadly, only MU Commanders can set Combat Orders. Not our trusted 2nd Commanders too. This means that the MU Commander has to be around to tweak the Combat Orders or they just keep running. But Plato has also excluded 2nd Commanders from Battle Priorities. Unlike Battle Priorities, which are a sweeping default, Combat Orders have the ability to be paused and modified. They are live and commanders can react with incentives to steer battles and pause them when they are unneccessary. But only one person, again, has to be awake 24/7 to keep their MU rolling without the help of their trusted 2nd Commanders. Baby steps in trust for Plato. I hope for a correction soon, but the general system works fine.

Updating Combat Orders
The one strange feature is the modifying of the Combat Orders. You are required to pause them to change them, which makes sense, but can only reactive the modified order 10 minutes later. That said, you can cancel an order and create a new one instantly. I am pretty sure that this has something to do with people accepting Combat Orders, but the system feels strange and counter-intuitive. All I can think it means is that a new order forces soldiers to re-accept it whereas a pause-modify-restart does not.

Scope
Combat Orders can be set for any active battle (Good Thing™), but you may only have one per Division (Bad Thing™). This makes no sense. Why is it that we cannot agree on a price with other MU or set a different reward for our own MU from the one we offer mercenaries? Why can I not pay Australians 45 ccpm and other nationalities 30 ccpm? The restriction seems arbitary and robs us flexibility for no obvious reason.



Combat Orders and Me
The single most important part of Combat Orders is what it means to a soldier. Every time you hit in a battle there is a cost attached. Not all rewards are what they seem.
You pay for the health used (food for 10 wellness)
You pay for the weapons used (weapons price/ number of uses)
You pay for the move. This is cheaper the more hits you do. (Move Cost/Total Number of Hits)
You pay for the Energy Bar you consume (EB cost in CC/10)

Every soldier thus has a Break Even point. This is where your costs are covered and you venture into the realms of profit.

My Break Even Point = 1'000'000/Influence with Weapon*Total Cost



Example
Bear with me, its easier than it looks.

Input Q7 Inf = 25'000. This means I have to do 1'000'000/25'000 = 40 hits to do 1 million damage. The higher my Influence, the less effect my costs have on profitability. Capice?

Q7 Weapon = $9.00; Uses = 10; ($9.00/10)
=> Weapon factor[WF] = $0.90

Food Cost for 10 Wellness = $0.20; You can either eat 5 Q1 food or 1 q5. The easy way to get this number is Food Cost/Uses*10
=> Food factor[FF] = $0.20

Cost to Move = $40; Number of Hits = 110; (40/110)
=> Move factor[MF] = $0.40

Cost of EB = 0.5G; Gold Exchange = $220; Uses = 10; (0.5*220)/10
=> EB factor [EF] = $11

1'000'000/25'000[Inf]*(0.90[WF]+0.20[FF]+0.40[MF]+11.00[EF])

Looking at the costs, I can only hope to make a profit if I do not use EB I paid for. It is also easier if I am sponsored to move so that I can eliminate that too.

My hits I have to do to get to a million is 1'000'000/25'000 = 40
Wep and food only: 40*1.1 = $44.00
Wep+Food+Move: 40*1.50 = $60.00
Wep+Food+Move+EB: 40*11.50 = $460.00



Conclusion
The next time you accept a Combat Order (or set one), understand the costs involved for the soldier fighting. Soldiers must be aware when they are making a little bonus on the side or whether they are actually making profit. Look, its ultimately money for nothing, but being aware of the cost factors should be key when deciding whether you bother to move for that random battle you don't really care about or not.

You can get really complicated and factor in BH and MM medals, but I don't think we really need to go there in this article, if ever. Know your own value. Know what you need to be offered to properly benefit. That way we all go in knowing the true cost of battle.

Happy hunting.

Just saying,

Survivor of Australia

TL😉R Know your true cost of battle. Some coins are chocolate. Others are gold.