Thus Spake Zargrabowski/MassCombat
On what Mass Combat is like, and what Real Combat is like
g_c_grabowski - 03/29/2004 10:39:15 - raindog@white-wolf.com
>>>I've personally looked over the mass combat system, and it is much as the original poster describes. There are far more levels of complexity that he failed to account for, but the system does still come down to the champions of each side battling it out with "everyone else" just acting as modifiers. It's not the type of mass combat system that I would have preferred, but it does keep with the overal Exalted theme of keeping the characters in the spotlight.<<<
Hurm.
I think there's a little more depth than just champions beating on one-another, in that it has a different complexion if there are just heroic mortal leaders armed equivalently to their homogenous units.
I think if anything irritates people, it'll be the fact that I have a very modernistic view of war, and see most fights as won by the tiny handful of individuals who remain in command control and pursuing aggressive action. The tendency of units with poor drill and poor leadership to effectively melt on contact is probably going to be very irksome to peopl who don't know the Boyd Curve / OODE loop or don't see it as timeless.
Geoffrey C. Grabowski\\ Exalted Developer, WWGS\\ raindog@white-wolf.com
Comments
On the one hand, this is close to Kevin Smith's 'Jersey Girls isn't for critic'.\\ On the other hand, I tend to agree with his stance, and took a similiar one with my own Mass combat rules. Which makes me really wanna see how he implemented his, and how well a single Exalt can hold off an army. :) DS
Incidentally, try searching for 'Boyd Curve' in google and see how far down you have to look for a page not directly related to wikis. :) - Kicker
I'm pretty sure he meant the OODA Loop. - Xeriar
For those who might be wondering, that's "Observe, Orient, Decide, Act," and it derives from Steve Boyd's study of why American fighter pilots had a ten-to-one kill ratio over North Korean pilots during the Korean War, despite the fact that the Koreans' main air-superiority fighter, the MiG-15, was technically superior to the American F-86 in most respects. --MF
