A Proposal: The 1st Forward Operations Regiment (1FOR)

[Gault]

Me and a friend of mine have come up with a concept for an outfit that functions according to a specific operational doctrine. It would ideally be an outfit in which new players would get their first real taste of combat experience in Planetside 2, to cut their teeth in a sort of Baptism by Fire, while providing less skilled players a numerical advantage where their individual performance makes little difference. This proposal is a bit lengthy and goes into significant detail so, if you would, I implore you kind folks to take the time to hear us out as we believe this idea has significant potential.



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Planetside 2 is an action game. That much is beyond dispute. However, Planetside 2 is also a very different kind of game from the usual First-Person Shooters partly because of its scale. It is simply the nature of warfare on the scale that Planetside 2 will take place on that scale things like Logistics, Command-Control and inter-Outfit Communications become major factors in deciding the course of a battle and ultimately securing victory for your Empire. I’ll give you an example: The map sizes are comparable to the Operation Flashpoint series, of which I fancy myself a veteran, and so it becomes important to make sure troops and vehicles are where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to. It is because of this that players can’t just go around looking for action to satisfy their desire for a quick thrill. Firstly, if they were going to try anything significant like taking a base, they would get utterly crushed if they weren’t a part of some larger, organized force. Fighting also takes place not between individuals, but between units, so it’s important to make sure your fighting unit has the correct mix of Soldiers/Medics/Engineers/etc and the proper Vehicles to fulfill their role. So, it’s an inevitability that people are going to need to follow orders that might not be so fun for the individual player. Players will have to go on boring and uneventful patrols, stay posted to secure a base that isn’t being attacked or wait around for upwards of 30+ minutes for friendly forces to arrive and organize themselves for a massed assault. However, it’s a very unique breed of FPS gamer that has the patience and good sense to do all this.

With these facts in mind, the goal of the 1st Forward Ops Regiment is to ensure its soldiers never have a dull moment; no boring patrols, uneventful guard duty, or tedious small-scale ops. For the troops of 1FOR, there's always a battle to be fought, and in theory, plenty of likeminded soldiers to fight alongside. Running with the idea of specialist Outfits that are each geared towards fulfilling a single battlefield goal (i.e. Smedley’s Strikers, a Reaver Close-Air Support Outfit etc etc.), 1FOR would recruit from the pool of eager new Planetside 2 players who will likely be unfit for serious organized Outfits, or those who are lacking experience or are otherwise less compatible with smaller, more delicate operations that require tight coordination. With the nature of combat on the scale that Planetside 2 is going to be on, managing large numbers of soldiers and combined forces is critical to success. In lieu of that, as beginning players are probably going to be at least similar to the kind found in Modern Warfare or Counter-Strike, 1FOR would serve as a place for such people to be productive while building the skills needed to succeed at Planetside 2 and familiarizing themselves with the gameplay. In addition, it would serve similarly for players who simply lack the skill and precision for smaller operations, putting them in an environment where one person's screw-ups or less-than-stellar performance have little impact on the battle, and thus less is expected of them as individuals.

The regiment would amass as large a force of basic frontline infantry as possible by recruiting fresh players who have just gotten into the game, as well as those relatively lacking in individual prowess, and embark on offensive operations to shovel them straight into the action. This would not only appeal to new trigger-happy players, as there is a need for only basic organization and none of that advanced stuff that a serious Outfit would need, but it would also ensure that the enemy stays busy trying to stave them off, allowing more pivotal operations to be effectively performed elsewhere. 1FOR would coordinate with other specialist outfits and perform diversionary operations, as well as overwhelming Human-wave-style assaults for large-scale breakthroughs. It would also serve as a way for new players to distinguish themselves. As a proving ground for new players, soldiers who demonstrate themselves as effective combatants who can follow orders might be recommended for transfer to other, more elite outfits that are looking for good new recruits.



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Alright, if you’ve made it through all that, the nuts and bolts of this proposal are outlined below.

The regiment's structure is kept relatively simple, to avoid confusion for players unused to following orders or participating in organized operations. There are four main roles that members can fulfill:



-Footsoldier/”Ranker”: These are the soldiers that make up the Regiment’s main offensive force. They are largely new, inexperienced and/or unskilled players organized into a large infantry force. Their orders come directly from Company commander, who speaks to their entirety.

-Officer Corps/NCO: Non-commissioned officers that go with the Rankers, entrusted with keeping them in line. They are authorized to summarily execute Rankers displaying mindful disobedience (griefing, abandoning the battle, etc.), and redirect any Rankers who may be unclear on their current orders. They enforce the Company Commander’s orders and oversee events and implementation of orders on the local level. If available, they have the authority to request Artillery Support from the Command Squad. They also have authority to kick problem Rankers out of the Outfit in the sense that if they report a problem Ranker, Company Commander is to immediately act on that request.

-HQ Staff: These are experienced players who act as the Command Squad’s escort. Seasoned infantry and vehicle crewmen assigned to staff and guard duty in the regiment's convoy and at its forward operating base. Unlike the rankers, HQ Staff must be well disciplined, seeing as they remain on the FOB through the duration of battles.

-Company Commander: High command element. This person is at the top of the CoC and organizes regimental operations. He gives orders to the main force, communicates with other outfits, and brings in fire support as needed.



There are TWO main units or groups in the Outfit. The first is the main fighting force of the Regiment, which as discussed above will be a massed-infantry unit composed of new and inexperienced players and the NCOs that keep the Rankers in line. These are the people that actually go into battle. The Rankers do the actual fighting and the NCOs are there to keep them in line and make sure that they stay on-task and are at least loosely organized.

Then there is the Command Squad, which is comprised of two elements: The HQ Staff and the Command Element of the Regiment. The Command Squad operates out of a mobile unit, with a souped-up transport vehicle acting as a mobile command center, and fields its own dedicated escorts and fire-support assets. When moving, the Command Squad would take the form of an armed convoy with armed buggies or light tanks at both the front and rear, protecting the command vehicle and any artillery pieces 1FOR might be fielding.

The HQ Staff is comprised of elite, disciplined soldiers that act as the Company Commander’s dedicated retinue and personal bodyguard. They protect the Command Element, crew the vehicles that make up the Command Squad’s mobile convoy and secure the areas in which the Company Commander has decided to set up an FOB. They need to be competent and able to follow orders, in order to effectively protect the Command Element, because they’ll need to keep track of things such as the order of the vehicles in the convoy when travelling and things like that.

The Command Element’s job is to handle the organization and coordination of an op, so that the troops can focus on bringing the fight to the enemy, and includes the Company Commander and any advisors/liaisons. If another outfit is participating in a joint operation, a leader of theirs might be with the Command Element to facilitate cross-Outfit communication. If the 1FOR wants to call upon air support to help their infantry break through a base’s defenses for example.

Current SOP involves setting up an FOB near the Regiment’s AO, where the Command Squad’s attendant artillery units can be deployed to conduct fire missions for the main force. It is currently unknown whether the FOB will be able to act as a rally point what with the fact the AMS won’t exist anymore, and whether or not Engineers will be able to construct field defenses, so the convoy’s vehicles will ring the command vehicle and serve as a makeshift FOB. Presumably squad spawning or some other measure would allow the FOB to act as a rally point, this is to be clarified when the relevant information comes out.



1FOR’s force divisions would break down like this:

Each unit marked with | travels as its own cohesive whole. The subdivisions specify role.


1st Forward Operations Regiment:

|Command Squad (total 21- 27+ people)
>Command Element (total 4-7 people)
1 Company Commander
1-3 Adjutant/Outfit Liaisons
2-4 Personal Bodyguards (accompanies Element at all times)

>HQ Staff (total 17-20+ people)
2 Armed Jeeps (3 crew each)
1 Command Vehicle (Sunderer? 1 driver)
2 Artillery Pieces (crew unknown)
6-8 HQ Staff Troopers, varied loadout
4 Combat Engineers, vehicle maintenance, de-mining gear?


|1FOR 1st Infantry Platoon (total 35-100+ people)
>Officer Corps (total 5-10 people)
5-10 NCOs

>Infantry (total 30-90 people)
30-90 Rankers (depending on how many are online/available)



Of course, many of the details about how this will work will need to be squared away with what the game actually ends up being like. Most if not all of this is subject to change if it is necessary. What do you folks think?

[Sofa]

Your friend sounds like a total fa- oh.

(For everyone other than Gault, that guy happens to be me.)

[CutterJohn]

Its baffling how seriously some people take games.


I will make or join a small outfit whose primary purpose is telling jokes. The outfit will be organized as follows:

Outfit Leader
--Peons

As for doctrine, we will use the following tactics

Squad/platoon leader in some variety of weapon and/or vehicle.
--Everyone else, following the squad/platoon leader with some variety of weapon and/or vehicle.

[FIREk]

TL;DR: So you want to create a PlanetSide Academy outfit?

[Mirror]

I'm sure you want have any trouble finding members when the time comes if that is the sort of effort that you put into an initial post.

I just dont think this was the best place to post it.

[Captain1nsaneo]

You're going to be competing with other outfits for those members even if you do not intend to. The community you build in your outfit will either want to stay or atrophy there is no middle ground in this.

[SgtMAD]

LOL, who does this guy think he is,the second coming of EvilPig and the 666?

this has already been done,they were so happy about it that GameSpot TV showed up and filmed them eating friggin pancakes

[Captain1nsaneo]

Don't put them down for wanting to start up an outfit. It's a hard thing to do right and no matter what happens they'll learn something from it and all sides need better leaders.

[Redshift]

Yea good luck with that, but it will not work out like you think, don't get your hopes up

[Hamma]

Come on guys really let's not roast the guy for his thread.

I've moved it to recruiting seems like the best location.

[Bittermen]

Sounds cool.

If it works sign me up. I could create recruitment ads.( I edit videos for machinima.com)

[SuperMorto]

Originally Posted by Bittermen

Sounds cool.

If it works sign me up. I could create recruitment ads.( I edit videos for machinima.com)

I could do with your help then

Back on topic, I like this thread, it shows some organisation. And to be fair the immersion in the game is what drives it. Now if somebody want to go that far let them do it and do it well and maybe throw some support their way rather than oppose it.

Not saying its the greatest idea in my opinion, but its early and could be the start of something big. I might be interested in this as part of my project.

[Gault]

What project is this? And what problems do you see with this plan? I'd appreciate any feedback you could give.

[robocpf1]

Gone through the post piece by piece, here are some small hitches I see -

"...soldiers who demonstrate themselves as effective combatants who can follow orders might be recommended for transfer to other, more elite outfits that are looking for good new recruits."

If you're attempting to be an academy-style outfit this is fine, but if not then my question is, why? Why not keep the "good" recruits as solid members? If they're such good players, why give them away? Keep them to bolster your ranks, make them NCOs, whatever you want to do with them.

My second problem with the plan is your "Infantry Regiment" - are you planning on having one person (and his/her NCOs) commanding one, large group of soldiers? This isn't real life where the commanders need to be protected and kept in a command vehicle, it's probably a better idea to have them in the thick of things so they know what's going on without it having to be relayed to them. I like your idea of having a "Forward Operations Base", I hope such a thing is a valid tactic in PS2, but I don't like the idea of all of the "commanders" being there.

You can create a team or a unit specifically made to set up and maintain the FOB without them all being commanders. Regular grunts with a want for engineering abilities and fire support can "man the fort" so to speak - get the commanders stuck in with the ground troops, this promotes better synergy and information flow. The commanders don't have to ask over a command whisper "Infantry Regiment, wtf's going on?", the commander will already know and can call down fire support himself, as soon as he needs it.

If I understand this correctly, you intend to have an outfit with a huge number of ground troops governed by a single "company commander" and a few seasoned "NCOs" - covered at long range by a rolling armor column of artillery pieces, tanks/buggies/buses, and a sizable group of commanders.

The only thing I see missing is air dominance, have you considered an air squadron to complement the rest of the force?

[Sofa]

Originally Posted by robocpf1

Why not keep the "good" recruits as solid members? If they're such good players, why give them away? Keep them to bolster your ranks, make them NCOs, whatever you want to do with them.

Actually, that was partially my thinking; let them choose to stay, accept a promotion, or have a good word put in for them elsewhere. I just think it'd be kind of wasteful to keep skilled players in regiment that focuses on less-important fights, but ultimately I think it ought to be their choice.

Originally Posted by robocpf1

My second problem with the plan is your "Infantry Regiment" - are you planning on having one person (and his/her NCOs) commanding one, large group of soldiers? This isn't real life where the commanders need to be protected and kept in a command vehicle, it's probably a better idea to have them in the thick of things so they know what's going on without it having to be relayed to them.

That was actually my original idea, but Gault suggested keeping them on the FOB when I brought it up with him. We just re-evaluated and figured you're right about that.

Originally Posted by robocpf1

If I understand this correctly, you intend to have an outfit with a huge number of ground troops governed by a single "company commander" and a few seasoned "NCOs" - covered at long range by a rolling armor column of artillery pieces, tanks/buggies/buses, and a sizable group of commanders.

The only thing I see missing is air dominance, have you considered an air squadron to complement the rest of the force?

I was more geared to maintaining a focus on infantry, actually; the convoy is just there to haul them around. I argued to Gault that artillery and other fire support ought to be provided courtesy another outfit, but he said that getting on and off the horn with higher-ups would be unwieldy. At this point, I figure it's a bridge to be crossed when we get to it; if the need arises this regiment would need its own in-house artillery, air and armored support, we'd set it up then.

If you want my opinion, I think this idea got a bit too complicated and "taken seriously" after it became a joint project between me and Gault; I just wanted to set something up where not-incredibly-competent players like myself, in conjunction with new players, can get a steady stream of action without having to worry too much about strategy and "politics", if you get me.