:: Rogue Group Tactics - Scenario 03

The scenario: You finally managed to get involved in a larger-scale water war. Each team comprised of 10 people each with the average blaster being CPS1200s. Some users still used lighter fare such as XP310s and XP110s, but most had an averaged sized CPS-class weapon (Monsters included). The wargrounds were composed of a beach-side park. The two opposing filling stations (designated no-squirt zones) were roughly 300 yards from each other and neither sides' station could be seen from the other. Between the bases were a variety of paths, a small grove of trees and bushes, several small buildings (namely small permanent hot-dog stands). Your team was assigned to the Eastern filling station (as opposed to the Western one). To the south of the filling stations (roughly 20 yards) is a beach which extends well beyond each filling station. The beach extends for another 15-20 yards south before the lake-edge. To the North of both stations (roughly 30 yards) was a parking lot which was declared off-limits since cars, non-players, etc were to be left out of the water war. (Do you guys think a map is needed?)

Your objective: to recon the other team's position, determine their armament and any other info, remain as dry as possible and report the information back to your team so that a strike can be made so that your team would likely manage to overpower theirs.

Scenario Map

Solution by Sandman :
Once again, we are left with tons of loopholes to make assumptions (which isn't a bad thing at all), so here's where I'll take my scenario assessment. First, let's make some assumptions. The area to the south (the beach) is for all intensive purposes an area that offers no cover and rapid transit (i.e. no obstacles). The area to the north (the woods, below the parking lot) offers great cover and stealth opportunities. And the middle of the playing field is basically "where all the magic happens."

So here's my deployment: 4 troops to the north (woods) and 6 troops covering the refill. Only 4 troops on the offensive since this is just a recon (I'd do more if it was an assault). The 6 defensive specialists would be deployed to combat assaults from the south and middle of the map (because my recon group is covering the north). The defensive array is stationed about 5120 yards outside the perimeter of the refill station, with about 3-5 yards between each man. The weapons are balanced with the fastest-drenching ones (Monster X, CPS3200/2700, etc.) furthest away and then the lesser weapons backing them up.

The recon group should ideally contain a point man toting a CPS1200/1500/1700, 2 wings carrying 1200s and the rear man carrying a 1700/2700. I'd give one walkie-talkie to the rear man and demand updates from him. The group should move slowly and silently, always taking cover and hugging the uppermost boundary of the map. They should only engage when they outnumber AND outclass the enemy. Otherwise, it's back to base. If their first attempt was futile, I would probably flip sides (defense to the north, recon to the south) and try again.

After trying twice, it's "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" into the enemy's lap. Why? Because my team, assuming they've failed twice, should have all the recon info they need, and would also have the element of surprise. Yeah, we might take some casualties, but let's pretend it's a hot day and we actually WANT to be soaked....

Solution by Warlord :
I'm going to have to make a few assumptions here and there. Correct me if I'm wrong, please. First of all, since we don't have any pistol sized weaponry (Assumption: I'm assuming we have nothing lighter than an XP 110) and we have no water balloons (Assumption: We have no water balloons), then me and one other person (It doesn't take four people to spy) will go get recon *UNARMED*. There will, however, be 2 guys with their CPS 1200's mid-way to provide us fire support should we get into trouble. Now, we use bushes, trees, rocks, etc. to hide us while we look into their base and make notes on our papers (Assumption: We have paper and pens/pencils). We will *NOT* give myself and my partner the walkie talkies (they might go off), but the people who are giving us fire support will have one so that they can tell base that they're being attacked and the enemies can fall into a trap!!! We will make notes on weapons, terrain, and the enemies plans.

Solution by TonyB. :
No map required. This is the easiest scenario so far. Since this is an all-out soakfest, with no specific goals other than to rain as much water on the other team as possible and uptimatley outlast them, no complicated strategies are required. No radios, flares, or GPS sat. links or nuclear weapons either.

All you have to do is find the other guys and keep as much water pumping into them as possible for as long as possible (longer than they can do it to you, anyhow).

In order to do that, divide your team into two equally equipped units (as close in strength as possible) taking into account refill time and pumping requirements - Don't put all your QFD soakers in one group. In this sort of battle, whoever tires first or runs dry first loses.

Have one group (Team Aplha) go out in a mutually supporting formation. It doesn't matter what just so everyone can provide fire support for everyone else and not be too bunched up. Team Bravo remains at the refill station. When Team Alpha locates the enemy, they engage using massed water bursts to keep the opposition busy. They need to be loud about it so Team Bravo knows where they are. Team Bravo, hearing that Alpha is engaged, moves to support Alpha. When they get there, Alpha should rotate out of contact while Bravo engages. Alpha retires to refill. This also allows them to rest their pumping arms (some of Alpha will not be empty, and can support those who are). Alpha refills and returns to relieve Bravo, who then rotate out, repeating the process. The engaged group shouldn't waste energy dodging or running around; this is a stand up fight - getting wet won't get you as tired as running around with a 20 pound blaster like an idiot. Let the other team do that. Conserve your shots - you just need to wear them out, not drown them.

Although this puts your team at a numeric disadvantage, it won't matter in the long run. They will consistantly be better supplied with water, and more importantly, they will not exhaust themselves as quickly. In a battle of attrition such as this, the team who gets tired first LOSES. How wet you get is of no importance. The team that conserves their resources will have more apparent offensive capability at the end, and can claim victory (since the other team will just up and quit as they run out of energy).

I just had this scenario at our picnic last weekend...except it was a FFA (free-for all). The last ones standing were the ones who conserved their resources and energy. EVERYONE was soaked, so that didn't matter.

Addendum: If you want to speed up things, consistantly draw the enemy team towareds YOUR refill station. That way they have to travel farther (and take longer) to refill, while your team has a much shorter supply line (and conserves even more energy, since they don't have to lug their gear back and forth as far).

Solution by iSoaker.com (Rogue Founder):
For the initial scouting run, I'd take along a light, decent blaster such as an XP270 and a walkie-talkie. I'd also ask 3 members of my team with decent weaponry (i.e. CPS1200s) to head towards the forested area with a walkie-talkie, hide, and await further instructions. Should they encounter the enemy during their positioning, they could engage, but they should also radio back to the fillstation about how many they had found and what type of blasters they were dealing with. Since this was basically a larger-scale soakfest, the entire team would be told that it was in their best interest not to go to far past halfway since they would tire out sooner having to travel farther to refill.

As for scouting, I'd take the beach approach with my walkie-talkie off. While this route offers basically no visible cover, it is also the route the opposing team would likely not consider an enemy member to be approaching from. As the park is not void of people, from a distance, it can be hard to determine who is a player and who is not. This fact is what I would be exploiting during the beach walk. I'd also try to keep my blaster on the far side of my body while walking so that its profile does not give away my intent. Once within decent visual range, I'd switch the walkie-talkie on, report as much information as I could, and head back towards the base, but this time heading north to take the forest route on the way back. Should anyone be following me, hopefully the team dispatched to the forest would have the opportunity for a good surprise counter-attack on them. Were I spotted on the approach, the mission could still be aborted, but I'd keep on approaching until they were charging me, reporting as much info as possible. The idea is to give my team as much info about their capabilities as possible before heading back and re-equiping with more suitable soaking gear.