Note: You should read the Art of NS War before this guide, as the Art of NS War deals with the basics, while this guide deals with more advanced subjects.
Suggestions for writing Epic War roleplay threads
This is a complementary guide to the Art of NS War. Where the Art of NS War deals with the basics of warfare, with how to increase the chances of your NS winning a conflict and with how to make a war thread with events that resemble a cliché, plot-holes ridden war movie, this is a guide on how to write EPIC war roleplay threads. As for what it involves lets define the difference between two Roleplay posts, on where one is as cold as the act of clicking a bunch of units in a real time strategy game and the other an epic one.
NOTE: If you want to consider war RPs as highly flexible text-based strategy and tactical games, this guide may be superfluous. If you want to make a proper roleplay involving a deep, engaging plot that may come closer to things like Starship Troopers(the book) rather than only writing strategic and tactical moves and posting Orders of Battle(ORBATS), then it is not.
Index
Examples, basic ideas and Tech Levels
Located at this first post.
Hastily made fictional example of a quality Non Epic RP thread:
Player 1
Army group north ORBAT;
- 1st Mechanized Infantry Division
- 2nd Mechanized Infantry Division
- 3rd Mechanized Infantry Division
- 4th Mechanized Infantry Division
- 5th Mechanized Infantry Division
- 6th Mechanized Infantry Division
- 10th Armored Division
- 11th Armored Division
- 12th Armored Division
- 13th Armored Division
- 1st Carrier Air Group
- etc etc (I hate ORBATS)
Two companies of the 13th armored division began to advance against the enemy northern flanks at the break of dawn, while the 113th hammerheads provided them air support.
Player 2
The 2nd Paratrooper brigade was being readied, as they embarked on multiple air transports and headed towards the supply lines of the enemy to disrupt their offensive, followed by twenty strike fighters and six squadrons of air superiority fighters. Meanwhile the 24th motorized infantry division began to advance towards the vulnerable northern flank under attack, to reinforce it.
Player 1
Awaiting patiently, soon contact was made, as the 113th hammerheads proceeded to crush the enemy aerial counter-attack. Each of their thirty fighters launched two missiles, picking their individual targets from the swarm. Meanwhile, ten companies from the 10th, 11th and 12th armored divisions began to now advance through the now less protected southern flank, as the enemy divisions made contact and the diversionary attack to the northern flank begun.
As you see, like in most war RPs in NationStates, it has a purely technical writing, like if it was part of a military history book rather than a military novel. There is little to no emotion, no visible characters. In fact, it is as dry as watching a randomly made video involving tanks fighting where you never see the pilots behind them. I don't know if you like war movies, but you'll clearly realize how this is totally off from the thrilling script from a good war movie. Why? Because it lacks a human element. It is technically decent, but there is no depiction of the men involved, treated only as "assets" rather than as human beings. If you are treating a war RP you joined just as a text-based strategy game and nothing more besides it(something you are entitled to do if you prefer), it won't be a problem, except for the fact it'll be an extremely dry, dull and uninteresting thread to read filled with bureaucratic listings of divisions, tanks, etc and with number-crunching statistics. If it's your thing though, that's my biased opinion about these totally technical war threads. I just find it way more fun to just play a strategy game even if it limits certain possibilities. Compare it with this example of a character-centered post in a war RP.
There were many announcements that a battle was about to come after many hours of lull and waiting. Waiting perhaps, was the most common fact in the duty of a soldier. Patience was as much important of a virtue as a good aim, and as the courage and readiness to self-sacrifice, if necessary, for brashness was many times synonymous of failure, and yet, the enemy seemed all hasty and brash in their offensive, forgetting of the essential virtue, letting their pride guide them to the belief on an impossible goal: to conquer a large island like Mallorca in only one day. Iwo Jima, a much smaller island, took months to be conquered, how could it be different in such a place, where their offenders were this time, outnumbered due to their arrogant pride that they could achieve the feat of winning an offensive, even with inferior numbers. And yet, half of the defenses were still in the east of the island, away from the front, but heading towards it. Or actually, stagnant. The total lack of air superiority was a major deterrent to shipping troops and resources during daylight, and in main roads, and for now, they were not desperate to the point of risking it. General Vidal Torres knew that eventually Mallorca would fall, but he was confident that their forces would be able to inflict heavy losses against the enemy, and perhaps convince them that the cost of lives would not be worth the island, and that they would stand no chance against the mainland.
However, the strategic big picture was barely thought about by Rafael Viejas, as he had to focus on other worries. The battle was announced by the loud exploding noises and machineguns of not so distant tanks firing, while he still sat upon the truck with his comrades. Their leader has given a speech before, but this time, doing so was much more challenging due to the interference of the orchestra of death everywhere. Nonetheless, it was a common to give an inspiring speech to those who prepared to battle, specially when such was against so uneven odds as it would be.
"Comrades! These will be the most important minutes of your service to the people, and of your very lives. Today the enemy has lost hundreds of tanks and lives, as we have proved the superiority of our cause! The Spanish workers, the Party and our very future lie in your hands!" was suddenly interrupted as a loud explosion came, and Rafael braced himself as he realized the strong pressure of gravity and of the explosion pushing the truck while his rifle was thrown away, falling into the grass behind. It was a matter of seconds, difficult to understand. Only the vision of despair and men falling upon the other end of the truck sides, and the sound of its tires desperatedly attempting to regain balance as it tumbled to the left, displacing some grass of the ground and making a very sizeable noise. He felt a serious ache over his back, like if someone just kicked it very strongly, and witnessed as four men fell over other soldiers, and some screamed and shouted in despair. Some of them managed to slowly regain their standing as they prepared to leave, and others took the rifles back that have fallen on the side of the truck. Their leader, known as Sanjuro, as much of a Commissar as of a Captain, seemed completely oblivious to the incident, and with a calm but exacerbated voice, ordered as he prepared to leave the vehicle himself:
"Move behind one of our armors, for the enemy artillery will not wait! Take any fallen guns! Forward comrades!!"
Rafael struggled against his body as he ran for it. It was a sort of slightly uneven grassland, with a small angled slope perpendicular to the direction their assault was heading towards, that served as a small barrier for running, with a few bumps and elevations, and the distant seas could be seen from afar, as the sun stood in its place, shining the battlefield like an onlooker to its carnage. There was Leopard 2E slowly advancing, firing and maneuvering in face of enemy presence, at about half block to his northwest, and he, following the others, crouched and made a run for it, ignoring the sounds of fire, the ever approaching artillery, the stench of the soldiers, and the annoying louse under his pants. He was one of twenty thousand soldiers ready to fight to the bitter end, and indeed, he still was an human being, with many fears and worries that could not be completely waned by propaganda efforts. His teeth gritted and nearly looked to be about to shatter as suddenly an artillery shell exploded very close to the squad he belonged to, so close that his hearing became muffled and his senses weakened. A strong headache came, as a blank noise disturbed him like a fly inside his ears. Yet he continued to, as a survival instinct, run towards the tank. It took him a couple of seconds to realize one of their designated marksmen, Juarez, or the upper part of his body, a quick glimpse as his need to get behind cover was greater than that of witnessing the miserable last seconds of life of such man.
He managed to get through it, but had no second to rest from his run. His ears were finally getting back from the noise, as he realized how close death came to him. It could have been him this time, it was only a matter of probabilities and luck that allowed him to not be the one who died. Sanjuro shouted to them, the only way to make his voice prevalent over the gunfire, as they were just behind the tank, keeping up with its relatively slow speed:
"Comrades! We must kill all of their anti-tank before they hit one of ours! We have very little tanks to spare, so if necessary, I will want you to jump in the line of fire of a missile! Do you understand?"
"Yes!" Viejas shouted as he noticed the synchrony of his voice with the voice of all others, forming a small chorus as they double-checked their rifles and grenade launchers. Their captain had a radio, for short range communications were not affected as seriously as long range ones by the significant amount of electronic warfare operations of the enemy. Walking through the sloped grassland, the sides of a small hill, they advanced, still not challenged by any sort of direct fire, but only by indirect fire of artillery. There were likely a couple of kilometers from the current enemy position, but the element of surprise was still with them, multiple irregular lines in a spread out offensive, methodic and taking advantage of something that would be as important as their strategic numeric superiority: the fact that for now, they outnumbered their enemy tactically as well. Some have fallen to artillery shells or air defense anti-tank missiles, but the whole was still organized and cohesive. The enemy seemed to be waiting for something, and their unwillingness to counter-attack meant that their only card was air support.
Thus timing was of essence, if they wasted too much into the offensive the close air support of the enemy could annihilate them, but if they managed to take over the enemy emplacements, they would be able to hide safely from the aircrafts, and as a plus, pose a serious trouble to any logistical shipments of their offensive. Such was exactly the most desirable outcome. But to achieve each, a combination of a bit of luck with giving out of their best was needed. One distraction, one mistake, one minute wasted unnecessarily would be enough to increase tenfold the mortality rate of the assault. Large unit and small unit tactics were combined, like the smaller and larger gears of a clockwork, like the maw and pincers of a scorpion, to overcome the enemy with agility, and force their offensive to a halt.
"Follow me comrades! We must be fast for the enemy airplanes will arrive!" shouted Sanjuro, all of a sudden as he began to move quickly to a direction which was roughly southeast, observing the few advancing tanks, the armors, self-propelled artillery, anti-air vehicles and soldiers of their own, of which a few were taking detour from the frontal line. They were dispersed, but still close enough to concentrate their fire. The line was barely two kilometers long, a hammer of which sides anvils would emerge. The tanks were still quite slow, for something had to be done to ensure their safety, and after it, a major breakthrough could be achieved. Running slightly crouched, Viejas accompanied his leader with no fear as they descended the slight slope towards the side of the hill, where a patch of tall grasses, a perfect cover, stood. Feeling the nearly allergenic touch of grass everywhere, he continued to follow with the remainder of the squadron. One single look to the sky was enough to notice a small flying object, one of the many eyes of their enemies, who likely were gauging the extent of their counterstrike, counting all they could of their light armors, tanks and soldiers, before taking more bold actions to stop it. A sense of urgency came to Rafael immediately, and their leader, who also spotted it, fastened the pace.
However, the grassland patch suddenly ended, and standing at its edge, Rafael observed the much barer lands ahead, a small downing that suddenly turned up again to a another roughly plain area, two hundred meters ahead, featured by the number of rocks in the place. It seemed like a perfect hideout for an ambush, specially for an anti-tank ambush, like the ones they have once performed with mild success. Seeing it, he suddenly noticed that now the sounds of machinegun fire were also coming, indicating that the first direct confrontations began. Sanjuro then instructed about a very important point:
"Everyone! We must hasten our advance, but to do so, we must first ensure that at least most anti-tank crews of the enemy are wiped out. This region likely have a large amount of them, so pay attention and try to spot any hid soldier or hint of enemy presence around. Marquis, prepare your G3, for soon it will be necessary."
Viejas tried hard to focus his vision, to attempt finding a speck, a single dot of a soldier who was too confident of his hiding skills amidst the rocks, the elevations and grasslands ahead. Yet it seemed an impossible task, like if their enemies were actually waiting, patiently, to let them fall into their trap, and yet they had not time even to mourn for their fallen comrade. There was more to the squad, and personal relationships did exist. There was a certain reason, perhaps a pet peeve, that led Sanjuro to dislike Viejas, despite his competence. Most high risk, dangerous or plain boring or unpleasant tasks were given to him, to the point that in secrecy, some claimed that Rafael's role was that of the "designated sucker", to do all the handiwork of the squad. Or perhaps it was, ironically, the only reward given for his dedication, if it could be called a reward at all.
Rafael was not surprised at all when he heard who Sanjuro, already realizing that to wait would not work, wanted to do the high risk task in that situation. There was only someone, and of course, this person was him. The captain, pointing to one of the distant rocks ahead, a perfect cover, looked at him and ordered:
"Viejas! I need you to run towards that cover so our enemies will show themselves. We cannot waste any second. Marquis will cover you while you run. Now prepare yourself and wait for my command."
And thus, he took his rifle, and checking it again, prepared his legs in a position not too different from that of an athlete preparing to run through a two hundred meters track. It was not a competition, but instead the preparation for a run that would determine whether he would live or not. Any mistake could mean death, and there was not much time to appreciate the contrasting beauty of the scenery. He simply focused his vision on the distant objective to reach, his waypoint, ready to make his run for it.
"Go! Go!"
Rafael simply came to the limits, running as fast as he could, ignoring everything else in his running spree. His muscles were straining due to the heavy effort, and the burden of his backpack became heavier. Stepping heavily into the immediately displaced grass, he did not pay attention to anything, focusing all his mind into the singular act of sprinting. The partly uneven terrain was no concern, and a few seconds after the safety of the grassland was gone, he could barely notice as artillery shells pounded nearby due to his concentration, as part of the suppressive fire effort. He ran nevertheless, aware of his vulnerable condition, and panting, he saw as there were only twenty meters towards the cover of stone. It was then that he heard the sound of gunfire nearby, but could not waste time trying to locate its source. Suddenly he could swear that a bullet came very close as he could heard it, yet fortunately he was very close to cover. With no time to waste, Rafael simply threw himself towards the back side of the stone with a leap, and almost immediately he noticed as particles of stone were unleashed by the fire of a machinegun, and as tracers quickly flew overhead. It was just in time, and the suppressive fire continued to come, nearly deafening, making any attempt to take a peak out of the cover suicidal.
It's is indeed a longer post, but longer for two main reasons:
1) Character conversations
2) Detailed "first-person view" action
The first example could actually be as long as the second if I bothered to make it in a serious effort rather than hastily, and if it was filled with redundant gloating over how the Tank of NationState 1 had the System x that granted it y and z, with all the tl;dr of technical facts that I don't believe that have their place outside of factbooks and technical threads. When such thing is done, it's usually a scare tactic, as people who only focus on the technical, tactical and strategic sides of battle won't bother with characters or detailed action that don't technically contribute to whether they will "win" or not the war RP.
For one, I think that treating International Incidents in a purely competitive manner is a formula for drama, FAIL and OOC bitch-fests that lead otherwise potential threads into drama and threadlocks as people keep arguing on whether the fighter could reach that far with its claimed combat radius or not and whether the tank main gun can blow the other tank armor or not instead of roleplaying. Anyway, enough of pulling my bias against purely competitive war RPs, and to the matter at hand:
Choosing your Tech Level
Trust me in this, Mixing tech levels in a war RP can be extremely messy unless you pre-planned most of it and/or set solid rules regarding on how x is better than y and vice-versa. It'll make itself a huge chore, except if you plan to make it as purely cooperative and character-centered, and thus as always, it's a good idea to focus on a single Tech Level. I'll brief the highlights of some of the possible levels regarding the "epicness" factor below:
Medieval/Antiquity Fantasy Tech
Pros: Fighting against legions of zombies, the fact it approaches the Sword and Sandals genre, the fact that a melee duel can be way more dramatic and epic to describe than a firefight.
Cons: Very few people interested to participate of one. Overuse of magic may ruin it and lead to godmodding/wankery.. Very vulnerable to "thread death" due to loss of interest from participants.
PS: As for realistic Medieval or Antiquity Past Tech, the problem with magic-wank is eliminate, but there'll be even less people interested to participate.
Gunpowder to Early Industrial Age (1600s - 1800s) Past Tech
Pros: Excellent choice for Pirates/Naval Battle centered RPs. Equally good for epic ground battles and the fact melee weapons still are used for dueling.
Cons: Arguably the most difficult tech level to find willing players to join a RP at.
WW1 to WW2 Past Tech
Pros: Perhaps, past depicting the details of the brutal conditions of trench warfare, this tech level allows for the most awesome possible air and naval battles. There is no place for pathetic "I LAUNCH 1000 MISSILES POST LOSSES"(something you'll avoid anyway if you take the advices in this guide), missile spam and other cheap tactics that make for dull, poor and uninteresting war RPs in naval and air warfare, and with some good situational writing you can describe a very brutal and dramatic air battle from this. If you wish to make a war RP which main character will be a ace like the RL Red Baron, this is the tech level to pick.
Cons: Not many people with interest to participate of one. People may make many misconceptions(I am commie I launch human wave assault) about the tactics of the epoch.
Cold War to Modern Tech
Pros: Lots of flexibility, good choice for low intensity warfare(civil wars, proxy wars IE. RL Vietnam War, etc), tech level range with the greatest number of potentially interested players to join.
Cons: Many resort to missile spam and other lazy tactics. Tech level with greatest care of cold technical details over epicness by the old NS players who usually prefer it makes it more difficult to draw people without bureaucratic ORBATs and the like.
Post Modern Tech
Pros: Expands the profile of totalitarian states, allowing for roleplays with far worse enemies than anything seem before(IE The Kraven Corporation, now inactive as far as I know).
Cons: Orbital warfare is inherently anti-epic.
Future Tech
Pros: Maximum flexibility and less care over technical details compared to MT and PMT. Space battles. Decent number of players.
Cons: Lack of standardization, way too large technological disparities(you'll find everything from "just began colonizing space" to "godlike civilization", franchise mish-mash("Star Wars vs. Star Trek" by proxy, etc.) , fanboyism ("You can't pick a Star Destroyer it has 1000000000 GJ of powah!"), people who still try to play competitively with an unlimited source of godmodding and wankery..