StarDestroyer.Net BBS

A game that has the ability to learn to counter strategies? I want one!

weemadando wrote:The whole "information dominance" thing was destroyed by the US Army (or Marine Corp) general, I forget which, who during a war game in Australia decided to not use radios and instead had runners and motorcycle couriers, thus rendering the "Good Guys" entire (and we are talking a significant portion of their over all force as well) ELINT dependant groups redundant.

It's an impressive game, simulating weaponry the military is actually using or building, gamers say. But the gameplay is designed so it's hard to lose: The equipment holds up awfully well and the enemy doesn't learn from experience.

"They didn't ask for hole punchers," says Mark Long, co-CEO of Zombie, where the game was built under contract. "High tech has all kinds of low-tech vulnerabilities and they didn't want the vulnerabilities programmed in."



For example, there's no consideration that military power or technology could fail or be jammed, she says. And the enemy doesn't learn, in contrast to a certain real-life conflict where the hallmark of insurgents is their ability to rapidly gain knowledge and evolve.

"All their use of technology is so off-label, so future-forward," Nash says. "And you've got to figure the enemy is playing the game too."

Long wanted to see the enemy evolve, based on his own experience in the Army and defense contracting.

"The first time a UGV toddles in for reconnaissance, insurgents will stare at it until the air strike follows," he says. "The second time, they'll throw a blanket over it and run. The third time, they'll immobilize it and plant an IED because they'll have figured out someone has to recover that million-dollar piece of equipment."

More than anything else, Nash is bothered by the fantasy the potential recruits may have that they'll end up the commander riding a joystick rather than understanding what military life means.

"You don't see the day-to-day boredom, you don't see broken legs and equipment failure," she says. "You don't see that the military is mostly grunts and only the grunts on the ground die."

weemadando wrote:The whole "information dominance" thing was destroyed by the US Army (or Marine Corp) general, I forget which, who during a war game in Australia decided to not use radios and instead had runners and motorcycle couriers, thus rendering the "Good Guys" entire (and we are talking a significant portion of their over all force as well) ELINT dependant groups redundant.

Velthuijsen wrote:The wargame was called Operation Millennium Challenge.
Blue (USA) VS red (Rogue state in the gulf region).
Red has as supreme commander: Lt. Gen. Van Riper (retired, marines).
Sank basically the complete task force and kept nailing the blue forces by doing unexpected things, which is good if people learn from this, instead Van Riper got more and more restrictions laid down to stop him from doing the unexpected. He finally quit when he learned that his orders were being delayed or countermanded by the people running the wargame.

weemadando wrote:The whole "information dominance" thing was destroyed by the US Army (or Marine Corp) general, I forget which, who during a war game in Australia decided to not use radios and instead had runners and motorcycle couriers, thus rendering the "Good Guys" entire (and we are talking a significant portion of their over all force as well) ELINT dependant groups redundant.

Cao Cao wrote:What the fuck? What is this? Back to Prussian style "Any outcome that isn't the outcome we want is to be disregarded" military strategy?

Losonti Tokash wrote:Weren't they pulling shit like respawning ships he had sunk?

I'd take up the PDS mod for Homeworld2 again.

Admiral Valdemar wrote:They already did this and better, I might add. It was called C&C: Generals.

Edward Yee wrote:Please elaborate, Uranium235?