ORvR Leadership Series: Weapons Of WAR Part 1: Morale Control Of Friend And Foe
By: Foghladha
Through my journeys as a oRvR Warlord I have learned a lot from the battles at hand. Out of all the weapons I've wielded there is only 1 that determines the outcome of a battle. Morale. With every victory the morale will rise. With every defeat the morale will sink. In my time I have found that every loss will cost you 20% of your warforce. Each victory will bring 10% to you. Giving your troops victories essential to maintaining a controllable force.
When you find yourself against a foe too great to overcome with your numbers at hand the appropriate response is to move faster than they move. Become the mouse who leads the cat to his demise. You then lead your opponent by the reigns forcing them to counter each of your actions. Instead of throwing yourself at their feet and waiting for your demise try attacking objectives in opposite sides of a region or even in another territory. Stretch their forces out. Each time you capture an objective their forces will start arguing among themselves. Often times we practice the Cap and Run technique knowing full well that the opposing forces will retake an objective. Making use of Binding you can capture one objective on one side of the map, use your book to port to the other and take an objective on the opposite side of the map. This makes it very difficult to move a large force to both sides of a territory. If they force splits try taking another objective in another region. The more you can cause distrust and discontentment the harder it will be on your opponent to keep their morale high.
Planting the Seed of Discontent
If you can manage to take an objective in the last minutes before a serious payoff such as a zone lock you can quickly destroy the morale of the troops. As a rule of thumb, if you can strike where they least expect, and take what they hold dear you will cause discontentment and resentment among their troops.
Ambushing
Striking your opponent when they least expect it is key to the demoralization of troops. Whether it is cutting off their reinforcements or striking the tail end of a warforce any time you can hit them when they least expect it you will cause a instant rush of negative morale towards their side. Use this to your advantage when trying to trim off a % of the opposing warforce.
Flashfire Defenses
If your force spends an half an hour sieging a castle to only wipe within 30 seconds it causes a feeling of hopelessness in the troops. While the traditional tank wall approach for keep defenses can work they often take 30 to 60 minutes giving the attacking force to build morale and draw more to the fight. By using a flashfire technique such as Pandora's Defense, Hammer & Anvil, or Eagles Ambush, you can wipe a attacking force in a matter of seconds causing a catastrophic hit to their morale. If pulled off successfully, you can expect to see a loss of 25 to 50% of the assaulting force. Losing is hard to swallow, losing in a couple of seconds educes rage and anger into the player and often will cause them to quit. Be careful while using this that you follow the golden rule of sportsmanship. "Never Beat Your Opponent So Bad They Do Not Wish To Play You." While the Flashfire may work you might find yourself without an enemy to fight which typically will tear down your own forces morale.
Being mindful of your opponents morale will allow you to keep their force just smaller than your own while keeping the fights fun and engaging. Only demoralize them completely when you wish to see them completely off the field. Keeping your enemies force under your control is an art that you must perfect if you truly want to master the art of war. Give them the illusion of success so that you can become the puppet master of their success. Let them take what you want, lead them where you want them to go, bring them to your battlefield, and you will have success at every turn. Once you have control of their force you will be able to lead them by the hand and they will think their in control.
Continue: Part 2: Greed, Destroyer of Societies