Zoids: Chaotic Age Zero

Skirmishing

Introduction: As those who know a thing or two about the site might be able to tell you, the term "Skirmishing" refers to battling (in Zoid or otherwise) in the context of warfare. That is, we've exited the realm of sanctioning Zoid Battling and entered the domain of modern war. While the Battling system contains a summary of some of the more minor points of Warfare and Skirmishing, the purpose of this section is to go into the finer points of the practice, and hopefully give you a good idea of what Skirmishing is all about.

To Begin: One of the main differences between Skirmishing and Warfare is that you basically have to be enlisted with a Faction in order to participate in it. This makes sense if you think about it: in order to engage in warfare, you must first be at war. You can enlist in your chosen faction by following the instructions in that faction's recruitment - it tends to involve either posting in that thread or PMing the factional leader and telling him or her that want to enlist. Once you're accepted into the faction, you will be granted access to that faction's forum and you'll find out everything you need to know about said faction. Among this information is precisely how much money you have budgeted to you with which to buy your faction-owned Zoid - probably in the "Ranks" thread. The "Uniforms and Equipment" thread will tell you about what kind of equipment your faction issued you. You can also peruse the roster (other enlisted pilots), the rules of your faction, and the entire list of all Zoids owned by the faction at your own leisure. Note that once your primary character has enlisted, you may create up to two factional NPCs, who hold rank within the faction but do not exist outside it (ie: they may not participate in sanctioned Zoid Battling).

The Zoids: Alright, here's the deal with Zoids. You have so much money - as designated by your rank, maybe modified by a few other factors - to spend on your factional Zoid. This is for both the base cost of the Zoid and for modifications. The faction will cover repair cost, but not repair time (so, you don't have to pay for repairs, but you do have to wait for them). If the Zoid you're buying happens to be a "factional Zoid", that is, your faction is better at producing it than others, you only have to pay 75% of the base price of that Zoid. Chances are that as a Private Second Class or private equivalent rank in another branch of service, you'll be limited to a Level 1 Zoid or a factional Level 2 Zoid. You can purchase multiple Zoids with your budget if you so desire. If and when you are promoted, you can rework your entire Zoid setup (ie: it's not as if you just gained that much money. It's as if you just got a whole new budget.) If you are lucky enough to promoted to the rank of general at any point in time, or if you do something else extraordinary, you may be rewarded with a War Custom Zoid. You'll have to talk that out with your factional leader - its not my department to tell you what you can and can't do in that area.

If you so desire, you may use a Zoid personally owned by your pilot - ie: a Zoid for use in sanctioned Zoid Battling (obviously NPCs do not have this privilege). You can use it along with any modifications you might have for it. However, if you do so, you cover its repairs, and you risk losing it. What I mean is that if a faction-owned Zoid is killed or captured during combat and you make it out, then you will have your Zoid replaced in its entirety. If you lose your own Zoid during warfare, then its not coming back until your faction captures whatever base its being held at.

Getting Promoted: Alright, so if promotions are so important, how does one go about getting promoted? Good question - this criteria is largely left up to your faction leaders. Power to promote is left solely with them, although they will generally delegate this power to their officers (that is Lieutenants and up) as well. I can give you a general idea of how this usually works: for the first few ranks, you will be promoted based solely on your ability to fight and win. If you do something extraordinary, you may even skip a rank. This will continue to be the case up to and maybe through the NCOs. However, as you get further up the chain, your superiors will begin to look for other qualities, such as activeness, decision-making, ect. This is because if you are promoted to an officer, you will probably have some of the factional leader's power delegated to you. (For example: I tell my officers that they have the power to promote any enlisted person or NCO to any other enlisted or NCO rank.)

Hand in hand with promotion is demotion (or dishonorable discharge). This is pretty much only if you've been one hell of jackass, but power to demote rests with the factional leaders same as power to promote. They probably won't hesitate to do it, either: if they think their budget is better spent elsewhere, they'll spend it elsewhere. (By the way, unlike the rank-and-file soldiers, the faction leaders actually do see a larger, factional budget that you don't really get to know too much about, but they do pay for you gear, Zoids, ect.. They'll pay you what they think they're going to get from you.) Forewarned is forearmed.

The Gear: In the world of Zoid Battling, it becomes entirely possible that you're going to have to bail out of your cockpit. Generally, this will only happen in a draw, where both pilots have had their Zoids CSFed but are still itching to capture each other. It may also be the case if the battle was never actually a Zoid battle and was always a footsoldier battle (which can happen but is unlikely - this is a Zoids RPG site), or if you happen to have a GI with an AZ rifle/rocket launcher/mortar in the back seat. So, here's what you ought to go do. Consult the "Uniforms and Equipment" thread in your faction. It will probably list a number of types of soldiers, under which it will list a uniform and associated equipment. Below the list of uniforms is probably a list of equipment, weapons among them. If your judge asks you for a list of personal weapons, then go find the description that best suits you under uniforms. (Note that if you are not piloting or co-piloting a Zoid for the battle then you are considered a non-pilot and are allowed to use the standard uniform, which probably includes better guns, body armor, and maybe grenades. However, if you do so, you cannot pilot a Zoid during the battle.) Anyway once you've found your uniform and equipment listing, you pick your personal weapons, and you're off!

Note that not all factions have the same personal weapons. For example, the Commission might have payed to have every pilot they have be issued a primary firearm (by the way, "primary firearm" means carbine, rifle, submachinegun, or shotgun for our purposes). However, the Backdraft, with its smaller budget, might only have payed to issue all of its pilots a sturdy sidearm. The Eastern Continental Alliance, by contrast, might only budget you for sticks and harsh language. This leads into the question, "Can I use my own weapons?" The answer is "yes" - but it's the same deal as using your own Zoids. You have to provide your own ammunition (which means that it's non-armor piercing but is otherwise free, 'cause we don't have a process for purchasing ammunition) and if you lose it, it stays lost.

Mortality Crisis: There exists another extremely important question that comes from the Skirmishing concept: "Can my character die?" The answer to that is no. You can be greviously injured, spend monthes in the hospital, have most of your body replaced with prosthetics, and require extensive neurosurgery to repair the hole through your head, but you cannot die without your permission. Your NPCs, on the other hand, can and will most likely die if faced with a similar situation. By the way, I ought to mention a few things about that. If your character is in the hospital or has been captured (as is also a frequent occurance) as a result of warfare, he or she cannot participate in skirmishes while he or she is in that condition. However, for the purposes of sanctioned Zoid Battling, you can still fight and everything as though nothing ever happened. The only time when this separation between the two types of battling is breeched is when a pilot uses a Zoid he or she personally owns is a skirmish. If the pilot looses that Zoid, then he or she cannot use it in either type of battling until it is recovered.

Starting a Skirmish: Okay, so now that we've gotten through all that, this begs the question, "How do I start a skirmish?" Many times, your faction leaders or administrators will announce that there is going to be an important skirmish and will request pilots. At this point, you go and sign up. You may not necessarily be used to this kind of setting up battles, because you don't always know how many enemy pilots there will be, what kinds of Zoids those enemy pilots will be using, or if the battle will have an unexpected twist in it. Furthermore, the objective of the skirmish may be different from "defeat all the enemies". It may be "destroy this" or "capture this", or another kind of special objective. The battle may be fought blind, or it may be simply a small but crucial part of a much larger engagement.

However, you need not wait until your leaders ask you to fight to charge into battle. If you're really itching for a battle, then first find a pilot of a faction you're at war with (or at least not allied with), and challenge him or her to a skirmish. Set it up in the same way one would a sanctioned Zoid Battle, with only a few differences. Firstly, there exists no battlemode. Secondly, terrain must include what continent (or even better, what part of what continent) the skirmish takes place on and this must be plausible for the factional engagement. (IE: Backdraft vs. ZBC - "Central Delphoi). Terrain also includes normal terrain type, such as desert, open plains, ect. Next, the judge will ask you for your ranks, factions, and possibly personal weapons in addition to normal information. After that's done with, you duke it out like normal. These are called "patrol battles" as they are assumed to be engagements between two enemy patrols that happened to pass each other.

The Big Differences: In many ways, Skirmishing and sanctioned Zoid Battling have the same mechanics. However, there are a few fundamental differences that you ought to know about. Firstly, there are no battlemodes, judges, or rules in warfare. Your faction may lay down a few stipulations about trying to take pilots alive rather than dead, but really, there are no rules. No judges to stop you if you shoot at the cockpit or core, no paramedics on site to rush you to a hospital. Secondly, you have more than just a transport or a team to draw on. You have a faction. Generally, support in the form of intelligence, sensor sweeps, bombardment and artillery, air support, even reinforcements may be available to you. In battles set up by your factional leaders and admins, we'll generally tell you exactly how much of each is available for you use. In patrol battles, provided that you and the other pilots haven't already stated it, its judge's discretion as to precisely how much factional support you get to draw on. Note that while transports are always present nearby in sanctioned Zoid Battling, this is not always the case in skirmishing. There's no transport nearby unless its stated that there is one - though your faction might rush a Hammer Kaiser to you if they see sufficient need.

Pilot to Co-Pilot: Another advantage of factional combat is that no one dictates that you need to have one person inside your cockpit. If you so wish, you can put another pilot inside your cockpit - usually one of you NPCs, but if you can get someone else to put his or her pilot or NPCs in their with you, that works too. This has several advantages. First of all, it reduces multitasking penalties (as you now have two people). Secondly, your co-pilot can take over the Zoid Piloting if you buy it (I mean if you are killed or incapacitated). Thirdly, if you happen to recover another Zoid un-CSFed then you can have your co-pilot hop and out pilot it. Fourthly, if you happen to get yourself in a gun battle (as a footsoldier, I mean), it never hurts to have a second person. The downside, obviously, is that you're risking two people instead of one. You could lose them both. However, the upsides are undeniable.

This is restricted, as well. If your Zoid has a maximum crew of 1, then there's nowhere to fit a co-pilot. You need to have another person as your co-pilot, so if no one wants to lend you hand inside the cockpit, then no dice (as I mentioned earlier, though, you can use your own NPCs for this purpose). Also, you can have multiple co-pilots if your Zoid will facilitate it (for example, the Hammerhead can have up to four people). Another downside to co-pilots is for the judges, not for the players. During combat, if your copilot is not one of your NPCs, he or she gets a statement during combat as well, right after the primary pilot's own. (So, the copilot isn't rolled for at the start of combat and isn't exactly effected by order reversals). It's in some ways like having a teammate inside your own cockpit. This can be a bit annoying for the judge, so make sure that he or she knows that you're using a copilot.

Mechanized Infantry: I'd like to remind everyone that while Zi's vehicles are primarily Zoids, not all battles on Zi are fought solely with Zoids. Infantry is still both prevalent and highly used on Zi. Clearing buildings, occupying cities, and raiding bunkers are all examples of the uses of infantry. Furthermore, infantry is plain and simply cheaper and more available than Zoids. The thing is, infantry on Zi is highly mechanized, meaning that they operate in concordance with armored vehicles (Zoids). It is not uncommon to have infantry riding in your Zoid with you. Nor is it uncommon to have battles that are fought mostly by infantry with minimal Zoid support. As a result, CAZ also allows fighting out of the cockpit and on the ground.

Firstly a few numbers. Humans can sprint at about 5 m/s, run at about 3 m/s, and walk at about 1 m/s. It takes about 6 seconds to get from your cockpit to the ground if you do it while hurrying while avoiding hurting yourself. A skilled shooter can load a new clip into a weapon in 1-2 seconds, or add about 2 rounds per second to a revolver cylinder, shotgun internal magazine, or clip. It takes about 3 seconds to reload a revolver with a speed loader or load a belt or a drum into a machine gun. Judges will change these numbers if they believe the human in question is injured, encumbered, obese, or has some other similar modifier. However, this is generally a good metric for figuring out how fast you move. Judges ask for a pilot's personal weapons at the beginning of a battle because the pilots will most likely engage in combat on foot, with their personal weapons, in the event of a draw. Damages you, as a person, take equates to hospital time (and maybe a prosthetic or two), much like damage that your Zoid takes equates to repair time. Remember that if the pilot you are controlling is an NPC, that pilot is mortal.

So, this begs the question, "How does infantry combat work?" It works in exactly the same way Zoid Battling works. You continue in the same way you did before, either posting in turns and swapping order or fighting blind. The judge will describe what happens based on what you do and what equipment you use to do it. This is why its important to familiarize yourself with your equipment and your firearms. It may become very, very important one day.

Now, why are infantry important, in particular? Neither your nor I, after all, is a footsoldier or an infantryman. We are Zoid Pilots, are we not? Well, infantry are still important on CAZ. In many missions, you may find that there are infantry positions to overrun, or friendly infantry to deploy, or any number of other reasons why you'll have to know a thing or two about fighting outside the cockpit. In patrol battles, here's how infantry become involved: Firstly, you choose to have an infantry person in your backseat instead of a co-pilot. This still has to be someone enlisted with your faction, but it could just be your normally-pilot NPC who has today grabbed a rifle and full body armor. The infantry person cannot pilot the Zoid in any capacity, but if you have to bail out of the cockpit, you'll be glad he or she is with you. Next, some Zoids have modifications that allow them to carry soldiers - which will probably come in even more handy if you have to fight on the ground. In this case, you don't need a pilot or NPC on the factional roster to take the place of the infantry person; they are just nameless groups of soldiers who will follow your orders. Thirdly, you can elect to fight a patrol battle without Zoids. (This isn't common given that again, we are a Zoids RPG website). You can give a distance and a terrain and everything and just state you're fighting the battle on foot.

Fighting Blind: Now, astute readers of the Info Section will have noticed that on the "Battling" page there is detailed a mode of battling called "Blind Battling". Blind battling is used more often for factional combat than it is for sanctioned Zoid Battling, because the turn system becomes less useful in large-scale, all-out battles between factional forces - it doesn't make sense if one entire side of the conflict knows exactly what the other side of the conflict is going to do and then vice-versa. However, there may be some modifications to blind battling in skirmishing. For example, the initial statement of the pilots' names, ranks, factions, Zoids, modifications, and personal weapons might not be posted in the main thread or chat and PMed or IMed directly to the judge - as the other side doesn't necessarily know all that. Another example would be if the judge merely posted the results of the turn after each turn and waited until the end of combat to post all of the moves. This is because this lends a little more realism to the battles, and previously unimportant-seeming details can be a matter or victory or defeat as we balloon the scale of the battles.

The Captain's Chair: One final point. While individual combat where each Zoid is controlled by an individual pilot is the status quo, CAZ is going to experiment with a different kind of battle called "The Captain's Chair". What this means is that rather than a pilot for each Zoid on the battlefield, large battles between the numberless legions of different factions will be handled by commanders: that is, there will be one commander for each faction involved, giving orders to all of the forces fighting. In this mode of combat, huge numbers of Zoids (think 20+ here) will routinely be on either side of the battle. Furthermore, each round of combat may well be more than 6 seconds in duration, to keep the battles finishable in good time. Judges will only give cursory damage summaries for Zoids, probably actually only stating little more than which Zoids have CSFed (imagine if we had a judge saying, "and the eighteenth Molga from the left has moderate-heavy damage to its general frontal region with light structural distortion. That Molga has also expended its missiles. The nineteenth Molga from the left has taken moderate..."). Transports, crewed Zoids, and large infantry forces may also be included in this. Exciting, no?