MRMDP1
MRMDP 1
Minmatar Republic Marines Doctrinal Publication 1
"Warfighting"
The Nature of War
"A Prince (or CEO) ought to have no other aim or thought, nor select anything else for his study, than war and its rules and discipline; for this is the sole art that belongs to him who rules, and it is of such force that it not only upholds those who are born princes, but it often enables men to rise from a private station to that rank. And, on the contrary, it is seen that when princes have thought more of ease than of arms they have lost their states. And the first cause of your losing it is to neglect this art; and what enables you to acquire a state is to be master of the art." -Machiavelli
"Battles between fleets and territory changing hands are byproducts of war, of course, but the real purpose is to annihilate the enemy's capacity for resistance in all forms." - The Mittani
"You cannot win war without making life miserable for your enemy" - Sulynis
While the basic nature of war is constant, the means and methods we use evolve continuously." - FMFM1 WHAT IS WAR:
War Defined in EVE is a violent clash of interest between or among individual players, corporations, alliances, factions, or coalitions, characterized by the use of military force. While fleet combat is an aspect of war, casual pvp and war remain separate.
EVE is a cutthroat universe, full of skillful players, many with actual military and intelligence gathering training. One must study the subject of war if he is to lead any organization to victory. The application of real life skills, applied to the game are never to be neglected. Generally speaking in war, your object is to oppose your will on the enemy, during The Great War in Fountain, I witnessed exactly what The Mittani meant when he said "The Real Purpose is to annihilate the enemy's capacity for resistance in all forms." As our superior in number and force fleet of 500 Megathrons undocked to wreak havoc on the inferior TEST Alliance. It was only while killing them, while they were trapped helplessly in bubbles, that the FC said "Don't pod them, make them burn out of every bubble we set, and make them slow boat back home or self-destruct." Thus preventing the enemies ability to instantly reship and get back into the fight. The nature of EVE in itself promotes competition and as a result of trying to gain financial wealth and secure assets, war is inevitable.
FRICTION: In war there is friction and resistance, tensions are high on both sides, your goal is to apply as much friction to the enemy as possible, while trying to avoid any friction on your side. Friction can be seen as obstacles to overcome, large enemy fleets, plex grinding, Player Owned Starbases that need to be removed, and clearing gate camps, however, friction can also be internal, lack of a defined goal or a complicated objective that is hard to meet, expensive or over skilled doctrines only a select few can fly, arguments between leadership and members. These all cause friction which if not dealt with can cause operations to come to a stop, and worse, the war to be loss.
UNCERTAINTY: When in war there is always a certain amount of uncertainty, known as the fog of war, these are unknowns about the enemy. Size, skill, fleet compositions and doctrines, EHVTs (Enemy High Value Targets like FC's, Directors, CEOS), strategic locations, choke points, batphones, allies, and third party evolvement. It is difficult to eliminate all these unknowns, but there are many tools, Zkillboard, EVEWHO, Pirates Little Helper, adashboard intel, and even spies. Good comms discipline, the development of SOP's (standard operating procedures), and planning and preparing for the enemies most likely course of action, are all good ways to combat the uncertainty that is war, but there is no way to completely eliminate the uncertainties of war.
DISORDER: It happens, and generally as a result of friction, be it induced by enemies or allies. Examples of disorder are: People not training proper skills to fit doctrines, the FC dying and no one filling that role, lack of boosters during fleet fights due to ignorance or otherwise, unclear communications due to lack of clarity or language barriers, arguments on comms, members not joining fleets, and OPSEC (operational security).
COMPLEXITY: It goes all the way from the leader of the coalition to the individual pilot. War is complex, not only does it involve combat, but nearly every other aspect of the game. The market, logistical supply, propaganda, espionage, counterespionage, even individual piloting skills. EVE is a very complex game and the war in it is no different. While an FC may be able to call primaries and members might just sit at 0 and hit F1, it's up to individual pilots to warp in at range, maintain their capacitors, while keeping a good angular velocity on the enemy and not getting too separated from their fleet while fighting in the range of their weapons systems, mitigating the damage taken by enemies, and spreading points before the enemy can warp off. Things can get complex really fast.
THE THREE LEVELS OF WAR: Strategic- This is the first and highest level, coordinating all forces to achieve your political objectives, in the example of Faction Warzone, your Strategic objective is to secure the warzone.
Operational- This is the next level, using tactical results to attain strategic objectives. In the case of Factional Warfare, plexing a system when the enemy is less able to defend due to timezone differences, distance, or far away from where they would normally stage.
Tactical- This is the last level, these are the methods and concepts used to win an operational objective that helps your over all strategy, In the Example of Factional Warfare this is where fleet doctrines and sops come in to play, being able to enter small plexes, setting up gate camps to limit hostile entrance to the system.
TYPES OF WAR:
Attrition Warfare- Attacking the enemy systematically. Usually long and drawn out, but sometimes necessary. The bulk of a highsec wardecs are done like this. Espionage- Spies are implemented to gain intelligence, sew distrust, and lower morale. Propaganda- Tools used to raise morale amongst your ranks and even gain support of third party participants, while discouraging the enemy at the same time and encouraging defectors. Maneuver Warfare- Gaining the advantage, separating their forces, attacking strategic locations, camping supply routes. Political Warfare- Using diplomacy to turn allies against your enemy or gain your enemies allies. Economic Warfare- Buying enemy assets, hurting their ability to make money in anyway shape ore form.
PREPERATION FOR WAR: This is probably the key element of war, victory loves preparation, and there is no such thing as being to prepared. Examples of preparation are:
-Gathering as much intelligence as possible on the enemy, directors, pos managers, fleet commanders, strategic locations, doctrines, timezone activity.
-Staging ships that counter the enemies doctrines, that are available to allies to get back in the fight as fast as possible, in multiple locations, SRPS
-Making sure you have a good logistical backbone to move things fluidly as the map changes.
-Diplomatic Allies, finding those of mutual objectives and working with them.
-Comms Discipline, Secondary FCs, SOPs
-Training, equipping, and informing people, keep a clear line of communication
- Plan for worse possible outcome.
About the Author: I'm Matthew Dust, I'm currently a pirate, this is something I'm writing for a project I'm working on. I'm a United States Marine Corps Combat Veteran (Afghanistan) who's taken the knowledge he's learned from his time in the military and applied to the game.