I posted this question/topic/discussion in the Tactical Gamer War College forum, but thought it better to be discussed here for the guys who play games like America's Army.

I'm interested in these topics because of a rather large project I'm putting together. It's still at the very early planning stage, so any feedback, comments, opinions or stories to illustrate the topic matter is much appreciated. (Research is the start of a great article/project).

The Art of Defense...

When I think of defense as it relates to a computer game, I think of Americas Army where your squad is tasked to protect a VIP, an item, or a sector. But this could relate to any game that requires defending an item, area, or section... for instance once a flag is captured in most online force on force games, (Battlefield 2 comes to mind), your team also has to defend that flag.

I understand that true real world tactics don't always work in a computer game, but in an attempt to use the most realistic tactics in our computer games, there is alot of similarities in tactics and strategies.


The first thing you need to know is intelligence, where is the enemy?, what approach are they taking to the object? This is why a Recon element is so important. But usually there isn't enough players to have a full pledge recon platoon, and then a defense platoon, then reserves.

What I like to do in Americas Army, is divide the game team (platoon) into four sections (fire teams)... I usually label them Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta.

I usually assign the team with the SAW as object defense, for this example that team will be fire team Delta. I put them on the objective and tell them they are not to leave it, they set up there defense and prepare... they are the last line, hopefully they never encounter an enemy, but they have to be careful that one don't sneak around another outside fire team and take the objective, thats why they never leave.

I then assign the smallest team to stay with me (the platoon leader), we will call this team fire team Charlie, we stay near the objective but not to close, we always have visibility with the objective building/area, we are a reactionary force... when we know the enemy is coming a certain way, via info from the recon elements, we react and set up an ambush for that opfor. If the objective area/target is reached by the opfor, we re-deploy to help delta defend the objective.

I then usually assign the other two teams as alpha and bravo, I usually send alpha to the left of our defense objective, and bravo to the right.

I allow the two recon teams to spread out a little, go a little deeper outside the protective circle and set up observation posts. I let them know that they have 3 jobs, and in this order... Observe and report enemy contact/movements, engage and take out a enemy lone wolf player (thin the assault team down before reaching the objective), and finally fall back to assist in defense or to flank an enemy the other recon team may be engaging.

But what the recon teams need to understand is that the assault team may be sending in there own recon elements, or they may be conducting a suppression overwatch with there own 2 fire teams... so the recon element leaders need to decide if the battle his team is in is the real battle, or just a diversion, he can't let himself get pinned or fooled, sometimes it's better to dis-engage and back up to another defense line, hopefully the hasty defense ambushes that team is employing on the enemy wears them down, till finally theres only 1 or 2 left before they hit the objective.

Once it's known that the enemy's main attack is happening on either the left, right or middle.. thats when basic military maneuvers come in play. What ever fire team is engaging the enemy, they need to engage with all they got, (keep them suppressed) meanwhile the other team goes in a little deeper then cuts left or right into the enemies flank or backside.

Defense requires alot of observation, reporting contacts, fire discipline (if you don't want to give your position away, it's OK just to let a single lone wolf RAMBO run by you, just report him so the rear can ambush him), thinning of the enemy ranks, and eventually the final battle with good basic military tactics, like the flanking maneuver.

Your own opinions, comments, feedback, or stories on the topic of Defense?