Galaxy: Military Strategy Guide PART 1

From: Jacco van Weert <weertj@euronet.nl>

Date: Wed, 29 Nov 1995 00:00:00 +0000

<HTML>
<H2>Galaxy military strategy guide: PART 1</H2>

<I>Written by Jacco van Weert</I><BR>
<BR>
EMail: <A HREF="mailto:weertj@euronet.nl">weertj@euronet.nl</A>

<HR>

<I>Experience with the Galaxy PBeM game is needed to fully understand the guide,
you should also read the Galaxy beginners guide (by Greg Lindahl) and the
Ship design guide (by Howard Bampton)</I>

<HR>

<H3>0: Introduction</H3>

<B>Why this guide?</B>
  <UL>
    I played several games, and I experienced that a lot of players
    just aren't aware of the military basics. And I hope that more people will
    play Galaxy.... BECAUSE IT'S FUN....
  </UL>

<B>Is this the all-out winning strategy?</B>
  <UL>
    Of course not, there are a lot of strategies and most likely there are
    even better onces. It all depends on the situation. All I can say is that
    _until now_ I never lost a Galaxy game using this strategy =).<BR>
    Of course now this will change.....:(((.... WHHHAA!!.. "They gonna hunt me down!!!"
  </UL>

I really like to discuss the points I am covering in this guide, by Email or
on the IRC (Nickname: Zargon).

<HR>
<H3>1: Military organisation</H3>

Galaxy is a wargame and should be treated as such. The most important thing is to
divide the different area's into ZOC's (Zones Of Controls). At the beginning your
ZOC is of course very small, but the trick is to expand your ZOC as soon as possible.
ZOC's should be splitted into several smaller ones as soon as they are becoming to
large.
Example:
<PRE>

*1			*2

*5					*6

*8				*9

<------------------------xx Ly---------------------------->

</PRE>

When we define 1 ZOC the central planet is #7 and could function as HQ and
reserve depot. However this area is hard to defend when attacked from several
sides. Therefore it's better to split the ZOC in 2 ZOC's.<BR>
<BR>
ZOC 1: Covering planets 3,1,5 & 8 <BR>
ZOC 2: Covering planets 4,2,6 & 9 <BR>
<BR>
Planet 7 should be the HQ of both ZOC's.<BR>

Of course when your Drive Tech increases the ZOC's are decreasing.

<H4>Military structure</H4>

I consider the use of forts obsolete and this should be avoided at all costs.
The military structure should be flexible and dynamical at all positions.
I normally use the following military structure;

<PRE>
			Player ;-)
			  |
			  |------------------------|
			  |			   |
			  |			Cargo fleets (not covered).
			  |
	|---------------|---------------|-----------------------|
	|		|		|			|
      Army	      PanzerArmy      ExpeditionalArmy	     Passive Reserve

</PRE>

<UL>
  <LI><B>Player</B> - THAT'S YOU!
  <LI><B>Cargo fleets</B> - the boring part of Galaxy ;-(, I am not covering this
	because.... I NOT VERY GOOD AT THIS.... sniff..snotter...
  <LI><B>Army</B> - Consists mostly out of out-dated ships, I rarely update ships
	I just move them to Army ZOC's. The Army controls a ZOC which lies well
	behind the frontline. An Army could serve as <I>Follow-up</I> army.
  <LI><B>PanzerArmy</B> - The main attack/defend force consists out of the latest
	hardware. The PanzerArmy normally occupies the frontline positions and
	performs the offensive actions.
  <LI><B>ExpeditionalArmy</B> - A ZOC-less army, it contains HighSpeed-Divisions
	which have a free role in striking far behind the enemy lines and to divert
	the enemy forces.
  <LI><B>Passive Reserve</B> - The reserve-units to be send to trouble-spots.
</UL>

<PRE>

</PRE>

1st and 2nd Corps could consist out of 1 of more Divisions all depending or their
ZOC coverage. The 1st Corps normally covers the Northern/Eastern part and the
2nd Corps the Southern/Western. Depending on the layout of the ZOC's the coverage
could change, in worst case when cut-off from the other armies it should from a
Hedge-position. <BR>
The HQ-Corps act's as reserve and rebuild corps, when a division is heavly damaged
it's send back to the HQ-Corps were it's refitted and reinforced. The HQ-Corps
can also contain several special forces units, e.g. small Divisions and special
'Fort-busters' and other goodies, all depending of the position of the (Panzer)
army...and it's ....TAM-TAM-TAM..TATAAA!!!...(dark voice) "mission". <BR>
Important is the fact that a PanzerArmy is self-supporting and can therefore
perform long campaigns on it's own.

<PRE>

</PRE>

E-Division a fast division, normally ships with drives 50% of their mass.<BR>

<PRE>

Corps
			  |
			  |
		-------------------------........
		|		|		:
		|		|		:
	     Division	      Division	    .........
		|
		|
	-----------------------------------------
	|	|	|	|	|	|
	MG	SG	MTG	ADG	PD	D

</PRE>

Division, the layout of an fully equiped division, of course most of the time the
division is way under strength due to battle or minor front importance. And furthermore
in the early stages of the game a Division could be much smaller.

<UL>
<LI>MG = (MainGun) +/- mass 100: 1 or 2 Large guns.
<LI>SG = (SecondaryGun) +/- mass 100: 2 to 4 Large guns.
<LI>MTG = (MultiTertiaryGuns) +/- mass 50/100: about 10 guns.
<LI>ADG = (AntiDeflectorGuns) +/- mass 100: about 40 guns.
<LI>PD = PowerDeflectors +/- mass 2/3: small gun or shield.
<LI>D = Deflectors +/- mass 1/2: Drones.
</UL>

All units in the Division should have more or the less the same speed, except for
the Deflectors, their speed should be higher because they are the first to go in
a battle and should be reenforced from the Army's reserves.