Can someone explain PS to an active duty soldier?

foxjedi · 2004-03-20, 06:53 AM

All,
Hello. I'm a long time lurker, first time poster.
I've been looking at PS for awhile now, and am wondering what's in it for someone on active duty. My head is full of doctrinal knowledge that's specific to the US Army. Are there any Outfits out there made up of army folks?
If any miltary folks are playing and can relate some of the game to me, that'd be much appreciated.
I'm in Iraq at the moment, so can't play for another 2 months (give or take the occasional redeplyment FUBAR).
Thanks

Krinsath · 2004-03-20, 09:48 AM

I'm not active duty per se, but I'm a former military brat so I have at least a passing acquitance with the military.

PlanetSide is somewhat unique in that it's not really a FPS (though they share many elements), it really is more of a war sim. You have supplies that need to get from A to B (ANTs, which keep your bases from running out of juice and going neutral), you have frontlines where there can be titantic clashes of arms, you also have rear areas with critical facilities that need defending from sabotage (Tech Plants, Dropship Centers, etc). You'll be hard pressed to find more weaponry available for use in any game, as PS has over 36 weapons available for the infantry (not all available at once, as there are empire-specific weapons...but lootable) and several different classes of vehcile from one-man ATVs to gigantic dropships carrying an APC and 10 other troops (nothing more devastating than a *well* coordinated hot drop....and nothing fails worse than a poorly coordinated one). In my (lengthy, coming up on a year for me) time with PS I've seen air duels, running armor battles, smashing offensives and desperate defenses. Hell, I even recall battles where there were tons of snipers on either side and it was about thirty small sniper duels with the regular infantry just getting picked off if they showed their faces without armor.

The fighting on Cyssor last night was a prime example of what PS can offer. I was fighting as the Vanu on the capitol base of Cyssor. The Vanu controlled no other bases and were facing an assault from the north by the New Conglomerate and the Terran Republic from the south. There were desperate supply runs as ANTs were air-dropped in, heavy CQB as enemy forces breached the back door and long range duels as troops moved through the surrounding woods to try and outflank the defense. Cloakers would sneak in and temporaily hack the base which caused all sorts of havoc as the armor that was kept at bay came swarming in only for the base to be resecured and the elements that made it in squashed. Some of the Vanu defenders were beginning to lose heart with the slowly losing stalemate until they looked at their maps and saw in the far south....a purple hack flag! Reinforcements were coming! I think that after that base in the far south was captured, the TR had to pull back some of their forces, and the Vanu crushed what was left behind. They then pushed the NC back to the Faro bridge and there was an ensuing bridge battle where aircraft and armor swarmed everywhere trying to force a breach. In the end, the Vanu recaptured two sub-capitols and the base became unassailable. About that time I headed down to the caverns for a little medium sized battling, so I can't tell you what happened after that, but just the drama of holding a base against all odds until your relief shows up is great....and of course, there are times when that relief never arrives...

Yes, there are some *insanely* well organized outfits that use tactics to a very large degree. While I hate the bastards because they're psychotically good (as a group), Sturmgrenadier for the New Conglomerate is not terribly far off from a military-esque organization. The fact that there's an annual fee ($12? to help maintain their most impressive equipment to support their games...think you can try out SG for a month if you want with no obligation) isn't an awful thing, as you get a lot of cool stuff and can be reliably assured that there are no spoiled 12 year olds running around in command. Download their movie from PSU (it's a hefty download though, so you may not be able to) or visit www.sghq.com. There's also the infamous CDL at www.dragonwolves.com if you prefer wearing red. I'll also put in a shameless plug for the Enforcers at www.w00tz0r.com...they're not military and play fast and loose...but they're still fun...for an army-like experience, try the first two.

Good Vanu outfits I'm not as aware of...but they must exist.

If you've got the computer to handle PS, I highly recommend it. Don't think that you're joining the virtual army though, because kids do play it and you'll get mad about the somewhat mindless tactics of some players (spawn, get gun, run straight at enemy shooting, die, spawn, get gun....). Hook up with a good outfit that has a teamspeak server, get a USB headset (USB! Not Stereo!! USB headset you can pipe teamspeak to your ears and the normal PS battle sounds to your speakers...makes it much more like a helmet communications machine.

Small touch of immersion is worth the extra money IMO), and you'll probably enjoy the hell out of it.

Good luck over there in Iraq, and come home safe.

Incompetent · 2004-03-20, 10:13 AM

Give Black Widow Company a serious look. They have a few guys who post here, Firefly and KIAsan most notably, that you might talk too. They have alot of military and former military guys and are very effective ingame. Probably the closest to what your looking for on TR Emerald, can't speak for the other empires/servers though.

http://www.theblackwidowcompany.net/

Smaug · 2004-03-20, 11:10 AM

SturmGrenadier(sp) I believe is made up of alot of ex-military guys. They are NC Emerald.

Krinsath · 2004-03-20, 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by Smaug

SturmGrenadier(sp) I believe is made up of alot of ex-military guys. They are NC Emerald.

And escaped mental patients...they have a whole battlegroup for those I hear...

Biohazzard56 · 2004-03-20, 11:30 AM

Black Hawks www.bhhq.com, We use the Brevity code and use tactics used by the marines. Mephastahales is an ex-marine master Sergeant and an Urban Combat Instructor. We play on NC Markov, think about Black Hawks. We are mostly an air oriented outfit but most of our time is spent on the ground.

worldvengence · 2004-03-20, 11:41 AM

i say Blackwidowcompany , im not in it, but i have seen their work

ZionsFire · 2004-03-20, 12:25 PM

SG has a fee of 1 dollar per month for membership

Krinsath · 2004-03-20, 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by ZionsFire

SG has a fee of 1 dollar per month for membership

Yay for memory

That's $12 annually...from what I hear from the SG guys, it's worth it (but of course, what else would they say?).

Vick · 2004-03-20, 01:54 PM

If your looking for a organized outfit with uhh, "strong" leadership try The Enclave. Large, organized, outfit leader can scream very well over teamspeak.

Any of the other outfits mentioned are good too.

worldvengence · 2004-03-20, 02:01 PM

IMO Enclave is too large for their own good, plus as u said he yells...alot, plus they have all the n00bs that come into the game, i know alot of ppl who have left because of disorganazation, they can usually hold one or 2 squads together, outside of that, it is chaos

Firefly · 2004-03-20, 02:08 PM

Originally Posted by foxjedi

All,
Hello. I'm a long time lurker, first time poster.
I've been looking at PS for awhile now, and am wondering what's in it for someone on active duty. My head is full of doctrinal knowledge that's specific to the US Army. Are there any Outfits out there made up of army folks?
If any miltary folks are playing and can relate some of the game to me, that'd be much appreciated.
I'm in Iraq at the moment, so can't play for another 2 months (give or take the occasional redeplyment FUBAR).
Thanks

Boom- my area of expertise. My outfit (Black Widow Company) was formed by four active-duty Army soldiers. We formed our outfit in a military-style organization, with a dedicated chain of command and NCO backbone. We use small-unit tactics and we base most of our tactics off current special-operations "doctrine" (which means we don't use one), and I take most of our tactics from several well-known Army FM's, chief among them Ranger Handbook, Infantry Squad, Infantry Rifle Platoon, Air Assault manual, armored combat manual, and Mechanized Infantry Platoon (in addition to many of the leadership FMs). We currently have over a dozen prior-service and/or active-duty military members, and all-told I would estimate we've had at least two dozen in the ranks (officer and enlisted). We don't feature "outfit nights" because we prefer to plan our operations using the OPORDER format (Sergeant Major Eats Sugar Cookies). We also run certification courses for some of our skill badges, and we feature training courses that focus on anything from squad formations and tactics to battle drills to air assault "hotdrops". You can generally count on at least three major operations per week. We've also lately started working on intra-outfit squad competitions and team competitions, two specific examples being sniper team tourneys and a force-on-force tank battle like NTC features.

If you have any further questions about me, my members or the outfit, many of my members visit this forum (KIAsan, Warborn, DucusSumus, GrimReaper, Hezzy, iHatePants, Dunce to name a few). You can also email me or stop by the BWC forums and ask any questions that you have. We're TR on the Emerald server. We're not a big fat 1337 portable zerg but we know our shit and we keep it locked down tight.

EDIT:

Originally Posted by Krinsath

The fighting on Cyssor last night was a prime example of what PS can offer.

I'm going to shamelessly plug BWC. When the NC had 99% of the Emerald server locked yesterday, it was my outfit who raided and started the drain on Faro aroun 4:30pm EST (possibly 5pm). Most of the initial guerilla forces that showed up during that time invariably consolidated at Faro, so I can't claim complete credit for the defense (although we did bust that mofo wide open).

Hooah, Always Out Front
Firefly, Black Widow Company
Executive Officer