A Philosophy of Surrender

This is Steven Petrick Posting.

I have commented that I have a tendency to take a "no surrender" attitude towards combat. I thought I would take a moment to discuss why, even that, is subject to variation.

No surrender applies to me, personally. I very much would rather go down fighting than give up. I am comfortable saying that because I did, one time in my life, face the concept of "maybe if I surrender he will not kill me", and chose to if necessary die rather than yield.

But, again, that is a personal choice, and it can be overridden in a number of different ways.

I am subject to my superiors' determining that we will surrender. I can, in such case, ask for permission to try to escape or take some other action, but I am honor bound to obey a lawful order, particularly when my desire to continue to resist could get others killed.

I am subject, if I am the man in command, to keeping my subordinates alive if I can. If resistance seems hopeless, or if there is no purpose to it (for example, holding a choke-point as long as possible to allow other forces to escape or establish a new line), then I have an obligation to consider surrender to save the lives of the men under my command.

There are still other factors.

I would never surrender to Al Qaida terrorists, nor surrender men under my command to such a group, under any circumstances. We would all only be killed in any case.

I would think long and hard about risking a surrender to any communist group, but this is because I have studied history, including the fates of POWs in the hands of communist groups, and I would rather die than accept a possibly lingering death with bouts of torture. (Real torture, not what is defined nowadays as torture to gain political points.)

If I was engaged in battle with the British, I might be more inclined to surrender (the British Army is hardly free of atrocities, but has an overall pretty good record when it comes to prisoners of war . . . not perfect, but pretty good).

So, while I would myself do all I could to avoid becoming a prisoner of war, there are circumstances where it could happen. (This includes being knocked out in hand to hand combat, or by a nearby explosion, or debris from such, etc.)

But as a rule, I would rather die than be taken.

NEWSLETTER AND COMMUNIQUE RELEASED

Steve Cole reports:

We have released this month's issue of the Hailing Frequencies newsletter and this month's Communique. The newsletter has the latest information on release schedules and company news, as well as lots of other useful content. It also has links to the new Communique, a free PDF newsletter which is full of good things for Federation Commander players, including new ships, a new scenario, and updated schedules and rules. The newsletter also has links to the most recent Star Fleet Alerts, the press releases that tell your store when to expect new products.

FEDERATION COMMANDER wallpaper

Stephen V. Cole writes:

Many do not know that we have a page where you can download FEDERATION COMMANDER wallpaper.

Klingon Border, Romulan Border, Klingon Attack, and Romulan Attack are currently available in the following sizes : 800x600, 1024x768, and 1280x1024.

http://www.StarFleetGames.com/wallpaper

If there are any other sizes or any other images that you would like to see turned into wallpaper, please feel free to write me at graphics@StarFleetGames.com and I will get it set up for you.

This week at ADB, Inc., 28 February - 6 March 2010

Steve Cole reports:

I was sick and stayed home Sunday and Monday, and might as well have done so on Tuesday and Wednesday. I got some work done later in the week.

The weather was better, cool mornings and the afternoons in the 60s.

Strange Email events continued. Over Wednesday night and Thursday morning, my on-deck filters blocked 32,000 spams. I was getting several hundred more per hour, and found another 6,000-7,000 in my spam trap every morning.

As I said, I got some work done. I did a reserve blog for Jean, updated the PD FED page count, approved some FC rulings, did quality checks on 1200 map panels, sent some art to Jean for ADB's page on Facebook, worked up a list of Starline 2300 minis (thanks to Nick Samaras for the help!), tried to get GAMA to confirm the Origins events, resolved a problem between a store and a wholesaler, did all but one page of Communique #51, sent the Captain's Log #41 art to the cover artist and interior artist, and did a two-page thing for that issue.

I also went to my annual medical checkup, which said that my lab work was perfect but I needed to exercise and lose weight.

Steven Petrick was working all week on various parts of CL#41, including the battleforces and the Juggernaut stuff.

Leanna and Mike continued dealing with huge mail orders. Mike also did quality checks on hundreds of restock miniatures.

We hired Joel Shutts to replace Eric, and he spent Saturday doing a lot of website updates.

Jean made some progress on PD FEDS and reported that our page on Facebook was up to 209 fans.

The contractor working on our house moved on to Phase 2 (remodeling the master bedroom), getting the woodwork done and stained.

Klingon Warrior

I've been walkin' these decks so long,
Singin' my battle song,
I know every hatch in these dirty bulkheads of my ship.
Where battle's the name of the game,
And cowards get washed away like the mud in the rain.
There's been a load of strong emotions,
On the road to my promotions.
But I'm gonna be where the Emperor's smiling at me.

Like a Klingon Warrior!
Cruising fast on my ship just as far out as I can go.
Like a Klingon Warrior!
Getting commendations from admirals I don't even know.
And orders comin' over the phone.

Well, I really don't mind the pain.
And I've lost, as much as I've gained.
But you're doomed when you're bombing the plains
Of some distant planet.
And I dream of the things I'll do,
With a fighter squadron and a mauler cruiser or two.
There's been a load of strong emotions,
On the road to my promotions.
But I'm gonna be where the Emperor's smiling at me.

Like a Klingon Warrior!
Cruising out on my ship just as far as I can go.
Like a Klingon Warrior!
Getting commendations from admirals I don't even know.
And orders comin' over the phone.

Like a Klingon Warrior!
Cruising out on my ship just as far as I can go.
Like a Klingon Warrior!
Getting commendations from admirals I don't even know.
And orders comin' over the phone.


Parody copyright (c) 2010 Stephen V. Cole

FEDERATION COMMANDER wallpaper

Stephen V. Cole writes:

Many do not know that we have a page where you can download FEDERATION COMMANDER wallpaper.

Klingon Border, Romulan Border, Klingon Attack, and Romulan Attack are currently available in the following sizes : 800x600, 1024x768, and 1280x1024.

http://www.StarFleetGames.com/wallpaper

If there are any other sizes or any other images that you would like to see turned into wallpaper, please feel free to write me at graphics@StarFleetGames.com and I will get it set up for you.

Learning About Reserves

This is Steven Petrick Posting:

One of the more difficult aspects of military operations to learn from games is the concept of the reserve. This is because most games (whether boardgames or computer games) are set up to put a premium on massing your forces to attack, or simply pick a good defensive line. In both cases the strategy is "all in". There is rarely an inherent advantage to having "uncommitted troops". Players rarely have to worry about things like exhaustion, or morale recovery after a bad defeat. In most games a battle starts and is decided before any "uncommitted" troops could be moved up, so holding out troops is a waste. The result is that by the time many players are adults, they tend to not think about reserves (although some do learn something of the concept from Sports where teams do have "reserves" to feed into the game).

Federation & Empire employs both a strategic reserve, and a tactical reserve, concept. When establishing defenses, players can look for opportunities to use "reaction movement" to bring unengaged forces to nearby battles (Tactical Reserves in effect). But the players are also allowed a limited number of "reserve counters" which they can use to designate "strategic reserves". This is a good example of teaching players to think about possible future enemy moves (one of the reasons to have reserves), and to use their reserves to try trap the enemy (reinforce that weak spot the enemy thought they would break through).