EVE-Mag.com

The 36 Strategems of War – Part 2

Published on 07. Feb, 2009 ... written by Black Claw, Tags: Articles, Black Claw

Strategems for Two Equal Forces

I’m back! Some of you didn’t even know I was gone, I’m sure. Well, I hope you had a good xmas and New Year, and now we (I?) can get back into the swing of things. For me, that means continuing the Art of War series with part 2 of the 36 Strategems of War.

Now, these following strategems focus on the immediate options you might have at hand. Using what you already have or what exists in your your environment, creating illusions, making new weapons, or forming new and creative plans. They require that you look at your situation with fresh eyes and understand how your opponent looks at your same environment and arsenal, so that you can create convincing illusions.

7. Create something out of nothing

Get what you need by trickery or illusion. If you need to make some ISK very quickly but you don’t have the resources with which to do so, you can do so by trickery. Find someone to sell a Caldari Navy Raven to, and offer it for a price that’s cheaper than anything else out there. Create a contract for them and name it Caldari Navy Raven (CNR), but put a normal Raven in there. Do it using a trade window only, and ask for the amount that you want. They’ll see the name of the contract, and the item, and won’t have the time or the curiosity to examine and take in that you’re actually selling a normal Raven instead of a CNR.

It won’t work all the time, as some people will actually look properly before they buy, but it will work often enough for you to make a good amount of money from almost nothing.

Just remember that doing this too often will give you a bad reputation, so you might want to use an alt. The money you raise from naive buyers can help you fund your war.

8. Use a well-known path to advance by a hidden path

Use the commonly expected strategy to hide the real strategy. Military tactics, applied to certain systems, suggest certain obvious attacks. It’s said in ancient texts that before Hitler invaded France, the French knew he was building up his military, but they believed that no army could penetrate their famous “Maginot Line.” They instead made their preparations for Hitler elsewhere. He used their understanding of military theory to further this illusion, but then used a lightning fast attack force never yet seen, called panzer units. These armoured tanks burst through the defenses of the Maginot line, doing what a normal army couldn’t, and what France never expected.

Similarly, the D-Day invasion of the same war was expected by the Germans, but they assumed it would occur near Calais, which was a place more hospitable to a large force trying to land quickly. The rough seas and long, exposed stretch of Omaha Beach, fronting onto miles of confusing “lanes” that could mislead invading soldiers, was considered unlikely because it offered so little advantage, so it was lightly guarded. However, this is where the main invasion force came in.

Try to use the enemy’s expectations against them. If they think a particular strategy is foolish, then use it, as they will not be expecting it and will not have planned for it.

9. Watch the fire burning across the river

Use delay if it enhances in-fighting within the enemy alliances. If you have an egotistical opponent or somebody who tries to advance by abusing others, then time is on your side. The wise fighter waits to let a foolishly aggressive or egotistical opponent alienate those around him and creates problems within his own administration. If things work out, the in-fighting that a manipulative, cruel, or controlling leader creates in the alliance will eat up his energy and resources and increase the wise opponent’s advantage over him.

10. Conceal a dagger in a smile

Never express anger, and never express sarcasm – no smack talking! They show weakness, and they show a hastiness in revealing motives. Concealing a dagger with a smile may be taken as advice to be treacherous, but it also has an honorable side. You can be powerful and dangerous – and polite.

The kindly person who suddenly and decisively reveals the dagger sheathed in his belt is going to be taken more seriously than the fool who brandishes a dagger on any provocation. Threats, sarcasm, and open hostility serve no good purpose, no matter what your goal. Disassociate yourself from your ego and strike hard because you know it is time to strike, not because your anger is gratified in striking. Do this once in front of others, and your smile will be respected thereafter, because everybody will know there is a dagger behind it.

11. Cut down the plum tree to save the peach tree

When you cannot avoid losses, sacrifice the lesser for the benefit of the greater. The saying comes from the problem of blight infesting fruit tree groves. Farmers would decimate the blight by removing the plum trees, thus allowing the peach trees to get all the benefits of the nutrients in the soil.

Leaders have been called upon to sacrifice one band of men to save another. In everyday life, recognizing that one cannot have his cake and eat it too forces us to choose our priorities. The person who knows that he must engage in struggle sets up a hierarchy of goals so that he knows ahead of time what he can sacrifice and what he cannot.

A leader who takes his fleet back into battle to save one or a few, can lose the entire fleet. That is the mark of stupidity.

12. Steal any passing goat

Make use of everything you get from the other side. Sun Tzu advises to “forage on the enemy,” and we can do this by looting his ships, but also by hoarding the information that he might carelessly provide.

Look at how an opponent treats others. Note where he makes trouble for himself or where he has blinded himself. Look at where he smacktalks and why. Take inventory of what irritates him and what frightens him. What the opponent views as inconsequential and the things he lets slip can provide you with valuable material for managing your side of the conflict.

Coming soon – Strategems for Direct Attack