NPC Units - Chaotic Age Zero

NPC Units

Introduction: If you've been RPing long, you know that NPC stands for "Non-Player Character" -- a character in the RPG that is not controlled by any player. Veteran CAZers probably recognize that we use this term loosely, often referring to the non-main characters that people control. This section, however, is about the almost completely truely NPCs -- the nameless and faceless soldiers of the factional armies that fight the rank and file battles for a faction. The purpose of this section is to go into the finer points regarding those NPCs -- how military organizational units work, how NPCs operate on the field of battle, and how the factional leaders can send forth their armies.

To Begin: Again, this section isn't about the NPCs that you personally keep for RP purposes or as part of your personal factional profile. It's about the faceless hordes of battalions, divisions, and armies that run across the face of Zi, who battles are news and whose numbers are statistics. This is about reducing a phenomenal number of people, each of whom is a person just like your own, to a manageable system. To this end, we first must realize that these faceless NPCs are split up into military units, such as companies, battalions, and armies, and that these units imply battles and actions on a certain scale. Secondly, we must realize that the principles of "all men are created equal" no longer applies to NPC armies and forces, and that each force has a differing level of skill and so forth (all though this may only be applied during certain missions). Thirdly and finally, we must discuss how factional leaders and officers command NPCs and NPC forces of various sizes.

Military Organization: Each faction has an army, and each one of those armies has a great number of military units in it. Going from fireteam and squad to army group and theatre, there are different scales of these units. NPC units may be commanded by a PC officer of the given faction, but most of the time (and even in this scenario), they are truly NPCs, pushed around the board like one piece of the game. Because they are. It should be further noted that larger units are composed of smaller units, squads of individuals, companies of platoons, and so on. At this time, it might also be advantageous to note the advice of general George Patton -- he had larger military units keep track of their component units down to two steps below -- ie: companies kept track of squads, battalions of platoons, armies of divisions, and so forth. For the purposes of CAZ battles, on a given battlefield, it might be advisable to keep track of the same level. Anyway, while the airforce and the navy have their own organizations not listed here, the army's organization is listed below (information taken from Wikipedia, adjusted slightly):

Name	Strength	Constituent Units	Commanding Officer	Example
Region, Theatre, or Front	1,000,000+	4+ Army Groups	General or above	The Central Theatre
Army Group	150,000+	2+ Armies	General	Commission Central Army Group
Army	60,000-100,000	2-4 Corps	General, Lieutenant General	Backdraft 1st Army
Corps	30,000-80,000	2+ Divisions	Lieutenant General, Major General	Helic Marine Corps
Division	10,000-20,000	2-4 Brigades	Major General, Brigadier General	The Eisen Dragoons
Brigade	2,000-5,000	3-6 Battalions	Brigadier General, Colonel	The Blackdust Mercenary Group
Battalion	300-1,000	2-6 Companies	Lieutenant Colonel	(Name of Brigade), (#) Battalion
Company	70-250	2-8 Platoons	Captain, Major	Fox Company
Platoon	25-60	2-6 Squads	1st or 2nd Lieutenant	(Name of Company), (#) Platoon
Squad	8-16	2+ Fireteams	Corporal to Staff Sergeant	(# of Platoon), (#) Squad
Fireteam	4-5	4-5 Individuals	Corporal to Sergeant	Fireteam Bravo
Individual	1	6-12 Organ Systems	Your Brain	An Army of One (Or You)

Go far enough in your faction, and you might eventually find yourself in charge of one of these units (you're always in charge of yourself, of course). Once you hit Lieutenant, you might find yourself in command of a platoon -- though unfortunately lower ranked factional members may not be lucky enough to command a squad or fireteam of NPCs. However, for the most part, you may see your factional leader moving armies and divisions across the big board, capturing and fighting for high level objectives.

All Men Created Unequal: The second thing to realize, above and beyond that there are a hell of alot of NPCs and each group and unit has a different number of individuals is that these units are themselves different. Beyond their factional affiliation, NPCs in a unit have a skill level and probably a number of other descriptive modifiers that elaborate on who they are and how they differ from any other unit of the same size. In other words, units are different -- some are filled with hardened soldiers and some are filled with raw recruits. Some have marched for days and are demoralized whereas some are fresh and newly inspired. CAZ has devised a system to keep track of at least several of these things in the unit description.

First among these unit differences is skill level. There is a difference between units fresh out of boot that barely know which end of the gun is the dangerous one versus the elite fighting force with years of combat under its belt. During battle, the judge or world gamemaster will assume differing skill (precision, reaction time, and all that) accordingly. These skill levels are the primary difference between units. Below is a chart of skill levels, starting from the lowest (Unfit) to the highest (Truly Legendary). Note that 8 -- Professional, is the assumed skill level of any CAZ pilot, to put things in perspective.

#	Name	Description	Examples
-	Unfit	Someone unfit for service, someone who does not know how to fire a gun or pilot a Zoid.	The average child off the street, a badly injured or disabled person.
0	Untrained	Someone who is not yet fully trained in Zoid piloting or gun use, and is probably not ready to go into combat.	The average person off the street, a group of soldiers who haven't finished boot camp yet.
1	Green	Someone who has received the bare minimun of training necessary to go into battle. Probably the lowest level of actual combat troops.	Raw recruits, militiamen, and conscripts fresh out of boot camp and basic training, hastily trained in the midst of a war.
2	Novice	Someone who has received more extensive training or has seen action once or twice and knows what to do.	Newer soldiers, sometimes barely trained and army regulars, most soldiers as they come out of full basic training.
3	Inexperienced	Someone who has received superior training and has participated in war games or has seen some action.	Most freshly activated reserves, some regulars coming out of training, newer units. Volunteers rather than draftees.
4	Proficient	Someone who has seen some action and is more comfortable on the battlefield.	The average conscript unit after several months on the front line, the average unit for factions with little or inferior training.
5	Average	Someone who has seen a fair amount of action.	Army regulars. The average unit on the battlefield for most factions.
6	Experienced	Someone who is at home on the battlefield and fiercer than the average soldier.	The average unit on the battlefield for a faction with superior training, a unit after a year on the front.
7	Seasoned	Someone who is battle-hardened and knows exactly what to do on the field of battle.	The highest average level a large faction could reasonably hope to have, a unit with superior people or after years on the front. An average special forces unit, an old Class C pilot.
8	Professional	Someone who knows more or less all Zoids and guns inside out, someone who lives for the battlefield.	A career soldier, a superior special forces unit, an extremely hardened soldier, a Guardian Force Fighter, an old Class B pilot, a CAZ player-character pilot, Harry Champ or Leena Tauros.
9	Veteran	Someone who knows all the tricks of the trade, an extraordinary professional with a great many years of experience.	A truly superiour special forces unit such as the old Guardian Force or the Order of Flyheit, one of the old class A pilots, an average Blackdust mercenary, Naomi Fluegal.
10	Elite	Someone who is truly extraordinary on the battlefield and whose reputation as a soldier is impeccable.	The highest level unit of any size that a faction could ever hope to have, a class S pilot, an average Dark Omega, Brad Hunter.
11	World-Class	Someone who is such an incredible soldier that he or she has made a name for him or herself on the battlefield. Only individuals can reach this level.	An average World Cup Champion, Jack Sisco, Moonbay, Karl Schubaltz, Hiltz.
12	Legendary	Someone who will go down in history as a mover and a shaker.	A many-time World Cup Champion, Bit Cloud, Vega Obscura, Irvine.
13	Truly Legendary	Someone who is a household name, whose legend is such that he or she will be offered prayers and oaths, who changed the course of history.	Van Flyheit. Legends also speak of a certain Guylos special forces commander who might fit the description. There are no living Truly Legendary people.

Skill levels can actually be quite significant. Think about this for a moment and realize that as a pilot, you are ranked about a 8 -- Professional on ye olde chart. This means that facing a group of enemies in comparable Zoids, you could probably make mincemeat out of some 3 -- Inexperienced soldiers fresh out of their first battle, but you might well be flattened by a single 12 -- Legendary pilot in the same Zoid as yourself. Also note that CAZ never has used a strict mathematical system for victory. CAZ captain's chair battles aren't like risk where we throw some enemies at each other and roll some dice and see who wins. They're like the Levels on Zoids. Just because you're in a Level 3 and your opponent is in a Level 5 doesn't mean your fate is sealed. Strategy is still fundamentally important, even if these numbers speak to the odds.

A Few Addendums: Firstly, the notation for talking about units should formally be something like this: (<Unit Name/Size>, <Skill Level>). Such as: The Eisen Dragoons, an armored Division, Professional. However, this is hardly enough to describe some military units. Many of them will have obvious special qualities, including but not limited to: demoralized/inspired, fatigued/fresh, surprised/prepared, fortified/exposed, and so on. Use your good judgement as what those mean, because I'll probably describe a unit in a paragraph format or a short sentence rather than just a two-word blurb. For example: The Eisen Dragoons are a Professional Division of the Commission 4th Army. After fortifying the valley for four days, they are both fatigued and fortified... And so on, and so forth. However, I might quickly abbreviate this statement as (Eisen Dragoons, Division, Professional, Fortified, Fatigued) or in some other equally clear terms. Again, use your good common sense as to what these terms exactly mean. I'm not going to lay the law saying "fortified units should be treated as one skill level higher" or something crazy like that, because it would be neither accurate nor true. You (and the judge or game master) will simply keep in mind all of these modifier and addendums and weigh them. Note that these modifiers are temporary or "condition" modifiers -- as fortification is true only for position, fatigue for rest, morale for contentment, and so on. However, there are several permanent modifiers (other than skill, of course) for any NPC unit as well.

Permanent Modifiers: Alright, so there are temporary modifiers. Be it that they have higher ground, better morale, superior planning, some units can sometimes gain the edge over a unit of equal skill. However, this isn’t always simply because of temporary modifiers. There are also several permanent modifiers, the most important of which are Militia, Conscript, Mercenary, Special Forces, and Honor Guard.

First and foremost is Militia. Militia is more than just a temporary modifier for the unit; it’s a signal that the whole unit is temporary. Militia are temporarily raised for defense of a given region or territory, usually from a city. Militia tend to be of lower quality then most other military units. Why? Because they’re raised from regular people who happen to live in the region, rather than career soldiers. At best, they meet twice a month, at worst, militiamen have never handled a rifle. When first called up, the best you could reasonably hope for from a militia is skill level 3 -- Inexperienced. The plus side is that militia aren’t idiots; they don’t randomly disappear when a magical timer expires (militia don’t serve fixed terms of service). They stick around long enough to defend their homes. In time, when the city or region is no longer threatened, the militia will melt back into the city. The minus side is that militias pretty much only defend the region they’re attached to. If forced too far from home ground, a militia may become demoralized or disperse. That being said, many defensive wars have been fought very effectively with militia, common people taking up arms to defend their homes. Also note that Militia units can gain experience and retain it (each time you call up the militia from a given region, you call the same militia), but cannot be Special Forces units or Honor Guards.

Conscripts are obviously different from Militia in that they’re permanent and not regionally associated. Other than that, the unit is formed in more or less the same way -- a collection of people, ordinary people, who are called into the service. Like Militia, these units start out at a possibly lower quality than a normal, just because they’re ordinary folks. Other than that, they mostly seem like any other ordinary military unit -- they move around, fight, do this and that, take this objective and that. However, there’s an important difference. These people didn’t volunteer, they were forced into the service. As a result, their mere existence creates a tiny bit of war weariness amongst the general population (the general PR problems that come with conscription). Other than that, the main difference between conscript unit and regular “volunteer” ones is that conscript units tend to be worse. They are less loyal, more easily demoralized, and gain experience more slowly. Furthermore, also note that conscripts only last a year. Oh, don’t worry -- they’re automatically replaced when their terms expire, but this means that the experienced people leave and new people come in, which creates a rather unfortunate skill ceiling for most conscript units. Lastly, conscript units usually shouldn’t be special forces units or honor guards.

Mercenaries are units of veteran, professional soldiers that you have hired in exchange for an abnormally large amount of money. Mercenaries (or "defense contractors, if you want to be up to date on the lingo) might be retired soldiers, career paramilitary, or any number of things -- but they have quite a bit of experience and often have a considerably higher skill level than just raw recruits -- though you could probably hire low-cost, bad mercenaries if you just happened to need more meat for the grinder. Anyway, mercenaries might tend to be more skilled, but because they're in it for the money, they tend to be less loyal and considerably harder to inspire. Furthermore, they might just disappear if they don't get paid -- or when their term of contract expires. You have to keep negotiating to keep mercenaries around. That being said, mercenary units can gain experience... but that's not always a good thing if they disappear off to the side of the enemy that offered them more. Mercenaries should never be honor guards (there's that whole honor thing they tend to lack) and are rarely special forces units, despite their generally higher skill level.

Special Forces units are completely different from either conscripts or militiamen in that special forces are made, not born. Rather than being decided upon unit creation, the factional leader can raise a small number of units to special forces status (indeed, each faction starts with one or two). Special Forces units are a cut above the rest of the armed forces, usually a notably higher skill level then the average, and they receive special training. That's because in addition to manning the front lines from day to day, special forces units have all the training necessary to go on "special" missions that other units don't have the knowledge and training for. When a general or a factional leader wants to send troops on such unique missions as parachuting behind enemy lines, destroying a certain building and capturing a specific person, and then returning to an extraction point in a one-week timeframe, the special forces unit is probably best for the job. They are trained to survive without backup, supplies, or support behind enemy lines for weeks at a time, get a job done, and leave. The only downsides to special forces are that the factional leader only names a few of them and their effectiveness is partially dependent on the budget -- however, they are very good at what they do.

Honor Guards are the rarest of the units that have been listed here, but are important nonetheless. Honor Guards defend (guard) specific objectives, locations, or items of extreme importance. This means that they really can't be moved around or ever used for the offence -- they simply guard one specific thing. However, honor guards are typically far superior to the average soldier not because of training or skill, but because of the nature of their work. One does not usually mount an honor guard around strategically important locations, camps, or military bases. They are around things of great patriotic importance, like the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Capitol Building, or the physical paper of the Great Armistice. Honor Guards, even if massively outnumbered, will fight until their last drop of blood has been spilled in defense of the thing they're defending. They cannot be demoralized, and should always be treated as inspired. In a true battle, their task will inspire them, to feats above and beyond a unit of their skill. They refuse to surrender (probably even if ordered to do so). The downside is that the factional leader can't choose honor guards (they are already around certain items of great importance) and that they're probably guarding something that is tactically useless that would only be fought over if the war was lost anyway. Be it noted that Honor Guards may also be Special Forces. For example, the Eisen Dragoons (a ZBC special forces division that may defend Guygalos) may mount a small honor guard (a company, probably) around the former Imperial Palace. This unit would be both an honor guard and a special forces unit. If an honor guard is forced to move from what it is defending, it loses honor guard status and may become demoralized.