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Thread: Morale and how to harness it.

  1. #1

    Morale and how to harness it.

    I don't want a game where you have to join a unit and agree to certain rules to have proper Civil War combat, I want one where you engage in something resembling proper Civil War combat because it works in the game and you join a unit to do it better. Forced linear warfare is never truly competitive because game developers never give any reason that it should be.

    I'm tired of the mantra in gaming that 'join the real army' if you want realism and you can dig a latrine too. Been there, done that. But the thing is, you can most definitely get a lot closer to it and keep your respawns too. There is a huge market for realism. I'm thrilled that this game has 3D voice chat---a must for teamwork and realism in a 3D environment. I contend that it is possible to make the game work and still be competitive, it just takes thinking outside of the box.

    I formerly was a big junkie for the HL2 mod, Resistance and Liberation. I was known for my heavily-edited rants there on the now-defunct website for that mod.

    Dave Grossman's book "On Combat, The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace" opened my eyes back in 2006 to something that the overwhelming number of people are clueless about. 98% of people have a phobia of interpersonal aggression, the rest are literally psychotic. A phobia is an irrational fear. There's plenty of rational reasons to be afraid of other people when they are trying to kill you. The fear is so pervasive that it has tremendous effects on the human body itself. The 'adrenaline rush' from combat exists but it ain't necessarily a good thing and it isn't just some bonus you get. If it did soldiers wouldn't reload their musket ten times without firing.

    Find any Youtube video of poorly-trained people getting murdered in combat in Syria or elsewhere. There's a plethora of them. And then you can yell at your screen because the people murdering them can't shoot worth spit either in those circumstances. It can be hard to relate until you've been shot at yourself by the unpredictable genius trying to make every second your last second. Nobody sane is ready for that and you can't really get that good at it. Combat is not as simple as the weapon you are holding and how fast you can theoretically use it.


    So someone's trying to kill you. The threat is there and it stays there, you're in a prolonged fight and things start going south, what happens? Pretty startling things. Memory lapses, shaking, distorted vision, problems hearing, even uncontrolled bowel movements (please don't feature that). One story (from an interview) in "On Combat" talked about how people often believe their firearm is not working based on the sound of it firing because they are completely zoned in and anticipate the sound. It's only other people's firearms near them that register at all. Another story talks about how you can become fixated with an object and unable to focus off of it. A whole lot more happens. And it's very easy to stop behaving like a rational person. Everyone has their limits and rank typically has nothing to do with it.

    Here's a chart from "On Combat" that compiles some of the effects on the body in survival situations, particularly when faced against a human opponent. This is not the same as the feeling being in a wrestling match or a school yard fight or almost getting hit by a car. It's 'someone is trying to kill me and has a reasonable chance at doing it.' As the footnote reads this is not the same effect as exercise-induced heart rates.
    rnl2.JPG

    If you get the book just ignore the chapter on Video games (he calls them mass-murder trainers).


    One thing I've learned in life that always holds true is that reality is never what you expect. You might think you're ready to die but when every given millisecond can be your last alive, you'd prefer just a couple more milliseconds. It can be very tough to relate to soldiers who show panic, even when panic is the normal. You hardly hear about it from veterans who have actually been in sustained combat because people don't respond to it in a manner that is even in the ballpark of understanding. All you have to do is look at the comments on any video like below to see the wizards of smart tear into people for showing fear that they don't see in Hollywood movies. You can imagine the level of arrogance it takes to judge people in a situation you've never been close to. And yet such is your average understanding of human combat.


    If you were up against a 100-foot giant, you'd at least know which way to run as opposed to be under artillery fire.

    Roscoe Blunt, who wrote "Foot Soldier: A Combat Infantryman's War In Europe," was definitely not a coward if you read his book. Yet, he 'cracked' under a mortar barrage. He didn't remember it, but he got out of his foxhole and ran around in circles shouting obscenities and shaking his fists. Let me reiterate, he didn't remember doing it.


    Relating back to the Civil War, a Gettysburg National Military Park ranger gives a great summary of Civil War combat and the effect on the soldier.
    (click to start at the 37:30 minute mark)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuAH32LwZ0Q&t=37m30s
    If you back up to around 34:00, he talks some about the phenomena of forgetting to fire.



    How and why to implement morale:


    Morale can be an incredibly useful and immersive feature. Ask yourself.... Why did men stand shoulder to shoulder two ranks deep and fire at each other with these incredibly deadly rifled muskets? And more importantly, HOW did they NOT obliterate each other very quickly? Everybody knows that Civil War tactics were 'outdated.' Even so, given the accuracy of these weapons the formations should have literally obliterated each other in short order. Smoke answers part of this and I love the smoke in WoR. Morale combined with realistic smoke would be a real exciting and unique experience.

    Morale should be a varying thing. It should not be rock solid, predictable behavior. It should mess with the player, it should be another dimension of combat.

    Just like some FPS or RPG may have hitpoints, a game like WoR should have morale hits that build panic.

    When a (enemy) ball whizzes close by from the front, you get a hit. It could be a randomly delayed effect as the shock of getting shot at wears off. Make more firepower coming at you cause more damage depending on the volume and proximity. Make it worse from the flank and rear and when friendly players go down around you.

    Give players increased effects of panic as their morale deteriorates. Distort their vision, give them bouts of tunnel vision, give them shaking. Mess with their stanima (particularly when moving towards the enemy). Screw with their reloads. Add fumbling. Force the player to reload by the numbers in the first place and make it more difficult under sustained fire.

    Make a player less vulnerable to morale hits when they are behaving. When they are close to the colors. When they are dressed with the soldiers to their right and left. When they have a buddy behind them or in front of them.

    Give the skirmisher the eagle eye until he starts taking fire. You don't need some elaborate system to discourage lone wolves. You just need a player to be extra vulnerable when alone... even to the point of being automatically surrendered when close to an enemy formation.


    Just as important... Deter frustrated players from merely charging with their bayonets (and turning this into a purely meelee game --- as I already see many frustrated players doing!!) by making charging and receiving a charge more difficult when up against a legitimate threat (and not just one or two bozos). Make the meelee more complex than simply thrusting a bayonett. Make retreat inviting to the panicked player against a legitimate charge. I'm still waiting for the day to see a shooter compel players to disengage and retreat and reorganize. In my lifetime I want to see players make a calculated decision to disengage and rally to recover their morale for a few minutes. You can see this in RPGs (when it comes to hitpoints, stanima, mana, etc). It can be done with morale.

    Any of this adds the importance of morale to the player at home at his computer. Incentivize him to behave and he will behave. Keep the competition in WoR. Don't force your core players to behave like reenactors to capture the experience. Give your Companies real authority on the battlefield by building the game around reality. Make them something that public players will want to fall in with and not just a role as a big, juicy target for competitive players. Otherwise I foresee a lot of closed server events and a lot of arguing about rule breaking, because that's all there will be to go off of just like every other game's realism community where lone wolves rule the actual gameplay. We all want to enjoy the first great Civil War combat FPS ever. Nobody is paying $69 for this Alpha to run around by himself and take pot shots at some other lone guy on some corner of the map. Do the generation that fought the Civil War the justice of putting players on the battlefield making the same logical decisions in order to succeed.
    Last edited by Poorlaggedman; 07-20-2017 at 07:49 AM.

  2. #2

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    Very interesting to read thank you

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    5 minutes of my life spent reading something informative and insightful. thank you.
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    Good read, well written, disagree with you're suggestion, but still good read. Don't think Morale should be some feature added that diminishes with certain things that can happen such as artillery, musket fire etc... From experience in game all of that happens already with people. Seeing your entire line get destroyed makes people go oh shit and run away or fall back already. I also don't like the idea that another feature or ability in game will increase morale for the troops, we already do that in-game by yelling, hyping the men up and giving them motivation. Hence why I always yell when in command and we have people always yelling and shouting and stuff, makes em fight harder and wanna kill. Just my two cents.
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  5. #5
    WoR works right now because it's all people who totally want to make it work. As it becomes more widely available you will get different crops of people. Games are competitive and people are only going to role play so much. Especially when confronted with more effective enemies who won't play along.

    Most games like this that I'm aware of like Mount & Blade's mod and HL2's "Battlegrounds" mod, it's totally pointless to play in a public server or behave in truly competitive gameplay. There's literally no reason to shoulder up. And I'm not saying you should have to, but you should want to in many circumstances.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by Poorlaggedman View Post
    WoR works right now because it's all people who totally want to make it work. As it becomes more widely available you will get different crops of people. Games are competitive and people are only going to role play so much. Especially when confronted with more effective enemies who won't play along.

    Most games like this that I'm aware of like Mount & Blade's mod and HL2's "Battlegrounds" mod, it's totally pointless to play in a public server or behave in truly competitive gameplay. There's literally no reason to shoulder up. And I'm not saying you should have to, but you should want to in many circumstances.
    I am all for options to turn on and off curtain features.
    A moral option(or similar features) could work in the future private servers where people can decide the level of role-play they want to experience.
    Giving people such choices, as long as it's possible for the devs to implement them, will serve a greater scope of players.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Profender View Post
    I am all for options to turn on and off curtain features.
    A moral option(or similar features) could work in the future private servers where people can decide the level of role-play they want to experience.
    Giving people such choices, as long as it's possible for the devs to implement them, will serve a greater scope of players.
    In agreement with you there, make it all optional.
    Captain of the 1st Texas Company B, "Livingston Guards."
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    My great great great grandma fought alongside Ulysses S Lee in the 12th Airborne Brigatallion at the battle of Niagra Cliffs, RIP Smitty Werbenjaegermanjensen

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    It might give Musicians and Flag Bearers a greater role if their presence helped to Mitigate morale penalties but ...
    Until the Devs reveal more info regarding Morale, Musicians and such ... all we can do is speculate and opine.

    Having seen combat, in several different conflicts, I appreciate the Point of this Thread and your respectful handling of such a sensitive issue for many.
    /salute Poorlaggedman
    Last edited by John Cooley; 07-20-2017 at 01:40 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by LBoland View Post
    Good read, well written, disagree with you're suggestion, but still good read. Don't think Morale should be some feature added that diminishes with certain things that can happen such as artillery, musket fire etc... From experience in game all of that happens already with people. Seeing your entire line get destroyed makes people go oh shit and run away or fall back already. I also don't like the idea that another feature or ability in game will increase morale for the troops, we already do that in-game by yelling, hyping the men up and giving them motivation. Hence why I always yell when in command and we have people always yelling and shouting and stuff, makes em fight harder and wanna kill. Just my two cents.
    Agreed. The more I play the more I realize that players morale diminishes naturally without any help from game mechanics.

    I used to agree with adding a morale mechanic to the game but now I see that it's not needed.
    Jesse S. Crosby, 20th Georgia Infantry, July 15, 1861 - May 6, 1864

    Samuel T. McKenzie, 20th Georgia Infantry, July 15, 1861 - September 2, 1862

    Joseph C. McKenzie, 20th Georgia Infantry, July 15, 1861 - October 1, 1863

    Henry C. McKenzie, 3rd Georgia Infantry, June 1, 1861 - January 28, 1863

    Charles R. Beddingfield, 38th Alabama Infantry

    Samuel L. Cowart, Cobb's Legion

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    Quote Originally Posted by Poorlaggedman View Post
    Just as important... Deter frustrated players from merely charging with their bayonets (and turning this into a purely meelee game --- as I already see many frustrated players doing!!) by making charging and receiving a charge more difficult when up against a legitimate threat (and not just one or two bozos). Make the meelee more complex than simply thrusting a bayonett. Make retreat inviting to the panicked player against a legitimate charge. I'm still waiting for the day to see a shooter compel players to disengage and retreat and reorganize. In my lifetime I want to see players make a calculated decision to disengage and rally to recover their morale for a few minutes. You can see this in RPGs (when it comes to hitpoints, stanima, mana, etc). It can be done with morale.
    Great read and thank you Poorlaggedman,

    You brought up some very valuable points. I have read this same book and like you have been in real world conflicts. I think that the quote above from your original post speaks for itself. With loss of morale comes disorganization and loss of discipline. Burnside Bridge ingame is the perfect example. When federal soldiers start running towards the skirmish lines and not taking orders they get mowed down by a hail of lead at the hands of well disciplined and high morale rebel soldiers whom have the upper hand and leadership still intact or they simply run behind the wall and take cover until reinforcements arrive.

    What are your thoughts?

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