Initiative - what is it?

[Herbiie]

Originally Posted by MaxBoZ

I quote a brilliant tactician:

Even this isn't what initiative is.

When defending you can keep the initiative by forcing the enemy to act in a certain way - mining areas you don't want him to go on, using TOW emplacements effectively so they can't use armoured vehicles to get close, using AA, TOWs, HATs, and LATs to cut off any enemy supply routes etc. Counter patrolling aggressively when you've found the enemy Fire Base to cut their reinforcements, forcing the enemy to come into a specific place so you can be ready for them. Making sure you are making the decisions not the attacker, if the attacking force has loads of options to attack you, including Options you haven't foreseen, then they have a good chance of taking your position.


Initiative is all about decisions. YOU decide where to fight, YOU decide when not to fight, YOU decide how the fight is fought, cqb, or long ranged depending on your assets/position. People get the wrong idea about initiative, they think that you have to be constantly moving to keep it - not so.

Whoever has the initiative is dictating the flow of the battle, if that team wants the game to be slow paced because it suits their style of play/asset layout then that team must force their opponent into a slow paced game. They must make it so their opponent can't use fast assets to out manoeuvre them, mining roads, blowing up bridges, AA coverage etc. help with this.

Even retreating can be holding the initiative - you're deciding not to fight here, but to fight somewhere else. It's all about not being forced into a particular action while at the same time forcing your opponent to act in a certain way.

[Michael_Denmark]

Originally Posted by Herbiie

Even this isn't what initiative is.

When defending you can keep the initiative by forcing the enemy to act in a certain way - mining areas you don't want him to go on, using TOW emplacements effectively so they can't use armoured vehicles to get close, using AA, TOWs, HATs, and LATs to cut off any enemy supply routes etc. Counter patrolling aggressively when you've found the enemy Fire Base to cut their reinforcements, forcing the enemy to come into a specific place so you can be ready for them. Making sure you are making the decisions not the attacker, if the attacking force has loads of options to attack you, including Options you haven't foreseen, then they have a good chance of taking your position.


Initiative is all about decisions. YOU decide where to fight, YOU decide when not to fight, YOU decide how the fight is fought, cqb, or long ranged depending on your assets/position. People get the wrong idea about initiative, they think that you have to be constantly moving to keep it - not so.

Whoever has the initiative is dictating the flow of the battle, if that team wants the game to be slow paced because it suits their style of play/asset layout then that team must force their opponent into a slow paced game. They must make it so their opponent can't use fast assets to out manoeuvre them, mining roads, blowing up bridges, AA coverage etc. help with this.

Even retreating can be holding the initiative - you're deciding not to fight here, but to fight somewhere else. It's all about not being forced into a particular action while at the same time forcing your opponent to act in a certain way.

Lovely deployed words. I completly agree.

[Herbiie]

Originally Posted by Michael_Denmark

Lovely deployed words.

Thanks

[Berlan]

Biting the buck and taking a chance. Initiative is all about reacting quickly and effectively to any change on the battlefield. But in PR, I believe it can also mean to simply step up as a leader.

However, there's one other meaning which I'm not sure of. When someone says "We need to maintain the initiative." I believe an earlier post describes it.

[Bunnyman]

In western military jingo they have something called Target Value Analysis that you perform PRIOR to going into battle. It means basically looking at the map and identifying target areas, not just for attack or defence but avenues of advance and retreat, as well as potential killzones against probable enemy advances.

You should be able to work out ways of creating area denial, mortars are usually a good way to do that as are attack helis or sending in an advance party behind the lines to flank a unit as they move into position. These are usually called 'Spoiling Attacks'- where you don't need to specifically wipe out an enemy position or unit you just have to freak out the enemy "-why am I being attacked? How did they know where we were? -Are there more of them around here? I can't set up a forward base here it's too risky-
or I have to set up a forward base here this is a hot zone." It's not simply an ambush (although it can involve that) but more of a generic raid, a form of putting the enemy on the back foot (intiative) and you can only really do this once you have performed a good TVA.

The TVA is useful in my view since we are all familiar with the maps and a commander is only going to take the job if he has some experience, that gives you him instinct in where to identify features of the terrain that are going to be turning points of the battle. The Spoiling Attack allows you to gain initiative, and to just 'poke' the enemy set-up and see how they react, so a raiding party should allows work with a recon pair outside of the attack to observe what happens next. The more organised the enemy force is the more effective this procedure is likely to be. In fact I might even add that in pubs it is probably next to useless since the enemy players can be erratic and normally just follow wherever the bulk of the action is.

[guru951]

I find initiative to be a crucial tool while playing PR. Typically i find that a squad lead will need to take the initiative to cancel his previous plans to adjust to the outcome of the round.

I may make a squad that is set to ambush enemy vehicles for the round. But shortly into the round it may take initiative from me to cancel that plan and quickly do what is needed for the team, such as building fob's, attacking/defending flags or support, in order to win the game. Every squad lead needs to have initiative. Without leads having and displaying initiative games will unfold in very unnecessary ways that will ultimately lose games, or make them much harder to win.

Initiative can also be something small, such as saying "ok I'll be the medic"

I too have found this exact word, definition and quality to be a seriously valuable asset to a player, especially in a leadership role.

Great post.

[Michael_Denmark]

Originally Posted by Angatar

Defending is not always initiative because the enemy is not forced to react to you. Defending, as a team, is a reaction to the enemies attacks.

Hi Angatar

Just to understand you correctly.

Initative is depended on its ability to force the enemy to do something, and can therefore never become initiative unless the enemy somehow become actively involved?

Originally Posted by Berlan

Biting the buck and taking a chance. Initiative is all about reacting quickly and effectively to any change on the battlefield. But in PR, I believe it can also mean to simply step up as a leader.

However, there's one other meaning which I'm not sure of. When someone says "We need to maintain the initiative." I believe an earlier post describes it.

Like in a firefight that squad-initiative started out on its own, being breaked by a fire-pause between the two dueling squads, making someone in squad-initiative say, "we need to keep fireing (we need to maintain the initiative)?

I think your right by the way, that there are several meanings of the word. I wonder what the history of military initiative is? How it has evolved.