| From: | Gurth <gurth@******.NL> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Desert Wars article draft |
| Date: | Fri, 6 Jun 1997 19:27:49 +0100 |
yet, but don't hesitate to comment on it, both from your own point of view
and by inserting decker comments.
--------
Here's a little piece about Desert Wars (no, I won't mention the fragging
TM). You've all seen it on the trid, you may even have read some articles
about it, but what is it really? How did it begin, where does it take
place, who participates, and why the hell is it on our trid sets in the
first place?? With those questions in mind, I did some innocent digging in
the Matrix, and compiled the following. Keep in mind that this is the truth
as far as I could uncover it, with some speculation and educated guesswork
to fill in the blanks. --ASDF, February 6, 2058
(>) "Speculation and educated guesswork" I'll say! Half of this thing
contradicts what I read in other places. Do your homework, Mr. ASDF.
(>) Elektra
(>) I did do my homework. What most people know about Desert Wars is what
they're told by the corps' PR divisions, and that doesn't quite match
reality. Double-check and cross-check your sources if you want to find the
truth (as far as it exists, of course).
(>) ASDF
A LITTLE HISTORY
What do you get if you mix two corporate armies, a reason for them to fight
each other, and a major international news network? The beginning of Desert
Wars. In late 2047, Saeder-Krupp and Fuchi got in each other's way over a
relatively minor matter (the production of some software to which they both
claimed rights) that quickly escalated to the point where each was
performing big-time shadow strikes against the other.
(>) Those were good times for lots of runners. Of course they weren't so
good for those of us who got caught in the middle, but in general,
business was booming.
(>) Luke
By March 2048, things had come so far that both were about to perform
full-scale military strikes, using their security and military forces to
attack and destroy vital assets of the other corp. However, executives on
both sides realized what devastation this would bring to their own corp,
and also that it might lead to full-scale corporate war. In short, they
arranged some kind of meeting. Details are hard to come by, but the outcome
is clear: they drew up contracts to end their little war by a clash of
their armed forces--whoever lost the battle would cease manufacturing the
software that started it all.
(>) Since when has that ever stopped a megacorp from producing something?
(>) Diesel Beans
(>) It didn't. Oh, on paper, Fuchi stopped manufacture alright, but in
reality they just shifted it to some hard to track subsidiary somewhere in
the Middle East. Looks like Saeder-Krupp didn't mind that, for some weird
reason.
(>) Panther
(>) I can think of two reasons for that: one, if it has the name Fuchi on
it, it's much more likely to sell big-time than the same product with a
Made In Palestine label on the box. Two, S-K's CEO is a dragon, and who
knows how they think anyway?
(>) Alive
A LOCATION
They agreed on a place to fight: the western end of the Sahara desert in
North Africa. The Moroccan government agreed (after a substantial "reward
for their troubles") to let the two corps use part of the vast desert for
their little war. Fuchi and Saeder-Krupp each shipped about a thousand
troops, including light armor, light helicopters, and some medium artillery
assets to the designated area in June '48. These relatively large troop
movements were noticed by NewsNet, the Atlanta-based independent network,
who sent a team of reporters to investigate. Higher-ups in NewsNet quickly
discovered that this was going to be big, and approached both corps about
the rights to broadcast the action live across the globe. After some
difficult negotiations (no details are known, but quite a lot of money
changed hands), they agreed to let NewsNet do its thing.
(>) They even postponed the start of operations by a few days to allow
more reporting teams to travel to the warzone. It must have been one BIG
wad of nuyen that NN paid...
(>) Freddy
With the cameras in place, the two corps had a go at full-scale battle in a
way not seen before except between nations. After about four days of
fighting, Saeder-Krupp's army was victorious. It had cost them a high
price, with over 25% casualties, but the outcome was more or less
predictable--Saeder-Krupp has always had a larger, better-equipped, and
better-trained military than Fuchi. The high casualty rates were somewhat
of a surprise to both sides, though.
(>) That's because they weren't used to this kind of thing. No matter how
hard you train for war, doing it for real is different than any training
you've ever had.
(>) Edger
(>) It's not so surprising that more than a quarter of the troops involved
became casualties. For one thing, this was a one-off battle, and most
troops involved were front-line soldiers. In a prolonged campaign, you'd
have almost 90% of the army as rear-area personnel, taking care of
logistics and anything else that supports the front-line troops; in this
skirmish, 75% of the troops involved were directly engaging the enemy. Plus
it was June in the Sahara--only an idiot fights battles there at the start
of summer--so many soldiers were just too exhausted to pay much attention
to what they were doing, and became easy targets for the other side.
(>) Bird Dog
(>) Remember we're talking about corporate armies here, not national ones.
Corporate armies have a much higher number of combat troops compared to
rear-area personnel, because they can depend on their corp facilities
instead of having to start from scratch whenever they deploy somewhere.
(>) I Ball
(>) How many corporate facilities do you know in the western Sahara?
(>) Much T. Much
THE CONSEQUENCES
The whole world had been able to follow the action live on trideo, and as
if NewsNet hadn't known beforehand where and when it took place, it was
brought as "important breaking news" to make sure people watched. After
that, the highlights and some superficial, made-for-consumer analyses by
"military experts" were burned into CDs and chips, and packaged as "The
Desert War" that made both NewsNet and Saeder-Krupp a load of money.
Now, the scene was set. The public's appreciation for Saeder-Krupp had
risen tremendously, which translated in more of their products being
bought, higher stock prices, and all the other drek that makes a corp feel
good about itself. Very soon, the other six megacorps wanted in on the
action, and it became an annual event, with one major Desert Wars operation
taking place in 2049, '50, and '51. Starting in '52 it became twice a
year, to satisfy the public's demand for more, more, MORE!
THE CURRENT SITUATION
Now, Desert Wars takes place each April and October, in the Moroccan desert
on various patches of land which are fully equipped for trideo cameras,
sound, and all the other ingredients for bringing live broadcasts from the
battle. The Moroccan government extends full cooperation to the corps for
Desert Wars, and in return receives protection from its occasionally
hostile neighbors like Algeria. It's a kind of mutual benefit
situation--the corps can train their troops for almost free, since Morocco
doesn't charge them much more than a token fee for use of the desert, and
the corps make a drekload of nuyen selling the trid rights to the event.
In return Morocco gets a big brother helping out in times of need, and the
opportunity to train its military in exercises against the corps' best,
which far exceed the training standards of Algerian and Pan-African
Federation's conscript armies.
(>) The Moroccan army is the best-trained and best-equipped in the region,
though it isn't as large as those of the most likely enemies. What those
enemies lack in skill, though, many of them make up for with fanaticism,
religious or otherwise. So far it's been the corps' help that has kept
Morocco on the map, but if they decide to pull out for some reason, it
could spell the end of the country as we know it.
(>) Edger
(>) With Desert Wars(TM) spreading to new parts of the globe, Morocco
stands a good chance of losing its importance. When that happens, expect a
conflict to break out in the region.
(>) Shawn
MERCS IN DESERT WARS
None of the corps participating in Desert Wars hires mercenaries for the
event; some corps bring in mercs they have on long-term contracts, though
they're indistinguishable from the corp's regular soldiers, and it's never
more than a small number anyway. Mercs, especially independents, wanting to
make a buck will have to look elsewhere.
(>) The reason they don't use mercs is simple: Desert Wars is, according
to the standard participation contracts, a series of exercises and battles
between regular corporate forces. Mercs don't fall under that header,
unless they've been employed continuously for at least 5 years by the
corporation (clause 163B/1a of the contract for the autumn 2056 Desert
Wars).
(>) April May June
"Those are words you know!"
(>) Where did you learn that?
(>) Dave@****.track.cas
(>) Let's say a chummer of mine got his hands on a contract when he was
looking for something else.
(>) April May June
"Those are words you know!"
BRANCHING OUT
Desert Wars started in North Africa, but the presence of deserts in other
parts of the world has given some corps the idea to stage similar events
there as well, to take advantage of the differences in terrain and climate.
The main Desert Wars events still take place in Morocco, but last year a
smaller-scale version was staged in the Australian desert, and it's
rumored there are plans to kick out the inhabitants of the Mojave Desert
down in CalFree for another small-scale war this September.
(>) Where do they suggest this'll be held? I haven't heard anything about
it, and it worries me, seeing that I live in Palm Springs and all...
(>) Angie@****.HWTA.cfs
(>) Between Death Valley and highway 15, from what I've heard. (How come
somebody who reads this board lives in Palm Springs anyway?)
(>) ASDF
TYPICAL OPERATIONS
Any number of military-style exercises are carried out by the corp troops
during Desert Wars. These can be split into three broad categories:
* Exercises
* Live-fire exercises
* Desert Wars
The sizes of units participating in these exercises can be anything from a
single platoon (about 25 to 30 soldiers) to a full regiment (around 2,000
troops) per side.
Exercises
An exercise pits two or more corporations' troops against each other,
using weapons loaded with blanks, laser fire simulators, and holographic
projectors to simulate magical effects. The two sides fight out a battle
over one or more days as if it were a real war, with casualties being
assessed using the laser systems: each soldier wears a harness with laser
receptors, and when that gets hit by the projector mounted on a rifle, he
or she is "wounded" or "killed" and removed from the battle. Likewise,
grenades are simulated by fake grenades that emit laser beams in all
directions when they "explode." Different laser frequencies are used to
prevent small arms from blowing up tanks or bunkers. For the magical
aspects, holographic projectors, bound elementals, and illusion spells are
used to simulate spells and spirits that may be used in combat, with astral
magicians tagging along to instruct the combat mages in the units as to
what they can and cannot see on the astral plane, and of any simulated
magical effects that hit the unit.
(>) How does that work?
(>) Remote Control
(>) It's pretty simple. When, for example, a squad gets under simulated
magical attack, the astral referee tells the squad's combat mage that
"Trooper Felth just got killed by a mana bolt." Or, if the combat mage
wants to assense an area, the referee tells the mage what is supposed to be
there on the astral plane, so the mage can relay this to the squad leader.
(>) Vertigo
(>) Isn't that very arbitrary? I mean, the astral mage can decide a lot of
what happens to a unit, no matter if it's realistic or not.
(>) Remote Control
(>) Well, yeah, that's true, but to the squad it won't make much of a
difference because they can't tell if trooper Felth would really have
gotten hit by a spell or not. Also, this is very similar to the way
exercises used to be fought before laser simulators were available:
referees decided who got hit and who wasn't. Once lasers did become
available, it turned out many referees (and thereby soldiers)
underestimated the importance of cover; now that I think about it, I
wouldn't be surprised if the same is true for magical attacks in these
exercises.
(>) Edger
Live-Fire Exercises
Live-fire exercises are more carefully orchestrated than normal exercises,
because soldiers are issued with live ammunition rather than blanks. There
is no opposing side, instead holo-projectors are used to create images of
enemy soldiers and vehicles. These are fired upon by the soldiers, with a
computer registering hits and "killing" the simulated enemy when
appropriate. Some older exercise grounds still use pop-up metal or even
cardboard targets that get shot down again by the soldiers.
(>) One time when my platoon was finishing up on one of those old-type
ranges, we had some ammo left for the machinegun and our machinegunner
fired it from the hip at a target. The damn thing refused to drop, so he
fired all that was left in a single burst of maybe 75 rounds but still the
target stayed upright...
Turned out the sergeant had been watching us and was keeping his finger on
the button that prevented the target from going down; it registered 61
hits.
(>) K.L.Y.
Desert Wars
These are the ones we all get to see on the trid most of the time. The
exercises are mostly held on terrains not equipped with trid cameras, but
true Desert Wars are always fought on "stages," as the media crews call the
trid-equipped exercise grounds. These true Desert Wars are a combination of
normal and live-fire exercises: two or more sides fight it out using live
ammo, grenades, magic, and anything else they're allowed to throw at each
other. As is to be expected, there are casualties in every exercise. Many
are not fatal, but fatalities are still very common.
Scenarios
Each of these exercises, no matter the type, is built around a scenario,
with the various forces involved striving toward conflicting goals. For
example, in an urban combat scenario one side will have to capture a
village while the other side has to defend it.
--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Well that's allright now, you don't listen to me anyway.
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-
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