Intelligence Gathering

Intelligence Gathering, according to Waylander

Posted by Waylander on 6/21/2002

(Mirrored at http://www.oocities.org/xiomara_xicatrice/ig.html)

Once you take those kiddie gloves off and go play in a real PvP environment where you can lose everything that you own, then knowing a lot about your potential enemies suddenly seems to matter a hell of a lot more. In PvP environments there are always wolves and sheep, but that doesn't mean that you are safe simply because you are a wolf. Once the herd of sheep has been culled, the wolves begin to turn on one another and then it becomes a war of total destruction rather than a war of domination.

The saying that "Knowledge is Power" all the sudden takes on new meaning to you. You realize that in order to hurt, setback, or destroy your enemy that you have to know a lot more than where they are or where they are going. In a war of destruction, one guild is literally wiped out of existence and its members absorbed by other groups. Mere battlefield brawls and posts of who ganked who today become trival, and the driving goal is to see the enemy guild driven before you.......forever.

There are two main parts in intelligence gathering: Out of Game Intel and In-game Intel gathering.

Out of Game Intelligence Gathering

The true wolves will not only seek to destroy you in game, they seek to destroy you completely. That means they can and most likely will attempt to begin your guild's destruction beyond the battlefield, and in the realm of out of game interactions. One of the first stops in this endeavor is usually the old guild website. Any respectable guild has a website, and hopefully it's not some geocities POS.

Make it a point to periodically check other guild websites. You'll find all sorts of interesting tidbits out on a guild website that you can use against your enemies. Things of note that you will find are:

Which guilds appear active
Which guilds have a track record and history
Which guilds appear solid and stable
Which guilds have alliances
Which guilds are fierce enemies of each other
What that guild is presently doing
A good estimate of a members list and numbers
How often they turn over membership

Forums are also another great information source. By reading other guild's forums you tend to find out the following:

The general maturity level of the guild
Their public relations with other guilds
Signs of internal strife spilling over to public forums
Which guilds are trying to become an ally or enemy
You can determine the quality of their leadership via responses
You can profile leadership styles based on responses
You can find out what they like or what pisses them off
You can find out members who can be influenced or exploited
You can post misleading information on their forums

Those are just a few things that are beneficial in checking other guild websites and reading their forums. Over time you are able to profile a guild, and you can use that knowledge against them.

Why is all that important?

Simple. In FFA PvP environment games, knowledge is power. Knowledge is powerful because politics and PvP are very influnential factors.

Those of you who read my infiltration piece [Which I need to find ~V.], might see a connection where good intelligence gathering goes hand in hand with infiltration. With time, someone can easily play guilds against guilds, sow some real chaos by spreading misinfomation, or get the guild involved in some embarrassing public relations problems that cause friction with allies. With enough intelligence, the infiltrator could be playing member against member within a few short weeks, and that could translate to in-game problems.

So by gathering out of game information on a guild over time, you learn how to predict or destroy the human element of your opponent.

In Game Intelligence Gathering

When you add in game observation to your knowledge base from checking enemy guild websites and forums, you come up with a pretty nasty combination.

When you look to gather intelligence on a guild in game, consider the following:

The times of day/night they are seen
Where their base of operations is
How often they are alone or with small groups
Where they PK, where they hide, and when they jump
Their travel patterns to and from cities
Their most common destinations
How they react in regular combat
How well organized to they work as a group
What are their most common tactics

When you add that in-game knowledge plus the general info you get from browsing a website to profile the members and leaders, you come up with a good idea of how to entrap, manipulate, or destroy your enemy.

In Shadowbane, a smart guild should focus on learning as much about our enemies as possible before riding out into war bent on totally destroying the opponent. That will involve an intelligence gathering phase, some limited PvP engagements, and detailed after action combat reporting.

All in all proper intelligence gathering allows you an additional tool to destroy your opponents from within and from without. When used with a good infiltration plan and solid in game PvP performance, you'll have the recipe for the destruction of your enemies.

While wars amongst sheep may end in a peaceful truce or kissing and making up, a war of the wolves results in one of the opponents ceasing to exist in the gameworld. If you plan to wage that type of war, then you will have to wage the war of destruction on many levels inside and outside the game. Otherwise, you are merely a sheep in wolf's clothing and your illusion will crumble when real wolves come after you.