I’ve been reading these forums and observing behaviour and tactics(or lack of them) on Ilum for a while now and thought I would offer the following opinion and suggestions on how the Republic can avoid (to a point) being face rolled by the imperials.

 

Now, this maybe a TLDR for most, but that's fine. Carry on Zerging. For those of us who see a deeper more tactical battlefield than just the centre cap point I hope this will be a useful 'straw man' to get us thinking how to make Ilum better, while we wait for BW to make Ilum better

 

The main tactic on my server at least is to zerg herd around, looking for red names and then engage them no matter how many there are.

 

The other objective seems to be to congregate or gravitate to the centre capture point and use that as a battle ground. Now while on the face of it this is sound because of the weapons that spawn there, realistically very few people will actually get to pick them up as opposed to getting their quota by kills.

 

The over-riding mentality seems to be a desire for head on, static fixed battles which without superior numbers is suicide for the republic players. In historical terms it’s the fixed battle, WW1 style warfare.

 

I.e this http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/31/ilum2.jpg/

 

So what must the republic do if it wants to ‘win’ at Ilum?

 

Quite frankly it must play smarter, use the desire to congregate in one place to its advantage.

 

The modern term is Asymmetrical.

 

Here’s a controversial question based on RL. How long would the Taliban/Insurgents last if they decided to meet Nato head on?

 

A day? A matter of hours?

 

Why, because they are outnumbered and out gunned. Sound Familiar to SWTOR atm?

So how come they have kept Nato on the hop for ten years?

 

Yes this is a mere game, but the lessons can be applied equally here.

 

But it works. To win against larger numbers, I believe the Republic needs to take note of the following lessons

 

Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near

 

This means don’t stay and fight in one place. Keep them guessing where you are. Use Hit and Run tactics, use the map to your advantage.

 

Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him

 

Use the other cap points to entice the zerg to split, Harass them by attacking stragglers and their re-enforcements. Lure them into your turret fight.

 

If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him

 

Two lessons here, again don’t zerg herd, but also play possum so they think you have all left, or in the worst case agree a time to come back again and just do something else.

 

As a side effect not doing Zerg Vs Zerg will do wonders for peoples FPS

 

If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.

 

Again, use anything to provoke them to attack where you want to. Use emotes such as getdown to taunt them into a fight where and when you choose. Use only a fraction of your force to attack from the front so he does'nt notice the larger one about to attack his flank or rear.

 

If his forces are united, separate them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected

 

Use the whole ‘battlespace’ not just the cap points. Make the routes and channels to the cap points your kill zones not the cap points themselves.

 

Treat people travelling to their zerg as their supply line and cut it off.

 

So to win at Ilum I think the republic has to adopt insurgent style tactics, don’t attack head on with inferior numbers.

 

Here are some ideas..

 

http://imageshack.us/f/546/ilum3.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/f/38/ilum4.jpg/

 

 

Yes, there is numerical imbalance and yes there are lots of things wrong with Ilum. But the republic can get around a lot of that by being smarter about things, and not just zerging and waiting to be face rolled in the centre.

 

And yes I know 200 vs 10 stands no chance and sometimes you just need to come back later, but I'm hoping some of it here will at least help even things up a little or at least make it more fun.

 

Of course this all pre-disposes a group that is prepared to act as a team and not try and take on the whole empire themselves.

 

But I’m hoping this post will at least throw open a discussion on how the Republic can make the best of Ilum as it is now or even give people a wider tactical awareness they can take with them and use in their teams and maybe, just maybe add more depths and enjoyment to the game..

 

Thanks for taking the time to read

 

Shan

Edited January 22, 2012 by Shanaeri

Me too. Multiply. Ilum is 140 sith vs 36 republic. I don't care how good you are

Numbers count for more then skill when it's this lopsided.

 

 

Just went back and read some of this nonsense. You can't compare this

To real life.

 

If you want good pvp make rules that allow it.

 

Cap over what 1 side can field will result in piss poor pvp

Edited January 22, 2012 by DropDeadFred

Thank's for you views. I'm of the view you can use what works in RL to help improve a games PvP. They both have a common factor. People and the way people behave.

 

Yes I used real world examples to provide some context. I also used Ilum maps of real matches to show an in game application for it.

 

 

As for your 140 Vs 36, my answer would be Where are the 140 and where are the 36?. If the 140 are all by the Rep base, covering all exits then you may as well wait it out until they get bored or do something else. That's a fine and valid tactic

 

If they've left you a way out (and most of the time they do) then why in Yoda's name are you trying to fight them 140 V 36, when with some better positioning you can make the odds 10 vs 36 or 5 vs 15 by attacking stragglers, luring and capping objectives to provoke them to move.

 

 

It's not all about how many they have, it's what you do with what you have.

 

As I said, if people want to zerg with the herd, thats entirely fine. Just expect to get face rolled each and every time.

How about bioware giving bonuses to underpopulated factions so its at least 2-1 as opposed to 5-1 we are seeing currently.

Remove the player announcements so stealth and subtlety is actually useful. At the very least remove it if the disparity in population is greater than X.

Honestly..they need to ditch the gd "Warning System" letting everyone know what area your in. Then you might have a point..but its not very effective in war when they other team knows "Senaleb the Gunslinger is in the Northern Sector" ..fml.

Me too. Multiply. Ilum is 140 sith vs 36 republic. I don't care how good you are

Numbers count for more then skill when it's this lopsided.

 

 

Just went back and read some of this nonsense. You can't compare this

To real life.

 

If you want good pvp make rules that allow it.

 

Cap over what 1 side can field will result in piss poor pvp

 

TBH a group of Republic was doing this on our server in Ilum earlier today and they whooped our asses because they were about 10x more organized than the mass Imperial zerg. Once we got our **** together and played strategically like them it started to turn around and was pretty evenly matched.

 

If you are saying strategy, organization, and tactics have no place in PvP and don't matter at all... well, I'm not quite sure what to say to that, other than the obvious fact that you must be really, really bad at PvP.

 

Remove the player announcements so stealth and subtlety is actually useful. At the very least remove it if the disparity in population is greater than X.

 

Totally agree with this. Announcements should only be made by other players, not automatically by the system. It just dumbs down PvP and encourages mass zerging if everyone automatically knows where everyone else is.

Edited January 22, 2012 by BlobbMonster

given that the imperials have double the numbers and quadruple the gear, instead of "playing smarter," most republic just "arentplaying at all." I know, its no fun for you not to have more willing vitims to farm, but its less fun for the farmed so they just stop going, making numbers dwindle even more. I know you want to sound a rallying a cry to war but instead, the truth is that if it isnt fun, people stop going. I expect in a month for Ilum to be a ghost town.

 

I think its clear open world pvp just isnt going to work, I'd hate to see them forego working on something cooler for pve to make more of these zones because it too will just sit around unused after a month or two.

 

Unless they make good pvp-ers also want to roll republic somehow, I dont see it ever changing.

go to illum for a start we never se any on our server lol