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The D.R.A.I.C.H. Boot Camp – evaluating DE units.

Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 5:11 pm
by Calisson
The D.R.A.I.C.H. Boot Camp – evaluating DE units.

Boot Camp 0 – Admission
Boot Camp 1 – First Week – resistance to mass shooting
Boot Camp 2 – Second Week – Resistance to a charge
Boot Camp 3 – Third Week – charging destructive power
Boot Camp 4 – Forth Week – killing when exhausted: further rounds of melee
Boot Camp 5 – Fifth Week – doping with a cauldron of blood
Boot Camp 6 – Sixth Week – flag-doping
Boot Camp 7 – Seventh Week – The Monoliths Shooting Range
Boot Camp 8 – Eighth Week – graduation ceremony – unit’s champions.
Boot Camp 9 – Last Week – specialization – departure for War.

Boot Camp extension
Boot Camp 1bis – First Week-end – template vulnerability (considered)

Other DE training rooms (might be considered some day – not necessarily by the same author):
Temple of Khaine’s fencing room
Clar Karond Noblemen’s Arena
Iron Mountains’ Ranch
Ghrond Experimental Lab


(Boot Camp 0 is the present, introductory thread – no tactical information)


Hi tactic fans!
I am creating here a series of threads with some tactical considerations, linked to the D.R.A.I.C.H., containing some information that I could not find so I had to elaborate it myself, and I can share it now.

At the entrance of the Boot Camp, there is a big
Warning!

The warning is to let you know that this thread and the following ones are very, very long.

You should have expected it before you enlisted:
Your time in the Boot Camp will seem very, very long.
And painful as well.

At least, you should expect to be more knowledgeable about war fighting when you will have gone through all of it. But will you?


Actually, the initial thread was so long, that it was better split in several threads, easier to swallow (and to write).
Each thread deals with a single aspect and ends with summarized conclusions.
The comments posted by the readers will be relative to the specific content of each thread. It should help to remain coherent.

Fluff-wise, you can consider each thread to cover one week in the Boot Camp.
Any text dealing only with fluff is in green italics.

Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 5:13 pm
by Calisson
1. Introduction –First day.

“- Hey, you! Yes! You! Where are you from?
- Karond Kar, Sir.
- Karond Kar? Only two things come from Karond Kar, harpies and slaves. I see no wings behind your ugly face. Are you a slave?
- No, Sir, I want to be a corsair, Sir.
- LISTEN TO ME, you all ignorant rookies.
First thing you need to know, whatever I say, there is just one answer, and it is “Sir yes, Sir!” Do you understand?
- Sir, yes, Sir!
- I CAN’T HEAR YOU. D’YOU UNDERSTAND?
- SIR, YES, SIR!

- All right.
Here you’re no more in Mama’s house. It is not anymore your brother’s dagger that you need to worry about.
Here in Barbed-Blade Boot Camp, we’ve hired the last mercenary regiments before they were decommissioned by GW, and they will be your foes. We pay them to chop you to pieces.
You will have to resist the shooting of arrows and bolts pouring like tropical rain. You will also hear some powder guns - it may be the last thing you'll ever hear.
Then we will test how you can resist an assault from frenzied marauders, heavily armoured dwarves, ogres wielding bulky great weapons and heavy cavalry charging you. We also have one of our nice Cold One Chariot and even a Black Dragon just for you… and we’re barely feeding’em.

For you, surviving will not be enough.
You’ll have to prove that the disproportionate amount of points, that someone is investing for some strange reason in the lousy unit you make, will have a remote chance to be paid back, by killing some of your opponents.

Show us what you pretend to be able to kill and we will evaluate if, by chance, it is worth keeping you for the pts you require.

So, do you still want to stay?
- Sir, yes, Sir!
- I CAN’T HEAR YOU!
- SIR, YES, SIR!”

Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 5:13 pm
by Calisson
2. The principles of the D.R.A.I.C.H. Boot Camp threads.

Boot Camp comprehensive set of rules.
Two rules.
Rule number 1: the author of the thread is always right.
Rule number 2: if the thread seems wrong, see rule number 1.


The Boot Camp threads are about stats, statistics interpretation, and their tactical incidence.
The goal is not to start the discussion with live experience but only with theory-hammer.
However, the threads remain open for discussion about live experience if it supports (or contradicts) the conclusions of the thread.


2.1. Units to evaluate.

The goal is to determine which Dark Elf units, in which set up, are adapted to specific tasks such as winning a melee, resisting missiles… in a pts cost effective way.

A comparison will be made and conclusions drawn, about which units (and which setups) are well or ill adapted to the task considered.

All core, special and rare units are going to be systematically evaluated, with pretty much all setups and options they can offer.

However, I do not usually deal with champions, because their impact is essentially about challenges - in the broad melee, it is less significant. I consider him more like a character for this kind of study:
Veterans do not go back to bootcamp!

The only unit that is usually not evaluated is the Reaper Bolt Thrower.
The reason is that it has no option to choose from, and its role is so specialized and so specific that it competes only with MXB units. There is not much to compare at all.

I do not test characters because:
- the magic objects provides too many combinations
- I would have to test challenges with all kind of individuals as well as hero against multitude melees
- this thread is long enough already and I spent too much time already on it
- they do not go to the boot camp, they have their personal trainer.

The spreadsheet I use could test them however. I just do not know against which foe it would be appropriate.
If ever I do it, it will be on a separate thread.


2.2. Opposing tester units.

It is not feasible to anticipate all the kind of units that possibly can be encountered in a WH battle.
I was searching instead for some representative units that could serve as testers.

The Mercenary army book (formerly available online – still online in French when I write this post) presented units of great variety, which seemed adequate to me – and being available on line, I could legally post some extracts from it.

I hope that the variety of the selection I made will be close enough to what will be encountered for my conclusions to be of significance.
If there is a need to take into account pretty much any other kind of opposing unit, it could be done… provided I had the characteristics. This is why I took them from the (former?) Mercenary book.


For missile resistance testing, I use 10 human crossbows and 10 bows, with no penalty.
For melee testing, I use Norse Marauders, Ogres, Dwarves, Heavy cavalry, DE Chariot, Black Dragon.

I did not retain the characters nor the cannon or the template weapons, nor magic attacks as opponents, because it was more complex.
Also, I do not expect mere rank’n files to cope with these threats.


2.3. Results expected.

For the unit to be tested, I’d like to determine with statistical results a series of characteristics, which are good to know in order to determine the ability for some task:

- The quality of its resistance to shooting (S3 and S4 only – I see no interest in checking if you can resist a cannonball),
- The impact of a charge by the above-mentioned testers,
- The damage caused on the same testers (taking into account the charge, if possible),
- A discussion about the likelihood of who would charge.
Other results of interest could be added later.

I would like to take the data found in order to determine the best setup for:
A mass unit
A small MSU unit
A shielding unit
A hammer unit
A shooting unit.
I will not examine the über-units because they include characters and it becomes too complex to determine all the combinations available.

In order to find out these setups, it is sometimes interesting to compare each possible unit to a reference one.

What I am interested mostly is the cost-efficiency of each tested unit, rather than its plain efficiency: I’d rather have an army with 10 average-efficient units than one with a single slightly-more-efficient unit.


2.4. Tool.

I use for this purpose a self-made Excel sheet that computes everything for me.
It is very powerful, but awfully complex and probably not error-proof.

With this spreadsheet, I make good use of the explanations about statistics found in the thread dark Elf Odds and statistics, and especially I took the formula for the expected range within which 95% of the results occur.

With it, I can see the performance of a very complex unit:
- mixing characters, assassins, champions, units and character’s mounts,
- or character on chariot,
- or character and monster
CoB’s influence is available.

However, as I mention just below, I won’t discuss any character here.

I do not consider sending the spreadsheet by mail to anyone, first because it is a mess, second because I made it in French and I don’t want to translate it.

Disclaimer:
Please take into account that, although an engineer graduate, I am neither a statistician nor a programmer, so my deductions might be flawed and my computations as well. This seemingly scientific study is not THE truth (and is not really scientific except by the spirit).

Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 5:15 pm
by Calisson
3. End of the Boot Camp Admission.

To be continued in another thread.
(see hyperlinks in the beginning of the thread).

The training has multiple facets. Every week, we are trained and evaluated in a new task. Then we know who can be trusted an who cannot.
During the First Week, they say they will test our resistance to shooting.