Presentation of D.R.A.I.C.H. - The Art of War for 7th ed DE

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Presentation of D.R.A.I.C.H. - The Art of War for 7th ed DE

Post by Calisson »

The new Army book
The 7th edition introduced lots of changes in Druchii strategy.

Until it was released, ordinary Druchii generals selected their troops based on their inspiration and the minis they owned, but they needed superior strategy and luck to beat ordinary opponents, and philosophy when it did not happen.
The most gifted Druchii generals owned a perfectly tuned-up tournament army that, used with clever strategy, granted them so far a fair share of successes, but they hardly ever used some of their minis because that would compromise their fragile optimization.

With the new book, it seems that all the previous edition troops get a fair chance to behave in a very satisfactory manner, provided they are commanded with a minimum thought, and there are in addition many new troop options that need to be tried.

As a result, for the ordinary generals (myself included, I proved so far to be better at philosophy than at tactics), it seems that selecting the troops we like the most is not anymore going to be done at the cost of having a difficult army to win with.
For the most gifted generals, there are many options to be tested and tuned up, and ultimately there is a chance to be able to build up several very distinct Druchii armies, that will bring out some element of uncertainty in tournaments without compromising their efficiency.
Finally, there must be many newcomers to Druchii world, who need to understand the new Druchii capabilities so that they can invest cleverly in their first few regiments.
All of us would benefit from a book about strategy, dedicated to the new Druchii in the 7th edition.

After the success of my Summary thread (The new book summary, as reported by Milney), success due to the fact that the pertinent information was updated in a very easily accessible first page, I found out that the same organization could be adopted, to a larger scale, as we are discovering our new 7th edition army officially (not anymore based on rumors and partial reports by a few happy book-owners).



So let me now introduce you the grand project, the D.R.A.I.C.H.. The project is so big, that it will need the help of many of you to achieve it, if you wish so, and with the blessing of Khaine.


Introduction to the D.R.A.I.C.H. - Druchii Rules Analysis, Innovative Counselling & Help
The D.R.A.I.C.H. is designed to be a study on Druchii, in their 7th edition. It is started as the Army Book is released.

The book aims at helping us Druchii generals to learn from each other's experiences with our reshaped army. The target reader is a player who has the book, who knows WHB rules, but did not necessarily played Dark Elves in the previous editions. Players who consider starting a new Druchii army, expanding their present army or innovating in the way they use their present army should find there some useful information.


The Living-First-Page Thread principle
The FIRST PAGE of the thread, easily accessible, CONTAINS ALL THE INFORMATION that needs to be read by most interested players. It is updated at irregular intervals, based on the comments. The date of the update indicates up to when the comments that follow have been taken into account. Any important update can be highlighted temporarily so that regular readers could easily spot the changes.

That first page must stay. It may not reflect all the opinions expressed thereafter, but it should summarize the generally admitted opinion, possibly mentioning one or two diverging options. That requires some work by the person who started the thread.


The following pages of the thread are open for quick or in-depth comments but need not to be read thoroughly. Anyone willing to participate is welcome to comment upon the contents of the first page and the other comments. Based on the comments, the author of the thread updates the first page.

This LFPT concept has already been used with success for the summary thread collecting rumors about the 7th edition, before that edition was released.


The Living Book principle
Several threads deal with different aspects of the Art of War.

A single thread acts as a Table of Contents, mentioning all of covered main topics. It is the "root". It is stickied in the tactic forum, so as to be easily accessible.
.......................Link to the Living table of Contents: D.R.A.I.C.H. - Table of Contents

The chapters titles are Hyperlinked to all other Living-First-Page Threads, each of them dealing with one of the topics.

Each chapter should have a title starting with D.R.A.I.C.H.
All D.R.A.I.C.H. threads, combined together, make the complete "Druchii Rules Analysis, Innovative Counselling & Help", which is a Living Book of Art of War for 7th ed. Druchii.
Some threads, more or less related to the D.R.A.I.C.H. but not achieved to the appropriate required quality, do not really belong to the D.R.A.I.C.H. even if they contain the name, as long as they are not linked from the main Table of Contents.

In case a chapter grows to the point that it needs to be divided in several sub-chapters, the old thread is discarded and several new threads are started, dealing with part of the topic covered by the old thread, each of them taking in its first page the pertinent part of the old thread. The Table of Content thread is updated, its hyperlinks pointing towards the appropriate new threads.

When a new topic pops up in Druchii.net with a bright new idea that was not covered so far in the Table of Content, a new Living-First-Page Thread is created by someone willing to update it, and a mail is sent to the author of the Table of Content thread so that he could update it, add the hyperlink, and let everyone know about it.

The book has no real author, it is designed to be elaborated progressively by the Druchii.net community as a whole. The authors of each separate Living-First-Page Thread need not to be the same as the author of the Table of Content thread. The Table of Content thread itself can be copy/pasted to a new thread with a different author, should the need arise (I am not eternal). Hence there is no copyright attached to the Book itself. It will be owned by the community.

So welcome you, Druchii general, to take part into the "Druchii Rules Analysis, Innovative Counselling & Help". Please participate to the great strategic compendium of our glorious race.


How does the Living Book evolve
A double approach is simultaneously used:
- top down approach. The Table of Contents lists the topics to be addressed. One after another, the topics are studied at the pace of the creator of the thread.
- bottom-up approach. A new interesting topic is created independently. Some D.R.A.I.C.H. participant spots it and mentions it in the best suited existing thread, providing with an hyperlink. The author of the D.R.A.I.C.H. thread modifies his table of contents and includes the new topic. If the quality of the thread is sufficient, no further action is neede. If not, there must be some re-writing before the new topic is fully considered as part of the D.R.A.I.C.H.

Note 0: The table of content, at its creation, was based on rumors and hints.
After the Army Book was released and other authors took over the responsibility of chapters, I adjusted the ToC as necessary.
After five month of experience with the new Army Book and as most chapters have stalled, I reorganized the ToC a little bit accordingly and pointed sometimes at the ToC below rather than at uncompleted chapters.

Note 1: as mentioned in the introduction, the Table of Content below is living, so it may change a lot in the future.
It is a root. When it has been created, it could not be predicted to which extension each branch will grow.
Some branches were considered but will fail to grow as expected, other branches may appear unexpectedly. That's life!

Note 2: The intention is to sort out topics by grouping similar entries, rather than stick with the order of presentation in the army book.
It should facilitate the strategic reading.


Style.
Druchii spirit is about killing with style!
The D.R.A.I.C.H. should be written with style, for it is meant to be read by many readers.
For the would-be authors, remember that your readers will appreciate the effort you take to make it enjoyable in addition to useful.
Give Druchii.net the style it deserves!


Other works related to the same issue.
In Druchii tactics, the sticky « Druchii Tactics Hall of Fame (updated Sept. 12 2007)”, by Dyvim Tvar, is the closest thing to the D.R.A.I.C.H. that exists already, along with the hall of fame itself: Druchii.net Forum Index > The Hall of Fame ( http://www.druchii.net/index.php ). Hopefully the D.R.A.I.C.H. will make its way there as well!
However, it does not cover exhaustively all tactical aspects as will the D.R.A.I.C.H. do.

In this hall of fame, Thanee started a thread "A Beginner's Guide to Army Selection [work in progress]". Contrary to the D.R.A.I.C.H., it aims at the beginner, but in fact it includes material valuable for many Druchii generals. The two works should benefit from each other.

Calisson


P.S.: D.R.A.I.C.H. evolutions
help to name the D.R.A.I.C.H. suggestions here How D.R.A.I.C.H. was suggested as a title instead of LBAW7eD initially adopted, even before the Army Book was released
The first D.R.A.I.C.H. author team
.Artwork Competition - giving the D.R.A.I.C.H a face
.[Poll]Do you like the D.R.A.I.C.H.? How'd you like it to evolve?
Too much D.R.A.I.C.H. topics ?
D.R.A.I.C.H. monthly progression review (during the first year)

P.P.S.: D.R.A.I.C.H. overhaul after 1 year.
During summer 09, I tried to get people to summarize the too many threads accumulated in the main ToC: Help me to improve the D.R.A.I.C.H.
and I simplified a little bit what I could.
Last edited by Calisson on Tue Aug 18, 2009 4:22 pm, edited 17 times in total.
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Post by Matras »

Funny. As it is, I was thinking of adopting Sun Tzu for our Druchii, myself.
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Post by Izirath »

This sounds as a splendid idea! I will try to contribute to it.
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Post by Gladeius »

So it's going to be a big book filled with strategies for individual units and then strategy for the army as a whole? Excellent. :twisted: I've noticed that druchii.net does not yet have a comprehensive guide for each unit. I'm looking forward to this book, and will be happy to add a few comments when it starts to take off.
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Post by Mordru »

This will be a great concept, a lot of work and something that can be of very helpful service to new players but don't you think it might be best to hold off until ..... the army book is actually released and people play a few games with the new rules?
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Post by Darkwanderer »

I find that it's a very interesting proposition.
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Post by Lethalis »

Mordru:
The "Living Book of Art of War for 7th ed. Druchii" is designed to be a study on Druchii, in their 7th edition. It is started as the Army Book is released.
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Post by Overmind »

An ingeonous idea reminds me of the LEAF in asrai.com.

Admirable.
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Post by Almundis »

I was just thinking of LEAF as well.
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Post by Mordru »

Lethalis wrote:Mordru:
The "Living Book of Art of War for 7th ed. Druchii" is designed to be a study on Druchii, in their 7th edition. It is started as the Army Book is released.


I understand. It seems however, that any "definitive" tactics thread is going to be based on theoryhammer (which has its place) much more than actual experience for quite some time including a good while after the book comes out.

I am not trying to torpedo the thread just question the timing. I like theoryhammer as much as the next guy but as a player through several decades now I am convinced that actual play needs to be involved before definitive "tactica" can coalesce to any useful extent.
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Post by Sulla »

Mordru wrote:I am not trying to torpedo the thread just question the timing. I like theoryhammer as much as the next guy but as a player through several decades now I am convinced that actual play needs to be involved before definitive "tactica" can coalesce to any useful extent.


Well some theoryhammer doesn't need to wait till the book to be proven on the tabletop. It doesn't take a genius to see that you shouldn't start the magic phase by casting Power of Darkness for all your magic users because an early miscast could kill every single caster in one fell swoop... so sequential casting will become the norm for DE casters... PoD, then all of that lass' spells, then next sorceress' PoD... etc.
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Post by Izirath »

So maybe we should start with using magic in the 7th ed? We do have some solid facts about it and it's easiest to do theoryhammer around, it's pretty numbers and numbers. I myself do not have much experience from Magic so I am leaving this one open.
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Post by Kinslayer »

As long as you have a group of almost moderators watching the content that is put into this living book, it could work. If not people will read tactics and ideas which may not necessarily work as well as they say. Im not saying dont do it, im just saying dont do it badly :)
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Post by Khel »

I'll be glad to contribute. I've always wanted to participate in an idea like this. Gears are moving within our minds, and great piles of rust laden the floor.

EDIT: However, I think it would be best if the actual writer of the tactic or list gets regarded when it's put in here. So the person who puts the idea in here writes Creator: <insert name> and then the list goes on and we nit pick and such.
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Post by Crazyhorse »

Well I like the idea but you need to be carful that we do not aim to big at one time. I would suggest committees per say, so a committee on "witch elves, their basics and their tactics". the names of those in the committee would be listed at the top and under then would be the names of those who offered advice or ideas. As a site we all know those people that we go to for fluff advice or tactical advice so I would advise that we try to get them on the boat. As I own a copy of Sun Tzu's Art of War I would advise that we aim for a similar but not identical style of book, Calisson's Art of Killing ;).

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Post by Mordru »

sulla wrote:
Mordru wrote:I am not trying to torpedo the thread just question the timing. I like theoryhammer as much as the next guy but as a player through several decades now I am convinced that actual play needs to be involved before definitive "tactica" can coalesce to any useful extent.


Well some theoryhammer doesn't need to wait till the book to be proven on the tabletop. It doesn't take a genius to see that you shouldn't start the magic phase by casting Power of Darkness for all your magic users because an early miscast could kill every single caster in one fell swoop... so sequential casting will become the norm for DE casters... PoD, then all of that lass' spells, then next sorceress' PoD... etc.


Instead of waiting until actual insight into tactics from battles on a real table with real minis can be discussed maybe we should just list all the obvious stuff that doesn't require genius? That would be extra useful. :roll:
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Post by Overmind »

Continuing to site your dissapproval of the idea is rather pointless and a waste of our time at this point Mordru.

You are of course free to continue I can't stop you by any means and it is a free net, but please stop. Your just making an idiot out of yourself.
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Post by Mordru »

Carry on if you must and do respond to critism or alternative suggestions by labelling them idiotic if it works for you. I have said my piece in a straightforward manner and with no ill humor or bad intent and am content to let it stand.
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Post by Overmind »

Notice I only labeled your comments ridiculous after the third repeat. Your comments were duly noted the first time as can be seen by the fact that they drew a response.
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Post by Elfik »

Notice I only labeled your comments ridiculous after the third repeat. Your comments were duly noted the first time as can be seen by the fact that they drew a response.

Actually his point is valid, since an initiative like this deserves top quality material.
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Post by Overmind »

Yes as has been pointed out multiple times by him, heartrender, crazyhorse, and callison.

Oh and now you.

I think we get it and I agree whole heartedly. It would be pointless without quality control of some type.

It could be that I'm somewhat unforgiving of this(or anything) right now having to deal with this on another site right now.

Except it's coming from 50-60 people.
Last edited by Overmind on Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Elfik »

It could be that I'm somewaht unforgiving of this right now having to deal with this on another site right now.

Except it's coming from 50-60 people.

It's a public forum, people don't always post something you consider meaningful. Don't worry about it, or at least don't resort to name calling.
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Post by Overmind »

I'll cease that then.

Sorry for the name calling Mordru.

Having to exlpain over and over agina that the reason the voices are all the same is they take a while to upload gets on my nerves after a while.

Let's get this thread back on the rails now. I'm going to go play Battle March.
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Post by Kefka »

Okay, no more Drama Llama please!
So is there going to be pages (or chapters) on tactica vs. specific armies? What units to use, what to expect from them, and a general "these units work well, these don't" sort of thing. It would be a little bit of deeper work, but I think it would be well worth it.
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Post by Darluith »

I love the enthusiasm on this post. Its great to see someone taking the initiative to compile tactics. I'd like to be a part of this compilation to when it takes flight :twisted: .
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