Deception in the field

[Rob]

I read a post the other day over at the Community Forum which was quite interesting (this is worth reporting in itself ). I can't remember who wrote it but he recalled a battle where he had deceived his enemy by sending text messages, saying 'I have no troops in those woods where you are headed' or something similar. His enemy believed him, and turned his back to the woods and was then promptly flanked by hordes of Heavy Cavalry . This led me to think 'could this work for me?'.

I have just won a battle using similar tactics - deceptive text messages. I had taken up my defensive position - read the 'Camping' thread to get an idea of it . My enemy basically sat back and tried to frustrate me. More Shogun : Total Bore than Total War . He had most of his army just out of musket range, trying to tempt me forward. This must have last 15 minutes, with him shuffling his troops and making dummy runs with his Heavy Cav .

At this point I remembered the idea of the messages and sent a message saying 'BRB - Making coffee' . I waited about 10 seconds then suddenly his entire army surged forward. Believing I was gone making coffee he clearly intended to finish me off before I got back! Thankfully the coffee was just a ruse, and I held him off with my Yari Sam and flanked him with some Monks I had been hiding in the woods. He routed pretty quickly after that

Anyone else tried this tactic?

[solypsist]

I've done it with messages sent to my ally during group battles. Sending things like, "I'll flank him from thse woods etc. etc." over the main board while sending him my real message secretly. At first my partner doesn't know what's really going on so I usually get stuff back like, "Don't tell them what we're doing!!" and I usuallyreply with "What? How do you send private messages?" over the chat, which makes things look authentic until my partner picks up on what I'm doing.
Usually the enemy dispatches some part of its army to keep guard on whatever false info they think they've intercepted due to my "ineptitude"....

[The Black Ship]

He, He,...Soly,

That was you?

I saw someone doing that, thought they were serious!

I can't say as I've ever done the mis-information strategy, I doubt that it would work often. I know the U.S. armed forces are big on psyops so it can't be all that bad an idea

[UglyJun]

my old time favouritE is i NEED HELP

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LinkJun of The Chain Clan
:( with out my logo :(

[ShaiHulud]

Rob.... If your opponent attacked, believing you indisposed, I'm glad you totally destroyed him. What value could such a victory have held for him, had he beaten you?
Re: Messages....
If an opponent ever provides actual intel on his deployment it should immediately be suspect as either spoof or ambush.

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Wind fells blossoms, rain
fells steel,yet bamboo bends and drinks

[Yabusama]

One of the funniest messages I sent was during a friendly with a fellow clan member, as he closed on my lines I sent "Look behind you". I later found out that he frantically started searching behind his troops for an ambush and didnt see my guys smashing his main army up whilst he searched

black ship... i think it was me... at least one of them... hehe

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the great lord jd

[Rodhern]

Ok, I missed the obvious, how do the receiver know wheter a message was send to all or only to allies?

[Rob]

The receiver does not know whether a message was sent to all or only allies.

If you have a group of people you often play with, maybe you could devise a system whereby you begin all ally messages with "Ally: " or something.

[TheRonin]

Too bad you posted that here, now everyone in the totalwar community knows of that tactic, soon it will be passed around then games will never be the same again, MP games will be flooded with people who say things like: "Gotta go put my kids to bed, brb in 5 mins" and the oppostion will surely reply: "Yeah sure, whatever buddy"
alwell, look at the bright side, it can still be used against newbies.

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"One who is a samurai must before all things keep in mind by day and by night the fact that he must die.."

[solypsist]

I can see it now. Still, no doubt some people find it dishonest and so this will saturate MP for a bit before everyone gets tired of it and everything resumes normally. Then again, there's got to be a way to use the fact that people will expect misinformation to one's advantage.....

[Rob]

Haha... reverse psychology.

Me : "I am now about to flank you with my Heavy Cav"

Opponent: "Yeah right! You expect me to fall for that trick?"

If only I could see the look on his face when the Cav hit his No-Dachi

[ElmarkOFear]

One way to NOT confuse your partners with "false" statements is to send a private quickie stating "ignore me", "watch this", or "I'm going to confuse the enemy". If you play with regular partners then you can do this without pre-warning them, becasue they are used to your style of play and know right away you are setting up the enemy.
Good luck, and for some expert advice, watch the presidential election/debates. Misinformation at it's best!!

[The Black Ship]

So Elmark,

That game we played last night when you said "Damn, hit rout by mistake"!, you didn't really mean it?

Or when you said "I hope it's Summer 'cause I've got all muskets"!

I just thought you were daft

[Widda]

[ :lol

[ElmarkOFear]

Actually, I said: "I accidentally had to "RALPH!" Must have eaten something bad. My typing is horrible, so it may have came out as "rout!" But alas, it seems my men do that anyways without any encouragement from me. As far as the muskets are concerned: I made another big mistake and accidentally purchased 16 monks instead. DOH!!!! I hate it when I do that! Your especially daft friend, Elmarko of Fearful Ways

[The Black Ship]

After remebering this thread I was very cautious last night when the enemy were passing along info, and deployment strats over the chat . I just knew I was being given mis-information, but I was watchful anyway. Damned if half of what they said was spot-on

Remember guys,it's send to allies that's the selection you want

[This message has been edited by The Black Ship (edited 11-10-2000).]

[FearOrBeSori]

hmmm... I usually try to distract my enemy... I even go as far as attacking him with my whole army. But is all an elaborate deception to keep him from noticing that flying cow dropping in his gen! muahahahaa See y'all on the battlefield. I'm goin back to open a can of Monty-Python style whoop a$$ on someone. Moooooooo - Sori

[This message has been edited by FearOrBeSori (edited 11-10-2000).]

[solypsist]

"It's just a scratch!"

Hmmm....hopefully I'll see the Black Ship sailing on MP soon. I keep looking, but......

[DragonCat]

BAH! giving away all my secrets!

My favorite tactic is to make the opponents laugh so much I can flank them while they're helpless on the floor laughing.




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DragonCat
"On the prowl . . . ."