Water Warfare Team Concepts - ^

[isoaker]

While some may argue that it is better for a team to have no fixed position for its members, for novice or starter teams, having a more defined role can help immensely with initial training. That said, what should the general make-up of a small team/squad be? For sake of argument, the team should have no more than 8 members, but no less than 4 members. Larger groups can be split into smaller squads as needed.

With these number restraints, how should the team be divided?

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My first belief is that one member should still have the role as team leader. While the leader should hopefully not have to give specific orders at all times to every member of the team, the importance of a leader is to allow the team to co-ordinate attacks or defence for the best interest of the team as a whole. The leader's actual general role can be anything, but his/her title makes him/her vital to the team's success.

This would leave 3 to 7 more players to be assigned.

For the 4-man team, I'd end up suggesting that 2 members take on the role of 'grunt' or 'all-purpose' water fighter while the other member carries some larger water weaponry. Of course, having 3 'grunts' can work well, too, but I'd say for a small team, only 1 of its members should be assigned the heavier role, otherwise the team loses its overall mobility too much.

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These are just some initial thoughts. I'm throwing these onto the forums first to get some general feedback from the membership before converting them into a full-fledged article for iSoaker.com. Any ideas, suggestions, etc. would be most welcome. Contributions used would definitely be acknowledged.

Soak on!

[isoaker]

After a little thinking, with the possibility of some future area, province/state, national, or even international competitions in mind, I'd like to propose the following.

The number of players on a team determines what division of a competition they can compete in. For sake of fairness, only teams of equal size would be competing (except, perhaps, during some exhibition-type games).

Divisions:
Singles: every man/woman for themself
Doubles: teams of two(2) players/partners
Skirmishes: teams of four(4) players
Battles: teams of eight(8) players or teams of sixteen(16) players
Wars: teams of 32 to 128 players

Numbers are based on the good ol' base 2 system. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc. By doing it this way, smaller teams can pair up to create a larger one to compete under different divisions depending on interest. For articles sake, I plan on writing about groupings of 1, 2, 4, or 8 primarily. Of course, for local neighborhood wars, teams can be comprised of how ever many are willing to be one side versus another side.

My goal is to write some guides in an attempt to get more interested in perhaps trying out more organized water battles while, at the same time, providing tips to those who just want to improve their own abilities, though not necessarily with organized competition in mind.

[DX]

For the 4-man team, I'd end up suggesting that 2 members take on the role of 'grunt' or 'all-purpose' water fighter while the other member carries some larger water weaponry. Of course, having 3 'grunts' can work well, too, but I'd say for a small team, only 1 of its members should be assigned the heavier role, otherwise the team loses its overall mobility too much.

Big guns don't mean less mobility automatically. Even for a novice team. That's why I'm not fond of the HWO concept, since I typically sprint around with HWO-sized-guns, no problem.

Agreed that defining positions helps newer teams. Some unconventional advice might still help, though. Such as:

.Designating a pair of commanders, and/or designating backup commanders, people who are good enough to take control in emergencies. That deprives the enemy of the strategy of taking out the most important person first, which is usually a single commander.

.Rotating who gets what. Person 1 might be a grunt the first time. The next battle, he/she should have a different role so as to get used to most of them. That way, the person becomes a more valuable fighter, who at least knows the basics of each common position.

[isoaker]

Good points! I suppose, for the HWO aspect, that's really where age/strength come into play a little more. While I have no problems using pretty much any stock soaker, using the larger ones (i.e. CPS2500 and larger) does tire me out much quicker than using smaller soakers. Perhaps, when writing, the 'HWO' concept will be phased out for the newer articles. Instead, articles will discuss using soakers within one's capabilities.