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# WHY YOU MORONS DON'T KNOW HOW TO BUILD A FORT IN AOS #
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by Justice aka JusticeCantStop aka JusticeIsDrunk aka JusticeForever, etc.
While playing Ace of Spades, I see a lot of these miniforts built
on its war-torn plains:
DESIGN 1: THE NOOB FORT
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That is, it has five blocks across the top, and walls that protect its
inhabitants running three blocks deep.
If fort design were a class and I were teaching it, and you built me this
piece of shit. I would fail you. In fact, I fail people who build these things
all the time. I shoot them in the head. If I saw you build this, I would wait
for you to finish then grade your paper. That's right; you'd fail.
Why so bad, you ask? Before I can answer that question, we have to agree on
what the objective of a fort is:
1) To prevent its inhabitants from being shot.
2) To allow its inhabitants to shoot people.
Superficially, these are contradictory goals. If the inhabitants can shoot
people, then they are able to be shot. From a more practical perspective,
though, a fort which can't be shot out of will be quickly over run, as
the enemy may easily approach and kill the inhabitants of the fort. Similarly,
a fort with too few shot windows will make it too obvious where an inhabitant
will shoot from and make it easy for snipers to pick them off.
Consequentially, a fort's effectiveness results from its ability to allow
inhabitants to shoot at attackers as long as possible--in other words, to
get as many shots off as possible while taking as few hits as possible.
This just leads to more questions, really. How do you take as few hits as
possible? This is a complex question of geometry, not quite supported by
this txt formatted document. To kill people effectively, you need to:
+ Be unpredictable.
Appearing in the same hole ten times in a row is obvious,
and when someone figures out your "perfect hiding spot,"
you deserve nothing less than the death they grant you.
The perfect hiding spot is constant motion. Even if someone
spots you, they shouldn't know where you'll be next. A
fundamental problem with forts is that they make it obvious
where you will be. A perfect fort, then, approximates this
unpredictability as much as possible.
+ Sweep the battlefield visually.
Popping up from behind a barrier--from crouch to stand--is
generally a terrible idea. First of all, someone with an eye
on your location will see the sudden change, know exactly
where you are, and shoot. Then you will be dead. Additionally,
you have an entire battlefield to survey, very suddenly. This is
hard to do.
Instead, slowly turn around blocks. This reveals the battlefield
slowly, in visually digestable chunks. It makes it easier for you
to spot and shoot first.
Additionally, popping up from behind a barrier reveals you
to multiple targets at once. Turning a corner, under most
circumstances only reveals one person at a time. You can shoot
down an army one person at a time. If an army can shoot you,
though, you're hosed.
+ Vanish.
Just as you can appear unpredictably, you should be able to
disappear just as quickly. Staying in sight of the enemy
too long will get you killed. You need to take that
advantage away from them.
This brings us back to Design 1. Why is it so bad? It literally prevents
all three of those tactics from being implemented:
+ Be unpredictable
Design 1 has one, very predictable hole. Anyone inside is visible
in that hole.
+ Sweep the battlefield visually.
The entire battlefield is visible from any point in Design 1.
You are visible to the entire battlefield in Design 1.
+ Vanish.
You can't vanish if there's nothing to hide behind.
The real flaw behind Design 1 is that there's nothing to hide behind.
Additionally, that row of blocks on top does nothing to protect someone
in the fort. Perhaps it would protect their head if they stood up, but
that prevents them from shooting and leaves their gut exposed.
What, then, makes an ideal fort? First off, there is no one ideal fort.
Conditions dictate what makes a better fort, and sometimes, improvising
with what's already there is the best--and most fun--thing to do. You're
going to have to be creative with your shovel.
However, let's assume we're on an empty plain. We're on blue, and five
greens are running at us, and yellow shit's already zipping over head
and making those "oh shit, I'm gonna die" noises. What do you do? There's
no time to dig.
Crouch down and build a barrier as follows, starting with 2.1, then building
2.2, then 2.3:
DESIGN 2: THE "OH SHIT, IMPROVISE" FORT
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You're probably saying "oh, that's obvious you jackass!" Then why do
I see Design 1 everywhere or its bastard cousin, Design 3?
DESIGN 3: THE NOOBIER FORT
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It's like they got to Design 2.1, then decided to become stupid. What's
really important is Design 2.2. Once you have a 2x2 barrier, you can't
directly take a shot. Until someone shoots through those blocks, you,
my friend, are invincible.
Design 2 doesn't work against people that are higher than you. The
reality of the geometry is that they can still see your head over the
blocks. This is really a substep for Design 4.
DESIGN 4: MY FAVORITE BARRIERS
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SHORT
LONG
What do these provide? Everything specified--unpredictability, sweeping,
and vanishing. In 4.SHORT alone, one can sweep in four places. In 4.LONG,
you can sweep anywhere.
Also, as a plus, 4.SHORT can be built up into 4.LONG easily, making a nice,
modular expansion process.
So, why Design 4.LONG? Why not, say, Design 5?
DESIGN 5: THE TYPICAL WALL
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In Design 5, you can never be completely covered while standing up and the
blocks are too close together for you to effectively sweep the battlefield.
Anyway, I just spent way too long writing up a rant about a game I haven't
had time to play in months. There's more I'd like to elaborate on, but I
hope that helps, Megadeuce.
- JUSTICE -
- JUSTICE ETERNAL -
- JUSTICE MAXIMUS -
- JUSTICE FOREVER -
- JUSTICE CAN'T STOP -
- JUSTICE IS DRUNK -
