Battalion Operations, Section A - Preparation for Battle

Company Practice Nights:  Briefings, Drills and Protocols

Friday & Saturday nights are Battalion Combat Operations.  This is when as much of the battalion as possible will gather for a variety of reasons, but mostly to have fun playing MWO with our good Liao friends!  Combat Ops officially begin at 10pm CST.  Make sure you are prepared for battle by familiarizing yourself with the following concepts.

Things are a little more serious on these nights, however - just as sanctioned matches, scrimmages and CW drops will be.  During company practice, briefings will be conducted on MapTactic.  Be sure to sign up over there, and set your "clan name" to House Liao Gatekeepers.  Here, you'll be able to access all our strategies, and the Command Staff will go over each one with everyone, including individually when necessary.

If you have been sworn into the battalion and received your rank of Sao-Wei or higher, attendance is MANDATORY if you are online playing MWO.

After the briefing, the Command Staff will organize Pub Drops or scrimmages with allied units.  Group Challenges hosted by PGI will be pursued, but Solo Challenges are no longer supported by the unit.  Those will no longer be pursued during active company practice times, but a player who is in the lead on a event can receive special dispensation from the practice coordinator (highest ranking officer online) to represent House Liao and the Gatekeepers for that event.

All protocols must be followed during company practice, including all new Tactical Revision material.  Please make sure you are caught up on the latest Tactical Manual updates, especially the Battalion Combat Primer.  If you need help in game, don't fret - we don't expect you to absorb it all at once.  Rather, these drills will become second nature over time.

Non-Gatekeepers are not allowed to attend briefings or drills, but certain allies may be picked up for drops if they are not disruptive to our plans and otherwise behave as a Gatekeeper.

Standard Equipment

The battalion uses a certain set of 'mech chassis during all deployments.  Attempting to deploy a non-Gatekeepers 'favored' battlemech during a combat drop is frowned upon greatly, especially Clan 'mechs that may be in your arsenal.  On some distinctively relaxed periods, the commanding officer may elect to allow non-standard 'mechs - but do make sure you can tell us what your role is.

The method we recommend to those who do not have any of the Favored 'mechs is this:  get one.  If you like the unit, get at least one in each weight class.  You can then easily vary the role to be able to fill gaps in the unit composition with little effort.

Our Technical Guidelines articles will cover all the information you need on specific roles and how to configure your 'mech to fill that position.  We don't ask you have a specific build, only that you fill certain criteria.  Being able to identify your 'mech and role to the drop commander requires you adhere to these guidelines.

A few general rules apply when outfitting all 'mechs for duty here on the Fringe.  

1. XL Engines
• Only light chassis may carry XL engines.
2. Strike Modules
• Light chassis should carry Air Strikes since their maneuverability can make better use of the vectored damage path.
• All other chassis should carry Artillery Strikes due to the way we employ strikes as a unit.

Company Discipline

The Gatekeepers could pride themselves on their discipline and reaction time, if they saw such as noteworthy.  From being able to turn and focus the company's might on the enemy weak spot with but a moment's notice to selflessly taking firepower for the team's victory, our MechWarriors are some of the most highly drilled in the entire galaxy.

We can break down our most basic rules on personal conduction during a combat drop into five basic ideas, or disciplines.  A combat drop is any drop the ranking officer has taken command of.

1. Maneuver Discipline
• Move when and to where ordered by the Drop Commander, immediately and without hesitation.  
• Do not move unless ordered to.  
• Do not pursue enemy units unless ordered to.
2. Fire Discipline
• Do not fire weapons at ranges more than 500m unless ordered to do so.  
• Do not fire Long Range Missiles at ranges of more than 800m.
3. Stoic Discipline
• Respect and defer to the drop commander.  
• Direct all complaints against Gatekeepers or allied personnel to the Zhong-Shao privately.  Facebook is currently the fastest and most direct way to do so.
• Do not respond in-game to any taunts or threats.
• Do not taunt or threaten enemy players.  Use Positive Troll techniques.
4. Intelligence Discipline
• Share ideas with officers on Facebook, via email, or just hanging out in Actual.
• Combat Drops are not the place to argue tactics.  Doctrine has been meticulously prepared.  
• Your ideas may be selected as doctrine, and they may not.  They will be considered, and investigated if necessary.
• Do not allow secret battalion strategies to fall into enemy hands.  
• Do not allow non-Gatekeepers to hang around the TeamSpeak if they show no interest in joining and do not belong to an allied unit.
5. Comms Discipline
• During combat drops, only the commanding officers are to be on voice comms to eliminate needless chatter.  
• Do not call enemy locations unless ordered to.
• Do not call targets unless ordered to.

If you haven't reviewed the primer on our Strategic Principles, you should be familiar with them.  The time will be upon us soon, and we will be a well-oiled machine of destruction when the time comes to defend our home here on Purvo.  Stay with it, Gatekeepers - a slew of events are soon to be upon us, both PGI and independent.

We are the Liao Cháng-Chéng.  We are the Great Wall of Liao.  None Shall Pass.