FA+
Shop
World building is hhaaaaaarrrrd
6 years ago
General
Keep Your Promises, Especially To Yourself.
I knew it was from the start, but yeah, Totus' home world is taking ages. I finally got a rough sketch of the planetary map, oceans, continents, major mountain chains, islands, got an idea of where the arctic circle will start, did my best to base the bigger mountain chains on plate tectonics and make the biomes somewhat vaguelly plausible, desert caused by rain shadow, rain forests nearer the equator, etc etc
I got a few of the nations ready in a 'rough strokes' kinda way. Basically their identity to the rest of the world and a rough few sentences about their economy, military, and any particularly wonky customs. Like how Australia is known for dangerous wildlife and being generally cool folks, or how us USA folks are known for frying everything we get our hands on. (for the record, most of us draw the line before fried butter sticks)
And that's just the background of the story's... 'main environment' I suppose. still in rough strokes but have the city/region of the first arc or two planned out a lil bit
That said, if anyone wants to show off how awesome they are at world-building by advice or ideas, I would appreciate any advice deeply.
So far I'm sorta being lazy and building the main cast backgrounds first, then building out the places they have in their backgrounds, then the places that border them.... if I'm lucky I won't need much detail beyond that 'level' of depth
I got a few of the nations ready in a 'rough strokes' kinda way. Basically their identity to the rest of the world and a rough few sentences about their economy, military, and any particularly wonky customs. Like how Australia is known for dangerous wildlife and being generally cool folks, or how us USA folks are known for frying everything we get our hands on. (for the record, most of us draw the line before fried butter sticks)
And that's just the background of the story's... 'main environment' I suppose. still in rough strokes but have the city/region of the first arc or two planned out a lil bit
That said, if anyone wants to show off how awesome they are at world-building by advice or ideas, I would appreciate any advice deeply.
So far I'm sorta being lazy and building the main cast backgrounds first, then building out the places they have in their backgrounds, then the places that border them.... if I'm lucky I won't need much detail beyond that 'level' of depth
Also, i was wondering if you got a chance to read the last story i put online at SoFurry, "A show of loyalty".
I'll think up a question or two. I think once I get a day to stop and think I'm gonna focus on just getting all the details in my head organized and see how much I can build from that alone.
Actually... There is one detail I've been wondering about now that I stop and think and you'd be uniquely suited to answer given your Epic's first arc on earth, the battle for Kesteven in particular. While I understand warfare in modern/semi-modern era has a far far more 'fuzzy' boundary of a front line than back in the world wars or earlier. I was wondering if during urban warfare (which will take up a large portion of the first arc) a 'front line' would be defined enough to be... well.. not sure how 'thick' the front line would be between the opposing forces. I was running under the the4 assumption of about a mile or so of area that would define the area between the two forces. With deep strikes, surgical missions sneaking to and fro, buildings, subways, and other tunnels, and the general mess and confusion of modern conflict, I cannot see for a second that a front line would be a tight easily drawn mark on a map.
So I guess the question is... how wide and fuzzy would the front LINE be between two semi-modern military forces in a major city?
(Obviously in a 'rough cuts' sort of idea, since fine details would take a page or three of text to run through)
As for your question, urban warfare still gets very confused, even in this age and time. I think roughly a mile of deeply confused territory would probably work. In this stretch of city, not well defined and delimited, the opposing forces would still be locked in very close quarter fighting and so they might be one narrow alley away from each other, or literally fighting within the same building, maybe even room to room. Much would also depend on how much time the defenders had to prepare and, perhaps, open passages and link up several buildings to create strongholds of sorts, like infamous places such as Pavlov's house in Stalingrad.
Tunnel warfare is particularly nasty and surprising and enemy groups might be able to dig up passages to emerge well behind that mile-thick frontline, suddenly bringing back chaos even in the "rear area". The snipers might also be able to infiltrate, so the danger would be present even well behind the front.
Thank you, that is about what I hoped to hear, and gave me a few good ideas too. I've read a good deal on the fighting in Stalingrad, fascinating reading. Strategically and tactically anyway.
In this case, the defenders were actually occupiers, but they did have ample time to prepare and have a strong advantage in materials, armored warfare vehicles and general technology, the invaders, on the other hand, have a strong advantage in troop numbers, and disposition. As well as the advantage of having ample local support and aid of local resistance fighters, as well as former insurgents that have joined under their militia banner. Plus their more crude gear and equipment has a far less intensive logistical support line. The urban warfare balances the pair, the heavy advantages the better gear and more professional defenders/occupiers have is mitigated by the urban environment somewhat, unless the attackers are foolish enough to rush into killboxes or draw barrage down on themselves. Which is what gives rise to the 'stalled offensive' without the offensive having failed... yet which is where the story picks up.