RE: Alien TOEs was: Cheese factor

Which gives you some ideas and reasons on how to organize alien forces 
differently.

>Absender: cdownes-ward@9a.co.uk
> > Well, kind of.  However, there are going to be some basics	which > 
> make some versions more efficient and others less.
> > a.	 Guys bond, i.e. form teams, best with a relatively small
> > number--three to eight if I recall correctly. IIRC the post > > 
psychological phrase is "primary groups"

The alien primary groups might be smaller (cats, say, or Orang Utans) 
or bigger (hyenas, deer)

> > b.	 You need enough guys in a fire team to look after each other > 
> and cover all directions.

Good all-round vision (insects, rabbits) might reduce the numbers 
needed - still must be able to shoot all-round (four-armed ?)

> > d.	 On the other hand, you need few enough units that your 
> > commander can keep track of them--this is why most units have 3-5 
> > subunits instead of 8-10, most people can't keep track of more 
> > than 4-5 things at a time,

Less intelligent races might not handle more than two, super- 
intelligent races might handle 8 or 10. Which begs the question whether
a human 
player can handle them.

Greetings