RE: [HIST??] Culture shock

G'day,

> Like I've said before, when people say "x are inflexible 
> idiots", they mean x are most likely to be inflexible idiots, 
> not every single x is an inflexible idiot. 

I did notice you kinda answered my question <and I also apologised for
being
thick ;)>

> Having a guide for the enemy's possible behaviour certainly would
> be better than nothing at all, or some silly useless guide 
> that says "the enemy are human beings just like you, and 
> will show a great variety of different types of behaviour". 

Given the number of accounts of "unexpected activities" in my recent
reading
of military reports (I'm trying to play catch-up on modern military
history)
I think that such instructions are too often assumed when they should be
stated ;)

> If any officer is dumb enough to think the "stereotyped" 
> description is a 100% accurate portrayal of the enemy all the
> time, and always follows the guide to the letter, I suspect 
> John A. would kick him out of his army. :)

That may well be true, but I was intrigued by the "psychological"
potential
in game. We often pose very structured, flow chart responses for aliens
overlooking the fact that humans start with preconceived notions and
have to
adapt on the fly when things don't go as expected - some do it better
than
others, some flog the same dead horse until they're handed their own
heads
(the difference between class 1 and 3 leaders in ds/sg). I thought it
might
have been fun to have (say) a set set-up, or even lax attitude ("they
haven't broken our ciphers" or "they'd never do that, outside their
doctrine" etc) at the start and then be faced with the challenge of
adapting
on the fly as they put a new arrow to their bow right in front of your
eyes
;)

This thought came to mind when we were playing some FMA the other day. I
noticed distinct moments of panic and decided changes in attitude and
tactics amongst some of the guys when a squad they expected to be
green-3s
(and thus "we don't need to worry about that flank") turned out mid-game
(and after said flank was exposed) to be vet-1s who stayed in cover, in
place and did a lot to hurt the flank in question ;)

Cheers