Suikoden Wars' Military Strategies

Detailed hypotheses for, and analysis of, the events transpiring during the Suikoden games
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ninjaluc79
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Suikoden Wars' Military Strategies

Post by ninjaluc79 »

I found a thread here (but I can't find it) about comparing Lucretia Merces' strategy during the Sun Rune Wars with the scorched earth campaign of Russia when Napoleon of France invaded it. And I found it interesting that in-game strategies in the Suikoden series are based or are similar to real-life historical military strategies.

So I am curious about what type of strategies were used during the Gate Rune Wars, the Dunan Unification Wars, the Fire Bringer Wars (1 and 2), the Island Nations Unification War (not sure on this one), and the Sun Rune Wars.

Well, let's take Shu's strategy during the Dunan wars. He just kept on forging alliances with the different cities in Dunan while keeping the Highland Army at bay. At first they were in a defensive stance when Luca was still alive. But after his death, Highland had been decreased in strength while the newly-forme Dunan National Army got stronger. Thus, they started to take an offensive stance by slowly re-taking places in Dunan which have become Highland territory. And in the end, they won out against Highland and they took L'Renouille, Highland's capital, and changed its name to Higheast.

What made me curious there was that why Shu sent Kiba to a suicide mission just to lure Leon Silverburg out of Highland. Maybe because as long as Highland has Leon as a strategist, Dunan has a lower chance of winning?

I was also looking for that thread that discussed which Suikoden army will win a Suikoverse World War. But in my opinion, before S5, it was between Dunan, the Grasslands, and Harmonia, but after that, I'm considering Falena as a contender for the best army in the Suikoverse. But then again, it might depend on the situation. I'm curious as to which army will win assuming this world war happens after S3.
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Rezard
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Re: Suikoden Wars' Military Strategies

Post by Rezard »

I dont think most battles are realistic, some battles in SV are easily won because weak enemy AI.

Even so, most Suikoden II war battles were based on Sun Tsu Art of War, like Lucca death and Rockaxe take over.
The fog eleanor used in Suikoden IV, I think Napolean did the same in some battle of his.

The best army in my opinion is SME, they have an aerial force (Dragons), Canons (Dwarves), Heavy Armored Gull Horses, a ninja village to provide good intel and a big territory. Add Milich bioweapons and you have a invicible army.
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Rooks
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Re: Suikoden Wars' Military Strategies

Post by Rooks »

Lucretia's Strategy in S V was not a scorched-earth strategy, but a Defense-in-Depth strategy. While the two might seem similar, there are differences.

Defense-in-Depth is a strategy that trades land and territory for time, simply put. This was used during the second world war when Germany invaded Russia. From the western border of Russia for hundreds of miles east, there are only mountains, rural farmland, and small villages. The first major city in western Russia is St. Petersberg, or I think it was called Leningrad at the time. Thus the Russian leadership decided to have their infantry and cavalry engage in limited battles, then retreat to pre-fortified defensive positions. While the front line troops were (briefly) engaged, others would fortify the next set of defensive positions behind them, then allow the front line to retreat behind the new positions, and then they would engage the enemy. Repeat ad nauseum.

This causes three effects: 1. It allows for the rotation of troops on the front line, making sure your army is rested. 2. It stretches out the enemy's logistics, making it tougher for them to be properly fed and equipped. 3. It allows defending soldiers to be well acquainted with the topography and climate of the land they are defending before they are exposed to the stresses of battle, while the enemy is constantly in a new environment.

Needless to say, even though in practice this strategy was executed horribly by Stalin's military, it stalled the Blitzkrieg long enough for the major force's fortification of St. Petersberg, which ultimately led to a 10-month long siege where the Russians finally turned back the Germans. Though, by the end, Russia had lost tens of millions of soldiers and civilians alike, and those that were not killed were taken to the German POW camps. Where most of them died.

So, in the end, it was a successful strategy, but its execution was flawed and one can argue that it was not necessary to sacrifice that many people, even to stop the invasion.

Scorched Earth is just that. It is much like Defense-in-Depth, but you set fire to all crops, buildings, and destroy all dams, bridges and other standing structures as your army retreats. This leaves the enemy no chance for procurement of food, and not even a building to sleep in. It leaves them to build their own bridges across dangerous rivers, while their troops stay in tents. This strategy differs because it completely disregards the idea of taking back the land that the enemy captures. Also, since the enemies advance is stalled at natural obstacles, it allows their logistics to catch up and their troops to rest, so Scorched Earth is in many ways inferior to Defense-in-Depth.

So, as you can see, the S V strategy was Defense-in-Depth because they did not destroy the towns they ceded.

Many of the war battles in Suikoden can also be traced to Water Margin and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, of course.
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