Poll: The most important aspect in a battle

[The Cheezy One]

Assume you have one hundred soldiers, completed basic training and equipped with standard issue weaponry, and are fighting one hundred generic enemy soldiers in a generic environment. You can improve one aspect of the upcoming fight:

Intel
You can learn more about the enemy strengths and weaknesses.

Training
Advance your soldiers past basic training, make them ready for anything that could happen

Equipment
Allow your soldiers to choose thier own weaponry

Supplies
Your soldiers have enough medical supplies and ammunition to last for months

Numbers
Gain an extra one hundred soldiers

Support
Artillery, bombing run, trebuchet, anything that does not actually enter the battlefield, like a tank or helicopter would

Deception
for example, throw up a smoke screen, then flank around it while the enemy are watching it expectantly

if i have missed any, just quote any part of this and tell me. Please don't just say it, as i may not notice

EDIT 1: i am interested in the results of an engagement of 100 people of STANDARD MILITARY STRENGTH against 100 of their peers. please stop trying to poke holes in my experiment

for example, assume that the age is napoeonic. there are 100 british standard military soldiers against 100 french standard GIs.
neither can see each other on a flat plane of grass due to WC style fog of war. they will move up to each other in line formation and shoot each other. you control one side. what you change to save the most of your soldiers?
numbers ensures a win, but you would theoretically take 50% losses

 

[iFail69]

you give a tough choice, but I will go with Training first, followed by supplies, followed by Intel

well trained soldiers are invaluable imo

EDIT: all are important though

 

[Hurr Durr Derp]

I'd go with training. All the weapons and intel in the world won't make a difference if your soldiers don't know how to use them.

Comparing:

Intel
You can learn more about the enemy strengths and weaknesses.

Certainly important, but not so much in a 100v100 pitched battle.

Equipment
Allow your soldiers to choose their own weaponry

Good equipment is crucial, but allowing your troops to choose their own weapons seems a bit counterproductive. There's a good reason why all professional militaries have standardized equipment.

Supplies
Your soldiers have enough medical supplies and ammunition to last for months

Again, this is important, but a pitched 100v100 battle probably wouldn't laast long enough for this to become a serious concern.

Numbers
Gain an extra one hundred soldiers

Having twice the amount of troops available is huge. Whether or not this is better than the extra training is a tough call, depending on the quality of the training, the quality of the extra troops, the nature of the battlefield, etc.

Support
Artillery, bombing run, trebuchet, anything that does not actually enter the battlefield, like a tank or helicopter would

Again, this one is hard to judge without having more details. A trebuchet would do significantly less damage than a bombing run. Also, would these weapons be able to fire all day long or would they have a very limited number of shots. What kind of shelter is available to the opposing troops?

 

[Mr_spamamam]

Supplies, then training and then intel. If you run out of bullets then its gonna be very hard to shoot things

 

[S.R.S.]

Don't you think that all of the options would give an upper hand? Meaning that with whatever option chosen, my side would still win. It would be a "tie" without making any decision, right? After all it seems like your men are fighting themselves. However, I'd go with training.

 

[RyQ_TMC]

I assume they're trained well enough to watch their own asses. Supplies, then. May not be able to outfight them, but can outlast them if you hole up. At some point, they would have to go for a desperate strike.

Wooden ducks.

 

[The Cheezy One]

I assume they're trained well enough to watch their own asses. Supplies, then. May not be able to outfight them, but can outlast them if you hole up. At some point, they would have to go for a desperate strike.

Wooden ducks.

ill mention that actually they have had basic training, but this would be advanced stuff. not SAS level, maybe royal marines

 

[Ithera]

Training is key, unskilled soldiers waste supplies and do stupid things. I believe that with a solid training your soldiers are better at improvising. This could offset a lack of resources somewhat.

 

[ethan22122]

training. experiance goes a long way.

 

[Mr Thin]

Definitely training.

Within this scenario at least, 100 v 100. Supplies and Intel are really of more use in larger scale conflicts.

Training brings adaptability, and - though I'm no soldier - I'd say adaptability in the field, especially in the line of fire, is frigging crucial.

 

[Valksy]

Beans, bullets and bandaids.

And then knowing who you are meant to be shooting at.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I always thought morale was a very important aspect. Of course training and equipment are important, but keeping the hopes of your country alive are just as important.

 

[Ultrazerglings]

This pole isn't really correct... in war you need all of these or even the militants in a 3rd world country can beat you... however i chose training because with out the skills training brings many of the other options would fail.

 

[iFail69]

This pole isn't really correct... in war you need all of these or even the militants in a 3rd world country can beat you... however i chose training because with out the skills training brings many of the other options would fail.

some militant leaders are more innovative and creative than the big army commanders...

Terrorists in the middle east have intelligent leaders

 

[ZephrC]

For a battle that size? Definitely support. Numbers, training and equipment could all be useful, but for a battle like that good support would definitely win the day. Supplies and intelligence are much more useful for larger scale, longer lasting conflicts. They'd be wasted on a battle that would likely be over in a matter of hours.

 

[RyQ_TMC]

ill mention that actually they have had basic training, but this would be advanced stuff. not SAS level, maybe royal marines

Well, from the way you described it in the OP, it doesn't sound like they'd need that too much. Royal Marine training is so long mainly because it teaches fighting in a range of diverse conditions. I assume "generic environment" means that there are no special environmental conditions to consider. I'll just give the list a little rundown:

Intel - I know there is a hundred of them, and a hundred of us. "Generic environment" implies similarly defensible positions. Intel useful, but not a priority.

Training - just wrote about it.

Equipment - could go either way. Might give me the upper hand if the soldiers are familiar with the conditions, know possible tactics of the enemy. Useful if goes together with intel, not so if has to be the only one.

Supplies - my choice. Entrench and wear the enemy out.

Numbers - gives extra strength, but also means supplies will last twice shorter. So in effect, I am giving the enemy extra supplies. Isn't the general rule that you need a 3:1 advantage to successfully storm a fortified position?

Support - sounds useful. Would wear the enemy down, inflict morale if not strength losses. But ineffectual without intel.

That's what I think, anyway.

 

[Naheal]

Intel. Intelligence wins and loses wars. Often, if you can create a situation where you're feeding the enemy false intel, you can cut off, or even use, their supplies. Separate their forces in the middle of the battle and you can use their own troops against them: force crossfire.

Note that, while all of these are important, tactics can win a battle and tactics require good intel.

 

[Srdjan]

Training, most definetly, 100 specialy trained soldiers could easily defeat 200 fresh recruit with only basic training, but equipment is also vital.

 

[Sniperyeti]

Look at any war, it was won by the side that had the supplies and stuck to it. North Africa in WW2 is the perfect example, the Germans had superior training, equipment and leadership but the Brits won because they literally had an Empires worth of resources to pour into the conflict.