Poll: The most important aspect in a battle

[Arcticflame]

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.

Err, the brits won because germany invaded russia, basically self-koing in the proccess.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
- Sun Tzu

You can't even make an informed decision about what needs to be improved without proper intelligence on your own side and the enemy so that is priority #1.

 

[Custard_Angel]

Supplies.

Without appropriate supplies you're dead. In most wars, a huge number of people die to simple diseases and conditions due to a lack of supplies.

 

[Trivun]

I'm English, so our army already has everything we need for victory save equipment, since our government is too bone idle and retarded to bother getting the equipment out there for our troops. Stupid thing is, half the equipment the US army uses, that saves their lives, is made by English manufacturers, but the government can't afford to spend on them ourselves because we're too busy giving money to the people scrounging benefits and cheating the welfare system instead...

But yeah, I say equipment.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

"War does not determine who is right, only who is left."

So, I'd say they're all equally important. Except for numbers. If 300 taught me anything, it's that quality over quantity, as long as all your soldiers are battle hardened badasses.

 

[Aerowaves]

In a BATTLE (this scenario), training (I would say). In a WAR, supplies, followed by intel.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Making sure you've exhausted all possible avenues other than war to their absolute dead end.

Then going about fighting it as ruthlessly as possible, whilst continuing to offer peace.

 

[ZephrC]

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.

It also helped that the Americans joined in the fighting down there giving them superior numbers. I should know, my grandpa got a purple heart fighting in North Africa.

(Please note: I'm not saying America won WWII by itself, don't get yer knickers all in a twist.)

 

[Soviet Steve]

In a war I would say it is the support from the homeland, and in a battle it depends upon the situation.

You'd need to present some conditions besides "WAR" before anyone could say what would be decisive however.

 

[Twitchy Racoon]

Do a barrel role

 

[Summerstorm]

I'd like to get a spy/traitor in the other camp... or five. Like Sun Tzu wrote: Spies are fucking awesome (I may have modernized that a bit).

Just pay a man a years worth of silver and he is much more worth than having 12 mercenaries for a month. Feeding me information, helping my people out behind the line. And hey, i may promise him a good rank and more money and he may get "backstabby" in crucial moments.

I checked "Intel" though. But this would be my real choice.

 

[ZephrC]

Funny how drastically people tend to underestimate the value of numbers. That would probably be my second choice. Sure, there are examples of well trained, well equipped, highly motivated soldiers standing against superior numbers, but those are rare and almost always exaggerated. In reality 2:1 odds are a huge point in your favor. Even 11:10 odds can decide a battle.

 

[Rakkana]

Always intel. Knowledge is the biggest weapon in the world.

 

[WolfThomas]

As Zapp Branigan would say

The key to victory is the element of surprise. Surprise!

 

[Dreey]

Definetly intel.

Your training, equipment, supplies, numbers, and support doesn't count for shit if you're fighting in the wrong place.

 

[carpathic]

Troops think tactics.

Generals think supply lines.

Good strategy is useless with hungry troops.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

The commander is the most important!!!

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

Training and Intel.
If your soldiers know how to fight and who to fight, that's a pretty fucking big advantage right there.

Funny how drastically people tend to underestimate the value of numbers. That would probably be my second choice. Sure, there are examples of well trained, well equipped, highly motivated soldiers standing against superior numbers, but those are rare and almost always exaggerated. In reality 2:1 odds are a huge point in your favor. Even 11:10 odds can decide a battle.

Russia, The Second World War, 28 million dead, destruction and poverty - all because we had a lot of people who wanted to fight but not that many who knew how to fight.
In other words, even with such a colossal strength in numbers, the Second World War marked the most horrible, human-life disregarding bloodbaths for our army.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Rzhev
Sure, big numbers are a huge advantage, but they can easily lead to total disregard of human life.

 

[crudus]

The correct answer isn't up there: moral. If your soldiers don't want to fight or care about the cause then none of those things matter at all.

It's almost always supplies that decides a fight. Guns and Butter, as they call it.

I vote that. You can have the best soldiers in the world, but if you don't have ammo or food, you ain't going far.

I can name five off the top of my head where that is false.

 

[Denamic]

Intel.
Information is everything.