CPA’s Official Guide to Armies- Chapter One: the Basics of an Army

WILD ISLAND, Club Penguin Armies Offices- The post-original Club Penguin era has seen many former army veterans disappear, ushering in a new generation of leaders and troops.  With the changes to the demographic brings a struggle; an adaptation period that can hang some armies out in the cold, unless they receive a bit of guidance.

About the Author:

My name is DMT, colloquially known as Doctor Mine Turtle.  I’ve taken part in Club Penguin Armies since 2011, starting off with the Club Penguin Crew.  Since my time as a “Jeepkid disciple”, I’ve picked up many skills and expanded my resume greatly within the community.  My accomplishments are as follows:

• Nacho Army of Club Penguin 2nd in Command
• The Army of Club Penguin 2nd in Command
• Chaos Army Leader
• Army Republic Leader (AR Legend)
• Redemption Force Leader (RF Legend)
• Striking Raiders Leader (SR Legend)
• Major Army Central Chief Executive Officer
• Small Medium Army Press Executive Producer
• Club Penguin Army Central Vice President
• Small Medium Army Central Chief Executive Officer
• The Rusted Helmet Head of Site
• Club Penguin Armies Spokesperson

The past eight years have been very kind to me, providing me with some memorable childhood experiences and learning moments.  Since I’ve returned the community, I’ve increasingly felt the need to follow in the footsteps of the greats I learned under.  That is why I present a new series here on Club Penguin Armies, dedicated to the betterment of armies community-wide.

The Basics of an Army

Roles:

A top down overview of what the army community is is a great place to start this series.  What is the basic infrastructure of an army?  In the original Club Penguin, there was a great number of roles to match the bustling community.  However, the CPPS army community is much smaller.  Roles have been limited to more generic categories instead of specific names.  Regardless, it is important to categorize your troops by these three roles; troops, moderators, administrators, and leaders.  It is optional to give these roles fancy names, like troops being corporals, moderators being sergeants, administrators being lieutenants, and the leaders being any synonym of “leader”.

Troops are the most common role in an army.  This is the role that is given to new members of the army, unless they have bountiful experience.  Troops are expected to attend events, and do what the leader asks of them; usually minor tasks.  Moderators are a step above troops.  They are given the gift of being able to kick and ban people on chat, although some armies may take this privilege away and reserve it for only administrators.  Moderators must maintain the duties that troops have, and are expected to give guidance to troops, as leaders tend to have foreign affairs and big picture duties to attend to.  Administrators, who may be referred to as “owners” sometimes, are the highest ranking common people in the army.  They must keep fulfilling all the duties that a troop must, but are usually tasked with things to handle at request of the leader.  Admins are supposed to be trusted and well-versed in the community and army affairs.  At this point, it is expected for owners to be on top of what is going on in the army, and are expected to remind troops and moderators of events and whatnot.

Leaders have the biggest job out of everyone in the army.  As the representative of their army, they must act as professionals.  They are tasked with handling foreign affairs with other armies, talking to the media, and scheduling/recording event results, among other duties.

Army Structure:

Nowadays, most CPPS armies follow the same structure, or government, of a dictatorship, where the leader has full control.  However, it is highly recommended by myself to establish a simplified government in an army.  There is nothing wrong with dictatorship in the army world, but there are many structures to choose from.  In the original army scene, the most popular form of government was a simplified form of a republic.  The leader would propose things to the administrators, who would work to find a common ground.  The leader would ultimately still have the final say, but it promotes a safe environment to share ideas and grow in.  Democracy is a larger scale form of a Republic state, where the leader presents ideas to the entire army instead of just the high rankings.  Dictatorship was fairly common in the old army community, but was only present in armies where the leader was highly reputable and trusted.  Rounding out the list of most common forms of governments is an Oligarchy.  An Oligarchy requires a group, commonly referred to as a high council.  This is similar to a Republic, but the difference is that every member of the high council has equal say.  Everything in an Oligarchy must be agreed on by the majority of the high council (typically no more than 5 members).  The high council would take ideas from the rest of the army, and put them to test in the council voting process.  In foreign affairs, Oligarchical armies would select one member of the high council, typically the most experience, to represent the army.

Some armies take these governments a step further, and host elections where army members can step up as candidates and run for leader or high council member.  However, most armies use a promotion based system, where the “next man up” is the highest ranked member that follows the leader or high council member.

Army Relations:

Army relations are a huge part of what makes the army community so exciting.  Typically, an army is recommended to have at least one ally as a precaution.  If an army were to be declared war on by a much larger army, the ally of the smaller army would be able to assist it’s ally by declaring war on the larger army.  In the community, it is considered bad taste to have one army have their troops dressed in their allies uniform.  This shows a false amount of troops for one army.  Instead, allies are expected to assist their ally as themselves.  Colonies are a much tighter form of an alliance.  The colonized army is required to be at the beckoning call of the army that colonized them.  Typically, the colonized army is smaller than it’s parent army and is used as a task force.  However, the colonized army still governs itself freely to have it’s own events and empire.  Typically, an army will be colonized on an agreement, and break away once they’re big enough to support themselves, which may cause a war with their parent army.  Enemies are usually decided through physical actions, such as going to battle with them or denouncing them.

Necessities:

Website:

In original armies, every army was expected to have a website.  A website serves as a place where anyone can check out your army without needing to speak to someone in the army.  It also serves as a a message board for the members of the army, where they can see event results, upcoming events, and other things.  The website hosts all the information of the army, from their empire to their forms of communication.  It is by far, one of the most useful things an army can have.  Most armies use WordPress or Blogger to build a site.  These organizations have simplified website templates that are easy to navigate and not complex to set up.  They also have free domains, so armies don’t have to pay real money to have a website.

Recording Event Results:

Armies must have some way to show physical proof of a completed event.  The most popular form of recording results is by taking pictures.  This is done with a free program called Lightshot (click that word to be taken to their download page).  Lightshot gives you the ability to take pictures of your screen in any dimensions you’d like.  This usually lets armies decide what pictures they want to present, such as biggest size, cool formations or perfect tactics.

Events:

Armies are expected to be active.  This is so they can rank high on weekly top tens, and not appear weak to other armies.  Having multiple events can be draining, so it is advised to have different types of events over the week.

• Training Session: The most common form of event.  This event lets leaders try out new tactics and keep their troops active and skilled.
• U-Lead: A U-Lead is a troop/moderator driven event.  Leaders usually take a back seat and advise the event, while letting the lower ranks lead tactics.  The leader will usually appoint members to do tactics one by one, to ease chaos.  These are fun events to spice up an army’s schedule.
• Patrol: Common in the early days of armies, a patrol was a sweep of a server that the army owns.  Armies usually patrol the servers they own that are widely coveted, to make sure no army is using it.
• Recruiting Session: These take place to get new members into the army.  There are usually very few tactics, and mostly reciting phrases to get people to search for the army or join and act as a “rogue” to better their size.
• Defense: A defense only takes place when an opposing army schedules an invasion on your army’s empire.  Defenders will follow the attacking army throughout the map for a 30 minute time period, where they will deflect the oppositions attacks.  If successful, your army will get to keep the server.
• Invasion: An invasion is an event scheduled in advance, that’s goal is to take a server from the opposing army’s empire.  The invading army will go to three rooms, usually spending 10 minutes in each one, trying to best the defending army in size and tactics.
• Raid: A raid is like an invasion, except it doesn’t have to be scheduled in advance.  Raids follow the same structure of an invasion, but it does not count as an invasion, thus the raiding army will not receive the server even if they dominate the opposing army.

Among these events, some armies host Club Penguin game nights, or contests on Club Penguin like best costume, and then take a picture of the army doing a tactic so it counts as an event.

Conclusion

Back in 2006, armies were founded simply as little groups of people who thought it was fun to fight for territory.  From that point on, armies got more and more complex, to the point where armies became less of “armies” and more as independent nations or “countries” even.  With the closure of Disney’s Club Penguin, we have seen armies revert to that gang-like state from 2006.  This guide is to help armies return to their high stature, one chapter at a time.

DMT

CPA Spokesperson

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