Disclaimer: I wanted to make a fair and equal comparison of these two types of systems. I acknowledge I'm not a know it all and have bias towards OODA.
To overcome these handicaps, I enlisted the use of AI telling it to be fair and balanced in collecting and comparing the two systems. However, I did editing and made additions and corrections so I would not call this an AI generated article, just AI assisted in collecting and evaluating the information to ensure an equal comparison.
I've taken some online AI courses and am aware of it's limitations and not to totally rely on it. If you want to discuss AI with me start a new post, I'd be glad to contribute.
This is a comparison. I'm not going to say one is better than the other as that's up to the player, their individual taste and what they want to get out of the hobby. I will relate my experience and what I like.
Summary: The choice between the two depends on the desired level of realism, strategic depth, and player interaction for the specific game design.
New players will be more familiar with IGYG but OODA is more natural and intuitive once understood.
The OODA Loop emphasizes rapid iteration and continuous adaptation to an opponent's actions, leading to a faster and potentially more engaging game experience.
IGOUGO provides a more structured and predictable experience, prioritizing the completion of a player's plan within their designated turn. With IGYG there are more abstractions and rules needed to parse the action like activations, and separate phases for orders, spotting, movement, shooting, etc.
OODA can smoothly recreate simultaneous action unfolding in seconds, minutes, hours, or days and allow players to pause the game at any time to react to enemy threats. In IGYG they must wait for their turn.
Since OODA reflects real historical action the same Action Timing, and "Play the Loop" (in the same turn you execute an order, loop back to Observe and issue your new order) system can be used for almost any period of warfare.
IGYG works better for large operational level games with dozens of units, OODA works better for skirmishing and tactical level games with fewer units because there is more detail and some record keeping.
OODA is better suited for "Design for Cause" showing the historical reasons behind the actions and results. IGYG is better for "Design for Effect" because you can use a higher level of abstraction to get a quicker result.
Here's a breakdown of the differences between the "I Go You Go" and the OODA Loop mechanics
These are the areas I wanted to compare and pointed the AI at.
Game Design:
IGYG Uses abstracted and semi-historical game rules and mechanics as a playable way to sequentially parse the action of units within a game turn of specified amount of time, generally minutes or hours. Players do not need to have a high level of understanding of combat and tactics. There are normally special rules and exceptions for Opportunity Fire. The turn sequence tells the players what to do, when and how often. This makes it easy for new players as there is very little planning involved. Tactics are mainly special rules and die roll modifiers. Generally, players must wait for their turn to do something.
OODA: The action revolves around individual unit historical OODA Loop Decision Timing to execute an order and parse the moving and shooting action. Movement is simultaneous. Opportunity Fire is more accurate without needing additional rules. There is no turn sequence. Players select an action and/or tactic and determine how many turns (seconds, minutes, hours) it will take to execute.
there is no orders phase. Since units are are always active and observing, they can react at any time to enemy threats including canceling orders. Players must have the knowledge of real tactics and how they are carried out which can make it difficult for new players to fully experience the game.
Player duties and responsibility:
IGYG: Each turn is structured with the action performed in a specific or randomized sequence. In most systems, players wait for their turn to perform an action. There are many variations of IGYG.
OODA: Players record their unit Act Time and pause the game at the future time to execute the order and immediately issue their next order. Because units are always active and observing, they can pause the game at any time to react to enemy activity.
Main Rules and Mechanics:
IGYG: initiative, Order Phase, Unit Activation, Command Points, Opportunity Fire, Turn Interrupts. Random actions can occur if using cards.
OODA: Action Timing, Act Time, Situational Awareness, Engagement Delays, Virtual Movement, Mutual LOS Reactions, Target Engagement. SNAFUs and cards can be used for random actions.
Record Keeping:
IGYG: Minimal. Players track the game through a specific sequence of actions during a turn. There is no recordkeeping for individual units.
OODA: For each unit, players must record the Act Time future turn their order will execute. The game clock keeps track of the turns.
Turn Structure:
IGYG: Players take turns completing all their actions before the next player acts. There are many variations and activation methods.
OODA: Players determine the Act Time an order will be executed. At that time he pauses the game, executes his order and does it over again.
Order Execution:
IGYG: Orders are executed immediately when it is your turn, which is unrealistic but playable.
OODA: Orders take time to plan and have the crews execute them. Better crews are quicker. There are several historical "Risk-Reward Tactical Decisions" for players to trade decreased accuracy for increased speed of order execution.
Player Agency:
IGYG: Limited interaction during the opponent's turn, often restricted to defensive reactions. Players must follow the turn sequence.
OODA: High player agency and interaction. Continuous observation and reaction to opponent actions. Poor tactics will result in a delay to issue an order.
Ease of Play:
IGYG: Players follow a set sequence of actions alternating turns making it easy for all players to follow.
OODA: Using customized unit data cards and in game QR code activated videos eliminates the need to look up rules. There are fewer rules.
Fog of War:
IGYG: Actions (ex. random activations) are normally predictable through the IGYG turn sequence.
OODA: Act Times are secretly recorded. No one knows for sure which unit will execute their order next. Random actions and SNAFUs can easily be integrated.
Movement:
IGYG: Players take turns moving one or more units until all of them have been moved. Some rules allow for the non-moving player to react. Need special Opportunity Fire rules and exceptions.
OODA: Uses the concept of "Virtual Movement" where simultaneously each turn moving units "virtually" move an increment of distance based on their speed. This synchronizes movement and rates of fire without special Opportunity Fire rules.
Pace of Play:
IGYG: Can lead to downtime for the inactive player(s) waiting for their turn. Some designs allow for interrupting your opponents turn sequence.
OODA: Creates a faster, more dynamic and fluid pace of play. It's always your turn to react.
Decision-Making:
IGYG: Players can plan their turn fully, normally without immediate opponent interference.
OODA: Requires rapid assessment, adaptation, and prediction of opponent actions and movement.
Information Flow:
IGYG: Information is processed in distinct segments (turns). You must wait
until your turn to react to new changes and information on the enemy.
OODA: Continuous flow of information and feedback, driving subsequent decisions and reactions based on the increment of time being used.
Game Balance:
IGYG: Easy to balance the game by allowing both sides a limited number of equal actions to perform in a turn. Some systems allow a chance for additional actions or activations and to interrupt your opponents turn.
OODA: is Time Competitive. Historically quicker units will execute more orders within a specific time period than slower units giving them an advantage. Real combat is not balanced and fair.
Historical Recreation:
IGYG: Very hard to recreate historical fluid action except in an abstracted manner as real combat is not IGYG, fair or balanced.
OODA: Using a Game Clock, the action smoothly and historically unfolds in the time slices of the game (seconds, minutes, hours, etc.). By not artificially balancing the game system, you can get a better comparison of tactics and weapons platform performance. You tweak the scenario to balance the game.
My preferences: I've been playing traditional IGYG board and miniature games for over 50 years. For the last 10 years I've been developing and playing OODA games using individual units up to Battalion level WWII, ship-ship and am working on air combat. I prefer OODA for miniatures and smaller board game scenarios and IGYG for large scale games.
My opinion: OODA is more predictable but in the same way if you observed a real battle the next 10-20 seconds the action would be pretty much but not entirely predictable. OODA forces players to concentrate on tactics and timing. They must pay attention during the entire game as they are no traditional turn of move/shoot sequence.
Example: You want to shoot at a moving target traveling 25kph. You know from experience that your tank and crew will take 15 seconds to react, engage and shoot. After 15 seconds the target would have traveled about 100m. Now if the target would have dodged out of your LOS in that time the shooting player can Snap Shoot sooner but with an accuracy penalty. It's his "Risk-Reward Tactical Decision", not the dice or a turn sequence. This portrays opportunity fire with no additional rules or exceptions.
Movement: OODA allowed me, with the help of others, to develop a playable simultaneous movement system without plotting. As each game turn from the clock is announced, all units with a movement marker advance to the next 1-9 segment on the marker. Players can pause the game to maneuver or decelerate to Halt Fire. This synchronizes movement and rates of fire streamlining opportunity fire. Hopefully, this video will give a clear example of virtual movement and how players react to shoot when a new LOS is created from movement:
link
This really speeds up the multi-player games.
IGYG is more about the sequence of play and any particular variations of which there are many. OODA eliminates the need for IGYG rules such as activation, initiative determination, move/shoot phase, orders phase, etc.
At first glance OODA seems more complicated. However, once understood players realize it is natural and intuitive. I've found that many players prefer specific abstracted traditional IGYG mechanics, sometimes because they've developed their own to fit generate the experience they desire in a game, just as I have.
One other interesting thing I've found in an OODA system. No game designer can cover everything in detail that can occur on a battlefield. When we run into something not covered or an anomaly, rather than coming up with a new rule or die roll modifier that can impact other rules, we look for real life examples or look in the manuals. This has allowed us to recreate in detail and playability almost any tactic or maneuver in armored and infantry warfare. Rather than memorizing rules, memorize tactics and how to execute them.
In the end both give a different gaming experience. The best one is the one you prefer.
By January I'll have the intro version of the game available and my YouTube channel finished. I hate reading rules so I'll have many detailed videos available.
Wolfhag
