Route Planning & Evaluation

Movement is where most missions succeed — or fail. A well-planned route can help your team avoid contact, exploit terrain, and arrive at the objective intact. A poorly planned one leads to exposure, disorientation, or fratricide.

This guide outlines how SPECTRE units plan routes across all operational platforms.

🎯 Route Planning Objectives

A good route:

• Controls exposure to threats
• Provides options for adapting under fire
• Supports timing and synchronization with other elements
• Leverages terrain to enhance stealth or overwatch
• Enables fallback or CASEVAC if needed

✅ Planning Best Practices

1. Use Terrain to Your Advantage

• Move behind ridgelines, through woods, or in dead ground
• Avoid skylining on hills or walking across open fields
• Pick routes that offer concealment or cover, even if they’re slower

Rule of thumb: If you can see them, they can see you — unless you’re better hidden.

2. Create Decision Points

Mark key decision points along your route where you might:

• Shift to a backup route
• Initiate an assault or breach
• Hold for synchronization
• Divert due to unexpected enemy presence

Don’t treat routes as single paths — treat them as branching options.

3. Include Rally & Hold Points

If your route spans a long distance or multiple phases:

• Designate Rally Points to regroup if teams become separated
• Use Hold Points to sync timing before final movement
• These are especially useful when working across terrain that breaks line of sight

4. Define Movement Timing

Time-based coordination is key for multi-element ops:

• Start times, phase lines, and check-in times help sync movement
• Avoid bottlenecks by staggering movement where terrain is restrictive

See also: Timing & Synchronization

5. Build a Backup Plan

Route planning should always include:

• Primary Route (Route RED)
• Alternate Route (Route BLUE)
• Abort Plan — where to fall back, and under what conditions

Always brief your team on what to do if the route fails.

6. Avoid Route Telegraphing

Don’t make your route obvious to the enemy:

• Avoid cutting direct lines toward objectives
• Don’t follow roads unless necessary
• Vary approach angles and entry directions when possible

7. Keep It Visual

Routes should be marked clearly for all teams:

• Arrows for direction
• Labels for rally points, phase lines, and waypoints
• Match naming with verbal brief

See also: Map Marking & Terrain Use

🚨 In-Game Considerations

Depending on the platform (Arma, Ground Branch, Reforger):

• Some tools allow persistent map lines
• Others rely on radio + shared visual terrain
• Use local pings, hand signals, or briefed landmarks as fallback methods

Final Tip

Don’t assume you’ll follow the plan exactly. Build routes that can flex. It’s better to change a good plan under fire than to cling to a bad one.

“A smart route keeps you alive. A flexible route gets the mission done.”