CHAPTER 12. THE ATTACK BY FIRE
1. Soldier Tzu said: There are five ways of attacking with fire. The first is to burn BLU maggots in their base; the second is to burn dispensers; the third is to burn teleporters; the fourth is to burn their base to the ground; the fifth is to hurl fire onto the enemy.
2. In order to carry out an attack, we must have means available. the material for raising fire should always be kept in readiness.
3. There is a proper season for making attacks with fire, and special days for starting them.
4. The proper season is when the weather is very dry, as New Mexico always is; the special days are those when the moon is in the constellations of the Shovel, the Eviction Notice, the Holy Mackerel or the Huntsman; for these four are all days of rising wind.
5. In attacking with fire, one should be prepared to meet five possible developments:
6. (1) When fire breaks out inside our enemy's base, respond at once with an attack from outside.
7. (2) If there is an outbreak of fire, but the enemy remains quiet, we must bide our time and must not attack.
8. (3) When the force of the flames has reached its height, follow it up with an attack, if that is practicable; if not, we stay where we are.
9. (4) If it is possible to make an assault with fire from without, do not wait for it to break out within, but deliver your attack at a favourable moment.
10. (5) When we start a fire, be to windward of it. Do not attack from the leeward.
11. A wind that rises in the daytime lasts long, but a night breeze soon falls.
12. In every army, the five developments connected with fire must be known, the movements of the stars calculated, and a watch kept for the proper days.
13. Hence Pyro and Heavy with the Huo Long Heater, who use fire as an aid to the attack, show intelligence; those who use water as an aid to the attack gain an accession of strength.
14. By means of water, our enemy may be intercepted, but not robbed of all his belongings.
15. Unhappy is the fate of one who tries to win his battles and succeed in his attacks without cultivating the spirit of enterprise; for the result is waste of time and general stagnation.
16. Hence the saying: The enlightened ruler lays his plans well ahead; the good general cultivates his resources.
17. Don't move unless I see an advantage; I will not use my troops unless there is something to be gained; I will not fight unless the position is critical.
18. No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique. The BLU Soldier does both of these terrible things.
19. If it is to my advantage, you will make a forward move; if not, you must stay where you are.
20. Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content.
21. But the BLU kingdom, once it has been destroyed by the great RED team, can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life once their respawn disabled.
22. Hence I, the enlightened ruler, am heedful, and I, also the good general, full of caution. This is the way to keep a country at peace and an army intact.
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