You know, I was writing so many chapters. Everything was going great, then I hit this wall and I haven't written anything for the past 2 weeks. Back story: My MC was brought to this army by one of the 20 commanders who think differently from the rest. he wants mc to flap the others faces and show them the power of an individual. The army doesn't believe in individual strength. Their motto is, 'Numbers over strength.' Damages or death of the soldiers doesn't matter because the numbers are ever growing. Problem: How should I go about this situation. I have decided to go the tournament route, but do know how to approach the subject because the army doesn't believe in individual strength, I can't make MC fight single soldiers. And if I let him fight with numbers t won't matter because he's going to lose in the end. 1. I'm thinking of letting him fight the monsters the army usually fight and losses hundreds of soldiers against (Because her tactic is to keep sending soldiers until the monsters tire out), but I am having second thoughts. HOw should i make him fight these monsters? Should I have them captured by the army and then fight in a colosseum or let him enter the valley where these monsters reside? 2. Should I make the army send a whole company and mc alone. Then mc come out alive and the soldiers don't. Thing is, I want to keep it light in terms of crisis and make the others observe whats happening and make the real-time comment on the situation. I hope to receive some help. It's not an urgent situation. Thank you for your time. I'm leaving to watch 'Project A' So i won't comment or read for the next 2 hours. Thank you once again.
whatever you do, don't go the tournament route, i suggest you let him shine out on a battlefield and he kills a general or something...
Depends how close to the end of the story/arc you are. Are you trying to tie everything up in the scene and show finally how he's superior to a group of regular soldiers or are you introducing more problems still? I'd say in general that all of a sudden pulling out a tower or tournament out of the air feels bad unless you've lead up to it for a while. A surprise night attack by monsters, or enemy assassins, where the MC could shine(but not dominate everything) might feel more natural depending and need a bit less foreshadowing.
Can you disclose the title of your story (if you have already posted it)/ or an essential part of the story (if you haven't yet) so other can make suggestions that are consistent with the back story Edit: Nvm stupid eyes here
Option 1 and having him enter the valley to fight the monsters would be the most logical course of action. If he comes back with the corpse of a monster that hundreds or thousands of soldiers couldn't defeat, wouldn't he prove that strength can beat numbers? Though its better if all the numbers have some strength of their own so as to improve the group as a ehile....how they (the soldiers) miss that point, no one knows~.
Maybe a situation where a large amount of people is a waste unconditionally, like, say the enemy is a mage/monster who's really good at massive spells/has some kinda tool or title(if it's litMMO) that gives an advantage against a large group or there's some kinda trial from God/system(again if litMMO) that only one can do? Also, it would be better to make it so people do not die, considering the whole commentary thing would make the comments look cold unless you wanna go for it.
You could make the monsters attack a "safe" city in the rear where tournament is held. The city would have to be a smaller one, or poorer compared to other cities to make security bad/thin/corrupted. Mayor would hold the competition as he is a greedy pig/kind lord who needs money to help the people. This might justify a weaker military presence as the military wouldn't be interested in a "lower" tier competition. The enemy monsters would have to be discovered beforehand so the military leaders would have time to discuss plans. From here its really up to you i guess. You could make the greedy pig mayor sacrifice the citizens to evacuate himself, then the mc would save everyone by killing the boss/big monster?/Huge monster that shouldn't be there (you know the classic "Impossible, it cant be" from a veteran soldier). Or make the mc break rank despite the leaders command ("You where are you going") to destroy everything in his path and kill the boss, saving the kind mayor who had accepted his/her death.
How about getting him involved in an internal conflict between soldiers. Make him overcome assassination attempts and make his fellow soldiers admire him. Or just make him beat the shit out of someone in sparring sessions.
I'm not following your goal, you are saying numbers aren't everything is what general wants to show but MC will lose against numbers? Is this a compatibility issue where MC is good against monsters but bad against people? Such as high damage type with low defense. Tournament is a pretty bad way to convince people single person is better than numbers. Not to mention a tournament out of nowhere? If a monster takes many deaths to capture, putting them in a Colosseum makes little sense. I mean why sacrifice a bunch of soldiers for what? And how do you keep them under control after they are in the Colosseum? Maybe if it is a monster that can be safely trapped with multiple people. (ex. My novel has a boar type monster who requires a strong person to kill because their charge attack they do can kill even those stronger than the boar, but after the boar charges, it gets paralyzed so it can be killed with multiple weaker people) Or do they capture the monster to do executions and have some sort of magical way to paralyze it with a collar or something? Cause any monster that requires 100 people to beat isn't going to be easy to control. So they are going to sacrifice soldiers for a test? Plus, who is going to observe the MC while fighting a monster that can kill a hundred? Isn't that suicide? And if no one is observing, and soldiers all die, anyone can claim the soldiers killed the monster and he poisoned or used some cheap trick on the soldiers. The only way you can make this work somehow is if the monster in question is a territorial type. Examples being: Tree monster, it can't move but kills anyone that enters its territory. (but it will spread its territory as it grows) Monster that lives at the bottom of a canyon which is its territory and it doesn't leave the canyon. (rare minerals can be there) So others can watch in these cases without actually being suicidal. They don't even need to waste soldiers, the soldiers could have failed in the past or they could know this monsters strength already based on fighting it before.
Maybe he goes to train in secret and happens upon an ambush on a friendly company? Noone, of course, believes he resolved the crisis and he even gets suspected for organizing it. Who are the antagonists? What type of personality is the hero? What state the army is in? What state the world is in? Challenges shouldn't be forced, imho. Most are extremes of circumstances around the story
You can always go the classic army route of the mc getting seperated from the army by a big attack our somthing along those lines and then have him ambush and take down enemy throught stealth. stealth is usally the best way to show individual strength when there is no organized way that the strength can be shown.
you basically fucked yourself over. you didn't even provide the concept and thinking of why does A want to show off to B his C for reason D there is no individual strength in an army of numbers. just make a plot twist and have them fail
@Underload will you dive deeper to the quality vs. quantity debate for the philosophy of commanding or are you going focus the scene/situation to the OP MC proving the quality vs quantity debate through his qualities only? (him alone I mean) If you are going to the few people plot: you can go for the shotcaller method- rather than fighting heads-on which is the ideal idea for quantity mindset, you can make it a monster luring theme with tactical motives rather than predefined objectives/ traps (Realistically people only do these kind of risky bait method because they are confident or OP) If you are going for the solo person plot: why not make it like this... it will be a monster invasion make it many or a strong one, etc (strategically anticipated for the MC) You can easily reason about the the reasonableness of the MC's action rather than prematurely exposed (readers' POV) Too OP powers. It will also be reasonable to be alone, if you make it alone because the MC will cause manmade disasters by altering the foundations in the area. Well he is OP so he can survive, he can also make it through the obstacles after the disaster causing further damage to the enemies or escaping dramatically
Gather up few strong ones, and have them spar with bird brains. Then they will know strength matters as well, and this might turn into numbers + strength = KO.
I have 2 suggestions for you: 1. Introduce an enemy (monster pack or another nation) that are proficient in guerrilla tactics. Show that their numbers are dwindling faster than they can recruit. 2. Introduce a monster that cannot be defeated by unskilled soldiers no matter how many they are. Ex. a hydra that will recover it's heads or a chimera that has a poison aura
The MC will look like a bad voodoo with 2....and yet the setting is an army which should be displayed with brothers in arm
Hiw about this situation. mission : kill bandit leaders. 1 team fought directly and upon heavy casualties conplete the mission. MC : said to his army " I alone am enough." Came back few hours later with bandit leader head in hand.