Trade Run

A Trade Run is a weekly general delivery mission in the UNKNOWN [?] Trading Company that usually takes place after a set amount of items have been gathered and or manufactured from the North for trading in the South. The trade runs are generally protected by a group of Company members who may come from various regiments to form a "caravan". They are generally popular with Southerners as a form of protection from bandits, safety from zombies and opportunity to acquire Northern gear in the South. As such, it also doubles as a diplomatic mission and is the main method of spreading the Company's influence in the South.
== Operations ==
Trade Run operations have served as the basic fundamental template for any UTC event or mission. Many of the modern day Company's tactics and procedures stem from experiences in the trade runs that has operated almost consistently since September 2012. The Formation Fighting System and the strict order and discipline practiced today was born out of the need to defend the caravans sent in the South to fight.
Trade Runs usually begin when members from different regiments converge in an agreed assembly town. Once the minimum amount of people which is three(3 Irons), are acquired, the group can now be called a caravan and move as one group to the South, all while picking up stragglers and or late-comers along the way. At this point, the caravan begins broadcasting messages of arrival to anyone listening on the ender eye that the UTC will arrive in the South. Separated UTC corps from areas far away from the assembly town could converge at another rendezvous point, usually a border town.
Once the caravan has arrived at the border town, it begins announcing it will begin trading in any of the following cities:
* Grimdale
* Pravus
* Portsmouth
* Bell Farm
* Huntsgrove
* Romero
* Carmi
* Geuten
The caravan would usually set up shop in an fortified or suitable to give the UTC a fighting advantage. If the area is not fortified, the caravan will post sentries and scouts to warn of impending attack to the main group to buy time for them to get ready to receive or retreat. The merchants usually stay in the town until there is no one left to buy from the city and move on to the next one.
The caravan will adopt a number of formations outlined in the UTC Field Manual to maneuver with coolness and precision and most of all cohesion. Order and discipline is important as fighting in the South is unique because of the closeness for a possible enemy to attack twice after respawning, known to people as "spawn-rushing".
Once the caravan has sold out of its goods, it can immediately and legally pull out, having completed its duties and begin to retreat to a Border Town, where the group may go in their separate ways, having satisfied honor.Category:Mission