Special versus general protection and attack of parallel and series components

Special and general protection and attack of two components in parallel or series are analyzed in a simultaneous move game. The analysis differs from earlier research which assumes multiple protection levels. Each player chooses either two special efforts, one general effort, or one special effort and one general effort. This combines to 16 solutions expressed analytically and illustrated with examples. The defender prefers the parallel system. The attacker prefers the series system. We quantify how higher contest intensities typically cause higher efforts, how players prefer low unit effort costs, and how players fight for valuable assets. One insight is to clarify how a player is situated in one of these 16 solutions when striking a balance between special and general efforts, or eliminating one or two efforts, while facing an adversary also striking such a balance. In a rapidly changing world, realizing how strategies can be adjusted towards specialization versus generalization becomes increasingly important.