General Discussion

[Lt. Staplic]

To address those points:

Jump Jets would essentially be Sub-Sonic flight abilities. It's good for making short bursts like that or getting around a state sized area pretty quickly. We could add a lower setting on there, but it wouldn't be worth it, the way the system is/would be set up the cost difference between a jump jet and sub-sonic flight abilities would make it pointless to just have jump jets.

Melee weapons were not included because they'd be mostly ceremonial pieces anyway for these reasons: #1 with the amount of firepower these things will have and along with their ranges will probably prevent combat distances from closing to hand-to-hand distances. Additionally the thickness and strength of armor on these things would make most if not all melee weapons about as effective as limp rope.

As to effectiveness's that is calculated by the sheet using the DITL Calculator to calculate the ratings for defense, and offense. We had to read between the lines slightly as there is no field for projectile and laser on the calculator. We also scaled it a little bit differently to reflect the smaller scale we're working on.

[Tsukiyumi]

Melee weapons were not included because they'd be mostly ceremonial pieces anyway for these reasons: #1 with the amount of firepower these things will have and along with their ranges will probably prevent combat distances from closing to hand-to-hand distances. Additionally the thickness and strength of armor on these things would make most if not all melee weapons about as effective as limp rope.

See, this I disagree with. Against other armored troops? Yeah, they'd be useless. Against militia, regulars, crack and elite, they'd still carve through people.

[Sonic Glitch]

Melee weapons were not included because they'd be mostly ceremonial pieces anyway for these reasons: #1 with the amount of firepower these things will have and along with their ranges will probably prevent combat distances from closing to hand-to-hand distances. Additionally the thickness and strength of armor on these things would make most if not all melee weapons about as effective as limp rope.

See, this I disagree with. Against other armored troops? Yeah, they'd be useless. Against militia, regulars, crack and elite, they'd still carve through people.

I thought the point of the armor suits and long range weaponry was to prevent the enemy from getting in slicing/dicing range?

[Deepcrush]

The point of armored suits is protection, the weapons are a different matter. Some melee weapons would be useful against armor suits. Things designed to punch/cut/melt/crush through armor. IE, large spikes or my chainswords or energy blades or powerfists.

As to the range, Stitch had 200m well dug Romulans... ask them how long they kept me at range. Ranged ability is good but if you can't defend up close then you have a serious weakness in urban warfare.

Also remember that your Armored suits aren't just fighting other suits. They'll be fighting regular infantry, tanks, mechs, shuttles, fortified positions, civil revolts... so on. So expending ammunition on every one of them gets to be a problem.

[Lt. Staplic]

Melee weapons were not included because they'd be mostly ceremonial pieces anyway for these reasons: #1 with the amount of firepower these things will have and along with their ranges will probably prevent combat distances from closing to hand-to-hand distances. Additionally the thickness and strength of armor on these things would make most if not all melee weapons about as effective as limp rope.

See, this I disagree with. Against other armored troops? Yeah, they'd be useless. Against militia, regulars, crack and elite, they'd still carve through people.

But why ever let those troops get to that range? They'd all be mowed down by the time they got there....and if they did happen to survive close enough for hand to hand combat, you could punch them once and crush their skull/sternum with the power of these suits.

As for rounds: Beam Weapons (weather their projectile, phaser, or anything inbetween) are considered to have unlimited ammunition for a battle to avoid that issue all together.

[BigJKU316]

In the spirit of adding some variety to the ground battles while keeping things simple to run in that respect I am considering a menu of options for both sides.

You would not really be giving orders so much as setting an outline for what is and is not okay for your troops. Like if you were just fine if instead of screwing around with clearing the rooms of a city your troops just leveled it or called in a bombardment from orbit then you would get bonuses for that (though there would be some consequences obviously, particularly for our more touchey feely powers out there). On the other hand if you want to take a place intact it could become harder. Here is a VERY preliminary draft of some options we might try.

Ground Battle Options


Orbital Support Options

Global Devastation- Unlimited fire support from orbiting ships on demand without regard to civilian casualties. 100% bonus to attacking troops.

Measured Support- Fire support on identified military targets only. 50% bonus to attacking troops.

Cautious Support- Fire support only in open areas. 25% bonus to attacking troops.

No Support- No orbital fire support.


Ground Offensive Options

Unrestrained- Troops operate in the most militarily effective manner period without regard for civilian casualties. Plus 50% bonus to attacking troops.

Military Necessity- Troops would demolish civilian buildings and risk casualties only in events of military necessity. 25% bonus to attacking troops.

Cautious Advance- Troops will clear buildings and avoid civilians at all cost.


Defensive Options

Hostage Situation- Actively uses civilians as shields. Co-locates them with units. Straps them onto mechanized armor, tapes them to bunkers ect. 150% bonus to defender. Cancels out measured support and cautious support from orbit.

Urban Entrenchment- Entrenches units in and around urban centers for maximum defensive value. 100% bonus to defenders; cancels out effects of cautious orbital support for attacker.

Military Entrenchment- Entrenches in defensible positions near areas of value. Does not unnecessarily co-locate with civilians but does not purposely avoid them either. Plus 50% to defenders.

Open Area- Deploys defenders in an open area to contest invasion, attempts to avoid civilian entanglements all together.

[Mark]

How about orbital defensive fixures. Can we design those?

[Deepcrush]

Its already in there, it counts towards your starbases. The light, medium or heavy defenses.

[BigJKU316]

Yeah, they would not figure in ground battles. By the time someone landed an army they would have wiped out any orbital defenses you had.

[Mark]

Got ya

[Reliant121]

i've noticed on the sheet with all the Operations on that you have an area for military outposts?

may sound stupid but what is this for?

[Tsukiyumi]

You can set those up on friendly worlds, or captured enemy planets to provide supply to your ships, IIRC.

[Reliant121]

Interesting. Thanks, I'll bear that in mind.

[Deepcrush]

Also account for how you have your troops fighting. This is mostly for defenders but you have to think about what kind of positions you want to set up. Urban, open, rough terrain all change how certain units deal. Rough terrain being what an urban area becomes during a battle due to damage.

Tanks would fare better in open ground but would be sitting ducks in urban and rough terrain areas. Rubble and rocks and ditches can cause issue.
Power Armor performs well in Urban and Rough terrain but would be in trouble on flat open ground. Open ground means the enemy can see you coming.
Standard infantry would do best in rough and urban defense but should never be used on open ground unless you have to.

[BigJKU316]

On suicide tactics (ie mass ramming)

I think people would do well to remember that the vast majority of military groups through history have never really resoted to these sort of tactics. We have one real example of an organized, suicide based response by one military directed at another and that is the Japanese. Most people are not going to be eager to join in such activity and it will have a devestating impact on moral for all but the most death obsessed cultures like the Klingons and possibly the Breen. It is one thing when a single captain in a hopeless fight orders a ship to ram but quite another when high command adopts it as a tactical approach to warfare. Most people would rather surrender/cut a deal than simply throw themseleves to certain death. Very few people are as committed as the Japanese were and the Klingons likely are to things like this.