Editor Questions

[Ivan Rapkinov]

gday fellas

I've been asked to make a Starship Troopers style scn for DA -> not sure why, but hey, sounds like fun

have a few questions regarding morale and unit types

Morale: how do I simulate the Bugs high morale (meaning they should never really break)? I thought about making the Bug warrior units Elite Coys that hopefully when the MI battalions attack 'em they'll either kill the MI units, or they'll be destroyed.

also what scale will work best? The scn is based on Klendathu from the movie/book (might have to put some skinnies in too I guess), so it should be a Div of MI vs a sh*tload of Bugs.

atm, my types are...

Buggies:

Warrior Bugs: Mech Infantry, wheeled (Coy sized units, small footprint)
Hoppers: attack Helos (very short range)
Tankers: armour platoons (high RCP, small footprint)
Plasma Bugs (AD, Arty)
worker bugs: loggies units
Spitters: AT guns, small footprint, range
Bomber Bugs: minefields/obstacles (not sure how elese to have them - their role is as suicide bombers)
Brain Bugs: IEW unit
Royal Warriors: Mech Infantry Tracked (coy Sized units, higher RCP)
Queen Bugs: HQ units.


Mobile Infantry:

Mobile Infantry PNs: foot infantry, coy sized medium RCP
MI Infantry PNs w/ nuke launchers: foot AT infantry
Dropships: air cav
Armoured MI: armoured coys, high RCP
Fleet bombardment: arty, uses observer as avatar
Psychics: IEW
MiST: SF
K9 units: MP/Cav


any suggestionws would be greatly appreciated

 

[James Sterrett]

Not sure where to go, but the question's stuck in my head.

As I see it, the trouble is that the actions portrayed in the book and in the old-but-good Avalon Hill boardgame [which a certain R. Heinlein had input on] are essentially tactical, and Decisive Action's realy built for operations. [I have not seen the movie.]

What do MI organizations larger than a company really look like?

What do Bug organizations look like at all?

As I recall, the AH boardgame pitted at most an MI battalion against a prepared Bug hive, and the result looked a lot like guerilla war, with the MI trying to figure out the hive's underground network and nuke the brain, while the Hive tried to ambush the MIs with warriors and the odd heavy weapon unit.

We never really see a bug offensive operation; similarly, the Skinnies are only seen as targets of a terror raid.

The Bug's ability to move between planets, and "slag" Buenos Aires, implies they have tech (as do the heavy weapons units in the AH boardgame). But what else do they have?

And then we get into questions of the proper footprint - how much ground can an MI company effectively cover? Might be better off treating each MI company as a battalion+ in terms of footprint.

Are there longer-ranged fire support systems than MI troopers carrying nuke rockets? It would make sense in principle, but is it ortillery (orbital fire support) or are the MI trucking tubes/rails and rounds down the gravity well? [Ortillery has its own troubles witrh response times and targeting.... ]


One possible solution is to make the MI be high-RCP squads, each representing one trooper, while the Bug units are battalions to give them the necessary resilience. Treat artillery units as being more like RSTA units, with the "range" being the range in which they can effectively direct starship fires.

Still doesn't deal with bug tunnels, though.