| From: | The Deb Decker <RJR96326@****.UTULSA.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Poison Ivy :) |
| Date: | Tue, 7 Dec 1993 23:28:05 -0600 |
>Seattle? Seattle is a UCAS possession. Is there sedition, or
>treason, in the works? Who is behind the talk of seccession in
>Seattle, and how does the Lone Star tie in?
It's very simple: The Seattle city council decided to contract the
police work out rather than pay for it, just like many cities contract
out their garbage and EMT work. There's no sedition or treason in that.
The only reason Seattlites would consider secession is because the
city is isolated from UCAS proper, making it difficult to feel
solidarity with their fellow Canadian-Americans.
>the LRRPS, and the rest of the "special" units would be overhead,
>counted above the base 37,500 bodies in the Division. Each
>Division would have them.
I was under the impresion that US divisions were approximately 8000-10000
in size. Granted, the support may increase the number.
>Chemical warfare? Intercept the delivery systems.
It doesn't *have* to be delivered via missile. A pre-emptive attack
could be launched via saboteurs. But chemicals are messy anyway.
Postulated Battles: The CAS and UCAS have no reaon to invade each other.
And Aztlan, as I understand it, is more likely to use magic rather than
cyber.
> Incidentially, Security companies would *jump* to hire a
>pre-cybered combat vet. These people already have the most
>expensive part of police building and training out of the way.)
But somebody has to pay for it, at least partially. The military would
not simply release someone with 200-300,000 of cyberware in them. The
"most expensive part" probably won't be there any more, if I read your modular
ideas correctly.
>(modular, rememer) Wired Reflexes and put them on duty where they
I don't see how wired reflexes, as they are defined, can be modular. The
difference between the varying levels also relies on the wiring, which
pervades the entire body. Very difficult to make modular, IMO.
>In Starship Trooper each ship carried what I think
But this isn't Starship Troopers.
>All the troops will fight, all the troops will do the support work.
You can't do both. If you're fighting, you're not doing support work.
If you're supporting, you can't fight.
So you have say 100 troops. 50 do support and 50 fight. Boom, 30 die,
so you rotate 30 up front. Now you're only accomplishing 40% as much
support work as you were.
Why not make your combat troops more combat effective instead of training
the support arm to be equal fighters?
>One Squad of (4) LAACV tanks
It was my impression that 4 tanks constituted a platoon, with 3 tank
platoons making a company.
The LAV Arty vehicle: I assume it can only fire arty from the ground,
unless new gun tech is introduced to lighten the recoil. 155 and 203mm
shells have a lot more recoil than most vectored thrust can stand, at least for
the periods of time that most batteries fire.
However, it makes the arty shoot & scoot concept easier. Fire, flare rockets
to a position 500m away while tracking inbound shells and calculating
counter-fire, launch on touchdown, jump again. Cool.
>Actually, I expect that I will
>raise them from two sources. One source will be the same way the
>Army gets Doctors and Dentists right now, the military pays for
As Robert Watkins (I believe) already pointed out, Mages are born, not
trained. Your impressment idea is more plausible--and even then wouldn't
be used all the time. SOme people just cannot be disciplined, and are more
of a threat.
> Here's another idea that Deirdre and I came up with
>yesterday. How about a Division made up of whole Companies of
>Orks, Trolls, Elves, and Dwarves, all with the full cyber
>package, earning their "place in the sun"?
Some of them have allergics and want no place in the sun :)
Metahumans, while they have significant advantages over humans (greater
strength, dexterity, or physique) also have significant disadvantages, such
as lower willpower, intelligence or physique. And that is in game terms.
IMO, they will not be, in the long run, better or worse than a pool of
humans. Forming Troll, Ork, and Elven divisions is just as racist as
black and Nisei squads earlier in this century. Forming divisions based
on attributes is different; I wouldn't be surprised to find a higher
proportion of Trolls in combat units. But forming entire units around
a single race makes no sense.
> Think of the Buffalo Soldiers or the WWII Black Infantry
>Regiments (Regiments are the old Cavalry equivalent to the
>Batallion). Remember the Rainbow Division of WWII fame. It was
>made up of Hawaiian Orientals and Natives. It was the single
>most decorated American unit in WWII.
Yeah, look at those Hawaians go! They're so much better at killing than
us poor white folk. . .See above.
>So, equally possibly, there
>would be metahumans scattered throughout the military.
So why not just cut to the chase and disperse them to begin with?
Especially since UGE and goblinization would affect troops already within
the ranks.
>From what the Army research of the late 60s to mid
>80s showed, segregation is worse than adaption by several orders
>of magnitude.
So why are you postulating metahuman-only divisions???!!!
I think you've got a lot of ideas but not all of them will work, at
least not with each other.
J Roberson
