Tactical Analysis: Monstrous Conflict

The previous two tactical analyses shouldn't read like anything new if you've ever run an Action game.  They only differ in the technologies offered, and even then, those have obvious parallels to real-world weapons.  But Psi-Wars offers us a unique opportunity in that allows us to fight inhuman opponents, such as robots and space monsters.

I have limited time and space to discuss these, so I'll bundle them up into a single place.  I'll do that because they have a single consistent thing: They will not fight like people do.  I don't actually have any space monsters, though we can easily derive some rough examples.  I do have robots, of course, and you can read up on them here.

Space Monster Tactics

by BrighterSuns

Space monsters vary greatly, and could be nearly anything, but we can grab a few "typical" GURPS examples.  Given that most space monsters seem to be giant beasts, we could use the Tyrannosaurus (from GURPS: Lands Out Of Time) as our basis for creatures like the Rancor, and the Insectoid out of GURPS Monster Hunters 5: Xenology for the creepy-crawly sort.  Later, in Iteration 5, I'd like to deal with this concept in more detail, but this will work for now.

Both the Tyrannosaurus and the Insectoid have enormous strength (thought the T-Rex isn't quite as high as you might expect) and built-in melee weapons, like claws, teeth and tails.  Despite this, neither does very much damage against armored opponents.  The insectoid deals an average of 11 cutting damage with an armor divisor of 2, which will barely penetrate a battle-weave long coat, while the T-Rex deals 3d+2 impaling or 3d+4 crushing with its tail, neither of which are very impressive compared to TL 11 armor.

Neither has very much armor.  The T-Rex has a DR of 2, and the Insectoid has a DR of 15.  Neither will slow down a blaster very much.

For both, instinct rules the day: Both have a low IQ but high Perception, and unique sensory abilities.  Both have a high move and a decent DX. I would expect "clever" but pre-defined tactics. Once you've figured out how an alien tiger hunts, you know how almost all alien tigers hunt.  Giant aliens like the Rancor will just try to use brute force, etc.  We'd also expect alien monsters to be very adept at using the environment they're adapted for (chameleon, sure-footed, night vision, etc).

Robotic Tactics

"My Robot Army" by daonovski11

In case you missed the link before, here it is again.

Robot armies tend to be broken down into battle bots as the main, brute-force line of infantry, and specialist robots used sparingly, as scalpels.  We expect them to march forward, unwaveringly, and open fire on the enemy when they see them.  They're BAD 10, so not a major threat, but they have considerable HP (13-20) and DR (25), though they're not quite as survivable as troopers.

The Heavy Battle-Bot combines the DR of an Assault Trooper with the firepower of a Heavy Trooper, with superior skill and vastly superior ST.  Like battle bots, he'll simply march forward, shrugging off return fire and blasting away, unless he can reach you, in which case he'll throttle or pummel you to death.

Warbots take all of this a step forward, between the "Heavy Infantry" of the Heavy Battle Bot, and a tank.  He sports even greater HP, up to 275 DR, loads of weapons, an extra attack, high speed and excellent senses. Its only real weakness is its unimaginative tactics.

Finally, we have the assassin-bot, which has low DR, superior HP (20), superior senses, superior stealth, and superior senses.  Unlike the other robots, he can engage in imaginative tactics, studying its prey, learning from them, and then ambushing them with its dangerous claws.

A typical robot army will likely send assassin-bots into the population, use them to infiltrate enemy ranks, or simply use them as recon/ambush parties.  Once actual battle is joined, they'll simply march lines of battle bots, with the occasional heavy bot and war-bot as additional support.

Tactical Analysis: Civilian Conflict

I have a draft back in Iteration 3 that never got published, nor finished, for Thug mooks.  So far, we've limited ourselves to military-scale opponents, because the most common opponent in Star Wars is a stormtrooper, and Star Wars treats its enemies as more-or-less interchangeable when it comes to difficulty.  Psi-Wars, being an Action game, accepts the notion of differing BAD levels, and thus differing levels of competency from its opponents.  Thus, we'd expect Psi-Wars troopers to be better than some opponents, and worse than others.  We'd also expect them to fight with different tactics.

A hive of scum and villainy

This creates a scale of opponents, and on the low end of that scale would be gangsters, thieves and punks, the sorts of people who might frequent a cantina.  While they might be dangerous or well-armed, they're ultimately just civilians.  They lack military discipline, skill and, most importantly, back-up.  If a soldier is BAD 12-14, then a gangster might be BAD 10-12.

But they have something in common with an another archetype: the upper-crust civilian.  Both thieves and nobles will typically carry only a personal weapon, one that they carry as much to signal status as to protect themselves.  Both

A haven for elegance and wealth

might view personal combat (under strict rules) as a means to advance their personal status.  In both worlds, it's highly inappropriate to walk in wearing full armor and carrying a full complement of military gear, especially if your objective is to negotiate with the other party.  In both worlds, that negotiation might suddenly go south, and might suddenly turn very violent, so it behooves one to be well-protected, and in both worlds, the ideal form of protection are body guards... and making sure the other guy isn't particularly well armed.

We don't actually have stats worked out, but we can extrapolate them pretty nicely.

Standard Civilian Combatants

A typical civilian wears little to no armor (rarely more than an armored coat or a thin armored vest under their clothes).  Expect no more than 20 DR in a few, strategic locations.  Civilians rarely carry heavy weaponry.  Most thugs will be poor and will rarely carry anything more expensive than a blaster pistol or a vibro-knife, and might even wield some improvised equipment.  Nobles will have more expensive items, but not necessarily much more effective, as they're more worried about ornamentation (and statement) than self-defense.  Expect weapons like elegant holdout blasters, ornate vibro-blades, or perhaps even a force sword.  In both cases, most skill levels will be between 10 and 12.

In combat, many civilians will be non-combatants, which means they'll lack combat reflexes, freeze up if surprised, and may well panic and simply run, or attack wildly while trying to escape.  More combat-savvy characters (battle-tested gangsters or former soldiers) will fight with greater precision, but their tactics will generally be to overwhelm, perhaps even grandstand.

If civilians want to initiate combat, they'll do so either via an ambush (social or otherwise) or by trying to initiate a duel.  In the former case, gangsters and punks will probably pin someone down in a back alley, knock them over and then commence with the kicking, while nobles will probably spring on someone in a place far from the eyes of other, inflict their damage, and then demand silence "or else." A duel is more open and formal, a challenge spoken and rules (unspoken or otherwise) declared, and then the battle fought, usually under the watchful eyes of others.  Here, the point of the combat is not just the defeat of the opponent, but a glamorous victory.  A stylish duelist can gain more than just victory over his opponent as he becomes the talk of the town and his reputation begins to rise.

Bodyguards and Hit Men

Bodyguards and Hit Men are likely to be nearly as skilled as soldiers (BAD 12-14) and may well be former soldiers, but typically less well-armed.  Nobles will have heavily armed and armored bodyguards, but more money will got to making them look good rather than having them be effective.  Expect weapons like vibro-glaives, force-glaives, force-swords, vibro-blades, or ceremonial blasters, and their armor might be a combat hardsuit, but it'll be a lovely, ornate one.  Criminals will have less elegant bodyguards and hitmen, but also less effective, as a truly excellent guard/assassin/combatant could expect superior employment.  Why be a hit man to some mobster if you can parley your talent for murder into a job for a local noble?

Both will tend to stand back and survey the scene.  Their job is to be unobtrusive, a beautiful and/or intimidating part of the scenery, until violence seems immanent, and then they spring into action.

Tactical Analysis: Military Conflict

We've had Troopers since Psi-Wars began, back in Iteration 1, and they've been very thoroughly refined.  We have a solid idea of how they'd operate together on a battlefield.

Standard Troopers

The typical trooper has skill 12 with his blaster carbine, which has an accuracy of 10.  Assuming the soldier braces (+1) and aims (+10), he has a skill of 23, which means that he's got a pretty good accuracy out to ~70 yards.  If he's mobile and on the move, that accuracy drops substantially to making effectively wild shots. Troopers come equipped with plasma grenades, which will kill even another trooper in the same hex, and kill or seriously injure unarmored combatants out to 1 to 2 yards from the explosion point. The typical trooper also sports 60 DR on the chest and 30 DR elsewhere, making him an exceedingly tough nut to crack.  Their armor grants them microclimate control, is sealed against environmental hazards, and grants them IR vision, making them excellent night-combatants.

A typical trooper will probably crouch behind cover and lay down some massed fire with his squad-mates.  A careful trooper will aim, and an aimed shot will hit.  If they need to advance, they'll cover one another with supporting fire while making use of cover, but it none is available, they'll advance in the open and trust in their armor.  If their opponents use cover, they'll use grenades to flush them out into their arc of fire.

Elite Troopers

Troopers have three "supporting" types: The assault trooper, the heavy trooper, and the recon trooper. 

The assault trooper sports heavier armor and superior close-combat weaponry.  In an open-conflict, an assault trooper likely carries shock grenades and/or a flamer. He'll lead assaults on enemy positions, with his superior armor absorbing enemy fire, and his superior training allowing him to spearhead the attack.  Open conflicts aren't really his bailiwick, however.  He's better at urban conflict or ship-boarding operations.

The heavy troop is generally equipped with a missile launcher or a gatling blaster.  In the former case, he'll tackle hardened targets, such as entrenched "machine gun nests" or tanks, and in the latter case, he'll offer supporting fire to his side, either to defeat assaults, or to keep the enemies heads down while his allies advance.  The heavy trooper is ideal in open conflict, but suffers some in urban or ship-board conflict.

The recon trooper has superior infiltration skills and a powerful sniper rifle.  He'll slip past enemy lines and find out what the enemy is up to.  He might engage in sentry-removal with his vibro-knife, and in open conflict, he'll focus his sniping efforts either on removing high-priority targets (officers) or on frightening to soldiers into keeping their heads low while the standard troopers and assault troopers advance on the enemy position.

Advanced Tactics

In truly open conflicts, soldiers will bring combat vehicles, like hover-tanks.  A hover tank features 1000 DR on its front and turret and 500 elsewhere.  One needs something like a missile to remove it from play, and preferably from the side, rather than the front.

Soldiers aren't always constantly prepared for battle.  They could be on the move, in which case they likely use combat vehicles like Military Vertols or Hover IFVs to get around or, more rarely, they'll march. In such case, fighter support and recon troopers will scout out the terrain to prepare for any ambushes.  Alternatively, they could have settled in for the night, in which case they've set up some temporary defenses like razor wire or x-ray fences, some surveillance cameras and regular patrols, usually in the form of standard troopers and a few well-placed recon troopers.