Alternative Mercenary Rule system

[Demon Samurai]

The MgT2 Mercenary mass combat rules introduced concepts like CEI, ECEI, and DEI to represent unit efficiency. While ambitious, these mechanics often proved confusing in play. The rules required multiple overlapping calculations, results were hard to interpret, and outcomes sometimes felt arbitrary. Most importantly, the system struggled to capture the “feel” of battles at the table — whether it was a disciplined company of Imperial troops or a vast alien horde.

This is v2 of a revised system which aims to keep the spirit of the original, but make it simpler, faster, and more Traveller-like.

Any thoughts or suggestions for future edits gratefully welcome.

 

[collins355]

Cool!

I know everything is a compromise, but I'm not sure I agree with the fact that in this system TL difference has twice as much impact as unit quality. i.e. being TL15 is roughly twice as important as being elite.

Maybe I missed it, but was there a more detailed explanation of the Readiness DM? Or is this taken from the MgT Mercenary Boxset untouched?

 

[Demon Samurai]

Cool!

I know everything is a compromise, but I'm not sure I agree with the fact that in this system TL difference has twice as much impact as unit quality. i.e. being TL15 is roughly twice as important as being elite.

Maybe I missed it, but was there a more detailed explanation of the Readiness DM? Or is this taken from the MgT Mercenary Boxset untouched?

Indeed 'Readiness' is taken from the MgT2 mercenary boxset, but the rules were somewhat confusing. I could include a paragraph which summarises the concept.

With regards to TL vs Unit quality it's a difficult balance. This is all WIP at the minute, so I guess one could half the TL DM (+1 Dm per 2 levels above 8, rounding up) and boost training weight (Green -3, Regular 0, veteran +3, Elite +6). This would allow a truly elite low tech force to defeat a mediocre high tech one (i'm thinking of Zulu, Vietnam and Afghanistan).

Calculation of both DMs was inspired by the original Merc Boxset as closely as possible. I haven't had chance to fully playtest the rules, but would appreciate it if anyone wanted to do that - including with any potential changes. It's all WIP.

 

[J. L. Brown]

I have recently become enamored of an approach from 'Ars Magica' 5e: 'Pyramid pricing'. Basic performance is defined, then getting each bonus costs progressively more.

So AP 0 costs zero 'build points'
AP 1 costs one,
AP 2 costs two more than AP 1,
AP 3 costs three more than AP 2,
AP 4 costs four more than AP 3,
and etc.

Higher TL equipment, armor, and weapons have more build points (perhaps a linear TL x 5, or TL x 10?) to spend.

And (a concept from D&D 3.0 and War Hammer Fantasy Roleplay - overlapping bonuses) only the highest (applicable) bonus applies to any given roll. Or maybe even more simply -- only one Bonus applies; choose which one you want. This means that someone with a single +2 bonus outperforms someone with seventeen +1 boni; but sometimes the +2 bonus may not apply, so having other boni available (some of which may apply when the +2 does not) still pays off.

 

[LangyMD]

Inspired by Demon Samurai's alternative Mass Combat rules, I've put together my own; see attached. The core purpose is to make it so combat resolution is pretty simple and charts/tables don't need to be checked during gameplay. I also have concepts of how to calculate the cost of a unit for Mass Combat or to stat naval ships in the Mass Combat rules, but I haven't written them down yet (for ships, the basic idea is tonnage = Combat Power, then modify for Effectiveness).

The basic concept is a military Unit can be measured in terms of Combat Power and the unit's Effectiveness. Base Combat Power is determined by the number of troops; Effectiveness is determined by the TL of those troops plus their equipment and training quality, morale, and state of readiness.

Combat Power is a logarithmic scale such that +3 Combat Power is equivalent to multiplying the number of troops (and equipment, vehicles, etc) by 10; +1 is about x2, +2 is about x3.

Effectiveness is scaled similar to a Traveller's normal characteristics and it's DM is added to Combat Power to determine the amount of damage that a unit does in combat, so a +3 Effectiveness is equivalent to +1 Combat Power or about doubling the damage of the unit.

Current ruleset has players roll 1D - 1D + Combat Power + Effectiveness DM vs Enemy Combat Power + Enemy Effectiveness DM; on a success, damage is equal to the effect (minimum 1). Failure means no appreciable damage.

Damage is done to a Cohesion value, which is kind of a measure of the number of troops between two levels of Combat Power. Once it goes below 0, Combat Power goes down by 1 and Cohesion goes back up to 9.