Breeching Pods

[Darilian]

I don't see how anyone can think that a "Troop" point equals an infantry company. Personally, I feel that its more like a squad per pod- therefore 6 squads. But what a "troop" point means- since it only gets killed by a Crew point on a 1 on a d6, it means that a Troop point has a combat effectiveness that is at least 6 times that of a regular Crew point. That could be extra soldiers, extra guns, whatever.

Using a "Fluff" standpoint (and fluff that isn't even in ACTA) to counterargue this is a bit odd. Why not address the key point- that Breaching pods seem ineffective for the cost, given taht they don't do anything but board other ships?

Darilian

 

[Junior]

I don't see how anyone can think that a "Troop" point equals an infantry company. Personally, I feel that its more like a squad per pod- therefore 6 squads. But what a "troop" point means- since it only gets killed by a Crew point on a 1 on a d6, it means that a Troop point has a combat effectiveness that is at least 6 times that of a regular Crew point. That could be extra soldiers, extra guns, whatever.

Using a "Fluff" standpoint (and fluff that isn't even in ACTA) to counterargue this is a bit odd. Why not address the key point- that Breaching pods seem ineffective for the cost, given taht they don't do anything but board other ships?

Darilian

It has to do with a extrapolation of the Tantalus Assault Cruiser it says it has 4 full battalions of soldiers, with a troop score of 12, so 3 troops equals a battalion and somebody mentioned that if 3 troops equals a battalion, then 1 troop equals a company.

 

[Darilian]

I stand corrected that its part of the ACTA fluff. But arguing from a "fluff standpoint still doesn't resolve the issue of how useless Breaching Pods are.

1) Fluff Argument: Since a Troop "point" is pretty vague, I don't see how come you can't increase the 'value' of the troops inside the Breaching Pod. Given that pure 'Marines' wouldn't have to worry about a lot of the logisitical 'tail' that a GROPOS force would have to when assaulting a planet, you should be able to sqeeze more force/square meter because you don't have to carry as much ammunition, food, etc. Also, the troops in the pod don't have to be in them for that long, unlike a pure troop transport. You can squeeze a lot of bodies into any given space, as long as they don't have to be in them for long. I've seen 40 soldiers in full kit squeeze into a 1 1/2 ton truck- I don't see why that many couldn't also squeeze into a breaching pod, which would give 2 'light' Companys, or a light Battallion. (As an aside, thats even given that Earthforce uses the SAME definition of a battallion. This is the show that calls the biggest ships in a fleet "Destroyers".)

2) Finally, what do you think of the idea from 'game' mechanic? I've tried moving the BP's faster- the extra movement didn't seem to make up for their general overall lack of 'oompf'- for onePatrol Priority point you get 4 stands of ONE troop each- heck, I can take ONE given ship at Patrol and get at least 2 troops and some guns on the side with that. For the points, you should get some benefit. Now, I'll admit that I think that 5 troops might be too much- the solo game I tried made them a bit TOO good. However, I think 2-3 seems to be about right, from PLAY BALANCE perspective.
Darilian

 

[Junior]

Well if they are on some sort of tender or a ship long before they make it there then maybe, otherwise you would have to worry about life support, but then again that might be more detail then a space opera needs, or you could just change how many breach pods are in a wing.