Proteus454
Mongoose
Mild Disclaimer: In terms of the theory and practice of actual military hardware, I'm a complete n00b. I shoudl also point out that my knowledge of the ongoing plans for Modern Combat are minimal, but I'll be listing my assumptions as I go. Also, this entire question may already have been covered.
Onward!
When Battlefield Evo first came out, I was massively intrigued. With the near-future setting and the very exciting faux-newspaper thingamadoodle they had put out at the time, I was actually expecting something along the lines of Warmachine, in that there would be a persistent storyline (and a forgiving attitude towards where exactly into that timeline any given battle fit into) with ongoing global events, cross-border invasion, you name it.
One of the key ideas that intrigued me was the idea of a semi-unified Europe. Before actually reading the book, I had imagined plans were to take the same tack taken previously with the League in ACTA - That is, several smaller(?) but distinct armies, and the option to fiedl them together with some restrictions or limitations.
While initial sales plans did seem to bear out my idea (Remember the plan to put out Armee De Terre and Bundeswehr troops? Good times, good times.), in the end Mongoose sprang for a "do as you like" policy with just the one kind of infantry and armour platoons.
Since then, a lot has happened. Initial release plans had faltered, and then there was the release of the stats for British AT Sections. (And this point I wondered, are giving up on Europe entirely or what? It seems that, initially at least, the move to US/UK/Russia/China/MEA would bear this out, but that's not the topic of this rant) The thing is, if the planned distinction, within the streamlined context of Battlefield Evo was that Brits had LMGs and Panzergrenadiers carried AT weaponry, and the Brits now had an AT-type section...
The point I am painfully, laboriously, torturously dragging us towards here is that I don't think Mongoose REALLY took into account the scale of differentiation they wound up with, and how it didn't really cut it if one was to spring for a bevy of global, let alone pan-European, infantry.
We're all humans here, so Russians taking RPG shots to the chest and laughing is (probably) out. Squads armed entirely with automatic shotguns or frontline infantry with organic/integrated flamethrowers is probably out too.
So what are the things that CAN be done within the context (a context that is, I admit, likely to change but I DO want to make my concerns known) of established rules canon?
- Nations without a planned Land Warrior-equiv but that can afford to organize their troops properly (fire teams) and equip them with proper body armour and integrated LMGs [I imagined that some of the Euro nations would take this tack]
- Alternatively, certain tin-pot-types might field paramilitaries along the lines of the fedayeen, wearing body armour and carrying better guns but organized mob-like, akin to the MEA
Of course, each nation and sub-group would have it's own vehicles and AFVs, this is true. But Battlefield has to be about the foot soldiers as much as the tanks, and I am a little worried that Mongoose is gonna shoot itself in the foot again and we'll wind up with foot soldiers that are much samier than they should be the further in we go.
What do you folks think, then?
Onward!
When Battlefield Evo first came out, I was massively intrigued. With the near-future setting and the very exciting faux-newspaper thingamadoodle they had put out at the time, I was actually expecting something along the lines of Warmachine, in that there would be a persistent storyline (and a forgiving attitude towards where exactly into that timeline any given battle fit into) with ongoing global events, cross-border invasion, you name it.
One of the key ideas that intrigued me was the idea of a semi-unified Europe. Before actually reading the book, I had imagined plans were to take the same tack taken previously with the League in ACTA - That is, several smaller(?) but distinct armies, and the option to fiedl them together with some restrictions or limitations.
While initial sales plans did seem to bear out my idea (Remember the plan to put out Armee De Terre and Bundeswehr troops? Good times, good times.), in the end Mongoose sprang for a "do as you like" policy with just the one kind of infantry and armour platoons.
Since then, a lot has happened. Initial release plans had faltered, and then there was the release of the stats for British AT Sections. (And this point I wondered, are giving up on Europe entirely or what? It seems that, initially at least, the move to US/UK/Russia/China/MEA would bear this out, but that's not the topic of this rant) The thing is, if the planned distinction, within the streamlined context of Battlefield Evo was that Brits had LMGs and Panzergrenadiers carried AT weaponry, and the Brits now had an AT-type section...
The point I am painfully, laboriously, torturously dragging us towards here is that I don't think Mongoose REALLY took into account the scale of differentiation they wound up with, and how it didn't really cut it if one was to spring for a bevy of global, let alone pan-European, infantry.
We're all humans here, so Russians taking RPG shots to the chest and laughing is (probably) out. Squads armed entirely with automatic shotguns or frontline infantry with organic/integrated flamethrowers is probably out too.
So what are the things that CAN be done within the context (a context that is, I admit, likely to change but I DO want to make my concerns known) of established rules canon?
- Nations without a planned Land Warrior-equiv but that can afford to organize their troops properly (fire teams) and equip them with proper body armour and integrated LMGs [I imagined that some of the Euro nations would take this tack]
- Alternatively, certain tin-pot-types might field paramilitaries along the lines of the fedayeen, wearing body armour and carrying better guns but organized mob-like, akin to the MEA
Of course, each nation and sub-group would have it's own vehicles and AFVs, this is true. But Battlefield has to be about the foot soldiers as much as the tanks, and I am a little worried that Mongoose is gonna shoot itself in the foot again and we'll wind up with foot soldiers that are much samier than they should be the further in we go.
What do you folks think, then?