Author Topic: Large-Scale Army Design Challenge  (Read 5150 times)

Alsadius

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Large-Scale Army Design Challenge
« on: 22 June 2017, 18:35:41 »
We all know Battletech is set in a relatively Mad Max-ish world for most of the relevant period, where you use any forces you can get your hands on and make them work. That said, this isn't how real armies operate, and I've been thinking for a long time on and off about how to make armies that are more like real armies. In particular, that means standardization. I was thinking that this might make an interesting design challenge, both for myself and for others, so I'll write it up as such. Don't take it too seriously, of course - it's not like there's any prizes - but I think it's an interesting question, and I want to see what people come up with.

Fluff
You're in charge of the military design bureau that's creating the new generation of forces for the mighty Alsadian Empire. You have a full-sized military-industrial complex at your disposal, but the generals have been complaining about the ugly logistical problems associated with maintaining forces far from home, so your goal is to clean up the supply chain, reduce the number of spare parts they need to carry, and ensure quick turnarounds on damaged units.

The Challenge
You are to design a complete army unit from scratch designed for independent operation and carried by a single JumpShip. This is intended to be a regular army unit of a great house with access to new units rolling out of the factory, designed to invade a planet and hold a beachhead (or even conquer a less-well-defended planet outright). It should be complete with all necessary transportation, both space and ground, with a full complement of combined arms weaponry(scouts, fire support, brawlers, artillery, infantry, aerospace cover, etc.), non-combat support units, and sufficient spare parts and reloads for all equipment being used by the entire force during an extended campaign. I'll be using Inner Sphere tech 2 equipment, but play around with whatever you like.

Easy Mode: Build a battalion or reinforced battalion assuming an Invader-class JumpShip(3 docking collars) using either your choice of stock DropShips or three unspecified DropShips providing a total of 36 Mech, 36 combat vehicle, 12 Fighter, and 36 infantry(foot, mech, or BA) bays and 3000 tons of general cargo(which includes both reloads and non-combat units). Use stock infantry/fighters to round out the force, and only design the Mechs and vehicles. (This can be done in SSW or similar tools)

Hard Mode: Design everything from scratch, from the JumpShip on down, and build a regiment/RCT. (You'll probably need to break out Excel for this)

Limitations: To ensure reasonable logistics, the following limitations apply to the force as a whole.
  • No more than 8 unique weapons
  • No more than 8 unique types of ammunition(note that the same ammunition loaded in different launchers, e.g., MML SRMs and regular SRMs, counts as one type)
  • No more than 8 unique kinds of combat-relevant equipment(including heat sinks and jump jets)
  • No more than 4 unique engines, 3 unique gyros, and 2 unique kinds of armour
  • No more than 4 unique Mech chassis, 4 unique vehicle chassis, 3 unique infantry types, 2 unique fighter chassis, and one single DropShip. (You'll probably want to use Omnis or variants, but they're not required) EDIT: 3 unique fighter and small craft chassis(combined total), since I forgot about shuttles. Clarified that variants are okay and not just Omnis.
Note that those numbers don't count any infantry-sized weapons, just Mech-sized(and capital-sized, if you want your dropships to really pack a punch).

Happy designing! I'll try to get mine posted soonish, but my RL is really busy these days, so no promises.
« Last Edit: 27 August 2017, 13:55:14 by Alsadius »

Daryk

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Re: Large-Scale Army Design Challenge
« Reply #1 on: 23 June 2017, 17:03:05 »
I'll see what I can do this weekend, though I'll say I intend to design the infantry and fighters too, and limit myself to Succession Wars level tech (to include my personal favorite, the Blazer Cannon).

Alsadius

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Re: Large-Scale Army Design Challenge
« Reply #2 on: 24 June 2017, 09:53:31 »
Yeah, the Blazer is interesting - it's an incredibly bad weapon, but still really cool. In the same vein, I recently discovered what exactly the Plasma Rifle was, so I'll be using that as one of my main weapons. I'll see how much of the design I can do this weekend, but no promises on it being ready to post.

Onm the upside, I found a pretty decent-seeming fighter construction tool, so I don't need to do that by hand. Still don't have a good DropShip tool, so I built a crappy one in Excel for myself. I'm also using this thread's excellent TO&E information for figuring out how much I'll want in the vein of support equipment and staff.

Daryk

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Re: Large-Scale Army Design Challenge
« Reply #3 on: 25 June 2017, 20:21:33 »
I was busier than planned this weekend, but did discover I'd like to ask about the implication of "unique chassis"... Does that mean variants on a base chassis (that are not Omni, since I'm using 3025 tech) are good?  If so, that makes things significantly easier.  At the moment, I'm looking at:

100 ton 'mech, 3/5/3
75 ton 'mech, 4/6/4
55 ton 'mech, 5/8/5
Undetermined 4th 'mech

45 ton hover tank, 9/14
5 ton VTOL, 15/23
2 other vehicles

Foot Infantry Platoons
Jump Infantry Platoons
Thumper Field Artillery Platoons

100 ton Fighter, 5/8
100 ton Landing Craft, 5/8

If variants on a base chassis are good, the Fighter and Landing Craft would be based on the same chassis, giving me back a Fighter design.  My Glenmora Planetary Militia thread would also provide quite a bit of fodder for tank variants.

DarthMetool

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Re: Large-Scale Army Design Challenge
« Reply #4 on: 25 June 2017, 20:23:54 »
Umm, would you accept a scratch-built Retrotech regiment?  Retro style 'Mechs and a/s fighters, armed support vehicles, primitive jumpship/dropships, that kind of thing?  The "Mighty Alsadian Empire" could possibly be a Periphery backwater nation that needs to limit the spare parts due to limited resources.
« Last Edit: 25 June 2017, 20:26:56 by DarthMetool »
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Alsadius

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Re: Large-Scale Army Design Challenge
« Reply #5 on: 25 June 2017, 21:00:49 »
Quote
Does that mean variants on a base chassis (that are not Omni, since I'm using 3025 tech) are good?  If so, that makes things significantly easier.

IMO, non-Omni variants of the same basic Mech design are okay - the goal of limiting the chassis count is to ensure all the spare parts not really tracked closely in normal BT(myomer bundles, ammo feed systems, etc.) are compatible. A Hunchback-G and Hunchback-P I'd count as the same chassis.

That said, for things like jump jets and targeting computers, I'd count each different tonnage of them as a different piece of equipment, so the JJs you outlined for your sample force would be three of your eight. Not a big restriction for 3025 tech, but for those of us doing the 3067 thing, it'll be more troublesome. I've given some thought to putting in a 4-ton TC on my equipment list, for example, but I don't think I will. (FYI, I'll accept oversized equipment to reduce spares - if you want to use 1-ton JJs on your 55-ton mech, feel free. This can actually be good for cheating on engines - I'm using a 245 light fusion engine for a 35-ton 12/18 hovercraft, and then using the same engine as a "240" light fusion engine in a 40-ton 6/9 mech and an 80-ton 3/5 tank. They weigh the same, so I figure they're really the same engine in practice, or close enough that I can just install a 245 in the others and call it a day)

Re fighters and landing craft, landing craft seem to be normally built with the Small Craft rules, not the Fighter rules. Those are different chassis. That said, if it's possible to put useful cargo capacity on a fighter, like an APC vehicle, then by all means make a variant there. I intend to do the same, but I haven't seen a definite rule on whether or not that's allowed. It seems a bit odd fluff-wise for a sleek fighter jet to have the space to just throw fifty guys in the back, but perhaps it's allowed in the rules. If it's not, I think I'll modify the contest rules to say three designs for fighters and small craft combined, so players can have a shuttle if they want one.

Quote
Umm, would you accept a scratch-built Retrotech regiment?  Retro style 'Mechs and a/s fighters, armed support vehicles, primitive jumpship/dropships, that kind of thing?  The "Mighty Alsadian Empire" could possibly be a Periphery backwater nation that needs to limit the spare parts due to limited resources.

Yeah, for sure. I'm doing high-tech because I think it's more fun as a design challenge, but do not feel obliged to do the same.

Tyler Jorgensson

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Re: Large-Scale Army Design Challenge
« Reply #6 on: 25 June 2017, 21:55:20 »
Can't promise that I'll finish anything in a reasonable time frame... say August or so: but gonna give it a shot regardless

Daryk

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Re: Large-Scale Army Design Challenge
« Reply #7 on: 26 June 2017, 20:37:00 »
The rules for aerodyne Small Craft making vertical landings (from StratOps) are hopelessly broken at the moment.  A partial fix was allowing Fighters to carry cargo again, so it's possible to build the original Mark VII on a Fighter chassis now.  So with a 100 ton chassis that goes 5/8, I'm torn between a 75 tonner at 6/9 or a 60 tonner at 7/11.  I expect I'll make up my mind sometime this week.

For the 4th 'mech, I'm going with a 39 ton 7/11/7 'mech using the 275 engine.  This means I only need one size of gyro (the 3 ton kind).

The vehicles will be: the 9/14 45 ton hover (using the 170 engine) and 5 ton VTOL from before, plus a 42 ton tracked chassis (at 4/6, using the 170 engine), and a 30 ton VTOL going 10/15 (also using the 170 engine)

This makes the 4 unique engines: 300 Fusion, 275 Fusion, 170 Fusion, and 25 Fusion

Since this is 3025 tech, I only have one kind of armor too (standard).

For my eight pieces of equipment, I'm thinking infantry compartments and light vehicle cubicles (for the landing craft) don't count, so my list is:
0.5, 1, and 2 ton jump jets, Communications Equipment, Recon Cameras, VTOL Mast Mounts, Remote Sensor Dispensers, and VTOL Jet Boosters

Weapon-wise, I'm sure of these seven: Blazer Cannon, PPC, Medium Laser, Thumper, SRM-2, LRM-5, Machine Gun

DarthMetool

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Re: Large-Scale Army Design Challenge
« Reply #8 on: 26 June 2017, 21:07:27 »
Dang it.  Thought of a question.  Does a 13-ton fuel cell engine for support vehicles count as a unique engine?  If so, can I apply it to both wheeled and tracked vehicles so long as it fits the engine formula for both vehicles?
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maxcarrion

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Re: Large-Scale Army Design Challenge
« Reply #9 on: 15 August 2017, 10:01:29 »
Carrions 2nd Army Rangers - specialists in Beachhead/planetary invasion operations/skirmish and guerrilla warfare

Speed is king - Strategically enemy forces must be able to outmaneuver an opponent to force an engagement.

Dropship 1 - Fighter CV - stands off in orbit, acts as carrier
12 Large, fast, armoured xl engine fighters - lots of external weapons, cluster bombs and guided A4
6 Shuttles - resupply and recovery - working together these shuttles can lift any lance back up from surface or 1 shuttle can resupply all ammo for a squad (not combat vessels)


Dropship 2 - mech home - drops load from orbit, stays in orbit for otillery
6 squads of 6 55 ton GI mechs each with
3 infantryman - able to engage a wide variety of targets
2 missile trooper - lobs sg LRMs at anything TAG'd
1 EWAR - ECM, Probe and short range weapons - acts as point
Entire squad has a 5/8/5 movement profile making it highly mobile on all terrain - able to hot drop all 36 mechs

Dropship 3 - WIGE base
24 WIGE IFV - fast moving flying tanks each packing a squad of BA
12 A4 WIGE - fast moving arrow IV platforms for homing A4 and ADA
36 squads of Ranger BA - fast, light BA deployed from and mobilised by WIGE IFV

Code: [Select]
Ranger BA -
IS Light Biped
6 in Squad
MP 2
Jump MP 3
2 x Armoured Gloves (infantry weapons optional)
6 points Standard Stealth
LA - LMG & LMG
RA - APWM
Body - SSWM - 1 TAG per squad
Code: [Select]
GI Infantryman

Mass: 55 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Experimental Tech
Era: All Eras (non-canon)
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/X-X-E-A
Production Year: 0
Cost: 8,622,340 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,615

Chassis: Unknown Endo-Steel
Power Plant: Unknown 275 Light Fusion Engine
Walking Speed: 54.0 km/h
Maximum Speed: 86.4 km/h
Jump Jets: Unknown
    Jump Capacity: 150 meters
Armor: Unknown Light Ferro-Fibrous w/ CASE
Armament:
    1  Heavy PPC
    2  MML-5s
    1  Small Pulse Laser
    1  TAG
Manufacturer: Unknown
    Primary Factory: Unknown
Communications System: Unknown
Targeting and Tracking System: Unknown

================================================================================
Equipment           Type                         Rating                   Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Endo-Steel                    91 points                3.00
    Internal Locations: 1 CT, 2 LT, 2 RT, 3 LA, 2 RA, 2 LL, 2 RL
Engine:             Light Fusion Engine          275                      12.00
    Walking MP: 5
    Running MP: 8
    Jumping MP: 5 Standard
    Jump Jet Locations: 1 CT, 2 LT, 2 RT                                   2.50
Heat Sinks:         Double Heat Sink             10(20)                    0.00
Gyro:               Standard                                               3.00
Cockpit:            Standard                                               3.00
    Actuators:      L: SH+UA+LA+H    R: SH+UA+LA+H
Armor:              Light Ferro-Fibrous          AV - 185                 11.00
    Armor Locations: 1 RT, 1 LA, 5 RA
    CASE Locations: 1 LT                                                   0.50

                                                      Internal       Armor     
                                                      Structure      Factor     
                                                Head     3            9         
                                        Center Torso     18           27       
                                 Center Torso (rear)                  9         
                                           L/R Torso     13           20       
                                    L/R Torso (rear)                  6         
                                             L/R Arm     9            18       
                                             L/R Leg     13           26       

================================================================================
Equipment                                 Location    Heat    Critical    Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Small Pulse Laser                            HD        2         1         1.00
Heavy PPC                                    RT        15        4        10.00
TAG                                          RT        0         1         1.00
MML-5                                        LT        3         3         3.00
MML-5                                        LA        3         3         3.00
@MML-5 (LRM Semi-G) (24)                     LT        -         1         1.00
@MML-5 (SRM Inferno) (20)                    LT        -         1         1.00
                                            Free Critical Slots: 2

BattleForce Statistics
MV      S (+0)  M (+2)  L (+4)  E (+6)   Wt.   Ov   Armor:      6    Points: 16
5j         3       2       2       0      2     1   Structure:  3
Special Abilities: TAG, CASE, SRCH, ES, SEAL, SOA, IF 1


Code: [Select]
GI Missile Trooper

Mass: 55 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Experimental Tech
Era: All Eras (non-canon)
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/X-X-E-A
Production Year: 0
Cost: 8,814,540 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,763

Chassis: Unknown Endo-Steel
Power Plant: Unknown 275 Light Fusion Engine
Walking Speed: 54.0 km/h
Maximum Speed: 86.4 km/h
Jump Jets: Unknown
    Jump Capacity: 150 meters
Armor: Unknown Light Ferro-Fibrous w/ CASE
Armament:
    2  LRM-15s
    3  ER Medium Lasers
Manufacturer: Unknown
    Primary Factory: Unknown
Communications System: Unknown
Targeting and Tracking System: Unknown

================================================================================
Equipment           Type                         Rating                   Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Endo-Steel                    91 points                3.00
    Internal Locations: 1 CT, 2 LT, 2 RT, 3 LA, 2 RA, 2 LL, 2 RL
Engine:             Light Fusion Engine          275                      12.00
    Walking MP: 5
    Running MP: 8
    Jumping MP: 5 Standard
    Jump Jet Locations: 1 CT, 2 LT, 2 RT                                   2.50
Heat Sinks:         Double Heat Sink             10(20)                    0.00
Gyro:               Standard                                               3.00
Cockpit:            Standard                                               3.00
    Actuators:      L: SH+UA+LA+H    R: SH+UA+LA+H
Armor:              Light Ferro-Fibrous          AV - 185                 11.00
    Armor Locations: 1 RT, 1 LA, 5 RA
    CASE Locations: 1 LT                                                   0.50

                                                      Internal       Armor     
                                                      Structure      Factor     
                                                Head     3            9         
                                        Center Torso     18           27       
                                 Center Torso (rear)                  9         
                                           L/R Torso     13           20       
                                    L/R Torso (rear)                  6         
                                             L/R Arm     9            18       
                                             L/R Leg     13           26       

================================================================================
Equipment                                 Location    Heat    Critical    Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ER Medium Laser                              HD        5         1         1.00
2 ER Medium Lasers                           RT        10        2         2.00
LRM-15                                       LT        5         3         7.00
LRM-15                                       LA        5         3         7.00
@LRM-15 (Semi-G) (16)                        LT        -         2         2.00
@LRM-15 (Semi-G) (8)                         LA        -         1         1.00
                                            Free Critical Slots: 4

BattleForce Statistics
MV      S (+0)  M (+2)  L (+4)  E (+6)   Wt.   Ov   Armor:      6    Points: 18
5j         2       3       2       0      2     0   Structure:  3
Special Abilities: CASE, SRCH, ES, SEAL, SOA, LRM 1/1/1, IF 1


Code: [Select]
GI EWAR

Mass: 55 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Experimental Tech
Era: All Eras (non-canon)
Tech Rating/Era Availability: F/X-X-F-A
Production Year: 0
Cost: 10,652,840 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,906

Chassis: Unknown Endo-Steel
Power Plant: Unknown 275 Light Fusion Engine
Walking Speed: 54.0 km/h
Maximum Speed: 86.4 km/h
Jump Jets: Unknown
    Jump Capacity: 150 meters
Armor: Unknown Light Ferro-Fibrous w/ CASE
Armament:
    2  Plasma Rifles
    1  Bloodhound Active Probe
    1  Angel ECM
Manufacturer: Unknown
    Primary Factory: Unknown
Communications System: Unknown
Targeting and Tracking System: Unknown

================================================================================
Equipment           Type                         Rating                   Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Endo-Steel                    91 points                3.00
    Internal Locations: 1 CT, 2 LT, 2 RT, 3 LA, 2 RA, 2 LL, 2 RL
Engine:             Light Fusion Engine          275                      12.00
    Walking MP: 5
    Running MP: 8
    Jumping MP: 5 Standard
    Jump Jet Locations: 1 CT, 2 LT, 2 RT                                   2.50
Heat Sinks:         Double Heat Sink             11(22)                    1.00
Gyro:               Standard                                               3.00
Cockpit:            Standard                                               3.00
    Actuators:      L: SH+UA+LA+H    R: SH+UA+LA+H
Armor:              Light Ferro-Fibrous          AV - 185                 11.00
    Armor Locations: 1 RT, 1 LA, 5 RA
    CASE Locations: 1 LT                                                   0.50

                                                      Internal       Armor     
                                                      Structure      Factor     
                                                Head     3            9         
                                        Center Torso     18           27       
                                 Center Torso (rear)                  9         
                                           L/R Torso     13           20       
                                    L/R Torso (rear)                  6         
                                             L/R Arm     9            18       
                                             L/R Leg     13           26       

================================================================================
Equipment                                 Location    Heat    Critical    Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Angel ECM                                    RT        0         2         2.00
Plasma Rifle                                 RT        10        2         6.00
Bloodhound Active Probe                      LT        0         3         2.00
Plasma Rifle                                 LT        10        2         6.00
@Plasma Rifle (10)                           HD        -         1         1.00
@Plasma Rifle (10)                           RT        -         1         1.00
@Plasma Rifle (10)                           LA        -         1         1.00
                                            Free Critical Slots: 4

BattleForce Statistics
MV      S (+0)  M (+2)  L (+4)  E (+6)   Wt.   Ov   Armor:      6    Points: 19
5j         2       2       0       0      2     0   Structure:  3
Special Abilities: BH, RCN, AECM, ENE, HT1, SRCH, ES, SEAL, SOA


Code: [Select]
Beachead IFV

Mass: 50 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Motive Type: WiGE
Rules Level: Experimental Tech
Era: All Eras (non-canon)
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/X-X-E-A
Production Year: 0
Cost: 11,670,000 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,152

Power Plant:  210 Fusion XL Engine
Cruise Speed: 75.6 km/h
Flanking Speed: 118.8 km/h
Armor:  Heavy Ferro-Fibrous
Armament:
    1  Plasma Rifle
    1  MML-5
    1  TAG
    1  Infantry Compartment (5.0 tons)
Manufacturer:
    Primary Factory:
Communications System:
Targeting and Tracking System:

================================================================================
Equipment           Type                         Rating                   Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard                      25 points                5.00
Engine:             XL Fusion Engine             210                       7.00
    Cruise MP:  7
    Flank MP:   11
Heat Sinks:         Single Heat Sink             10                        0.00
Control Equipment:                                                         2.50
Lift Equipment:                                                            5.00
Turret:                                                                    1.00
Armor:              Heavy Ferro-Fibrous          AV - 208                 10.50

                                                      Armor     
                                                      Factor     
                                               Front     51       
                                          Left/Right   41/41       
                                              Turret     42       
                                                Rear     33       

================================================================================
Equipment                                 Location    Heat     Spaces     Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plasma Rifle                                 T         10        1         6.00
MML-5                                        T         3         1         3.00
TAG                                          T         0         1         1.00
Infantry Compartment (5.0 tons)              BD        0         1         5.00
@Plasma Rifle (20)                           BD        -         0         2.00
@MML-5 (LRM Semi-G) (24)                     BD        -         0         1.00
@MML-5 (SRM Inferno) (20)                    BD        -         0         1.00

BattleForce Statistics
MV      S (+0)  M (+2)  L (+4)  E (+6)   Wt.   Ov   Armor:      7    Points: 12
7g         2       2       1       0      2     0   Structure:  3
Special Abilities: TAG, TUR(2/2/1)


Code: [Select]
Beachead Art Artillery

Mass: 50 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Motive Type: WiGE
Rules Level: Experimental Tech
Era: All Eras (non-canon)
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/X-X-F-A
Production Year: 0
Cost: 12,022,500 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,171

Power Plant:  210 Fusion XL Engine
Cruise Speed: 75.6 km/h
Flanking Speed: 118.8 km/h
Armor:  Heavy Ferro-Fibrous
Armament:
    1  Arrow IV Missile
    1 Unknown CASE
Manufacturer:
    Primary Factory:
Communications System:
Targeting and Tracking System:

================================================================================
Equipment           Type                         Rating                   Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard                      25 points                5.00
Engine:             XL Fusion Engine             210                       7.00
    Cruise MP:  7
    Flank MP:   11
Heat Sinks:         Single Heat Sink             10                        0.00
Control Equipment:                                                         2.50
Lift Equipment:                                                            5.00
Turret:                                                                    1.50
Armor:              Heavy Ferro-Fibrous          AV - 208                 10.50

                                                      Armor     
                                                      Factor     
                                               Front     51       
                                          Left/Right   41/41       
                                              Turret     42       
                                                Rear     33       

================================================================================
Equipment                                 Location    Heat     Spaces     Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arrow IV Missile                             T         10        1        15.00
CASE                                         BD        -         1         0.50
@Arrow IV (Homing) (10)                      BD        -         0         2.00
@Arrow IV (ADA) (5)                          BD        -         0         1.00

BattleForce Statistics
MV      S (+0)  M (+2)  L (+4)  E (+6)   Wt.   Ov   Armor:      7    Points: 12
7g         2       0       0       0      2     0   Structure:  3
Special Abilities: ARTAIS, CASE, TUR(2/0/0)


DarthMetool

  • Master Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 218
Re: Large-Scale Army Design Challenge
« Reply #10 on: 30 August 2017, 22:31:13 »
Since the server crash wiped out my selections, I have a couple new questions.

Does the weapon limitations apply to jumpships and drop ships?

For my armed support vehicles, does the BAR 10 armor count as standard armor?

Hope to hear from you soon.
"John Hancock.  Wait, you want MY signature?"
The TRB Military Catalog
GENERATION 45: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment

Alsadius

  • Lieutenant
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  • Posts: 926
Re: Large-Scale Army Design Challenge
« Reply #11 on: 31 August 2017, 05:18:53 »
Since the server crash wiped out my selections, I have a couple new questions.

Does the weapon limitations apply to jumpships and drop ships?

For my armed support vehicles, does the BAR 10 armor count as standard armor?

Hope to hear from you soon.

Yeah, I was really cranky at how much of this thread got lost in the crash. I'm thinking of making some other house rules before I finalize my submission, because this drove home how much the large aero construction rules bug me, but that should hopefully get finished next week when I'm on vacation.

To answer your questions:

1) Yes, but given how few of them will realistically be mounted on JS/DS, I don't imagine this will be a real problem.

2) Yes, that makes perfect sense. BAR 10 is identical to standard armour so far as I can tell - same weight and same protection. (And I wouldn't count the armoured chassis modification as an equipment slot, either - that's a vehicle design)

Hptm. Streiger

  • Lieutenant
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  • Posts: 968
  • 3d artist, spread sheet warrior, KTF
Re: Large-Scale Army Design Challenge
« Reply #12 on: 31 August 2017, 06:38:38 »
The rule say: only 1 Dropship - so this ship must provide all the aerospace, ortillery, artillery and ground forces?
all eggs in one basket eh?
hum  nor more than 8 different weapons..... for dropship, jumpship, aerospace fighter, mechs, tanks....  ???
this is hard.... does air drop able Arrow IV count as unique weapon?
what about a sub capital weapon?
Ok this is a challange - Lets see I would go ERPPC, LB10X, MPLAS; MML5; MachineGun; MRM20; SCL1; either Arrow (not when could be launched as bomb) or Thumper
Oh same for engines and gyro - so lets say I go 300Light Fusion; 100 ICE; and 150 Fusion aaand anything else.... are the two gyros already included? (one for 3t and one for 2t)
URGS.... 4 unique vehicle chassis - seems like i need to go OmniTech - for a Support Vehicle: Ammo Transport, MASH, Mobile HQ; Artillery; Repair and Salvage Vehicle..... and of course I need some tanks for shooting stuff....

Ok - I have started - currently working on the organogram, number is 6 so far.

6 as battalion described units form the regiment -
  • HQ
  • Space
    • 1xJumpShip
    • 5xDropships
      • Command
      • 1x Aerospace Fighter (6x)
      • 1xExtra Personal
      • 1xSpace Borne Artillery
      • 2x Shuttle deployable Platoons Zero-G Soldiers
  • Support
    • Technical Support
    • 2xPioneer Company
    • Headhunter/Commando
    • Medical Support
    • Artillery Support
  • 1 Combat
    • HQ (Example)
      • 2 Aerospace Fighter (or conventional)
      • 1 Mech
      • 1 Squad BA
      • Bataillon Fire Support (AA or MLRS)
    • Support
    • 4 x6 Combined Arms Troops
  • 2 Combat
  • 3 Combat

I would think it would be a kind or "Republic" Era combat team - strategy would be to make it slow but safe. sturdy units without much "extra" ordinary stuff
However I would rather have 2 or 3 kinds of dropships  (the thing for "Ortillery and Spacefighters" don't need to land)
« Last Edit: 31 August 2017, 07:33:51 by Hptm. Streiger »

Alsadius

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Re: Large-Scale Army Design Challenge
« Reply #13 on: 22 September 2017, 06:39:33 »
Okay, I think I'm close to being finished. I posted something similar before the forums broke, but I've modified it a bit from the comments I got there. I expanded things somewhat from my original vision, because JumpShips can pack in more than I thought, and because the unit mixes I was originally thinking of didn't quite feel right. As such, this is now a full brigade of approximately 9,000 men.

All mechs and tanks are connected by C3 network, designed for use at company scales. This means that 1/3 of all units will be command variants, and 2/3 will be line variants.

Brigade: Commanded by a one-star general, the brigade is a self-contained unit with organic interstellar transportation, capable of unassisted planetary assault if needed.
Subordinate units:
  • Prophet-class JumpShip
  • 4x Sultan-class DropShip (usually transferred to regimental support roles after forces have been landed)
  • Brigade Headquarters (400 admin staff)
  • Fighter Wing (see below)
  • 2x Mech Regiment (see below)
  • 2x Infantry Regiment (see below)
Total head count: 9151.

Mech Regiment: Commanded by a colonel, the mech regiment is a self-contained unit designed for high-intensity ground combat.
Subordinate units:
  • Regiment Headquarters (100 admin staff)
  • Light Combat Battalion (see below)
  • Medium Combat Battalion (see below)
  • Heavy Combat Battalion (see below)
  • Artillery Battalion (see below)
Total head count: 1548.

Infantry Regiment: Commanded by a colonel, the infantry regiment is a self-contained unit designed for support roles in ground combat, pacification of conquered territory, and special operations work.
Subordinate units:
  • Regiment Headquarters (100 admin staff)
  • Mechanized Infantry Battalion (see below)
  • Jump Infantry Battalion (see below)
  • Battle Armour Battalion (see below)
Total head count: 2151.

Fighter Wing: Commanded by a major, the fighter wing is the primary aerospace strike arm for the division, both for ground support and for air and space superiority.
Subordinate units:
  • 32x Emir heavy fighters and 32x Celebi light fighters(divided into 4 squadrons of 4 flights each)
  • Wing Headquarters (30 admin staff, 70 support crews)
Total head count: 272.

Light Combat Battalion: Commanded by a major, the light combat battalion is the scouting and rapid response arm of the regiment.
Subordinate units:
  • 12x Pasha medium mechs, 12x Sipahi scout mechs, 12x Timariot light tanks(divided into 3 companies of 3 lances each)
  • Battalion Headquarters (30 admin staff)
  • Battalion Support Element (see below)
Total head count: 350.

Medium Combat Battalion: Commanded by a major, the medium combat battalion is the all-purpose arm of the regiment, capable of both holding its own in combat and redeploying in short order.
Subordinate units:
  • 12x Bey heavy mechs, 12x Pasha medium mechs, 6x Kadi heavy tanks, 6x Timariot light tanks(divided into 3 companies of 3 lances each)
  • Battalion Headquarters (30 admin staff)
  • Battalion Support Element (see below)
Total head count: 350.

Heavy Combat Battalion: Commanded by a major, the heavy combat battalion is the arm of the regiment that focuses primarily on pitched battles.
Subordinate units:
  • 12x Vizier assault mechs, 6x Bey heavy mechs, 6x Sipahi scout mechs, 12x Kadi heavy tanks(divided into 3 companies of 3 lances each)
  • Battalion Headquarters (30 admin staff)
  • Battalion Support Element (see below)
Total head count: 350.

Artillery Battalion: Commanded by a major, the artillery battalion provides long-ranged fire support to all allied units. Frequently, the battalion will be divided between allied units - two batteries supporting the mech regiment and one supporting the infantry regiment is typical - but for administrative purposes it is a single unit.
Subordinate units:
  • 36 Tophane artillery vehicles (divided into 3 batteries of 3 sections each)
  • Battalion Headquarters (30 admin staff)
  • Battalion Support Element (see below)
Total head count: 398.

Jump Infantry Battalion: Commanded by a major, the jump infantry battalion is the regiment's "line" infantry, designed to be able to operate in a wide variety of situations with less support than other infantry types require.
Subordinate units:
  • 16x jump infantry platoon (divided into 4 companies)
  • Battalion Headquarters (30 admin staff)
  • Battalion Support Element (see below)
Total head count: 765.

Mechanized Infantry Battalion: Commanded by a major, the mechanized infantry battalion is intended for high-speed deployment of infantry, and generally acts as the regimental reserve.
Subordinate units:
  • 8x Timariot hover APCs
  • 16x infantry platoon (divided into 4 companies)
  • Battalion Headquarters (30 admin staff)
  • Battalion Support Element (see below)
Total head count: 745.

Battle Armour Battalion: Commanded by a major, the battle armour battalion is intended as the heavy combat element of the infantry regiment, and is frequently used in combined-arms operations to support the Mech regiment.
Subordinate units:
  • 8x Vali shuttles
  • 48x battle armour point (divided into 4 companies of 4 platoons each)
  • Battalion Headquarters (30 admin staff)
  • Battalion Support Element (see below)
Total head count: 541.

Battalion Support Element: Each battalion needs a wide variety of support equipment to remain in operation. These support elements, commanded by a Captain, will in practice vary slightly between different battalion types, but for purposes of the official table of organization and equipment, they have been standardized as below. (All vehicles below are based off the Galata light support truck chassis unless otherwise noted).
Subordinate units:
  • Supply Element: 4x supply truck, 2x fuel truck
  • Medical Element: 2x MASH truck, 2x Timariot hover APCs(ambulances), aided by permanent medical facilities in regimental DropShip
  • Engineering Element: 4x engineering truck
  • Repair Element: 2x Tophane recovery vehicle, 2x Tophane mobile field base, aided by permanent repair facilities in regimental DropShip
  • Commissary Element: 4x field kitchen truck
  • Field Headquarters Element: 2x mobile HQ truck, 2x Timariot hover APCs(commander transport, field messengers)

I have my unit designs nearly worked out, but this post is long enough already, and I should get to work.
« Last Edit: 16 November 2021, 11:10:03 by Alsadius »

Alsadius

  • Lieutenant
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  • Posts: 926
Re: Large-Scale Army Design Challenge
« Reply #14 on: 30 September 2017, 10:53:14 »
Following up on my above post, this will give all of the unit designs I'll be using.

First things first, I set equipment limits, so here's what I'm putting in my kit:
Chassis: Limited to 4 mech, 4 vehicle, 3 infantry, 3 small aerospace, 1 DropShip, 1 Jump Ship types.
Mech: 100t 3/5 Vizier, 75t 4/6 Bey, 50t 6/9 Pasha, 30t 10/20 Sipahi
Vehicle: 70t 4/6 Kadi(tracked), 60t 3/5 Tophane(tracked), 35t 12/18 Timariot(hover), 35t 7/11 Galata(support wheeled)
Infantry: Foot, Jump, Battle Armour
Small Aero: 75t 6/9 Emir(fighter), 30t 12/18 Celebi(fighter), 120t 6/9 Vali(small craft)
DropShip: Sultan
JumpShip: Prophet

Weapons and Ammo: Limited to 8 weapons and 8 ammunition types.
- ER Large Laser (no ammo)
- Medium Laser (no ammo)
- Plasma Rifle w/ ammo
- LB-10X autocannon, w/ cluster and slug
- MML-7 w/ semi-guided LRM and standard SRM
- LRM-15 w/ semi-guided LRM(same as MML-7, so doesn't count as new ammo type)
- Long Tom w/ standard and Copperhead
- Laser-Guided Bombs

Equipment, Gyros, and Armour: Limited to 8 types of equipment, 3 engines, 2 gyros, 2 types of armour
Equipment: Double Heat Sinks, Endo Steel, C3 Master, C3 Slave, TAG, MASC, Guardian ECM, 0.5 ton Jump Jets
Engines: 300 XL Fusion, 245 XL Fusion(=240, as they're the same weight), 180 ICE(=14 tons when used in support vehicles), [4th engine not used]
Gyros: 3 ton standard, 1.5 ton XL
Armour: Standard, Heavy Ferro-Aluminum

So, with that settled, on to the designs:

Mechs
Vizier Assault Mech: 100 tons, 3/5 movement, XL engine, XL gyro, 304 points standard armour, 12 double heat sinks. Remaining space: 55 tons, 39 crits.
- Command: 3 LRM-15(6t ammo), ER Large Laser, LB-10X(2t ammo), 3 Medium Laser, C3 Master, 2 double heat sink
- Combat: 2 LB-10X(4t), 2 MML-7(4t), ER Large Laser, Plasma Rifle(2t), TAG, C3 Slave, double heat sink

Bey Heavy Mech: 75 tons, 4/6 movement, XL engine, Endo Steel, 224 points standard armour, 12 double heat sinks. Remaining space: 39.5 tons, 27 crits.
- Command: ER Large Laser, 2 LRM-15(4t ammo), Plasma Rifle(2t ammo), 2 Medium Laser, ECM, C3 Master
- Combat: ER Large Laser, LB-10X(2t ammo), 2 Plasma Rifle(3t ammo), 2 Medium Laser, TAG, ECM, C3 Slave, double heat sink

Pasha Medium Mech (base): 50 tons, 6/9 movement, XL engine, XL gyro, Endo Steel, 168 points standard armour, 10 double heat sinks. Remaining space: 23 tons, 25 crits.
- Command: LRM-15(2t ammo), ER Large Laser, Medium Laser, 6 Jump Jets, C3 Master
- Combat: 2 MML-7(2t ammo), Plasma Rifle(2t ammo), 6 Jump Jets, C3 Slave

Sipahi Light Mech (base): 30 tons, 10/15[20] movement w/MASC, XL engine, XL gyro, Endo Steel, 88 points standard armour, 10 double heat sinks. Remaining space: 7 tons, 23 crits.
- Combat: 6 Medium Laser, C3 Slave
- Scout: 10 Jump Jets, TAG, C3 Slave

Combat Vehicles
Kadi Tank: 60 tons, tracked, 4/6 movement, XL engine, 216 points standard armour, 10 heat sinks, 2-ton turret. Remaining space: 26.5 tons
- Command: 2 LRM-15(4t ammo), 2 Medium Laser, C3 Master, Guardian ECM
- Combat: Plasma Rifle(2t ammo), 3 MML-7(4t ammo), C3 Slave

Tophane Heavy Support Vehicle: 60 tons, tracked, 3/5 movement, ICE engine, 48 points standard armour, no heat sinks, no turret. Remaining space: 34 tons.
- Artillery: Long Tom(4t ammo)
(Support variants described below)

Timariot Hover Tank: 35 tons, hover, 12/18 movement, XL engine, 104 points standard armour, 10 heat sinks, 1-ton turret, Guardian ECM. Remaining space: 8 tons
- Combat: Plasma Rifle(1t ammo), C3 Slave
- APC: Medium Laser, TAG, 6 tons infantry bay space(=2 foot platoons)
(Support variant described below)

Support Vehicles
Galata Support Vehicle (base): 35 tons, wheeled, 7/11 movement, ICE engine(14 tons+1 ton fuel), 48 points standard armour. Remaining space: 12 tons.
- Supply Truck: Lift Hoist, 9 tons cargo
- Fuel Truck: Fluid Suction System, 11 tons liquid cargo(=10 tons fuel capacity)
- MASH Truck: 5.5 tons MASH, 6.5 tons cargo(=3 operating theaters)
- Field Kitchen: 2x field kitchen, 6 tons cargo(=up to 300 troops fed)
- Engineering Vehicle: Bulldozer, Heavy Bridgelayer, Lift Hoist, 1 ton cargo
- Field Headquarters: 12 tons communications equipment

There are also some combat vehicles with non-combat variants:
- Tophane (Recovery): 4x Lift Hoist, Bulldozer, 20 tons cargo (=carry vehicles up to 50 tons with no movement penalty, up to 80 tons with -1 move speed, max 120 tons with -2 move speed. This assumes cargo space is used to offset unit weight and that I understand the lift hoist rules properly)
- Tophane (Mobile Field Base): Mobile Field Base, 14 tons cargo
- Timariot (Ambulance): 6 tons infantry bay space, 2 tons paramedic supplies

Infantry
Foot Infantry: 4 squads of 7 men each. 1/1 movement, 5x Laser Rifle (Federated-Barrett M61A w/ Inferno grenades) Primary, 2x Rifle(Radium Sniper) Secondary = 3/6/9 range, 14.36 theoretical damage, flame-based.

Jump Infantry: 4 squads of 7 men each. 1/1/3 movement, 6x Laser Rifle (Mauser 1200 LSS) Primary, 1x AA Weapon (Mk. 2 Man-Portable) Secondary = 2/4/6 range, 18.84 theoretical damage.

Janissary Battle Armour: 5-man points, 1500kg. 1/1/3 movement(w/ jump booster), small laser, SRM-5(OS), light TAG, battle claw, 8 points standard armour.

Aerospace
Prophet JumpShip: 400,000 tons. 222 tons(89 capital-scale points) standard armour, 500 tons(=126 days) fuel, 3x 250m grav deck, first-class quarters for all crew, 18 escape pods/lifeboats, 4 docking collars, 6000 tons cargo capacity.
Weaponry(per facing): 2 MML-7(2t ammo each), 2 Plasma Rifle(2t ammo each), 2 ER Large Laser, 2 LB-10X(2t ammo each)

Sultan DropShip: 45,000-ton spheroid, 3/5 movement, 90 SI, 324 tons(4377 points) heavy ferro-aluminum armour, 832 heat capacity.
Carrying Capacity:
> 9000 tons cargo, 2 doors (note that 5215 tons of that is support vehicles packed into cargo, and that a single ammo reload for all carried units is 261 tons)
> 36 mechs, 2 doors
> 16 fighters, 1 door
> 8 shuttles, 1 door
> 13 light combat vehicles and 27 heavy combat vehicles, 1 door
> 8 foot infantry platoon bays, 8 jump infantry platoon bays, 120 battle armour suit bays, 1 door
> 120 total crew quarters(40 officer), 34 "foot infantry platoon bays" holding admin staff, 309 escape pods/lifeboats
Weaponry(per facing):
> Fore/Aft: 8 MML-7(2t ammo each), 4 Plasma Rifle(2t ammo each), 7 ER Large Laser, 4 LB-10X(2t ammo each), 14 tons control equipment
> Fore-Left/Fore-Right/Aft-Left/Aft-Right: 8 MML-7(2t ammo each), 4 Plasma Rifle(2t ammo each), 4 ER Large Laser, 4 LB-10X(2t ammo each), 3 Long Tom(6t ammo each), 21.5 tons control equipment

Vali Shuttle: 120 ton aerodyne, 4/6 movement, 6 tons fuel, 30 ton battle armour compartment(=6 points BA), 6 SI, 525 points heavy ferro-aluminum armour

Emir Heavy Fighter: 75 tons, 6/9 movement, 2 tons fuel, 297 points heavy ferro-aluminum armour, 30 heat capacity, 3 MML-7(4t ammo), LB-10X(2t ammo), ER Large Laser, 5 Medium Laser(2 rear)

Celebi Light Fighter: 30 tons, 12/18 movement, 2 tons fuel, 148 points heavy ferro-aluminum armour, 20 heat capacity, ER Large Laser, 3 Medium Laser(1 rear)
« Last Edit: 30 September 2017, 10:59:06 by Alsadius »

Atarlost

  • Warrant Officer
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  • Posts: 559
Re: Large-Scale Army Design Challenge
« Reply #15 on: 14 July 2018, 20:58:28 »
This was linked by the author a couple months ago in another thread and I've been slowly poking at the idea.  I finally have a response. 

1) Some of the restrictions are ill conceived, particularly the requirement for a single dropship.  The mission profile requires something like a Colossus, something like a Vengeance, and something like a Mammoth or an equivalent number of lesser dropships, but splitting into a larger number of dropships that are a fraction of each breaks things up into too small organizational units.  The only viable solution seems to be to assume that I can have something the size of a Behemoth land and take off.  No real world military would attempt to combine an aircraft carrier, a landing craft, and a collier in a single hull as this challenge requires. 

2) Two ASFs are not enough.  The mission calls for a space superiority design, an air superiority design, and an interceptor.  All of these call for different weights.  Combining air and space superiority designs effectively requires using at least a 360 XLFE, which is just above the sweet spot for mech XLFEs.  This means I don't get a small craft which would have just barely made orbital mech deployment possible. 

My  choices of weapons are the ERML, the MPL, the ERPPC, the LRM-10, the SRM-4, the Gauss Rifle, the LB-2X AC, and the Arrow IV artillery system.  These are mostly chosen for aerospace utility with the LB-2X for a souped up Warrior and for flak. 

My choices of ammo are gauss slugs, LB-2X cluster, LRMs, smoke LRMs, either standard SRMs or a party mix, non-homing Arrow IV, homing Arrow IV, and HE bombs.  Non-homing Arrow is needed as the only artillery munition that can be deployed from ASF in flight without TAG on the ground.  I do not want to mess around with low altitude bombing to clear an LZ while lawndart checks remain a thing.  The other choices pretty clearly follow from my weapon choices.

For equipment I have selected DHS, SHS, ECM, BAP, light JJ, TAG, CASE, and a 5t targeting computer.  SHS are needed for vehicles.  ECM is lighter than C3 and makes it ineffective.  BAP is needed as the only way for an ASF to reduce large craft ECM.  Jumpjets and CASE simply can't be lived without, TAG comes with the decision to use Arrows, and the targeting computer just happened. 

My engines are a 350 XLFE, 300 SFE, 250 SFE, and a 130 FCE.  The 350 is needed by my preferred space based interceptor and the largest mech I consider fast enough to get away with the added vulnerability of an XLFE.  The 300 is needed for slow units and the 250 is needed for light vehicles that don't need the extravagance of an extra light engine.  With these come the 3 ton and 4 ton standard gyros and I have no need of a third.  Lastly, the 130 fuel cell lets me get more speed out of the VTOL I need for light transport and medevac than I could get with fusion.  Also, fuel cells run on hydrogen, which I already need for ASFs and which I can make on any habitable planet from water using a fusion engine. 

My mech choices are a 50 ton endo-steel frame, an omni enabled 50 ton endo-steel frame, and a 75 ton endo-steel frame.  As a matter of interpretation I do not consider endo-steel to be combat relevant equipment.  Since you're not counting SHS even though your vehicles have to use them I don't feel this violates the spirit of the challenge.  The use of a "demi-Lyran" scout is driven by ASF engine choices and I've chosen not to bother with an assault mech in favor of keeping a 4/6 minimum movement profile, particularly since I'm mostly using literal flying artillery. 

My vehicles are a 50 tonner, a 70 tonner, and a 75 tonner, all tracked, and a 30 ton vtol.  Possibly I should have used a 100 ton track instead of the 75, but If I revisit that I'll never get this posted.

My ASF selections are a 50 tonner with 9 SI, a 70 tonner with 7 SI, and a 100 tonner with 10 SI. 

My infantry choices are bog standard rifle infantry, a light BA intended for urban combat with a focus on fighting other infantry and a medium "wannabe elemental" with a more defensive balance than the IS Standard.  I'm not a fan of using soldiers as disposable as conventional infantry, but it tends to make otherwise friendly civilians uncomfortable when the shore patrol shows up in battle armor so I feel the need to have some. 

Armor choices are standard and heavy ferro-aluminum.  Standard is forced by the decision to use BA and HFA has basically no drawbacks so was chosen over some variety of FF. 

I am not up to attempting jumpship design so my selected jumpship is the Scout.  Since the dropship I am forced to adopt would block a second collar this is the most efficient option. 

That dropship is the Egg.  I deliberately put as little creativity as possible into naming things in order to emphasize shared chassis, but there's only the one dropship allowed.  For defense, it mounts two gauss rifles (104 rounds), four ERPPCs, and four ERMLs in each facing and 144 tons of heavy ferro-aluminum armor.  It has 36 fighter bays, 4 heavy vehicle bays, 20 mech bays, 20 light vehicle bays, 24 BA bays, and 2 infantry bays.  Cargo is 450 tons refrigerated (just over 300 kg of perishable food per person to give relief from MREs) and 40,023 tons of dry cargo, 2865 of which is vehicles and 294 of which is non-spare omni pods.  Most of the rest should be Arrow IV ammo.  Mech and ASF pilots, one commander per front line combat vehicle, techs, and medical personell have second class quarters while other vehicle crew and astechs have steerage. 

Fighters:
The 100-5O serves as a shuttle, space superiority fighter, and bomber.  As the name suggests it's a 100 ton fighter with a safe thrust of 5 and is an omni.  The intent is that it should be switched between these functions according to the needs at the time and this is one of the reasons the ASF wings have excess techs assigned (most units have just enough techs that the maintenance time per tech is less than 8 hours).  It has 10 tons of fuel and 18 tons of heavy ferro-aluminum armor.  This leaves 50 tons of podspace. 
-Sierra, the space superiority configuration, mounts 2 gauss rifles, an ERPPC, an LRM-10, and an active probe.  CASE is used to protect the gauss rifles.
-Bravo, the bomber variant, has an ERPPC, three ERML, and two Arrow IV launchers, and 10 tons of missiles for them.
-Tango, the transport version, just uses all of the podspace for cargo.  It is expected to carry a 50 ton vehicle or miscellaneous supplies.   

The 70-7O is 70 tons with 7 safe thrust and is also an omni.  It is intended to serve as air superiority and as a bomber.  It has 5 tons of fuel and 15 tons of heavy ferro-aluminum armor, leaving 32 tons of pod space.
-Sierra, the air superiority configuration, mounts a gauss rifle, two MPL, a SRM-4, an ERML, ECM, and a targeting computer.  The ERML is mounted aft.  Case again protects the gauss rifles.
-Bravo, the bomber, packs an Arrow IV launcher, 3 MPL, 3 ERML (one aft), an ECM suite, and 5 tons of Arrow missiles protected by CASE. 

The 50-9 Interceptor is 50 tons with a safe thrust of 9.  It is not an omni because fuel cannot be pod mounted and I like 10 tons of it for space combat designs.  It's protected by 12.5 tons of FAA and mounts an ERPPC, an ERML, and BAP. 

The 50-9 Escort is 50 tons with a safe thrust of 9 protected by 12.5 tons of FAA and with 5 fuel.  It has 3 MPL and a LRM-10 forward and 2 ERML aft to deal with typically faster light fighters getting behind it in atmospheric combat. 

Mechs:
The E50 Cavalry is a 50 tonner moving 7/11/7 protected by 9.5 tons of standard armor and armed with 2 ERML, 2 MPL, ECM, and BAP. 

The e50O is a 50 tonner moving 5/8/5 and protected by 10.5 tons of armor, leaving 16 tons of pod space.  Its primary purpose is to facilitate mechanized BA tactics, which is why jumpjets are fixed. 
-Alfa carries an LB-2X AC and an ERPPC for anti-air defense along with an ECM suite and CASE.
-Echo carries an ERPPC, 3 MPL, ECM, and BAP. 
-Foxtrot is armed with an ERPPC, 2 ERML, and 2 MPL. 
-Mike mounts 2 LRM-10, 2 ERML, and protects its ammo with CASE.
-Uniform is a close terrain (urban) specialist with 2 ERML, 2 MPL, and 2 SRM-4.  And, of course, CASE.

E75 Missile is not an omni because there's no need to pay double cost for something that doesn't need to work closely with BA or get reconfigured between sorties as the threat environment changes.  It moves 4/6 with 14 tons of armor and 2 ERML, 2 MPL, and 4 LRM-10.  And CASE was there too. 

E75 Sniper moves 4/6 with 14.5 tons of armor and provides direct fire support with a gauss rifle and two ERML directed by a targeting computer and defends itself at short range with 2 SRM-4s that aren't.  CASE happens. 

E75 Trooper also moves 4/6 with 14.5 tons of armor.  It mounts 3 ERML, 4 MPL, an ERPPC, TAG, a targeting computer, and ECM. 

Vehicles:
30vtol Harasser is a 30 ton vtol that flies 9/14, has 9 tons of armor, and mounts an LB-2X AC. 

30vtol Transport is a 30ton vtol that flies 9/14, has 9 tons of armor, carries a SRM-4 for emergency defense, has a 4 ton troop bay, carries paramedic equipment, and a quarter ton of rounding error.  Presumably for a slightly more spacious infantry bay.  Presumably you can shove other cargo in the troop bay in a pinch even if it's not as efficient. 

50track IFV is a 50 ton tracked vehicle moving 5/8 and protected by 13 tons of armor.  It has a pair of ERML and TAG in the turret, ECM, BAP, and a 4 ton infantry bay. 

50track Support is an infantry support tank with 13 tons of armor, 2 ERML, a LRM-10, and CASE. 

50track Transport ditches the turret and just has 5 tons of armor and 18.5 tons of cargo. 

50track Hospital is also turretless but has 10 tons of armor.  It has a MASH with 5 additional operating theaters, 2t of cargo, and 3t of troop space for the medical teams. 

50track Kitchen is based on the IFV with a field kitchen in place of the electronics and cargo in place of the troop compartment. 

70track MBT uses an XL engine to move 5/8.  It has 15 tons of armor and its turret houses a gauss rifle and 2 ERML. 

75track AA moves 4/6 and is protected by 12.5 tons of armor.  I know it's inefficient, but given my engine list it's the best payload at this speed.  Its turret mounts 2 LB-2X ACs and 2 MPL.  It has an ECM suite. 

75track Arrow also moves 4/6 with 12.5 tons of armor.  The eponymous artillery missile system is front mounted with 5t of ammo and a turret holds 2 ERML for emergency defense. 

75track Collier is exactly like the Arrow except instead of an Arrow it just has 20 tons of cargo.  Which is actually often going to be Arrows. 

75track MFB only has 5 tons of armor and no turret or weapons.  Instead it carries a mobile field base and 10 tons of cargo. 

75track MRV also only has 5 tons or armor and no turret or weapons.  Instead it has 3 lift hoists, 20 tons of cargo, and an infantry bay. 

BA:
Light Jump: 3 walk, 3 jump, 6 armor, armored gloves, a machinegun in each arm, and a cutting torch because for some reason they give a bonus to abstract infantry combat in buildings, which is a big part of the job description.

Medium Jump: 1 walk, 3 jump, 10 armor, basic manipulators, an arm mounted SRM-1 with 7 shots, TAG, and an AP weapon mount. 

Organization:
Code: [Select]
1 augmented regiment
-2 medium augmented companies
--1 augmented cavalry lance
---4 e50 Cavalries
---2 30vtol Harassers
--1 mech BA augmented lance
---4 e50Os (by default an Echo, Foxtrot, Alfa, and Mike)
---4 squads of medium jump BA
-1 heavy augmented company
--1 augmented heavy line lance
--- 4 e75 Troopers
--- 2 70track MBTs
-- 1 augmented heavy support lance
--- 2 e75 Missiles
--- 2 e75 Snipers
--- 2 70track MBTs
- 1 artillery company
-- 1 reinforced fire lance
--- 6 75track Arrows
-- 1 motorized BA platoon
--- 4 50track IFVs
--- 4 squads Medium Jump BA
-- 1 short AA lance
--- 2 75track AAs
-- transport section
--- 6 75track Colliers
- 1 motorized BA company
-- 8 50track IFVs
-- 4 50track Supports
-- 8 squads Light Jump BA
-- 4 squads Medium Jump BA
- 1 Space Wing
-- 2 heavy squadrons
--- 6 100-50Os
-- 1 interceptor squadron
--- 6 50-9 Interceptors
- 1 Air Wing
-- 1 heavy squadron
--- 6 70-7Os
-- 2 escort squadrons
--- 6 50-9 Escorts
- 2 tech companies
-- 2 75track MRVs
-- 1 75track MFB
-- 3 50track Transports
-- 1 50track IFV
-- 4 techs, 24 astechs
- 1 medical company
-- 4 50track Hospitals
-- 4 30vtol Transports
- 1 logistics company
-- 4 30vtol transports
-- 5 50track kitchens
-- 8 50track transports
I can't find any rules for administrative personnel and most Battletech units don't seem to acknowledge them so I'm assuming they're back on the planet the unit is based on. 

Daryk

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  • The Double Deuce II/II-σ
Re: Large-Scale Army Design Challenge
« Reply #16 on: 14 July 2018, 21:29:48 »
Rules for admin personnel are on page 21 of Campaign Operations.