Here's an idea... integrate the Damage Divisor concept into the destruction roll target number:
0: -1 (these are your peasants with guns)
1: +0 (standard troopers with standard body armor)
2: +1 (standard troopers with GOOD body armor)
3: +2 (expensive and rare, but doable)
If we're gonna go this far, a couple other ideas hit me:
We can modify the auto elimination number further with troop training levels and loyalty quality, and a 'fear factor'.
(Not all the damage has to be physical for a squad to leave the fight.)
The 'fear factor' This would be an augment to how Sartris propose applying AnInf damage dice as modifiers. It would be another, similar conditional modifier based on what did the shooting at the squad.
- Other conventional infantry - I actually see a bonus to the squad number, because it's not just being on even footing. You can be confident you can take the other guy down.
- Vehciles - this is your +/-0. An armored box with blind spots and weak points in its mobility, while frightening, is so abstract that the fear can be overcome, especially with training.
- Battle Armor - This is where you start to see unaugmented men sweat. It's like a man, but sttronger, faster, and more resilient. BA happens to be the smallest of the superhuman uncanny valley.
- ProtoMechs - Next step up in Uncanny valley combined with superhuman.
- BattleMechs - Giants with terrifying weaponry that run around the battlefield at sometimes inhuman rates of motion. Watching even the slowest mech in action can boggle the mind when someone hands you a satchel charge and tells you to intercept it and plant that in the ankle.
Training Level This would certainly play a roll in whether a squad hesitates out of confusion and fear. Greener troops are more likely to feel overwhelmed and withdraw sooner than regular, veteran, or elite.
Loyalty QualityThe reason to stick around and fight will play a large part in how long a squad will submit itself to punishment before collectively the troopers decide it's not worth it anymore. As I see it, this is how it's break down:
Fanatic troops are most likely to try to stick in the fight to the last man.
Poorly loyal troops will bug out at the first casualty.
Troops of Normal loyalty will give it that 'college try' removing from combat at probably half-strength while they have enough people to help haul wounded.
I'm not gonna futz with numbers right now. Just making the suggestions. If anyone wants to try to tackle modifiers, by all means.
I like this because it brings a level of morale into play which is intrinsic to a mob unit like infantry which is lacking normally.
Note On Design:Now, if I'm gonna start playing with all that, I'm gonna not bother with the gradient damage levels like I'd proposed. (We still could, but I'd leave that as highly optional.)
So, sticking with the static target number is the key to KISS in this regard. We can generate the modifiers as tables for reference in play, but aside from the conditional modifiers of Fear Factor and AnInf weapon effectiveness, the others are static, and once set, can create a final target value.
So, once you've determined if you're fielding mostly green/poorly loyal troops in standard kit, you'll have modified the final target value for auto elimination to something low. Sartris started us off at 9+. For me, auto elimination is like checking for a crit on Mechs or more thematically Aerospace. You only need an 8+ with aero to do the damage.
If we set it up, we could work the numbers so that a green, poorly loyal squad with crap armor is auto eliminated
every time. That might be our starting point, and work up from there. Which means our starting value would probably a target number of 2+, since the roll is checked on the ubiquitous 2d6 common in most things BattleTech.
edit: Making the post a little more purdy.