How many troopers in a Comstar Infantry Level I?

[Drewbacca]

I could never keep this straight. Is a Comstar Level I 6 troopers with 36 for a level 2 or is it 36 for the Level one?

[Daryk]

36 for a level I of Foot.  Jump is only 30...

[Weirdo]

What he said. Tech Manual has a nice chart showing standard platoon sizes for almost every faction, C*/WoB included, and wherever anything mentions platoon, just read Level I and you'll be fine.

[Sartris]

It makes for awkward deployment because you can’t have platoons larger than 30 so you have to split a Level I into two 18 man units

[Liam's Ghost]

It makes for awkward deployment because you can’t have platoons larger than 30 so you have to split a Level I into two 18 man units

I won't lie, I tend to field jump troops with my comguard forces just because of that.

[Drewbacca]

I won't lie, I tend to field jump troops with my comguard forces just because of that.

How do you handle weapons and armor options?

[truetanker]

How do you handle weapons and armor options?

What do you mean?

Like firing or equipping issues, or the Squad breakdown?

TT

[Drewbacca]

Equipping, what weapons do you give them and do you give them standard comstar armor?

[Weirdo]

It makes for awkward deployment because you can’t have platoons larger than 30 so you have to split a Level I into two 18 man units

I like em like that. Much like Marians, it lets you cover/hold more ground with a single "unit". All the flexibility of squad deployment without the pain in the ass that is squad deployment.

[Daryk]

Squad deployment is how I'd handle them, bookkeeping be damned.

As for weapons and armor: generally Mausers and ComStar Armor kits (which are Divisor 2 and Non-Encumbering).

If I want them to have more range, I throw in a pair of Inteks or Mark XXs.  It reduces the damage, but increases the range from 2/4/6 to 3/6/9.  For more damage, try (Heavy) Automatic Grenade Launchers, but stick to one per squad to keep the range at 2/4/6 and avoid the "shoot or move" problem.

[Weirdo]

Squad deployment slows my games down immensely, mostly because I tend to take a view of bringing infantry in company strength or more, or don't bother. That many solo squads...no thanks. My games don't happen often enough for me to bog one down that way.

[Daryk]

If you're bringing whole companies, Jump platoons do sound easier.

[Drewbacca]

I was a bit disappointed by the Comstar infantry in 3085. Good specialist units but not much really for straight combat.

[truetanker]

Equipping, what weapons do you give them and do you give them standard comstar armor?

Quick and simple, apply the damage .xx times the number of Troopers per Squad times number of Squads for final Platoon damage.

https://bg.battletech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/TechManual-v3.0-Infantry-Tables.pdf?x64300

Each Trooper can have a Primary, if you choose to use Support weapons, one trooper per Squad must be assigned it, losing their Secondary weapon. if two Support weapons are used in a single Squad, you end up losing abilities.

Example: 36-trooper Level I Comstar: 3025

Basic Auto-Rifle, range 1 ( 3 hexes per every range level ), damage .52 per rifle, crew 1.
Basic Support, Heavy Flamer, range 0 ( same hex only ), damage .79, crew 2 ( you only need 1 to fire, and two to move. ) * Also does flame damage.

So with these, we get:

36 Platoon divide by 6 ( Squad Level ) = (6) Troopers 2-5 with AR, Trooper 1 Heavy Flamer. ( 3.39 damage range 1, if I added up another .11 more it would have been 3.5 rounded up for 4 total damage per Squad... )

Full Platoon is 20.34 or 20 points!

Armor would be Comstar, which divides damage to each trooper by two...

TT

Edit: Modify for tabletop playabilty. I forgot I tend to use an AU design more than official.

[Daryk]

If ComStar was actually deploying troops in 3025, I think they'd still have Mausers...

[Weirdo]

Each Trooper can have a Primary and a Secondary weapon...

No. Very no. Each trooper can have one weapon and one weapon only. The only exceptions are disposable weapons or field guns.

[Daryk]

Well, they can have them, just not fire them at the same time.  And that's not what the "primary/secondary" terminology refers to in the infantry construction rules...

[truetanker]

No. Very no. Each trooper can have one weapon and one weapon only. The only exceptions are disposable weapons or field guns.

I have Tech Manual in front of me...

pg. 150-151 Choose Primary Infantry Weapons, oh.... " While they may carry an array of armaments... each trooper carries a single standard ' principle ' weapon. " yeah my bad. Will change post.

If ComStar was actually deploying troops in 3025, I think they'd still have Mausers...

Highly not likely, ComGaurd was still a secret in 3025... they were armed with such lower weapons. Mausers would have been right after the start of the 4th SW / pre-clan when they began to lose superiority.

TT

[Daryk]

Exactly... they were a secret in 3025... if you saw them (and their Mausers), they'd be the last thing you saw...

[truetanker]

Yeah, I can see that... but that's more like ROM's job ( Rho/Rho ) than anyone else. Covert Ops, but they would have likely have used Generic or House Specific weapons against you. Like Kurita DEST-like vs. you Davionistas out there. Or Marik when your Loki or Maskirovka.

Misdirection on their part to keep the masses sundered.

TT

[Drewbacca]

Silly question, does anyone know if the images for the Comstar brach symbols (Infantry, Mechwarrior, etc.) are online and if so where?

[Daryk]

You mean the Greek letters?  You should be able to get them through the Character Map utility...

[Kidd]

Silly question, does anyone know if the images for the Comstar brach symbols (Infantry, Mechwarrior, etc.) are online and if so where?

It should be a prerequisite to check at least the most likely pages on Sarna.net first before asking.

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Com_Guards#Rank

Go, and sin no more.

[Drewbacca]

See now, I did check sarna, but I never thought to look specifically for Ranks. Sorry. :-[

[Drewbacca]

I just whipped up a trial for a Level I Jump Infantry platoon. I gave them the Comstar armor kit, Mausers and an autogrenade launcher. The range was not the greatest, but I took out a Deva on a map with no cover losing about 4 from 180 troopers. I think they might be a bit OP.

[Weirdo]

They had no cover at all, but the Deva only did four damage? Was it one of those configs totally unsuited to infantry-hunting, like a Gauss boat or something, with a 6/7 pilot inside? Because of damage doubling, you're saying that the mech only scored two actual hits of any kind before it died.

[Daryk]

And how big was this map?  At 4/6, the Deva should have been able to stay out of the infantry's range.

[Drewbacca]

They had no cover at all, but the Deva only did four damage? Was it one of those configs totally unsuited to infantry-hunting, like a Gauss boat or something, with a 6/7 pilot inside? Because of damage doubling, you're saying that the mech only scored two actual hits of any kind before it died.

Yes definately a bad design gir anti-infantry but that is what was chosen. I have to go back and check the list again, could have been a few more, but the Deva got knocked down in the second round of fire exchange and whiffed with all wrapins on the third before falling again.

[Drewbacca]

And how big was this map?  At 4/6, the Deva should have been able to stay out of the infantry's range.

One standard map sheet but a very agressive opponent.

[Weirdo]

Sounds like an extraordinarily bad test, that tells you exactly nothing about the utility of your troops. All this test told you is that if you stack every possible variable against a mech, it is possible for that mech to lose.

[Daryk]

Exactly... against infantry, a 'mech's primary advantages are range and mobility.  Confining the battle to a single map sheet takes both away.

[Drewbacca]

Sounds like an extraordinarily bad test, that tells you exactly nothing about the utility of your troops. All this test told you is that if you stack every possible variable against a mech, it is possible for that mech to lose.

Exactly. Tried again with support machine gun instead of the grenade launcher for less damage per trooper. Lost an entire level one and had another dropped to half strength after they got caught in the open. Managed a kill against a Marshall with good anti-infantry weapons (MML and machine guns among others) when the MML ammo went up on a critical.

[Weirdo]

2 or 4 of the standard Battletech mapsheet should be good. You've got plenty of room for the mech to maneuver and use range, you've got cover for the infantry to try and negate that but not so much that the mech will find it impossible to engage them at any but pointblank range.

Also, the Deva is a horrible mech to use in these tests, especially since I suspect we're talking about the Invictus. All of its configs are geared toward anti mech fighting. If you want to test your guys against a true threat, make them take down a Grigori Infernus. If you really want to use a Deva for these, I'd advise the Deva Dominus, giving the missile rack frag LRMs and inferno SRMs. That kind of danger will force the infantry player to think about deployment and cover, as opposed to simply charging through largely ineffectual plinking.

[Daryk]

If you're going for a single Support Machine Gun per squad, you might as well stick with another Mauser.  The difference is 0.01 points of damage per squad, and 0.05 per platoon doesn't get you another point of damage.  Going with two per squad also doesn't get you more damage, but at least nets you the Heavy Burst special, though at the cost of the movement penalty.

[Drewbacca]

I have two in each.

[Daryk]

So your units only jump 2, right?  That might also have contributed to them taking more damage...

[Kidd]

@Daryk - what missile or laser support weapons, if any, would be used by Comstar/WOB infantry platoons?

[Maelwys]

Well, the fluff of the Hellbore says that "The Hellbore assault laser incorporates Star League lostech, and most armament experts concur that the Hellbore matches the quality of comparable laser weapons used by the Star League Defense Forces." (pg 43)

TechManual states "...while ComStar's Hellbore may set the standard in support weapons." (pg 273)

It was developed in 3058 by ComStar, so by the fluff, you'd expect them to be using it for their platoons, but man. It kind of sucks (or maybe its the Mausers that are that good)  Its only .63 damage, and its encumbering (ironically, its lighter that the Mauser 960). If you're pairing it with Mauser 960s, its 2 range doesn't modify anything.

Other than that, there's not really anything that sets the different support weapons apart for CS.

[Daryk]

@Daryk - what missile or laser support weapons, if any, would be used by Comstar/WOB infantry platoons?

Good question!  The Mauser is tough to beat, with 0.93 damage and base 2 range (2/4/6 on the battlefield).  Logically, if they were going to replace those with support weapons, it would have to better in at least two ways.

The errata for the infantry tables lays out the options.

The IS ER Heavy Support Laser can get a Jump platoon one extra point of damage (squads don't gain anything), but no extra range, since a crew of 4 only allows one per squad.  The good news is this means no movement penalty.

The IS Heavy Support Laser can get significant extra damage and range, but inflicts a movement penalty at two per squad.

The Support Pulse Laser drops the damage and increases the range, along with granting the Heavy Burst special.  But inflicts the movement penalty.

I believe all the other lasers are lesser included cases of the above.

SRM Launchers don't increase range, and only the Standard is even worth considering at one per squad for a slight increase in damage.

LRM launchers significantly reduce damage for a slight increase in range at two per squad, but I don't think it's worth it.

[Kidd]

Not everyone would have Mauser 960s, I think.

its 2 range doesn't modify anything.

IMHO range is the benefit of support weapons, other than those few that confer special abilities.

The errata for the infantry tables lays out the options.

Excellent link, thanks a lot.

[Daryk]

You're very welcome!

In defense of the LRM launcher, it meshes just fine with the bog standard Auto Rifle (i.e., no damage reduction for the increased range it grants).  Personally, I still don't think they're worth the movement penalty, but that's just my play style.