Author Topic: Tell me about....Jump Infantry  (Read 21327 times)

Alan Grant

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Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« on: 15 March 2015, 11:02:16 »
In a basic sense I know what jump infantry (jet pack, not paratrooper) are. I know they use jet packs for enhanced leaps or can briefly achieve free flight.

I know they are harder/more expensive to train and so operate in smaller platoons than is standard. I know most have their own organic transport, such as VTOLs for aerial deployment or quick relocation.

Beyond that, I don't know much. What battlefield roles are they best suited for? Which roles are they not suited for?

Are their limitations on their gear because of the extra weight of the jump pack?

Is there equipment (e.g. weapons) that jump infantry are best suited to carry?

In a more RPG sense...what qualities or characteristics would you look for in a jump trooper?

I'm sure if I really stopped to contemplate it I could come up with even more questions but that's all I have for the moment. I'm hoping to get some new perspective on this infantry type. Foot/leg, motorized and mechanized infantry make sense to me, there are real life comparisons to draw upon. Jump infantry not so much and I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the topic, from the basic mechanics of tabletop use, to information that might be useful in a more writing/roleplaying style game.

sillybrit

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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #1 on: 16 March 2015, 17:12:21 »
My jump infantry usage depends upon whether I'm using canon 21-man platoons or not. There's nothing in the rules that prevent jump infantry from having 28 men like other canon platoon types, and as per the construction rules in TM they can go up to the maximum 30 per platoon.

With larger platoon sizes you don't suffer the loss in damage capacity and firepower imposed by the 21-man organization, thus allowing you to use jump infantry as your general purpose infantry type for all bar those troops that you want to equip with field artillery/guns. The one exception would be for troops intended to operate in terrain where even jump infantry will have problems, such as large bodies of water, where you'd be better served using mechanized hover/VTOL infantry, appropriate beast-mounted infantry or scuba infantry. The one caveat to this is to make sure your APCs have the capacity to carry the larger platoons.

With the smaller, canon platoon sizes then jump infantry aren't always going to be the best choice where raw firepower is desired. They have no limits on the infantry weapons that they can wield per the rules - with the exception of the Support PPC, which kind of sucks anyway, so that's no loss - but you're always going to have just three quarters of the firepower of foot infantry, assuming the standard 21- and 28-man organizations. Likewise, your ability to absorb damage will be similarly weaker; weapons which might wipe a jump infantry platoon can fall short against foot infantry, giving you another turn of use of that unit.

In such cases, jump infantry are still good in circumstances where firepower isn't as vital or where their mobility provides adequate compensation. Using them as spotters, whether just simple observers or when equipped with TAG, is a good example. Another possibility is Inferno-armed anti-battlesuit troops, but this depends heavily upon your primary weapon if you're aiming for one-shot kills against enemy battle armor squads. The weapon of choice is the Mauser, whether the 1200 or (preferably) IIC version, giving decent to excellent range, which combined with one 2-shot SRM launcher per squad will provide a 21-man platoon with enough firepower that they can achieve 12 Inferno hits per salvo when at full (or near full) strength. This is enough to auto-kill any IS squad of battle armor, with the exception of those equipped with fire resistant armor, of course. Such platoons have the mobility to match or exceed most jumping battlesuits, making them a brutal option against suits like the Ravager.

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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #2 on: 16 March 2015, 19:08:11 »
It's worth noting that the canon Comstar/WoB Level I jump infantry platoons are 30 men strong, vs. their foot platoons of 2x 18-man formations and vs. the 21-man House jump platoons.

Alan Grant

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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #3 on: 16 March 2015, 19:18:12 »
Have jump infantry ever been portrayed in a BT novel? I mean as more than a passing reference.

I can't think of any examples.

Nav_Alpha

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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #4 on: 16 March 2015, 19:25:08 »
Have jump infantry ever been portrayed in a BT novel? I mean as more than a passing reference.

I can't think of any examples.

Infantry of any stripe rarely gets a mention in the novels, sadly...

Warrior: En Garde makes brief mention of both the Kell Hounds jump infantry battalion and I think possibly Kuritan jump infantry.
The Kell Hounds troops are portrayed as elite infantry but seeing as the unit has a single battalion of PBIs they must be adept at doing everything from assault infantry missions through to MP and security work...

TRO: 3085s gives us a good look at a sample Republic jump infantry unit - made up of a mish-mash of various nations and equipment they brought with them.

I've always imagined them as long the elite infantry of the various realms and used as shock troops and special forces - only to be replaced by BA and regulated back to second line status from about the late 3060s.




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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #5 on: 16 March 2015, 19:51:51 »
Lost Destiny has some Jump Troops being used by C* on Alyina. They were jumping out of a VTOL of some sort (most likely a Karnov, or maybe some old SLDF surplus)

For the most part, they're used as more light/mobile forces keeping up with 'Mech units.
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Welshman

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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #6 on: 16 March 2015, 22:14:32 »
I vaguely recall the GDL trilogy having jump troopers in them. Also, the opening fiction to FM 3085 features a special forces unit made up of BA and Jump Infantry.

To answer the question on what kind of personality would an RPG character have. Your strapping a plasma rocket motor and a highly compressed canister of hydrogen reaction mass to your back. You're leaping upwards of 100 feet vertically and horizontally every ten seconds. You're carrying enough fire power to make armored vehicles notice you and you're wearing no armor to speak of.

What kind of person would you be?
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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #7 on: 16 March 2015, 23:50:15 »
So, Paratrooper/Marine type to the extreme?
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sillybrit

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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #8 on: 16 March 2015, 23:56:34 »
What kind of person would you be?

Very, very drunk.

Welshman

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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #9 on: 17 March 2015, 00:56:00 »
Very, very drunk.

Well in the case of the BattleCorps Legion Jump platoon (which survivors go on to join the Black Torrent), bat-XXXX crazy and just a little on the scary side. You do not want to go to one of their keg parties, they tend to use live ammunition.
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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #10 on: 17 March 2015, 03:24:44 »
I vaguely recall the GDL trilogy having jump troopers in them. Also, the opening fiction to FM 3085 features a special forces unit made up of BA and Jump Infantry.

To answer the question on what kind of personality would an RPG character have. Your strapping a plasma rocket motor and a highly compressed canister of hydrogen reaction mass to your back. You're leaping upwards of 100 feet vertically and horizontally every ten seconds. You're carrying enough fire power to make armored vehicles notice you and you're wearing no armor to speak of.

What kind of person would you be?
In universe I imagine that infantry weapons are a lot more powerful, simply for record keeping purposes I'd have the basic infantry rifle doing 1 damage, so LRM but much shorter range.

That or I'd use unabridged AToW ranges for weapons in 30 meter TW hexes of (In S/M/L/E format)
SRMs: 2/7/14/24
MRMs: 2/10/36/50
LRMs: 2/13/33/70

Now for infantry trading damage for range (Using standard/canon damage figures) doesn't sound that bad, it's a pity that it isn't the case

Alan Grant

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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #11 on: 17 March 2015, 06:47:59 »
I've found the jump infantry divisions in FM: SLDF a little enlightening on this subject. Some of them note a certain brash/cavalier attitude as being common. There was one division that practiced using dangerously high winds on the world they were stationed to boost their jump distance. Learning to do that caused some casualties. Another division coupled together para drops or HALO troops for silent entry onto a battlefield. Another Jump Infantry Division made sure that every piece of their gear and every trooper could be deployed from high atmosphere by one means or another.

A quick browse of that PDF book proved...enlightening. While there seemed to be a kind of standard jump infantry manual that emphasized rapid deployment, pinning down fast moving enemy units and leapfrogging rough terrain, a lot of units went a different way or specialized in something.


Hey...how are jump packs controlled? Is it akin to a neurohelmet setup? Or are they using some kind of hand control system, and if that, how do they handle their weapons at the same time?

Also the issue of the canon 21-man platoons for jump infantry has been brought up. But that made me wonder...in canon, do you think the FWLM organizational scheme then offers an advantage when it comes to jump infantry units? Their infantry regiments number 1,794 men, for units based on the 28-man platoon. I don't have time to do the math right now, but it just strikes me that FWLM jump regiments would have a lot of manpower.
« Last Edit: 17 March 2015, 07:27:34 by Alan Grant »

Auren

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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #12 on: 17 March 2015, 08:24:02 »
Hey...how are jump packs controlled? Is it akin to a neurohelmet setup? Or are they using some kind of hand control system, and if that, how do they handle their weapons at the same time?

The only sources I can think of are TRO:3026 and Mechwarrior: 2nd ed.

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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #13 on: 17 March 2015, 09:29:31 »
There's a full-page article about a minor Davion who was in the jump infantry near the end of the Star League in the old House Davion Sourcebook.  Page 104 if the pdf page numbers match the actual ones, or if you ctrl-f "Battlefield Royalty", it should take you right to it.  It talks about a combat drop from a Vampire gone pear-shaped.
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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #14 on: 17 March 2015, 09:40:45 »
Spotters, recon, and jumping out of intact Dropships... one MWDA novel (Silence in the Heavens?) depicts using single troopers as runners which I thought was an excellent idea. Any PBI job needing more mobility basically.

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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #15 on: 17 March 2015, 11:08:32 »
I got a whole lot of mileage out of Jump SRM infantry in a Nova Binary VS Company game I played in San Antonio, using them to play bodyguard to a lance of LRM carriers. Both of the latter were a heavy woods map. After the 'Mechs were getting pounded by the LRM carriers without being able to retaliate, he sent the elementals to go after the LRM carriers. The Infantry actually did a pretty significant job of chewing up the elementals, who were only armed with small lasers. The LRM carriers never got threatened as the infantry took heavy losses but were able to eliminate the toads.

Col.Hengist

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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #16 on: 17 March 2015, 14:35:21 »
I love jump infantry. I use them for quick response units, objective takers, a back off button ( no one line a 21 man platoon of inferno SRM'S ) , rapid deployed spotters... You name it. Pair them with a BA squad and you have a tough but, especially in a city.
 
 My favorite deployment is from a karnov.
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Alan Grant

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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #17 on: 18 March 2015, 08:09:57 »

 My favorite deployment is from a karnov.

Karnovs aside, what are your other favorite vehicles for deploying jump infantry or carrying them around the battlefield?

Col.Hengist

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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #18 on: 18 March 2015, 10:26:49 »
Nothing. Is there something better?
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Marveryn

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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #19 on: 18 March 2015, 11:49:06 »
one reason for the lower troop  number isn't just how difficult it is to train a guy to use the gear but I think people with motion sickness could never qualified.  I mean that a lot of up and down

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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #20 on: 18 March 2015, 12:28:16 »
There's probably a pill for that in the 31st century.  On some worlds, anyway.
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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #21 on: 18 March 2015, 13:21:39 »
i'm not sure it's a purely ballistic arc actually.. most likely jump infantry packs are closer to the real world rocket/jetpacks..
likethe Bell rocket belt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE6Sy5JNnxg

true flight.. just over short distances. (perhaps like all BT tech, the thruster heats up over use and they have to land to cool off?)
« Last Edit: 18 March 2015, 13:24:15 by glitterboy2098 »

Alan Grant

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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #22 on: 18 March 2015, 13:55:56 »
I can't quite get the vibe of how fast a trooper would be traveling through the air on an average jump.

Part of envisions an almost Ironman-esque "zoom!". Part of me envisions the scene from the movie Minority Report, where the cops show up up in jet packs and are coming into the alley and land, all the while moving relatively slowly in a very calculated fashion and then landing about as gently as a large bird.

I guess it's possible that both could be true, that a jump trooper might have a few tricks to pull from, with various pros and cons to each.

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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #23 on: 18 March 2015, 17:53:44 »
Well, figure they spend about 8 seconds of a 10 second turn in the air, maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less.
Then they'd move at a rather reasonable pace on a long jump.
I'd say it's at least sprint speed.
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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #24 on: 18 March 2015, 18:51:06 »
Karnovs aside, what are your other favorite vehicles for deploying jump infantry or carrying them around the battlefield?

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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #25 on: 18 March 2015, 19:01:12 »
The Cavalry with the 4 ton bay has been my go to for BA, I'd probably use it for Jump Infantry as well, if BA wasn't available.
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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #26 on: 18 March 2015, 19:07:54 »
There's a full-page article about a minor Davion who was in the jump infantry near the end of the Star League in the old House Davion Sourcebook.  Page 104 if the pdf page numbers match the actual ones, or if you ctrl-f "Battlefield Royalty", it should take you right to it.  It talks about a combat drop from a Vampire gone pear-shaped.
Not too minor,  Dutchess Alexandra Davion, always loved that article.  And as you say, the original reference to the Vampire.
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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #27 on: 18 March 2015, 19:10:38 »
Have jump infantry ever been portrayed in a BT novel? I mean as more than a passing reference.

I can't think of any examples.
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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #28 on: 18 March 2015, 19:13:52 »
So, Paratrooper/Marine type to the extreme?
While every Jump Trooper isn't a Navy Seal,  I don't think it would be too far off to call them Airborne Rangers.
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Re: Tell me about....Jump Infantry
« Reply #29 on: 18 March 2015, 19:17:27 »
Hey...how are jump packs controlled? Is it akin to a neurohelmet setup? Or are they using some kind of hand control system, and if that, how do they handle their weapons at the same time?
There is a picture of them in the original MW RPG IIRC.
They use Hand Controls.
And I don't believe they shoot while jumping.
They jump to navigate obstacles & land from air deployment, but they seem to fight while standing on the ground.
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