How many troopers are there in an Inner Sphere BA platoon?

[jimdigris]

How many troopers are there in an Inner Sphere BA platoon?

[Arkansas Warrior]

Depends on whose platoon you're talking about.  Unless you're Marians or C*/WOB, there's 4 troopers to a squad.  But depending on the faction, there may be anywhere from 3 to 6 squads in a platoon.


Mercenary/IS Generic: 4 troopers/squad, 3 squads/platoon (12 troopers/platoon)
AFFS/LCAF/CCAF/Periphery Generic: 4 troopers/squad, 4 squads/platoon (16 troppers/platoon)
FWLM: 4 troopers/squad, 5 squads/platoon (20 troopers/platoon)
MHAF: 5 troopers/squad, 5 squads/platoon (25 troopers/platoon)
ComGuard/WOBM: 6 trooper/squad, 6 squads/platoon (36 troopers/platoon) (I'm not 100% on this one, but fairly sure)


If I didn't list a military, I'm not sure how they do it.

[worktroll]

DCMS use 4 BA/squad, 3 squads/company format as well.

And technically, WoB & C* don't use squad or platoon names - it's 6 BA/Level I, 6 level Is/Level II. It'd be unlikely that the new kings of combined warfare would ever deploy a full level II of BA, but two level Is of BA, two Bollas, and two 'Mechs makes a pretty nice formation.

W.

[Arkansas Warrior]

Right, I just used standard nomenclature for convenience.  Likewise, in the MHAF squad/platoon would actually be contubernium/century.

[jimdigris]

I'm allowed a platoon of BA for a mercenery unit for an upcoming campaign, so it looks like a dozen is the magic number.  Thank you for the help.

[worktroll]

It'd be easy to justify a 4-squad platoon for mercs if you really wanted, but the basic assumption seems to be "mercs take the cheaper option".

Plus good luck finding transport for 16 tons of BA; there are Maxims with 12-ton capacity, if you don't mind all your eggs in one basket.

[jimdigris]

I was thinking of a pair of Karnovs.

[VhenRa]

It'd be easy to justify a 4-squad platoon for mercs if you really wanted, but the basic assumption seems to be "mercs take the cheaper option".

Plus good luck finding transport for 16 tons of BA; there are Maxims with 12-ton capacity, if you don't mind all your eggs in one basket.

Eh, to be honest. I would never stick a platoon inside a single transport.

[Nav_Alpha]

What about the RAF? Do we know what size they use?

[VhenRa]

What about the RAF? Do we know what size they use?

Some indications, like one transport described as carrying an entire Platoon and having room for 16 suits. Another transport described as carrying a company, with room for 48 suits. Indicating they use 3 platoon companies, with 4 squad platoons.

[Nikas_Zekeval]

Am I the only one that thinks Inner Sphere BA gets double nerfed WRT to Elementals with having weaker stats (generally less armor and/or weapons, plus jump restrictions with missile packs) and fewer numbers?

If they had to do it all over again, organizing Inner Sphere suits into six man squads might make more sense.  Putting in an extra suit to make up for their individual inferiority?

[sillybrit]

It would indeed be a reasonable way to address the individual inferiority. We have four-suit Inner Sphere squads for simply because of historical game reasons

Originally (TRO3050) they were organized in units of one to five suits, with the term Point still being used instead of squad. We then (BMR) got squads of four to better differentiate them from Clan battle armor, with four presumably chosen because the idea of six sub-units per unit hadn't even been considered yet outside of aerospace squadrons. Notably ComStar/WoB battlesuits were originally organized in units of four as well (FM:CS), even though higher level units were multiples of six.

[Weirdo]

Am I the only one that thinks Inner Sphere BA gets double nerfed WRT to Elementals with having weaker stats (generally less armor and/or weapons, plus jump restrictions with missile packs) and fewer numbers?

They're only screwed if you take an equal or lesser number of squads. As-is, an IS force can field a lot more BA squads than an equivalent Clan one, and so the numerical superiority gives gives you a huge advantage in tactical options.

[VhenRa]

They're only screwed if you take an equal or lesser number of squads. As-is, an IS force can field a lot more BA squads than an equivalent Clan one, and so the numerical superiority gives gives you a huge advantage in tactical options.

Case in point example would be a FedSuns LCT. Where as far as I remember... its something along the lines of 25 Suits per Mech in support.

[Nikas_Zekeval]

They're only screwed if you take an equal or lesser number of squads. As-is, an IS force can field a lot more BA squads than an equivalent Clan one, and so the numerical superiority gives gives you a huge advantage in tactical options.

In terms of game rules?  Most of your attacks are squad based, and some things like anti-mech attacks become significantly more difficult once you are down to three or less suits.  Pop a Clan Large Pulse Laser into an IS squad, and you have made swarm attacks a practical impossibility without the target being immobilized, prone, or a vehicle.  Take out two, and kiss leg attacks goodbye.

It's not just their relative weakness, their smaller size mean they degrade in other areas much faster than Elementals for every suit killed.

[Nebfer]

All houses use 4 suit squads

AFFS
Squad: 4
Platoon: 16
Company: 64
Battalion: 256
Regiment: 1024

LCAF
Squad: 4
Platoon: 16
Company: 64
Battalion: NA Presumably thy use the AFFS org
Regiment: NA

DCMS
Squad: 4
Platoon: 12
Company: 36
Battalion: 108 (due to a Nekohono'o carrying 108 troopers as a battalion)
Regiment: NA, (likely 3 battalions per regiment or 324)

FWLM
Squad: 4
Platoon: 20
Company: 80 (Based off the Seleucus carrying 80 troopers)
Battalion: NA (if anything likely likely a 4x formation on up)
Regiment: NA

CCAF
Squad: 4
Platoon: 16
Company: NA (unknown to me what they use, but likely a default base 3 org)
Battalion: NA
Regiment: NA

RAF
Squad: 4
Platoon: 16 (Trireme CS config is stated to carry a full platoon, and can carry 16 troopers, also the regular Trireme is said to carry 2 platoons with a 36 trooper capasity)
Company: 48 (based off the fact that the Zugvogel E config can carry a full company of 48 troopers)
Battalion: 144 (based off the fact that a quartet of Trireme VTOLs can carry a full battalion, each VTOL can carry 36 troopers x4 = 144)
Regiment: NA (likely a 3 or 4 unit battalion)

Comstar/WoB: 6 suits in a Level I, and a 6x for each level higher

* Im not as sure at past this level, often derived from other sources
As for the minor houses out side of the MHAF, I do not know how they do the orgs
For them it's AFAIK
Squad: 5 (Contubernium)
Platoon: 25 (Century)
Company: 50 (Maniple)
Battalion: 150 (Cohort)
Regiment: 450 to 750 (Legion)

[Hellraiser]

How many troopers are there in an Inner Sphere BA platoon?

Varies by faction as others have stated.

Mercs get 12 / Platoon, they don't have that much BA to go around as most houses were busy using it all for themselves in the early days.

I was thinking of a pair of Karnovs.

That requires splitting a squad for the standard Karnov or having extra room in a BA-Transport Karnov.

[croaker]

I'm allowed a platoon of BA for a mercenery unit for an upcoming campaign, so it looks like a dozen is the magic number.  Thank you for the help.

My merc unit (when it -has- battle armor, which depends on which era we're playing in) uses a Fire Team of 4 suits. 3 Fire Teams to the squad, 3 squads and a command team to the platoon, three platoons and a HQ squad to the company. A platoon, for me, is therefore 40 suits.

[worktroll]

Or a battalion compared with standard IS formation sizes.

I think the developers went this way for two reasons:

1) A 4-man squad of BA have roughly the same firepower, with better protection & mobility in most cases, than a platoon of standard infantry. The advanced infantry options from TM & TO changed this balance, but weren't in the picture back then. SO the "unit in play" balance was roughly the same.

2) Consider a 28-man platoon of armoured infantrymen - better still, consider 2 28-man platoons of BA in a single hex. That's not a mobile landmine, that's a mobile tacnuc! Even if you only let infantry equip standard platoons with PA(L) suits, imagine every trooper with a LMG ... ouch.

Nothing stopping you from using your formations in your game, Croaker. I imagine it plays similarly, just with different labels.

W.

[sillybrit]

FM:Merc itself notes that the unit organization sizes that it quotes, which would include the 3-squad/12-suit "standard" merc BA platoon, are only the "most common" (FM: Mercs p30). It even highlights one exception, in the form of the Dragoons (obviously the Dragoons are generally always an exception to the standards of mere mortal mercs). There would be nothing stopping a merc unit, or player, from organizing BA exactly the same as the AFFC or WoB or Clans or even a completely custom setup.

What cannot change is the limit of no more than 6 suits per game unit. That game unit could then be called a squad or a fire team, or a scrum or huddle for that matter, but it wouldn't change how the BA are played as game units.

Realistically, even House units could do the same if it works for your table.

[SCC]

a 28 man platoon of PA(L)'s armed with LMG's wouldn't  be nasty as you'd think, as far as I am aware infantry only get the bonus once, not per trooper, so it would 28 points of damage, with an additional 1D6 when shooting conventional infantry

[VhenRa]

a 28 man platoon of PA(L)'s armed with LMG's wouldn't  be nasty as you'd think, as far as I am aware infantry only get the bonus once, not per trooper, so it would 28 points of damage, with an additional 1D6 when shooting conventional infantry

Uh, he is talking BA LMGs.