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.