Crewsicles - Or who's that trooper in the low berth?

[Major B]

I'm building a campaign where the players will get to play out what is normally determined in character generation. They will start as enlistees in the Army, Marines, or Navy (maybe Scouts too). First task will be to complete basic and advanced training then they are assigned a cold sleep term - my plot device to link the characters is they all are awakened in response to an emergency. I know, both ideas have been done before (I know because I've done both several times) but in this case, the players will have signed up for this on enlistment in exchange for a bonus (tax-free no less).

The idea has me thinking though, about just who are those guys in the frozen watch?

As part of the Joint force I'm building, there will be some chem/bio decon teams that wouldn't be busy on most days but would be good to have around if you could thaw them when needed. Probably there are other unit types like that that would be good to keep frozen together as a unit along with a slew of replacements in various high-demand specialties.

Actually, I'd like to take officers who have completed a successful command tour already and keep them frozen in case we need someone to rally a shattered unit. But how do you talk that ex-commander into doing it? Do you talk him into it at all or just order him to?

So, who would sign up for that if asked? Without the bonus I'd guess relatively few would be eager to give a stint in the frozen watch a try. New recruits who don't know better yet are more likely than the two-term Corporal who has seen buddies not wake up because the medic was thawing too many at once.

Could that be a sentence for nonjudicial punishment? Get picked up by the shore patrol when on liberty and get stuck doing a six-month stint on the frozen watch? Might make the commander reluctant to thaw the frozen watch if he's returning all of his problem cases back into circulation among the crew.

How about choice of assignment? Sign up for a year frozen and get you choice of follow-on assignment (except attache/aide)?

I've seen another thread on players using low passage but this is somewhat different and I'm curious to see everyone else's take on who exactly is in the frozen watch.

 

[Renaissance Man]

Assuming the revival rate for frozen watch (under the careful supervision of a medical officer) is close to 100%, I'd say being a crewsicle is a prized gig for many soldiers.

Think about it. You've been drafted or joined the army for whatever reason. Maybe you love being there, maybe you find it hell. But a four year term is a long time. Spending a year on ice makes it shorter. Meanwhile you're still accruing pay and benefits. Imagine - sleep through a year with no expenses, wake up and find yourself flush with cash. And you haven't even aged! Furlough is going to be a blast.

Remember, as in all armies, a lot of soldiers are there because they feel they have to be, not because they want to be. For those, if they could spend their entire time on frozen watch, they would.

 

[far-trader]

I've often seen it as a non-judicial punitive assignment (see Red Dwarf for example), but also available (mostly) as a special duty and volunteer assignment. Never for commanding officers (CT rank 03+) though. Commanding officers are too valuable and rare to have frozen or risk losing to thawing.

Good thought on the rarely needed specialists. Though probably not as part of the frozen watch (quick thaw in emergency is the intent there). I'd have a separate standard low berth section for that type. What other specialties might one have there?

Sensible practice would see a mix of malcontents(1), volunteers(2), and special assignment members(3).

(1) - they serve their sentence without pay, or much expense, and depending on the sentence may be mustered out at the end of it, one possible story for a failed survival throw in career gen

(2) - lots of good reasons to volunteer, full pay for no work or aging, distance oneself from a bad memory, wait for an investment to mature, among others, attractive volunteers would be junior officers or specialists

(3) - including security troops to keep the malcontents in line, damage control parties, medics, junior officers to take over command positions, and other specialists

 

[Major B]

RM, you just reminded me of one of my room-mates when I was a cadet. His theory was - if he could manage an average of 12 hours sleep per day - then he'd only be at the Academy for 2 years instead of 4. He called it his two-year plan. Same thought process I guess.

He never quite managed to do it. He tried to get extra sleep on the weekends to make up for what he was short during the week, but never managed to reach 84 hours in a week.

Thanks for pulling that memory out from wherever it was hiding.

 

[far-trader]

Hmm, just had another quick thought. You know all those Low Berth tickets the service persons pick up when mustering out? How about if they are usable on any service ships with low-berths in a temporary recall to duty system where the ex-service member gets to state a destination on the ship's route and serves as frozen watch until they get there or are needed for an assignment aboard ship? The ex-service member gets good travel out of that low ticket (better than buying a commercial one jump low ticket) and pay while enroute (more likely working passage on Merchant ships, so no pay and limited to three jumps).

Just a thought. Needs some work but could be a good plot McGuffin.

 

[Major B]

I like that! Not for this campaign I'm working on but that is an idea I will definitely steal.

 

[R_Chance]

I had always figured the frozen watch as being great for those who wanted to save their credits... no spending (plusses on money) and no aging (promotions possible due to accrued seniority though), but no skills for each year in the freezer. I worked it into my 1 year assignments for the navy and fleet marines. Had a similar bit for the army. Large army units were moved by low berth transports ("iceboats" in army parlance). I had an adventure about finding a lost iceboat (with a new heir onboard). Players had to track him down by tracing weapons which were being taken off it and sold on the black market. Fun adventure.

 

[BlackBat242]

I can't see that system surviving the civil serpents, though.

"Pay someone for being frozen for 6 months? Promote him without doing anything too? Nonsense!!!"


I can see it very quickly going to something like "frozen time doesn't count for anything... no pay (except a "freezer bonus"), no promotion, and no time elapsed on the enlistment.


A really good Servicemen's Lobby could probably get "freezer time" to count half for all 3 though, and this is the best the budgeteers would allow, methinks.

 

[aramis]

IMTU, it counts only for pay (both active and retirement) and term completion (since term completion is explicit on frozen watch for marines in Bk4/MT)... but not for promotion. It does count for seniority (simply for simplicity).

However, I limit it in practice: no one is elligible IMTU to volunteer more than once per term; one can be assigned it more.

Then again, MTU/M3I has no "up or out" policy for enlisted, either.

 

[BlackBat242]

IMTU, it counts only for pay (both active and retirement) and term completion (since term completion is explicit on frozen watch for marines in Bk4/MT)... but not for promotion. It does count for seniority (simply for simplicity).

I can't find any mention of anything relating to "frozen watch" or low-berth time in book 4 at all, much less anything on pay, promotions, etc while frozen.

Could you point me to where it is handled in book 4?


If you are thinking "ship's troops assignment", nothing says that one automatically means the other... especially since you can learn skills on that assignment. Additionally, ship's troops are normally assigned duties aboard during normal ops.

 

[aramis]

Correction: MT's HGCG... but NOT CT book 5.

 

[R_Chance]

I can't see that system surviving the civil serpents, though.

"Pay someone for being frozen for 6 months? Promote him without doing anything too? Nonsense!!!"


I can see it very quickly going to something like "frozen time doesn't count for anything... no pay (except a "freezer bonus"), no promotion, and no time elapsed on the enlistment.


A really good Servicemen's Lobby could probably get "freezer time" to count half for all 3 though, and this is the best the budgeteers would allow, methinks.

I can see paying for someone to be in the frozen watch. You're paying him for the opportunities he or she is giving up. No beer. No girls / boys. No grav ball. No seeing the wife / kids. Just a long nap with the chance of "freezer burn" at the end. Not a good chance, but it's there. Some people might see being in the freezer as a sacrifice. Also, what about emergency low berths in a life boat? Not going to pay the survivors because all they've done is drift around frozen since their ship got blown out from under them?

I doubt any imperial bureaucracy would not count the time in low berth. They use a standard calender, not a local one adjusted to local rythyms. And there are probably slight variations in time experienced in hyper I am not sugggesting by the way that actual elapsed time varies by location / calender -- just pointing out how they ignore other measurements of time. It would be easier to just deal with standard elapsed time in everything the imperial bureaucracy does. As for promotions, there are plenty of places where you might as well be in a low berth in the military for all you're doing and others where you're busier than a one legged man in a stampede. That's the breaks.

Obviously no skills gained... but again, that's life.

 

[Hemdian]

The idea has me thinking though, about just who are those guys in the frozen watch?

I've also run this scenario. The way I see it the most common reason for the Frozen Watch is combat damage, so it will be heavy in engineer ratings (for damage control) and gunner ratings (replacements) ... but with a few officers with bridge skills too (watch command and replacements). A set of Frozen Watch characters can be found here.

As for motivation, IMTU assignment to the Frozen Watch can be turned down ... so the Imperial Navy uses recruiters internally to convince personnel. The exact motivational level will vary on a case by case basis. I've started to novelise my last campaign ... chapter one can be found here, chapter two should be ready in a week from now (I am a very slow writer).

Regards PLST

 

[DaveChase]

In one GT game, Everyone made up 2 different characters each 2 weeks before the actuall game was to take place. One was to be a Traveller/seek their fortune type and the other was going to be military.

Every military (player character) was placed into frozen watch aboard a Azhanti Lightning ship.

When they were brought out of the freezer they discovered that it was 300 years later. The individuals that woke up part of the frozen watch were part of a salavage crew that was trying to make a score from an ancient battle ground (space). They only woke up a few of the individuals in frozen watch since the computer showed these were the most viable to be revived.

It made for an interesting first night game while the players sorted out what was what and had to stay in character.

Mind you it was quite interesting since a few of the players were actually playing the scavengers while their characters were still asleep and a few were playing the frozen watch.
They learned the hard way when one of the scavengers decided to wake up their other character (frozen watch), it died. Oh well it happens.

Basically I started the story (from the characters stand point) right at the point of the wake up. Had some backstory already written out for them. Everyone rolled a die and the 1/2 with the highest score where given their character (scavenger) with a history.
The other 1/2 where given their character (military frozen watch) and history.

Gave them 10 minutes to read the history, look over their characters, while I left the room to get a drink (I could not keep a straight face.)



Dave Chase

 

[davebill]

I can't see that system surviving the civil serpents, though.

"Pay someone for being frozen for 6 months? Promote him without doing anything too? Nonsense!!!"


I can see it very quickly going to something like "frozen time doesn't count for anything... no pay (except a "freezer bonus"), no promotion, and no time elapsed on the enlistment.

In Joe Halderman's 'Forever War' the government pulls this stunt on the troops back from the first campaign - the troops were expecting to be paid for the 20 something years they were away from Earth, not the few months subjective (is that the correct phrase?) time they experienced.

I've often wondered about the 'attraction' of frozen watch duty - I seem to recall some fluff from the 5th Frontier War period that suggested that the Imperium had entire divisions stashed in anticipation of a Zho attack. It seemed a bit creepy to me, the thought of these fresh faced marine recruits coming out of basic, being bundled into coffins, and then stacked away on some asteroid or moon for a war that might not come for years.

OTOH, double crewing a ship (which is basically what a frozen watch allows you to do) makes sense if you have a shortage of ships. But I would think the freezer assignments would have to be fairly short otherwise your crew would never pass their tickets and skill-up.

David

 

[DaveChase]

Star Marines (The Legacy Trilogy, Book 3): by Ian Douglas.

Ian Douglas Marines are paid and count on time of service at different rates depending on if they are frozen watch or active.

I think (don't have the books right here) that it was 5:1 ratio. 5 months frozen equaled 1 month active. Or it could be more like 10 to 1.

In the story marines got promoted based on time and service activities. Several story characters went to 'sleep' privates and woke up corporals.

Dave Chase

 

[R_Chance]

In Joe Halderman's 'Forever War' the government pulls this stunt on the troops back from the first campaign - the troops were expecting to be paid for the 20 something years they were away from Earth, not the few months subjective (is that the correct phrase?) time they experienced.David

Yeah, but IIRC a sharp lawyer took care of the problem... then they had the money to spend and the problems that came with losing that much time out of your life.

 

[davebill]

Yeah, but IIRC a sharp lawyer took care of the problem... then they had the money to spend and the problems that came with losing that much time out of your life.

IIRC mostly took care of the problem. The second part of what you say is, to me, a significant problem with Frozen Watch - not so much losing time out of your life, but losing the connection with your time. Once that bond is broken - the connection with friends and family outside the military, connection with language, interests - the stuff that makes us social animals and, perhaps, gives us reasons to sign up and fight in the first place - the frozen watch becomes this dangerous anachronism that can never be reintergrated into society, as it has nothing to go back to.

Ultimately, we could end up with a force like, say, Games Workshop Space Marines, little better than automatons, existing only to fight, and with no connection to the people they are supposed to 'serve and protect'.

Obviously, that's a worst case scenario - and if you have an Evil Imperium, perhaps the defining act of their evil is this remorseless iron hammer of a force, frozen for decades until required, unleashed in battle, and then packed away in their box until the next crisis.

OTOH, a six month rotation in freezer class might be just like any other assignment, perhaps cushier than most - and troops/crew wouldn't feel the disconnect as they're just as likely to be 'On Patrol' on a ship assigned subsectors away.

Pity the poor SOB whose freezer box gets 'lost' by the Quartermasters and who ends up being revived sectors away, and years later!

David

 

[R_Chance]

I've always figured frozen watch as a 1 year term. Odds of getting it too many times in a row are limited. Otherwise, as you say there would be even more issues than just a little lost time with family etc...

 

[jfwking]

This was covered in some detail with the star marines saga where even a few years away caused problems for the marines and the ones returning from multiyear trips found themselves cut off from the culture they returned to. Not a major problem in for a year but having to re train your popsicles just so they can go back into the culture they left 10 or 20 years ago will be a big problem.
Of course you could end up with young troops with few/no close kin (famsit 0/1) who are happy to sign up for repeat tours for the cash bonus at the end. Even on reduced pay or no bonus doing nothing for a year or two and getting that as a lump sum at the end is nice.