Starships Versus Tanks

[Ptah]

Scott and all other interested parties,
Started a thread on KKM and plasma weapons here:
http://www.travellerrpg.com/cgi-bin/Trav/CotI/Discuss/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=42;t=000202

 

[Ran Targas]

Okay, maybe my obviously warped sense of the future battlefield doesn't match the OTU norm; but this is how I see this whole thing playing out:

PC1(Pete): Gee, I think I'm seeing a neutrino source about 10000m from Gary's beacon, could be some kind of grav vehicle.

PC2(Rick): Yeah, bet they have grav tanks supporting the infantry that are looking for him.

PC3(Fred): Maybe we can knock a few off from orbit; it's a tough shot but maybe we'll get lucky. Rick, you power up the turret and Pete, you get a hard targetting lock. I'll maneuver us over the target.

Meanwhile, on the ground ...

NPC1: Sir, we're detecting broadband emissions over area XX/YY; they correspond to a standard Type S Scout ...

NPC2: Correlate with Site B and get a fix on that ship. XX/YY; that's not anywhere near the normal civilian routes, correct?

NPC3: Yes sir, if she's a neutral, she's way outside the designated surface-to-orbit routes ...

NPC2: Notify Space Command to scramble the closest escort and get that civilian out of there before they get hurt. Designate her Unknown 001. The question is, "what's she looking for?"

Back in orbit ...

Pete: Got a lock on one target, and there's a couple of more down there too. Passing data to the turret ...

Rick: Yup, there it is, big and bright ... like a fish in a barrel ... locked on and ready to fire ...

Fred: If we don't take 'em out, they'll find Gary for sure. Light 'em up!

Zap!

On the ground:

NPC4: Command, this is Tiger 23, we are taking direct fire from above, one unit down, casualties unknown, engaging countermeasures, request fire support, over ...

NPC3: Sir, ground forces in grid XXXX/YYYY report they are under orbital bombardment. No hostile aircraft in the area. Fire appears to be coming from Unknown 001.

NPC2: Where's that Combat Air Patrol? Designate that unknown as hostile!

NPC1: Sir, we have a passive fix on Hostile 001. Should I order counter-battery?

NPC2: What's the delay on the CAP? If no friendlies are in the area, give the coordinates to Battery Alpha and tell them to prep for counter-battery.

NPC3: CAP on it's way full burn, weapons range in 10 minutes ...

Back in orbit:

Pete: Woohoo! You should see the sensors light up! What a discharge! The sensors can't handle it, I gotta reduce the sensitivity.

Rick: Yeah, I'm blind too. Looks like a direct hit though.

Fred: As soon as you can, get a lock on the next one. Sure hope Gary didn't get fried when that thing went up!

Rick: Gimme another target, the laser's almost powered back up!

Pete: Hmmm, seems to be something wrong with my sensors, all I see is a big smudge over the target area ... some kind of interference ...

Fred: Let's maneuver to get a better look ...

On the ground:

NPC1: Sir, I have CAP over grid XX/YZ, five minutes to weapon range, Hostile 001 is maneuvering ...

NPC2: Keep on that hostile. Does Battery Alpha have a lock yet?

NPC3: Battery reports lock and ready to engage ...

NPC2: Darn mercs! Knock that thing out of my sky!!!

In orbit ...

Pete: Holy crap!!! We're getting painted by something on the ground! I think it's military!

Rick: Can we fire back?

Pete: More military sensors! Coming from above us now!

Fred: Full thrust!!!

On the ground ...

NPC3: CAP reports sensor lock, Battery Alpha firing ...

In orbit ...

Fred: Mother ...

On the ground:

Gary: Wow, what a pretty meteor! Wonder if the guys see it?

Now, if they try the low and fast approach, they get two shots off before they get blown up and Gary gets whacked by falling debris.

 

[parmasson]

Forget gary, charge the J drives and full speed to 100 dia!

 

[Ptah]

I like it. Now that's an integrated merc operation.

Rick, Pete and Fred (aka, Larry, Moe and Curly) have sorely underestimated their opposition and failed to employ even the most rudimentary tactics. Sync your sensors so they are protected from your own weapons flash. Target the surface-to-orbit batteries first. Employ their own chaff/sensor counter measures. etc.

 

[Scott Martin]

So this would be a bad time to mention that a CCD (Current solid state passive sensor technology) has a cycle time on the order of milliseconds, so the "blinding" problem is really a non-issue, especially for "small" bangs like a tank?

Lots of jamming over the area might work (it would be unholy expensive though) but really a "high guard" strikes me as a bit more sensible (and cost effective) especially since that gives your unit orbital (or better, far far orbital) fire support as well.

If I were to run a merc unit I'd make sure to either have anti-space capability or a contract stipulating *extreme* penalties (5x replacement costs?) to my employer for failing to secure the high orbitals

Scott Martin

 

[Ran Targas]

Originally posted by Scott Martin:
So this would be a bad time to mention that a CCD (Current solid state passive sensor technology) has a cycle time on the order of milliseconds, so the "blinding" problem is really a non-issue, especially for "small" bangs like a tank?

Sorry, I meant to imply that after detecting an attack from above, the tankers immediately began jamming the sensors they were getting painted with.

Originally posted by Scott Martin:
Lots of jamming over the area might work (it would be unholy expensive though) but really a "high guard" strikes me as a bit more sensible (and cost effective) especially since that gives your unit orbital (or better, far far orbital) fire support as well.

Again, implied jamming the Scout's active targetting sensors and throwing up a lot of chaff, anti-laser aerosol, and kicking out a bunch of grav tank, neutrino decoys to confuse the passive sensors. Still can't believe some really smart engineer wouldn't have already figured out how to dampen a grav tank's signature so you couldn't spot-on target it from outside the solar system!?!

Originally posted by Scott Martin:
If I were to run a merc unit I'd make sure to either have anti-space capability or a contract stipulating *extreme* penalties (5x replacement costs?) to my employer for failing to secure the high orbitals

In an ideal world, you wouldn't be doing combat SAR on an active battlefield in an antique starship with a handful of retirees and/or non-combat veterans.

 

[mike wightman]

This may even things up a bit for the scout ship.

TL10/11 heavy grav tank:
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">GT - 0102C11 - 230000 - 10001 - 0 10tons
1 1 1 Crew 3
1 1 1 TL10/11
Fuel = 0.5t, EP = 1.2, Agility = 2 </pre>[/QUOTE]I still don't fancy its chances against a squadron of four of these.

 

[parmasson]

If the PCs are smart this is how it should play out.

Scout ship pulls into orbit looking for the lost Gary.

Grav tank squadron: This is Squadron commander Smith to unidentified scout, please identify.

Scout Pilot Pete: (on air) This is the IISS ship Bad Penny here with dispatches. (off air )
Navigator Bob: What?!

GTC Smith: Your transponder dos not show you as an active IISS courier please identify NOW.

Bob to Pete: Great, now Gary is dead and so are we. We might be able to take 1 of them but FOUR!

Pete: Trust me. (Pete inserts a data cartage into the command console.
Pete: (on air) transmitting now.

GTC Smith: Very well, but why is your destination the main power station if you are a courier?

Bob: (shakes his head) You didn’t think of that did you. I didn’t think so, I should have stayed on Regina.

Pete: Shut up, ummm (on air) We have a special hardcopy to deliver the station administrator. (off air) See.
Bob: (Shrugs, shakes head)

GTC Smith: Good luck boys the admin is not in a good mood. Watch out for rebels, we still have a few rebs that could scratch your paint if you got too low.

Pete: Thanks an good hunting.

Pete to Bob: I cuddataken em’ anyway
Bob: Right, just land the damn thing and let’s look for Gary.

 

[Rossoneill]

I was looking over my various traveller rules sets and i noticed that MMT has different grades of weapons and sensors for starships
IE Military and Civilian weapons ,Military and Civilian and Scientific Sensors,
I believe Mt had some of the same distinctions too.
Also only Striker has ships getting free armor,
In all the other versions you need to buy it if you want it,its not free .
Basically unless you use Striker your scout will be ripped open by a lot of the battlefield weapons from grav tanks to lowely anti armor weapons
MMT also has some great energy weapons from the 2nd imperium for mounting in vehicles one in particular says can make a destroyer keep its distance
Its true its a large weapon .
But like has been said many times above in this thread it all depends on which rules system you use.
I guess i belong to the a scout would get ripped to shreds in a battlefield environment group .

 

[mike wightman]

Using the High Guard combat resolution, since that's what I used for the grav tank designs above, the scout ship's survival depends upon staying out of the combat area altogether IMHO.

For a high risk environment than the scout need to be redesigned a bit. Giving it a model 2 or model 3 computer makes a difference in combat, but greatly increases its cost.
Adding a bit of armour so it can avoid the critical hits would help too.