Ground Forces

Note:This is a work in progress and borrows heavily from VBAM's 1st edition Campaign Moderator's Companion, with concepts pulled from the 1st and 2nd editions' respective Campaign Guides.

Unit Types: Planetary

Militias

When a world without organized military units present is invaded, citizen "soldiers" will rise up to meet the threat (often calamitously). A militia unit costs nothing to form (which it does on short-to-no notice) and has no operational costs. However, if it fails to prevent the invaders from securing a beachhead, it is destroyed. It also deactivated once there are no more invading forces.

Defenders

Defenders are infantry forces under the control of a planetary government and do not fall under the Star Fleet chain of command (though training and participation in exercises is often offered & provided). Defenders do not go off world, as they are the first (and oftentimes, last) line of defense for the planet. Sometimes, these units are part-time soldiers that drill as necessary to maintain their combat skills; on other worlds, they are a professional force, much like the Star Fleet Marine Corps (though without the breadth of weaponry nor the ability to project their power off-world). They operate as medium infantry.

Mechanized Defenders

Defender Armor are light armor units under the control of a planetary government and do not fall under the Star Fleet chain of command (though training and participation in exercises is often offered & provided). Defenders do not go off world, as they are the first (and oftentimes, last) line of defense for the planet. They operate IFVs as light armor.

Unit Types: Expeditionary

Marines

Star Fleet has, from the very beginning, employed an infantry force similar to the Marines of the bluewater navies. Prior to the establishment of the UFP, the Military Assault Command Organization (MACO) had formed from the remnants of the greater armies of United Earth and was used primarily as special forces or shock troops, or sometimes for expeditionary assault, at relatively heavily-reduced numbers. Following the creation of the UFP Star Fleet in 2161, the MACOs were broken away from the similar expeditionary forces of other members to form Star Fleet Security, primarily concerned with providing installation and starship protection. The remaining ground forces were re-formed as the Star Fleet Ground Attack Marines (SGAM). On the 47th anniversary of the Federation and the SGAM, the force formally became known as the Star Fleet Marine Corps (SMC).

See Expeditionary Forces for more detail.

Marine Armor

Marine Armor battalions are comprised of 60 tanks and are usually attached at the Marine Brigade level.

Marine Reserves

Former active Marines that have agreed to be called upon when needed to fill in under-strength Marine units or comprise whole Marine units themselves. Their combat value is the same as for a Militia, but they are able to be deployed off-planet. (When used as an identified unit—rather than reinforcements for an active Marine unit—a Marine Reserve unit has less than the standard Marine Rifle battalion strength, reflecting their generally inactive status.)

Rapid Reaction Force

The Rapid Reaction Force is companies (RRCs) and teams (RRTs) of special force Marines for events not requiring the intensity of a MeSON team, such as rapid peace enforcement or low-conflict ship boardings. They generally operate in twelve-Marine teams, but generally no more numerous than the 84-Marine companies. They are not strong on traditional defensive and attack roles and are wasted in that role.

See Rapid Reaction Force for more detail.

Military Special OperatioNs (MeSONs)

Meson teams are comprised of sixteen special force operators, specifically trained to perform one of ten types of missions. The commandos are used to covertly conduct unconventional small-scale missions. The Mesons are often attached to command ships and some starbases. They are not strong on traditional defensive and attack roles and are wasted in that role.

See Special Operations for more detail.

Militia Armor

Militia Armor battalions are comprised of 60 tanks and are usually attached at the Brigade level.

Star Fleet Corps of Engineers

Initially (and informally) formed in 2155, the SCE was responsible for the construction of Starbase 1. Following its completion, the cohesive unit was employed to build other projects of special interest to Star Fleet, eventually becoming a large force unto themselves. They are often deployed in battalion sizes of 600 "Bees", but are administratively organized into regiments, five battalions each. They can be found on select starbases and they also maintain their own (outdated) starship fleet (comprised of ships that would otherwise be decommissioned) for their 'legion' of rapid-reaction troubleshooters.

See Star Fleet Engineering for more detail.

Unit Types: Other

Star Fleet Security

Members of Star Fleet Security are not independent units like the above ground combat types, but are assigned to starship and starbase commands in the numbers deemed appropriate for the assignment. They serve as enforcement and defensive protection (i.e., counter-boarding) elements onboard those ships and stations, but will be used as peacekeeping and peace enforcement teams when called upon for short duration missions.

Special Abilities

Special abilities afford the unit which claims them a capability that does not exist otherwise with standard ground units. Some are inherent to a specific type of unit (such as "marine" is for a Marine unit), while others are acquired by design ("Anti-Air") for the purpose of giving that unit the capability.

Each special ability adds 25 RP to the purchase cost of the unit (modified for troop size). Typically, most units will not have a special ability; when they do, one is the general rule, though two special abilities are allowable, if justified.

Anti-aircraft: Some units are capable of hosting anti-aircraft defense systems. These, unlike the Anti-aircraft specialist units, are limited to defense of the actual unit. The AA capability is opened; for each 25 RPs (modified for troop size), 1 anti-air attack level is purchased (up to a max of 4). During the Air to Ground Phase of a ground combat turn, the defending unit can now counter-attack by multiplying the AA value by d3 and dividing the result by 5 (round down). This is the damage scored against the attacking air unit.

Attribute table

There are two costs associated with a military unit: initial purchase and operational (which is administratively equivalent to "maintenance" with ships).

Unit	Purchase RPs	Operational RPs (annual)	Size	DV	GA	AA	DF	Attr	Special Notes
Planetary Units
Militia	n/a	n/a	1,000 troops	1	1	n/a	0	1
Defenders	13	3	1,000 troops	1	2	n/a	0	2
Mechanized Defenders	50	13	60 IFVs (180 troops)	3	5	n/a	0	3
Expeditionary Units
Marine	xx amount	yy amount
Marine Reserve	1/3rd xx	yy (active) 1/2 yy (inactive)
SCE	xx	yy
Others
MeSONs (group)	1.25xx	yy
Unit			troops/tanks/etc