Ground Combat
- Note: see Civil War and Federation Involvement regarding ground forces not involved in direct conflicts.
- 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.
Ground Combat
Ground Unit Elements
The regiments, brigades, divisions, and force formations of the Expeditionary and Regular Marine Corps, as well as many other militaries, are made up of cohesive elements that exhibit certain combat or support abilities. They are often configured around the concept of the battalion echelon, though there are some specialist elements that are much smaller.
Each element is assigned a set of combat values, such as Defense, Ground Attack, Air Attack, etc. The larger formations recited above start off with assigned types of elements, sometimes having others added as mission requirements change. For example, the Expeditionary Forces of the Star Fleet Marine Corps indicate that a regiment is comprised of three infantry elements, while its parent brigade has three of those regiments, as well as armor and combat engineer elements.
To determine the purchase and operational costs and combat values of a larger formation, the same values must be applied to the individual elements. The economic and combat element attributes are:
Purchase RPs: This is how much must be budgeted for a new element to be formed. It also is the value that determines how long the actual formation will take, in months, when divided by 25 (rounded, minimum of 1). Example: A battalion of SCE Seabees costs 45 RPs to form. The time from being purchased to being available is 2 months (45 / 25 = 1.8; rounded to 2 months).
Operational RPs: The equivalent of the annual maintenance costs associated with starships, facilities, etc., the operational cost indicates how much it costs to keep the element formed and ready for operations. The rule of thumb for de-terming this is the Purchase RP value multiplied by 6%.
Size: As indicated above, most elements are based around the battalion level concept, with is 1,000 troops (or 60 armor with crew). The value indicated shows the actual numbers associated with a particular element type. For some, the equivalent Purchase (and Operational) cost is proportionally set. For example, as a Seabee battalion is comprised of 600 troops, the proportionate value to a 1,000-troop light marine element is 45 RPs.
Defense Value (DV): This value is the amount of attack (or bombardment) points the ground unit can take before it receives damaged.
Ground Attack (GA): This value is used when the ground unit attacks ground-based targets, such as infantry, armor, and planetary facilities.
Air Attack (AA): This value is used when an appropriately-equipped ground unit attacks air-based targets, such as VTOL craft and atmospheric fighters.
D Factor (DF): Representing the range of combat capability with a bit of uncertainty considered, this value is the dice type rolled when the ground unit either attacks or counter-attacks. Some elements will have the value of 0 if there is little chance for the unit to present anything other than a preordained result. Example: a militia unit represents an ad hoc element thrown together for an emergent threat. It has no capacity for tactics and can expect only to present the Defense and Ground Attack values of 1.
Attrition (ATR): This is the amount of damage a ground unit will take before it is neutralized. Ground units are simply destroyed when their Attrition reaches zero.
Special Notes: This field allows for special abilities to be indicated, which may have already been accounted for in the relevant values or reference a trait that will come into play either on the battlefield or in preparation for it. Example: the special ability "marine" indicates the ground unit will take no negative modifier by invading from a transport and will receive a positive modifier when supported by orbital bombardment during the invasion phase.
Other Relevant Ground Combat Terms
Phase: A combat round proceeds through various stages known as phases. These include (in order of occurrence) Orbital Bombardment, Invasion, Assignments, Air-to-Air (AtA), Air-to-Ground, Ground-to-Ground (GtG), and Landings. A phase is not measured in a defined unit of time.
Round: a complete set of phases—from Orbital Bombardment to Landings—in ground combat on the campaign world.
Combat Duration
Ground combat is resolved through a series of phases that comprise a round and continues until one side has been destroyed, retreats, or surrenders. The length of a round is not pre-determined but can be presumed to be a week long.
Commanding Officer Special Abilities
The Star Fleet Marine Corps Expeditionary and Regular Forces share the same organizational hierarchy. Where they differ is in the assets that comprise their commands: Expeditionary utilizes medium infantry and light & medium armor trained to take and secure beachheads during an invasion; Regulars have heavy infantry and armor—as well as an assortment of other elements with special capabilities—in the pursuit of conducting a world-wide campaign to secure and hold the planet.
Additionally, Expeditionary units may have to operate in smaller commands than regimental level if assets to get them from orbit to the beachhead are limited. In such a case, one of the combat commands will be identified as the lead element, with any other regimental assets that can be provided giving tactical support.
In such an event, along with fighting at a smaller warfighting capability than the preferred regimental level, the units conducting the invasion will also lose out on their commanding officer's special command ability. Randomly assigned to the commanding general (or colonel, for regiments) is the ability (or abilities) the officer developed over the length of his career. The section below the following table will detail each possible ability the commanding officer may bring to his unit.
The number of skills are dependent upon the rank of the commanding officer. Those with more than one (Brigadier General and above) can all be combined into one ability or spread out among several.
| Rank | Echelon | Skills Points |
|---|---|---|
| Colonel | Regiment (VI) | 1 |
| Brigadier General | Brigade (V) | 2 |
| Major General | Division (IV) | 3 |
| Lieutenant General | Expeditionary Force (III) | 4 |
Abilities
Attack (Unit): Each level of this special ability adds 1 to the unit's Attack value. Cost: 1 or 3 skill points.
Attack (Planetary): This is considered the top tier of the Attack special ability and is available only to the expeditionary (& regular) force commander (Echelon III) with the available skill points. All the officer's subordinate units receive +3 to Attack, regardless if they are on-world with the lieutenant general or not; all other ground units (on the same world as the commander) receive +1 to Attack. Cost: 4 skill points
Attrition (Unit): Each level of this special ability adds 1 to the unit's Attrition value. Cost: 1 or 3 skill points.
Attrition (Planetary): This is considered the top tier of the Attrition special ability and is available only to the expeditionary (& regular) force commander (Echelon III) with the available skill points. All the officer's subordinate units receive +3 to Attrition, regardless if they are on-world with the lieutenant general or not; all other ground units (on the same world as the commander) receive +1 to Attrition . Cost: 4 skill points
Defense (Unit): Each level of this special ability adds 1 to the unit's Defense value. Cost: 1 or 3 skill points.
Defense (Planetary): This is considered the top tier of the Defense special ability and is available only to the expeditionary (& regular) force commander (Echelon III) with the available skill points. All the officer's subordinate units receive +3 to Defense, regardless if they are on-world with the lieutenant general or not; all other ground units (on the same world as the commander) receive +1 to Defense. Cost: 4 skill points
Experienced Peacekeeper: This officer’s unit receives the Peacekeeper special unit ability. Cost: 2 skill points
Invasion Specialist: This officer’s unit receives an additional +1 Attack when attacking during the Invasion phase. Cost: 1 skill point; available to both Expeditionary & Regular brigades, divisions, and forces.
Seasoned Marine: This commanding officer has considerable experience on the expeditionary side and they bring that knowledge to the Regulars. The officer’s ground unit receives the Marine special unit ability. Cost: 2 skill points; available only to Regular brigades, divisions, and forces.
Tactical Adaption (Unit): Each level of this special ability adds 1 to the unit's D Factor value. Cost: 1 or 3 skill points.
Tactical Adaption (Planetary): This is considered the top tier of the Tactical Adaption special ability and is available only to the expeditionary (& regular) force commander (Echelon III) with the available skill points. All the officer's subordinate units receive +3 to D Factor, regardless if they are on-world with the lieutenant general or not; all other ground units (on the same world as the commander) receive +1 to D Factor. Cost: 4 skill points
Tactical Support Specialist: Cost: 1 skill point
Random Special Ability Selection
Unlike in the Fleet, where the commanding officer's command skill is tracked as it increases over time, the commanding officers of Marine units are NPCs with skills that are (randomly) applied to them—in numbers appropriate for their rank—each time a unit is engaged in a combat encounter unrelated to the previous one of record.
When a regiment or higher is tasked with conducting a combat operation, the skills of the current commanding officer are randomly determined. The first skill rolled is "purchased" with the skill points allotted for their rank, as long as they have enough points; re-roll otherwise, until an affordable skill presents itself. If points remain after a purchase, roll again, and again, until all points are "spent".
Example: Major General Sellet Sh'zyllahr, commanding officer of the 23rd Regular Marine Division, has three skill points. The first roll is 68, Seasoned Marine, which costs 2 points. With one point left, 87 is rolled: Tactical Adaption (Unit) +3, which costs 3 points, too much for the general. A third roll of 62 results in Invasion Specialist for 1 point. Both special abilities, Seasoned Marine and Invasion Specialist, are excellent additions for a Regular unit and will make the 23rd extremely useful during the invasion phase of the upcoming Caliv campaign.
| Roll 1d100 | Special Ability | Skill Points |
|---|---|---|
| 01 - 10 | Attack (Unit) +1 | 1 |
| 11 - 14 | Attack (Unit) +3 | 3 |
| 15 - 17 | Attack (Planetary) | 4 |
| 18 - 26 | Attrition (Unit) +1 | 1 |
| 27 - 31 | Attrition (Unit) +3 | 3 |
| 32 - 33 | Attrition (Planetary) | 4 |
| 34 - 43 | Defense (Unit) +1 | 1 |
| 44 - 48 | Defense (Unit) +3 | 3 |
| Roll 1d100 | Special Ability | Skill Points |
|---|---|---|
| 49 - 50 | Defense (Planetary) | 4 |
| 51 - 57 | Experienced Peacekeeper | 2 |
| 58 - 67 | Invasion Specialist | 1 |
| 68 - 74 | Seasoned Marine | 2 |
| 75 - 83 | Tactical Adaption (Unit) +1 | 1 |
| 84 - 88 | Tactical Adaption (Unit) +3 | 3 |
| 89 - 90 | Tactical Adaption (Planetary) | 4 |
| 91 - 00 | Tactical Support Specialist | 1 |