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.

Element 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.

Note: Because Defender units (akin to the national guard) are locally funded and controlled, the range of effectiveness and endurance do vary. On backwater agricultural worlds, fielding a truly viable combat force will be difficult. Conversely, on a heavily populated world home to high industry, the citizenry will have an easier time procuring supplies and putting up a formidable fight for their planet in times of peril The following table reports on the D factor and Attrition values associated with a world's Defender units (including Mechanized Defender units, DF only), based on a world's level of development.

Variable Quality Defenders

World Type	D Factor	Attrition
Other, Colony (Stages 1 - 5)	0	2
Colony (Stages 6 - 9, Independent)	1	2
Minor Industrial World / Sector Capitol	d2	3
Major Industrial World / Sector Capitol	d3	3
National Capitol (either)	d4	3

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 60 IFVs (light tanks) with 180 troops as crew members.

Star Fleet Regulars

Star Fleet Regulars are the federated version of the Defenders, except that they are deployable. While technically "Marines", they are not trained in expeditionary skills and tend to have heavier equipment and more defensive training. Despite the edge on defense, the Regulars are also a offensive force; once a beachhead is secured, the Regulars land and move out, engaging the opponent until the planet is captured/freed.

Star Fleet Armored Regulars

Star Fleet Armored Regulars are the tankers of the UFP's planetary forces. Their tanks are heavier than those utilized by the expeditionary forces, but the unit structure is Star Fleet Marine-standard.

Expeditionary

Marines

Star Fleet Marine infantry battalions are utilized as highly-trained medium infantry with the marine ability.

See Expeditionary Forces for more detail.

Marine Armor

Marine Armor battalions are comprised of 60 medium tanks and are as highly trained as the Marine infantry.

Mechanized Marines

Mechanized Marine battalions are a rapid response force at the division level. With 60 IFVs, they are as highly trained as the Marine infantry.

SCE Combat Engineers

Star Fleet Corps of Engineers deploy in battalion sizes of 600 "Bees", but are administratively organized into the expeditionary force / regular group, four battalions each. They are trained as light Marines. The immediate objective of the Bees is to clear areas of obstructions that hinder the Marines' landing and the deployment of follow-on troops. As the invasion continues past the beachhead, the battalion builds rough fortifications for the combat forces to use for defensive purposes at the rate of one fortification per regimental unit each round (with the +1 "dug-in" bonus).

The SCE is purely defensive, so they can only (support the) attack in the invasion turn. Follow-on turns will have them only return fire (counter-attack), never to act as an offensive force. They have a size-adjusted cost for "light marine" which comes with the "marine" special ability. When they are attacked (post-invasion turn), they automatically enjoy the +1 "dug-in" bonus for their self-made fortifications.

After the world is secured, they begin building the camps that the expeditionary and planetary forces will operate from. Additional SCE battalions will arrive to assist in this and any permanent construction deemed necessary.

See Star Fleet Engineering for more detail.

*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.)

Other

Command Element / Marine Command Element

Every echelon VI and above unit is required to have a staff of 50 providing command and control support to the the unit's commanding officer in a headquarters environment. While combat-ineffective as an element, the HQ will always be surrounded by its combat elements. However, if it is destroyed, a new (temporary) command element will be identified (during the Assignment Phase) from one of the remaining unit elements (generally the strongest).

Marine units must have a marine-qualified command element.

*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.

*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.

*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.

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

Unit	Purchase RPs	Operational RPs (annual)1	Size	DV	GA	AA	DF	ATR	Special Notes
Planetary Units
Militia	n/a	n/a	1,000 troops	1	1	-	0	1
Defenders	13	0.78	1,000 troops	1	2	1	Note2	Note2
Mechanized Defenders	50	3	60 IFVs / 180 crew	3	5	1	Note2	2
Star Fleet Regulars (2208)	125	7.5	1,000 troops	6	5	1	d2	4
Star Fleet Armored Regulars (2208)	150	9	60 tanks / 240 crew	8	8	2	d2	6
Expeditionary Units
Marine	125	7.5	1,000 troops	5	5	2	d3	3	marine
Marine Armor	125	7.5	60 medium tanks (with 240 crew)	4	6	1	d3	3	marine
Mechanized Marines	75	4.5	60 IFVs (with 180 crew)	3	5	1	d3	2	marine
SCE Combat Engineers	45	2.7	600 troops	2	2 / 33	1 / 23	0	3	marine
Marine Reserve	1/3rd xx	yy (active) 1/2 yy (inactive)
Others
Command Element	25	1.5	50 troops	4	0	0	0	1
Marine Command Element	50	3	50 troops	5	0	0	0	1	marine
MeSONs (group)	1.25xx	yy
Unit			troops/tanks/etc

Notes:

1: Established to be 6% of Purchase RPs.

2: See the Variable Quality Defenders table above.

3: The combat engineer battalions receive the dug-in bonus (+1 to GA & AA) on any (offensive) non-invasion phase, as they no longer engage in offensive actions.