The abstract combat system presented earlier works just as well for surface battles. The same steps are followed and resolution proceeds almost exactly as above. The only real difference is that Tactics–ground tactics is used here in lieu of the Tactics–space tactics skill.
Planetary Bombardment
It is also possible to resolve battles involving both land and space forces using this system. As a rule, any space-craft can conduct orbital bombardment with a combat factor equal to 50% of its normal rating. Thus, a Ray-class assault escort (which normally has a combat rating of 100 in space combat) would have a combat rating of 50 when firing on ground forces.
Some spacecraft might be specially designed as planet bombers. If this is the case, the combat factor of the craft is halved when engaging other spacecraft and used at full strength when attacking ground targets. This is not a decision that can be made in the field, however, since it involves major design changes. The determina-tion of whether a ship is constructed (or grown) as a bomber is made at the shipyard when it is first laid down.
Thereafter, changes can be made only by expensive and time-consuming retrofits.
Planetary Defense Batteries
Some ground forces can be used to attack orbiting space-craft. As a rule, this ability is reserved for larger units only, although there are exceptions. In general, no armor unit lighter than the Broadsword may engage orbiting craft. Infantry units, even reinforced ones like the rum-matek, are unable to target such craft. When a Broadsword, Longsword, Great Sword, or Flamberge at-tacks space forces, its combat strength is reduced by 50%.
Artillery units are far more deadly than their 20th-century counterparts. As such, they can also engage enemy craft, although at only 50% of their normal com-bat strength. It is possible to designate (at the time of construction only) that a given unit is going to serve as a planetary defense battery. When this is done, the artillery is able to use its full offensive strength against enemy spacecraft, but only half this value when engaging other
ground forces.
Some fixed fortifications have the ability to fire on or-biting targets while others do not. None of the bunkers are equipped for such combat, while all heavier fortifica-tions are. In addition, the nature of the weapons and fire control systems employed in these larger structures al-lows them to use their full combat strength when attack-ing both ground forces and space forces.
Resolving Mixed Engagements
It is possible, although rare, for a given battle to have three different elements taking place at once. As two navies clash in space, other craft might be bombarding an enemy planet, while ground forces for both sides slug it out in the trenches. While this might seem a confusing situation at first, it is easy to resolve using the abstract system.
Instead of trying to pool all of these engagements into one massive exchange, the players and Gamemaster should allocate their available forces secretly into three (or two or however many are needed) groups. After this grouping is completed, both sides reveal their allocation and the battles are resolved separately.
Common Sense and Imagination
The shorthand combat system presented above leaves a lot of things to the imagination of the Gamemaster. It isn’t intended to be played out as an ongoing war game with contingencies for every possible strategy or battle result.
Such an endeavor is clearly beyond the scope of this product. Because of this, the Gamemaster is frequently called on to make decisions about exactly what a given result means to the heroes.
As an example, consider the attack on Hammer’s Star.
The Concord fleet has been annihilated and the ship on which the heroes were serving has been swept out of ex-istence. Does this mean that the heroes have all been killed? Not by a long shot. Instead, they might have been captured by the Externals and face terrible torture unless they escape. Alternately, they may have escaped their ship to crash on Spes in a lifeboat, leaving them to fend for themselves until they can find some other way off planet. The possibilities are endless, and a good Gamemaster makes the most of them.
Remember, this system is meant to provide back-ground flavor for the campaign, not to dominate it.
though one who possesses greater command authority than a kometh leading a ta-hro (squad). Each section is composed of two squads and a handful of support per-sonnel, bringing it to a total of some thirty troops. Such a unit has a combat strength of 30.
Groush: A rough counterpart to the human platoon is the alien groush, which is composed of two chor and a few administrative/support personnel. The leader of a groush is an ythkometh (lieutenant). Although senior noncommissioned officers (typically a leading sergeant or such) often command human platoons, this does not ap-pear to be strictly true with either klick or kroath units. A groush has a combat strength of 75 when using the ab-stract resolution system.
It is worth noting that the Externals tend to employ large numbers of smaller landing craft when making their descents to planetary surfaces. This is best exempli-fied by the Pato-class landing craft, which can carry a platoon from orbit to the surface of planet (or vice versa) very rapidly. In this way, surface defenses are forced to fire on a great many targets. Even if the planet’s defend-ers are able to destroy many of the landdefend-ers, large num-bers of troops can still make planetfall.
Ahmk: The alien equivalent to a company, the ahmk is composed of two groush and is commanded by a ko-mosar (major). In combat, these units have a strength of 150. A scattering of heavier support weapons that allow it to secure and hold a large area against enemy ad-vances reinforces the typical ahmk. When backed by heavier weapons, like armor or artillery, the ahmk is a formidable offensive unit.
Matek: Roughly the equivalent of the Concord battal-ion, the matek is commanded by a komith (lieutenant colonel). An External matek is generally composed of two companies and deployed along with some manner of heavy support (often armor). When using the abstract system, the typical matek has a combat strength of 300.
Ru-matek: When mixed with armor and other heavy support systems, the matek becomes a ru-matek (often called a reinforced battalion by Alliance analysts). In such cases, the combat strength of the unit is increased to 450. The leader of a ru-matek is also commanded by a komith (lieutenant colonel).
Ori-arami: One of the largest known groupings for External troops is the ori-arami, which many translate roughly as brigade. It is presumed that larger organiza-tional units exist, but military intelligence has yet to find enough information to make any reliable guesses as to their structure or deployment. The ori-arami is composed of two matek, has a combat strength of 600 and is com-manded by a komyth (colonel).
Ru-arami: The ori arami is often pooled with support systems like armor and artillery to form a more
power-ful unit known as a ru-arami. A komyth also commands a unit of this size. When using the abstract combat sys-tem, the ru-arami has an effective combat strength of 750.
External Troop Units
Combat Unit Type Basic Composition Strength
Infantryman 1 klick or kroath 1
Hruth 6 troops 6
Ru-matek 300 troops + armor 450
Ori-arami 600 troops 600
Ru-arami 600 troops + armor 750
Armor
The Externals do not limit themselves to the deployment of infantry alone. Like humanity, they have developed powerful engines of war. These range from armored personnel carriers to the massive Broadsword mobile fortresses. The following are typical examples of these gravitic propelled armored units:
Stiletto: The alien Stiletto is a light, fighting vehicle designed primarily to fill the same role as an armored personnel carrier. Under normal conditions, it can carry a ta-hro (13 troops). The Stiletto is lightly armored and generally mounts a heavy weapon of some sort, like a dark plasma or blacklaser cannon. Small gun ports give the troops inside a limited ability to fire out, although their accuracy is limited. All told, the Stiletto has a com-bat strength of 10 when using the abstract mass comcom-bat system.
Gladius: Roughly the equivalent of a light tank, the Gladius is small and agile. It has been known to mount a wide variety of weapons, but most seem to be equipped with blacklaser cannons. A few have been encountered equipped with heavy versions of cluster rockets em-ployed by the n’sss. A Gladius has a combat strength of 30 when using the abstract combat system.
Sabre: The standard External main battle tank com-bines good speed with solid armor protection and very potent weaponry. Usually equipped with a heavy black -laser or accelerator cannon (similar to human railguns), these vehicles have a combat strength of 40. In addition to its main battery, the Sabre carries two secondary weapon systems, usually a missile or cluster rocket bank and some manner of antipersonnel gun.
Cutlass: The equivalent of terrestrial heavy tanks, the
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alien Cutlass is somewhat slow and cumbersome, but makes up for this with thick armor and a massive main gun (usually a dark plasma gun). Three secondary tur-rets give the vehicle potent antipersonnel capabilities and often incorporate a limited antiaircraft system. Because of its powerful weapons and heavy armor, a Cutlass is as-sumed to have a combat strength of 60.
Broadsword: A true behemoth, the External Broadsword is larger than any armored vehicle found in the human military. Mounting a pair of massive main guns, usually dark fusion guns, and a half dozen second-ary turrets, these grav-propelled fortifications have a crew of fifteen. Nothing like them exists in the human military. When using the shorthand combat system, a Broadsword has a combat strength of 100.
External Armor Units Combat Unit Type Basic Composition Strength Stiletto Light personnel carrier 10
Gladius Light tank 30
Sabre Tank 40
Cutlass Heavy tank 60
Broadsword Light mobile fortress 100
Artillery
While alien armor and infantry are often sent to battle human forces head to head, the Externals also employ a wide assortment of heavy artillery pieces to support these units from behind the lines of battle. The most commonly encountered examples of this technology are listed below. The strength of each is that of a battery of guns, totalling some 18-24 guns.
Sliver Cannons: These deadly weapons are essen-tially giant versions of the sliver weapons employed by the n’sss and certain other External species. Making use of a powerful gravi-magnetic accelerator, this weapon throws out a stream of crystalline shards at speeds far greater than that of sound. In essence, it might be thought of a terribly powerful, futuristic machine gun.
The typical sliver cannon battery has a combat strength of 125.
Cluster Rocket Batteries: These weapons fire mas-sive salvos of rockets tipped with dark matter warheads.
Although the individual rockets are not especially large, the sheer volume of the attack can overwhelm a target’s defenses in short order. Cluster rockets are indirect fire weapons, so they can be positioned in gullies or other recessed locations and still strike effectively. A cluster
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rocket battery has a combat strength of 175.
Dark Matter Missile Bat-teries: Like the cluster rockets described earlier, a dark matter missile battery employs salvos of deadly projectiles to destroy its targets. These more sophisti-cated weapons employ larger missiles with better guidance and more powerful warheads than their lesser cousins do. A typical dark matter missile bat-tery has a combat strength of 225.
Blacklaser Cannons: Per-haps the most commonly en-countered field guns employed by the Externals are their dread-ed blacklaser cannons. These direct fire weapons are similar to the heavy weapons employed by many of their armor units, but are much more powerful.
Because these are direct fire weapons, they are often mount-ed in elevatmount-ed positions. A blacklaser battery has a combat strength of 150.
Dark Plasma Cannons:
The dark plasma weapon is the mainstay of most External ar-tillery units. By compressing a packet of superheated dark mat-ter until it is on the verge of un-dergoing fusion, a great deal of heat and energy are released.
When this is targeted at an
ene-my unit, tremendous damage is done. The combat strength of a dark plasma cannon battery is 200.
Dark Fusion Cannons: Dark fusion weapons oper-ate on the same principle as the dark plasma cannon (see above), but generate even more damage by com-pressing a “packet” of dark matter until a fusion reaction begins to take place. A dark fusion cannon battery is a truly terrible weapon that has a combat strength of 250 when using the shorthand combat system provided earli-er.
Converter Cannons: Only recently developed by the Externals, these weapons may be the ultimate develop-ment of direct fire field artillery. They operate by encas-ing a packet of antimatter in a magnetic stream and then releasing that deadly particle barrage at a target. The
re-sult of an attack by this weapon is terrible indeed, as ex-plosions rip apart matter and streams of heat and hard radiation pour outward. Thankfully very rare, the typical converter cannon battery has a combat strength of 300.
External Artillery
Unit General Combat
Type (Battery) Type Strength
Sliver Cannon Direct Fire Projectile 125 Cluster Rocket Indirect Fire Projectile 175 Dark Matter Missile Indirect Fire Projectile 225 Blacklaser Cannon Direct Fire Energy 150 Dark Plasma Cannon Direct Fire Energy 200 Dark Fusion Cannon Direct Fire Energy 250 Converter Cannon Direct Fire Energy 300