Bugs Mr. Rico, Millions of them!
From: "Phillip E. Pournelle" <pepourne@n...>
Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 11:46:56 -0700
Subject: Bugs Mr. Rico, Millions of them!
At 10:20 AM 5/28/98 -0700, Paul Lesack wrote:
>Then again, you can always go to a toy store and buy those cheap rubber
>bugs (50 cents max).
>Most of the toy stores around here have a large selection of bugs in
>various sizes. Cheaper than buying micromachines and you can step on
>them without breaking them. Plastic spiders as line infantry, flies as
>VTOLs, tarantulas as infantry walkers. . .
A couple months ago I went out and purchased a bag of plastic
spiders for
$5.00. I also purchased a larger rubber spider. I then went to my copy
of
Robert Heinleins Starship Troopers game and designed my bugs for
DirtSide II.
The brain bug has 4 to 8 initiative chits (based on experience,
etc) and a
leadership value of 1, 2 or 3.The Brain bug can use up an initiative
chit
to activate any squad under his control. If there were other Brain Bugs
under his control, he could activate them...Brain Bugs can move 6 or be
carried by workers.
Soldier Bugs and Worker Bugs can move 8 inches. Soldier Bugs
have no
morale and they are D12 for quality, however, they can be suppressed.
In
the Scenario, we played the soldier bugs were in squads of 6 (combinable
to
any size) and armed with shotguns.
Worker bugs are armed with mines and have the ability to tunnel
1 inch
per activation per bug in the squad. They can build trap doors with two
activations or plant a mine underground to explode towards targets on
the
surface, or to collapse the tunnel.
Additionally, whatever a soldier bug sees, so does his parent
Brain Bug.
I imagine that the bugs have their soldier bugs and a lot of Mines as
well
as mortars in trapdoor tunnels...
In the drop scenario we played, powered armor did well against
the bugs,
particularly in close combat. However, the bugs shredded normal
soldiers
in close combat and did reasonably well in range combat. If I give them
assault rifles, they should kick butt.
Gort, Klaatu barada nikto!