RE: [SG2] [DS2] PA or non-PA - renamed from OT women gamers

Whew quite a post Tom.	You bring up good points.  Again, I have
criticized
others for this, we are talking about things not yet invented and
straying
OT.  My PA seems a lot less.

My last comment on this is: if everyone used PA than there wouldn't be
any
fun PA vs non-PA fights ;-).

	-----Original Message-----
	From:	Thomas Barclay [SMTP:Thomas.Barclay@sofkin.ca]
	Sent:	Tuesday, September 15, 1998 8:57 PM
	To:	FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
	Subject:	[SG2] [DS2] PA or non-PA - renamed from OT women
gamers

	John spake thusly upon matters weighty: 

	> 1. I imagine most skirmishes will be small (Brigade or
smaller) in
the
	> future.  

	Seems likely. 
	 
	> 2. Transport will be at a premium.  Why transport
APCs/Tanks/GEV
infantry
	> when most conflicts involve securing the high ground (orbit)
and
picking
	> your battles.  And if you decide to bring the APCs etc.  you
have
to have
	> something big enough to transport them dirtside.

	Mind you, to a macrocosm, this argument applies to PA. It is
also 
	quite possible 1 suit of PA is as much of a logistics load as 1
full

	APC. 
	 
	> 3. PA will be airtight making it great for harsh/vacc
environments, boarding
	> actions, etc.  As well, they won't need an airtight dropship.

	This is an advantage. If we are living in a non Star Trek ish 
	universe with a lot of planets with crappy temp (too hot, too
cold),

	crappy atmospheric pressure (too high, too low), crappy
atmospheric 
	composition (poisonous, contaminated, insidious, exotic, 
	unbreathable), then some combat will happen here. Of course,
we'd 
	choose to colonize the Earth like worlds if we can find em, thus

	perhaps removing a lot of the need for this harsh enviro gear.	

	> Don't get me wrong, I love tanks and big armored formations. 
I
just can't
	> see DS era conflicts having much of them.

	Only important, big battles. They can still kick PA. 

	  Why transport all these units to
	> wipe out a colony when you can sit there pounding it from
orbit.

	I'm assuming you would be the defenders with this gear on more 
	settled colonies. Otherwise, you are right. Although if FTL is
as 
	cheap as John's setting and ship construction seem to make it
(much 
	cheaper than some other systems), the long haul, big lift
capacity 
	doesn't seem so much of an issue. 

	The ultimate counter seems to be rooted in logistics:
	1. Assume PA is complex (actuators, sensors, manipulators,
optics,
EM 
	systems, EW systems, stealth, chameleon, IR masking, armour
(possibly 
	active), weapons systems, targetting, longer term life support
(for 
	those hostile worlds), heat regulation, damage control,
comms/crypto, 
	medical feeds,	etc. etc.). 
	2. Assume PA is fairly expensive. It probably is due to its 
	complexity. 
	3. Assume it takes a lot of training to run PA like a pro. Hence

	troops are expensive. This is partly due to PA's complexity.
Partly 
	due to the complex range of capability it provides. 
	4. Assume such complex systems have expensive costs to maintain,
both 
	in a money sense, and a personel/training, personel/maintenance 
	sense. Maintenance techs required to mothball/demothball suits
for 
	transit and combat drops - even if all troopers shipped as
frozen 
	fish sticks. Medtechs required to hook up troopies to life
support 
	gear (watch the team that hooks up the modern day astronaut for
a 
	guide). No rapid reaction capability here - it takes hours to
get a 
	PA guy ready to drop or to even move. Logistics chain to support

	power/fuel/food/air resupply and field maintenance. With high
stress

	gear like this, maintenance cycle between PMs might well run in
the 
	40-60 hour range. That means downtime for a lot of your
potential 
	force. 
	5. Perhaps the ultimate reason: To keep the peace in a jungle on
X2,

	To patrol the mines of Amlak Mor, To kick ass on rebellious
peasants

	on New Gananoque: These tasks DO NOT require powered armour or
elite

	troops. Normally trained green/regular mix troops with normal 
	equipment (and locally procured transport - jeeps, trucks, 
	hoverjeeps, grav lifters) can do this job quite fine. Hard to
justify 
	sending an expertly trained New Anglian Confederation Drop
Marine 
	platoon to sit gaurding a string of pumping stations on East
Durango

	IV. But somebody might well have to do it. And because no one
local 
	would mess with PA if it was there, no battles. But if the
locals 
	thought they could take the (much cheaper and more logistically 
	sound) garrison force, then that's another story. 

	You are right in one sense: comparing to the island campaigns of
the

	past, you can see the advantages of PA. But assuming the
logistics 
	train and the training requirements are what they are (to say
nothing 
	of cost), then you may well decide that it isn't as cheap as you

	think. Especially when (if you have a platoon of these guys at
(for 
	example) 1 million NACBucksSterling(tm) a head) I can easily (as
an 
	enemy commander) consider the deployment of vast artillery and 
	potentially nuclear strikes which PA isn't robust enough to
survive.

	And the island campaign scenario assumes a shooting war between
two 
	major powers deploying line troops - in which case, yes you'd 
	probably see jump troops, PA, orbital assaults and bombardments,
the

	whole nine yards. But a lot of SG2 scenarios and DS2 scenarios
will 
	revolve around rebellions, terrorism, banditry, suppression of
same,

	privateering (or whatever they call it on the ground), and
things 
	which neither merit these kind of overkill responses nor which 
	probably encourage the deployment of such assets. A cheaper,
more 
	cost effective (to keep right at hand) solution would be
infantry, 
	easily portable vehicles (hummvee Mark 27 with TOW 22), and some

	basic low cost air support (VTOLs or choppers), and some light
arty.

	This formation could probably do more, over a wider area, in
more 
	situations, for less costs, and require less of your recruiting
and 
	logistics talent to support, thus allowing you to have your
elite PA

	units for those "Hot Wars" and "Flashpoints" where the expense
is 
	worthwhile or even necessary. But lots exists to justify non PA 
	scenarios. 

	Of course, if you think PA is robust, problem free, dead simple
to 
	operate, has long battery life, can be run by a high school
dropout,

	and can be parked, entered, exited, and maintained by said low
skill

	troopie, then that changes a lot. Sure everyone will have it.
But in

	that case, your colonists probably will too - if it is that 
	ubiquitious and easy to use. Watch out for those PA equipped
miners 
	and farmhands! 

	I don't think that is the official setting, and I don't think it
is 
	all that likely in the future, unless it gets THAT cheap and
easy to

	use, and then that changes A LOT of the assumptions underlying
the 
	GZG world. 

	Tom. 
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