Comments on Harmonization DS2/SG2 in reply to Brian

Brian, 

You make some points I agree with, others I'd 
have to question. 

1) You indicated DS2 is much more deadly than 
SG2. How so? I have seen plenty of SG2 
squads smashed by enemy fire and vehicles in 
SG2 seem to be fire magnets. Is this reflective 
of some aspect of the rules you believe makes 
DS2 more lethal or personal on-table experience 
(which may have something to do with how one 
plays the game in question moreso than the 
rules themselves)?

2) You mentioned GMS/P isn't as strong as 
GMS/L. I tried that on Oerjan recently and he 
tells me the warheads (in our world) are 
identical, the differences lie in propulsion and 
sighting. To me, this argues for a stronger 
impact (ie the same as GMS/L) but poorer range 
and perhaps poorer guidance dice (D4/D6/D8 
instead?). This isn't what the game says now I 
realize, but Oerjan is an SME in this area (at 
least insofar as near future tech goes). I was 
going to suggest perhaps 12" range and draw 2 
chits for GMS/P. That's still better than an IAVR 
but less than GMS/L. 

3) You mentioned that without command 
activation, the only purpose for EW would be to 
block artillery calls. In the games of SG I've 
played, the MOST frequent single use of EW 
(not counting counter-EW warfare) has been to 
block GMS shots against vehicles. In one game 
where EW was present fairly heavily, there were 
a total of 27 GMS/P launches, of which 3 hit 
(some just missed, but many were jammed by 
EW). This is a rather key use. I'm looking at 
porting the SG2 rules and will post a version 
once I do so. 

When you combine EW, ECM, PDS, and 
Armour, many vehicles will be fairly resistant to 
GMS attacks. But that's fine, given that you pay 
the point costs for EW, ECM, PDS and armour. 
The only trouble comes in that in SG2, an 
infantry EW soldier can use his EW to jam GMS 
shots at a nearby vehicle. In DS2, this translates 
to a low point cost unit protecting (quite 
effectively perhaps) a higher point cost unit. Talk 
about combined arms....

On a related note, the vulnerability of vehicles in 
SG2 due to lack of PDS and ADS can make 
them rather short lived. I think something you 
spend a few million NAC pounds on would be 
something you'd want to be quite resilient to 
enemy fire.... so I've got rules for vehiclular self 
defence charges. PDS and ADS I should 
probably add. 

Thanks for the input guys. :)