RE: "Suited" Soldiers, was Re: [DS] Irregular NSF Figures

G'day,

> What kit would a soldier required to fight either under water 
> and/or in domed sites have to have and what capacity
> would this require the "Assault-sub Personnel Carriers"
> for a fire team?  Would SEAL style equipment be enough
> to subdue an armed hostile population in a sea dome
> hamlet?  What about body Armor?  What kind of weapons do you 
> use in the water and/or the domed cities ("Oops! 
> Uh, Sarge I  uh, "missed" the
> vehicle with the [insert GMS name]...")?

You'd hope you're not fighting in domes for a start as then they'd be in
your areas.... sea based life being unlikely to need to live in a dome
;)

Weapons wise if you're actually in the water you want something that
creates
a pressure differential, so long as you're nicely protected in something
that can stand up to such a stress itself. So GMS kitted out to be
torpedoes
would be fine. Solid projectiles at short range would work too, though
in
reality its likely hand-to-hand or hand-to-fin would end up being very
important to actually clear out areas... depending on the biology of
your
opponents. If they lack internal gas chambers and can "roll with
environmental punches" like octopus it will be incredibly hard to get
them
out without going in HTH, if they have skeletons, gas bladders,
chambered
shells etc though conventional explosives should do enough to clear them
out. <I've seen an entire reef levelled by explosives, dead fish,
crustaceans etc everywhere and out walks an octopus.... a very peeved,
but
undoubtedly very alive octopus.>

Many of the other weapons taper off very quickly or have backwash issues
when used underwater. Though one you could use would be chemical
weapons,
toxins are frequently used effectively by illegal aquarium collectors
and by
animals themselves as a method of local attack.

Suit shape would also be important in the long-term. In the short term
hydrodynamics determines freedom of movement but also the noise
generated,
if you want stealth attacks you don't want blocky PA. In the long-term
the
more hard corners the more fouling by marine life and the more
maintenance
that will be required. 

Game wise if a suit is breeched I'd either treat them as a mission kill
or
give them a bail option, at which point they have to surface to breath
(probably, unless they have a small respirator/"gill-set" they can use)
and
have D4 (or less armour) vs any weaponry. In addition you may want to
temper
what an unsuited trooper can fire... backwash a suit can shrug off the
unsuited guy may find too hard to deal with.

Cheers

Beth