RE: SG II House Rules - longish post

On Wed, 4 Feb 1998, Thomas Barclay wrote:

> Please do. Do you have the URL for the RL web page?

http://www.madcoyote.com/renleg should get you to the central core.

> four minute quick huddle. Then break. It might take a total of ten 
> minutes to get setup. Part of the thing most people don't understand 
> is that you have to be able to set these up quickly and it is a 
> drill you practice. 

Given that it might take the equivalent of two SGII turns (easily 4
Actions, 2 xferred from platoon commander and the squads involved
putting their 2 Actions apiece in), aside from the question of unit
dispersal, I don't see why you feel a need to add any additional
mechanical complexity on top of what's already there.

(I admit freely that I'm an obsessive about simplicity; before I feel
comfortable adding more mechanics to my games, I have to feel that I'm
getting something that's not covered under the current complexity.)

> I don't buy the comment about QD necessarily because you still have 
> the one unit fires, defending unit runs away, other units can't fire 
> too well effect. All the QD in the world doesn't solve that one. 

No, that goes back to the Reorg-Fire-Reorg suggestion; a quick-fix for
that might be to suggest that the dispersal distance is only applicable
if
you're going to move the unit; if they are going to be commanded 'in
place,' you needn't have them in dispersal range, but all units involved
must have a Reorg spent on them.

This could lead to some serious tactical imbalance if requiring a Reorg
Action per squad isn't 'costly' enough.  One of the reasons I like SGII
is
that it rewards varied tactics fairly equally.

> for defending against a course of fire, but that isn't based on your 
> unit quality, so in SG2 there isn't (unless I've got this muddled) 
> any difference in how fast civilians go prone and how fast a SOG team 
> hits the deck and finds the best available cover. Perhaps IP implies 

True, but then again /anyone's/ first reaction is to throw themselves to
the ground and try to find something chunky to put between them and big
incoming things, in my experience ...

Note that, typically, better troops have better armour (which leads to
fewer casualties when the resolution of fire rolls around), and that the
attack sequence determines if the firers put the fire down consistantly
and in the right position; no matter how good you are, if you're under
effective fire you're going to be sucking on a bullet just as easily as
a
civie.	Vetran rifle squads firing on Green troops in PA will very
likely
be more effective than if it were more Vetrans in the same PA because
the
latter is more likely to be in position, respond to morale checks and
supression faster and more effectively, etc.  No matter whether its a
Green or Vet man in the PA, however, if they get hit by a good shot,
they're just as dead.

> Or perhaps a unit quality mod to range die? Hmmm. I don't know. Just 
> some stray thoughts. 

Again, that starts complicating things a bit more than I'd like; there's
already a /lot/ of die shifts and mods to keep in mind; there's good
reason to not want micromanagement to go that low in SGII.

-- 
[  Alexander Williams {thantos@alf.dec.com/zander@photobooks.com}  ]
[ Alexandrvs Vrai,  Prefect 8,000,000th Experimental Strike Legion ]
[	     BELLATORES INQVIETI --- Restless Warriors		   ]
====================================================================
"Here at Ortillery Command we have at our disposal hundred megawatt
    laser beams, mach 20 titanium rods and guided thermonuclear
 bombs. Some people say we think that we're God. We're not God. We
   just borrowed his 'SMITE' button for our fire control system."