Re: Communication and Travel - Reply

Jon T wrote:

> In general terms, I think we have to look at planetary invasion as
being a
series of small surgical strikes to destroy/capture key points, and the
threat of
orbital support to subdue the colonists' will to resist. All this has
been
discussed at length over the last few days. In game terms (with DS and
SG),
probably the best way is to set up maybe two or three games each
focusing on
one small but important strike operation, and let these be
representative of the
invasion attempt as a whole - the outcome of the invasion can be judged
on the
outcomes of the limited battles you play. <

This is very reminiscent of SPI's StarSoldier/StarForce interface rules.
After an
invading force neutralised a system's StarGate (using the StarForce
"combat"
system), the invasion of the planet was simulated by playing three games
of
StarSoldier (one each of 3 different scenarios) using forces determined
by the
overall troops and weapons in the system. These battles were considered
representative of thousands of other simultaneous combats going on all
over the
planet, and the game results determined the total situation: win all 3
games and
you've conquered the system -- or driven off the invaders.

Problems with a small force invading a large population didn't exist in
this game,
because the space forces, along with the usual ortillery capability, had
the
power to put the entire population to sleep telepathically; only
specially (and
expensively) shielded installations, and StarSoldiers in their Active
Battle Dress,
were immune to this. So an invasion consisted of:

1) Knock out the StarGate (if there was one) and any opposing fleet
units;
2) Initiate the Heissen Effect, putting almost everyone to sleep, and
3) Send in the StarSoldiers.

By the time the general populace woke up, the issue had been decided.

The StarForce/StarSoldier/Outreach universe was full of quirks like
that.
Redmond Simonsen designed it that way, taking great delight in gently
teasing
wargamers. For instance, he took gender stereotyping to its limits: all
starship
crew were female, and "combat" was bloodless, except by extremely rare
accident; so the men got to be the grunts, zipping around doing Iron Man
impersonations (only more so) in their ABDs. Still, they were great
games --
even if I never could figure out how you were supposed to win the
Outreach
solitaire scenario (as I understood the rules, it was impossible!).

Phil
--------------------------------------------------------------
"We gotta get out into Space,	     | A sentiment echoed by:
 If it's the last thing we ever do!" |	   Phil Atcliffe  
   -- Return to the Forbidden Planet |	(p-atclif@uwe.ac.uk)