Re: [SG] [DS] Mr. Atkinson's feedback :)

--- Thomas Barclay <kaladorn@magma.ca> wrote:
> 1) John, what's a reasonable separation for two 
> platoons of IFVs (part of the same infantry 
> company) on the move? 

Well, by modern practice, on road marches it's 100m
between tracks, 300m between platoons.	On the attack,
it's be METT-T determined (US Armyspeak for "We kind
of wing it") but the rule of thumb is not much less
than 500m.  Unless you're doing an infiltration attack
but that's not really possible on the DSII board
without a lot of dummy counters.

> 2) Also, something else bothers me a bit in 
> DS2. Why is all artillery a 2" burst radius? Yes, it
> has different chit draws. But the point of some 
> artillery types is coverage. (example: MRLS). 
> Standard tube artillery (esp using ToT) can put 
> down excellent pinpoint fire. But MRLS give area 
> coverage. But all artillery is a 2" burst radius in 
> DS. (In SG, areas being grossly restricted for 
> some types, they at least capture this 
> distinction between small area booms and big 
> area booms). 

It's assuming the difference between little carrier
munitions and big carrier munitions is saturation
level.

Otherwise the big MRLS systems would dominate the game
to an unplayable points.  IRL these systems are
limited by gross inaccuracy of the Soviet-style MRLs,
the incredibly low rates of fire, and the rarity of
these systems generally tasking them to "deep battle"
tasks rather than direct support of company-sized
attacks.
 
> 3) Why can't I call artillery down on a grid 
> reference? Obviously the game doesn't have 

Why couldn't you?  IF your umpire permits it, then you
could set up TRPs which would allow you to call down
fire without setting out any markers or anything,
which means your opponent won't know where to move
away from.  I permitted this in the Carter Island
scenario.

> rules, but pre-registered fire points on GPS'd 
> map coordinates hardly seems impossible 
> today. And if we assume you can see anything 
> on the board from recon drones, satellites, etc, 
> and you don't actually need to do spotting of 
> units and then IDing and then artillery calls, then 
> we'd quickly see the force compositions of DS 
> forces being ten hover jeeps or grav bikes with 
> artillery spotters and a huge whopping pile of 
> artillery (at least for defenses or meeting 
> engagements). Artillery alone if used in quantity 
> is effective enough to ruins someone's day. 

Ummm. . . the answer to that would be "playability".
 
> 4) IAVRs in SG2 are underpowered, like GMS/P. 
> Concur. 

I'd strongly suggest kicking them up to d12x2*, GMS/Ls
to d12x3*, and GMS/Hs to d12x5*. 
 
> 5) Why would you want to close assault a tank 
> unit with infantry in DS2? If you force the unit to 
> make a reaction test, they may withdraw. This 
> gives you the position for free. Plus you may 
> not have IAVR equipped troops. (Militia, irregs, 
> etc). 

If you don't have IAVR equipped troops, you freakin'
loose.	At least vs. MBTs.  Hell, against much of
anything with an armor rating 2+ you loose.
 
> 6) I find DS2 CA interesting. You don't seem to 
> get good defensive reaction test mods for 
> being in position or for having armour or for 
> having PA. You get penalized for being attacked 
> by PA, but not for defending with it. Odd. 
> Seems to me PA is fairly effective in SG2 in 
> either case.....

True.
 
> 7) Debarking a vehicle under attack. John 
> seemed to take both sides of the fence. (He 
> didn't, it just seemed that way). He says 
> basically you wouldn't get out under 
> machinegun fire, but if the vehicle was alight or 
> the GEV lost cushion and went crunch into the 
> ground, he'd be out like a flash. But then again, 
> since the driver controls the ramps, he might 
> have a hard time getting out. Oh, and someone 
> is shooting a machinegun...? 
> 
> I guess what he was suggesting (correct me if 
> I'm wrong in your oh so gentle manner *grin*, 
> John) is that there are some things that inhibit 
> your desire to get out and some things which 
> enhance it. Would it be possible to create a list 
> of modifiers that should apply, I wonder? 

The expression is "METT-T dependant".  It would be
LONG.

> Getting shot at drops the TL, 

Depending on what is shooting at you.  I'm immobilized
in front of a battery of Soviet 125mm AT guns.	I get
out NOW and run.  I'm imobilized in the middle of a
mass of Afghan irregulars, I stay in the damn track
and scream for help.  Without dismounts securing the
area, the crew will not want to dismount unless they
are aware of enemy weapons that can produce a "K-Kill"
(Catastrophic, IE vehicle goes BOOM) on them.  

Of course, if the vehicle catches fire, the crew is
going to get out even if the entire population of
Somalia is waving the contents of their knife drawers
at them.

> 8) I hate mixed mobility forces too. Don't yet 
> have quite enough GEV minis. And still trying to 
> figure out how to do GEV CEVs that make 
> sense. OTOH, the minute you throw in transport 
> vehicles, engineers, etc, don't you kind of 
> automatically get mixed mobility types? 

Unless you have grav trucks. . .
 
John

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