Re: [GZG] Question: small-arms tech and troop quality....

Jon T. wrote:

>"Is one super-trained elite special forces soldier with the best
>cutting-edge high-tech weapon worth 25 untrained farmers with
>shotguns?"
>
>OK, now to put it a little bit into context.....
>
>If we have a (game) situation where there are five levels of troop
>quality from 1 = Untrained up to 5 = Elite, and similarly five bands
>of "tech level" where 1 = primitive firearms (that's "primitive" in
>the SF sense, eg: early to mid 20th century stuff, bolt-action rifles
>and such) and 5 = highly advanced weapons (plasma/fusion rifles),
>then is it in any way reasonable to calculate effective firepower by
>a simple multiplication of the two factors?

Only if firepower 5 really is 5 times more likely to inflict a casualty 
than firepower 1 is when averaged over all possible situations (all
troop 
quality levels, all target armour levels etc.), and, and likewise troop 
quality 5 really is 5 times more likely to inflict a casualty than troop

quality 1 is in every situation. Unfortunately these requirements are 
extremely unlikely to be met for any useable set of game mechanics, so
in 
reality you'll need to look at the probabilities actually generated by
your 
game mechanics.

In addition, you're actually asking two different questions here:
figuring 
out the *firepower* of each side is only half the work of determining
how 
many peasants you need to get a theoretically even fight against a squad
of 
super-soldiers. In order to determine the force ratio, you also need to 
know each side's armour level and how it affects the enemy's firepower.

Later,

Oerjan
orjan.ariander1@comhem.se

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
-Hen3ry

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