The Anti-Super Squad

[Wavefunction]

Hey guys,

A classic staple of the comicbook genre is the government engineered team put together to take down powerful renegade superhumans. Who then usually strike before the superhumans actually go renegade, and invariably fail.

My question is this, how would you construct a team to deal with as many types and power levels of superhumans as possible? What would the main roles be?

I'm interested both in solutions that involve superpowered team members, and solutions that rely purely on tech or training, though if you use superpowers try to keep them fairly low-level, it's kinda cheating to just say 'I have God on my side'. You can assume the team has extensive funding and access to advanced technology (roughly a decade in advance of the setting in general).

I look forward to hearing your ideas.


P.S. For the sake of argument lets assume that power negation tech exists, but it's only really practical for containing, not apprehending superhumans.

[mr beer]

A modern military infantry platoon would be properly equipped to deal with a most low to medium end supers.

Body armour, rifles, squad level machine guns, SAMs etc.

You would probably want helicopters to deal with flyers and some armoured vehicles with heavier guns to deal with really tough bricks.

Invisibility can be defeated with various devices.

Near future tech probably includes improved weaponised drones and low end powered armour.

Of course, you might not be able to unleash this kind of force in the middle of downtown Gotham, so there's that.

[Refplace]

I would build a standard team around the following roles.
Leader with good communication and perception.
Tech/Researcher who has access to a database on known supers and interactions as well as being personally familiar with local ones. He mainly watches and gives a running report on the battle so is also the comm specialist.
Probably Expert skill (Supers) and with gear designed to take advantage of known weaknesses.
Sniper who can take out many foes by going for weak spots or from surprise.
Heavy Gunner for the tougher foes with everything from a machine gun to an RPG.
Tactical Assault troops with good armor and a variety of weapons, including knives, guns and grenades.
Specialist with a variety of gear, including nets, bolos, oil grenades (slippery).
Driver/Drone Operator after getting the unit to the battle he runs any drones (the tech may also do this). Drones wont have the firepower of your troops but may have higher mobility and a better vantage point.
Heavier drones like a Predator would typically not be driven to the battle but may be summoned from base. Probably a good option against the tougher bricks.

Specialized gear could include smart caltrop mines that wont go off if a trooper steps on them (By reading transmitters in the shoes) but go off if anyone else steps on them. Good for dealing with some speedsters and acrobat types.

[Flyndaran]

One could go literal with the title and have unknowing Anti-Supers unconsciously negating or weakening supers.
Also, there's the Stark Industries route where a (super) genius supplies them with TL+1, +2, or minor ^ gear.

But the question sounds impossibly vague as comics allow literally every ability conceivable.
Any group that tries to be "Jack of all supers" becomes "master of none". That will lead to failure and dangerous mistakes.
It might make the most sense to have teams specialized for each setting super type.
Tanks, Blasters, Controllers, Elementalists, etc.

[Zarmonic]

If the game world allows it, they would most likely have tech designed to negate super powers. If the campaign is such that all supers get their power from the same source, and all powers have the same Super Modifier, this is easy and plausible enough.

Even if this isn't the case, and super powers come from a variety of different sources, a well funded team could be equipped with a variety of counter measures to be used as needed. See all the example modifiers in the Powers book to get get ideas.

[David Johnston2]

Snipers with anti-material rifles.
Goggles with an infra-red setting to catch subjects who are invisible to normal light.
Filter masks and gas grenades.
Noise cancelling earplugs and some kind of sonic generator to mess up concentration.
Drones
Netgun with metal net.
Clunky ungainly suit of power armour
Electromagnetic pulse generator

[Minuteman37]

Perhaps if Wave is unwilling to provide specifics about the supers ability, additional details about the scenario could be helpful.

Are we talking about a situation where a superman expy disagrees with the government and they come to blows over it? If that's the case then perhaps you'd want a morally dubious team who would be willing to leverage Supermans care for civilians to gain the upperhand, or perhaps an especially morally upstanding team to assure this superman won't kill them, if he'd be willing to cross that line for the worst of the worst.

[aesir23]

I'd include an investigator/hacker/problem solver. Some one whose job it is to learn super's weaknesses and/or come up with creative solutions to unexpected problems (e.g. "Nobody told use Ultra-Woman can become intangible! Billy, how can we get these power-dampers on her?")

[McAllister]

Inspired by Minuteman37's idea, I'd want to pit force against force as little as possible. In fact, I'd want to interact as little as possible. I'm thinking of a really tight team, maybe as few as two people. One, call them Overseer, loads up with IQ, Evil Computer Talent for hacking skills and Research; and Born War-Leader Talent to command mundane military when necessary. The other, Silvertongue, loads up with Charisma and Mesmerist Talent, if it's available, or perhaps Memetics if it's not, and buys a good deal of some scary Reputation. The Doctor (of Doctor Who) has pummeled many a foe into submission with little more than the knowledge that he's pummeled so many previous foes into submission. Take that approach.

When a super threat emerges, Overseer uses their digital skills and some Rank: Intelligence Agency to compile all the information about the super possible and analyze it. The goals are to predict their next move, and understand what their motivations are so they can be manipulated. Silvertongue can pay visits to whatever witnesses or loved ones Overseer has discovered, and get them to talk about the capabilities/motivations of the super. If the super is one of those nothing-to-lose antiheroes and susceptible to helicopter fire, Overseer can use Leadership and Tactics to try to minimize casualties and collateral damage, but if the super is vulnerable to manipulation, Silvertongue should be able to get their attention with Rapier Wit, and then use some combination of social skills to convince them it's in their best interests to stand down (even if it's really not).

...you know, this is sounding more and more like the exact approach Nick Fury uses to recruit the Avengers. He's already put them under a microscope, he or his agents appear when the super is most vulnerable with a tailor-made offer, and any combination of bribery, threats or pleading are used to keep them on task if they have second thoughts.

So, yeah, don't fight them with missiles if you can help it. Fight them like Nick Fury.

[CraigM]

Just for fun:

* Make it a world strongly prejudiced against supers. Superpowered mutants are not allowed to roam free.
* Make the PCs all members of a "normal" human team of government backed mutant hunters with a shoot-on-sight philosophy. Predator or Bladerunner types (depending on how high-firepower you're after), plus maybe a xenobiology specialist as their mutant expert.

&

* Give every PC a secret superpower.