Military Cybershells - just how ubiquitous are they?

[vicky_molokh]

Greetings, all!

Yesterday, one of the other players in the campaign I play in threw a tantrum after hearing that USA's 'away team' (in a diplomacic-suddenly-turned-counterterrorist sort of delegation) consisted of biosophonts, as opposed to cybershells. This got me wondering: just how well did cybershells replace biosophonts in Fourth and Fifth-wave militaries?

While books tend to say that cybershells are replacing biosophonts, I know that Spartans entered the military assembly line in 2084 (in USA), and that at least one Brazilian Spartan dates from 2088 (note: Brazil is canonically Fourth-Moving-to-Fifth Wave, like USA).

The encounter near the Can-Am border either TEN or Canadian Armed Forces (it's not clear) have a use for Feliciæ bioroids.

FW36 says that (in Fifth Wave states) 'Most “enlisted” roles will be taken by bioroid, bioshell or cybershell soldiers, while humans serve as officers.' While not exactly obvious, this sentence means that infomorphs are rare among officers (otherwise we'd see more bioshells and cybershells among officers).

Royal Marines seem to mostly be biomodified humans accompanied by RATS.

Anyway, just how pervasive is the infomorphification of militaries?

Thanks in advance!

[Anthony]

Depends what you mean. Pretty much any military unit will have recon drones running NAIs or LAIs. Units with heavy weapon support will probably have RATs, and any heavy sensor systems will probably also be carried by cybershells. The line infantry might or might not be cybershells depending on what the unit is for -- the big virtue of cybershells is that you can send them into situations where they're almost certainly going to get destroyed and not feel too badly about it. Guards for a diplomatic mission I would expect to mostly be humans (based on the definition of human used by the hosts), with sensor drones, possibly a bomb-disposal shell, and possibly a weapon detection shell.

[Keiko]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Greetings, all!

Yesterday, one of the other players in the campaign I play in threw a tantrum after hearing that USA's 'away team' (in a diplomacic-suddenly-turned-counterterrorist sort of delegation) consisted of biosophonts, as opposed to cybershells. This got me wondering: just how well did cybershells replace biosophonts in Fourth and Fifth-wave militaries?

While books tend to say that cybershells are replacing biosophonts, I know that Spartans entered the military assembly line in 2084 (in USA), and that at least one Brazilian Spartan dates from 2088 (note: Brazil is canonically Fourth-Moving-to-Fifth Wave, like USA).

The encounter near the Can-Am border either TEN or Canadian Armed Forces (it's not clear) have a use for Feliciæ bioroids.

FW36 says that (in Fifth Wave states) 'Most “enlisted” roles will be taken by bioroid, bioshell or cybershell soldiers, while humans serve as officers.' While not exactly obvious, this sentence means that infomorphs are rare among officers (otherwise we'd see more bioshells and cybershells among officers).

Royal Marines seem to mostly be biomodified humans accompanied by RATS.

Anyway, just how pervasive is the infomorphification of militaries?

Thanks in advance!

Threw a tantrum? Really? How old are they, 10?

I'd expect a covert unit would probably be mostly biological (human, depending on your definition) but I wouldn't throw a hissy fit if it turned out differently.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Keiko

Threw a tantrum? Really? How old are they, 10?

I was being tongue-in-cheek. But the beginning of the session was indeed spent in puffing steam about the stupidity of the American unit.

[Keiko]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

I was being tongue-in-cheek. But the beginning of the session was indeed spent in puffing steam about the stupidity of the American unit.

Okay, that's better but not by much. :)

[Keiko]

Originally Posted by Keiko

Okay, that's better but not by much. :)

I shouldn't be so hard on the guy. I've met some some THS fans that are pretty determined that canonically in THS robots and various flavor of informorphs pretty much do -everything- with humans as, at best, anachronisms, dependents or future Ghosts with bioroids and uplifts as essentially useless curiosities.

[Keiko]

Originally Posted by Owen Smith

That's not supported by the THS books. Do they actually bother to read and understand canon?

People sometimes develop odd ideas about rpg settings. Sometimes they are awesome, sometimes not so much. :)

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Owen Smith

That's not supported by the THS books. Do they actually bother to read and understand canon?

What is supported by the THS books is that biological common soldiers are obsolete and are only used by less advanced nations who can't afford the best. Humans are only used in combat for specialized purposes and in supervisory roles.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Owen Smith

That's not supported by the THS books.

It actually kind of is. Most of the biotech stuff is presented as 4th wave, which implies that is is in fact becoming obsolete in a 5th wave society. There is some reason to think that wasn't the intent of the authors, but it's certainly a plausible reading of the text. As for ordinary humans, the whole point of transhumanity is the transition to obsolescence of ordinary humans.

[Keiko]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Most of the biotech stuff is presented as 4th wave, which implies that is is in fact becoming obsolete in a 5th wave society.

One my least favorite things about the setting.