Guns and Mercenaries

[nik1979]

I'm preparing for a GURPS traveller game and I've hit a stumbling block concerning concocting my equipment packages. Specifically LCs and CRs.

I come from a CR4 country BUT despite being more restrictive our governments efficiency has some serious limitations concerning enforcing certain laws (that's why we've got warlords in our lesser economic regions).

How do you guys handle LCs and CRs when it comes to equipment and mercenaries?

I'm thinking of making an Enforcement Rating (A roll) made up of Control (regulatory laws; CR), organization-efficiency (0-6), and Quality of life (TL/2 +1). ER is meant to give players is meant to represent a goverments efficiency and its ability to enforce its laws or regulations. IMExperience some countries may have more freedomes but have better efficiency in enforcing the few laws they have, while other countries (like mine) has many laws but very poor efficiency.

I'm thinking on a place like Regina or a Subsector's main world, one can expect a ER of 12 around the port era, +1 in trouble spots, and lower the rating as the area is farther from the centralized goverment or harder to enforce.

This way my Players can make comparisons like that in Real World Countries. Like over here it would be CR 4 but ER 10, Some place like Singapore would be CR4 but ER14!, Japan would be CR3 but ER13, China could be CR4 but ER 11 (probably 10 in their special economic zones like macau or HK). Any thing wrong with this?

Moving on from the foundation (laws) the more complex question is about mercenary equipment and Imperial laws.
What is imperial CR and ER?
How do mercenaries figure in this?
How do you guys treat Exo Skeletons LC?
If you keep it as is, what stops from everyone using it?
If every soldier PC uses an exo skel (giving an athletic PC a light enc. of 90lbs vs 48lbs) what are the negative consequences in the doctrine of ground forces?

[Pomphis]

I wonder about the TL part. High TL gadgets make surveillance more easy, yes. OTOH even the NSA doesn´t have the resources to read all e-mails, whereas Napoleon´s secret police may have been able to read all letters. And it is much easier to avoid notice in a modern metropolis than in a medieval town. IMO the risk of detection may be greater for carrying an illegal sword on your horse in a medieval town than to carry an illegal assault rifle in your car in today´s NYC.

[vicky_molokh]

Seems to be a GURPS topic more than a Traveller one.

[nik1979]

I meant this in the context of Spinward marches factions and peoples.

[rasimus]

Personally I'd tend to avoid trying to generate another number (enforcement rating), and kinda 'assume' a reasonable enforcement rating based on the Control Rating / Law Level / Government Type, and note exceptions in the descriptive text.

So, for example, one really big country can be lax on firearm regulations and completely ban the majority of recreational drugs.
Another country can completely ban alcohol, allow drugs like hashish, and tacitly allow automatic weapons.
A third country can allow licensed prostitutes, most recreational drugs, but completely ban firearms.

Yeah, you could try to divide up and come up with numbers for each category of potential contraband, but it just seems to be asking for trouble, IMHO.

I mean, do you ultimately want to break out enforcement for:
Printing Press (restricted freedom of speech)
Alcohol
Psi Drugs
Combat Drugs
Recreational Drugs
Slavery/Indentured Servitude
Weapons (blades)
Hand Guns
Hunting Rifles
Automatic Weapons
"Non-lethal" (tasers, pepper spray, etc) weapons
RPGs
Battlesuits
Tanks (Yeah, I'd like a world where tanks are legal, and everyone owns one... ammunition for the turrets are tightly controlled though.)
etc
etc

YMMV

[Darkwalker]

I use the following assumptions:

+ A Mercenary unit needs a permission to exist from the Imperial/Sollie/whatever government. You can't just assemble a bunch of guys and call yourself "Eaglemountain Mercenary Regiment". Once it is officially established it gets special permits. IRL the German "Landsknecht" Mercenaries (pre 30years War) got quite a few special rights and excemptions from the Emperor

+ Equipment can than be bought with special permits but NOT carried except while on a mission and in the mission area. The rest of the time it stays under lock and seal in the ship/transport container etc. Similar to guns in Germany. You need special permits to own them and even then are restricted where you can carry them

+ If the unit is hired by a local government (most likely) the government will give them a special permit good for the Area of Operations. Same they give law enforcement officers or the local military. Again using Germany as an example: There is NO way I can legally own a fully automatic firearm (say a HK MP5A3) Yet patrol officers of the local police force have access to that weapon.

+ If the unit gets hired by the "Revolutionary Front of WhoCaresForUs" they will not care about local laws anyway

[far_trader]

Originally Posted by nik1979

...Moving on from the foundation (laws) the more complex question is about mercenary equipment and Imperial laws.

Just some general takes from my past games, not certain how canon any of it is but think it's got roots in the rules at least.

Imperial law is low, very little isn't allowed to Imperial Citizens (not every person on an Imperial world is an Imperial Citizen imtu, just those who have earned it through service, distinction, or influence), but with that comes the trust and expectation that they will respect local laws. So Enerii (an ex-Scout) can own a full on military grade Laser Rifle with no problems as long as he doesn't use it on some world where it is illegal to possess it.

Exoskeletons come in flavours imtu. Civilian rigs for moving heavy cargo which have little restriction and are common at most downports and larger traders. Through to high tech Imperial Forces models. Mercs are allowed military exoskeletons (Battle Dress) but it's not as advanced as Imperial Forces models in common use. Mercs imtu are licensed by the Imperium and in the course of their legal assignments don't need to pay heed to local laws much of the time. They answer to Imperial law. And the consequences if they are charged with overstepping the bounds are much more serious. Military court instead of Civil with all that swift and severe procedure.

What stops everyone from having Battle Dress is the volume, expense and maintenance of using it. Even the Imperial Forces imtu don't Battle Dress every soldier. Nor do they even train every soldier (not even all the Marines ;-) ) in the use. It's for special forces.

As for the negatives, imtu, it's as vulnerable as any other vehicle, and a high priority target. The enemy is not stupid, they won't be shooting at the BD troopers with anti-personnel weapons, they'll be using anti-armor weapons.

And they are awkward in confined spaces (buildings and bunkers and such) if not unable to enter at all. Most structures not suitably reinforced will not be able to support the weight of one let alone a few or several. Walk into a normal house in BD kit and you'll find it hard to navigate through the door without making it bigger. Walking across the floor you may feel it sag and if damaged could find yourself falling through. Heading to the stairs to get out of the basement you step on the first and it breaks, as do the rest of the treads getting you nowhere until you fly out with grav. And so on. It's generally up to the lighter troops to do house by house clearing and searches. Likewise other confining terrain is problematic to BD troops, like woods, jungles, anywhere too confining.

Likewise the heavy weapons that go with BD are great to have for their anti-vehicle use but overkill for facing regular troops.

Basically I treat BD like a small tank. Limited and vulnerable in it's uses without regular troops to back it up.

Hope that helps you some :-)

[rasimus]

Originally Posted by far_trader

Most structures not suitably reinforced will not be able to support the weight of one let alone a few or several. [...] Walking across the floor you may feel it sag and if damaged could find yourself falling through. Heading to the stairs to get out of the basement you step on the first and it breaks, as do the rest of the treads getting you nowhere until you fly out with grav.

MTU is somewhat similar, 'except contragravity is more ubiquitous. I think it was the main GT book that mentions the option of building a small contragravity unit into heavier weapons, and I kinda assume they are built into most BDs too. You don't want to turn it back TOO much, 'cause you don't want a surprise knockback, but if the stairs squeak, you can drop your weight down to that of a four-year old Bwap if you like. (Granted, that won't get you through many house doorways without accidentally shredding the walls...)

[Captain Midnight]

Originally Posted by nik1979

How do you guys handle LCs and CRs when it comes to equipment and mercenaries?

I'd avoid anything that brought in Yet Another Rating. Instead, examine your postulates for the setting, and see what makes sense to you.

Dealing with the question of military equipment... is it able to be produced locally? Who would do so, and what restrictions would be put on them? If it has to be imported, is it possible to import *large* quantities of stuff on a regular basis, and how would such an endeavor be funded?

Moving on to a "mercenary" unit... how "mercenary" are we talking about here? Are these back-country hill bandits who will let themselves be hired to bushwhack a half-dozen random interloping strangers, or are we talking about a division of GTL12 armored cavalry loading up in big transports and going out to fight for whoever can pay their (enormous) fee? Where are they going to get their equipment? How will they transport themselves from job to job? Who knows about them? What will they say when a Customs inspector asks, "Reason for visiting World X"?

Moving to your setting... what sort of world are you talking about here? There's an enormous difference between how things will work in a GTL12 asteroid-belt city, and on some GTL4 sparsely-populated desolate moon that nobody's ever found any productive use for. How spread out are people? How do folk who travel arrive, and how do they get around once they arrive? What resources are available locally, and what has to be imported? What sort of things can be reasonably expected to be found, and in what quantity? Is the local population reasonably homogeneous, and why would mercenaries be useful? Who is in control, and what motivates them?

Moving on from the foundation (laws) the more complex question is about mercenary equipment and Imperial laws.
What is imperial CR and ER?

Actual Imperial CR is pretty low. You can't just order up a half-ton of weaponized anthrax from Instellarms, and while local laws may differ from place to place, everyone recognizes the potential threat that large numbers of heavily-armed strangers can represent. That's not to say you can't own various weapons, but people who see you walking down the street in your battle dress festooned with grenades and fusion guns will probably get out of the line of fire.

As a GM, you'll also have to decide just what sort of powerful entities there are, and how closely they're watching for things like "capable private military units". It doesn't have to be just governments, either; there could be corporations, or criminal organizations, or various civic organizations.

How do mercenaries figure in this?

In my game, they're mostly used either for cadre to train up local units in a hurry, or to provide specialized capabilities, like orbital insertion, anti-armor, or special operations. However, it's your game, so do whatever makes sense to you, and seems like it would be fun. If your players are craving an opportunity to punish Ghengis Khan with a brigade of grav tanks... well, some people enjoy a game like that. I personally don't think it makes sense in the version of the setting that I use, but to each his own.

How do you guys treat Exo Skeletons LC?
If you keep it as is, what stops from everyone using it?
If every soldier PC uses an exo skel (giving an athletic PC a light enc. of 90lbs vs 48lbs) what are the negative consequences in the doctrine of ground forces?

First off, it's expensive, and it's just more stuff that requires transport. It's not easy to sneak while wearing an exoskeleton, and if you're really concerned about loading up your troops, give them APCs.

It comes down to asking "What are you planning to use ground troops for?" If it's a lightning strike, then exoskeletons might be useful. If they're on garrison duty... not so much.

[nik1979]

Thanks for the Answers! :D