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Old 09-20-2016, 11:34 AM   #6
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Re: [Mass Combat] Cost of raising logisitics forces

I don't have Mass Combat (I've read it in the past, however), but a lot of logistics is about transporting supplies, so if the unit is located in or very near a location where supplies are readily available you could probably manage a lower cost. This is really only going to influence maintenance cost, however, not raising cost - if you want the unit to be able to actually go anywhere, there will need to be a logistics unit to support them. In fact, even if the unit is permanently located somewhere, they'll at the very least need a reduced-size logistics unit to handle administration of supplies and the like. Basically, being in or near a friendly production center is going to reduce maintenance cost just as being in a swamp increases it, but that's about the limit of the effect (aside from the reduced cost to raise a stationary logistics unit).

As for the "No Maintenance" hack, that's potentially a Murphy's Rule. More realistically, the desertion (and passive casualty) rate should probably continually rise as the unit continues without support; the current rules are probably intended for short-term effects. Additionally, even using it, what you'd actually be doing is raising a partial unit in a secure location and then sending them off without support to try and find and catch up with the starving unit. You can't very well raise an army out in the field, but logistics support does allow you to maintain one.

EDIT: Another point of note is that not all military conditions are going to have the RAW cost to raise and maintain the necessary logistical support. In Starcraft, there exist abundant and readily-processed materials all over the place, allowing an army to bring a small logistics unit and have that set up, increase its own size, and produce supplies for the army for a minimal initial cost and practically no maintenance cost. In The Stormlight Archives, magitech can be wielded to transmute readily-available materials (stone, mostly) into whatever is needed, from metal for weapons and armor to food and barracks (which are transmuted to stone from air) for the troops - the characters even make reference to how the technology is so necessary to wage war without a supply train. Even without superscience and magic, deployment in a particularly bountiful area can allow for a unit to function as its own logistics support, with the soldiers taking out a small amount of time to hunt, forage, and prepare food/supplies and the officers keeping things running (although this would arguably reduce the unit's TS, as it splits its attention; a better way to handle it would be to bring along a small dedicated logistics unit to handle procurement of supplies, much as I suggested for units stationed in production centers).

Last edited by Varyon; 09-20-2016 at 11:48 AM.
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cost, logistics, maintenence, mass combat

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