About Mobile 'Clamshell' Infantry...

[Toltrin]

One question I have about Power Suited Infantry:
Can a 1/1 Power-suited Infantry Squad carry a 3/4 Heavy Weapon missile giving a 3/3 Power-suited Infantry Company a potent three shot 3/4 attack potential for 9 VPs?
O.K., I have another one. When a Power Suited Infantry leaves an archaic infantry fighting vehicle, does it use up one movement to drop off the infantry or does the archaic infantry fighting vehicle lose one movement (or is it both?). I am actually unclear on this.
Here is a list of all Personell Carriers that I know of:
Light GEV/PC
Designed for insertion of special infantry units and is rare to be a part of a battalion. Extra space was built in for a more powerful engine for it's size and thus crew capacity suffered accordingly.
1/1/1 M3/3 Inf1 GEV 3vp
GEV/PC
2/1/1 M3/2 Inf3 GEV 6vp
archaic fire support vehicle (Stryker type)
Designed for insertion of special infantry units and is rare to be a part of a battalion.
1/1/1 M3 Inf1 Wheeled (lt. tank but not amphibious) 1vp
archaic APC
1/1/1 M2 Inf2 Tracked (lt. tank) 1vp
archaic truck
M2 on roads (no road bonus) and M1 off road with a 1 in 6 chance of getting stuck in clear. Have a 2 in 6 chance of getting stuck in forest. Automatically stuck in swamp. Cannot cross streams or water unless there is a bridge there.
0/0/0 M2 Inf1 Wheeled Variablevp
Modern Truck (2040+)
0/1/0 M2 Inf1 Wheeled Variablevp
Hover Truck
0/1/0 M3/2 Inf2 GEV 1vp
Nihon GEV-PC
1/2/2 M3/2 Inf3 GEV 4.5vp
I know there are more truck types and that some allow infantry to ride on larger armored vehicles but I will not list them. Our house rules: no riding on vehicles.

[Toltrin]

The Ranger suit Mark 1 (Previously listed Ranger Power Suit)
1att, 1rng, D1, M3 (INF move mode) size1 4vp
»» The Ranger Suit was tested and failed combat trials in 2075-2077.
»» This particular Ranger Suit could be considered a white herring, a failed project that was tested in battle only seven times.
The problem I see with this ranger suit is that for 3vp a light tank can take over it's job with it's 2 attack and 2 range, despite the limitations of the light tank chassis. I can say the same with the Light GEV - with it's superior movement, despite it's terrain limitations.

Enter the Ranger Mark 2 suit.
»» After the failure of combat trials of the Mark 1 Ranger power suit, the Mark 2 was in it's designing phase. Once it entered battle in 2081 it was just in time for the some odd 88 ceasefires that sweapt accross the globe. The military used this ranger power suit as a way to probe the enemy lines and find reasons to start up hostilities again based on the suits ability to collect and colliate information (as well as it's ability to survive the trip back under stealth).
»» Deployed in limited numbers, the Power Suit Ranger Suit Mark 2 filled in a few niches no other unit could. One drawback to all the capabilities it possessed is it's size. It weighs in at 2,300 pounds loaded and takes up 10.5 cubic feet. This is roughly 50% larger than a normal battle suit.
Thus, it takes up 1.5 infantry room (INF, ENG INF and MAR INF take up 1) in a infantry carrying vehicle. A GEV/PC can only carry two of these Ranger Suits and Hover trucks only one.
Power Suit Ranger Company (27 infantry power suits)
3att, 1rng, D3, M2 in INF movement mode, M2/2 in extended jump jet flight mode but attacks at 2 and defends at 2 until it's next turn, INF move mode but ignores terrain in extended jump jet mode, size3, 18vp
»» 18 Ranger infantry power suits commanded by 1st lieutenants, 7 commanded by 2nd lieutenants, one commanded by a Major and the whole company led by a lieutenants colonel (rank 5).
Power Suit Ranger Platoon (9 infantry power suits)
2att, 1rng, D2, M2 in INF movement mode, M2/2 in extended jump jet flight mode but attacks at 1 and defends at 1 until it's next turn, INF move mode but ignores terrain in extended jump jet mode, size2, 12vp
»» 5 Ranger infantry power suits commanded by 1st lieutenants, commanded by 2nd lieutenants and one commanded by a Major.
Power Suit Ranger Squad (3 infantry power suits)
1/1 D1, M2 in INF movement mode, Cannot attack and has an effective defense of zero (anything with an attack of 1 will destroy it automatically if in range) until it's next turn if it chooses extended jump jet flight mode of M2/2 this turn, size1, 6vp
»» 2 Ranger infantry power suits commanded by 1st lieutenants and one commanded by a Captain.
Just as GEVs, the Ranger power suit cannot attack in it's second phase of movement. Unlike GEVs it can ignore all terrain underneath it except cliffs. Going down costs the Ranger power suit nothing in terms of movement. However, it has to use 1 movement point of jump jet movement for every 6 levels of cliff terrain risen over. It may use it's second movement to rise over cliffs up to 24 levels tall (that's up to 430 feet!).
When attacking a Power Suit Ranger Suit, just as the 'Black Horse' OGRE (or Ninja as it's slagly called), roll on the CRT and remove one from the dice rolled. This reflects the cutting edge ECM and ECCM suit that makes this Power Suit Ranger Suit so expensive.
The Ranger infantry power suit have two additional features:
1. They can extend their range by one with line of sight only to their target if they do not move for nor fire for an entire turn. They are a recon and raider unit and built for survival in short engagements if they happen upon them.
2. The second feature is that they can spot for any other modern military vehicle or power suited infantry unit if the target is in line of sight and up to two hexes away. The Friendly unit it is spotting for must be up to two hexes away and gives the friendly unit a +50% to it's range (rounded down).
Just as any other power suited infantry they can move into water but at a -1 movement, cannot use their ECM/ECCM package (the -1 to the CRT), their extended jump jet flight mode while underwater, spotting ability nor their extended range ability.


»» Power Suit Ranger Suits take the same amount of space as a regular power suit even though they about 800 pounds heavier due to their extensive ECM/ECCM package, extended jump jet package and other top secret stealth features.
»» Only the best of the best of the best are allowed to inhabit the powered Ranger suit and the rank normally seen in one of these suits are of rank 3 and 4 (a majority of 1st and 2nd Lieutenants with a Captain as squad leader, a Major as Platoon leader and Lieutenants Colonel as Company leaders). In the vernacular of infantry power suit infantry slang, Captains are called 'Capps' or 'Reapers' on a squad level in the Combine military. Things get very much more formal the higher up in Ranger battle suits that join the unit. Their SLICS system can only handle up to 27 Ranger battlesuits on a Company level but their advanced weaponry and superior ECM/ECCM electronics more than makes up for their limited numbers.

Author's note:
»» I put a lot of thought as well as play testing into this unit and found it to be very useful in limited numbers. They can discourage a player from choosing a 1/4 of the board for an all out assault since these ranger power suited armored suits can take advantage of terrain defense and have the CRT modifier. These combinations make them VERY hard to kill. I know spending 18vp on a 3/1 Company of this infantry unit seems a bit expensive but in the right hands this unit can command a good portion of the map and tie down real estate as well as augment the ability of shorter ranged units.
»»» Toltrin, Field Commander Toltrin of the 43rd Combine GEV brigade and a Lieutenant Colonel of the 359th Ranger Company (when it becomes boring in my Command Post).

[Toltrin]

Just play tested the Ranger Infantry Mark 2 battle suits! Every 64+ vp army should have at least a 3/1 Company of these wonders!
I believe they are balanced (they fly 2 hexes, attack and then escape at a moderate sped, ignoring terrain modifiers). The balance part comes when, in doing so, they lose 1 defense and 1 attack in the ability being used until the beginning of the owner's turn - leaving them vulnerable to enemy counter attack.
They can jump jet out of range of enemy units and effectively and quickly fill in gaps that are left open by attrition or enemy feinting. Plus they can land in forest and town hexes and with their -1 to the CRT modifier (like the Combine "Black Horse" - or 'Ninja') - makes them nigh almost impossible to kill. They tie up enemy forces more than a bug landing in warm bubble gum!
They can spot, jump jet, have extensive ECCM and can even extend their range to two if they do nothing the previous round (they make excellent snipers as well).
In my opinion this makes them excellent ground holders (when it's needed), gap fillers and dedicatedly hard to kill recon units.
The downside is cost of fielding these wonderful 2,300 pound powered battle suits. 18vps have to be spent to put a 3/1 Ranger power suited unit on the field. This is one the major reasons why they were not produced in great quantity. They were also kept secret from the public for various reasons because despite their effectiveness people were short on food and the government spending so much on what they would consider an expensive specialist unit would have caused bad press.
In fact I play tested 12 games where I took 18vp worth of infantry and 7 times out of 12 the Ranger power suited infantry took out all three 3/1 regular power suited infantry with one or two losses. Very powerful and pretty well balanced specialist unit!