FTA3 Military and Combat
Navigation
Continue to Table of Contents:
Ground Combat
Ground Operations
Ground Combat is, again, relatively simple. Each side totals up their battle value, as determined by their own stats, Traits, and any enemy modifiers that may come into play, and then engage in an opposed roll. They then determine damage and that concludes ground combat for the quarter.
The Battle Value of a force is based on the unit’s Quality, Mobility, Firepower, Relative Size, Specialization, Morale/Fatigue, and Leadership.
Quality
The Quality of a Ground Unit depends on its type, as well as any modifiers from if the unit is Elite or not. In effect, this ranges from 0 to 4. For mass engagements, add the Quality of all units together and divide by 4, rounding up to the nearest whole number. The default quality of all Regular line units is 2, but some Q3 and 4 units exist.
Mobility
Mobility also depends on the type of the Ground Unit. Mobility ranges from 0 to 4. For mass engagements, Average out the mobility, rounding up to the nearest whole number.
Firepower
Some ground units have more firepower than others. This ranges from 0 to 4. For mass engagements, Average out the Firepower, rounding up to the nearest whole number.
Relative Size
The Relative Size of units in combat is, again, based on the unit’s size. Battalions are the smallest possible unit, Brigades are larger than Battalions but smaller than Brigades, and Brigades are the largest. Three battalions make a brigade and three brigades make a division. Give the smaller force a 1 and the larger a 2. IF the larger force outnumbers it two to one, give the larger force a 4. If by three to one, a six; four to one, an eight.
Specializations
If a unit is doing something related to its Specialization as part of the battle plan, it adds a 1 to the total Battle Value. Some environmental factors can impact battle value as well.
Morale and Fatigue
Morale and Fatigue is, again, rated on a scale from 0 to 4, and ties in to the supply of a ground force, how long they’ve been deployed, what they’ve been doing (Good luck finding high morale during COIN operations), and numerous other factors. The default morale is 2 and moderators will make judgment calls adjusting morale as appropriate to circumstance (also some game effects can raise or lower morale, it’ll be clearly stated.)
- 0 - The crews don’t want to be there, and the fleet is low on supply or is far from home.
- 1 - Morale is low, be it due to a recent defeat, long deployment, unpopular officers, a grueling insurgency, or low Stability.
- 2 - Average morale, the resting baseline
- 3 - Eager. The US Marine Corps on an off day
- 4 - Fearless. Iranian Basij during the Iran-Iraq war.
Leadership and Strategy
Both sides roll opposed d6 rolls, with each side getting a bonus to the roll depending on the plan of the force going into the battle and how it interacts with the other side’s plan. The winner of the roll adds the Lead (up to a maximum of +4) to their force’s Battle Value.
Air Superiority
If one side of an engagement has clear air superiority from Aerospace Fighters (that is, more squadron weight than the other), then that side gains an additional +2 to their Battle Value. Be aware that air defense upgrades can negate enemy aerospace fighters. This is calculated after the Interceptor phase.
Once the Battle Value of both sides is added together, both sides roll off with D20s. The winner of an engagement is the force with the higher combined Battle Value+roll. The Lead, or the Difference between the two Battle Values, is the severity of the engagement.
All engaged units, regardless of who won or lost, have to roll a d20. This is called the Damage Save. Any result over 15 has a unit destroyed, and any result over 10 is Exhausted (PROVISIONAL VALUES) -this unit has taken enough casualties that they are effectively unusable for a quarter until they’ve been refreshed with replacements. The Loser of an engagement adds the Lead to this roll. The unit with the higher average mobility has a modifier here to avoid damage (gotta figure it out) whereas the side with the higher average firepower lowers the thresholds for Exhausted and Destroyed by 1.
Ortillery & Intercepting a Landing
Ships in orbit or supporting a ground attack with the Ortillery Capability are capable of engaging and neutralizing ground targets. A Ship with Ortillery can force a number of ground units depending on the ship’s size to immediately make a Damage Save, with a bonus to the roll equal to the size of the Ship providing Ortillery fire.
| Ship Size | Ortillery Targets | Damage Roll Bonuses |
|---|---|---|
| Escort | 1 Battalion Equivalent | 1 |
| Cruiser | 1 Brigade Equivalent | 2 |
| Capital | 1 Division Equivalent | 3 |
Defending fighter squadrons can force a similar Damage Save on Ground Units landing from orbiting spacecraft.
When a squadron makes an attack run on a landing Ground Unit, the Ground Unit must make a Damage save, with a bonus of +4 added to the roll. An Interceptor Squadron can only attack a single unit this way.
Interception attacks can be countered by escorting aerospace fighters. Each escorting squadron can force a dogfight (see space combat fighter rules) with one intercepting squadron, with “excess” interceptors getting free attacks on dropping troops.
Ortillery & Interception is resolved before Battle Value is determined and the two sides roll off. Units damaged or destroyed in this phase aren’t calculated in a force’s BV.
A combat phase in ground combat represents a full quarter (one RL week), as all this abstraction really is simplification of protracted ground campaigns spanning hundreds of kilometers, with terrain and numerous other factors in play. This could be waived in some circumstances, like a couple of brigades being dropped on a battalion or whatever, at moderator’s discretion.
With the basic battle results resolved, moderators will then make a judgment if one side or the other withdraws or surrenders, based primarily on four factors: Quality, Morale, Balance of Force, and Number of Exhausted and Destroyed sub-units.
Fighting Different Technology Levels in Ground Combat
Most Grid Polities have their specialized ground forces equipped to the OPF Standard level. Local militia (that is, the abstracted forces tied to CI) are not going to be able to stop them unless they tremendously outnumber the other side or someone’s real stupid. Generally speaking, if you throw a marine brigade at a territory that’s only protected by CI militia, it’s not a question of “if” but “when” is that brigade going to capture the territory. This is the same logic as to why a sondrak privateer isn’t going to seriously threaten your cruisers on patrol.
Boarding
Boarding is very hard to do, normally requiring specialized troops known as Espatiers. Under combat conditions it’s normally done very rarely, and most Espatier work is done post-combat as part of pursuit. Moderators will handle boarding actions as shit’s complicated and not easily quantified. Notably, lower tech-level units do not suffer a notable penalty for fighting in boarding actions-at close range, there’s only so many ways to skin a cat and the tech disparity isn’t as important as grit and big booms.
As a note, using a unit without the Boarding trait increases difficulty by 50%.
First, the boarding unit has to actually successfully dock with the target. Coming from a ship with a Boarding Pod module helps, while the enemy possessing the Flak trait makes things more difficult. It’s also generally more difficult if the ship has undamaged engines or is faster than the ship carrying the Espatiers.
Boarders can attempt to seize control of the ship- or do damage to it from the inside. Whichever is chosen by the controlling player when the boarding action starts.
Actually damaging a ship is the easier of the two. Every turn that an Espatier unit is on board a warship, it will do damage to the ship’s HP equal to the sum of its Quality and Firepower rating times two. Damage from all on board. If a ship is destroyed this way, then the Espatiers disembark.
Capturing a ship is the hard part. In order to capture a ship, an Espatier Unit has to make a capture check: this is, roughly, 1d8 + Quality + Mobility+ Firepower versus 10 + half the target’s logistics weight. Defending Espatier units force the attacker to instead overcome the full logistics weight of the target. Multiple attacking units may add together their numbers, with each battalion of Espatiers adding together their values (but the D8 is only added once).
A captured ship is effectively disabled, and can be seized by the victorious side after battle- or scuttled.
Every turn that an Espatier unit is onboard a ship, be it attempting to destroy it or attempting to capture it, that unit will have to make a Damage Save, adding the Size of the ship and the Firepower of any hostile Espatier units to the roll. A result of 12 or more has the boarding Espatiers forced to retreat. A result of 15 or more sees the Espatiers destroyed. A result of 9, 10, or 11 sees the Espatiers take casualties but continue the mission; if they succeed, then they will have to spend a quarter recovering from the losses.