Ruins 2 Ground Combat Prototype

Basic Ideas

• Ground units are Good, Cheap or All-Terrain. Pick 2.
• Solarian Units are either Good and All-Terrain.
• Colonial Units are usually Good and Cheap.
• Pirate/Mercenary Units are All-Terrain and Cheap.
• Light Units can do COIN, medical services and most ‘pink collar’ military work and fight better in dense terrain like cities, forests, etc.
• Medium Units can do everything at half efficiency.
• Heavy Units can do engineering, tracklaying, etc, but fight worse in

Army Lists

Solarian

Solarian forces excel in combat but generally are generally worse at everything other than fighting. They are also expensive to maintain, particular for Verge states. Solarian units are All-Terrain, meaning they never suffer penalties in inappropriate terrain types.

Line Units

• Peaceforce Battlegroup [Light]: Solarian mechanized light infantry riding in blastproof AFVs, their main function is as garrison forces, COIN and peacekeeping.
• Espatiers Battlegroup [Medium]: Solarian mobile infantry, fitted with advanced powered armor capable of all-terrain movement via skimmer systems and limited flight in lower gravities. Supported by advanced recon drones, hover tanks and armed transport VTOLs. The rivalry of the UN Espatiers and Legions can be traced back to an infamous admiralty ruling around the time of the Solar Reconquista.
• Legionnaires Battlegroup [Heavy]: Solarian heavy infantry in fully-enclosed titano-ceramic-clad powered frames mounted up on superheavy hovertanks with extensive artillery support. The Legionnaires see themselves as the successors to the far-older Espatier Corps, pointing to their far lower casualties and triumph on a score of ultimately more dangerous battlefields.

Special Units

• Espatier Special Purpose Brigada [Light]: Special forces recruited from multi-decade veterans and augmented to such a degree that their bodies are legally regulated in the same manner as weapons, UN ESPB units wear cutting-edge powered armor with full surface-to-orbit mobility in under 1.5Gs, shaped magnetoplasma boarding charges, radar low-observation coating, thermoptic camo and an assortment of drones and other advanced warfare systems that make them the uncontested finest troops in the Sphere. As long as you don’t ask the Legion, or Vergers.
• Legion Sturmzug [Heavy]: Legion ‘Assault Trains’ are the UN’s mainstay tracklaying units, colossal 250m+ long land battleships capable of sheltering thousands of troops in their bays, laying track, fortifications and infrastructure as they move and answering orbital bombardment with atomic firepower including a brace of anti-orbital railguns.

Clique Units

Must be part of the relevant clique or have good relations with them to purchase.

• Blue Shield Battlegroup [Light][Reformers]:
• International Legion Battlegroup [Medium][Unificationists]
• Warmech Battlegroup [Heavy][Wardens]:
• Arsenal Walker [Heavy][Crusaders]:
• Genetrooper Battlegroup [Medium][The Kingsmen]:

Colonial

Colonial units are inexpensive and situationally effective but specialized. By default national armies are trained in their native planetary conditions, where they might very well surpass even Solarian troops. In other conditions however, they’re

Line Units

• Planetary Militia Battlegroup [Light]
• Mobile Infantry Battlegroup [Medium]
• Indig Mechanized Battlegroup [Heavy]

Special Units

National Units

Nations with the Martial Tradition trait can contribute up to 3 units to the National Units list, gaining a bonus of TBD for each group to borrow their units.

• Tempest Forest Sister Sect [Light]
• Tempesti Islander Marine BTG [Medium]
• Tempesti Dragonship [Heavy]
• Royal Elysian Forester Battlegroup [Light]
• Royal Elysian Highlander Battlegroup [Medium]
• Royal Elysian Armored Guard Battlegroup [Heavy]

Pirate

Pirate units are cheap and effective in a variety of environments, being functionally All-Terrain, but are fragile and poorly-armed.

Line Units

• Zero-G Dogs Battlegroup [Light]: Pirate space infantry in the style of ancient space warfare, supported by vac sleds, assault shuttles and light buggies. Typically armed with mining lasers and monomolecular boarding axes.
• Birdmen Battlegroup [Medium]: Allegedly a portmanteau of ‘battlearmor hirdmen’ in reference to the viking warriors, the most likely explanation for the name of these pirate drop soldiers is the conical-beaked assault suits that have common origin in a popular open source arms distro. Halfway between espatiers and mobile infantry in size, they have few advantages other than all-terrain mobility.
• Technical Battlegroup [Heavy]: A euphemistic term for colonial vehicles like industrial walkers and carryall hovers fitted with milspec weapons, fielded as impromptu heavy assets. Most are armed with mining lasers, though the launch railguns used by mining colonies to put stock into orbit for collection are extremely popular for their straightforward power and resistance to wear and tear.

Defenses

Freefloating

Not attached to a given Territory except for basing purposes, these have built-in roam.

Early Warning Satellite

Roam Area: Space

Provides early warning, can detect Stealth units passing close.

Defense Satellite

Roam Area: Space

Lightly armed and armored, cheap to produce. It can move under its own power but has low delta-V, so can be outmanoeuvred in orbit by most warships.

Coastal Patrol Group

Roam Area: Sea

Light naval units that provide additional coastal security, search and rescue and amphibious movement.

Naval Battlegroup

Roam Area: Sea

Heavy naval units that can provide fire support to ground forces and assist transatmospheric warships in direct engagements.

Naval Carrier Group

Roam Area: Sea

Heavy naval units that can provide limited fire support to ground forces and support XXX aerospace wings.

Road Mobile ISOM

Roam Area: Land

Heavy missile crawlers carrying mobile ISOMs. Due to the large size of an ISOM, these crawlers tend to be somewhat lower velocity than their silo bound counterparts, and if detected are vulnerable to fire, however they are able to go anywhere.

Rail Mobile ISOM

Roam Area: Land with at least Infrastructure 2 (Unmodified)

Using rail or magnetic lift trains, a rail mobile ISOM system allows for extremely fast and cheap mobile missile systems. These systems have the same high velocity as a silo based weapon, though more vulnerable to fire if detected. They are faster than road mobile ISOM systems but can only use areas with established rail infrastructure.

ISOM Submarine

Roam Area: Sea

A large submersible that carries multiple low-delta ISOMs like those deployed by road mobile systems. ISOM submarines are extremely hard to find.

Mobile SASW Battery

Roam Area: Land

Mobile Surface to Aerospace Weapons batteries are used by most armies. Mostly used to engage enemy fighters and missiles, they can also be used to attack starships in low orbits, especially attempting GTO artillery strikes. This can include laser, railgun or missile equipped units.

Anti-Orbital

Built in a Territory, can only strike non-adjacent targets i.e.: in orbit or lacking a direct land/sea/etc connection. Anti-orbital artillery and ISOMs can be reconfigured to strike terrestrial targets but they have a direct blindspot of their build location and surrounding zones.

GTO Railgun

GTO Railguns come in hundreds of designs across the Verge and Core and can be found anywhere with even basic technic society. Can be loaded with nuclear warheads.

GTO Laser

Stronger than GTO Railguns and armor-penetrating, these advanced defenses lack the ability to shoot over the horizon but can be re-calibrated to provide additional missile defense capability.

ISOM Silo

Interplanetary surface-to-orbit missile silos are the gold standard for missile warfare, though they’ve begun to lose relevance thanks to the advent of advanced laser intercept systems. Can be loaded with nuclear warheads.

Regional

Built in a territory and defends itself and adjacent targets i.e.: those with a direct land or sea connection. In the case of sea zones (but not ocean zones), coastal territories attached to the same named Sea are functionally adjacent.

Sensor Emplacement

Detects the presence of hostile Stealth units intruding in territory, and tracks movement of forces in adjacent territories and close orbit.

District Garrison

A regional center both training and coordinating local defense armies. Spawns 1 Light (Line, Clique or National) Battlegroups which remain on the planet and are destroyed if their Garrison is lost.

Military HQ

A more sophisticated coordination center. Spawns any 2 Battlegroups for planetary defense purposes, and adds an extra Battlegroup to every District Garrison in the same or adjacent Territories. 1 per Territory and the extra Garrison unit benefit only applies once.

Planetary Artillery

Ground-based artillery, it can suppress or destroy ground units in the same and adjacent Territories.

Air Defence Site

Ground-based air defence facilities, either laser-based or using modern SAMs.

ISOM Interceptor Site

Ground-based anti-ISOM facilities, critical in preventing successful nuclear first-strike. Combined ECM suites, GTO laser systems and redundant mesh-networked LIDAR drones allow it to negate decoy, wild weasel or saturation-based MIRV designs typical of current-generation ISOMs and shipboard ballistic missiles.

Territorial

Built in a territory and defends it only.

Barricades

Deployable or prefabricated anti-tank measures, from bollards and toblerones to floating limpets drawn to the gravitational impeller at the front of a hovertank's drive field. Obstructs the movement of Heavy Battlegroups.

Surface/Sea Minefield

Fields of purpose-built or improvised explosives, or other kinds of traps. Obstructs the movement of Light Battlegroups (Surface) and Naval-roam Freefloating Defenses (Sea).

Guard Post

A militarized police precinct or town militia hall. Spawns a single Light Battlegroup. No bonuses from Military HQ.

Bunker

Represents large-scale earthenworks, foxholes, defensive emplacements and other fortuitous geography in the built environment. Functions as ablative lives for friendly Battlegroups, either allowing 2 units to limp away as Damaged or preventing a single unit from receiving any damage at the cost of being destroyed.

Deep Bunker

Deep crust fortifications, prevents up to 3 Battlegroups from suffering any damage in combat, but protected units cannot participate in any fighting. Can be sieged down, blocked off or sabotaged.

Defensive Transport Network

Trench and tunnel networks, allowing military units to transit between connected territories without being subject to attack from forces on the surface.