Fun stuff from OmegaPaladin

This is a miscellaneous assortment of rules and fluff

Heroes

In the troubled times of the ZOCU war and its aftermath, there have many individuals who stand out. Whether frame jockeys, ship captains, legendary researchers, or one-man armies, these individuals do the things that change history. Generally rare, only or two to a nation, (Giving ZOCU an extra hero is a possible way to counterbalance their disadvantages) heroes are mostly used for special tasks, such as sims run on with the GM.

As a starting point, heroes can have any transhuman modification your nation uses, and are skilled in combat to the point that they can outfight elite infantry on the ground, all other things being equal. Additional abilities can come from the hero classes and any chosen traits. Heroes also come with (one or two) character shields that let them survive impossible odds or go down in a blaze of glory.

Classes

Heroes come in four classes

Ace Pilot

These heroes are masters of suit or fighter combat. They can defeat top-notch enemy units with effort, and utterly devastate normal units. They always have a custom personal super unit, which can even be technology you stole from an enemy.

Super-Soldier

These are heroes who bring fear to the hearts of special forces. They can do things that verge on the impossible, such as destroying a mobile suit on foot. They have the best of equipment, naturally.

Brilliant Commander

These heroes lead units to victory against unbelievable odds. They can take a mediocre ship and turn it into the stuff of legends. They must choose an area of skill, such as fleet command, suit leader, or armor general.

Specialist

This is the miscellaneous category. Brilliant field researchers, charismatic pop stars, conspiratorial spymasters, you name it.

Traits

Companions

Your hero has appropriate allies, hand-picked for their roles. Ace Pilots have an superb squad, Super-Soldiers have special forces, brilliant commanders have a command staff that can run a fleet, etc. These units are good, but not nearly on the same level as their leader.

Beyond Human

Your hero has cranked his transhuman enhancement up to 11. He can have any template - not just those normal to your nation. This enhances his abilities greatly, but hurts his relations with normal individuals.

Charismatic

Your hero has silver tongue and a winning smile. Talking with people can get him places and out of lots of trouble.

Legendary

Your hero's name is known throughout all space. "Is that a ribbon on that plane?" "It's the Red Comet!" etc. He has followers flocking to him, several lesser rivals, and inspires dread in his enemies.

Flagship

Your hero has a powerful ship to call home. This ship is a one of a kind vessel either incredibly fast or incredibly tough. It has a skilled crew, and is where a Brilliant Commander truly shines. Painting the ship all white is optional.

Sneaky

Your hero knows the value of stealth and deception. They can sneak into the most well-defended locations. This usually is reflected in their personal units - an ace in a stealth fighter or a soldier going all Solid Snake.

Defending Your System

System defense is key to avoiding being conquered. This is a complicated array of systems such as spy satellite networks, defensive satellites, fortresses in space and on planets, advanced military firewalls, and police/space patrol organizations. Instead of representing this with individual units, this is represented by three traits.

C³I: This is the level of sophistication of your sensor network and your command hierarchy. High C³I gives the ability to pick up cloaked ships and identify sneaky enemies. Facilities that control C³I include NORAD-style command centers, recon drones, and communication networks.

Fortifications

This represents the physical presence of weaponry capable of holding off enemy space vessels and to a lesser extent troops. This includes defense platforms, battlestations, ground defense installations, and planetary defense batteries. High levels can mean either extraordinarily tough defenses or incredibly stealthy weaponry. This can be enhanced with two buildable facilities.

Citadel - More than a mere base or battlestation, this is a facility capable of docking capital ships and holding an amazing quantity of mobile suits or fighters. Think of Axis or Jaburo, and you are on the right track. Hugely expensive, with defenses to match the price tag, Citadels are fairly rare.

Superweapon - Whether it is an array of solar mirrors, a giant ground based railgun, or something more exotic, you have an ace up your sleeve. Generally, the more powerful the device, the less often it can fire, and the more vulnerable it is to attack.

Garrison: This represents your fixed bases for ships, strike craft, and ground forces. This is primarily a logistical factor that works with your military infrastructure to represent what you can support of defense. Higher levels mean you have plenty of airbases and barracks, with enough to keep your forces supported even after being attacked.

Espionage and Special Warfare

Not all warfare is about battleships, mobile suits, and tank divisions. Spies remain the key to knowing what your enemy is doing, just as it has been since ancient history. Special Forces also remain a key part of warfare, executing the same vital missions, just with different tools.

Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence

Spies are purchased as units that represent an entire spy ring. While most nations have active intelligence agencies that give a general perception of what other powers are planning, purchased spies allow you to do much more.

Spies can be tasked to spy on other nations, your nation, or to serve as underworld contacts. Spying on other nations is the most difficult task for a spy, but it is also the only way to learn your enemy's secrets. Spying on your own nation is much easier, but can still lead to trouble if it is discovered. Most people don't want to live in a police state, and excessive internal spying can lead to plummeting morale. Internal intelligence can nip revolutions in the bud, however, and can help ferret out enemy agents. Generally, the broader the subject of investigation, the more difficult it is to gain good information. This can be modified by added capabilities on the spy.

Underworld contacts can broker deals on the black market, and are required to access black market hardware. They can also make deals with local pirates and smugglers. Generally, these missions are fairly safe, as killing off contacts is not a good way to get repeat business.

Counterintelligence is a function of internal spies, morale, and your power's Op Sec Doctrine. This is yet another reason to keep your people happy.

Special Forces

Special Forces are military or paramilitary forces that have training beyond the norm and perform unusual missions. They are all low in raw manpower, high in skill, and expensive to maintain compared even to elite military units. These are limited according to your military infrastructure.

Praetorians: Just like their ancient counterparts, these are bodyguards for important people such as your power's leader. These are the most important soldiers in your military if you are an autocrat, as they stand between you and a coup. Even stable nations appreciate the role of a group of fanatically loyal bodyguards who can hold off a a sizable force of assassins.

X-COM: Need to explore a hostile Precursor relic, or unravel the mysteries of some post-human structure? Look no further than this highly trained unit and its extensive support structure. These units require RP upkeep as well as wealth, and are less skilled in conventional combat than any special forces unit. However, they excel at exploration, even in hostile environments, and can defend themselves, especially against unusual opponents like feral drones.

Covert Operations: These are the modern equivalent of the SAS or Delta Force. Incredibly rigorous training at infiltration and operating behind enemy lines are combined with a top-notch support infrastructure to do things that other forces just can't do. Counter-terrorism, sabotage, assassination, Gundamjacking, you name it. All this training is wasted if they are assigned to direct combat, though with Advisor added capabilities they can organize local resistance fighters into decent infantry units.

Overt Operations: With the use of transhuman modifications or special power armor, troops can now take incredible odds. Nowhere is this more apparent than Overt Operation teams, who are much like Halo's Spartans or the LoGH's Rosenritter. These super-soldiers are trained for the most intense combat, and typically go straight into the fray. They serve the same purposes as Covert Ops, but they rely on speed and toughness over stealth. Their forte is capturing ships and fortifications. Only powers with very high ground tech and/or extensive transhuman augmentation can field these warriors.

Technology

Anti-Gravity Drive

The AG drive is a somewhat common secondary drive system for capital ships. Derived from the inertial dampening systems that make intense accelerations survivable even for baseline humans, the AG Drive turns the attraction of gravity on a ship into motive power. This can even effectively nullify gravity's effect on a ship, allowing it to hover even in an atmosphere. Using this system requires a considerably amount of energy, and emits characteristic radiation, so it is no more stealthy than a fusion torch, but it allows easier aerospace flight and is much controlled by inertia, allowing for quick defensive maneuvering. Unfortunately, actually creating gravity requires an extreme amount of energy and much more sophisticated technology. The reliance on preexisting gravity fields means that AG drives are useless away from a major gravity well and do not produce significantly higher acceleration on smaller ships compared to large vessels. Special
Reactionless Drive: A ship with an AG drive can make quick evasive maneuvers without needing to apply thrust, making it more defensible.
Galileo's Revenge: Just as objects fall at the same rate in a vacuum, the mass of a ship does not affect the speed of the gravity drive. This allows huge vessels to hover in the atmosphere, but makes the system impractical for suits and fighters.

Remote Weapons

Pioneered by ZOCU, remote weapons are bits or funnels designed grant a single unit the ability to attack as a squadron. Generally using beam weaponry and small elctron matrix power systems, remote weapons do not enhance firepower as much as give a single unit the advantage of overwhelming numbers. Typically, these weapons are mounted on ace units, as the weapons are too complicated for the average pilot to use successfully.

Power Systems

Combustion Engine

Whether is in a fuel cell-powered tank or even an air-breathing aircraft, combustion engines still exist. Most ground vehicles use fuel cells or gas turbine engines, and thus do not require He3 fuel. There are a few combat aircraft that use pulse detonation or scramjet engines, but they are limited to lower tech level equipment.

Advanced Fission Reactor

The oldest form of nuclear power, the fission reactor has reached levels of efficiency not dreamed of by past eras. Nuclear rockets and power systems are still common, but due to the lower power output Special
Old Reliable: A unit with a fission reactor does not require additional support and can use simple hydrogen for reaction mass, making them extremely efficient. They have no need of any additional energy upkeep
Big and Slow: Fission reactors are limited by critical mass size and shielding requirements to very large sizes, and they cannot match the wattage of a fusion plant, resulting in penalties to either speed or weaponry.

Deuterium-Capable Fusion Reactor

DCFRs use reinforced reactor construction and enhanced confinement systems, which allow them to burn deuterium as well as He3. This alternate fuel was abandoned for a reason, as the reaction is highly stressful on the reactor, requiring regular overhauls. Special
Helium-Free: DCFR can operate on easily available deuterium as well as He3, so you can operate even if you are on bad terms with the HEC
Neutrons Are Bad For You: Deuterium fusion generates an intense amount of neutrons. Thanks to neutron activation and embrittlement, this requires extensive reactor overhauls after some time operating on deuterium fuel.

Monopole Fusion Reactor

Magnetic monopoles give by far the strongest confinement of any fuel system. This allows for the use of common hydrogen for fuel, and gives very high efficiencies. This gives a ship a bonus to either realspace maneuvering or to the jump drive. Special
Extreme Endurance: Monopole reactors need only hydrogen for fuel, and decay at a constant rate. Monopole upkeep does not change, even if a ship is traveling the galaxy or engaged in intense combat.
Hooked on Poles: Monopole reactors require either incredibly rare stable monopoles or regular replenishment with monopole confinement elements to keep operating.

Strategic Weapons

Thermonuclear weaponry, once the trump card of superpowers, is much less powerful with the advent of radiation shielding Focused nuclear warheads are fairly common for use against capital ships, but standard thermonuclear weapons are mostly useful for destroying infrastructure and terror attacks. The role of high-yield super-explosive has been taken over by a few exotic warheads that have effects much like the traditional Gundam nuke.

Annihilation Warheads

Beyond a simple antimatter warhead, these weapons use special explosive lenses to improve the efficiency of the annihilation reaction to a reasonable level. While most higher technology powers can trap antimatter, the hyper-explosive known variously as carbonium or red mercury is the only substance capable of achieving the sustained compression to produce a sufficiently large explosion. Needless to say, red mercury is very tightly controlled.

Delta Warheads

The premise of the so-called D-bomb is simple in theory. Instead of transitioning to hyperspace in a uniform fashion, a D-bomb sends matter within a certain radius to FTL in a random, destructive fashion. In practice, this is much harder to achieve. Only the most advanced FTL experts have an idea on how to produce an offensive delta field, as this involves overriding inherent safety mechanisms in the dust. It is known that theta dust can produce similar results, due to an unfortunate accident during the ZOCU war, but there are much better uses for this kind of technology than bombs.

Delivery mechanisms for these weapons can include FTL missiles, but more typically involve launch from capital ships or bombers. Strategic weapons are enormously expensive, but serve as a truly menacing deterrent.

Second Sphere Suggestion Box/OmegaPaladin

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