Would it be fair to say that a fire team with an all BD kitted unit is rare? but that more common is probably a squad or fire team with one or two BD troopers is more the norm?
How common is Battle Dress?
- Thread starter Meeko100
- Start date
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Tweety birds.
... I don't get it Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
You send a canary out in front, and the battle dressed ones are most likely to survive.
Also, watch the latest episode of the Expanse.
Also, watch the latest episode of the Expanse.
Tweety Bird in BD needs to be an emblem/patch/tatoo
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Contact: "I tawt I taw a puddy tat."
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
BD becomes more common as you advance through TLs:
Couldn't that be countered with a lead lined or boron lined suit?
It isn't credible that an unpowered suit could achieve the same level of protection as a powered suit is my point I guess (unless the powered suit was deliberately underarmoured). I realise this was the case in CT, CT/Striker and MT, but as soon as actual design sequences for personal armour were developed (FF&S1 and 2) it becomes obvious that the postulated armour technology advances in the OTU don't allow an unpowered suit with the level of protection granted by the game designers back in CT. Not if the wearer actually wants to be able to walk in it.
Or, to flip it around, if the armour technology (super-lightweight, super-effective armour) that would enable Combat Armour to offer the level of protection granted it in CT was available then AFVs and other craft should also feature that armour and have far better protection than in the game. Which ultimately ruins the game because everything is invulnerable.
Or, to flip it around, if the armour technology (super-lightweight, super-effective armour) that would enable Combat Armour to offer the level of protection granted it in CT was available then AFVs and other craft should also feature that armour and have far better protection than in the game. Which ultimately ruins the game because everything is invulnerable.
kilemall
SOC-14 5K
Perhaps. They don't exactly get into what wavelengths that set of lasers operate on, just that aerosols and presumably reflec does not work anymore against them.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
I assume that the original question was posed to find out the extent Combat Dress or Battle Dress armor was available in a person's Own Traveller Universe. In mine, I am ambivalent.
In a novel that I am working on, I allow it, but it only can stop small-arms fire, and if penetrable by 40mm grenade launcher shaped-charge rounds, while the clear helmet visor can be penetrated by small-arms fire, i.e. 7.62 full power rifle rounds or the Traveller 7mm combat rifle round.
In My Traveller Universe, it is extremely rare, very expensive, and totally banned for private use. Anyone caught with it is summarily executed. That does get around players assuming that they are totally invulnerable.
In a novel that I am working on, I allow it, but it only can stop small-arms fire, and if penetrable by 40mm grenade launcher shaped-charge rounds, while the clear helmet visor can be penetrated by small-arms fire, i.e. 7.62 full power rifle rounds or the Traveller 7mm combat rifle round.
In My Traveller Universe, it is extremely rare, very expensive, and totally banned for private use. Anyone caught with it is summarily executed. That does get around players assuming that they are totally invulnerable.
Topic at hand: I figure the marines have it because my read on 3I is that their preferred method of intervention should a war disrupt trade is to show up with a task group and the first sign the combatants have is a meteor shower......and then one of His/Her Imperial Majesties Marines punching a hole through their bunkers wall to deliver a note of how displeased he or she is with the planets behavior.
Off Topic and as a note from a Player:
It is really depressing being a fan of power armor and a player of just about any game my group has ever played....either it doesn't exist or it's beyond illegal (Kill on sight even if you just have a finger off a gauntlet from a suit) or there is no IC reason its just the GM/Ref going 'lawl no' which in MGT turns battle dress into a total waste of a skill since the retired marine is NEVER going to get a use out of it at all......it would have been more effective getting Trade: basket weaving.
Off Topic and as a note from a Player:
It is really depressing being a fan of power armor and a player of just about any game my group has ever played....either it doesn't exist or it's beyond illegal (Kill on sight even if you just have a finger off a gauntlet from a suit) or there is no IC reason its just the GM/Ref going 'lawl no' which in MGT turns battle dress into a total waste of a skill since the retired marine is NEVER going to get a use out of it at all......it would have been more effective getting Trade: basket weaving.
@Blue Duke I find myself laughing at that, because I've been known to let players take BD as a weapon receipt, if they are skilled in it, and because in MegaTraveller, WBH gives non-combat battledress an in to canon - the scout walkabout is roughly cloth armor, but with Battledress' Str & End boosts... and a built-in PLSS-C.
epicenter00
SOC-13
The problem on the part of GMs (and many player groups) is a perceived question of balance in encounters in potential violence or actual violence in the game.
Many Traveller groups are not playing mercenaries or "military adventurers." They're playing more generalized troubleshooters / criminals / explorers (and maybe the occasional trader). Many players are in fact uninterested in playing "military focus" games like that. There's a perception that letting people purchase BD shifts the focus of the game towards military adventures, which isn't something all groups want, especially if everyone wears BD.
BD also makes it hard to "balance" the threat of violence (or actual violence) when a few members of the party are immune to a lot of the typically encountered small arms; conversely, if the opponents start carrying weapons that are a threat to BD, those who can't use BD are become extremely vulnerable.
Meh, first I posit IMTU that there are different types of Battledress (ala MgT I suppose) - and while none of it is exactly common it isn't that hard to get ahold of some version of it. That said, the Imperium views you having some shabby TL12-13 version of Battledress very differently than a piece of state-of-the-art TL15 Imperial Marine-issue Battledress - let alone someone who has the rare but still available TL16 version.
Players have managed to get ahold of Battledress, but almost always because they are working for someone who has both the cash and the clout to outfit them with such.
More common, and still quite effective is "Power Armor" with is essentially some version of Battledress (alternately, an armored and powered Vacc Suit if you prefer) but without all the extra electronic bells and whistles that turn a Marine into a single-person tank...
D.
Players have managed to get ahold of Battledress, but almost always because they are working for someone who has both the cash and the clout to outfit them with such.
More common, and still quite effective is "Power Armor" with is essentially some version of Battledress (alternately, an armored and powered Vacc Suit if you prefer) but without all the extra electronic bells and whistles that turn a Marine into a single-person tank...
D.
MegaTraveller had several different kinds between DGP and GDW materials.
Core rules provide 3 different TL's. one of the TD's or MTJs gives several IM battledress variants, plus the walkabout.
Irrational
SOC-3
Another way to control use of battledress could be maintenance. Imperial marines probably have a specialist crew on hand just to keep the suit in fighting condition, and the suits spend much more time in the garage than in service. A group of retirees mucking about in a spare scoutship may be able to get the suit running once every few months so long as the spare parts hold out.
It's the marine field uniform at T14-15... at least in certain flavors. It's certainly within user maintenance under TNE.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
If you want an adventure or campaign with battle dress, then design one. Most referees, as has been previously mentioned, do not allow Battle Dress because of balance issues.
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