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Freespacer Militant Update

CadetNewb

CadetNewb

Well-Known Member
Given that the Independent Worlds League is meant to be an opposing force for us at this time, I'd like to update the Militant Series Automaton article to modern standards as well as upgrade it with some improved hardware.

Besides converting the weapon DR to our current system, I'm thinking of also giving it energy shields, or at least the option to have them. If anything, I'm under the impression that facing one of these should be like going up against a T-800 when equipped with nothing but an M-4 and a vest - a tough, seemingly implacable enemy that won't stop. The addition of back mounted mini-missiles may be a good idea, or a bad one. I'll need feedback on that.

What do you guys think?
 
There are millions of these, though. They're mooks, not bosses. Besides, wasn't the lack of shields a defining Freespacer characteristic?
 
That might be the case, but I'm worried that they're honestly not much for our players to chew on. The Freespacers were never meant to be antagonists but protagonists, and it shows. To compensate, the basic Militant could use some sort of work being done. Not boss level, but just tough as hell to make up for things for an example. An M-4 would destroy a Terminator if it had tungsten AP rounds, but it would still take a lot since it's a machine without conventional vitals like we do. Or, if anyone played the "Republic Commando" game, the Super Battle Droids really did deserve their Super. But that's just one direction it could be taken.

The bottom line is that the article could use some expansion, modernization and so forth or we may just not have much to work with in our plots. I'm honestly not seeing much hardware for them.
 
What about just creating a new article for the latest version of them? That way the old ones would still be common (and we'd of course fix the DR stats) but the new ones could be used by GMs as desired.
 
That sounds like a good idea. With the current Militant though, what armor damage rating do you feel is appropriate for it? The gun, I can simply convert, so that change is easy enough.

And with a new model, what would you suggest? I'm thinking that it could be upgunned with shields for a general improvement, or be specifically made more 'tanky' for an example. It's possible to have more than just one new model of Militant.
 
Old model: What about something like 6 SP (Armor Scale), the equivalent of a Mindy 2?

New model: Maybe a standard core model and a selection of features that can be added on an individualized basis, kind of like power armor add-ons? Maybe a shield module, armor jacket, etc.
 
This could be a chance to change how the Militant works a bit. Leave the old one as is, keep it weak(update the numbers to the new system though). Then you could make multiple new ones of varying strength. This way as the Militant gets more experience in battle and becomes more useful, it can get a better body for greater life expectancy., or just out right built better from the start. Of course the stronger the body the less of them their are. That way there are stronger militants running around that could fight off say a couple of power armors on their own. But at the same time we still keep the large numbers of them without overwhelming everyone. This also allows the GM to scale the encounter with militants to fit the crew he has, and not just throw numbers at the players with no real challenge.
 
I say keep it shield-less SP (mecha) somewher between 4-6 so even infantry has chance to deal with it. It is not a super machine after all. Maybe give it some more guns, instead of one wrist gun. Like GL or maybe flamer.

Also just a note. IWL is not only freespacer, there can be neps, loraths, ex-UOC people, almost everyone. So some schmooks in Demons are entirely possible as well, or even black market Element units or some stolen yammie-copied armour they got from disable NMX ships or whatever. Play it out.
 
Looking over what you've all had to say, I'm feeling that it's also best to leave the basic Militant alone as close to as it was. My only issue is that the numbers imply that it would go down too quickly and easily to the point that players wouldn't even feel a challenge. And given that these are humanoid combatants, it becomes harder to field them in droves OOC and IC wise due to the amount of space they already occupy. Unlike something like a zergling that just needs to rush to make itself matter, these would start literally getting in each other's sight lines/aim and be ineffective.

To compensate, I'm thinking of not making the base unit more sturdy armor wise, but instead giving it a lot of robotic redundancy. That is, thanks to a spare processor core, optics, some cheap capacitors and rerouting power, the things become easy to damage but tough to kill in RP.

The more advanced models of Militants though, I'm thinking would be good candidates for some of those ideas and make them scalable to the GM's needs. On the IRC, there was talk that since the IWL is a terrorist organization, that the units should be focused on doing as much damage as possible in as little time as possible before leaving. Any suggestions to that?
 
Dunno I think they can stay as they are, strenght in numbers and all that. And they can always be a big challenge for situations where PCs are not in power armour. Personally I think it is all for GM to work with militants the best way they think.

Also for terrorist organisation, Militants seems like somehing they would set up to protect theit "bases" and what not, but for assaults and hits, they are not great. For those it is better to use something that can get in and out fast and Militants are not that. Like I said, people in black market power armours are way better for that.
 
My only issue is that the numbers imply that it would go down too quickly
Click to expand...
It's a faceless, generic mass-produced robot. If you're worried about them going down, just put more replacements behind them.
 
I feel like a chunk of my post was glossed over.

TL; DR, keep the same armor and DR rating, but make the base model mechanically redundant inside so they have that 'they will not die' quality to them. Easy to damage, harder to kill than expected.

I suggest this to inject more character into them and to prevent it from being too bland.
 
In other words we might have legs walking around without torsos still firing rockets from rocket pods on it's legs, and things like that.
 
Right, except they wouldn't have rocket pods, considering the basic model. I'm thinking that it would be more entertaining for the players if they kept on functioning after even arms, legs and heads were blown off and the center mass was facing multiple breaches from a LASR or HPAR for an example. They wouldn't be fighting worth anything at that point, but the fact would be that they still would be trying to. An impressive feat of stubbornness that can let a GM suddenly have an arm suddenly grab out of a pile of them for an example.
 
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