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Post by madmorgan on Feb 15, 2016 0:51:39 GMT
I'm planning on doing a rather complex OOB with the Martians first move into fighting at night. Up till now, we've not see that happen. But, with the AQ 1916 advent of sensor drones and the like, the Martians are determined to 'take back the night' from the prey-that-stings, as it seems the food-with-an- attitude uses night movement for launching very effective ambushes and attacks as well as strategically moving assets to meet threats. Okay enuff 'fluff', heres the rules:
Nightfighting. All ranges are reduced to 25". Blips are now spotted at 3". Illumination shells can be fired by any piece that can fire smoke. Each Barrage point of a given piece gives the same AoE of light for 2 turns. For example, a Medium Mortar Unit of 3 elements would light up a 3" long x 1" wide area, giving it the same effect as a cloudy day - ei. all fire could be directed to that area up to the maximum range of a given weapon. Yes, its more group of circles and there wind, etc. to take into effect. But, I want a simple resolution similiar to my simplistic smoke ideas and this will work. I'm up to suggestion as to whether the Martians should have a similiar weapon or ray or some such - maybe the Scouts targeter could be a 'beam' that locates or 'paints' one target unit. Not sure, maybe not even as the Humans will ultimately have to contend with sensor drones and the like.
Explosions of a fire nature and burning trees (sepearte rule from billf) will illuminate anything on their location and within 3" of the flames, for buildings use a 2" area. So that burning light woods illuminates a zone of 3" around its exterior as well as anything still in it (based on the turn of the fire - see billf rule about setting things on fire with heatrays).
Again, this is a simple game treatment of a somewhat more complex subject - comments and the like welcomed. I'll be posting the scenario/OOB 'Working on Their Nightmoves' tomorrow. Till then, sleep tight lol. I know Corporal Smith won't.
Amended Rules - it has been validly pointed out that the Martians should have no problems at night with their degree of tech and should not be hampered by night operations. Its left to the players to decide why they've not operated at night. To this end, players/gamehost may agree that the Martians have 'nightvision' tech similiar to what the military uses today. Maybe better. Amend the Nightfighting. as follows:
All human ranges are reduced to 25". Blips are still spotted at 6".
All the rest of the rules are maintained, noting that they apply to human forces, as the Martian can 'see' just fine. Additionally, FO units can spot for batteries that can't see the target as long as the FO has the potential target lite up.
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Post by scottwashburn on Feb 15, 2016 17:44:09 GMT
Ah yes! Nightfighting! I've been giving a great deal of thought to this. Theoretically the Martians ought to rule the night. Even without artificial aids, their eyesight ought to be better at night, coming from a planet farther from the sun. But with night-vision equipment even equivalent to what the US Army has today they ought to be able to operate at nearly full effectiveness in the dark, while the humans would be at a serious disadvantage. I can't help but think of several celebrated incidents during the First Gulf War where single platoons of US tanks wiped out whole Iraqi brigades at night without suffering any loss in return. Looked at logically, that ought to be about the same situation in All Quiet. But that's just not any fun! I think that is why Ernie ignored the whole issue of night fighting. The Martians would have such an enormous edge it would not be a fun game. So what to do about it? We could just say the Martians are afraid of the dark and don't fight at night  Not very realistic, of course, but it's simple and for most gamers probably good enough. If we want to get more realistic then Morgan's rules for the humans are good. The Martians, I don't think, need to be penalized and should function normally. |
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Post by madmorgan on Feb 16, 2016 1:44:23 GMT
Thank you for the kind words. So why shouldn't the Martians be kicking butt at night. In fact, why would they even bother fighting during the daylight, when they'd wipe up at night. Some of the various movies have shown no difference between day & night Martian assaults - Tom Cruise would attest to this. Perhaps there is a fluid answer. Martians need more rest due to the extensive use of their interface with machines. Its a fact that fatigue is one of the big killers on the battlefield; can you imagine a mind controlling numerous functions for hours, vastly increased interface with machines. A second reason might be that heatray thats the basis of the Martian weapons. Maybe those are augmented by sunlight. Enough is stored to function at night, but daylight ensures a massive intake of energy for use. Finally, its a matter of game balance. I believe that the playing field should have pitfalls for both sides. For humans, there is little terrain that actually protects them from the Martian weapons. For Mars, its that same terrains ability to hide the humans and allow them to move around alot better in some cases. Perhaps the balance in nightfighting is that the humans will once again surprise the Martians with tactics and unique problem solving. The balance comes when the Martians tech overcomes the temporary advantage (Detection drone/tripods) and, ultimately a visual frequency setting that works like our current nightvision. The concept of nightfighting, in my opinion, should be one of some problems for both sides, with initial advantage to the humans and changing (though tech, tactics, etc.) to Martians, then the counter to those, etc. My concept was to give both sides some interesting situations based on what is half of the day, half of the entire war in affect.
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Post by scottwashburn on Feb 16, 2016 12:16:01 GMT
Well, in my novel the Martians certainly operate at night Perhaps they don't really notice any difference and it might take them a while to realize that the humans do have problems seeing in the dark. I'm just looking at it from the game perspective. Based on what I've observed with other games, most player just don't want to be bothered with fiddly visibility rules. But for those who do, your rules should work well. |
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Post by madmorgan on Feb 16, 2016 13:15:29 GMT
Thank you again for the rule evaluation. Its true that this adds alot of 'work' to the game, but, I feel that there should be something out there for the Living Rulebook and those who ask the question, why no nightbattles. Giving the Martians 'the night' is certainly an option, so I'll admend the rules to include this option for the game host(s) to decide. I must say that giving MARs the ability to fight unimpeded at night should win them most games. But then, this game of ours is more about the human spirit and scarifice in the face of bad odds. I sometimes wonder at the Martian players approach - to always expect to win and never mind the drama. May are human sides rolls lots of 10s to the dismay of the 'superior' race... |
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Post by scottwashburn on Feb 16, 2016 13:26:21 GMT
I would think the Martians would have a big advantage in a mobile battle at night. But once things settle down into trench warfare, the humans would have all sorts of traps and trip-wire-flares and such in front of their lines to even the odds a great deal at night.
And I could see the land ironclads having big searchlights mounted on them like naval warships. Heck, for that matter, a well-established defense line could have searchlights mounted on towers behind the lines which would be able to illuminate the Martians from well beyond the range of their heat rays.
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Post by madmorgan on Feb 16, 2016 13:32:46 GMT
Ahh further modeling and bits for the game. I suspect I'll need to readdress this in the future, as there needs to be rules covering the trip-wire and searchlight changes. I start to see why we don't usually deal with these. Of coarse you can say general ideas for example a given searchlight has an "X" range and covers "Y" amount of the table, knocking it out plunges that area into darkness and any unit reaching the barbedwire areas 'trips' a 2 turn flare with "Z" AoE. I like it, particularly being able to use your barbedwire more in scenarios! Even if it has little effect on any but lobos, at night its a major help to 'paint' any enemy approach. Actually, kinda begs to have more forward wire positioning eh? Thank you once again for provoking further thought - time to get my meds hehhehehehe!... madmorgan out for a while...
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Post by terrance on Feb 16, 2016 20:07:40 GMT
Very interesting. I am going to have to try a scenario at night. Thanks for posting this Madmorgan.
I am chewing on the discussion and I am not certain it is necessary that the Martians have night vision capability equivalent to the US army today. I can see the Martians having slightly better vision in low light conditions, but judging by the Mars Rover experience daytime illumination levels are only slightly lower than those found on Earth. So they are not going to see in the dark without augmentation (not that anyone suggested that ). So they will need night vision equipment to see well in the night, but they would only develop such equipment if their tactical doctrine called for it.
Remember they are alien and their society and physiology could have any number of reasons for them to avoid fighting in the dark if they can avoid it. Some have already been mentioned, like the mind machine interface being stressful and tiring. The higher Earth gravity will also cause stress and tire the Martians. The difference in planetary rotation times will be disruptive. In reality most of these environmental things can be adjusted to, but who knows how well the alien physiology of the Martians can adapt.
There can be cultural reasons. Perhaps it is widely held that gentle-martians do not attack in the dark. Or the gods or their equivalent of the Geneva conventions forbid it.
None of this is meant to be critical. I enjoy the speculation and the reminder that the Martians do not have to be humans in rubber suits.  |
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Post by scottwashburn on Feb 16, 2016 22:26:24 GMT
Actually, in some bit of cosmic coincidence, the Martian day is only a few minutes longer than an Earth day so there would be no problem adapting. But there are certainly a number of reasons we could think up to keep the Martians from doing a lot of night fighting. Whatever works for you |
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Not very realistic, of course, but it's simple and for most gamers probably good enough. If we want to get more realistic then Morgan's rules for the humans are good. The Martians, I don't think, need to be penalized and should function normally.
