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Post by Pawel on Aug 1, 2022 15:19:32 GMT
Hey fellow mammals! Those of you following the KS comms are surely aware, but in this month's update Jeff has posted a draft of the military campaign archetype, written by Graeme Barber. Hope you enjoy!! |
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Post by michaelsd on Aug 1, 2022 15:21:20 GMT
Cool, I just "skimmed", but what I read is very cool!
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Post by neil on Aug 4, 2022 7:59:02 GMT
It's an archetype I could have lots of fun with. It seems to draw a lot on recent "peacekeeping" activities in Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan. I like the tension that the military are there to help the insurgents, but can't let anyone (especially the insurgents) know that!
I'd want to look more at the human intelligence / espionage operations.
It brings up a couple of setting elements that may be worth exploring. One is about the nature of combat. The text mentions extensive use of drones, including "dragonfly drones" for surveillance and target spotting. How do you fight when you have to assume you're under full observation? Could there be a scenario about tracking down some dragonfly drones stolen by the insurgents, or bought by them?
Following on from that is the possible use of smart munitions in small arms. If you've spotted the enemy with a drone, why get close to shoot them? Why not stand off somewhere and lob smart grenades / bullets at them via indirect fire, guided by the drone? (I saw something recently that DARPA are testing guided rifle bullets that adjust course in flight.)
Another part is about transporting all those soldiers to Posiedon. It's a long and expensive trip, taking nine to twelve months or so. Plus, about 10% of people have some form of long-term effects from the trip. That means your elite fighting force will take casualties just from the journey to Poseidon. And they're not going home any time soon! They're on deployment, but they won't see friends and family again for many years, probably decades, and perhaps not ever. Did they really get a whole regiment to sign up for that? Or is this a newly-formed group of volunteers, and work is needed to build that esprit de corps that turns them into an effective fighting force?
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Post by neil on Aug 4, 2022 9:17:03 GMT
A couple more thoughts on drones. One is the current news story about the US using "knife missile" versions of missiles for assassinations: remove the explosive, put large blades on the casing, and you have something that will kill a person and not affect someone standing a metre or so away. And in the Iraq war, I know the RAF were using bombs filled with concrete, not explosives, to destroy vehicles and buildings.
I can see similar things being used on Poseidon. Take a dense bioplastic crowbar, maybe add some blades to it, put sensors on the front and steering vanes on the back. Use a drone to acquire a target then chuck the crowbar out the back of a jumpcraft at 2000 metres high. By the time it gets to the ground, it will have plenty of energy to kill a person or a vehicle.
Another thing about extensive uses of drones: drone countermeasures. There will be jammers and the like to stop then sensing or transmitting, but I can also imagine "housemartin" or "pipestrelle" drones, small and fast drones that will hunt and destroy the dragonfly drones. (Housemartins and pipistrelles are insect-hunting birds and bats.) Any decent military unit will be surrounded not just by surveillance drones, but a bubble of anti-drone predator drones.
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Post by Pawel on Aug 4, 2022 9:29:51 GMT
Loving your additions to that campaign archetype, Neil!! You're always on the ball when it comes to cutting edge tech (I saw those news about the bladed missile too!). I'm always interested in the everyday reality bits of such settings, so your comments definitely enhance the archetype for me. Those archetypes will need to be pretty tight word count-wise... I think the Operation Jaguar will possibly need to shrink a bit to fit into the book. It's a whole robot microcosm out there, isn't it?  Such cool ideas for some of those names. At this rate, once Player's Guide and Moderator's Guide are printed and released, we're gonna have enough material for a nice thick new Fluid Mechanics book! |
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Post by neil on Aug 4, 2022 10:01:26 GMT
I imagine Graeme has got plenty of notes lying around that didn't make it to the final cut. It could be some easy Undercurrents issues, featuring expansions of all the campaign archetypes. More equipment, more scenario seeds, a bit more context of the setting.
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Post by Pawel on Aug 4, 2022 10:20:04 GMT
I imagine Graeme has got plenty of notes lying around that didn't make it to the final cut. It could be some easy Undercurrents issues, featuring expansions of all the campaign archetypes. More equipment, more scenario seeds, a bit more context of the setting. That would be super cool!!! We can't be sure if/when we get more official printed Recontact books in the future, but seeing expanded campaign archetype material here would be so awesome. And this goes for all campaign archetypes, not just the military one!  |
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Post by Pawel on Aug 5, 2022 9:51:43 GMT
Your Housemartin drone Undercurrents entry is beautiful, neil!! Lovely work. But can I ask, you've mentioned it could be used to attack mosquitoes. Are we talking about modular swatters in place of the anti-drone claws? |
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Post by neil on Aug 7, 2022 17:31:48 GMT
The image of a drone with a couple of fly swatters is a wonderful one!
But realistically, the real birds eat flies on the wing, so I imagine the drones would be a capable.
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Post by Pawel on Aug 7, 2022 17:37:16 GMT
The image of a drone with a couple of fly swatters is a wonderful one! But realistically, the real birds eat flies on the wing, so I imagine the drones would be a capable. Ha, yeah, you're probably right! Though I imagine target tracking and approach vectors make mosquito hunting a harder task than their primary drone prey. Then again, mosquitoes are clumsy fliers, aren't they? Been a while since I saw one. It's only those damn midges up here in Scotland. We need some lethal tech to get rid of those, please! |
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Post by neil on Aug 7, 2022 20:41:53 GMT
I don't think they'd be that effective against midges. But perhaps there's a over-engineered midge zapper, using a lidar targeting and a UV laser to zap the bloody things. Probably comes as a handy box that sits on top of a tent ridge. I'm sure hardly anyone gets hit in the eye by a misaligned laser.
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Post by Pawel on Aug 7, 2022 20:44:29 GMT
I don't think they'd be that effective against midges. But perhaps there's a over-engineered midge zapper, using a lidar targeting and a UV laser to zap the bloody things. Probably comes as a handy box that sits on top of a tent ridge. I'm sure hardly anyone gets hit in the eye by a misaligned laser. Haha, nice!!  Failing that, a regular Pest Spike will do, even if it occasionally summons a wild haggis. |
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Such cool ideas for some of those names. At this rate, once Player's Guide and Moderator's Guide are printed and released, we're gonna have enough material for a nice thick new Fluid Mechanics book!
