Terran Empire: Imperial Troops and Armor

[Ben Seeman]

i'm putting together some generic writeups together of different types of Imperial troops from Terran Empire. Right now I'm working on the Imperial Army Infantry equipment and am curios what type of armor to give them. Do they just wear the Uniform, or woulds they be found wearing Battle Armor?

I would tend to think just the Uniform for a standard soldier and maybe just throw the battle armor on them during heavy attacks? I'm not sure.

Do people use the Battle Armor in your campaigns? If so, who wears it?

[BobGreenwade]

In my TDSF article I have the agents wear battle armor when they know they're going into battle, or a highly dangerous situation; otherwise they wear conventional uniforms.

Probably the use of battle armor would increase over time, and depend on how frequent fighting is at the time. By the time of Sigusmund, medium battle armor might be the rule rather than the exception....

[Ben Seeman]

In my TDSF article I have the agents wear battle armor when they know they're going into battle, or a highly dangerous situation; otherwise they wear conventional uniforms.

Probably the use of battle armor would increase over time, and depend on how frequent fighting is at the time. By the time of Sigusmund, medium battle armor might be the rule rather than the exception....

Okay, that makes sense. Do you give them the Uniform PLUS the Battle Armor for stacked defenses?

Another question... who do you use as your "Storm Troopers"? I'm thinking either Army Infantry or Enlisted Marines and leaning more towards the Marines since the write-ups say that, bu default, they wear Battle Armor, although their roles are more specific.

[Outsider]

Armor acts as a force effectiveness multiplier, and its presence depends on a number of factors.

1) Is the available armor light enough not to make the man an easy target, while still being heavy enough to provide meaningful defence against likely threats? Personal body armor retreated from the scene from the 1600s to the 1800s because it wasnt. Helmets returned to the scene first due to a change in likely threats, then torso armor later, with the help of materials science advancement.

2) Is the society in question highly sensitive to casualties? If so, the troops get armor, even if it isnt a good deal, bean-counter wise.

3) Would an equal money expenditure on unarmored troops would produce greater combat power, albeit with more casualties? In a top notch modern/futuristic professional military, the cost of properly training a soldier is very high, so the cost of effective armor would have to be very, very high indeed to make unarmored troops who take higher casualties a better deal.

4) Are the troops in qustion garrison troops, or mobile troops? If moving your troops between star systems is ludicrously expensive per kg moved, then keeping mass down on mobile troop formations is worth spending some money on. A company of power armor troops might cost 5 times as much as the equivalent combat power in regular troops, but if they ship for 1/5th as much, are expected to be shipped often, and shipping is sufficiently expensive...

[Ben Seeman]

4) Are the troops in qustion garrison troops, or mobile troops? If moving your troops between star systems is ludicrously expensive per kg moved, then keeping mass down on mobile troop formations is worth spending some money on. A company of power armor troops might cost 5 times as much as the equivalent combat power in regular troops, but if they ship for 1/5th as much, are expected to be shipped often, and shipping is sufficiently expensive...

For the most part, the Imperial troops I'm talking about are stationed on bases, capital ships and garrisons throughout Imperial space. Specifically, I'm looking for what kind of Imperial troops would be stationed at a planet along the Spinward Corridor in order to provide an Imperial presence. The way I see it, planetary law enforcement handles everything that the Empire doesn't want to bother with... but when things get messy the Imperial troops come in and take care of it...

[BobGreenwade]

Okay, that makes sense. Do you give them the Uniform PLUS the Battle Armor for stacked defenses?

Another question... who do you use as your "Storm Troopers"? I'm thinking either Army Infantry or Enlisted Marines and leaning more towards the Marines since the write-ups say that, bu default, they wear Battle Armor, although their roles are more specific.

Question One: Nope. It's one or the other. (See the article in DH18.)

Question Two: I don't. Or, more specifically, the TDSF agents themselves are "storm troopers" in their own way. I mean, it's a 100+100 campaign, ya know?

[Ben Seeman]

What is TDSF again?

[shadowcat1313]

in my Hero Universe, I have borrowed a standard uniform from traveller for non battledress troops

this is for shipboard use.
its a balllistic cloth jumpsuit that can be sealed for use as an emergency vacc suit[pull over hood, sealable cuffs, just add gloves and a helmet or some form of O2 supply]

Traveller the New Era had a different suit that was a bit more capable, that could double as a g-suit

[BobGreenwade]

What is TDSF again?

Terran Diplomatic Security Force.

[Ben Seeman]

Awesome article Bob!

[BobGreenwade]

Why, thank you very much, Ben!