Jane's Superhumans

[Trebuchet]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

If we go with an "official product" look' date=' i.e. limited color, I would suggest the following for Blackstone's Metahumans. The text under the pic I have condensed heavily, but as usual, I would be happy to take suggestions on where to move things around (the suggestions have been great thus far).[/quote']That's very nice, Publius. This is also a format I think I could recreate or simulate fairly closely with MS Word. I intend to do similar writeups for our entire team. I discussed this idea at lunch today with Blackjack, and we agreed that all characters writeups should be done by someone other than the character's player, but each player should get veto over his writeup.

[Guest bblackmoor]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

If we go with an "official product" look' date=' i.e. limited color, I would suggest the following for Blackstone's Metahumans.[/quote']

 

That's tight.

[Publius]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

That's very nice' date=' Publius. This is also a format I think I could recreate or simulate fairly closely with MS Word.[/quote']Yes you could recreate is with MS Word. For best consistency see if anyone in your circle uses the program InDesign, I might see my way clear to sharing the file with you in that format (it is your character right) and you can mess with it from there. If my plans bottom out, I will make the format available generally this way on my website. For true consistency, make sure that everyone at least attempts to get similar artwork. I have been using the DCU Animated Templates now for just over a year, they can be gotten with a little bit of work and customized with the right software and little talent (my talent is more in, shall we say adjustment than outright artwork I can never really know if it is copyrightable because it is so far from the original and yet still based on something else wwaaaay back in the beginning. oops, I digress). That also means that there is a lot of stuff out there and you might find that someone has done something that is at least moderately close to yiour character.

I intend to do similar writeups for our entire team. I discussed this idea at lunch today with Blackjack' date=' and we agreed that all characters writeups should be done by someone other than the character's player, but each player should get veto over his writeup.[/quote']Sounds great. I like the way that you involve them all, and yet make everything separate enough to keep some distance between the player and their character's writeup. In a way, the assessments I wrote were a way of me doing that from way-out-of-arm's length.

 

For Bblackmoor, Trebuchet and TheEmerged, remember that you and the others who have commented thus far have done a great job with helping me to refine (and that process is still ongoing) this format. Kudoes to all of you.

[Trebuchet]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

Sounds great. I like the way that you involve them all' date=' and yet make everything separate enough to keep some distance between the player and their character's writeup. In a way, the assessments I wrote were a way of me doing that from way-out-of-arm's length.[/quote']The main reason we decided to do it that way is that we wanted to accurately reflect what the public (and hence Blackstone's) would know about the character within the campaign. The longer their career and the more public their appearances the more information will be known. So the information will be incomplete and perhaps even inaccurate to some extent. Of course, that's true of Jane's books as well. Nor do we want this data to provide glaring weaknesses unless those weaknesses are very well known. Our team MidGuard is very well known (We're the equivalent of the Avengers or Justice League in our campaign) and have often been caught on camera by the media or opponents (At least one villain team videotaped an ambush of MidGuard so they could sell their services to the highest bidder after they defeated MidGuard, but after MidGuard beat them those tapes became Exhibit A at the villains' trial), but some of the PCs are still relatively unknown whereas others such as Zl'f are quite well known.

 

As an example, Zl'f has Missile Reflection (Bullets), but she's used that only once during actual play in her entire career as a superheroine and that was against a lone opponent in a sunken nuclear submarine, who "threw" blades and not bullets at Zl'f. (She's used it in a short story I've been working on once as well.) So it's extremely unlikely this ability of hers is known. Nor is it widely (if at all) known she has Ultrasonic Hearing and UV Vision.

[Outsider]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

I was about to make an argument about the military not being such a pushover, even to 350 point supers, when I rechecked the attack value of some military weapons in 5th ed. to make sure they hadnt changed significantly from 4th.

 

I was suprised to see that FRed lists the 12.7x99 (.50 cal) as 2D6+1, +1 Stun Mult. This is exactly the same as the 7.62x54 (7.62 NATO), a round that carries less than 20% as much energy.

 

Is this a typo?

[DoctorItron]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

Publius and The Mad GM, great work on your Jane's Metahumans and index card samples. I started working on a Rogue's Gallery program to track NPCs, but dropped it when I started studying for my MCDBA (Microsoft Certified Database Administrator). exams. Now that I have that certification out of the way, your ideas have me looking forward to resuming work.

[megaplayboy]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

I was about to make an argument about the military not being such a pushover, even to 350 point supers, when I rechecked the attack value of some military weapons in 5th ed. to make sure they hadnt changed significantly from 4th.

 

I was suprised to see that FRed lists the 12.7x99 (.50 cal) as 2D6+1, +1 Stun Mult. This is exactly the same as the 7.62x54 (7.62 NATO), a round that carries less than 20% as much energy.

 

Is this a typo?

yes.

[Outsider]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

Thanks. I just found the errata section on the main board where it is listed.

[Jinx999]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

A lot will depend on the country. A group tyranny (like China) would react differently to a strong-man tyranny (like too much of Africa) would react differently to a country with a history of human rights. A strong-man goverment can be beheaded. The other's can't, effectively, so will have less reason to be paranoid.

 

What I don't see is a forced draft. Depending on powerlevel, superhumans are either best used as special forces or heavy assault. The last thing you want in either case is someone who isn't motivated and doesn't want to be there.

[Metaphysician]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

Well, okay, a group tyranny or representative government *can* be beheaded, but the kind of metahumans powerful enough to do that are powerful enough you probably wouldn't want to overly antagonize them *anyway*. . .

[Chuckg]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

And if you have some mega-powerful ultra-human erupt in your territory -- you know, something like Superman -- erupt in your territory, and it looks like it wants to take over, the /really/ smart dictator will then work out a deal where "You get the throne, I become your loyal chancellor -- hey, administrative details are boring, and I already know where all the shit is anyway. So, you get supreme power, I get to not be dead and still live close enough to power, can we deal?"

[Kristopher]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

A lot will depend on the country. A group tyranny (like China) would react differently to a strong-man tyranny (like too much of Africa) would react differently to a country with a history of human rights.

 

I think you replaced "from" with "to" a few times.

[st barbara]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

I could never quite figure out why characters like "Paste Pot Pete"(aka "The Trapster") or "The Wingless Wizard ""were criminals. I haven't seenorigins for either of them but , given that Pete was mentioned in an early Ävengers"as Öne of the world's great experts on adhesives" and "The Wingless Wizard"could negate the effects of gravity you would think that either of them could have made squillions from their inventions and simply sent Reed Richards bankrupt if thy felt like it ! Can someone with a knowledge of early "Marvel"comics tell me how and why these two characters became criminals ?

[Guest bblackmoor]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

given that Pete was mentioned in an early Ävengers"as Öne of the world's great experts on adhesives" and "The Wingless Wizard"could negate the effects of gravity you would think that either of them could have made squillions from their inventions

 

I do not know what the canon explanation is, but my first guess would be that they don't own the patents to their inventions, and so are unable to profit from them legally. This could be because they signed some kind of work for hire and/or noncompetition agreement, or it could be because some rival (or rival corporation) was granted a patent that effectively stifles any further development, including the villain's inventions.

 

Intellectual property law in the USA is fertile ground for villain origins.

[Kirby]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

Wow! Interesting thread. I haven't read all the responses, so I hope I'm not restating something that has already been stated over and over.

 

I don't think with supers from 250 to even 350 points would radically change military tactics, though benefits would definitley be gained. Countries that have enlistment as requirements, or countries that are tyrannies/ dictatorships may use supers as shock troops, while countries that have a volunteer service would let the supers enlist where they please. I don't believe that simply being a super (in the US) would instantly qualify someone for any of the special forces, as they are more than just physically challenging. What if a speed character wanted to be a medic, or a mechanic? A 250 point martial artist isn't going to be exceptional unless he actually gets into the thick of the enemy forces. I think the supers in line units would utilize surprise maneuvers involving the supers. A big advantage might belong with flying energy projectors against jets and helicopters (as they probably wouldn't have detectable radar or heat signatures), but I don't see a flying 250-350 point brick surviving a move-through or move-by of a jet going 650 mph.

 

I could, however, see Israel utilizing supers for a elite preemptive/response strike team, though.

 

Well, just my thoughts for now.

[megaplayboy]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

Wow! Interesting thread. I haven't read all the responses, so I hope I'm not restating something that has already been stated over and over.

 

I don't think with supers from 250 to even 350 points would radically change military tactics, though benefits would definitley be gained. Countries that have enlistment as requirements, or countries that are tyrannies/ dictatorships may use supers as shock troops, while countries that have a volunteer service would let the supers enlist where they please. I don't believe that simply being a super (in the US) would instantly qualify someone for any of the special forces, as they are more than just physically challenging. What if a speed character wanted to be a medic, or a mechanic? A 250 point martial artist isn't going to be exceptional unless he actually gets into the thick of the enemy forces. I think the supers in line units would utilize surprise maneuvers involving the supers. A big advantage might belong with flying energy projectors against jets and helicopters (as they probably wouldn't have detectable radar or heat signatures), but I don't see a flying 250-350 point brick surviving a move-through or move-by of a jet going 650 mph.

 

I could, however, see Israel utilizing supers for a elite preemptive/response strike team, though.

 

Well, just my thoughts for now.

 

As i said earlier, I think the impact is multiplied when supers operate in groups, and use their powers together in ways that multiply their effectiveness. A 250 point super operating alone isn't going to be any better than a special forces team, but a half dozen might be more effective than a ranger battalion.

[Jinx999]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

I don't think with supers from 250 to even 350 points would radically change military tactics' date=' though benefits would definitley be gained. Countries that have enlistment as requirements, or countries that are tyrannies/ dictatorships may use supers as shock troops, while countries that have a volunteer service would let the supers enlist where they please. I don't believe that simply being a super (in the US) would instantly qualify someone for any of the special forces, as they are more than just physically challenging. What if a speed character wanted to be a medic, or a mechanic? A 250 point martial artist isn't going to be exceptional unless he actually gets into the thick of the enemy forces. I think the supers in line units would utilize surprise maneuvers involving the supers. A big advantage might belong with flying energy projectors against jets and helicopters (as they probably wouldn't have detectable radar or heat signatures), but I don't see a flying 250-350 point brick surviving a move-through or move-by of a jet going 650 mph.[/quote']

 

I agree. Simply being superhuman wouldn't qualify someone to join the special forces. However, a superhuman with special forces training would be much more effective than one without equivalent training. Also, I think the best way to use a superhuman on a battlefield would be to use them as equivalent to special forces. Your 250 point martial artist wouldn't be significant as just a grunt. However on a strike on the enemy leadership or nifiltration or rescuing hostages . . .

 

When you've got the training and equipment of a Marine, even minor powers can be useful. Joe Blow who can breathe water isn't going to help much. The water breathing seal sneaking into the enemy harbour with a bag of limpet mines is badass. Just image someone with X-ray eyes in city fighting. Or someone with mindscan providing info to a hostage rescue team.

 

Incidently "different to" is just as valid a usage as "different from". It may be just an Englishism.

[gewing]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

haven't read whole thread, will work on it.

 

IT is, of course, up to the Referee, but...

 

 

Imo Supers would operate primarily in the special operations mold, but...

 

Teleporters would be VICIOUS.

Telekinetics could be also.

Clairvoyance would be a dream power for a military.

Invisibility could be great, but it had better be broad spectrum.

Mind control would be a HUGE threat to normal militaries.

 

 

 

I'm not so sure about the flying energy projectors. SOme of the modern radars would pick them up just fine, depending on the exact super(metal, stone, crystal, etc usually reflect radar). Many of the newer ones are designed to pick up small stealthy targets at long range. THermal imaging systems and IR scanners would pick up a lot of them also. They would probably be more effective against helicopters, just because of speed issues. I haven't seen too many champions characters who can FIGHT at 350 miles per hour, and the shortest range weapon fighter pilots use is usally their cannon, which they try to use, afaik, at 600 meters +

 

 

 

I agree about supers using thier abilities in ways that achieve surprise, etc.

However, Even a relatively minor brick tends to be proof against most small arms hits, and have the strength to use weapons that either are good for MOWING down infantry, or better yet hunting tanks and such. A brick who is proof against 7.62mm, Resistant (not killed nor usually stunned) to .50 caliber and is carrying for instance an old fashioned 90mm recoilless rifle and 15 rounds, is a terror in urban fighting or any other close quarters. Many of the supers could wade through normal troops if they had any semblance of surprise.

 

OTOH, troops might tend to carry things like heavy hand grenades for just that problem.

 

 

If the supers come out in the open, guided missiles, anti aircraft cannons, and even tank guns would target them. The preferred US round would probably be M-PAT multi-purpose anti tank. THis is a discarding sabot Shaped charge round that travels well over 4000fps, penetrates about 500mm of steel, and has a proximity fuse so it is more useful against helicopters(I'd probably call it a 4d6KAP Ex, Explosion is NOT AP or a 4d6 APK with Linked 4d6Keb ex or 12d6 ex SOME things are more difficult to get RIGHT) .

 

The Israelis or the Russians would use gun launched guided missiles when the ranges are long enough, the Russians would use HE-Frag (3.5d6 APex?)for shots at closer ranges and such.

If a super is hit by an APFSDS round, well... I'd probably call them 4d6 2xAP 5d6 AP would be OK It wouldn't be pleasant.

 

Cannister ammunition would become standard, Autocannons in fast reaction secondary turrets would become common, and some militaries would probably do the thing none do at this time, and mount claymore mines on their armored vehicles.

 

The big advantages Supers have are in mobility, flexibility, and in many cases firepower or protection. These are usually relative though. Most Supers are no more armored than an M-1 tank. NOr do their attacks do more damage(8d6 K!). They do not, however, weigh 68 tons and take up 45 cubic meters of volume. Tanks can't move through swamps, fly, hide on the 3rd (or 30th) floor of a building.... And their rate of fire is much lower.

 

In the open, supers are just Tough, mobile targets. ANy military would develop tactics to target supers. SOmetimes special weapons, sometimes just tactics.

 

 

 

 

A B-2 bomber can drop iirc 20 2000 pound bombs at once. Or up to 80 500 lb bombs.

 

It can't however, sneak into the office of the General.

 

COnventional militaries and Supers both have strengths and weaknesses. Many people IMO under rate the military. SOme of that is probably the influence of movies and comics. In the comics, most militaries are still in the 50s and 60s. Usually they are there specifically for the heroes to smash.

 

I was REALLY annoyed when in one issue of Iron Man, iirc about '88 He FLEW THROUGH a T-72 tank from the front! Had he shot it as he did, I wouldn't have been as bothered, but... IIRC that was in his STEALTH armor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow! Interesting thread. I haven't read all the responses, so I hope I'm not restating something that has already been stated over and over.

 

I don't think with supers from 250 to even 350 points would radically change military tactics, though benefits would definitley be gained. Countries that have enlistment as requirements, or countries that are tyrannies/ dictatorships may use supers as shock troops, while countries that have a volunteer service would let the supers enlist where they please. I don't believe that simply being a super (in the US) would instantly qualify someone for any of the special forces, as they are more than just physically challenging. What if a speed character wanted to be a medic, or a mechanic? A 250 point martial artist isn't going to be exceptional unless he actually gets into the thick of the enemy forces. I think the supers in line units would utilize surprise maneuvers involving the supers. A big advantage might belong with flying energy projectors against jets and helicopters (as they probably wouldn't have detectable radar or heat signatures), but I don't see a flying 250-350 point brick surviving a move-through or move-by of a jet going 650 mph.

 

I could, however, see Israel utilizing supers for a elite preemptive/response strike team, though.

 

Well, just my thoughts for now.

[gewing]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

Okay, let's see if I can actually address this issue. A few games I'm in or have been in address similar subjects.

 

First of all, I think you bring up a good point that countries like China, which have a large population and good governmental oversight, might suddenly jump into prominence on the world stage.

 

However, I would think that the US and other countries might react with programs of their own to use their conventional forces to counter superhuman soldiers.

 

snip

Over time, given the size of the defense industry in the US, you might see the rise of weaponry and systems developed specifically toward combating the "superhuman element" (if it's been 10 years, you might even see some of the first examples of those weapons and systems). Labs similar to Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore would probably spring up to study how these physics defying powers work, and there might be practical military applications appearing as a result of these studies.

 

Overall, while superhumans might have an advantage over your average army grunt, it will NEVER be an easy fight for supers against a fully trained group of regulars, and that super might just lose.

 

 

I think you would see RIfle grenades, light recoilless rifles, etc become VERY common very fast. Also nasty things like FAE grenade launcher rounds (Russia has) and Incendiary rocket launchers.

 

Autocannons, Claymore mines, Cannister rounds...

[megaplayboy]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

I would think a team like the Crowns of Krim, or Eurostar or the Warlord's crew would wreak untold havoc on a typical air force base, since the normal security measures in place would be nearly useless against a group of supers suddenly popping up. If it's Diego Garcia, and there's B-52s there, bam! Several billion dollars in damage, just like that. IIRC, most of the stealth bombers operate out of one base...

Or if you drop Grond inside the hull of an aircraft carrier...shudder...

 

The biggest problem for tanks is that the main guns are designed to engage tank-sized vehicles at a distance of 200 meters or more, not human size fast moving targets within 100 meters. Durak could defeat a tank platoon in a turn, just by flipping them all over. He could spend the next few minutes tearing the tanks apart at his leisure.

 

Megavillains, as I've previously stated, are a real nightmare for conventional military forces. They typically have a CV higher than a dodging special forces guy under cover or a jet pulling high-g maneuvers, defenses equal to a tank, or even a tank sitting inside an ICBM silo, enhanced senses to detect incoming attacks and stealth aircraft, movement able to cover hundreds or thousands of miles in hours, minutes or moments, and attacks sufficient to damage or destroy major hardware. Any villain with 30+ rDEF(hardened or not) is nigh-invulnerable to serious injury from most conventional ordnance.

 

Any super who can only be killed by other supers or WMD probably qualifies as an WMD themselves...

[Kirby]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

As i said earlier' date=' I think the impact is multiplied when supers operate in groups, and use their powers together in ways that multiply their effectiveness. A 250 point super operating alone isn't going to be any better than a special forces team, but a half dozen might be more effective than a ranger battalion.[/quote']

Hmm, possibly, but as I stated, I haven't read all the posts (just first page and this one*), so whatever post(s) you're referring to I haven't read.

 

My post is referring to the thread starter where we presume there is one super per 1 million people. This would give the US roughly 280 supers (population + immigrants to round up). Unless there would be major pay incentives, I'd say you be lucky to get half of them in the military (140) and even if 100 of them were male, I don't know if you'd have enough similar supers to make up an effective fighting squad or platoon. Taking the 4th Ed Champions (b/c I don't have 5th Ed stats), Seeker, Obsidian and Jaguar would be useless (as specialized forces) except in Close Quarters Combat, Quasar would light up the night sky and become a beacon for arms fire, Defender's technology wouldn't be around, and that leaves Solitaire who, while would be great at coordinating the unit, would probably be used elsewhere by the military.

 

I agree in part that a group of similar supers could be effective as shock troops like a Ranger batallion, but there's probably no way that a half-dozen could hold an airport like Rangers could. The sheer size of an airport (even 2nd or 3rd world country) would be too large. They would definitely need back-up troops.

 

*I was referring to page 11 at this time.

[Trebuchet]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

Hmm, possibly, but as I stated, I haven't read all the posts (just first page and this one), so whatever post(s) you're referring to I haven't read.

 

My post is referring to the thread starter where we presume there is one super per 1 million people. This would give the US roughly 280 supers (population + immigrants to round up). Unless there would be major pay incentives, I'd say you be lucky to get half of them in the military (140) and even if 100 of them were male, I don't know if you'd have enough similar supers to make up an effective fighting squad or platoon. Taking the 4th Ed Champions (b/c I don't have 5th Ed stats), Seeker, Obsidian and Jaguar would be useless (as specialized forces) except in Close Quarters Combat, Quasar would light up the night sky and become a beacon for arms fire, Defender's technology wouldn't be around, and that leaves Solitaire who, while would be great at coordinating the unit, would probably be used elsewhere by the military.

 

I agree in part that a group of similar supers could be effective as shock troops like a Ranger batallion, but there's probably no way that a half-dozen could hold an airport like Rangers could. The sheer size of an airport (even 2nd or 3rd world country) would be too large. They would definitely need back-up troops.

Nice anaysis, Kirby. But I suspect supers in the military would be used mostly as super-commandos to take out (or defend) high priority targets. They'd be wasted on static defense. (Our team MidGuard has done some training missions against "ordinary" agents and soldiers protecting a site, and as expected the supers succeeded almost effortlessly.)

 

One thought I had on the "One super per million" rate of occurence of this scenario: Since a high population automatically means more supers (The US with 280+ supers would have a sizeable advantage over smaller adversaries such as Iraq or Russia), would this lead to worldwide governmentally-supported population booms as nations try to increase their pool of supers?

[Kirby]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

haven't read whole thread, will work on it.

 

IT is, of course, up to the Referee, but...

 

 

Imo Supers would operate primarily in the special operations mold, but...

 

Teleporters would be VICIOUS.

Telekinetics could be also.

Clairvoyance would be a dream power for a military.

Invisibility could be great, but it had better be broad spectrum.

Mind control would be a HUGE threat to normal militaries.

I could see any mentalist being used as a covert operator, or utilizing their abilities to coordinate troops in battle. VERY effective. I think teleporters *might* tend to go into rescue, even if as a combat medic. Hostage rescuing would just get a whole lot easier.

 

N-Ray vision would be a huge boon (especially if coupled with teleporting).

I could see Invisibility supers tending towards combat easily. Daytime infiltration attacks would get messy. Dictatorships might use them as assassins. (How do you know we did it? Have you any eyewitnesses? No, I didn't think so.)

 

Thinking about it, regeneration might be the least utilized power, considering that you don't want to get shot in the first place. But even an arrogant, aggressive Wolverine type (no adamantine, since that's a technical attachment) would probably get tired of being shot up, and some enemies might take off the head.

 

Mentalists would definitely be the biggest threat. And I see necessity inventing *something* to counter this over a (relatively) short time.

 

For bricks, they probably woudn't fare as well as we'd think. Military arms fire is much higher than typical comics related small arms fire.

[Kirby]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

I would think a team like the Crowns of Krim, or Eurostar or the Warlord's crew would wreak untold havoc on a typical air force base, since the normal security measures in place would be nearly useless against a group of supers suddenly popping up. If it's Diego Garcia, and there's B-52s there, bam! Several billion dollars in damage, just like that. IIRC, most of the stealth bombers operate out of one base...

Or if you drop Grond inside the hull of an aircraft carrier...shudder...

 

The biggest problem for tanks is that the main guns are designed to engage tank-sized vehicles at a distance of 200 meters or more, not human size fast moving targets within 100 meters. Durak could defeat a tank platoon in a turn, just by flipping them all over. He could spend the next few minutes tearing the tanks apart at his leisure.

Hmm... I think that the Crowns of Krim would be feared by enough nations to get the UN to actually take action, if other countries didn't do so independently. I could actually see the US, China, Israel and potentially even Britain taking preemptive actions against this group to eliminate them. (If they attacked either Russia or North Korea, I could see them nuking the villains citing the need of the world).

 

For Eurostar, I'd have to disagree, though. At least, after they made their initial appearance(s). With the exceptin of Durak (400+) and Mentalla (500+), most of Eurostar wouldn't survive, considering how close they'd have to get to a military unit to be effective. While they might be able to launch 'ambush sneak attacks' on military bases, it wouldn't be long before base security teams were equipped to deal with them (well, all but Durak and Mentalla, perhaps). As for Durak in tank combat, remember that he can't travel nearly as fast as them, and tanks do come with targeting systems and area of effect ammunition. Also, M1-Abrams are usually accompanied by Bradley Fighting Vehicles, which not only come 'equipped' with troops, but fire grenade rounds in rapid succession. If Durak did attack a tank unit in the field, I don't think he'd survive a full turn of combat, even if he destroyed something on each of his phases. Mentalla would probably have to be assassinated.

 

Thinking of megavillains and teams, such as PSI, I'd think that mentalists would be very covert in their actions. Despite the destructive forces of bricks, I see mentalists as the ones to truly be feared.

 

Oh, and first you'd have to get Grond to an aircraft carrier, a feat in and of itself.

 

Thinking of ships, though, I could see aquaman supers being the new submarines. If they could swim fast enough to catch a ship (or swim up to one resting off-shore), they could eventually plant enough demolitions to disable the vessel. The depth-charge retaliation would suck, though.

[Kirby]

Re: Jane's Superhumans

 

Nice anaysis, Kirby. But I suspect supers in the military would be used mostly as super-commandos to take out (or defend) high priority targets. They'd be wasted on static defense. (Our team MidGuard has done some training missions against "ordinary" agents and soldiers protecting a site, and as expected the supers succeeded almost effortlessly.)

 

One thought I had on the "One super per million" rate of occurence of this scenario: Since a high population automatically means more supers (The US with 280+ supers would have a sizeable advantage over smaller adversaries such as Iraq or Russia), would this lead to worldwide governmentally-supported population booms as nations try to increase their pool of supers?

Thank you. Well, while I think the military would like to use supers as commandos, I don't see all supers as being ready and willing for that. Many supers, such as teleporters, N-ray visionaries, healers, etc. would have an advantage for RIP (Ranger Indoctrinatio Program) much less, BUDS/UDT. Now, the military *might* decided to make a new specialty school (8 weeks boot camp, 4-8 weeks of specialty school, 4-12 weeks of "SuperTactics" school), but only those with either exception will, intelligence or physical attributes would succeed through modern special forces schools. (Though the Green Berets could accept someone with Universal Translator power.)

 

I could see governments such as China "encouraging" supers to get together and produce superbabies.

 

Okay, your group has attacked a protected site; BUT, have they been attacked by a platoon of soldiers at their own base, or while on a mission? I think you'd have a very different outcome. I had a sniper nearly kill off a PC team because they couldn't travel to him fast enough. If you can use Viper 5-Man teams well, soldiers should be just as easy. Change their rifles and give them grenades and such and you'll be butt-whipping PCs in no time. (Well, if they're on the 250-300ish scale.) But use a squad or platoon as opposed to a five man team.

 

Well, just my opinion.