How Suicidal are we?

[cthulhukid]

So the Hishen have declared war on a pretty valuable rock out in Ring 4.  We Marines are tasked to stop them.  Ooo rah.

Our first encounter is a boarding action and our squad connects to the back of the ship and enters, but immediately Anti-Boarding Measures kick in and the ship will self-destruct in 3 turns.

Now it'll take 3 turns to make it to the bridge of the ship and possibly turn that off.

There is also the possibility of slaves on the ship.

A commander who cares about their soldiers would immediately get back on the boarding pod and get away.  A commander who cares about possible hostages/civilians/slaves would rush to the bridge and disarm the self-destruct sequence.

But my Star is just the Private (he's got 10+ LFP, though...promotion incoming!) so won't be calling the shot.

I don't know enough about actual military thought to know what a squad leader would do in this situation.  I was going to put it to a die roll, but I couldn't even decide Pass 2d6 do...what?  What's the smart move?  Save our bacon?  Save the (possible) civvies?  Or just do a 50/50 stay or go?

So I'll leave it to the people, if you were making the "What now, Sarge?" Table, what would it look like?

[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

Interesting question. I have the popcorn as I'm interested in what people think.

[squidlord]

Nov 12, 2021 14:04:05 GMT cthulhukid said:

So I'll leave it to the people, if you were making the "What now, Sarge?" Table, what would it look like?

The smart move is to leave, possibly after spending one round to look and see if there are slaves near the contact point.

Why is the right decision to leave?

Because dead soldiers never save anyone again. There's no point in spending lives pointlessly on achieving moral objectives which don't further the purpose of war fighting. There is no advantage in losing those soldiers because they won't accomplish anything mission-worthy.

Not unless someone higher up once a PR push with pictures of draped coffins being pushed into space. You can never discount that.

So – strategically, bugging out is the right move.

In terms of orders, however, that might not be what you're told. So…

Do we stay or do we go now?

(2d6 vs Rep of Commanding Officer)

Pass	Effect
2d6	Extract to fight another day
1d6	Spend a round looking for mission-advantageous resources, then extract
0d6	"You're not paid to think, soldier! Now go get 'em!"

[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

Nov 12, 2021 21:21:00 GMT squidlord said:

Or maybe.

Do we stay or do we go now?

(2d6 vs Rep of Commanding Officer)

Pass	Effect
2d6	Extract to fight another day
1d6	Re-take test count pass 1d6 as pass 0d
0d6	"You're not paid to think, soldier! Now go get 'em!"

[bigwalleye]

In the military, the degree of commitment would be spelled out in the unit's orders. "Take the ship at all costs." "Avoid excessive casualties." "Make a show of force, but keep a reserve to cover your withdrawal." "Capturing the bridge is your only objective." "Reinforcement will be available as necessary." These orders should be determined before the start of the action. PPPPP!

The unit should be in contact with HQ, to provide continuous intelligence and to request clarification in an changing situation. A unit which becomes isolated will generally place a high priority on re-establishing communications - ie, withdraw unless confident of success.

In the absence of any orders, I'd make it a Will to Fight test for the unit commander, or Free Will if the commander is a Star. Pass the test, and do as the player wishes. Fail and you scoot.

BTW, anti-boarding tactics are pretty well-known. The Marines have doctrine for how to respond to the common tactics, and this may be modified by orders on the ground. PPPPP!

[easyeight]

The "Self Destruct" rules in Star Marine include the "Run for It!" rules, so you can always choose to run. But, if you're using the NPF - Non-Player Friendly rules where your Star isn't in charge, then I think the Will to Fight test makes sense with some mods. Once you get to the Bridge you have only one chance to stop the self destruct (you can have a figure hack the system while engaging a PEF). So I'd say you can modify the Will to Fight by how many areas away from the Bridge you are.

Proposal: Once the Self Destruct starts, the Unit makes a Will to Fight test, with -1REP per ship tile it is from the Bridge. Any result except Pass 2 means the Unit leaves the table. It will make this test each turn until it leaves, it deactivates the Self Destruct, or the ship blows up.

E.g.: A unit is 2 Ship Tiles from the Bridge when the Self Destruct starts. As a Corporal the Star is not in charge, so Sarge (Rep 5) rolls 2d6 vs REP-2 (two areas from the Bridge.) So the target is REP 3. He rolls a 1, 4 and only gets Pass 1. He wisely decides to immediately leave the Ship.

[cthulhukid]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. This was neat to follow. I think easyeight's table is the most reasonable, while squidlord's is most grueling.but kinda hilarious.

I'll stick with easyeight, since I've survived 1 year in the service, and I have to survive 7 more.