Comments on Harmonization DS2/SG2 in reply to Brian

Brian,

You make some points I agree with, others I'd have to question.

1) You indicated DS2 is much more deadly than SG2. How so? I have seen plenty
of SG2 squads smashed by enemy fire and vehicles in SG2 seem to be fire
magnets. Is this reflective of some aspect of the rules you believe makes
DS2 more lethal or personal on-table experience
(which may have something to do with how one plays the game in question moreso
than the rules themselves)?

2) You mentioned GMS/P isn't as strong as
GMS/L. I tried that on Oerjan recently and he
tells me the warheads (in our world) are identical, the differences lie in
propulsion and sighting. To me, this argues for a stronger
impact (ie the same as GMS/L) but poorer range
and perhaps poorer guidance dice (D4/D6/D8
instead?). This isn't what the game says now I realize, but Oerjan is an SME
in this area (at least insofar as near future tech goes). I was going to
suggest perhaps 12" range and draw 2
chits for GMS/P. That's still better than an IAVR
but less than GMS/L.

3) You mentioned that without command activation, the only purpose for EW
would be to block artillery calls. In the games of SG I've played, the MOST
frequent single use of EW
(not counting counter-EW warfare) has been to
block GMS shots against vehicles. In one game where EW was present fairly
heavily, there were
a total of 27 GMS/P launches, of which 3 hit
(some just missed, but many were jammed by EW). This is a rather key use. I'm
looking at porting the SG2 rules and will post a version once I do so.

When you combine EW, ECM, PDS, and Armour, many vehicles will be fairly
resistant to GMS attacks. But that's fine, given that you pay the point costs
for EW, ECM, PDS and armour. The only trouble comes in that in SG2, an
infantry EW soldier can use his EW to jam GMS shots at a nearby vehicle. In
DS2, this translates to a low point cost unit protecting (quite effectively
perhaps) a higher point cost unit. Talk about combined arms....

On a related note, the vulnerability of vehicles in SG2 due to lack of PDS and
ADS can make them rather short lived. I think something you spend a few
million NAC pounds on would be something you'd want to be quite resilient to
enemy fire.... so I've got rules for vehiclular self defence charges. PDS and
ADS I should probably add.

Thanks for the input guys.:)