PDF and technology - an illustrative essay?

Right, I'm actually temporarily reunited with all my RPG books and I came across this potentially interesting chapter in the GURPS Traveller: Star Mercs book. I thought that I would transcribe some of this information here. (Note: TL are in the GTL system, not the TTL system that is used as part of the Guide. The information is still useful, however.)

Be nice and don't post comments here until I've finished!

Introduction

Even in the more peacable societies, the need for armed defense is generally recognised. What is the point o eveloping an infrastructure, education system and a fine standard of living if the barbarians tear it down or take it over next week?

Most worlds, nations and states maintain body of armed personnel for local defense, settlement of disputes and generally "just in case". In situations as vried as civil unrest, natural disaster, fire or flood, trained personnel, loyal to the government and armed to prevent interference with their tasks, are a valuable "crisis resource".

Troops can keep order on the streets or protect the aid convoys from looters or bandits. They can be sent in to rescue hostages or search for earthquake victims. They can prop up a failing regime or bring it down. They can keep the populace in line when they start rioting over last week's interplanetary grapple-ball defeat or they cn be used to invade a neighbouring state, subjugate the population and strip their resources.

Using this Chapter

This chapter allows the referee to etermine what armament will be avaiable to a mercenary unit or (more importantly) its opposition. Entries are by tech level, allowing a suitable level of armament to be selected at a glance.

The bulk of a state's armed forces are equipped at the nation's (or world's) tech level, as locally produced weaponry is the cheapest options and can be effectively maintained without recourse to imported spares. Crude home-made copies of weapons from the next TL may be issued to some units.

Older, lower-tech gear might be in use by militar or civilian paramilitary use. Such gear is gnerally left over from some ware or other. Even though the rifle rattles when you pick it up, why replace it if it still works acceptably?

As a rule of thumb, elite units serving a nation will be equipped with the very best their TL can provide, and will probably have a considerable amount of higher-technology gear brought in through offworld trade. Maintenance of such high-tech equipment is very difficult, so these weapons are limited to very small quantities and reserved for "special occasions".

The bulk of regular troops will be equipped with reliable standard weaponry from the nation's T, or brought in if a suitably depenedable and cheap supplier can be found. These will be basic weapons of not great sophistication, easy for the troops to maintain and cheap enough to mass-issue. The actual weapon system issued will depend on what the troops are expected to have to do - urban combat, security, desert or arctic wrfare - and local preferences for individual ecellence, harsh conition tolerance or cost will influence the weapon choice. This locally prouced hardware will often be augmented by rugged and "idiot proof" imports that are plugged into existing systems to create hybrids of variable effectiveness.

For militia, civilian police, reserves and training units, weapons might be of a TL one lower than the nation's listed value. This depends on circumstances. I modern firearms are avilable, the local police will not be using flintlocks, but a group of backwoodsmen-turned-rebels might. Reservits tend to be issued lefotovers, but most governments recognise that while obsolescent equipment is cheap, truly obsolete gear is just a waste of maintenance costs. Large states might still maintain reserves of osbolete weaponry for special purposes, such as to arm sympathetic insurgent forces in an enemy state at minimum expense (during WWII on Terra, the United States armed Burmese guerillas with weapons almost 75 years out of date).

Unless a world is interdicted or otherwise cut off from trade, quantities of higher-tech weapons will find their way into the hands of the local soldiery. Small arms tkae up little room in a starship's cargo by. Such equipment will not be vastly higher-tech than local gear, being mainly TL6 or TL7 rifles and light support weapons.

Some imported items are so useful that they become "must haves" on the ruler's list of offworld trade needs. These items must be rugged enough to survive without much high-technology maintenance and cheap enough to be affordable. Small arms and cheap radio communicators are at the top of this list, usually followed by light support weapons and protable air-defense weapons.

The referee needing to quickly generate armed opposition for th eplayers can sfey assume that the TL of the worl dis the TL of the troops, with elite unit equipped on TL higher and militia one lower. If more preparation time is avaiable, the referee has the option of tailoring equipment to the sort of opposition forces he is creating.

Example: Planet Ecks has a TL of 7 (circa 1990). The planet is maintined by a president-for-life who maintains a standing army of TL troops, equipped with gear from the ow end of the tech level (1950s equivalent). Their rifles are TL7, but their supporting electronics are poor - TL6. The place guard units have been equipped with TL9 ACRs and body armour brought at great cost offworld. Anti-armour and anti-aircraft gear is TL8.

The cost of maintaining this forces, hiring offworld techs to keep the palace defense grid active and so on. Two factions are currently waging a guerilla war against the president. One is a renegade faction of troops, armed with TL7 gear in poor repair and TL6 weapons sized from reserve armouries. The other is a group of hillmen who have long opposed the present's regime. Their TL is only 5. Their warriors fight with home-made muskets unless they can capture more modern gear. Such higher-tech equipment is impossible to maintain and ammunition is hard to come by so the guerillas' TL remains 5, with a scattering of TL6-7 weapons.

Import Policy

Most worlds import at least a small quantity of gear, generally of a TL or two higher than can be locally produced. For the vast majority of worlds, the same list of imports appears - small arms, communications equipment, sensors, anti-armour weapons, anti-aircraft weapons - but each state has its own import policy. Some states seem to just buy up whatever is cheap at the time, then try to ingtegrate it with existing systems. This policy usuall fails, as a TL7 world cannot for long maintain a force of TL10 interceptors, though for a time the local forces will have gained a powerful asset. Other states buy specific complete systems - for example, a particular armoured vehicle or ground-to-air missile system - to equip local troops, while still others just purchase components and build hyrid systems with local technology. It is in these states that ironclads festooned with jamming aerials and missile launchers, or crude jeeps mounting plasma guns, can be encountered.

It is not really feasible to equip an entire state's armed forces with imported weapons. Nor is it desirable, as an interruption in the supply of spares and ammunition would render the weapons useless. This is doubly true in the case of complex systems. The technical expertise to properly maintain them may be beyond the local capabilities (mercenary cadre units are often employed to instill this level of competence). The imported systems are chosen to address a specific need or not enhance the capabilities of a particular unit or branch. Thus, imported gauss sniper weapons might be issued by a TL8 world, or combat armour purchased for the assault units.

One policy is repeated again and again: every government seeks to import enough technology to equip a small guard force to protect the government as well as possible. At TL3 this might mean buying 200 revolvers and a couple of crates of ammuniition for the palace guard. At TL8 it might mean an aerospace tracking station and missile launchers to defend the capital buildings, plus sufficient anti-armour weapons to prevent a small grav cavalry unit from launching a decapitation strike on the government.

One thing, however, always remains constant: nobody is ever satisifed with what they have. However good a nation's weaponry may be, there is always an edge to be gained from importing something. And if there is an edge to be gained, some one will want it.

Individuals within a world's armed forces may well have access to high-tech gear imported for their personal use. Such equipment varies greatly, but usually consists of sidearms and body armour for personal defence, or special equipment such as laser rangefindersor night-vision goggles for specialist troops.

The tools of death and destruction (or defense and deterrence) are, as they have always been, big business.