Post by sincro on Apr 12, 2017 16:31:15 GMT
What was the leadership of the Andromeda Initiative (AI) thinking when they made their pathfinder support teams?
First, lets consider the possible options for what the AI could have found upon arrival.
There are two main things to consider, the planets they hope to find, and what they hope to find on them.
Planets: As expected or better then expected. Slightly worse then expected. Disastrously worse then expected.
Intelligent life: None. One. Multiple.
Intelligent life disposition: Friendly, neutral, hostile.
Active war going on: yes, no.
Clearly there are a lot of those scenarios which require nothing from the pathfinder team that involves advanced combat, or any combat at all to be honest. But, it should be noted that the only way your pathfinder team doesn't need combat is if everything goes as expected. No team created by anyone ever spends that much money and expects everything to go fine.
So your team makes contingency plans. If everything is going smoothly, your pathfinder support team will probably consist of mostly scientists, engineers and academic types who are there to get things up and running without bothering the pathfinder with details. (This scenario has no need for a game of this type to be made about it...)
If everything is not going smoothly, but hasn't gotten out of hand, your pathfinder support team has those scientists and engineers, but it also has a group of people whose job it is to keep the annoying things from bothering/interfering with the pathfinder as they go about their business. (This is what the actual ME:A team looks like, to me.)
Then you have your 'oh shit, we're fucked' case. You arrive and either things are already out of hand, or bad decisions by leadership lead to things getting out of hand. Or both. (This is what the situation in ME:A is.) That's when you break the glass on your emergency team. Your pathfinder team will have those scientists and engineers. They will be safely on the Nexus/Tempest. The team that travels and drops with you will consist of no-nonsense military types who are there because their skill set involves neutralizing hostiles with escalating levels of force up to and including deadly force. As for the Tempest, this is when you attach the guns to the pre-set hardpoints before leaving spacedock. And put the armed as well as armored APC in the vehicle bay. If this team can't handle the situation at hand, then you either needed an entire army and you really are screwed, or having an entire army wouldn't have made a lick of difference and you are screwed a little bit faster.
Obviously the AI thought things might be so bad that they brought along a full set of armor and guns and blueprints to make more. Why in bloody hell didn't they bring along any dedicated teams to use those items is utterly unfathomable. The total lack of armed spacecraft is mind-boggling, too.
And one other thing: Each race would not have one of each team type. They'd have two of each. Minimum. Because, you know, things might go wrong, or something could break in the 600 years it takes us to get there... Probably 3-4 sets of scientists and engineers, because there would never not be enough for those types to do. You'd have a bunch of dedicated diplomats, too, because even if you don't find any intelligent life, you still have 4 different races arriving who will need to have an official way to relate to each other.
First, lets consider the possible options for what the AI could have found upon arrival.
There are two main things to consider, the planets they hope to find, and what they hope to find on them.
Planets: As expected or better then expected. Slightly worse then expected. Disastrously worse then expected.
Intelligent life: None. One. Multiple.
Intelligent life disposition: Friendly, neutral, hostile.
Active war going on: yes, no.
Clearly there are a lot of those scenarios which require nothing from the pathfinder team that involves advanced combat, or any combat at all to be honest. But, it should be noted that the only way your pathfinder team doesn't need combat is if everything goes as expected. No team created by anyone ever spends that much money and expects everything to go fine.
So your team makes contingency plans. If everything is going smoothly, your pathfinder support team will probably consist of mostly scientists, engineers and academic types who are there to get things up and running without bothering the pathfinder with details. (This scenario has no need for a game of this type to be made about it...)
If everything is not going smoothly, but hasn't gotten out of hand, your pathfinder support team has those scientists and engineers, but it also has a group of people whose job it is to keep the annoying things from bothering/interfering with the pathfinder as they go about their business. (This is what the actual ME:A team looks like, to me.)
Then you have your 'oh shit, we're fucked' case. You arrive and either things are already out of hand, or bad decisions by leadership lead to things getting out of hand. Or both. (This is what the situation in ME:A is.) That's when you break the glass on your emergency team. Your pathfinder team will have those scientists and engineers. They will be safely on the Nexus/Tempest. The team that travels and drops with you will consist of no-nonsense military types who are there because their skill set involves neutralizing hostiles with escalating levels of force up to and including deadly force. As for the Tempest, this is when you attach the guns to the pre-set hardpoints before leaving spacedock. And put the armed as well as armored APC in the vehicle bay. If this team can't handle the situation at hand, then you either needed an entire army and you really are screwed, or having an entire army wouldn't have made a lick of difference and you are screwed a little bit faster.
Obviously the AI thought things might be so bad that they brought along a full set of armor and guns and blueprints to make more. Why in bloody hell didn't they bring along any dedicated teams to use those items is utterly unfathomable. The total lack of armed spacecraft is mind-boggling, too.
And one other thing: Each race would not have one of each team type. They'd have two of each. Minimum. Because, you know, things might go wrong, or something could break in the 600 years it takes us to get there... Probably 3-4 sets of scientists and engineers, because there would never not be enough for those types to do. You'd have a bunch of dedicated diplomats, too, because even if you don't find any intelligent life, you still have 4 different races arriving who will need to have an official way to relate to each other.