BattleTac, A tightly integrated gongshow. Options

[Daishi]

All right. I'm thinking of an upcoming military campaign set in a war-torn city. I'm thinking of pulling the role of group leader, and thought "Hey, battletac would be perfect for this." I've read the rules. I've studied them. I've read the errata. It's a mess.

So how have YOU used Small Unit Tactics, and in particular the BattleTac system?

As fantastic as the tactical computer and a purely cybernetic network is in theory, the :nuyen:500k price tag is just too much. And I really don't see the actual benefits as being at all meaningful for that cost. I'm thinking the most cost effective system is the external receiver units from cannon companion connected to a helmet cam (w/ low-light and mic pick-up), a tactical com, and linked into a datajack w/ image link for everybody on the team. Plus, my character with the external battletac master unit. And nothing else! Total package cost of something like 150k for all six members. Thoughts?

[Kagetenshi]

Yes, I've used SUT, and it's absolutely wonderful. The Tactical Computer, though, is more iffy; if your commander is a Rigger with a plentiful supply of high-Sensor drones, then it's more than worth the money, as the thing will be maxed out nearly all of the time. For everyone else, it's a lot less useful. BattleTac units in general, though, rock.

~J

[The White Dwarf]

Yes the tactical computer is, imo, overpriced for the effect. Yes Battletac can be useful and worth it if properly integrated and used by the team. Id place battletac as something a more elite, sr style military team would definatly have. The tactical computer is more of a toss up, maybe one guy would have it to use for the team but thats a maybe. And I cant really say the SUT rules were at all confusing, maybe you can post specific questions for answers. You can get bonuses from a few places, you pick initiative or combat pool, you roll, you compare results to the appropriate tn for each person, you get your results and you move on. Besides the operative functions of battletac, when used with SUT it helps the tns too, so if you use the skill its an even better thing to pick up.

[toturi]

Tac Comp + BattleTac + SUT = Bad News for the opposition

[Arz]

Cool toys are priceless. Just look at the cost of a simsense rig for comparison and you'll feel much better about the expense.

[Utahraptor]

Personally, if you are planning an urban combat run, I think you have a good, dead-on accurate assessment on what BatTac equipment a team will be carrying in. If if is a /real/ military run, and not just a team of mercs, or those fancy-pants "I'm a corporate Security goon, so I get all the advantages" people, you would have to take into account the amount of money a military is willing to spend on equip. I would allow team members to 'buy' a BatTac cyberlink with a discount if there military, and I would place the BatTac Master unit and the obvious corresponding communicatioins system in a tricked out, /well/ armored van, with A Rigger who can operate electronics.

[ShadowPhoenix]

Our setup we had for battletac was nuts, my Player practically retired his main character(had become a don in his chosen racket of crime) and had a battletac processing unit at his home, had a battletac master unit also in his Citymaster that was setup to connect via fastest available access, the truck was laid out to output to satellite, or Cellular, and in extreme cases dataline tap. it would feed his hideout with all the data from the battle and record the information for review. all members of his team under him had helmets, each rigged to take advantage of health monitoring, ammo tracking, communications, and battletac feeds. It also featured cameras and mic pickups to pick up live feed from the character wearing the helmet. The Helmets also had HUDs built in to display the status of any given member of the party, all controlled by a trode rig built into the helmet. The healer mage of the party could use this data to track wounded, and everyone could communicate and take advantage of SUT. they were indeed a force to be reckoned with. Especially after modifying the Citymaster with a RCD with Battletac IVIS and our Riggers Drones. the system became to the point that it would take an army squad to take down the team if they were fighting to their maximum. Battletacs are awesome.