One of the more popular wargames of the past few years is CENT, originally produced by FASA, but licensed to Nightshift Games, along with the rest of the Renegade Legions wargame line, to languish in near-obscurity while a dedicated fanbase scurries about and continues enjoying not only the game but the setting even moreso. Many of its fans (myself included) are afficinados of obscure wargames in general, and have a certain affinity for the clean simplicity and excellent integration of the DSII mechanics. It seemed inevitable, then, that someone would compile a guide to reproducing the Renegade Legion universe in DSII.
This is that guide. We'll start with CENT, the futuristic game of ground combat, in which grav tanks provide the force and infantry provide the backbone of a tremendous military machine that spans the galaxy.
[Note: From time to time, suggestions about how to handle things in Stargrunt II, Ground Zero Games' squad-level infantry-combat game, will be pointed out. That *would* have been the province of the never-released Phalanx in the Renegade Legion line; for those that want to get into man-to-man combat (or, at least, squad-to-squad) Stargrunt II would make an excellent investment.]
The first thing to note is the dichotomy of vision exemplified between the basic CENT and DSII. In CENT, the system is geared to generate wide diversity because it only has the single setting to deal with, while in DSII the generic system has, by necessity, to do a very many things well and so must simplify things a lot. The conversion between the two will not be perfect, but it sure will be a whole lot of fun!
Next, let's look at the comparitive sizes of vehicles in CENT and DSII. In CENT, there are two basic classes of vehicle, grav and non-grav, while in Dirtside II there are several, all but one non-grav (leaving VTOL aside for the nonce). Non-grav vehicles in CENT are considered 'the usual size,' as it were while grav vehicles are generally depicted as *much* larger, in both volume and surface area, yet are no harder to hit. This can be represented in DSII by making grav vehicles SIZE from 3 - 7, requiring (at least) STEALTH 2 to make the effective signature less. For those using the optional rule that FIRER SYSTEMS DOWN - TARGET deactivates active STEALTH, these two points cannot be removed. Handwave it as the inherent ECM of the system that is on highly-redundant backup.
One of the advantages this gives the DSII designer in emulating CENT is that gravs are now much more able to carry heavy ordinance in the form of missiles, large gang-fired guns and the like. Given the withering firepower that most CENT gravs lay down, this makes the recreation ring with much more versimilitude. Given the space requirements of infantry in DSII, the larger frames give the MICV gravs the ability to carry infantry that they should have.
All gravs use FGP for power. Most non-gravs in CENT use HMT, with the appropriate limitations. If you want to simulate low-tech outposts or TOG auxillia, you may want to create some with CFEs.
Now that we've got the size of vehicles scaled, let's look at weapon selection. In CENT, there are a fairly limited number of weapon choices because the system mimics the setting, one in which near-constant war has 'worn the edges off' the technology, leaving just what seems to work the best.
MDCs come in an 8, 10 and 12 ratings and scale pretty cleanly to MDCs in DSII in sizes 1, 3 and 5. What in CENT are called Gauss Cannons (massive slugs accelerated down railgun tracks) (in bores ranging from 25mm - 200mm are handled well by 25 and 50mm Gauss Cannons to HKP/3, 100 and 150mm to HKP/4, and the all-powerful 200mm Gauss Cannon equates to the HKP/5.
There are two distinct types of missile in CENT, which is a good thing as there are two distinct types of missile in Dirtside II, making a match simple. SMLMs become GMS/Ls while TVLMs are GMS/H (representing their superior penetration). A problem rears when you consider that missile packs in CENT are of limited capacity, while in DSII the racks are assumed to house suffiCENT armament to last out a typical battle (and, let's be honest, who ends up running out of missiles in a game with the average engagement between units running to two turns?). One way to address the problem is to give the DSII vehicle one GMS/L or /H, as appropriate, for every 12 missiles carried. Thus, two TVLG(12) packs becomes 2xGMS/H and, unless you're carrying an entire grav packed with them, you're unlikely to ever see more than a 2xGMS/L.
One of the laser weapons in wide use in the CENT system appears to be the Anti-Personel Laser, found on nearly every grav in existance. Typically, this is *not* an externally mounted fixture but within its own turret, so the basic APSW will cost 2 spaces and 4pts from the vehicle (odds are there's already a much larger weapon in the turret; if not, the APSW requires 3 spaces). The other major use of lasers in CENT is as a laser painting/targeting system, allowing weapons to penetrate grav shields (about which more will be said later). This costs a basic 50 points and can be used for all the usual purposes of a DSII spotting laser as well as CENT-specific purposes.
For vehicular damage, there are a spread of lasers available. The match-up between CENT lasers and DSII HELs is as follows:
The Vulcan anti-missile system is invaliable on the CENT battlefield. In CENT, this is an auto-firing Phalanx-type system intended to gun down incoming missiles and is found on a goodly number of gravs and other vehicles. Vulcan-1 generally is covered by a PDS/BASIC in DSII, a Vulcan-2 or -3 by an PDS/ENHANCED and a Vulcan-4 by a PDS/SUPERIOR. ADS doesn't appear in the basic CENT rules.
There are no special rules for Armour except to note that gravs typically are heavily armoured beheamoths. Don't skimp on the armour; remember that a goodly number of these monsters are oversized and able to carry oversized armour because of it. The heaviest gravs, with ARMOUR/7, will be difficult to damage, even with good shots from HKP/5s. Some gravs also have ABLATIVE armour; this, along with grav shielding (see section Shields), reduces the use of lasers as the 'heavy punch' of grav tanks.
All grav vehicles in the CENT universe have grav shields which deflect light-weight projectiles, energy-based attacks (including targeting lasers) and scramble the warheads of incoming missiles, making most weapons that don't hurl large hunks of something at relatively high speeds ineffective. The actual mechanics of grav shielding are treated in another part of this article (see section Grav Shields).
To convert to the new Shield rules, note that there are ten possible values for Shields in CENT and 5 possible die types; this works out well. Divide the (average) Shield rating by 2, rounded up, and take that as the die, starting at the d4, to use.
Grav vehicle movement rules already exist in DSII; however, they don't match the behavioural characteristics seen in CENT's depiction. To really match the performance envelope of grav vehicles in the source material, DSII gravs need to buy VTOL movement instead of Grav. More information on how gravs move in DSII can be found in See section Grav Movement (Updated).
Conventional movement vehicles should buy the form of movement in DSII that fits their deployment; in CENT, you simply bought a certain number of MP to be spent every Turn.
Keep in mind, oft times, design compromises will have to be made to fit the design into DSII. One of the main changes to occur is that, because of the lack of weapon-specific hits, multiple mounts can be dropped unless absolutely necessary for concept. Occasionally, less important weapons will be dropped altogether (often missiles). Think of this as the effect of streamlining the system for more efficency.
In CENT, grav shields allow your vehicle to be impervious to the effects of missiles, lasers and MDCs ... as long as they don't hit while the shield has flickered off! Gauss cannons (and probably SLAM packs but must definitely not DFFGs) ignore grav shields completely as their rounds are too heavy and too fast-moving to be deflected.
In DSII, vehicles with grav shielding have an overall rating of a given die type, -1 on its roll when attacked from the rear or bottom (but not sides). This die adds another die when defense rolls are made; if the grav is in cover, then three dice are rolled to compare to the attacker's. Grav shielding, especially powerful grav shielding, makes your vehicle nearly impervious to most fire.
Because of the game effect of shields, they are fairly expensive. Each level of shield adds 25% to the VSP of your vehicle. Eg. a shield rating of d6 would add half to the cost of your grav tank's frame, while a d12 would add 125% or multiply the cost by 2.25x. The costs involved in equiping a force with grav shielding can add up quickly.
Grav vehicles in DSII buy VTOL movement, but do not act entirely like VTOLs in every way. The differences are due, in large part, to the design of gravs as seen in CENT and certain additional deployment possibilities. Gravs have entirely taken over the helicopter and VTOL support role in the Renegade Legion universe because of this additional flexibility.
The major differences can be summed up as follows:
Componant Spaces Cost SIZE 7 35 35 Armour 6, Abl +63 SHIELDS d12/Lvl5 +78.75 BVP cost: 176.75 FGP +106.05 VTOL +883.75 Frame cost: 1166.55 HKP/5, FF 25 +50 BASIC FC - +10 HEL/5, FT 10 +60 APSW, FT 8 +4 GMS/H, ENH 4 +45 PDF/SUPERIOR 0 +60 STEALTH/2 - +280 TARG LASER - +50 Frame+Equip: - 1725.55
Notes: Notice that this version of the Trajan has lost the redundant laser and missiles, mainly to fit in the frame. It also has Ablative armour, as a half-step between the original Trajan and the Ferrox Rex.
Componant Spaces Cost SIZE 3 15 15 Armour 3 +9 SHIELDS d6/Lvl2 +7.5 BVP cost: 31.5 FGP +18.9 VTOL +157.5 Frame cost: 207.9 HKP/3, FT 6 +30 BASIC FC +6 GMS/H, ENH 2 +45 APSW, FT 0 +4 STEALTH/2 - +120 TARG LASER - +50 Frame+Equip: - 462.9
Notes: A fairly simple conversion; the HKP is dropped a level to have a chance of fitting in the chassis with the GMS/H.
Componant Spaces Cost SIZE 4 20 20 Armour 4 +36 SHIELDS d8/Lvl3 +15 BVP cost: 71 FGP +42.6 VTOL +355 Frame cost: 468.6 HEL/3, FT 11 +36 BASIC FC +6 GMS/L, ENH 9 +30 GMS/H, BAS 5 +30 PDS/ENHANCED 2 +45 APSW, FT 0 +4 STEALTH/2 - +160 TARG LASER - +50 Frame+Equip - 829.6
Notes: Again, the laser cannon has been stripped down fairly extensively to fit the other accoutrements into the frame. It now makes more sense for the Scorpion to depend more on its GMS complement than the laser.
This document was generated on 6 October 1997 using the texi2html translator version 1.51.