Heavy Infantry

Created Saturday 18 January 2020

Iron Giants

The original idea. And even this was after considerable thought; I still am not satisfied with what can/should fit into this platform concept. Not that I have to fill it, but Archer is about all I have to go with, and heavy infantry is core to a lot of that.

And I want to.

Simos

My third idea (the belatedly-named Grinders my second).
And I like this. So, HI in this conceptualization is nearly defined as area of control. A set of platforms that (mix & matched) are used to control a space: They are nearly defined then as less mobile & primarily defensive. They certainly can move, but at a slower pace.

So, here, the Iron Giants, yeah, are meat shields. They didn't start as that (unless that was the idea in the movie), but they do fit the role that concept does in modern video games.
The Grinders are vanguards and those "first unto the breach" and---I forget it now---but the dieas from back when about those rewarded for volunteering for this role. So, yeah, the adoration of Marines like we have today lampooned as the farce that is
With Simos doing most of the actual control

Like Simo Häyhä, they are adept at using the environment as their cloak and shield. Probably the most prevelant users of γ-guns, but also chemical warfare (both offensively & defensively). So, sure snipers, but also just a strange and unpredictable set of weapons & dispositions.

And, yeah, maybe the most frequent role of heavy infantry is to allow Häggs to establish themselves.

So all three of these elements would train & be deployed extensively in adverse planetary environments

The Simos and Iron Giants both have jump suits.

(And no, it on'y occured to me now the similarity between this and Starship Troopers. I didn't watch the whole movie, and never read the book. But even I know of jump suits. Not Heinlein's best idea, but far from his worst and even I think that, well, if you don't have the good sense to use them, Verhoeven, then I will.)

For the Simos, at least, they act more like springtails than Spidermen. I mean, there's only so hard you can jump and not squish the soft parts inside. They blast you off teh ground and far enough away somewhere that you're that much harder to find. Even you don't quite know where, because you can't jump that far on most rocks and survive the landing. You need that randomness because humans aren't that random.

But it is worth giving them something like that. Some sort of last resort system that might come in handy in other situations, too.

Simos, after all, aren't cheap. Their main weapons may look low tech, but that alone is in fact one of the best weapons systems for rocky planet encounters. Their range is to the offing (and a bit over since it is projectile; it is a slug thrower), and are accurate to fractions of an inch, and many repairs can be made by parts off the shelf.
They're nearly as expensive as Iron Giants. And much less massive, and so sent in relatively large numbers: You send in as many Iron Giants as the jump allows, and fill in the rest of that space with as many Simos as you can cram.

On landing, the Simos do their darnedest to dig in before the Iron Giants have all been burned through. [Sure, you'd really rather not loose them, but hey, you're trying to take a system. Sometimes that's less easy than it sounds. And a well-placed array of Simos can be worth even that price. (Or not, it's not like most invasions succeed.)

For the Iron Giants, O.K., sometimes they want to stick the landing (say, on a hard target to go down as a mortar blast (it is, afterall, probably also a martyr's last, so might as well be sure you accomplish at least something). And since they're entirely machine, they can take more Gs---longer jumps.

Kit

[Written on stoning olive oil to Physical Graffitti]

Inter-offers
- High-calibre (somehow) recoilless-and-nearly-silent railguns, these are the standard issue to Simo, the backbone of Human heavy infantry. They are called so because they can in fact accurately fire good deal past the offing. Like several hundred miles off-inter^[Or off inter if you want. They can shoot at things beyond the horizon.] in most atmospheres.
  - (Hm. I just looked up how far the horizon is. A lot closer than I thought. That does change things, nearly most importantly in that I really like this name for these. Awright, well, I guess it's in-World to justify that this is an archaic name back from when this first became a main aspect of infantry warfare (which is kinda right now, frankly, so even that etymological clock is ticking.
  - Maybew it's not that lethal. The offing can just be the edge of ambient info
Prairie dogs
- Hardy, cheap, and light, these feisty robots are even the size of prairie dogs. A Simo is usually issued six of them (because that easily fits this hexagonal (yeah, of staggered square) grid world^[And yeah, I feel a little cliche using hexes to represent teh future since sooooo many games and shows do that, too. But hexes/staggered sqaures are a good-enough way to atomize a tactical, 2D map. Their ease of deployment (even between systems) and rugged cuteness are offset by the fact that they can't do much. They recon for the heavies. That's it.

Yeah, Led Zeppelin is a country band, aren't they? I mean, that's the door they came through into what they are. And what they are is unique. Much copied, but still its own.

I just took a sip of Orange Country Distillery's Petey Single Malt at 1:02:40, when Plant says "Oo yeah."

Grinders

That is a pretty cool concept. Having swords as arms. O.K. That per se is stupid. But the diea behind it is pretty cool. Being born required to always carry a particular weapon system. You really would eiteher learn to live with it--in a "this is my gun, there are many like it but this is the only one they would give me" sorta way--or you'd die from, like, a bullet wound to the inner thigh or some stupid shit.

And you would know that way to die--or not to--better than anyone else alive. Yeah, the kind of skill you'd need for heavy infantry. But I'm still not sure what weapon that'd be. γ-Guns just don't have that puescent feel. Something else--more atmospheric. Rail guns? Tactical nukes? Chemical weapons? Yeah. I think chemical. Chemists bruisers. Adam with his shit nearly together? Girondi? Hm. I dunno.

All right. I 'll friggin watch Fullmetal Alchemist and see what that has to say

Or not, Fucking amazon.

O.K., "voraciously devouring the way things are today. / savagely deflowering the good ol' USA" is pretty funny

O.K., so one thing that has always characterized heavy infantry is cohesion. It overcomes other men by being more than just one man. It is an army. Other things supplement it.

(Hm, I just kinda folded that in under the light infantry. No, I do still see a total Dothraki form to this, but that's not the point here.)
hense the differnce between heavy infantry and marines. But not necessarily to elite fantry units (those who are "stealthy as socialist, slithering up our shores, turning all our children into hooligans and whores"). But anyway, still fundamental to all infantry.

So no one weapon platform. Instead a certain core value that can adapt to any given weapon system. Even--especially--meat grinders. A (now suddenly) made-up class of weaponry designed however to kill a lot of nearby people quickly. Get in, kill lots, get out. Maximize causalties on their side, minimize those on yours, and realize the best you can hope for is better than even.

I was in more laps than a napkin

Hm, the heavies still have no soul, There's nothing here but some big dude who gets gloriously killed. And as tempting as that is to be the entire story line of heavy infantry, there are a lot of guys who took that line a little too seriously and whose kids would get rightfully kinda pissed at that if they ever understood it.

I do kinda like the chemical aspect of it. Always--especially in c amp--surrounded by a virulent shield and a field of very persistent mines.

But still no soul. Nothig reallky here : /

So, yeah, heavies kitted with γ-gun shoulders and helmets (and occasionally being startled by their helmets blooming a foe without them knowing they were there). But who work in weird chemical ways they undestand well as a group but rarely enough as a member to stay alive alone.

Heavies staying together to survive; MULES working together to kill.