I know it's not a popular opinion, but I kinda want tanks in Infinity. Something like this would be neat.
The problem is that tanks would take the game right out of skirmish range, and likely would shatter the balance. But as scenic or narrative element? Hell yes! I recall an event in some tournament where there was a battle against a huge spider tank, that kind of thing occasionally would be awesome.
Yeah, the problem with tanks is balance. If I kill your one dude with an antitank weapon, you lose because my tank kills everything else. If you kill my one tank, I'm down half my army. There was an N2 mission where the objective was a tank. Defender got 150pts plus the tank, attacker got 300pts. There was a whole set of stats and options for the tank that changed the points for the defender. I seem to have lost my copy of that scenario, sadly. I hope one of the other old-timers can hook me up.
One of my boss for my Infinity RPG campaign is a large tank controlled by a rogue AI. The players will have to climb on it and fight various defensive mesures to disable it. I might also have tanks as a hazard on the Dawn part.
Way back in the day, 1st ed., my buddy and I did a scenario that was all around a single Tank. I can't remember if one of us controlled it or we both had to fight it. As said Tanks take the game to a whole new level that's not Infinity.
It's likely very hard to fit in a skirmish. I feel tanks are more fitting to the global lore of Infinity rather than just the wargame. Though it probably depend on how it's played.
I'd expect to see tanks in the Infinity setting in a hypothetical 15mm or 6mm game, where you are pushing platoons around with one order (think Flames of War scale of game).
The funny thing about tanks is they would probably get really screwed in the kind of tightly packed, dense tables we usually play infinity in. I mean, a guy with D-Charges could realistically sneak around a Tank and blow it up with a well placed charge. I think this is why we don't see much mention of Tanks even in the lore, as most of the combat is in dense environments were tanks usually suffer. That being said, I'd like to know what kind of tanks the forces of the human sphere use. Because whatever weaponry is mounted on their equivalent to a Main Battle Tank is bound to be some seriously OP stuff.
That's pretty much my thought. I envision tanks a filling the gap of mobile artilery and heavy firepower. You wouldn't see them in tightly packed urban combat, but in more open terrain. Maybe siege warfare too. It's probably a rather niche use in the Human Sphere, but the tanks are probably very powerful.
The US Army didn't mind deploying tanks into the cities in Iraq. I understand they make great "clear the road" vehicles (especially when fitted with a dozer blade), as well as very effective "door openers", able to make a man-sized doorway into reinforced concrete with a single shot.
Ever seen a stampede of Crazy Koalas? They come as bulk discount containers. You drop one near a tank, and wait for everything to go kaboom. If they do a conga circle before attack (Crazy Konga), many of them will reach the target (current rules say all do). In an universe with this, or tiny guided missiles... I don't know the viability of tanks. Maybe if they get infinite (laser?) phallanx-style defenses capable of hitting the Koalas etc (ECM level2?). Suspension of disbelief is a tricky balance.
Well, the first thing I'm assuming is ARM over 10 for a tank, because they are supposed to be invulnerable to small arms fire. I'm talking bordering on requiring weapons with the Antimateriel trait to hurt. I'm also assuming some freaky active defenses, like Advanced ECM and being a hacker of some type to redirect guided missiles. Can't dodge worth a damn, but can just, well, tank the hits. Pun totally intended. So that means high STR as well as high ARM. The old Tank! scenario had the tank as a block of like 5 separate modules that all moved together kinda like the Antipode Assault Pack, but only one or two of the modules could move the beast. Another module was the turret, it's 'move' action was to point the gun (an N2 HRMC). A third module was the Total Reaction 360visor HMG. I think there was a hacking module as well. each module was targeted and damaged individually. Kill the suspension module(s) and the tank stops moving but can still shoot at you with both main gun and HMG. I forget what glue did.
Maybe not basic ARM10+ but a new skill TANK THE HIT (just to quote a pun) treated like a Dodge but that double up the ARM value for the hit. You want to shot? If you lose the FtF you can suffer damage even from light firearms...
I agree with the road clearing, but the door opener would probably be given to a TAG. :p Either way, I think the tank would definitely be a sort of boss type of thing. Even if they can't move very fast, they probably would have very high defense and firepower. Maybe forcing the players to be clever or to avoid it and go for the objective instead.
The TANK! scenario that I'm still trying to chase down was interesting because the Defender was trying to keep the (very badass) tank alive, while the Attacker was trying to kill (or at least immobilize) the Tank. Ariadna and Nomads did very well in that mission, due to the number of glueguns and alternative attack options they had.
