Combat Qualifications for Traveller

CT Supplement 13, Veterans (1983) presents a series of pre-generated mercenary NPCs arranged by Tech Level. One interesting touch is that information is separated into a section for players, which gives in-setting material that might appear on a resume, and a separate section for the referee, which gives confidential and game mechanical material, such as Morale and Skill levels.

In lieu of providing players with Skill Levels, Veterans instead lists “Equipment Qualified On,” consistent with CT Book 4 Mercenary (1978). Some of these qualifications correspond to the Operator’s Certifications which we discussed in an earlier post, but most are specific to weapons skills, which we did not cover. For example, here’s one particularly colorful TL10 veteran:

94. First Lieutenant: 75A7CB. Marines, four terms. Enlisted in Marine Infantry, transferred to Commandos after second term. (10-13)

Special Assignments: Protected Forces Training, Specialist School, OCS, Commando School, instructor at Commando School.

Awards and Decorations: Two combat commands, four combat service ribbons, two MCUF's, one MCG, one purple heart.

Equipment Qualified On: Accelerator Rifle, ACR, Auto Pistol, Dagger, Laser Rifle, RAM Grenade Launcher, Ship's Boat, Ship's Weapons, Vacc Suit.

The referee’s section details Veteran 94’s corresponding skills:

Skills: Combat Rifleman-2, Dagger-1, Grenade Launcher-1, Gunnery-2, Instruction-1 , Laser Weapons-1, Leader-1, Mechanical-1, Medical-1, Pistol-2, Recon-1, Ship's Boat-1, Survival-2, Vacc Suit-1, Zero-G Combat-1, Zero-G Weapons-1.

Using “qualified operator” certificates to signal in-setting skill competence seems like a nice, flavorful method. But what certificates should be available?

All games with skill systems grapple with where to lump and where to split skills. If you lean toward “lumping” you have fewer categories, simpler mechanics, and more generally competent characters. But you do lose a lot of granularity. If you lean toward “splitting” you get more categories, more detail, and more complexity. You also get characters who might be highly competent in very specific niches, but unskilled in many other areas. A good skill system finds an effective balance between lumping and splitting.

For my money, Mongoose Traveller 2e does a pretty good job of striking that balance. The game has a series of broad combat skills, some of which have specialties that are also fairly broad:

• Explosives
• Gun Combat
  • Archaic
  • Energy
  • Slug
• Heavy Weapons
  • Artillery
  • Man Portable
  • Vehicle
• Melee
  • Unarmed
  • Blade
  • Bludgeon
  • Natural
• Vacc Suit

While I like this schema as a game mechanic, it’s much too gamist and a little too broad for in-setting categories. Some of these categories also seem a little weird for producing certifications, like Gun Combat (archaic) or Melee (bludgeon).

But if these categories are a little too broad, where do we draw the line? We definitely don’t want every individual weapon in the Central Supply Catalog to have its own associated certification. But some weapons are much more likely to have certifications than others.

Here, it’s worth considering what entities would issue combat certifications. The three military services (Army, Marines, Navy) and the Scouts are natural fits. And keep in mind, “military services” could represent local defense forces just as well as the large, high TL forces maintained by the Imperium or Solomani Confederation. In addition to these services, the Agent career (Law Enforcement assignment) and the Merchant career (Merchant Marines assignment), would potentially issue certifications.

These careers are all associated with large, bureaucratic organizations that possess the resources to issue and track combat certifications. While a character could certainly pick up Gun Combat levels in either the Drifter or Rogue careers, the Jarslavi Cartel probably isn’t handing out certifications… at least not ones that anyone would want on a resume.

CT Mercenary has a very interesting section that describes how military equipment and tactics change along with tech levels. The core assumption is that mercenary characters might be trained at different tech levels, and could be fighting in theaters with different tech levels. The paratrooper from the TL7 world isn’t going to have been issued a gauss rifle, and the Imperial Marine might have no idea how to operate a TL6 carbine. This is why CT Veterans separates out its resumes by tech level.

Each tech level, then, has associated standard equipment. If we focus only on the equipment most likely to be used at each TL, we dramatically limit the number of potential certifications:

Standard Equipment by Tech Level

7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Autopistol						Gauss Pistol
Assault Rifle			Advanced Combat Rifle			Gauss Rifle
–		Laser Pistol
–		Laser Carbine/Rifle
–					PGMP		PGMP/ FGMP	FGMP
Machine Gun
Autocannon		Laser Cannon	Plasma Gun			Fusion Gun
–			Combat Armor
–						Battle Dress

Interestingly, although the Imperial Marines are sometimes described as a predominately or even exclusively TL15 force, CT Veterans includes plenty of Marine characters at TL7, and the old Martian Miniatures blister of Imperial Marines described them as TL13–15.

For my own Magyar game, I assume Imperial Navy forces will be trained at TL14–15, Imperial Marines at TL13–15, and Imperial Army troops anywhere from TL10–15. Imperial Scouts might be trained at any TL up to 15 based on their assignments. The Solomani Confederation Navy will be trained at TL14, and the Confederation Army at TL12–13. Member worlds generally train their forces to the world TL, though individual units might be slightly lower or higher depending upon local circumstances.

So putting all of this together, we get the following list of common combat qualifications based on relevant skills:

Athletics: Grenades (TL7+).

Explosives: Demolitions (TL7+).

Gun Combat: Accelerator Rifle (TL9+), Advanced Combat Rifle (TL10–12), Assault Rifle (TL7–9), Autopistol (TL7–12), Gauss Pistol (TL13+), Gauss Rifle (TL13+), Laser Carbine (TL9+), Laser Pistol (TL9+), Laser Rifle (TL9+), Snub Pistol (TL7–12+), Submachine Gun (TL7+).

Heavy Weapons: Artillery (TL7+), Autocannon (TL7–8), FGMP (TL14–15), Fusion Gun (TL13–15), Grenade Launcher (TL7+), Laser Cannon (TL9+), Machine Gun (TL7+), PGMP (TL12–14), Plasma Gun (TL10–12), Rocket Launcher (TL7+).

Melee: Cutlass (TL7+), Dagger (TL7+), Hand-to-Hand Combat (TL7+).

Vacc Suit: Battle Dress (TL13–15), Combat Armor (TL10+), Vacc Suit (TL8+).

Each certification has an associated skill as well as the minimum TL at which the certification becomes available. (Following Veterans, I started at TL7.) To use, just pick one to two certificates for every term served in a career that issues such documents. I would prioritize certifications associated with skills with the highest levels, and wouldn’t sweat a few more or less certificates, given these have no real game mechanic value.

For example, consider an Ex-Army character who served 3 terms in her TL10 planetary infantry and gained Gun Combat (slug) 1 and Vacc Suit 1. She gets three certifications for three terms, and can be listed as Qualified Operator (Advanced Combat Rifle, Assault Rifle, Combat Armor). Although she knows enough about gun combat to effectively use a laser pistol or gauss rifle, she just doesn’t have the certifications for those weapons.