Directorate Officer
"Oh,those guys again...wait...are those the same guys? Or another group? They all seem the same to me now..." ~anonymous Antarian Ranger on the Shining Path
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: To make a general marine unit available to the Silver Jedi at large
Image Credit: here
Role: Marine duties (protect ships from boarders, internal security, boarding enemy ships, etc)
Links: Gir Quee, Silver Jedi, Lucerne Personal Defense
- Unit Name: Antarian Shock Marine Regiment
Affiliation: Gir Quee, Silver Jedi
Classification: Marines / Shock Troops
Equipment:
All Troops: Anakkona-class Heavy Armor with MagnaForce Security Shield and Laser cutter gauntlets
[*]Squad Command Element: 1 Praetorian Synthetic Soldier sergeant and 1 Praetorian Synthetic Soldier technician)
- 1 Firebolt Variable Charge Blaster Rifle (Sergeant and tech primary weapon)
- OmniNode Communications Set (Sergeant)
- Universal Computer Interface with MicroThrust Computer Spikes (Technician)
- Fusing Pen (Technician)
- Macrofuser (Technician)
[*]Fire Team 1: (4 Hoplite Synthetic Soldier Riflemen) each with the following:
[*]Fire Team 2 (2 Hoplite Synthetic Soldier CQC specialists, 2 Hoplite Synthetic Soldier automatic gunners) with equipment as follows:
Hailstorm Flechette Carbine (CQC Specialists primary weapon)
Talon Vibrodagger (CQC Specialist back-up weapon)
Flamestorm Assault Blaster Cannon (Automatic gunners primary weapon)
Stormburst Pistol (Automatic gunners back-up weapon)
[*]
Description: An Antarian Shock Marine Regiment is a standardized group of mixed synthetic soldiers supervised by an organic command staff that has become one of the more common marine components found onboard Silver Jedi-affiliated warships. Shock Marines are characterized by an aggressive relentlessness enabled by their biomechnical origin that allows them to become staunch defenders against enemy boarding attacks and to launcher fierce and even reckless boarding attacks of their own. These tendencies are enabled by equipment carefully chosen for maximum efficiency against likely foes in these encounters. To that end, Shock Marines utilize heavy battle armor with a variety of close-quarter optimized weapons to fight vicious battles in the close confines of starships and other space-going vessels. Shock Marines are not only designed to defeat enemy soldiers, but also to damage and seize enemy starships as well, making them an invaluable asset to the Silver Jedi fleet.
COMBAT INFORMATION:
Unit Size: Large
Unit Availability: Common
Unit Experience: Trained
Combat Function: Antarian Shock Marines act as spacegoing soldiers on Silver Jedi-aligned starships. Their basic duties mostly consists of providing protection against enemy boarders and providing internal security patrols. However, they are also sometimes employed to board enemy vessels and provide supervision to prisoners captured during these actions. Unsurprisingly, these duties dictate doctrine from the highest to lowest levels of the unit. On a strategic level, most Shock Marine commanders are responsible for protecting either a vessel or a section of one. The highest commander of a Shock Marine contingent consequently is found in the company of the vessel's commander, ready to enact the orders and meet the needs of the vessel's commander. Elements of the Shock Marines are typically dispersed throughout the vessel in a uniform pattern throughout the vessel itself, and are typically responsible for zones within the vessel itself. Consequently, a regiment rarely fights as a concentrated mass, and instead typically fights in much smaller elements, typically at the platoon or squad level. On a squad level, doctrine separates Marines into two fire teams with two different roles. A quartet of riflemen act as a maneuver element, quickly advancing or otherwise maneuvering to quickly take a favorable position for the squad. The second fireteam consists of slower heavy weapon operators, who provide much of the marine's impressive short-range firepower. The squad's sergeant, a Praetorian Synthetic Soldier, who is more well-rounded intellectually and better equipped to interact with the vessel's crew and other inhabitants, provides tactical direction to these elements and stays in constant communication with higher echelons of command thanks to his high-powered communication backpack. Accompanying the commander is an armed technician whose job it is to better alter the environment to the squad's advantage. These alterations may include hacking open doors with his Universal Computer Interface, welding doors and hull breaches shut, jury-rigging circuits, or directing breaching operations. Shock Marines benefit greatly from LPD's philosophy of making adaptable weapons and the battle droids take full advantage of this based on interactions with their foes. If they find that their rifles and assault cannon default modes won't punch through an enemy's defenses, they will simply dial up the power on those weapons to better defeat them. Similarly, these weapons can increase their rate of fire when face with many smaller and/or fast moving foes or when suppression fire is needed. Similarly, the flechette carbines frequently are not only filled with anti-personnel canisters, but often hold anti-vehicle missiles as well for use against heavier enemy battle droids, vehicles, and other static shipboard defenses. But Shock Marines are not only trained to defeat enemy personnel, but enemy vessels themselves. With a basic understanding of spaceflight technology and vessel layouts, Shock Marines frequently will cut through enemy blast doors and bulkheads with their gauntlet mounted laser cutters and then place explosives into those same areas for devastating effects.
Void Specialists: Antarian Shock Marines are specially trained and/or programmed to operate in starships, space stations, and other orbital/deep space installations. Antarian Shock Marines are familiar with the general layouts of most vessels as well as basic vessel controls. They also have programming/training to effectively operate in zero-G conditions when the artificial gravity is deactivated. A tech on the squad level can also hastily jury-rig sections of a vessel, help bypass security measures, or sabotage vessel systems. All troops are also capable of cutting through blast doors and bulkheads typically found in starships thanks to the laser cutter built into one of their armor's gauntlets.
Aggressive: Antarian Shock Marine footsoldiers are programmed to be exceptionally aggressive and decisive, allowing them to quickly react to situations without fear. This makes them exceptional fighters in cramped conditions where there is not time or terrain to give in order to formulate better plans.
Droid Resilience: The vast bulk of an Antarian Shock Marine regiment is composed of battle droids. This makes them more resilient against physical threats such as shrapnel or sudden hull decompression. Droids do also not tire like humans and most organics, which enables them to carry out extended combat with little to no difference in either intellectual or physical performance.
Close Quarter Excellence: Antarian Shock Marines are specifically equipped physically and prepared intellectually for close quarters combat commonly found in spacegoing vessels. Physically, this includes the use of heavy personal armor, gauntlet-based energy shields, and close-quarters focused weaponry. Intellectually, Shock Marines have coordinated close quarter combat drills which are largely optimized by their ability to effortlessly communicate through internal comlinks. This allows squads and their component fire teams to work almost seamlessly as a coordinated element rather than disparate group of individuals. This shows practically in such examples in using coordinated fire assignment vectors to ensure that there are no blindspots, or in using phalanx-style tactics in using overlapping gauntlet-based energy shielding while advancing down corridors towards potential hostiles.
Out of place(land): Shock Marines are specialized for space encounters are consequently operate poorly in any land-based environment because of a lack of familiarity and programming. Vegetation, lakes, civilian vehicle traffic, and other such common encounters are not within the synthetic soldier's intellectual understanding, much less tactical programming.
Aggressive: Shock Marines' aggressiveness can be a problem, especially as it can lead to them being lured more easily into traps or attacking against superior forces where it intellectually would make more sense to assume a defensive position. This can be somewhat mitigated over the long term by the regiment's organic command chain issuing specific orders to prioritize defense. However, this is typically reactionary order after lower level units (squads, platoons, etc) have acted too aggressively already.
Predictable: As effective as the battle droid's programming is, it almost makes them predictable fighters after some experience fighting against them. Basic battle drills rarely change, though as low level Praetorian squad leaders gain experience, a limited amount of deviation from basic programmed tactics slowly makes it way into the squad's operating procedures.
Limited Attack Range: With weapons optimized for close-range combat, it comes as little surprise that the same weapons are not very good at extended ranges, which they may encounter in particularly large areas within vessels such as hangar bays, biodomes, and other relatively open environments.
The practical realities of a war-wracked galaxy meant that the Silver Jedi Order had to form allied war fleets of their own. With these ships, the need arose to protect them enemy boarding parties and other intruders. To that end, some Silver Jedi warships began to use a motley array of organic marines and battle droids. When Admiral Quee took over the Silver Jedi's 4th Fleet, he began to standardize that element with the creation of the Antarian Shock Marine Regiment by leveraging his connections with Lucerne Labs and Lucerne Personal Defense to create a unit of biomechanical soldiers that blended the advantages of traditional organic-based units with those battle droids. Antarian Shock Marines have since marched out of factories in formations onto the waiting ramps of Silver Jedi starships in spectacles that have reminded many of the Republic clone troopers during the Clone Wars. Elements of these regiments have since found themselves on Silver Jedi starships in all sizes undergoing all sorts of missions, from squads guarding humanitarian supplies on convoy freighters to multiple regiments acting as the spaceborne garrisons of the largest flagships.