Directorate Officer
"They just keep popping out of the ground like rabid womp rats!" ~anonymous stormtrooper facing the 3rd Directorate Armored Infantry Regiment during the siege of Carynx XII in the Tempered Wastes campaign
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To provide the Directorate with a mechanized infantry group to conduct ground operations
- Image Credit: Battle of the Three Tribes by Rookiee425
- Role: Mechanized Infantry
- Permissions: Permission to use Windtalker Signal Booster
- Links: Gir Quee, Directorate, Lucerne Labs, Lucerne Personal Defense, Directorate Shock Marine Regiment
- Unit Name: Directorate Armored Infantry Regiment (DARM)
- Affiliation: Gir Quee, Directorate, Directorate-affiliated companies and allies
- Classification: Repulsorlift Regiment
- Description: The Directorate maintains few standing large units of ground troops, because it holds little terrestrial territory of its own and generally finds that its allies field much more extensive ground forces in their home territories. However, it occasionally finds a need to briefly take over and hold enemy territory or augment allied ground forces. When this occurs, it calls on its few mechanized infantry regiments: The Directorate Armored Infantry. Despite its name, it is actually loosely based on the old Imperial Army repulsorlift regiment and fulfills a similar mechanized infantry function. With an armored spearhead of heavy tanks, the unit usually zips around the battlefield on repulsorcraft before unloading its infantry to take and hold positions. With some time, its large numbers of field engineer droids can throw up some extensive field fortifications - it is not uncommon to see these units connect their fighting positions through an extensive network of tunnels and trenches or have their ground vehicles partly concealed and covered by parking in hull-down positions. This tendency to dig in can make it very difficult to dislodge Armored Infantry regiments once ensconced. After experiencing grueling fighting against the imperial Warlord Frill in the Tempered Wastes campaign under Admiral Quee, the DARMs have started to rotate back into routine Directorate operations.
- Unit Size: Large
- Unit Availability: Common
- Unit Experience: Trained
- Equipment:
- 100 Bayleg-class Heavy Repulsor Tanks
- 350 Gualama-class Repulsorlift APCs
- 120 Voritor-class Speeder Bikes
- All troops (organic officers and NCOs, synthetic soldiers): Massiff Blast Armor with Vornskyr Blast Helmet and Bantha modular Load Bearing System; 1 Myntor-class Personal Shield. 1 LPD-18 Stormburst Slugthrower Pistol (regiment-wide secondary weapon).
Typical Directorate Armored Mechanized Infantry Squad layout with equipment
- 1 Gualama-class Repulsorlift APC(Infantry Squad transport)
- Command element (1 Praetorian-series Synthetic Soldier squad leader, 1 L5 Cunicularius Field Engineer Droid)
- 1 LPD-14 Firebolt Blaster Rifle (Squad Leader weapon)
- 1 Windtalker Signal Booster (Squad Leader secondary equipment)
- Fire Team Aurek (4 Hoplite series Synthetic soldiers)
- 2 Riflemen (1 LPD-36 Hammerfire Heavy Blaster Rifle, 2 7-PrG Proton Grenades, 2 LPD-24 Fireblast Dual-purpose grenades)
- 1 Grenadier (1 LPD-14 Firebolt Blaster Rifle with underbarrel Model MGL-1 Microgrenade Launcher)
- 1 Heavy Gunner (1 LPD-27 Flamestorm-class Assault Blaster Cannon)
- Fire Team Besh (4 Hoplite series Synthetic soldiers)
- 2 Riflemen (1 LPD-36 Hammerfire Heavy Blaster Rifle, 2 7-PrG Proton Grenades, 2 LPD-24 Fireblast Dual-purpose grenades)
- 1 Grenadier (1 LPD-14 Firebolt Blaster Rifle with underbarrel Model MGL-1 Microgrenade Launcher)
- 1 Rocketeer (1 LPD-19 Shockwave Missile Launcher)
- Combat Function:
Directorate Armored Infantry Regiments fulfill the traditional role of mechanized infantry or more specifically, of a repulsorlift regiment. As with those conceptual predecessors, by using the high speed of their vehicles, this infantry regiment can be quickly moved across the battlefield to fight at key locations. Directorate Armored Infantry Regiments vary slightly from their predecessors with a slight preference for using a larger number of heavy tanks than the classical Imperial Repulsorlift Regiment, which lends itself well to combined arms blitzkrieg tactics, where multiple units can quickly build offensive pressure on a single point to break through a defensive line and then rapidly attack lesser defended areas or rear lines. Once a specific location has been taken by the unit, they quickly dig in thanks to their extensive use of combat engineer droids, who can form elaborate interlocking tunnel and trench systems prefaced with minefields and stretches of slicing mono-filament wire. On a squad level, armored infantry break down into two fire teams directed by a squad leader. Each fire team has a quick maneuvering element of riflemen and a slower but more powerful firepower-focused element of a grenadier or rocketeer/heavy gunner. Typical practice is to have the maneuver element quickly advance take a position while the heavier firepower element follows up to set up their weapons in that new position to suppress or destroy enemies before the maneuver element jumps off again to take the next point. Defensively, squads prefer to fight in prepared fighting positions made by their field engineering droid, often only emerging from these positions to ambush opponents at the last minute or using escape tunnels to extract themselves when enemy pressure becomes too great. Armored infantry can be exceptionally difficult to remove from these positions because they not only have the protection of these field fortifications, but also sport personal shielding. As each squad has both a blaster cannon and a missile launcher in it, they can usually fend off light vehicle and air attacks on their own, but it is not uncommon to run a request up the chain of command requesting from reinforcement from the group's heavy tanks if they find themselves under too intense of pressure from enemy vehicles.
- Nemesis (stormtrooper): The protracted Directorate campaign against the Imperial warlord Frill in the Tempered Wastes has exposed a large number of the regiment's personnel and synthetic soldiers to fighting stormtroopers and their derivative troops to the point that they are considered the 'typical enemy' at all levels of training and preparation. Directorate Armored Infantry are consequently very well prepared to face stormtroopers or similar personnel, being well practiced in picking out and shooting at weak points in their armor and understanding basic tactics and procedures often employed by Imperial-derived forces.
- Mobile: Directorate Armored Infantry are incredibly mobile on the battlefield thanks to almost the entire regiment riding on some sort of repulsorlift, all of which are relatively fast. This allows them to make rapid tactical and strategical movements.
- Trench Fighters: Directorate Armored Infantry Regiments are well-suited to fighting in static field fortifications as a result of the large numbers combat engineers employed by the Regiment. Fighting in tunnels and trenches is almost expected and much of the group trains to fight in these conditions, especially quick drawing and practicing reactive shooting with their slugthrower pistol in these frequently cramped conditions.
- Well-Defended: As their name suggests, Directorate Armored Infantry are fairly well defended. Their larger repulsorlift tanks and APCs are fairly durable on the battlefield compared to their peers, while each common trooper is outfitted not only with battle armor, but personal shielding as well. These defensive traits are only augmented when they dig into and occupy field fortifications.
- Allied Command Team: The Tempered Wastes campaign has lent the Armored Infantry Regiment's commanders a great deal of experience of working with diverse allies in a variety of circumstances. They typically have very little difficulty in integrating into the command structures of allied forces or assuming command responsibility for smaller friendly forces. It is common practice for officers within the Armored Infantry Regiments to study relatively friendly or neutral galactic power militaries in order to ease this integration in case it is needed.
- Droid Resilience(Droid Soldiers):: The vast majority of a Directorate Armored Infantry Regiment is composed of battle droids in the form of synthetic soldiers. This makes them more resilient against physical threats such as shrapnel or poisonous gases. 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.
- Hatred (stormtrooper): Not only did the Tempered Wastes campaign provide the armored infantry regiments will practical experience against fighting stormtroopers, but it has left an unhealthy residual hate and disdain in the veteran's minds (or programming). It's not uncommon for armored infantry to prioritize attacking stormtroopers even if it doesn't make tactical sense to do so. Co-operation with stormtroopers, even serving under a 'friendly' power, is an unthinkable idea that has only become more cemented with the betrayal of former Moff Joran Greth.
- Unobservant: Success sometimes breeds problems of its own. The average synthetic soldier in Armored Infantry Regiment spends much of its time cooped up in an APC. Consequently heuristic learning often downplays or even degrades the value of observation, especially during foot-based movements. It is usually not difficult to draw dismounted Armored Infantry into ambushes or to have infiltrators sneak past them as the synthetic infantry conduct roving patrols.
- Predictable (Droid Soldiers): As effective as the battle droid's programming is, it almost makes them predictable fighters after some experience fighting against them. While there is some individualization among squad tactics due to the experience of their leaders, the individual fighting tactics of the bulk of the battle droids who make up the bulk of the squad rarely change.
- Painfully Obvious: Subtlety is not a word that comes to mind with the Directorate Armored Infantry. Its wide use of fast-moving and unstealthy vehicles usually makes them easily spotted on the battlefield. Similarly, the wide-scale use of personal shielding makes individual synthetic soldiers extremely easy to find on sensor scans, or to visually see if out and in the open.
- Inflexible Chain of Command: The synthetic soldiers in an armored infantry regiments are notorious sticklers for following orders to the letter, even if it is clear that it is not in their unit's or mission's best interest. This practice has occurred because commands are expected to be followed quickly and without question during initial movements onto the battlefield, where any delay can ruin what could be a decisive tactical maneuver. If a question is raised (likely from an organic NCO), it often runs farther up the chain of command (and thus with a greater delay) than it typically would in a normal unit.
The Directorate until recently has had rare reason to conduct extended ground campaigns. Usually a quick deployment of its marine force and a follow-up by a handful of specialist units like the Directorate Rangers Regiment was able to handle the situation. The Tempered Wastes campaign changed that. Warlord Frill had had decades to consolidate power and build extensive defensive infrastructure that was not easily removed in quick assaults by the usual Directorate methodology of combined arms attacks culminating with a quick marine assault and occupation. Lingering groups of stormtroopers emerged out of hidden bunkers and loyal resistance fighters ensured that the Directorate forces and their nascent rebel allies would be engaged in prolonged campaigns to control the surfaces of a half dozen worlds. Just as the Directorate Marines underwent an evolution of their own in other areas of the Unknown Regions, experimental mixtures of synthetic soldiers and a variety of equipment was field-tested in the Tempered Wastes campaign which eventually was consolidated and standardized into the current form of the Directorate Armored Infantry Regiment. Since then, DARMs have severed in peacekeeping missions, military and exploration expeditions, and alongside allied governments in fighting common foes. Since there are relatively few of these units in existence, they have a relatively high operations tempo, being frequently deployed.
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