Sub Unit Revival/Utilization.

[MisterFister]

USE THIS POST TO SPITBALL IDEAS. I'd really like to see sub units get taken more seriously and get more use.

Sub units are under used. Now, I'm sure it's mostly due to the GM program just getting back on it's feet again, but even so it's been like this for a very long time. Let me explain.

For example, SOBDE, at least as far as I've seen, is mostly focused around an awesome lore character spot, a tight friend group and some really good passive RP in game. Now none of those things are bad, except for the fact that I can't remember a time in a while that SOBDE  -or any sub unit such as GC, KU, Parjai, Foxtrot, Alpha, Wolfpack, etc.- has been deployed to do any kind of mission or even singled out for an RP scenario. SOBDE gets their interrogations and such, but that's really just them. It doesn't feel like people who worked hard for these positions get to use them very often.

Start of an idea: Let's look at 212th. 212th has enough sub branches to pretty much overflow SOBDE. GC has around 16 spots I believe, not sure about Parjai, 2ndAC and Foxtrot, but they all fall under 212th SOCOM. That's enough to fill SOBDE and then some. All of these sub units are considerably hard to get into. I have no idea how hard they are to get into compared to say, Delta for example, because it's been a long time since I've been in either SOBDE or GC, but they're both fairly difficult, and not a certainly not a position that you can just hop into from day one. Back to SOCOM, imagine, for a second if you will, if SOCOM was not exclusive to the giant sub unit group that 212th has, but rather encompassed all sub units.

Alpha ARC, SO, Ghost Company, Green Company, Keller's Unit, Torrent Company, and all the like falling under the reigns of SOCOM, and giving birth to a whole new brigade. They'd all be attached to their respective battalions and such, but each have their own specializations.

Ghost Company, for example, being stealth oriented, Torrent Company, being CQC specialists, Alpha ARC, being reconnaissance and allocation of enemy assets, Green Company, being training of foreign military assets and counter intelligence, Keller's Unit being more search and destroy, Havoc's Squadron being protection of Republic Assets and foreign base defense, 2ndAC being the Airborne Grunts, for when you need to get behind the enemy, 21st SO being a bit of stealth as well as sabotage, Parjai being like IRL PJs, being specialized in QRF to swoop in and save those who need saving, as well as being able to do the same job as 2ndAC, and lets not forget Wolfpack, who could be more orriented towards Armored Reconnaissance, or maybe something else, along with Diplomatic Services being more orriented towards protecting sensitive Republic assets and personnel while also being specialized in apprehension of Terrorists / Enemies of the GAR. Imagine all these things falling under SOCOM, and being able to be utilized in tandem.  (These are all things BCMDs and Reg CMDs would have to come together to coordinate but that's all if anyone decides this idea has any merit.)

NOW, what you might be saying is, "What of SOBDE? What happens to Null, Omega Squad, Delta, Foxtrot, and Bad Batch?" Well, it would work the way it does now, just more as it's own brigade. SOBDE would get their own specific deployments and more specialized events towards them. No battalions to come with them if they don't want it, just events catered towards their specific skill sets and specializations. 

These are all just ideas, that, in the long run could help the GMs create more specific and more in depth events for sub units and their battalions. All of these things can be used hand in hand with the regular infantry of battalions and give birth to a whole different kind of gameplay, one more focused on objectives and story taking a main point rather than shooting droids and taking out aircraft with a storyline taking a more background role. These things all would help support game masters and their events quite well, as well as giving players something to look forward to when joining a sub unit.

FOR EXAMPLE: - (shittily thrown together event idea inbound)

Lets say, the Hutt clan is sending lackeys to do their dirty work and try and take out high ranking republic personnel. Say, through republic counter-intelligence work, we found out they're on Nar Shaada. Coruscant Guard  and DS, alongside (OPTIONAL BATT) would get deployed with Havoc's Squadron to defend our operation center in the city, while Ghost Company and Alpha ARC are deployed to do a special reconnaissance of the area, in a stealthy manner, in order to find any intelligence they can on where the Hutt's leadership may be located. While that happens, they'll report back to the CoC at the republic headquarters on Nar Shaada, feed them information, and when the time is right, have CG and DS move in to apprehend the suspects. If that fails, full on raid the building with whatever battalions you chose to bring along and apprehend them that way. If stealth fails, you could have it become an all out shit-show, battle of fallujah, Urbanized Warfare kind of deal and have to call in reinforcements, or push the battalions you do have into the city to take the suspects by force. 

Notice, how in that scenario, a lot of things I mentioned could be done by/with other sub units, which is the point. You could deploy Torrent Company instead of Havoc's Squadron so that they could team up with DS, being the CQC specialists, and breach the building more efficiently. Or, replace Alpha ARC with Keller's Unit in that scenario and have KU and TC roll through the city loud and try and catch the enemy with their pants around their ankles.

All this being said, sub units would still deploy with their battalions, but it would remove the requirement for battalions to be deployed with their sub unit, giving the sub units a greater purpose. 

The things I've highlighted here would open up a whole world of possibilities and create a whole new mechanic and play style/set up to events. It could make them much more in depth and way more fun for everyone as well as sub units. Now that I've wasted the better part of a night thinking this all up, these are just IDEAS. Build on them and take them into consideration. Or don't, this post could get completely tossed to the way side and forgotten about. All I'm saying is, consider the possibilities.
     
 

[Marvel]

Back when I was in SOBDE me and Tinovious had an idea to include more subunits, if not all of them, in the little dealio that we have with Alpha and Foxtrot, where we would bring them along with us for deployments. It never got made into a real thing cuz tbh we NEVER got deployed.

[MisterFister]

4 hours ago, Marvel said:

Back when I was in SOBDE me and Tinovious had an idea to include more subunits, if not all of them, in the little dealio that we have with Alpha and Foxtrot, where we would bring them along with us for deployments. It never got made into a real thing cuz tbh we NEVER got deployed.

I completely get that, and a lot of that is due to the uncreative copy-paste cookie cutter shoot em up deployments GMs default to. GM's are still scared to step outside the box and take a risk with an event, which sucks. I wish people would take bigger risks and go out of their way to make events special.

[Wulf]

+1 i like this idea alot, this would be cool to see and like em

[Fyi]

I do think that there's a lot of untapped potential for GMs to deploy sub-units that are similar. I wish people weren't just recycling ideas and went out of their way to try out a unique idea. The GM program is starting to go into the right direction with some of the GMs. This idea only benefits GMs in coming up with new ideas and experimenting.

[Ratio]

1 hour ago, Marvel said:

It never got made into a real thing cuz tbh we NEVER got deployed.

We never got deployed back then because Game Masters hated us.

[Mantis]

Honestly I was thinking about something like this as well glad to see someone else had the same idea

[Comics]

i feel doing this would bring a whole new dimension to our Elite subunits. I'm so happy you actually know all 3 212th Subunits and Parjai, You clearly know what you're doing.

I think we would have to combat possible elitism that would build up but that's easy to over come. This is a pretty decent idea but would need some real oversight, planning, and real leadership. If pulled of right this could really bring something new to the server


And SOCOM is a great name, just saying. The small event idea also gave me a brain boner, it made me so happy seeing someone plan out proper utilisation. Love this idea tbh


PS Gc has 11-12 spots
 

Edited July 5, 2020 by Comics

[MisterFister]

7 hours ago, Comics said:

I think we would have to combat possible elitism that would build up but that's easy to over come. This is a pretty decent idea but would need some real oversight, planning, and real leadership.

PS Gc has 11-12 spots
 

Yeah, the elitism part is something I considered. People could get the idea they're special when in reality the Sub Unit's role is to support the main ground forces and their assault. The entire point of being in a Sub Unit is to specialize in one specific thing that you're really good at, so when someone is like "Hey, there's an event and we need this done" They call on you cuz that's your part of the wheel house.

Not to mention that's something I already see happening with some people. No names and no callouts, but there are definitely some people who think they're way better than the regular 501st HWS SGT because they've got a lore character spot and super hard tryouts.

Edited July 5, 2020 by MisterFister

[MisterFister]

If anyone thinks this ought to be a suggestion and could possibly get traction, please let me know or respond to this message here so I can polish this up a bit and get other peoples opinions on it. This would take some time to implement.

[MisterFister]

An update to this, the specializations do not need to be this specific. The specialization for each sub unit could have categories, such as SO, GC, and Alpha being stealth, infiltration and sabotage all together, and all the other sub units group them selves up the same way as well, and so on and so forth. Not every sub unit has to be special, but they should be specialized in their own category and good at what they do.