COLLABORATIVE COMBAT TROOPS [ CCT ] PRACTICAL WORLD BUILDING - DESIGNER NOTES (Patreon)

One of the most distinctive elements of _NearPresent, from a world building and gameplay perspective, is the inclusion semi-autonomous kinetic enablers, the CCT.

CONSIDERATIONS OF SCALE

When we considered the lead-times and cost of redesigning/manufacturing new platforms to support a single weapon system, we deemed it impractical and unlikely to ever receive congressional funding. Accordingly, the CCT were conceived from the ground up to be similar in build and height to their partner forces, allowing them to integrate into existing infrastructure such as airframes, boats, trucks, or-modular basing systems.

DISRUPTING THE CAPTCHA-KILL OODA LOOP

With semi-autonomous systems being the preferred instruments for the sense/make sense part of the kill web, keeping the CCT at a close to human scale adds a layer of frustration to singling them out as priority targets.

Given the lingering airborne contaminant from fighting or the persistent heavy weather in our setting, a bipedal form moving in/out of cover is going to be far more difficult to positively identify vs something with a dramatically different form. Employing bipedal vs other more distinct mobility systems makes the CCT harder to "sense, make sense, target, and kill".

PRESERVATION AND DURABILITY

Robots are difficult to manufacture. They require clean facilities with assembly lines operated by other robots to produce viable fighting units.

In the case of the Anchorage forces, these lines are far from the Target Areas where geo-politics is expressed in liminal or kinetic activity. Accordingly, the Anchorage CCT are designed for survivability, with modular appendages and armor shells designed for quick replacement in theatre via shipborne additive manufacturing farms.

The Hankou, on the other hand, are fighting within a few hundred miles of the Mainland coast. Producing less survivable/attritable CCT that are built to specifically hard kill the Anchorage robots (the base of fire element that the Anchorage MFRT maneuver around) makes perfect sense.

Able to cripple or halt the momentum of adversary fire/maneuver, these less robust, but significantly faster/easier to manufacture robots, could be positioned and replaced at a far greater tempo than a hard killed Anchorage CCT.

CONCLUSION

This unqiue commitment to consistency between our industrial design, world building, and the practical needs of warfighters has resulted in a authentic and tangible presence in the _NearPresent stories and tabletop wargame.

FURTHER READING

To read more, see Appendix A of the _NearPresent Core Book (Unforgiving Close Combat 2046).