Equipping Federation Troops Intelligently

[Kerneth]

How hard would it be to convert the GCS into a troop transport?

Honestly, there's a ton of wasted space on that monster. Get rid of the families onboard. Put the troops two to a room (I would say 4 but I think Starfleet personnel would mutiny if told they had to share a room that size with 3 other people, even if those suites could easily accomodate that many).

For that matter, if they redesigned just the saucer section to carry ground vehicles, including the theoretical tanks or artillery pieces, the same engineering hull could be used and the saucer could be switched out to accomodate whatever was necessary. Especially given that in this role the saucer section's impulse engines could be removed for additional space.

If Starfleet ever gets around to designing a 1 or 2 man snubfighter that's worth a damn, a saucer section could be designed to serve as a carrier as well.

The result would be getting a lot more use out of the GCS design and appealing to Starfleet's abiding love of multirole vessels.

[Sea Skimmer]

Issue AK-101's and SAW's, perhaps with a stun phaser attachment that's compatible with the grenade launcher rail. That would place Federation troops well above there enemies.

[Kurgan]

Probably something similar to what the Hazard Team carried in Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force.

Transport buffer to carry lots of extra powerful weapons, helmets, jetpacks/sealed suits, body armor, transporter inhibitators, etc.

The only thing I'd probably change is to have them wear their helmets all/most of the time, and give them at least one good melee weapon (hey, even marines carry a knife), probably always at their side, in case something interfered with their transport buffer.

Oh, and issue them each a slug-thrower pistol, again, in case their energy weapons and other gadgets were rendered ineffective.

Oh, and give them uniforms that don't have a lot of bright colors on them (red/gold).


And yes, definately give them some armored vehicles, not those crappy dune buggies....

[Kurgan]

I'm sorry, you said from canon trek... actually all the stuff in Elite Force is POSSIBLE in the trek universe, based on existing technology.

The dune buggies could be re-armored and have better weapons mounted on them, like say on the front, sides, auto-guns, etc.

[Micheal Ryans, Beta pilot]

1. Adopt 7.62mm AP round firing assault rifles as standard weapon, fitted with a mount for phasers or other weapons depending on situation, like the SICON Morita.
2. GET SOME BODY ARMOUR. This needs to be applied at once, preferably with the Hazard suit or something similar.
3. Start restoring the army to AT LEAST 20th century level, and better if possible.

[Ignorant twit]

Issue the troops combat knives. A nice solid K-bar is much superior to the two-handed chop of death. As quickly as feddie positions get overrun you'd think somebody would remember this iron age tech.

[Sea Skimmer]

1. Adopt 7.62mm AP round firing assault rifles as standard weapon

The morons that make up Starfleet security couldn't handle 7.62mm weapons, and 5.56 is sufficient for what they face anyway.

[Alyeska]

For starters the Hazard Team technology from Elite Force 2 should be used as a base.

Each soldier is equiped with a special suit that contains built in transporter inhibitors, shields to protect against most energy and projectile weapons, and layers of a Kevlar like substance that ablates energy weapons as well as stops projectile weapons. The shield is the first line of defense, the armor is the second line. The helmet is standard issue and should be worn at all times.

With the transporter buffer built into the suits systems it will allow the soldiers to carry plenty of equipment. This includes large anti-armor weapons (micro torpedo launcher) as well as support weapons like mortars, heavy rapid fire phasers, minigun style phasers, and anti-air weapons. Each transporter buffer can carry large amounts of supplies and that allows soldiers to carry a half dozen weapons easily.

[Ted C]

For starters the Hazard Team technology from Elite Force 2 should be used as a base.

Each soldier is equiped with a special suit that contains built in transporter inhibitors, shields to protect against most energy and projectile weapons, and layers of a Kevlar like substance that ablates energy weapons as well as stops projectile weapons. The shield is the first line of defense, the armor is the second line. The helmet is standard issue and should be worn at all times.

With the transporter buffer built into the suits systems it will allow the soldiers to carry plenty of equipment. This includes large anti-armor weapons (micro torpedo launcher) as well as support weapons like mortars, heavy rapid fire phasers, minigun style phasers, and anti-air weapons. Each transporter buffer can carry large amounts of supplies and that allows soldiers to carry a half dozen weapons easily.

While I'm sure all of that works wonderfully for a video game, I really don't see how you can support it with canon technology. You're restricted to what you've seen in televised Trek episodes and technology that already exists today (since I consider it a given that they could recreate modern technology).

[Ted C]

Assorted camouflage uniform patterns.

Given the fact the US Army is looking to develop a single uniform that can change colors to blend in, I think it should be easy for the Feds to develop something that is better.

I think there's even some canon support for that kind of technology, since I recall seeing "Mot the Barber" use some kind of hand-held tool to rapidly change someone's hair color.

[Alyeska]

For starters the Hazard Team technology from Elite Force 2 should be used as a base.

Each soldier is equiped with a special suit that contains built in transporter inhibitors, shields to protect against most energy and projectile weapons, and layers of a Kevlar like substance that ablates energy weapons as well as stops projectile weapons. The shield is the first line of defense, the armor is the second line. The helmet is standard issue and should be worn at all times.

With the transporter buffer built into the suits systems it will allow the soldiers to carry plenty of equipment. This includes large anti-armor weapons (micro torpedo launcher) as well as support weapons like mortars, heavy rapid fire phasers, minigun style phasers, and anti-air weapons. Each transporter buffer can carry large amounts of supplies and that allows soldiers to carry a half dozen weapons easily.

While I'm sure all of that works wonderfully for a video game, I really don't see how you can support it with canon technology. You're restricted to what you've seen in televised Trek episodes and technology that already exists today (since I consider it a given that they could recreate modern technology).

We have already seen in Voyager that such capabilities as storing transporter buffers in a storage device exist. A single barrel in one episode was used to store about a dozen or so people to hide them from inspections. We already know thanks to Nemesis that transporter devices can be made quite small. Combine the two technologies to form a transporter buffer, aka bottomless weightless rucksack.

As for the shields. We already saw what Worf could cobble toeghet with a telegraph machine and two communicators. There have also been mentions of portable shield technology. The armor for the soldiers is also fairly simple. As for helmets, well again that is simple technology. The weapons can also follow existing ST technology yet still be vastly improved upon what we have seen and even have completely new stuff like mortars. Hell, I can take and modify the dune buggy in Nemesis into something much better at combat yet still retain the entire technology base we have seen.

[Alyeska]

Assorted camouflage uniform patterns.

Given the fact the US Army is looking to develop a single uniform that can change colors to blend in, I think it should be easy for the Feds to develop something that is better.

I think there's even some canon support for that kind of technology, since I recall seeing "Mot the Barber" use some kind of hand-held tool to rapidly change someone's hair color.

And let us not forget the Insurrection suits. I think it might be possible to apply them on a personal level. Sure they wouldn't protect againts sensors. However, just hiding from visual site can be an advantage.

[Ajaz50]

Having a standing ground force would go aggainst everything the Federation stands for. Why would a force that only wants peace have lots of tropps? Its hypocritical.

As for the seeming regresion in Ground Force armenet and the like... That probloly happened because after ST:6 (in which it showed that Cartright (the admril in charge of the ground forces) and his force (Led by the trater Colonial Somthingorother (note that his rank corispondes with the ranks of the Army insted of the Navy like the rest of STs officers)) were shown to have betrayed the Federation (we suspect Section 31...)) [Damn is that confusing to read....] the Federation's public lost any trust in the Ground Forces/Army and proboly had it disbanded.

[Micheal Ryans, Beta pilot]

1. Adopt 7.62mm AP round firing assault rifles as standard weapon

The morons that make up Starfleet security couldn't handle 7.62mm weapons, and 5.56 is sufficient for what they face anyway.

Fine, reduce the calibre.

I just want any Jem'Hadar or Klingons trying to charge their positions DEAD. But, you're right, 7.62 is probably overkill. Then again, it might be worth keeping a stock of it around, for light support weapons.

[Lord Pounder]

Colonel West was the other traitor played by the same actor as Odo, Rene Abor Jonis and i know i spelt that wrong. I hate french names.

A wee bit off topic, but how come so many actors in Star Trek are re-used in different roles?

[Ted C]

A wee bit off topic, but how come so many actors in Star Trek are re-used in different roles?

Probably because they keep trying out for new parts, and the producers/directors like them. You saw a lot of the same thing in Xena and Hercules.

[Pu-239]

And exactly when did someone in the 20th century reverse engineer this thing?

They did repair it after who knows what happened to it when it ended up in that borg's brain (stupid episode though, like why should a holoemitter contain information to develop all this advanced tech? )

I'm totally unfamiliar with this event. If you're referring to the Voyager episode "One"; I don't think the holoemitter itself was incorporated into the futuristic drone. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I understood that some of the emitter's technology was somehow duplicated and incorporated into the unique drone, but the emitter itself was not.

No, the holoemitter became embedded into One's head or something.

Did Starling reverse engineer the holoemitter or build it using data from computers or simply just took it off the ship and used the original? Not sure about that.

The idea that everything contains knowledge of the civilization it came from is stupid though... like that holoemitter.

[Eleas]

Having a standing ground force would go aggainst everything the Federation stands for. Why would a force that only wants peace have lots of tropps? Its hypocritical.

It's prudent. "Secure peace while preparing for war" is one demonstrated maxim. "Every country has an army - its own, or that of another country" is another.

[Kurgan]

The logic behind the creation of the original Hazard Team (put together primarily by Tuvok, but also Seven of Nine) because of the increasing threats to Voyager's survival from alien races in the Delta Quadrant.

Now one would have to consider the state galactic tensions at the time of Voyager's return, but we could surmise that their designs could present a lucrative opportunity for the rest of Starfleet (if they aren't going to act like idiots and forget all about it).

As to where they got all the materials to outfit the Hazard Team, I would say they probably traded for the stuff from the various Delta Quadrant races, what they couldn't find or replicate on their own.

Or perhaps they dismantled some of those shuttles they had stashed away in their Bottomless Shuttle Bay (TM) for spare parts. ; )

[Ted C]

Now one would have to consider the state galactic tensions at the time of Voyager's return, but we could surmise that their designs could present a lucrative opportunity for the rest of Starfleet (if they aren't going to act like idiots and forget all about it).

You say that like it's not a well-established precedent.

Of course, none of the stuff in that game has any kind of canon status, anyway.

[Kurgan]

WHO CARES IF IT'S NOT CANON???


That's not the point of this thread, as has been stated several times.

They aren't going to act like idiots, because we're choosing for them, in this case. Happy? ; )

[Ted C]

WHO CARES IF IT'S NOT CANON???

As creator of this thread, I repeat:

Using only canon Trek technology, how would you equip Federation foot troops?

It matters. You must provide canon support for anything you want to give the troops.

[Ted C]

No, the holoemitter became embedded into One's head or something.

Did Starling reverse engineer the holoemitter or build it using data from computers or simply just took it off the ship and used the original? Not sure about that.

The idea that everything contains knowledge of the civilization it came from is stupid though... like that holoemitter.

I'm not real clear on the origins of the holoemitter, but I wouldn't expect it to contain substantial quantities of 29th century knowledge. One's exceptional abilities would be explainable through superior computing capacity (which the holoemitter would need) and the ability to generate physical force fields (a primary function of the device).

[Isolder74]

Most people think of Confucious as a pacifist but he said "If you want peace, prepare for war." The point he was making I think was that without an army your people are slaves!

[Kurgan]

It matters. You must provide canon support for anything you want to give the troops.

Sorry. I guess you've confused me. The stuff from Elite Force "didn't happen" because its not canon, but (as others have pointed out) most, if not all of it, is within the realm of reasibility, given canon Trek technology.