The A.P. Team

The Earth Federation / AEGIS military has changed a lot from the 20th century model familiar to us as players. While the Federation still has divisions of the military, the branched have been simplified down to Terrestrial, Naval, and Aerospace Forces.

The Terrestrial Force, still called the Army, subsumed all other infantry and armored branches. Any unit that is not meant to fly or swim is now Army. And that means Marines, Navy Seals, Airborne Paratroopers and so on.
The Earth Navy, a massive amalgamation of ships and submarines from the entire globe, is now dedicated entirely to water based warfare. No jets, helicopters, S.E.A.L.s or anything else that doesn't directly fight in the waves.
The Aerospace Force comprises everything that flies. From Starcruisers to single man helicopters. If it fights in the air it is now Aerospace Force. Period. The army no longer has it's own aircraft nor does the navy. All of the Earths flying battle vehicles are not under the command and control of a unified authority.

With this simplification and unification of the military comes greater cooperation. And this no more evident than in the creation of A.P.Teams. The new fighting unit of the 21st Century. All Purpose teams are built from members of each branch of the military. Fully supported and equipped by all three branches. Because they comprise units from each force, they can requisition support, and equipment from any base or force. Giving them maximum versatility and opportunity to take battle to the enemy. AP Teams will have pilots, special forces, ESPers, Medics and Technicians and just about any other type of soldier the Team Leader thinks might be needed. Often changing sometimes even in mid-mission to meet the needs of a given situation. Outlined here is a typical AP Team with data on each unit.

Team Leader

The Team Leader is the Strategic and Tactical brains behind the unit. Always an officer of the Army Branch, the Leader is trained is small unit tactics to a degree comparable to a 20th century S.A.S, Delta Force or SOCOM commander. The Leader is responsible for choosing assignments for his team and has the authority to requisition ANY vehicle, arms or equipment necessary to ensure the success of the mission. Leaders sometimes butt heads with base commanders concerning requisitions but they are ultimately granted just about any authority by AEGIS so they usually get what they want. The rest of the team looks to the Team Leader for guidance and direction, for supply and outfitting and just about every other need they have. Team Leaders are almost always Soldiers and rarely if ever Pilots or Techies.

Assault Trooper

The Assault Trooper is a combat specialist. A Soldier from the Army branch of the Earth Federation. He is trained is tactical strikes, assault, sweep and clear and just about every other kind of special forces combat necessary to take battle to the enemy. Think of this Role like the Commando Team Schwarzenegger puts together in the movie Predator and you have a solid picture. They usually handle any kind of weapon load-out from submachine guns to Squad Assault Weapons and everything in between. They are usually deadly hand to hand combatants as well. Most older Assault Troopers are cyborgs. Younger A.T.s are still sometimes fully human soldiers but the position is so hazardous and likely to result in heavy damage that there are almost no known fully human A.T.s with more than 3 years of service.

Recon and Heavy Weapons

Crucial members of a well rounded combat team, the Recon and Heavy Weapon Soldiers are commonplace additions to any A.P.Team.

Recon Soldiers specialize in battlefield and urban information gathering. Trained to sneak deep into enemy territory and slip in and out invisibly while surgically terminating key enemy units and sabotaging enemy buildings and vehicles. Think of Solid Snake from the game Metal Gear Solid and you have the right picture of this trooper. They are sometimes Mechajocks or Pilots as well. Typically outfitted with light weapons or sniper kits, they are highly mobile and used to working alone. Be it in the armored cockpit of a Battle Mech or creeping through the brush outside an enemy perimeter.

Heavy Weapon Soldiers are lords of destruction! They can level a bunker, sink a bridge, take out a tank and generally spread mayhem across a battlefield singlehandedly. Form RPGs to C4 these modern day Siege Engineers wreak havoc on enemy emplacements and armor. If something big needs to get brought down without using a mech these Soldiers specialize in calling in a bombing air strike or an artillery barrage as well as hand setting explosives and demolition charges. Commonly, they are also expert vehicle pilots often with Tank training or Artillery Gunnery skills. They will usually drive the Team's transport truck or pilot the command mech. Think of B.A. Barrachus from the TV show The A Team and you have a good picture of what this Soldier should be like.

Pilot

A crucial member of any A.P Team, the pilot is the default transporter of the team from Base to Area of Operation. Some pilots are also Mechajocks. All are trained in LandMate combat. As Heinlein predicted in the 20th Century, many pilots are female as their hand-eye coordination, reflexes and ability to mentally multi-task often test as superior to males. Because of the One Year War and the bloody, internecine combat of the 21st Century, the Army of the Universal Century is almost evenly split between men and women. But being a pilot is being a member of the "Girls Club". Pilots are often small arms experts and marksmen rather than heavy weaponeers.

Espionage / Infiltration Specialist

Similar in function to the Recon Soldier, these units are trained in stealth and espionage. Outfitted with the finest stealth-suit technology and occasionally ESP-capable as well, these team members are excellent choices for single assassinations, infiltration missions, extractions and recovery / retrieval situations. They are sometimes extremely deadly hand to hand fighters wielding exotic weapons like monofilament cutters, Mono-swords, hyper-vibrational weapons, and gas / air guns loaded with near-silent flechettes or poisons. Many have some cyber enhancements to reflexes or concealed cyber-weapons like rippers. They are basically modern technological ninjas. Think of Gray Fox from Metal Gear Solid and you have a good image of these soldiers.

ESPer

Capable of an array of amazing powers these indispensable soldiers can come from just about any military background. Often they possess infiltration and espionage training. Fully 75% of all ESPers are women, that gender seeming to lend itself more easily to the kind of intuitive perception and empathy necessary to fundamentally grasp another's mind on the level necessary to read their thoughts. ESPer cannot have any implants or cybernetic parts as some sort of biofeedback interference seems to disable their powers if they do. Therefore they are among the most vulnerable of the team members. However their ability to perform supernatural feats of mentality more than makes up for this minor hindrance. Many ESPers either opt to go with the heaviest armor available or the least and rely on speed and camoflage and their extraordinary powers to protect them.
ESPers are known for their unusual clothes and bio-luminescent tattoos and other iconoclastic affectations, also for being outspoken ideologues and eccentrics. Their minds often work in ways different from regular people, making them sometimes unsettling to interact with.

Liaison Officer and Infantry

Infantry is the standard fighting unit in any war. And the Universal Century is no exception. These trained and outfitted soldiers are the bulk of any fighting unit. Like Assault Troopers they are EXTREMELY likely to end up cyborgs after only a few years. Any fully-human Infantry Soldier who's been in long enough to gain a rank as high as Sargent is well respected by his fellow troops as it pretty much proves that he is a consummate soldier possessing true warrior's spirit. An Infantryman can act as an ad-hoc sniper, Sweep and Clear a building, undertake extended missions in the field, and fight effectively under a number of situations. Truly a versatile character. The standard of warriors in the 22nd Century. Think of the Space Marines from the movie Aliens and you have a good picture of these characters.

The Liaison Officer is much more than the name at first suggests. These Military Academy trained soldiers are the interface between the Team Leaders and the high command. Rarely if ever will they ever see a battle field personally however they are the constant command and control link from the frontline Team Leader to the greater Military. They fill the role of "Handler", Requisitions Expert, information and data gathering and a host of other functions that make it possible for the Team Leader to be fully informed and in touch with command at all times. The Liaison Officer handles all the satellite intel and Spy / Recon plane data filtering it through to the Team Leader through his implanted satellite up-link or cellular implant. Anticipates supply and equipment needs and arranges them. And handles communications with Central Command and AEGIS. Think of the Network Handlers from the Max Headroom television series and you have a good image of these characters.

Combat Cyborg

This is it! The scariest, toughest, deadliest Soldier in the Universal Century. So dangerous that they almost have a "Boogie-Man" status in the popular consciousness. There is simply no more lethal combat unit in existence. These are full-body-conversion 'death-machines' that are largely bullet proof, fast as lightning, can hear a pin drop from 10 meters away, can see in the absolute dark, cannot be gassed or poisoned, and often have decades of front-line combat experience. In short, the pinnacle of human fighting technology.
A majority of Combat Cyborgs are veterans of World Wars III though V and therefore up to 100 years old and born and bred on the battlefield. As you might imagine, some are near psychotic from post traumatic stress disorder but other have an unsettling machinelike cool that makes them positively inhuman. Still others are as regular as anyone else, especially the younger, newly-converted 'borgs. Think of Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Model 101 Terminator from The Terminator and you have a good feeling for the relentless danger this Role should evoke. Though most combat cyborgs have much more personality.

Mechajock

The "Ace Pilot" of the Universal Century. These single-purpose, specially trained warriors devote their careers to the immensely complex task of mastering Mecha combat. Take the complexity and breadth of knowledge required to pilot the most complex jet fighters or helicopter gunships of the 20th Century and multiply it by 150 to 200% and you have the difficulty of being a true Mechajock. Regular Pilots can learn to dive a Battle Mech but only the Mechajock can really turn on it's full potential. These soldiers are abreast of the razors edge of technology in battle machines. Part techie, part top-gun and a whole lot of self confidence. They are truly the few and the proud of the U.C.'s fighting men and women. All A.P Teams have at least one Mechajock. Mechajocks are also usually premier LandMate pilots as well.

NEO A.P. Team

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Seeing the success of AEGIS' A.P. Team strategy, The Principality of Near Earth Orbitals has begun to form their own Teams. Shown here is a typical team the players may run in to. Earth Recon-Snipers love the way the officers are so obviously differentiated by their uniforms and thus easier to spot in the group and pick off.