4th Year Anniversary/Question

[kato13]

TR 02-02-2003, 06:30 PM http://www.wapahani.com/t2k.jpg


It is amazing to me but my site has now been up on the web (at one server or another) for 4 years now...


I've got some new materials forthcoming...


*new small arms entries (modern and antique)


*new armor entries



The question for everyone is what would you print if you were going to publish one suppliment for Twilight: 2000 what would it be and why?


My answer is simple (and most can probably guess)... a new small arms refrence with world wide national inventory lists so one doesn't have to wonder what is in use and where...



Anyone else want to chime in?




Until Later


TR

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Snake Eyes 02-02-2003, 07:37 PM Here's what I'd do: Armor XXI.


Quoting from "The Twilght GPS Survey" (v2.2, p. 280):


"Europe is unified and locked in a global trade war with the US and Japan. Africa is heavily depopulated by AIDS. Parts of the Middle East are still radioactive from Iraq's abortive attempts at nuclear blackmail. The world is short of raw materials, particularly oil, and the Nigerian wells and oil reserves may mean the difference between economic survival and collapse.


"This game covers conventional and unconventional warfare between the US and the EEC in central Africa over Nigerian and Angolan oil. The scenario is an excuse to explore the nature of warfare two to three decades down the road. The obsolete tanks are M1A3s with 140mm electrochemical guns. Newer vehicles mount hyper-velocity railguns and active electromagnetic armor, but the real killers are helicopters and commando teams with laser designators.


"Even if it all sounds like science fiction, everything in the game will be weapons systems currently being developed or researched.


Seems eerily prescient now. You see, the appeal of Twilight:2000 for me was never some silly romantic notion of what it might be like to beg, scavenge, or kill for scraps in a bleak and desolate post-holocaust, scorched Earth nightmare . It was knowing that (at least to a high school freshman living in Alaska in 1985) that it could actually unwind that way. As reality diverges farther and farther from the timeline proposed in Twilight:2000, and "Countdown to Armageddon" becomes an alternate history, hindsight gets better and it becomes clear that it really couldn't have gone down like that.


I think the situation and events put forth in the outline for Armor XXI goes a long way toward recapturing part of the spirit of living in awe/fear of an unknown future in an unstable world (not to mention the potential for all those new kick-ass toys). You need only to have picked up a newspaper (or watch CNN) over the last three months to see the Armor XXI scenario looming just beyond the horizon. Knocking the timeline out another 15-20 years is exactly what this game needs to freshen it up, and that's where I'm putting my money.

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TR 02-02-2003, 08:09 PM I'd always heard of it but never actually seen any material hype on the game... I think the game itself can be tweaked of course to use the world we live in and modified of course... we have had so many "What If" moments over the past 12 years it is not funny...



Until Later


TR

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pmulcahy 02-02-2003, 08:13 PM With the present economic problems in the world and the war on terrorism, I sometimes think we may be sliding into a world similar to that of Merc 2000.

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TR 02-02-2003, 08:24 PM Merc: 2000 is definately more akin to the world we live in these days granted... and with the prevailing trend for Mercenary Organizations to be hired by governments across the world for defense of facilities, peace keeping duties and so forth the realm of Merc is here and now.



UntilLater


TR

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Aaron 02-03-2003, 03:38 PM With the governments hell bent goal of privatizing government services it is just a matter of time for combat forces to go the MERC route, I just read an article the other day that in Bosnia the US Army has contracted support services so that each soldier is supported almost 2 to 1 by civilain contractors (nearly 2 contractors per soldier), these are cooks, builders, laundry etc. Granted these are non combat positions but my question is what would have happened during the Battle of the Bulge if 2 out of three soldiers had been incapable of joining the fight because of lack of training, equipment and status as combatants. Traditionally your support branches are where you get your extra solders when the situation really goes downhill. If they are willing to put civilian contractors into a warzone then MERCs are just the next logical step. Of course you don't call them MERCs you come up with something catchy like the US Forgien Legion or the US Independant Freedom Brigade or some such.

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TR 02-03-2003, 04:12 PM It's been interesting to see the number of Merc Organizations develop over the past decade...


Executive Outcomes in South Africa, MPRI in the USA, Grey Areas Intl and Sandline Intl of the UK, Satellite Protection Services of Denmark and so forth. Quite the change from 30 years ago when none of these groups even exsisted.



Until Later


TR

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Jason Weiser 02-04-2003, 12:46 AM Well, force XXI definately, and I'd also like to see T2K's expansion into dealing with Mercs and our current threat environment (I got D20 Afghanistan, it's not bad, could be better). But yeah, T2K mostly just needs a return to the quality of Frey, Weisman and Keith.

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ReHerakhte 02-05-2003, 03:19 AM I agree with much of what's been said here, I would love to have seen Armor XXI get into print but I figure a mix of Merc and Armor XXI would be more representative of a near future setting. But I also agree with TR in that a better TOE listing for the world (or at least the most likely gaming areas) is needed.


As for names to call government employed mercs, in one Merc2000 game I ran, I had the Australian government hire them as "Short-term, Contract Soldiers".


Cheers,

Kevin.

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