Insertion/Extraction
Methods
By Jim
Hunsinger
Insertion and extraction are the methods used by the military to put teams of men into a specific area and to get them out again. There are many insertion and extraction methods available. Some of these methods require special skills to be able to perform correctly. Without these skills some of these techniques may cause injury or even death.
Listed below are the different insertion and extraction methods with a description of the method and any special skills needed for it. Many insertion and extraction techniques that require special skills to perform have serious consequences when a failure or critical failure is rolled. Some of the techniques that have no special skills can also have serious mishaps occur. Below this text there are charts that show the necessary skill checks and the results of failures, critical failures, and mishaps for each of the methods that are dangerous to perform.Insertion Methods:
Walk: No special skill required. No mishap roll. Self explanatory, walk into the bush by putting one foot in front of the other.
Ground vehicle: No special skill required. No mishap roll. Hitch a ride on a truck, APC, or maybe even a tank. Some armies have specialized vehicles for carrying powerarmors or mecha into the combat zone.
Boat: No special skill required. No mishap roll. This can be either an amphibious landing or maybe heading miles up a river on a boat or hovercraft.
Air mobile: No special skill required. No mishap roll. This one is simple. Everyone pile into a VTOL and fly to the insertion point where the aircraft will land and everyone will get out. Normally the pilot will make several landings in order to confuse any observing enemy forces. The characters will know which landing they are to get off at however. "Is that "Ride of the Valkeries" I hear?"
Air assault: Air assault skill required. Mishaps on failures and critical failures. Air assault is similar to airmobile except the VTOL never lands. Instead, it hovers at about 100 feet altitude while the troops slide down ropes to the ground. This is called repelling. There is also another aspect to air assault known as sling loading. This where equipment, a vehicle, or even supplies on a palette are slung from below the VTOL with several ropes. Once to the destination it is set on the ground and the ropes are released. The skill of air assault covers both of these aspects.
To repel from the VTOL is an average air assault skill roll. If the character fails this roll then they will fall 1d10 x 10 feet to the ground. The character will have one chance to catch himself by making an average air assault skill roll. If this roll is failed then the character will complete the fall. (See falling damage on page 115 of MZ.) If the character rolls a critical failure when repelling the rope snaps and the character will fall to the ground from 1d10 x 10 feet.
To sling load something is an average air assault skill roll as well. If the character fails the skill roll then during the flight one of the lines will snap causing the load to become severely unbalanced. The pilot will either have to release the object or make a difficult piloting skill roll to set the object down on the ground. If the character rolls a critical failure then the cables will snap in flight dropping the object to the ground.Airborne: Parachute skill required. Mishaps on failures and critical failures. Jumping out of an aircraft with a parachute. There are more advanced methods of this described later in this section but this is just the generic, everyone pile out of the aircraft, bunches of chutes in the air, land hard and curse a lot, airborne. In a normal parachute drop, the parachute is automatically pulled for the person when they leave the aircraft with what is known as a static line. Characters must make two average parachute skill rolls when doing an airborne drop. One when exiting the aircraft and one when landing. If the character fails the skill roll when exiting the aircraft then they will be slammed and buffeted by the wind and violently jostled about taking 1d6 hits to a randomly rolled location. If the character rolls a critical failure then they must roll on mishaps table 1 in the charts below. The possible results to that roll are listed here as well:
Dragged: The risers (cords) of the parachute get caught on the aircraft and drag the character along. The character will be repeatedly beaten against the aircraft causing 2d6 hits to a randomly rolled location per turn until the character is either beaten to a pulp or until they are cut loose. A character may cut themselves loose if they have some sort of blade and succeeds in an average blade skill roll.
Burn-in: The chute simply does not open. If the character cannot deploy their reserve chute in time they will crash and burn. (See "Reserve chutes" and "falling and descent rates" below.)
Streamer: This is when the risers (cords) get tangled with the chute and cause it to stream. While this does still slow the descent of the character, it is not usually enough to avoid serious injury or even death on impact with the ground. The character may attempt to deploy their reserve chute if they have time. If a character strikes the ground with a streamer they will receive 5d10 hits of damage to all body locations. This will more than likely prove to be fatal.
If the character fails their roll for landing then they will receive 1d6 hits to the legs due to a hard landing. If they roll a critical failure then they will receive 3d6 damage to each leg from a severely hard, rough, landing.
HALO: HALO/HAHO and parachute skills required. Mishaps on failures and critical failures. High Altitude Low Opening. In short this is sky diving from a very high altitude. HALO jumps are done from such high altitude that it is necessary to use an oxygen tank and mask. Normally done with a paraglider, it is usually deployed at under 1000 ft altitude. There are three rolls to made when performing a HALO jump. The first, an average HALO skill roll when exiting the aircraft. If a failure results, then the character will receive 1d6 hits to the head per turn from the centrifugal forces of an uncontrolled tumble. The tumble may be halted by making an average HALO skill roll. If a critical failure is rolled during exiting the aircraft or while trying to recover from a tumble then it will result in a severe tumble causing 1d6+2 hits of damage to the head per turn as well as a loss of 1-3 points of reflex (Recoverable at the rate of 1 point a week.) due to the centrifugal forces and damage to the inner ear and their equilibrium. A severe tumble may be stopped by making a difficult HALO skill roll. The second roll is for when the character deploys the parachute. If a failure results then the character is subject to the result rolled on mishaps table 2 in the charts below. The results of table 2 are the same as on table 1 for airborne insertions. If a critical failure results, then the character will begin a normal tumble as above. The last roll is for landing. This roll is identical to the airborne roll with the same results for failures and critical failures.
HAHO: HALO/HAHO and parachute skills required. Mishaps on failures and critical failures. High Altitude High Opening. Very similar to a HALO jump except the parachute is opened at very high altitude. A paraglider is used so that the character may steer themselves to the drop zone. The highest a HAHO jump is normally done from is 30,000 ft. From that height a character can glide around 24 km from the drop point. Skill rolls, results of failures, and critical failures are the same as for a HALO jump.
LALO: Parachute skill required. Mishaps on failures and critical failures. Low Altitude Low Opening. This can be a very dangerous insertion technique. It is only different from a normal airborne drop in that the aircraft flies at a low altitude of about five or six hundred feet. As you can see after reading the section on falling and rate of descent, if the main chute fails, there is no time to deploy a reserve chute. The skill rolls, results of failures, and critical failures are the same as for an airborne insertion. This insertion method is used when the paratroops have a better than average chance of being fired at during their descent. The logic being the lower the altitude of the drop then the less time hanging in the air and thus, less time to be helplessly shot at. There will be a whole lot less time to be shot at of course if the chute does not open up. At that time the ground becomes a bigger enemy than the incoming bullets!
HANO: No special skill required. No mishap roll. High Altitude No Opening. This is the easiest insertion method to perform and is usually performed unwillingly. The character leaps from the aircraft kicking and screaming. The character then accelerates to terminal velocity and crashes into the ground, smashing themselves to a pulp...SPLAT!
Its a joke! Its a joke! ... Sheesh!
LANO: LANO skill required. Mishaps on failures and critical failures. Low Altitude No Opening. No, this one is not a joke. This technique can be performed in any soft sand desert or even in soft packed snow. Characters with much experience in LANO insertions may perform it in other types of terrain as well but the difficulty level is generally higher. It is performed by having an aircraft fly at about 10 ft altitude and as slow as it possibly can. The troops then jump out of the aircraft into the soft sand or soft packed snow. There is only one skill roll that need to be made when a character performs a LANO insertion and that is when they land. To land properly during the LANO insertion is an average LANO skill roll. If the insertion is being done in a different type of terrain than sand or snow then the difficulty of the roll will be increased. This increase is at the game masters discretion. LANO jumps cannot be performed in forest, jungle, or similar terrain due to the fact that they will slam into trees etc. almost surely resulting in serious injury. If a failure occurs during landing then the character will receive 2d6 hits of damage to their legs from a rough landing. If a critical failure occurs then the character has landed all wrong and will receive 3d6 hits of damage to a randomly rolled location.
LAPES: No special skill required. Mishap on a result of 1 on 1D10. Low Altitude Parachute Extraction System. This is kind of a cross between LANO and LALO with a twist. LAPES is not used for troops alone. It is usually used to deliver vehicles , mecha, and supplies. Troops can however, be inside of vehicles or mecha and strapped in tight to protect them from the severe shock and vibration from the impact. LAPES must be done from an aircraft that has a rear opening cargo door/ramp. The landing zone must also be a relatively large, flat area such as a road, open field, etc. First, the equipment, vehicle, or whatever is going to be inserted is very securely strapped down onto a large shock absorbent palette. The palette a parachute attached to it. The aircraft flies at a moderate speed at a very low altitude (approximately 10 feet) with the rear cargo doors open. The parachute on the palette is then deployed out behind the aircraft. The chute drags the palette out of the back of the aircraft where it drops to the ground and skids to a stop with the assistance of the parachute. When a drop is done the game master rolls 1d10. On a roll of 1 there has been a mishap. Roll on the mishap table for LAPES in the charts below. If the palette breaks up then the payload on that palette will receive damage equal to the amount rolled. If the payload is a vehicle with characters inside, the characters will also receive damage equal to the amount rolled for humans.. Characters will not receive this damage if they are inside a walker, powerarmor, or a similarly tight cockpit. If the payload tumbles then it is handled the same way except the damage is greater. There is no skill for LAPES. The characters are just along for the ride.
Helocasting: LANO skill required. Mishaps on failures and critical failures. In effect this is just like a LANO insertion except into the water instead. It is handled in the same way as a LANO insertion. If a failure occurs then the character has hit the water wrong and receives damage to a randomly rolled location. If a critical failure occurs then the character has been unlucky enough to strike something in or under the water. Once again the character receives damage to a randomly rolled location, just more of it.
LOARS: No special skill required. Mishap on a result of 1 on 1D10. Low Orbit Atmospheric Re-entry System. This is the most dangerous of all insertion techniques. There is no skill for LOARS so all the characters can do is ride and hope everything goes as planned. This is how it works: The characters, or the characters within their mecha are placed in a special sealed re-entry capsule. These capsules are air-tight and carry an hours worth of oxygen. The capsules are then carried into low earth orbit by a trans-atmospheric transport designed to launch them. Once in the correct orbit, the capsules are launched into the atmosphere. The capsules protect their payload from the heat and friction of atmospheric re-entry. Once the pod is within the atmosphere and at a low altitude, it deploys a parachute to lower the capsule to the ground. On the ground, the explosive bolts holding the hatch in place blow, opening the capsule to allow the payload to exit the capsule. Capsules come in different sizes to accommodate troops and mecha. Supplies can also be delivered to special troops far behind enemy lines using LOARS. There are many things that can go wrong during a LOARS insertion. If the capsules trajectory is slightly off or if it enters the atmosphere at just slightly the wrong angle then the capsule can burn up, stray off course, or the parachute could be damaged causing a rough landing or even cause the capsule to crash into the surface of the planet. This insertion technique is usually used to insert teams deep behind enemy lines. When a LOARS insertion is performed, roll 1d10 for each capsule. If a 1 is rolled then a mishap has occurred. Roll 1d10 on the mishap table and apply the results. If the result is a fatal one then the character may spend as many luck points as it would take to adjust the result of the dice to the result of cooked on the table. The different mishaps that can occur during a LOARS insertion are listed below:
Burn-up: The capsule has entered the atmosphere at the wrong angle and the heat of the re-entry incinerates the capsule and its contents.
Crash and burn: The parachute does not deploy and the capsule slams into the ground explosively. Destroying itself and its contents.
Cooked: The capsule has entered the atmosphere at a slightly off angle and heats up more than usual from the friction of re-entry. The capsule, in effect, becomes a large oven. Any characters within the capsule take 1d6 hits of damage to all locations from the intense heat. The damage is halved if the character is in some sort of mecha. The character must also make a stun/shock roll -3 in order to remain conscious. This is whether the character is inside a mecha or not.
Rough landing: The capsule has a very rough landing causing 1d6 hits to a randomly rolled location of the character.
Blown off drop zone: The capsule gets caught in the wind and updrafts. It is carried 3d10 kilometers off the drop zone. Determine the direction by rolling on the deviation diagram on pg. 97 of MZ.
Falling and rate of descent:
As could be expected, the rate that a character will fall from the sky under a given situation can become very important. A character will fall at a rate of 500 ft per turn.
A character with a streamer will fall at a rate of 300 ft per turn.
A character with a normal parachute will fall at a rate of 100 ft per turn.
A character with a paraglider will fall at a rate of 100 ft per turn but may glide forward at a maximum rate of 300 ft per turn as well. A character with a paraglider can effectively hover, that is holding its position both horizontally and vertically by making an average parachute skill roll.
Reserve chutes
If the time comes that a character must deploy a reserve chute. In order to do this the character must succeed in an average parachute skill check. There are modifiers for this however.
If the character has a streamer then the difficulty level jumps to difficult.
If the character is in a tumble then the skill difficulty jumps to very difficult.
Extraction Methods:
Walk: No special skill required. No mishap roll. Self explanatory, walk into the bush by putting one foot in front of the other.
Ground vehicle: No special skill required. No mishap roll. Hitch a ride on a truck, APC, or maybe even a tank. Some armies have specialized vehicles for carrying powerarmors or walkers into the combat zone.
Boat: No special skill required. No mishap roll. This can be either an amphibious landing or maybe heading miles up a river on a boat or hovercraft.
Air mobile: No special skill required. No mishap roll. Easy! Pile into a VTOL and get the hell out of the area!
STABO: No special skill required. Mishap on a result of 1 on 1D10. STABO is similar to sling loading in air assault except the cargo is people that are being sling loaded under the VTOL. The VTOL never lands but lowers a cable that attaches to a special harness worn by the character/s. The VTOL then lifts them out of the area. If more than one character is being lifted out with a STABO rig at one time then the characters link arms together to stabilize themselves against the wind resistance. If a mishap is rolled then roll on the STABO mishap table in the charts below. The results and there game effects are listed below.
Cable snaps and character falls: The cable or the straps of the harness break. The character falls to the ground taking the damage listed on page 115 of MZ for falling. The character may make a difficult athletics skill roll to grab onto the cable, another character, or whatever they can get there hands on in order to save themselves from falling.
Collision with object: The pilot errors and the character/s are slammed through some trees, a flock of birds, or whatever. (GMs, be creative!) Each character takes 3d6 hits to a randomly rolled location.
Sky Hook: No special skill required. Mishap on a result of 1 on 1D10. This extraction method is very dangerous. A special harness suit is connected by a heavy duty cable to a large balloon. The balloon is inflated and floats up into the sky trailing the cable. An aircraft outfitted with a special cable catching array fixed to the nose catches the cable. The character is then yanked into the sky behind the aircraft where they are reeled into the rear of the aircraft. If a mishap occurs roll on the Skyhook mishap table in the charts below. Mishap results and their game effects are listed below:
Line breaks early: The cable snaps when the aircraft catches it. The character is lifted 1d10 meters into the air before crashing back down to the ground. The character will take the appropriate amount of damage from the falling damage table on pg. 115 of MZ.
Line breaks late: As in the line breaking early except the character is at high enough of an altitude to fall to their death. The character may attempt a difficult athletics skill roll to catch the cable and hang on for dear life.
Collision: The character strikes some sort of object doing 3d6 hits to a randomly rolled location.
Impact with aircraft: As the character is being reeled into the aircraft they strike the hull, hard. The character will receive 2d6 hits to a randomly rolled location.
NOTE: This extraction method is normally only used for a single person such as a deep operative, a high level prisoner, or perhaps a casualty in bad need of being quickly evacuated. To extract any more than one person in this fashion would mean too much time over a potentially hostile area and too many passes of the aircraft to pick up the whole team.
INSERTION/EXTRACTION MISHAPS
METHOD
STABO Mishap on a 1 on 1d10.
Roll 1D6 to determine results.
1-3 Straps break, character falls. (See pg 115 of MZ)
4-6 Collision with object. 3D6 hits to randomly rolled location.SKYHOOK Mishap on a 1 on 1D10
Roll 1D6 to determine results.
1-2 Line breaks early. Character rises 1D10 meters before line snaps, dropping the character. (See pg 115 of MZ)
3-4 Line breaks late. Line breaks at high altitude, character falls to their death.
5 Collision. Character collides with something causing 3D6 damage to a randomly rolled location.
6 Impact with aircraft. 2D6 hits to a randomly rolled location.LAPES Mishap on a 1 on 1D10
Roll 1d6 to determine results.
1-3 Palette collapses
DAMAGE TO PAYLOAD DAMAGE TO HUMANS
1D6K to randomly rolled location. 1D6 hits to randomly rolled location.
4-6 Payload tumbles
DAMAGE TO PAYLOAD DAMAGE TO HUMANS
2D6K to randomly rolled location. 2D6 hits to randomly rolled location.
LOARS Mishap on a 1 on 1D10
Roll 1d10 to determine results.
1-2 Burn-up Capsule and contents disintegrate.
3-4 Crash and burn Chute does not deploy, capsule crashes explosively into the ground.
5-6 Cooked Character takes 1D6 hits to all locations and must make a stun/shock roll at -3 to remain conscious. (Damage is halved if character is inside mecha)
7-8 Rough landing Character takes 1D6 hits to a randomly rolled location.
9-10 Blown off drop zone Lands 3D10 miles from intended drop zone.
AIR ASSAULT Failure/Critical failure
Repelling (Average Air Assault)
SKILL FAILURE RESULTS
Character falls 1D10x10 feet. Character may make an AVG Air assault skill check to grab rope.
SKILL CRITICAL FAILURE RESULTS
Rope snaps, character burns in. Character may make a luck roll. to grab rope. (1 Chance)
Sling loading (Average Air Assault)
SKILL FAILURE RESULTS
Line snaps, unbalancing load. Pilot must either release load or make a Diff piloting roll.
SKILL CRITICAL FAILURE RESULTS
Cable snaps, dropping object.
HELOCASTING Failure/Critical failure
Landing (Avg LANO)
SKILL FAILURE RESULTS SKILL
1D6 hits to randomly rolled location from striking the water wrong.
CRITICAL FAILURE RESULTS
2D6 hits to randomly rolled location from striking an object in the water.
AIRBORNE Failure/Critical failure
Exiting aircraft (Avg Parachute)
SKILL FAILURE RESULTS
1D6 hits to randomly rolled location.
SKILL CRITICAL FAILURE RESULTS
Roll on sub-table 1
Landing (Avg Parachute)
SKILL FAILURE RESULTS
1D6 hits to both legs.
SKILL CRITICAL FAILURE RESULTS
3D6 hits to both legs.
HALO Failure/Critical failure
Exiting aircraft (Avg HALO)
SKILL FAILURE RESULTS
Tumble, 1D6 hits per turn to head
SKILL CRITICAL FAILURE RESULTS
Severe tumble, 1D6+2 hits per turn to head+1-3 points of reflex loss.
Deploying Chute (Avg Parachute)
SKILL FAILURE RESULTS
Roll on sub-table 2
SKILL CRITICAL FAILURE RESULTS
Tumble as above
Landing (Avg Parachute)
SKILL FAILURE RESULTS
1D6 hits to both legs
SKILL CRITICAL FAILURE RESULTS
2D6 hits to both legs
HAHO Failure/Critical failure
Exiting aircraft (Avg HAHO)
SKILL FAILURE RESULTS
Tumble, 1D6 hits per turn to head
SKILL CRITICAL FAILURE RESULTS
Severe tumble, 1D6+2 hits per turn to head+1-3 points of reflex loss.
Deploying Chute (Avg Parachute)
SKILL FAILURE RESULTS
Roll on sub-table 2
SKILL CRITICAL FAILURE RESULTS
Tumble as above
Landing (Avg Parachute)
SKILL FAILURE RESULTS
1D6 hits to both legs
SKILL CRITICAL FAILURE RESULTS
2D6 hits to both legs
LANO Failure/Critical failure
Landing (Avg LANO)
SKILL FAILURE RESULTS
2D6 to both legs.
SKILL CRITICAL FAILURE RESULTS
3D6 to randomly rolled location.
SPECIAL Failure/Critical failure
Recovery from tumble: (Avg skill)
SKILL FAILURE RESULTS
Continue tumble
SKILL CRITICAL FAILURE RESULTS
Enter severe tumble
Recovery from severe tumble: (Diff skill*)
SKILL FAILURE RESULTS
Continue severe tumble
SKILL CRITICAL FAILURE RESULTS
Lose Consciousness (Nice knowin' ya!)
* After the subtraction of 1-3 reflex points due to dis-orientation.
NOTE: A character in a tumble may attempt to deploy a chute. It is a diff parachute skill roll and it will be a streamer, but it will stop the tumble.
SUB-TABLE 1 SUB-TABLE 2
Roll 1d6 Roll 1d6
1-2 Dragged 1-3 Streamer
3-4 Burn-in 4-6 Burn-in
5-6 Streamer
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