Resource Sampling:

Infiltration:
There is a powerful alien civilization on this planet, with space-faring capabilities. Your task is to go in as “embassadors” of Terra, and try to find out the extent of their empire so that a TEF-wide assault can be coordinated to take down this possibly legitimate threat to Terra. Conflicts will need to be kept small and covert, so as not to rouse the animosity of the civilization before their full power is gauged.

Beachhead:
You are the first unit to go in. Your mission is to locate and establish a suitable Landing Zone for the main effort of the assault. This could go many ways afterward, from the main body having a problem, to the PCs squad being put on LZ guard, or even being put at the point of the assault.

Rearguard:
The planet is too hot for 3:16 ground forces to cleanse, so they’re pulling out. You have been tasked with being the last ones off-planet, guarding the retreat and recovery of the rest of your unit. You’ll be pulled out, Troopers. Command values your expertise, and wouldn’t jeopardize you if it weren’t absolutely necessary. This is an opportunity for an iconic “fleeing the planet ahead of a nuclear explosion” scene.

Slash and Burn
The planet below is teeming with life- plants, insects, birds, a vast spectrum of non-threatening flora and fauna. Burn it all to the ground and salt the soil so that nothing ever thrives on the planet again.

Precise Instrument
Deploy your troopers for a surgical strike against a technologically advanced alien world. Orders dictate that the alien planetary infrastructure is the primary target- spaceports, industrial complexes, power generation facilities. Casualties are to be kept to a minimum- troopers are to engage only when directly attacked. Those returning to base with a minimum number (or no) kills are to be rewarded, while trigger-happy goons will come under scrutiny.

Code Name: AZATHOTH
Military Intelligence has discovered something unusual: a supermassive black hole that they believe to be intelligent. And hostile. The last two ships sent to destroy it indicated [CLASSIFIED] before they themselves were destroyed: so we’re going to try an experimental psychoactive counteragent on your Company’s troops when you’re sent to finish the job. Good luck!

(Run it as a Sentient Planet with Shadow Beast style minions (that may or may not just be psychic projections) and the Induce Weakness Special Ability, using emotional/mental attacks, and with a pretty high AA.)

((ETA: Just thought of an obvious alternative: “Corrupt” Trooper “minions” instead. Weirdly, this one is almost harsher if you use a low AA.))

Traitor
An officer seems to be conspiring with the aliens on the planets surface! Get down there and take her out before she sells out any secrets. Whoever brings her back alive gets a nice medal. Upon finding her with the aliens anyone can use their turn to roll FA to kill her instead of a threat token, she runs away after the first round. NFA to catch up to her and then NFA to capture her (she fights back, FA 5) or FA to kill her.

Operation Bookworms:

Operation Trident:
Players are assigned to locate and destroy a crashed scout vessel at the bottom of an ocean.
Takes place on a waterworld with large piranha like fish with a huge mouth and multiple rows of teeth and the ability to generate electricity once per encounter at any range which screws with the electronics in the PC’s suits causes a hit and knocks out their Fish Finder’s for the rest of the mission. The fish also have Rapid Movement.
Equipment Issues: The only weapons that will work under water are, Hand to Hand (knife), Power Claws, Power Blade, FlechetteGun (with the rate of fire (kills) dialed back one level to allow for the flechettes to clear the barrel due to the greater resistance of the water), RocketLauncher (with modified rocket torpedoes), Grenades (may fire from Far range if the PC set range the turn before and is considered above the target and dropping grenades down on them, depth charge style, after setting a longer delay on their timer, however the grenade goes off at the end of the round due to the time to drift down). Visibility is murky and ends at Near however PC’s are issued Sonar Detectors which attach to their helmet. They locate objects at Far range and are called Fish Finders by the troops. However on a Fish Finder a PC at Far cannot differentiate aliens from other PC’s who are at Close and if the PC at Far fires at the aliens one of his kills is assigned to each PC at Close.

Captured aliens escape containment on board the ship mid transport. PC’s wake up when the ship automatically thaws them out, groggy, naked, with sirens shrieking, and find a bloody crewman corpse in the adjacent corridor. “Which way was the weapons locker?” (NFA roll).

Piece Talks:
Players are part of honor guard for a truce to be signed with an alien species (after a mission goes bad (evac) versus the same intelligent aliens). The truce is a rouse to take out the Brigadier. Scenario starts as an ambush if the PC with the best NFA fails his roll. They must try and get the Brigadier and themselves off planet. First turn is an ambush and only PC’s that pass an NFA may act. Players may use their body to take a kill for the Brigadier.

Space…err…Large Drifting Ship:
Players’ unit is assigned to sweep out a derelict alien Hulk ship in space that has been infested with parasitic aliens but which contains new technology of the original owners. They may run into other high tech aliens who are after the same thing. Only the second encounter can be at far range (long corridor), the rest can only be at short or close.

Guarding your Rep…and Recreation:
Players’ are pulled out of the front line for R&R and to participate in training maneuvers. They meet up with another unit that they’ve animosity with from previous missions, the third army, seventh brigade, or the “Lucky” 3:7, who they’ve grown to dislike during previous missions for impetuously attacking and leaving PCs’ flank open, running away at a crucial moment, slow in advancing, etc. Unknown to the players the 3:7 actually has the same values as the PC’s. The first encounter is a bar room brawl (players are with others of their unit). The soldiers involved are called in to be chewed out by the Brigadier but it’s pretty clear by the end that he’s amused by the whole thing if they did well and that he’s most upset that they came out the worse if they lost.

The second encounter is Play “Z Ball” where they fin out that they’re playing the 3:7th. – Played in zero G with mercury filled balls that fly at odd angles. The players see one of the 3:7th with a black eye talking to one of the officers setting up the schedule and see the officer scoot the team names around in some way, but they don’t see how. Rolls vs FA will score against the opponents, Rolls vs NFA will avoid one score by the opponents. There are 2 halves (rounds) of play. The brigadier talk to you and tells you that this is for the pride of the Brigade, “Go Sixteen!”.
The third encounter is against an OpFor which they find out is the 3:7th, both side roll their best NFA at start and if one makes it and the other fails the encounter is at the failing team’s headquarters (a great embarrassment to have it overrun). For the scenario no permanent kills can be taken but rank can be gained through “kills” (miles type gear, a PC that takes a hit is “killed”).

With Friends Like These…
Battlefield Tech is a leading defense manufacturer. They’ve actually made some of the Expeditionary Force’s equipment in the past. Recently they bankrolled their company’s future on a new line of forty foot tall bipedal vehicles (Military Expeditionary Combat Harriers), bristling with weaponry which were to make all other military systems obsolete. The Expeditionary Force and the Terran Defense Force conducted tests but in the end turned them down. Analysts said the company was ruined, however they moved their headquarters off Terra out to the rim and somehow managed to do well for themselves. Now Intel says that they’re actually building these vehicles for alien races (note players may have seen one on an earlier mission that wasn’t powered up). The 3:16 is now planning a mission to the headquarters of Battlefield Tech. During the mission it should quickly become apparent that there is no easier target to spot than a forty foot tall machine walking around. The MECH’s will be taken out by fleet or heavy weapon fire support within seconds any time one appears in the distance (beyond FAR range) and is identified by one of the PC’s or NPC’s. This is a backdrop to the game. Then the PC’s will have in to move to complete the mission, occasionally coming across a smoldering pairs of twenty foot tall legs surrounded by slag and debris. The PC’s will then have to deal with the aliens protecting the headquarters. They could be body guards for the executives who are escaping or guarding evidence of alien dealings.

To Be or Not To Be
Terra Studios has sent some famous actors out to the 3:16 to get ideas for their new vid, “Expeditionary Force, the Vid”. The team is assigned to show them the ropes and watch over them. When loading on the drop ship the actors show up in costume with a film crew is along to make some promotional clips. It becomes apparent however that they’re actually shooting the vid (as well as blanks) during the current mission, using the live action/aliens as scenery and that the vid’s director is among the camera crew.

Kill Counter Explanation
(To explain why the kills are the same no matter how many or what size enemy PC’s face.)
The Kill Counters installed on the PC’s weapons utilize specialized sensors on the weapon and in the Mandelbrite suits. This information is then fed into a processor in the counter that uses a classified algorithm to award kills, which are then displayed on counter’s display screen. How the calculation is made is always a subject of conjecture and complaint by troopers but follows these general guidelines; killing a man sized alien is a kill, killing or even wounding larger aliens also awards “kills” although the actual individual alien may not be killed. Similarly against smaller aliens killing more than one may be necessary to actually be awarded a “kill”. In this way a trooper’s actual lethality can be scored competitively with his peers even if one trooper came up against a horde of small aliens and the other just one monstrous alien.

Requisitioning Duty

HoloVid Work
A Trooper film unit is despatched to a planetary surface with the Troopers. They are to be featured enjoying themselves in a variety of uplifting scenarios at the very edge of space (beach, bar, sightseeing, rock climbing, swimming). The film is to be sent home to the citizens of Terra and the film crew are on a tights schedule and low budget. The film crew also have orders to capture “action” sequences of bug-killing — apparently this planet has a suitable alien on it for the purpose.

Hull Cleaning
Get the squad on the outside of the ships scraping off the viral space algae that’s afixed itself to the fleet. Watch you don’t get spaced.

Parade Stop
Cleanse the planet and prepare it for a mass parade in honour of the Brigadier being awarded the Cosmic Heart medal by the Terran Council.

Supply Detail
Your task is to protect the supply area. Keep the food and ammo shipping to the front-line units and log in all the coffins and crates coming back. You are NOT to engage the enemy or leave post. You are not to interfere with any of the coffins or crates coming back from the front line. Do you understand?

Sunrise Down
A Starkiller missile has malfunctioned… and it is now embedded in the soft dusty sand of a planet. The brass deem it inappropriate to fire a second missile and so they order a Company of Troops to the surface to recover the missile (dis-armed) and then pilot it back to the ship. The hostiles on the planet who were targeted for System Annihilation will now have to be dealt with by personal force. Why the missile malfunctioned may be related to the Tech Level of the aliens…

Under Seige
An elite Company of Troopers are sent back through a wormhole to a waterworld planet. Affixed to the very bottom of its oceans is Seabase Nemo, where technologies to help the war effort are perfected. A hostile attack from space has the base under seige and it is in imminent danger of being wiped out. The base must be liberated and its technologies secured for the good of Terra.

Catch Up
The squad have fallen behind the main fleet owing to a side mission or technical problems with their spacecraft. They must now find and catch up to the fleet destroying any aliens that get in their way. Surely none have slipped past the main fleet’s path of destruction?

Training Day
You are tasked with taking on other troops in simulated battlefield conditions as part of Training Day to prepare for the assault of the hell-hole that is Planet Monet. You have received your innoculations to prepare for that planet and all that is left is this final combat simulation. All your weapons are neutralized but your Kill Counters will register kills as if you had made them. There is a big bonus to the team with the highest score. The HUDs will also realistically show the effects of your shots using advanced Holo Graphics. If you are “killed” you will be taken from the exercise and de-briefed by Re-Training Officers. The exercise starts with you assaulting the SS Sevastapol, and your mission is to take the bridge and scuttle the ship.

Needless to say, at the end of the mission it will become apparent that this was not training and these were real kills. You also now have cancerous blood, of course.

Revolt

War Games
Orders: It’s time to train the noobs. B-squad have been assigned the role of bugs to train up squads of new recruits. Your mandelbrite armour has been given camouflage circuits so that you look like bugs. Go show them noobs.

Garbage Disposal
Combat drugs have been found to be carcinogenic. It’s your job to take the lot and dump them in the swamp. Nothing lives there so we’re pretty sure you’ll be fine.

Going In
The Major’s immune system has been destroyed by an alien bug (although rumours suggest it might be loose living). C-squad will be shrunk to the size of amoeba and injected into his bloodstream to fight the infection. Do not tinker with the DNA, that’s an order trooper!

Staying In
D-squad are stuck on Ronaldinho and need suitable billeting. Find some locals and evict them from their houses and make them fetch you food too.

Security Duty
A big swirly thing in space has been destroying ships. We’ve traced it to a planet. You are to act as security to the investigating team. The aliens can only see in the red spectrum so you will paint your mandelbrite suits this colour to lure attention away from the other team.

Over the top
What we require at this point, to rally morale, is a rather stunning sacrifice of personnel and equipment. Report at 8:00 for going over the top (GM has limitless supply of enemies).

Upgrade
Mandelbrite armour has been upgraded. Trash your old suits and report for training with the new suits (use NFA to work suits or take damage, blobs represent number of bugs in the upgraded systems).

Secret Weapons Test:

Psychic Alien Riders:
Orders: A colony of settlers has been taken over by psychic aliens. Ignore their human-sounding pleas for mercy – they are excellent mimics. Destroy all life.

Drugs Test
Orders: All troopers, but not NCOs are to take Substance Blue before engaging the enemy the first time. On completion of contact, take Substance Red.

Drugs Test 2
Before landfall, all troopers are forceably injected with Revelation, a new combat drug (NFA to avoid). During the final combat, (while tokens still remain) their vision starts flickering, and it appears they have been engaged with other Terran troopers. This is a residual hallucination, of course.

Solar Flare
Orders: Apparently low-tech aliens are responsible for a solar flare which engulfed the fleet. Destroy the aliens, and find and recover the device which activated the solar flare. There will be no evac until the cause of the flare is discovered.

Cricket bat and ball
B-Squad will be assigned an alternative leisure activity, cricket bat and ball. This is to be used during all assigned downtime, and combat performance measured.

Intelligence Officer
B-Squad is to protect Dr Dorian at all costs, and escort him whereever he wishes to go. (Any trooper with Dorian may take an extra wound to avoid Dorian taking a wound). Dorian has no concept of danger, and appears to be communicating with the aliens. This gives many options: Dorian is taken over by the aliens, appears to be taken over by aliens, befriends the aliens, goes mad, request that the troopers activate a device, etc.

Operation Scape Goat
Orders: B-Squad is assigned to guard Zone 4, a featureless hill, and draw enemy fire, while the local allied insurgents use the surprise to attack logistical nodes and roll up enemy lines.

Hot Landing
A stray round from the orbital bombardment passes close to the landing craft, knocking it off course so that it lands in the hive queen’s egg clusters. Aliens attack in two waves, with no time for healing.

Operation Kasperov
Capture the alien queen alive at all costs.

Operation Parasite
Secret orders for the Sergeant. One of your troopers must be succesfully attacked by the ovipositor of a class B alien. Arrange for the trooper to be in close contact with aliens with damaged armour. Do not allow the trooper to receive medical treatment. If necessary, infect the entire squad, yourself included.

Operation Insider
Secret orders for the Sergeant to be opened on first contact with the enemy.
Surrender, allow yourselves to be captured, and await further orders you will receive on the transponder embedded in your skull.

Operation Pleasure Palace
Guard General Simmond’s villa on the water world of Da Vinci until he and his entourage arrive. Be there to greet him in dress uniform when he lands. Do not touch his stuff. There are no known alien threats, so this mission should be straightforward. If his villa is damaged or anyone touches his stuff, you will be punished. Did I say don’t touch his stuff?

Operation Restore
A fleet supply ship is not following protocol, or answering signals. We are sending you to board. They crew are probably just drunk.
(Could be a malfunctioning AI, a delivery of warbots which are virus infected, an alien infestation, or they could be all drunk.)

Recover the Plans
A ship was captured, but a life capsule containing plans of a secret Terran battlestation escaped and made landfall on a desert world. We didn’t detect any life forms. Go dirtside, and recover the plans with extreme prejudice.

Letters from Home:

The Unit: If a PC reaches Lieutenant, give him a short list of names (the list on page 90 is ideal). Whenever the aliens succeed in an AA check, mark a name off the list. Don’t be surprised if players get attached to these disposable NPCs – a character who starts off as just a random name on a list can become a memorable part of the supporting cast if he survives three or four missions.

Credits per Kill: PCs earn credits for each kill – one $ per kill. Credits can be gambled, spent on the ship for luxuries like better food or extra ammo, or hoarded for retirement.

Embedded Reporters: A reporter visits the 3:16th. The PCs have a chance to speak candidly about their experiences. Maybe the reporter even goes with them on their next mission, in which case they’ll have to keep him alive.

Left Behind: For tactical reasons, the Expeditionary Force has to depart, leaving the PCs to fend for themselves. The characters are stuck on this planet for at least one more mission. They may heal their wounds and repair armour if they find a suitable base.

Reload! (new rule): If a PC rolls exactly equal to his FA, he runs out of ammo at the end of his turn. He may switch to a different weapon, or make an NFA roll to reload. The weapon cannot be used unless reloaded. If he reloads, he scores double the normal amount of kills when he next uses that weapon in this encounter. Grenades and hand-to-hand weapons are exempt from this rule.

Stalker (new equipment): The Stalker is a four-metre tall suit of power armour. It may be taken instead of an APC. A character wearing the Stalker suit has the following bonuses:

• He may change range at the start of his turn if he makes a successful FA check that is higher than that of his opponent
• All his attacks have their damage upgraded by one step. This stacks with upgrades from Development rolls or automatic improvements, but a weapon’s damage at each range can still only be upgraded twice. Therefore, a weapon that has been upgraded twice by development rolls cannot benefit from this bonus.
• The Stalker suit provides a second Armour box. However, if this Armour box is used, the Stalker suit is destroyed and a new one must be obtained with a Development roll
• A character wearing a Stalker suit cannot ambush aliens by winning Dominance. The PCs can only Ambush using drop pods if any of them have suits.

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