Combat Engineers

Basic Information

 * Unit Name: Logistics Corps Combat Engineers
 * Affiliation: Eternal Empire
 * Classification: Frontline Combat Engineers

Armor and Weapons
Per Fireteam of Five:
 * 5x Sk-UL Mk2 Armor
 * 5x KC-SHDE Adaptive Camouflage System
 * 5x KC-VISR Thermomagnetic Optics System
 * 5x Military Comlink
 * 1x KC-M2 Portable Missile Launcher / 1x KC-249 General Purpose Repeating Blaster / 1x KC-MT9 Gauss Field Mortar / 1x KC-M5 Heavy Machinegun
 * 5x S4C Light Repeating Blaster
 * 5x KC-77N Pistol
 * 5x Lucius-pattern Bayonet

General Equipment
Fireteams may carry any of the following, depending on assignment requirements:
 * Landmines
 * Demolitions Explosives
 * Ion Satchel Charges
 * Plasma Torch
 * Hydrospanner
 * Multifunctional Entrenching Tool
 * Computer Spikes
 * Construction Equipment
 * Mine Removal Equipment
 * M-322 Standard Issue Ration Pack

Description
The conditions of the modern battlefield require armies to maintain and deploy large numbers of logistics and support personnel that can handle specialized equipment and support frontline forces with the construction of entrenched positions, as well as facilitating the breaching of the enemy's own entrenchments.

The Eternal Army certainly understands this reality and thus, it deploys a sizable number of Combat Engineers as part of its various units. The Combat Engineers of the Logistics Corps are tasked with fulfilling a wide variety of support tasks such as building fighting positions, fortifications, roads, laying and removing mines and deploying heavy support weapons, constructing and breaching trenches, disabling enemy electronic equipment and security systems and slicing into computers, amongst many others.

Combat Engineers are also trained as infantry and are capable of fulfilling the role of frontline infantry, in a secondary capacity. As such, their training is much lengthier and more difficult than regular infantry and recruits are often drawn from the ranks of veteran infantrymen, making them harder to replace. Some units of Combat Engineers operate highly specialized equipment which requires further training and these are classified into elite subdivisions such as the Pyrotechnics Engineers, which train in the exclusive utilization of flamethrowers.

After completing their training, Combat Engineers are then organized into companies and incorporated into the various regiments of the Eternal Army and Ultranaut Corps in numbers noticeably higher than in most galactic armies, usually at least four full companies of them being assigned to each individual regiment.

The Eternal Army also occasionally deploys its Combat Engineers to assist in the construction of civilian projects, especially during hazardous weather conditions when a situation requires the quick deployment of emergency structures and facilities, often taking part in relief efforts throughout Imperial territory.

Combat Information

 * Unit Size: Medium - 4 Companies of 170 men per Regiment (One for each Battalion)
 * Unit Availability: Uncommon
 * Unit Experience: Trained - Logistics Corps Combat Engineers undergo a lengthy training process in order to obtain the qualification necessary to operate the wide variety of equipment they utilize
 * Combat Function: Combat Engineers are general purpose support troops deployed alongside regular infantry in order to fulfill a wide variety of support and logistical assignments, with frontline combat being a secondary role. They are responsible for constructing and preparing the various entrenched fighting positions of the Eternal Army, as well as breaching enemy entrenchments and laying down obstacles for enemy forces, such as minefields, barbed wire, etcetera.

Strengths

 * Engineers Lead the Way: Combat Engineers are essential to an army's success, responsible with the preparation and deployment of an army's fighting positions, as well as breaching enemy entrenchments, tasks at which they excel
 * Heavy Weapons Support: Logistics Corps Combat Engineers provide heavy weapons support to frontline troops, deploying a variety of weapons and equipment which is effective against massed enemy fortmations, fortifications and light vehicles

Weaknesses

 * Slow and Steady wins the Race: Outfitted with heavy, unwieldy equipment which is difficult to operate, Combat Engineers are slow and lack agility, making them easy targets if they are not properly supported
 * Frontline Infantry: While highly versatile and essential support troops, the Combat Engineers' primary role is not that of frontline infantry and they are extremely ill suited for assault roles
 * Stealth: Due to their heavy equipment and the glowing optics of their armor, Combat Engineers are ill-suited for stealthy missions and will usually be detected quickly.

History
From the beginning, the Eternal Army was envisioned as a highly capable, well-equipped force organized around a combined arms doctrine that emphasizes the rapid deployment of heavy weapons and specialized units, supported by highly mobile mechanized infantry, commandos and heavy armor. An essential part of the Eternal Army's battlefield doctrine is the rapid construction of complex entrenchments from which its heavy arsenal can unleash its devastating firepower upon enemy positions.

Thus, the Eternal Army maintains a large cadre of capable Combat Engineers to fulfill all the necessary support roles required by its doctrine. As the Eternal Army's proportion of Combat Engineers relative to regular infantry is much higher than in most galactic military forces, each regiment having at least four full companies, a separate sub-branch of the ground forces called the Eternal Army Logistics Corps was founded at the same time as the better known Ultranaut Corps, for the purpose of training and outfitting the various logistics personnel required by both the Navy and Army.

Given the motto "Engineers lead the way", the Logistics Corps Combat Engineers were intended from the start to be far more than simple logistics personnel. As the Eternal Empire's military doctrine evolved to require ever greater number of these engineers, their role shifted from merely constructing entrenched positions, to providing heavy weapons support to the infantry and operating specialized frontline equipment and the Logistics Corps began more and more to draw its recruits from Ultranaut veterans.

While far from assault forces, the Eternal Empire's Combat Engineers have become capable frontline infantrymen, although this is a secondary role which they are not intended to fill and subsequently, they do not perform as well as dedicated assault forces at this task.

The Logistics Corps have also been deployed several times on the construction of civilian projects, most notably the Red Library of Kalidan as well as some of the planet's infrastructure and facilities. They have also been deployed on emergency relief operations throughout Imperial territory, their ability to quickly construct facilities even in the harshest of conditions only matched by very few organizations throughout the galaxy.

Over the years, the Logistics Corps Combat Engineers have gained a reputation for discipline and professionalism, proving themselves essential to several victories.