> JANoll wrote:
John Atkinson (with chorus in the background agreeing with every word)
declaimed:
> Please understand that I am not insulting your concept in particular.
If it makes you feel better, John, I am working on KwaZulu. I'm somewhat
hampered by the fact that my brother speaks the language but doesn't read it,
and I have no idea how to write (click) and (tock!) when I can't even
pronounce it. I'm rather more hampered by the fact that I'm working on the
Alarishi Empire, which is in turn hampered by the Islamic Federation project,
which is hampered by the Net based business we're starting, which is in turn
hampered by Real Life. I'm sure you don't have any problems like that. By the
way, when you get done with the New Jordanians, New Israelis, Knights Templar,
and some more IF ships, I'll need some help setting up the Alarishi "ground"
(using the term loosely) forces. June, perhaps?
G'day guys,
John Atkinson (with chorus in the background agreeing with every word)
declaimed:
> DOESN'T ANYONE BREAK AWAY FROM ANYONE EXCEPT THE NAC???
The Laserlight tries to make John feel better by adding:
> If it makes you feel better, John, I am working on KwaZulu
Now my turn. The IAS (Independent Antarctic States for those of you have lost
track of all the acronyms) have a background and fleet which is nearly ready
for public inspection (actually the fleet is ready, but I wanted to present
the
package as a whole). Haven't decided what langaugae they speak yet -
maybe penguin english? <Beth ducks and runs for cover>
Have fun,
Beth
Well, I guess the new 'SMITE' button gets it's first usage.... ;-)
'Neath Southern Skies
http://users.mcmedia.com.au/~denian/
*****
They seek him here, they seek him there; Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven or is he in hell? That damned elusive, Pimpernel.
> - 'The Scarlet Pimpernel', Baroness Emma Orkzy
> On Mon, 15 Feb 1999, Robertson, Brendan wrote:
> Well, I guess the new 'SMITE' button gets it's first usage.... ;-)
well, if anyone has a url i could link it to, i'd love to have it actually do
something. and if anyone knows of an aar where indy can be seen making
risible p-torp rolls (basically, any aar with indy in), let me know.
incidentally, both those buttons (and pretty much anything else
gzg-related that issues from my secret underground workshops) is
> Laserlight wrote:
> hampered by Real Life. I'm sure you don't have any problems like
Me, real life? Nope. Not at all--I'm a gamer with an evening job. :)
> the way, when you get done with the New Jordanians, New Israelis,
Hrm... New Jordanians are done except for orbital installations... New
Israelis all I'm doing is ground forces, and I've done all those except the
Special Forces types and I'm not qualified to even speculate
on those (NRE SOF was easy--copy of various Western forces that are
well-publicized, with advice from our local subject matter expert.
Sayarets are NOT well-publicized).
Knights Templar next.:) Alarishi I expect to use a very... fexible
organizational structure--is there a governing body regulating the
contributions each habitat makes (OK, you're volunteering to support a force
at the XYZ Credit level, that gets you a section of Powered Armor organized
thusly...), or it all about what the locals like, or something inbetween (can
request advice and assistance from Imperial Army, etc.)?
> The Laserlight tries to make John feel better by adding:
That will work out well since I see there are some PAU Zulu figures....
> Knights Templar next. :) Alarishi I expect to use a very. . . fexible
1) There are Imperial troops, ie power armor Marines plus size 1 walkers
,
some larger AFVs on the few locations that have significant gravity. These are
standardized across the Empire although most places will have a platoon or
less. Anyone who wishes to pay for more can have more, but they don't choose
what they get.
2) Installations. Ships are not permitted Beam 3+, SLM, or torpedoes;
fighters are permitted but frowned on. On the other hand, anyone who can
afford it can put whatever he likes into a body with a fixed orbit--the
example of Jack Old Ron, with his 2 PDS and 1 Class 3 Beam on a 90 meter rock
springs to mind. The Emperor doesn't pay for this except to defend Imperial
(as opposed to locally owned) territory. 3) Local governments may raise
whatever troops and put them in whatever organization they care to. The
results range from the shock troops of the
Militant Order of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of
Solomon, to the enthusiastic part-time militia of New Pascagoula, to
several undefended pacifist sovereignties. Anyone who wishes Imperial advice
can pay an advisor to come and make his suggestions, and can pay drill
instructors to train their troops.
Right now I'd like help on Imperial troops. If anyone wants to submit local
TO&E (eg Jerry for his Han Bank asteroids), feel free--I will put them
up on the website, inshallah ("means the same as the Spanish 'manana', without
the urgency"). However, it's the Imperials I'd like to focus on.
For those of you who are just joining us, it should be pointed out that the
Empire is small (3 star systems, no habitable planets)--it's an empire
because of structure, not size. The largest body, the Imperial capitol, is the
size of Ganymede. The average body is on the order of 50km across.
Those who have read this far may also wish to discuss the effectiveness (or
lack) of grav vehicles on microgravity bodies.
> At 23.16 14/02/99 -0500, you wrote:
> DOESN'T ANYONE BREAK AWAY FROM ANYONE EXCEPT THE NAC???
Former Bits of the LLAR where some
> Sergeant First Class held a coup?
Sorry, I'm new on the list so my ignorance could be tied to that but: what's
LLAR?
I've done my bit--I've
> got Italo-Normans,
Where do I go to look at them?
Russ, Serbo-Croats, Georgians, Greeks, Armenians,
> Arabs, Thracians, Circassians, Bedouin, et al that I'm doing, I can't
<snip the rest... this following bit caught my eye...>
> [quoted text omitted]
> Those who have read this far may also wish to discuss the effectiveness
How do gravitic vehicles propel themselves forward, sideways or down (the
reference direction "down" meaning into the gravity well - on a planet
it
would mean toward the ground). If it is simple contra-grav - they would
move *up* and *hover* with gravitic reaction, but would need alternative
propulsion systems to make them move around - jets, rocket motors, big
rubber bands, whatever. Maybe using aerodynamic surfaces for atmospheric
control, and thrusters for no- or low-atmosphere.
I think this is boring tho'. I figure if we develop the technology to
manipulate gravity and create artificial gravity fields (ie on board a
starship), then the control available for a gravitic vehicle would be much
more selective. I see the gravitic craft as creating something akin to a
force-field, but selective in the direction in which it "points" - like
the rotors of a helicopter, you could choose to apply the force (which is a
reaction to the local gravity field) in different directions - not just
against the gravity pulling you "down" but also "across"... I'm mostly
ignorant when it comes to the "physics" of gravity, but if I remember
Einstein correctly from documentaries on TV... ;-) his idea is that
space-time is warped around large bodies, and it is this warping which
causes the effects we think of as gravity. Maybe the gravitic motor in the
grav-vehicle creates its own local warping of space-time - very small,
but highly concentrated. Maybe the motor can manipulate how this warping
works, to create effects similar to magnetism (attraction, repulsion) -
in selective "directions".
Anyway, I'm completely rambling here, but the point I'm getting at is that I
postulate a gravitic vehicle which can control its interaction with the local
gravity field enough to propel itself in different directions, and doesn't
require other means of direct propulsion. It may have other means,
such as powerful rocket motors (or whatever spaceships/fighters use in
Tuffleyverse) for added performance, but it doesn't need them.
If this is the case, then why wouldn't they work perfectly normally in an
asteroid field. The Alarashi empire is described as inhabiting 3
systems -
ie around 3 stars. If the stars have enough gravity to hold a 50km planetoid
in place and all the asteroids, certainly there's enough gravity for the
gravitic motors in a grav sled to "push" against???? Remember, it isn't just
Earth's gravity that affects us here, but the HUGE gravity well of our star
that holds Earth in place...
Anyway, my rambling $0.02...
> Sorry, I'm new on the list so my ignorance could be tied to that but:
"Leage of Latin American Republics"
Mentioned very briefly in one or two of the "official" histories, and much
expounded upon my members of this list. I think their territories got sucked
into the NAC after fighting, and losing, a war with them, and then the LLAR
moved offworld. Maybe I'm mixing stories, tho'
There are other people on-list with a greater grasp of LLAR history than
I...
> Enzo De Ianni wrote:
> Former Bits of the LLAR where some
League of Latin American Republics.
> I've done my bit--I've
See New Sicily, at http;//www.angelfire.com/va/basileus/allies.html
It's down at the bottom, past the Free Ukrainians and the Georgians.
I've only really developed the ground forces--anyone who wishes to input
onto politics, background info, or naval assets is welcome to do so. Be
forwarned--my spin on the GZGverse is idiosyncratic to say the least.
:)
> Laserlight wrote:
> Those who have read this far may also wish to discuss the
That's not all that would be affected by designing a force to fight
on/in asteroids.
No GMS teams. After all, the backblast would be too dangerous, very few
armored vehicles could fit in the corridors, you don't need a 4.8km range when
a 400m range of a buzzbomb would do.
No LAD teams.
No artillery at all, except for units (like your armored brigade) which are
intended to fight on the surface of larger bodies. And those would be nothing
but guided rocket artillery, since ballistic artillery would be worthless.
Seems to me that most of the Alarishi forces would be nothing but straight
power armor teams, with a handful of Powered Engineer teams for support.
In a message dated 99-02-17 00:32:01 EST, you write:
<< No artillery at all, except for units (like your armored brigade) which are
intended to fight on the surface of larger bodies. And those would be nothing
but guided rocket artillery, since ballistic artillery would be worthless.
Seems to me that most of the Alarishi forces would be nothing but straight
power armor teams, with a handful of Powered Engineer teams for support.
> On Wed, 17 Feb 1999 DracSpy@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 99-02-17 00:32:01 EST, you write:
which
> are intended to fight on the surface of larger bodies. And those
? MDC= Mass Driver Cannon. Artillery built on this principle would use a
different launching mechanism on it's shells, but they'd fly the same way as
conventional chemical (gunpowder etc) artillery. Neither would be any good in
a microgravity area...the shells would just go into independant solar orbits,
or just enormous orbits around the body they're fired from.
Full Thrust (or rather More Thrust) style missles, or direct-fire beam
ortillery, would be the way to go in a microgravity enviroment for fire
support. Maybe call MT missles DS2 heavy arty rockets w/ nuke warheads?
PA rocks anyway - who needs lots of fire support? :) Plus cool camo
schemes - lots of black/grey/white vacumn camo patterns.
> DracSpy@aol.com wrote:
> << No artillery at all, except for units (like your armored brigade)
which
> are intended to fight on the surface of larger bodies. And those
> I *think* that in DS2 they talk about the some of the arty being MDC.
Yeah. But that covers how to get the rounds up. We need them to come
down again to hit something--a 200mm mass driver would achieve escape
velocity!
> Brian Burger wrote:
> PA rocks anyway - who needs lots of fire support? :) Plus cool camo
Right, in those habitats which are tunneled out. No room for it
anyway. But on a Ganymede-sized moon, then it might be nice.
> On Wed, 17 Feb 1999, John M. Atkinson wrote:
> Laserlight wrote:
i have to say that asteroid fighting forces are basically identical to
ship fighting forces - you have big patches of space containing numerous
very small objects, moving at different velocities, with tunnels and rooms on
the inside. the only difference is that ships move faster, are often smaller
in the Tuffleyverse, generally have better weapons and have more tunnels etc.
> No GMS teams. After all, the backblast would be too dangerous,
eh? why is it more dangerous in vacuum / zero g? if it is, you just
program your missiles for asteroid mode, where the motor fires a millisecond
pulse to clear the tube, and then starts up in earnest when it's well clear of
the firer.
ahh, you're thinking of fighting in the tunnels. in which case, yes. in fact,
asteroid fighting basically becomes building fighting.
> very few
true. however, they might be useful for surface fighting. plus. you can use
your gms against any starships which happen by...
> you don't need a 4.8km
although the guidance is nice. but then you use gms/p, or say that iavrs
are in fact guided a bit.
> No LAD teams.
except perhaps on the surface.
> No artillery at all,
you certainly couldn't use artillery in indirect mode in tactical battles; you
would have minimum ranges on the order of tens of thousands of km. you could
fire them direct, however. plus, station them on another neary asteroid, on
the facing side, and let fly.
> Seems to me that most of the Alarishi forces would be nothing but
i'd agree with that, in general.
Tom
> On Wed, 17 Feb 1999, John M. Atkinson wrote:
> Brian Burger wrote:
For sure. but even on a Ganymede-sized object, (which is what? 1/10g?)
you're going to have some problems with standard ballistic artillery. The
best fire support is going to come either from cruise-missle equivilents
or from direct-fire starship weapons in orbit nearby.
On the other hand, using light mortars as long-range artillery would be
entertaining.
Gripping hand is that anything heavier has a chance of actually putting it's
shells into low orbit instead of dropping them on the target...smacking
orbiting starships with standard arty shells would be entertaining, if
impractical...
(Motie grammar constructs come in handy!)
> "John M. Atkinson" wrote:
> "John M. Atkinson" wrote:
Nyrath wrote
> More.
Not for me it's not. About 1/6th gee even on the capitol, much less
elsewhere.
> Some existing prototype railguns
> Laserlight (that's me) wrote:
John Atkinson penned:
> That's not all that would be affected by designing a force to fight
(snippage)
> Seems to me that most of the Alarishi forces would be nothing but
That's about what I figured. Power Infantry + Infantry Walkers (for the
larger corridors). Combat Engineers (PA). Maybe a few teams with guided
missiles to bag landing craft on their way in.
In a message dated 99-02-17 19:14:46 EST, you write:
> << >"John M. Atkinson" wrote:
Nyrath wrote
> More.
Not for me it's not. About 1/6th gee even on the capitol, much less
elsewhere.
> Some existing prototype railguns
Just don't put so much power into the coils that will keep the speed down, or
if you want to fire one of the coils out of phase with the others, after the
projectile has gone past it, that will slow the projectile down.
-Stephen
> At 00.15 17/02/99 -0500, you wrote:
and so on...
In reference to all clarifications that were supplied, thanks.
Bye (I'm leaving for a grand tour of GZG connected sites!)