[DS] Calling all used tank salesmen: SPECIAL DEAL ON AEROSPACE!

> From: Ndege Diamond <nezach@earthlink.net>

> Hello all,

> It's been kinda quiet on the list lately. To provoke some discussion I

GMS systems are typically the best bang for your buck, but heavy reliance on
them will catch every ECM and PDS system your oponnent carries. The benefits
of the GMS are in the total vehicle design not in the weapon itself. A class 1
vehicle is capable of carrying a weapon with the same range and damage as a
MDC5 at medium range, with the same hit probability for the system
quality. The MDC/5 requires at minimum a class 4 vehicle, stealth costs
80 per level, for a signature of 1 would cost 240 points. General consensus
has
it that a class 2 vehicle carrying 2 GMS/H is capable of firing at two
targets (you pay for firecon with each weapon) in a restricted arc (90
degrees), spend 40 points on stealth (size 2 level 1) and you get a similar
signature to the class 1 vehicle.

Remember that GMS alone will suffer from relatively cheap methods of
countermeasures, and lots of them, and they are ineffective against infantry.
Any army that dosen't have direct fire arms will be at a disadvantage.

Usually I use infantry in a MICV (APCs don't have their own crew, they are
"Battlefield Taxis" and not much else.) My Rhino MICVs are fast tracked,
amphibious, and mount: MDC/2 2xAPSW and 8 capacity for the squad. My
MBTs use a similar chassis that carries a [Classified] and a [Classified] with
a
[Classified]. The rhino MICVs are the most numerous in my forces,
carrying lots of infantry.

My infantry squads are made up of 2 fireteams (bases) each, 1 rifle, 1
specalist. A typical platoon consists of 1 squad w APSW, 1 squad with
assault, 1 squad with spotter, 1 squad with GMS/L. I can field a
battalion of "Main force" infantry (3 companies of the above platoons) and a
company of "special purpose" infantry Powered armors are usually kept to
rifle/apsw
squads as putting anything else in the PA teams makes them too much of a fire
magnet. (They are already assault & rifle or assault & APSW.)

Note I said I CAN field a reinforced battalion of infantry, not that I
necessairily WOULD field them...

Fire support is carried out by either light GMS carriers, or class 4 walkers
carring dual MDC/5s on superior firecon "If I can see you I can smack
you
around." and MDC/5s have better damage potential than HEL (Although I
have laser variants). Being walkers allows them to take cover in any terrain
(last activation on turn 1: move from cover and fire. First activation on turn
2: fire and move to cover.) Infantry are almost required to take them out. of
course each mech platoon has it's own infantry platoon...

For fast assault I like a Pegasus fast GEV with twin SLAM3 and superior
firecon. The SLAM system is effective against "Hidden" units that you may run
over in a fast strike situation wether they are armor or infantry

On the topic of interface aerospace fighters:

I know that we can all argue about these untill we are blue in the face, but
this is my $0.02

Weapon selection:
    Anti ship: HEL. Lasers/ light particle beams are affected by shields
as normal. Anti fighter: GMS. Guided systems are able to follow fighters, but
standard ship anti-debris armament (for destroying small meteors,
discarded satelites, other space debris.) probably comprises enough PDS
superior to make it a statistical certanty that any GMS will be destroyed. If
you were to sacrifice 1 mass to mount them it would consist of 25 PDS
superiors*, 5 would probably be enough to do the job. Fighters don't have the
advantage of raw mass for these systems in upsetting quantities, and GMS keeps
its effectiveness.

Standard Fighters: class 3 (carries class 2 armor max, leaves class 3 for
heavy fighters)
    2xHEL/2 (Anti-ship armorment, leaves class 3 for attack fighters)
    1xGMS/H
    1XGMS/L (Typical loadout for AtA missiles on a modern fighter craft,
1 mount AMRAM 1 mount sidewinder short range missile) 2xAPSW (had to do
something with that last capacity, twin axial mount.30 BMGs)

Electronics as you wish

Attack variant:
    drop GMS/H (has only minimal dogfighting capabilities)
    enhance lasers to 2xHEL/3 (Maximum avalable to aerospace)

Interceptor variant:
    drop 2xHEL/2 (has NO anti-ship capability)
    add GMS/H

Torpedo variant:
    drop 2xHEL/2 and 1xGMS/H (leaves GMS/L for minimal dogfighting
capability) add 3 chits DFO (2 HEF, 1MAK or nuclear. Effectivley overloading
and dropping up to 3 pulse generators normally spent all at once through a
focusing mechanism.)

Fast, Long Range: irrelevant to DSII vehicle design. Either may allow the
fighter to be able to be on table 2 consecutive turns of 6, both may allow 4
turns of 6 (spending it's fifth turn endurance in entering and leaving
atmosphere, as well as loitering waiting for the carrier to show up.

Heavy variant: add to any of the above: class 4 aerospace (can carry class 3
armor, heaviest avalable to aerospace) Now for the extra 4 capacity: If a
military is going to pay more for a craft
that can shoulder the added armor it will probably act as a multi-role
air
superiority/ ground attack fighter.
    +1APSW ( for 3xAPSW. Overkill maybe but if you are on table one
sixth of the time you want to be SURE that your target is dead.) 1 load DFO.

I posted earlier that it takes about 24 chits of damage (DSII) to do one
point of damage FT *, so how can fighters hurt ships with 2xHEL/2?
Precision targeting. When a fighter attacks a ship it is assumed to be
skimming the surface of the ship picking vulnerable points and slicing off
parts of the hull at extremely close ranges.

* 1 mass = 50 capacity 4 FT cargo carries 1 class 1 vehicle 8 DSII cargo
carries 1 class 1 vehicle 2 DSII cargo = 1 FT cargo 100 DSII cargo = 1 FT Mass
1 mass of FT battery = 49xHEL/1, 24xHEL/2, 16xHEL/3, 12xHEL/4, or
9xHEL/5
Average chits damage 48/2 (HEL counts half) 24 chits.

ADAF = 10 basic ADS, 6 enhanced ADS and 1PDS/S 2PDS/E, or 5 Superior ADS
(at least that's what fits in 1 mass) having 1 mass concentrated in PDS would
be silly. PDS systems are more likely to appear as a screen for destroying
small floating debris scattered across the ship and included in the cost of
the hull.

Using the same method Submunition packs are made up of 50 light, 25 medium or
16 heavy artillery. I haven't done pulse torps (DFFGs?) yet.