Re: GZG DS2 SG2 GEV mechanics

Pmj6@aol.com aka Mike Jasinski wrote:
>You are not the only one to have a problem with this, Paul.  I've long
thought
>hovertanks and GEVs are one of those areas where sci-fi writers just
plainly
>got it wrong.	I doubt we'll ever see hovercraft displacing tracked and
>wheeled vehicles.  The US Army just released its "Army After Next"
study
which
>makes no mention whatsoever of hovercraft as combat vehicles.
    You're right there. Except that the US Marines have plans to use
them,
and so do the Soviet Union, as landing craft from ship borne invasion
fleets.

>However, GEVs have taken root so well in various sci-fi setting that
there
is
>no getting around their existence.  So I've been using a couple of
house
rules
>(I'll put them on my site in a few weeks, along with other homegrown
stuff)
I
>drafted to clip hovercraft wings (or skirts, if you will) and make them
>conform to reality.
    Be sure to let us all know what the URL is!

>According to my rules, GEVs treat Open terrain as Normal (as opposed to
Easy)...
    Remember that vehicles using Easy terrain don't fire their weapons
(or
smoke or any combat action) as they are assumed to be in Travel mode. If
the
vehicle is intended to fire it's weapons, Easy terrain is treated as
Normal
terrain. So this rule is not needed.

>According to my rules, GEVs treat ... Hills as Difficult.
    I've got no problems with this and I agree (I might quibble about
the
degree though!).

>No terrain is perfectly flat, and if you have a
>hovercraft zooming along at movement allowance of 30
>(which is equivalent to a
>couple of hundred miles per hour),
    Pardon? Surely you joke, 30" on a DS2 table is only 100m *30 = 3Km.
The
turns are about 15 minutes long which makes the speed about 12 Km/H. A
good
jogging speed.
    Even if you assume that all the movement happens in only one minute,
then the vehicles speed is only 180Km/H.

>guess what happens if it encounters a small
>dip or gully or even a gentle incline?
    US Marines and Soviet Union hovercraft have no problems with waves
(lots
of dips and gullys) and beachs (gentle, moderate and steep inclines).

>Since air is a compressible medium,
>the hovercraft is likely to plow right into the ground as it won't be
able
to
>raise its nose fast enough.
    From the pictures I've seen, large military GEV don't have this
problem
as they are several meters about the ground (not including skirt).

>So, according to my rules, no GEV may mount a HKP, MDC, HVC, or RFAC
greater
>than half of its size rating (fractions rounded down).  No restrictions
on
>low-recoil weapons (i.e., directed energy and missile weapons).
    Of course the GEV could always have landing legs mounted under the
GEV
skirts so that it can come to a quick halt, rest on landing legs, fire
its
weapons and move off again. So that you don't really need to add this
restriction.
    Similarly for GRAV vehicles. The vehicle floats along on grav
repulsors.
When firing, the vehicle stops, rests on landing pylons, then fires.

Andrew Martin
Shared email: Al.Bri@xtra.co.nz
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