Re: [sg] Support Weapon Questions (Somewhat related)

In WW1 through Korea, watercooled MG's (for the most part, though I'm
sure
others also) were somewhat regularly using the fact that their
trajectories
were not flat to hit targets in defilade.  Instant (weak) artillery.

Rob

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Brewer" <david@brewer.to>
To: <gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2001 7:38 PM
Subject: Re: [sg] Support Weapon Questions (Somewhat related)

> agoodall@canada.com wrote:
>
> > On the other hand, I think it's ASL that has the concept of
firelanes,
or something like it. In real life, a lot of fire is poured down by a
machine gun. You don't want to try running through a machine gun's fire
lane. This isn't supported in SG2.
> >
> > (This got me thinking about something. Machine guns don't actually
fire
in flat trajectories, like a laser. They have to fire in some sort of
eliptical trajectory due to gravitational effects. You could argue,
then,
that depending on the range, a machine gun firing at a distant squad has
to
"arc" the shots up to hit the target.
>
> Up to a point, the arcing trajectory of a bullet can be
> approximated as a flat, laser-like trajectory. The barrel of a
> rifle, SAW, whatever, is angled slightly upwards compared to the
> line of sight and starts beneath it. The shot rises up to a
> maximum point before falling downwards. If you point the weapon
> accurately at the centre of a target's mass and shoot, there's
> going to be little difference in effect between shooting, say,
> 100mm too high or 100mm too low, so as long as the bullet is
> within this (or your choice of other) margin you can consider the
> trajectory flat. This gives the weapon's "point-blank range" (as
> I've heard this distance described).
>
> You can get ballistic tables from various sources that tell you
> how much modern bullets will fall at different ranges. You might
> assume that the line of sight starts 50mm above the muzzle and
> allow the bullet to rise 150mm and fall 200mm, for a total drop of
> 350mm (or 14"-ish). I expect most modern rifles/SAWs will shoot
> approximately flat out to around 200-300m... somewhere around the
> same sort of maximum range troops are allowed in SG2, I hope. (I
> haven't a copy to hand for reference.)
>
> However...
>
> > However, a laser -- like a vehicle mounted HEL -- should be able to
fire
in a flat trajectory and cut through anything in its path. A gauss SAW
would
still have to worry about gravity, but to a lesser extent due to the
weapon's high velocity. I'm not sure how this could be implemented,
though.)
>
> ...this assumes not only a flat trajectory but abnormally flat
> terrain. Your table may be billiard-ball smooth... but is the
> ground it represents really that flat?
>
> --
> David Brewer
>
> "It is foolishness and endless trouble to cast a stone at every
> dog that barks at you." - George Silver, gentleman, c.1600
>
>
>