Re: grav

--- Tomb <kaladorn@fox.nstn.ca> wrote:

> 1) Traveller did this a long time ago. They posited
> that at some point, > the distinction between ground
air and sea > combatants vanished. Why?
> Sensor tech hit a certain level, as did com tech.
> Energy was near > limitless so you could push a
brick through the > atmosphere at stupid
> speeds and with stupid levels of manouverability.
> You could build faster > or slower grav tanks, ones
with varying weapons kit, > ones with varying
> quality sensor or comms, ones with more or less
> endurance and capability > to operate selaed and
ones with more or less armour > - all sort of trade
> offs for design based on how you planned to fight
> them. But in essence, > all could fly, deploy from
orbit, operate over huge > distances. Slow ones
> moved about 350 kph, fast ones up around 1000 kph.

Yes, but there is still a world of difference between
an Intrepid grav tank and a Rampart.  Granted that at
TL15 the difference between a tank and a VTOL are
gone, the GZG-verse is not at TL 15.

> It really does change > how you fight. But the way
Traveller limited it -> you need high tech
> logistics, high tech trained personel, and a big
> budget to put this > together. 

Of course.

> 2) I question your zero logistics PoV. You don't
> account for failures.

No, I said fuel.  Fuel is by far the most time- and
transport- consuming resource.	

> The Apache has been shown as case in point to be
> only combat capable > about 50% of the time. Planes 

Oddly enough, this number is a peacetime OR rate.  In
Desert Storm the OR rate was closer to 90%.

> robust systems with > hot swappable components. I
think you'll still see a > need for logistics,
> and in this case logistics forces that can operate
> on a planetary scale > to deliver supply, recover
vehicles, conduct > in-field repairs anywhere
> on the planet. 

IE: One where all the mechanics are mounted in grav
vehicles.

> 4) You could design special purpose grav tanks for
> varying niches. I > think you'll find that
multipurpose ones (given a > presumed expense to
> move them to systems far away and the global scale
> of their ops) may be > more favoured. I have a
choice: Send three types > that do three jobs
> well, or one that can do three jobs somewhat okay.
> I'm a CFO... what do > I send? One. The almighty
buck will drive future > militaries and > governments
just like it does in most places today. > Multirole
may win > out in many cases. Only very rich countries
will be > able to do otherwise > (maybe the NAC) or
maybe only for some forces.

I'll still argue.  Specialization is necessary because
of how badly a tank is outclassed when trying to argue
with a fighter.  Or vice versa.  What might be common
would be a preponderance of the "VTOL" style vehicle,
which has some air-to-air capability and some good
tank-hunting capability.

> 5) Expense will limit how many forces you can field.

Grav isn't that expensive--especially when expressed
as a fraction of total vehicle cost.  

A high end grav tank (Heraclius) runs 331 points. 
That's with all the bells and whistles that you can
fit on a size 3 tank except reactive/ablative armor.

Constantine IV weighs in at 267.  It's a 19% savings
to downgrade from grav to fast tracked, FGP to CFE,
and MDC to HKP.  Stealth, PDS, and electronics remain
top of the line.  

So you can almost buy 5 tanks for every 4 of mine. 
That's not a large enough numerical advantage to make
a difference against the sort of dislocating effects
grav can produce.  Sure, you can downgrade your tanks
further, but you will start seeing drastic reductions
in effectiveness.  Besides which, if you're going to
be sending a small force against a large target,
aren't you going to be more concerned about shipping
space than money?  Grav gives several times the bang
for the buck at no increase in shipping space.	In
fact, by reducing the need to haul extensive supplies
of fuel (An HMT-equipped force may need several months
worth of fuel to ensure they can operate until they
capture a fuel refinery.  FGP means you can distill it
from atmosphere or open water) you free up
considerable amounts of shipping space.

John 

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