RE: [SGII][WW2] Here we go again.

The issue with multiple mounts of MG's and light cannon is mass- a
single guy can swing a .50 caliber on a pintle mount with reasonable
accuracy.  Twin mounts and larger require some sort of mechanical
traverse mechanism, these are usually electrical in nature.  Most are
fast tracking mounts (as fast as 90 degrees per second) but trade off
speed for accuracy.  It would be difficult to traverse in really small
increments (1 degree or less) since just tapping on the traverse pedal
would probably slide the mount across 3-4 degrees of arc.  In addition,
most multiple mounts in WW2 are used in an AA role and their sights are
built accordingly (i.e. used for tracking fast, large targets hundreds
or thousands of yards away), not for guys laying prone 100 yards away.

This isn't to say that you can't use them in an anti-personnel role,
since just the volume of fire is tremendous (i.e. US Maxton(?) mount
with 4 x .50 M2's) but the accuracy would be much lower.

Also remember that some of the weapons had quirks - like the 20 mm
flakvierlings which are limited to 20 round magazines, not belt fed. 
This means even though the gun is capable of 300+ rounds per minute, the
real rate of fire is far below this since every 5 seconds the magazine
needs to be swapped out.  Against aircraft this is not a problem since
you probably aren't going to see any given aircraft for more than 5
seconds, but against a bunch of spread out infantry with bazookas, you
probably would wish for something a little more sustained (like an MG).

--Binhan

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Claus Paludan [mailto:cpaludan@worldonline.dk]
> Sent: Friday, October 18, 2002 12:52 PM
> To: gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu
> Subject: [SGII][WW2] Here we go again.
> 
<<SNIP>>> 
> I am looking at creating twin 20mm flak guns as well as flakvierlings
> (quad). It seems like you would have a bigger chance of hitting
> something when you have 4 barrels firing at the same time instead of
> only one.