Re: [GZG] [OFFICIAL] Question: was Re: [SG3]: What if?

["john tailby" <John_Tailby@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I think the original question may have been framed to narrowly and everyone 
has focussed on the weapon system exclusively.

If defensive technologies keep pace with offensive weapons and sensors then 
ranges for equal technologies might keep the same.

However a higer tech force maywell be able to detect a lower tech force at 
much longer range and with LOS range weapons engage at much longer ranges 
than their opponents.

At high tech levels each trooper may be inside their own suit that masks 
infrared signatures and projects visible light chameleon camoflage to belnd 
in with their environments.

Maybe the sensors to detect such targets actually detect the EM leakage of 
such suits or use mass spectrometers to detect the atmosphere gases emitted 
by the suits. Maybe no one bothers with infrared scanners at high tech 
because everything is IR shielded.

It could also be true that such sensors would not work so well against lower 
tech troopers because they don't have any smart gear that emits energy 
signatures to lock onto.

So it's a circular argument imagining technologies that could exist. I think 
you want to define the type of universe that makes for a good game and use 
whatever PSB you want to support that type of view

Two things that won't change much one is the nature of the ground people 
fight on. Unless you are fighting on a giant lakebed most ground is very 
wrinkled over distances of a few hundred metres. It's not hard to imagine 
troopers able to find LOS cover up to short ranges. That's not counting 
environments like jungles or built up areas where LOS engagements might be 
very small.

The other thing that isn't likely to change is the human usng the gun. In a 
few hundred years people won't naturally have evolved much so will still 
process information at the same speed as they do today. A computer can do a 
lot of the work sorting and classifying targets but it's still a human that 
makes the decision to fire and that take time. If you want to get into areas 
of bioenhancement, genetic modifcation and other parahuman transformation 
technologies then human reactions and procesing capabilities might well 
become orders of magnitude faster. That's then a direct challange to the 
definition of what it means to be human.

Genetically enhanced, vat grown clone soldiers with the downloaded minds of 
experienced combat veterans. These could be substantially tougher faster, 
stronger and far braver than normal humans with any kind of weaponsystems.

There's a miriad of alternatives out there about how technoloiges might 
grown and develop and who is to say that one is more likely than another? 


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