Re: DSII Question- Obstacles

Brian spake thusly upon matters weighty: 

> Ouch, ouch ouch...we're getting into WW1 here...thing to do w/ someone
who
> lavishes this much care onto his fortifications is to bypass them -
use
> orbital-inserted PI to land in his rear area, swing around and
outflank
> his forts w/ fast armour, use air-mobile assets to again hit his rear,
> etc. Think Magaino (sp!) Line, and the advance thru the Ardennes by
the
> Germans...

Maginot actually, but I know what you meant. Unspoken assumption: You 
are somewhere he can't do that (for example, where he does not 
possess air or orbital superiority, or in an alien climate which is 
not favorable to operations other than groundpounding, or you are out 
on the rim and these sorts of assets aren't available). BTW, if PA 
drop troops are elite assets, then risking them in a high ADE 
insertion is not cost effective. Until you've surpressed ADE, they 
may not be worth inserting even given they may strike lighter 
defences. 
 
> DFFGs and direct-fire weapons don't destroy minefields - but artillery
> attacks do - just set up an open sheaf mission on top of those
minefields,
> then send in the engineers to clear the rest after the arty clears the
> mines...or use those direct-fire weapons on the wire/tank traps, and
the
> arty on the mines.

Assuming the enemy doesn't employ counterbattery on you as you try to 
take out the mines. It might be a risk to use your arty assets this 
way, or too time consuming, or you might not have them, or the 
environment may not allow. But if you can, great. Or use a CEV with a 
mineclearing charge like the US used in the gulf war.
  
> High-tech 'sticky-wire' sounds interesting - maybe have a couple kinds
of
> wire, from 'old-style' steel/alloy razorwire, then exotic-materials
'wire'
> (Hammer's Slammers has 'berilium (sp) netting'), up to 'sticky' or
> 'smart' wire - imagine nano-tech wire that moves to grab and cut units
> moving into its range - nasty...

That's one I'll remember!
 
> Stationary defences are always going to be important _somewhere_, even
if
> not everywhere. Choke-points, vital bridges or crossroads, perimeters
-
> even simple PoW/refugee camps...the technology used will progress
along
> with the times, although probably slower - barbed wire is still fairly
> unchanged from ww1, razor wire is newer but not as widespread...

Soft fleshy people haven't changed much either, so it still works. 
 
> If you're going to bury a device, why not make it a standard
minefield?
> Just wax the sucker, don't get fancy...besides, a big ECM-mine might
muck
> up your electronics too, if they're too close...

True. But if you remember that radiated power falls off as a cube of 
radius, you'll realize the danger drops off real fast from this type 
of threat so it could be quite a viable AV weapon. And it may be a 
lot smaller than a standard mine or conceivably more effective since 
conventional armour might not stop it....
 
> Regarding pits - in DS2 scale, 1" = 100 meters - that's either a
_very_
> large pit, or it's not worth digging - it just won't show up at DS2's
> level of terrain detail...for SG2, though...I like the idea of
> monomolecular-spiked tiger-traps...high-tech Viet Cong?

Exactly. A Monofilament Nail Extruder or something industrial could 
produce these spikes for your high-tech (but poorly equiped in a 
military sense) rebels and insurgents.	 

> The Jumping Mines of DS2 attack anything, including VTOLs in Low
Mode...so
> there's already a missle-mine thing...

Didn't know that. Thanks. 
 
> Personally, I'd avoid specialty anti-grav weapons as too inflexible -
I
> don't field grav units, none of my opponents do, so I'd rather have
stock
> mines and stock missles that can hunt down anything I want to aim them
> at...if I face someone fielding grav forces, a GMS/L inf team will
work
> just as well on his grav-panzers as on my regular opponents tracked
and
> ACV AFVs...Grav-specific weaponry would be heavily background
dependant -
> in a 'stock' DS2 game, its of limited utility, if you're playing
> RenLeg-DS2, it's vital - everyone has grav tanks.

Exactly. If grav vehicles are common, grav countermeasures are cost 
effective.  

> One thing I've been thinking of, for DS2 - as I read the rules,
minefields
> have IFF abilities, so if you want to move one of your own units
through
> your minefield, you can. This leads to interesting implications -
> 'offensive' minesowing, probably via artillery. Want to stop an
advance
> down a road, but don't want to or can't get troops there fast? Drop a
> minefield or three...Mine the insides of your own compounds to chop up
> intruders and drop troops, but you can conduct normal ops...this
depends
> on your level of command & control, of course - does _everyone_ have
an
> IFF unit _all the time?_ Even w/ minimal IFF, offensive mining has its
> uses, out in the field...Hold up enemy advances long enough to
re-inforce
> a sector...Thoughts or comments?

Nasty. Hope your arty boys program the latest IFF codes into the 
mines.... (Note that this might cause effectiveness problems because 
most IFF are query response as I understand it and if the mine 
queried and enemy vehicle might well reverse course or set of a 
reactve charge or something (I don't know what exactly) to counter 
the mine before it fired). And you wouldn't want to be the LRRP that 
came in after being out in the boonies a month when they'd changed 
the minefield IFF a week ago..... (ouch!)
  
Tom.