[semi OT]PA & various B.S..was Women wargamers

Well it seems like the real issue is not so much the capabilities or
uses of PA
troops but how prevalant they would be in future armies. Some feel
everyone will
be PA, ala the Heinlen's SST universe or Steakley's "Armor". Others feel
that
they will be used in limited numbers ala the standard GZG universe or
even the
GW universe.

It seems to me that the prevalence of PA would be a function of
economics.
Obviously, if you could afford to kit out your whole army with PA, then
why the
hell not? But unelss you are in command of a monolithic empire with vast
resources then that'll be a little expensive. What about small countries
and
colonies?

Of course it depends on the timeline we are talking about. I suppose at
somepoint in the distant future PA technology, (miniaturization,
negative
feedback technologhy, light weight or flexi armor, whatever) might be
accessible
enough so that it's no more expensive, in relative terms, than a
hit-tech
soldier's kit of today. I imagine that would have to be pretty far in
the
future.

However  in the GZG universe, PA troops are expensive to train and
equip,
somewhat on a par with armored forces. With what little of the official
universe
we've seen, plus what others have written about, they are not the only
type or
even dominant type of force. So a nation has to balance a lot of issues
when
deciding to go completely PA or not. (I digress:  I have an all-PA army
myself
having aquired a shitload of GW minis, plus a buddy of mine just gave me
three
packs (3 gross) off small palstic ants and spiders, so now I can have a
good SST
scenario!)

Now onto pros and cons of power armor. Pros are rpetty easy to figure
out, but
what about cons? Can anyone think of disadvantages to power armor?
Besides
economic ones? How does one walk through a mangrove swamp in the stuff
without
sinking to the botom? How about endurance? How long can someone
reasonably live
in PA without a break, power consumption not withstanding? What if I
have to
take a dump? OK what if I have to take a dump every day for a week?What
if I get
a hard on?  How about recharging powerpacks when you have no logistical
support?
(Special ops often works for days to months in hostile territory). At
least the
GZG PA suits are very short duration affairs, with the NSL suit lasting
the
longest at 48 hours (with unconfortable ramifications for the wearer).
SST and
Steakly's ARMOR PA suits are not very long duration affairs either.

I don't know, just thinking out loud. But whenever I think of military
technology, the first thing that comes to mind are not the book specs of
the
equipment as most wargamers usually do, but the practical application of
the
equipment. Factors that all go towards limiting the effectiveness of
even the
best paper-looking wazoo gizmo.

Los

John Skelly wrote:

> 1. I imagine most skirmishes will be small (Brigade or smaller) in the
> future.
>
> 2. Transport will be at a premium.  Why transport APCs/Tanks/GEV
infantry
> when most conflicts involve securing the high ground (orbit) and
picking
> your battles.  And if you decide to bring the APCs etc.  you have to
have
> something big enough to transport them dirtside.
>

It's a good and reasonalble point to assume that many if not most
battles will
be quick strikes where you put your people down somewhere in the
vicinity. That
has PA written all over it. But what about huge planetary battles? Civil
Wars?
Revolutions? There will probably be more of those in the future  just 
like
today. In fact they always remain the prevallant type of combat
throughout
history. Why would that change in the future?

> 3. PA will be airtight making it great for harsh/vacc environments,
boarding
> actions, etc.  As well, they won't need an airtight dropship.
>

Maybe so, but I would imagine you want to limit the anount of time spent
on
internal resources as much as possible and save that for the field.Then
again,
at a bare minimum, you would need an external power/water/envirofeed to
hook
into the lander as you are heading in.

>
> Don't get me wrong, I love tanks and big armored formations.	I just
can't
> see DS era conflicts having much of them.  Why transport all these
units to
> wipe out a colony when you can sit there pounding it from orbit.  Why
> transport all these units to garrison a colony when all a fleet has to
do is
> sit in orbit destroying you at his leisure.  I'm loosely basing my
ideas on
> the island hopping campaigns of the pacific.
>

Well, your assumption that powers have all thes extra ships sitting
around to
hkeep fleets standing in orbit is something I'd take issue with. I just
don't
buy the unlimited resources of the future take on things. Apart from
that, your
arguments make sense.

Los

Interesting conversation. Hopefully the net cops will let it continue.