Re: DirtsideII eval (fwd)

Oerjan Ohlson wrote:

(*** Discussing Morale effects for Dirtside II***)

>There should be a way to scale morale effects up to the company level
>at least (and maybe to the battalion/task force level as well) - with
>the good communications in use in DSII everyone in the force will hear
>private Jones screaming when his guts are ripped out by shrapnel, not
>just his closest buddies...

I doubt that the Comm systems would be that interlinked. In a company
you
may have as few as fifty or as many as one-hundred combat personell on
the
same network (depending on composition, mission paramaters, ect.) The
general effect would be like trying to listen to one person in a crowded
room, AND the accoustics are directing all the sound at you. Secondly it
would make scouting operations by infantry impossible as the buzz from
their
headsets would give away their position.

It's more likely that the comm system would be tiered: a tank or a squad
would be talking amongst themselves, while the commander (Or Comm
Offcer)
has access to the network up one level (squad to platoon, platoon
command to
company command, ect..) The Comm operator can communicate past the level
above them by re-tuning the radio (setting it to a diffrent channel) and
yelling loud enough to be heard. Part of the difficulty in getting
higher
tiers in listening to you is getting the comm operator on the other end
to
believe that your signal is NOT a misrouted communication.

I have no doubt that comm technology can be advanced to a level where an
entire battalion could talk at the same time, but the limiting factor
now is
not technology but humanity. We, the third most intelligent carbon based
life forms of an unremarkeable blue green world orbiting an unregarded
yellow star in the unfashonable end of the western spiral arm of the
Milky
way Galaxy who still think that the internet is a really neat idea...,
simply cannot process that many signals at once.

Now if someone comes up with some rules for a Hive Minded race....
(Highest
command level makes all morale checks, but any morale test affects all
forces on table? Just an idea.)

>> 4) ADA
>>	   A)	 MANPAD systems range is shorter than current modern
>>stuff
>> by lots. Effective range should be 3km or LOS
>>	   B)	 Mobile ADA systems have a lot of range, greater than
>>the
>> 3.6km.  8km would be more reasonable

>Yes and yes. So should the ordnance used by aircraft, however - and the
>supply of AA missiles should be limited, preferrably handled like
>artillery munitions (ie, when they're fired, they're gone).

Ugh. Record keeping. Bad.

Chen-Song Quin wrote:
>> 8) You cannot effectively clear mines with arty.  It just doesn't
>>work.

Depends. If you use something that we are currently not willing to use,
you
might be able to. That is Airburst Munitions. Airburst munitions have
the
explosive power of a small nuclear warhead with none of the radiation.
This
is the primary reason that nobody uses them, with an enitre quarter of
the
planet trigger happy, and carrying nukes, the use of an airburst round
might
be mistaken as a nuclear blast, and trigger countries to fire their own
nuclear aersenals.

The difficulty in disposing of mines with ground effect artillery is
that
the mines are just picked up and thrown around by the blast, the field
is
still there if a little *more* randomised. "Bouncing Buddy" mines may be
made less effective, but they will still be armed, and can certanly take
off
a leg or two. The airburst effect creates a shockwave that compresses
trigger mechanisms, actually tricking the mines into believing that they
have been stepped on (rolled over ect.) and so anything in the minefield
will take damage from the artillery and the mines. (wait for some fool
to
get into a minefield and blow the lot with heavy artillery. HAHAHAHA...)

Obviously Command Detonated Mines and Magnetic Proximity Mines aren't
necessairily afffected by this, unless thay have a secondary trigger
mechanism, but if you figure that in a few centuries placing "EMP
Bomblets"
in a submunition artillery missile may be standard practice (partly to
disrupt electronics and communications but mostly to give arms
manufacturers
another white elephant the government can squeeze the taxpayers for...)
the
EMP may trigger magnetic mines, or teporarily disrupt communications to
CDMs
(A CDM field being rendered inactive for the turn the artillery mission
is
taking progress?)