Re: How big is a troopship? [DS/FT/SG2] (and what it all means)

At 4:13 AM -0400 9/24/99, Ryan M Gill wrote:
>On Thu, 23 Sep 1999, Michael Llaneza wrote:
>
>> It takes an awful lot of softening to get all the power armor out of
>> biphase carbide bunkers. And the environment that creates in't real
>
>ok so he gets one lucky shot. We dismantle his armour and sacrifice him
>to appease Murphy.

he would have been expecting that :-) He still won't like it

>One question again (I'm ful of them aren't I), why am I dropping my
>forces where there are bunkers hiding power armour when I have a whole
>planet to choose from?

To save the travel time from a remote landing site ? To get into a 
strategic area before they can finalize their defences ? Lucky guess 
on the defender's part ? Madmen plan on a scorched earth, er colony, 
policy and you need to land a decapitation strike (think Star Vikings 
(GDW) unless it makes you ill, then we'll forget I mentioned it). The 
GM's scenario says so ? High command is in a strategic hurry ? It can 
happen, it might not.

You want to avoid groundfire by hitting 'em where they aren't, 
sometimes you can, sometimes you guess wrong and sometimes you hit a 
unit on field exercises. Since we're speaking in generalities it's 
not going to be easy to speak in detailed terms.

> > firestorm...)  The Japanese in WWII endured hours of bombardment
>> sitting behind a couple of meters of coral, concrete and steel; and
>> so did plenty of other nations. The island war analogy does force me
>> to concede that a BB could hit a machine gun nest with a 14" shell, 5
>
>And when the endured hours of bombardment, they were mostly an
annoyance
>to the crews building the airfields by that point. The marines didnt'
>like them because they had to go hunt the 50 japanese left on the
island
>by then. Usually the japanese had been without supplies for months. In
>some islands the japanses fell prey to the head hunters and the
marines...
>

Okinawa took weeks to clear with ample fire support and a couple of 
US divisions on the island. Mostly the 'starving survivors' were on 
the bypassed islands. The defenders always got chewed up, early 
assaults like Tarawa had ineffective bombardment phases and the 
infantry had to do the dirty work, later the bombardment helped more. 
Never did a major opposed assault end up with 50 dazed defenders on 
shore. There were plenty of unopposed landings or ones with minimal 
opposition

Speaking of island metaphors and landings in remote areas; perhaps a 
major installation  that can't be heavily bombarded is on an island 
and a concealed approach march is out of the question.

> > feet was the estimated accuracy from one example I recall. Ortillery
>> is likely to be much more accurate, and significantly more powerful
> > than 2000 lbs of HE.
>
>Your guy in the bunker better use a land line and some pretty nicely
>shielded commo gear if he chats with anyone...

de rigeur today, let alone in the GZG future history

>
>> Not with me planning it ! Or in it ! The big lesson from WWII for
>> opposed landings: more firepower delivered with greater precision,
>> closer coordination and better timing.
>
>The bigger lesson is be where he don't expect you...

that goes for defenders too...

>
>> Drop them in robot landers (chutes with retros and a small brain
>> maybe) along with the semi-essential supplies. Food, water, ammo and
>> medical supplies land behind armor. I've just gotten through a novel
>> set in the Stalingrad Pocket, don't EVER run out of those.
>
>Crewed or uncrewed?

I'd guess uncrewed (rough ride down), but that wants more detail than 
we've got.

I have a spare copy of Cerberus (TFG #1), which covers a planetary 
invasion with highly mobile attacking and defending forces. It might 
do for a campaign structure. Fast GEV or Grav vehicles would fit 
right in.
Michael Carter Llaneza
Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1991-1950
Devolution is very real to me.
Whenever I hear the "Odd Couple" theme, I get this image of Dennis 
Rodman borrowing Marge Schott's toothbrush.
Overkill: A Sufficient Preponderance of Firepower
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