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

On Fri, 24 Sep 1999, Michael Llaneza wrote:

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

All the guys that have to get trips to the chiropractor don't like blown

disks either...They are hopping mad....owowow, er, limping mad...

> 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, 

Ahh plot device....I see. GM fiat. 
 
> Okinawa took weeks to clear with ample fire support and a couple of 
> US divisions on the island. Mostly the 'starving survivors' were on 

Okinawa is pretty damn big too, Look on a map, its bigger than the usual

specs that the islands were. 

> 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

No but then the major assaults also had tanks and aircraft and all hell 
to rain down on the japanese. The job of digging people out of 
fortifications can be rough (assuming they aren't french, in which case 
they act like sullen rabbits). I recall that a number of engagements 
found us troops bulldozing the entrances of the tunnels and leaving the 
japanese there to rot (they had to die first though). 

> 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.

more GM Fiat.

> >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

British DF gear is nasty. Orbital listening posts can pick up long range

LF and HF transmissions. I'd hate to think how sensative systems would
be 
200 years in the future.

> that goes for defenders too...
> 

true, but the guys doing the assault are in orbit. High ground is 
everything. well mostly everything. 

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

I'd like to think there would be a way to get a helo down with out
having 
the load masters bundle in into a shuttle and tote it down to the 
surface, un bundle it and turn it over to the Aviation mechanics to get 
in flying order again. 

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- Ryan Montieth Gill		DoD# 0780 (Smug #1) / AMA / SOHC -
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