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

One major problem of the bombardment of Tarawa was that a large number
of rounds from the ship were armor piercing, many not exploding but just
sinking into the soft coral.

Michael Llaneza wrote:
> 
> 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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