Re: SG2/DS2 artillery

Thomas Barclay wrote:

> Okay folks, lets talk about artillery in the future. Not game
mechanics
> wise, but operational wise. Is it me or has most modern arty gone SP
> (self propelled)? Aren't field guns kind of passe? Doubly so once you
> start making your tow vehicles AC or grav.

Modern big guns are usually SP, or at least have a limited SP
capability (ie able to regroup under their own power, but effectively
incapable of journeys longer than a km or so). Light weapons (up to
about 80mm mortars) tend not to be SP (but of course they tend to be
reasonably easy to carry in a truck or APC anyway!). I'm not sure how
good today's CBRs really are, but today's militaries seem to plan for
recieving counter-battery fire within a minute of opening fire
themselves.

> Once you have a grav platform, the war is so much about mobility and
a
> tank becomes the all around weapon - replacing jets (which are
lighter
> armoured), VTOLS (same), arty (not mobile enough), and of course 
> doing duty as a tank.

SP artillery =|= tanks... and they'll be around for a long time yet, I
assure you :-/ An artillery (high-trajectory) gun tends to be fairly
different from a tank (direct-fire) gun... and this becomes even more
true if the tanks start using lasers or DPPGs <g>

> Until then though, I assume forces wanted a high mobility force and
> specifically those operating with an atmosphere (no AC on airless
rocks)
> will want to be air-cushion. That'd let them move very fast over
water,
> most land, tundra, ice floes, etc. It makes amphibious assaults a
joke.
> Additionally, you'll get an AC tank moving faster than a track layer.
> And probably better for the ground its running over - more
distributed
> surface pressure. Works in swamps!

Provided you can armour the skirts ('twould be a *bad* think if
artillery shrapnel could M-kill your tanks by tearing a rip in the
skirts...) and can negotiate rough terrain, and has reasonably low
dust, noise and heat signatures, hovertanks look good.

> Given this might be the case, wouldn't most artillery be of the form
of
> an MRLS or a CPR (Chemically Propelled Round) nature mounted on an >
AC chassis (which grounds to setup and fire, but to leave just flips on
the
> fans and motors...). Given the state of Counter Battery today, that
> would seem like a darn good plan. Shoot, then scoot. Fast.

You don't need AC for that, though. Modern SP guns - including those
mounted on high-mobility lorries - are pretty quick to scoot too :-/

> Or (if it is actually not an AND) am I raving? Is there some good
> justification for towed arty which takes longer to setup and does not
> have the mobility?

Not if it is a big weapon, no.
 
Regards,

Oerjan Ohlson
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
- Hen3ry