Re: DSII for the 2020s

In message <199911292217.XAA11670@mailg.telia.com> "Oerjan Ohlson"
writes:
> All this talking about DSII artillery made me take a thorough look at
> the DSII rules for the first time since I began working for my current
> employer.
[...]
>
> * HKPs... don't work with the current PSB. The blurb describes them as
> "...relatively small-calibre (but VERY long) barrel to develop
> hyper-velocities for its superdense long-rod penetrator rounds ...",
> and goes on to describe two pressure-driven launch mechanisms (LP and
> "plasma reaction").

I've never liked HKP's. Three different kinetic energy guns seem
like at least one too many. Old Dirtside only had one, the mass
driver cannon (as well as a HEAT ammo rocket-assisted gun and the
familiar DFFG and HEL). Playtest Dirtside II had a smart-munition-
firing gun, but I 'spose that's too similar to a GMS.

[...]
> * Allow ADS to intercept incoming artillery rounds - I'm 99% certain
> that there will be at least one such system in active service within 5
> years. Of course it will pretty soon be countered by carrier shells
> filled with decoy submunitions etc; in DSII terms this is an opposed
> dieroll between the quality of the ADS and the quality of the incoming
> salvo.

About how far away is a submunition-carrying artillery shell when
it seperates? Is it feasable to bring it down before this point?

[...]
> * Allow infantry GMS/L teams in open-topped vehicles to fire their
> missiles "effectively" (ie, able to hit and inflict actual damage),
but
> at a one die-shift penalty in missile guidance (ie, Basic rolls 1D4,
> Enhanced 1D6, Superior 1D8).

Do you mean open-topped or open-hatched? Several different APCs
seem to allow this, German Marders, UK Warriors.

[...]
>   - Flechette rounds: Counts as HEF against Militia and Line infantry,
> as MAK against PA, and completely ineffective against armoured
vehicles
> (armour level 1 or more *in the front*). (Flechettes are very good at
> penetrating cloth, kevlar fibres, earth, timber etc, but literally
> piss-poor against hard armour). In addition, flechette missions will
> NOT set fire to things like woods or buildings.

In my (very) limited understanding, current arty submuntion are
usually dual-purpose with both fragmentation and a shaped charge
attacking any vehicle unfortunate enough to be hit directly.
Wouldn't this still be the case for a flechette submunition?...
that they would be equally as effective against vehicles as HEF?

[...]
>  - PGDH rounds (Precision Guided, Direct Hit - not a good name, but
> they're quite different from the MAKs so I need a different name for
> them...) These are direct descendants of weapons like the US
Copperhead
> or the Swedish Strix, using a shape-charged warhead big enough to
punch
> through the front of a 1999 MBT horisontally even through fairly
> serious reactive armour... but with a stand-off of a couple of meters
> at most. Counts as MAK against both infantry and vehicles, but the
> target can use both its ECM *and its PDS* to defend against it (in
> addition to any nearby ADS helping out).

This is surely a case for artillery-delivered GMS systems.

-- 
David Brewer