GEVs

Brian and another fellow hit it on the head.

The GEV of 2183 will

A) use a limited form of vectored thrust and maybe skirts to enhance
the effect but can use thrust alone for limited periods to transit
from hills to flats - and the thrust from a turbine parallel to the
hillside WILL push a GEV up a hill

AND/OR

B) Have other methods like null-grav packs or active skirts or who
knows what.

If we can believe in abundant power, we can believe a GEV can climb a
hill. Or at least, I can. If I can buy anti-gravity, I can buy GEVs
climbing hills. And moving through scrub. Heavy forest is bad, but it
is for tracklayers too. And if anyone has ever seen Alberta or
Saskatchewan, there is plenty of GEV playground there. The same with
other plains/deserts. And lakes, swamps, rivers, the arctic, the
antarctic, etc.

They aren't the be all end all (I think that is grav) but they sure do
have a lot of features that make them attractive for a lot of
operations).

Additionally, someone said something about a hockey puck analogy.
Think about it. You may have a lower coefficient of friction than a
tracklayer, but you still mass a huge amount. A round striking you
would certainly impart a very minimal change in your vector, even if
it was a big one. It would be more than to a corresponding tracklayer
(unless the GEV was grounded) but still not huge. The round just does
not have the energy to alter the momentum of the mass effectively.

As for the recoil reduction from using small projectiles gradually
accelerated:

Gradual acceleration must take some length of barrell. This may
penalize the AFV in close terrain. It looks fine on a static platform
with fish-tank attached, but try to put something like that into a
tank and get meaningful damage output without significant impulse to
the tank firing the weapon. I'm not saying it won't be better than a
CPR gun, but it isn't a low recoil weapon. Especially if you want
ROF - that means the round must clear the barrell (even if you do
multi-round simultaneous staggered fire) reasonably expediently, which
means a gradual acceleration is a problem. As does target movement -
if I press the firing stud after lining up my shot, I want it there
NOW not later. So a slow launch isn't in line with that. I want the
round GONE. That probably involves recoil. If I want a low recoil
weapon, I pick a MD over a CPR gun. But even lower, I pick a HEL over
either of those other two.

Thomas Barclay
Software UberMensch
xwave solutions
(613) 831-2018 x 3008