Big Ships, Big Guns, and Big Power

On big guns:
There is just something horrendous about a weapon that throws
Volkswagens. A modernized version with a 16", 18", 20" or whatever sized
shell, with engineering like that which went into Mr. Bull's SuperGun
for Iraq (which the allies could have had if they'd halfway wanted it
and hadn't driven him away), with autoloaders (which can be done) would
be a weapon which could throw huge payloads over vast distances and have
a faster response than missiles over the same range. And the ammo would
cost less. And hit with more KE.

A modern-design nuclear battleship would be pretty wicked in
conventional engagements.

On big ships:
Drawing back to my last statement, the only good argument (other than
costs, which are debatable) that I can see for not having battleships
alone as your platform for bombardment is the fact that engagements
won't always be conventional. One decent pocketnuke (cheap to deliver,
doesn't even need a contact hit necessarily) can M-kill or (if it hits)
totally demolish even a modern battleship. And the sea is a lot safer
area to use these than on land, so probably it will occur sooner in a
big conflict. Whammo. No more Mr. BB.

But for conventional engagements, they're great. I'm still in favor of
having a few of these around. They are awesome support for landing in
second and third world areas and as fire support in limited wars like
the Gulf. But they should only be a part of a full force structure. Not
having any seems... short sighted.

On big power:
I suggested fusion or HMT for GEVs. What I should have said is "These
need a lot of power - any system that can provide a lot of power to
thrust around big masses, climb hills, deal with fast vectored thrust
cornering.... will be fine."

But Rob had the essential point here too - cheap portable power will
make a world of difference to just about every facet of our existence,
and particuarly to just abou every facet of armoured warfare.

On punctured skirts:
Anyone who knows much about modern RT control systems knows that if you
had a set position for your vehicle (ie, it was expected to be moving
along a given course and at time t was at position x,y...) then when a
skirt was holed, yes a jet of escaping air would probably form. The
control system aboard would detect the vehicle being accelerated off
course, would compute an opposing acceleration vector, and countersteer.
In fact, this type of system would compensate for N holes (until the
whole thing grounded) as you still only have a net vector in one
direction to compensate for. And this further presumes no adequate
puncture sealing. We can posit a self sealing skirt - either a computer
driven injector system for liquid metal to plug the hole, or maybe liqud
rubber. Or even more SF, nanites who will quickly biuild a plug to
repair the skirt in-place. And no doubt there are other methods. Maybe
there is a thin internal rubber or polymer skirt that slowly rotates
inside the outer metal one. So you punch through the outer one - very
shortly the inner one has rotated enough to eliminate the problem, and
until that same whole rotates all the way around, the vehicle is okay.
Just some thoughts, but I assume that by 2185 we can easily develop a
method of sealing off a puncture. (At some point, you'll have so many,
you're toast. But that is what damage chits are all about!).

On VTOLs vs GEV:
Based on things said plus engineering facts, I can't see a 2180s GEV
being anything less than a slightly underpowered VTOL. The skirts assist
the VTOL to "fly" (hover or move). The vectored thrust allows manouvre,
hill climbs, and helps to compensate for holes in the skirts or helps to
hop gullies and such. But it only has short bursts of "hop" power, so
isn't a true flying VTOL. These may even be engines on the same Scale as
a VTOL engine, but due to heavier weapon and armour mass, they can't
fly. VTOLs thus are skirt-less, lighter armoured, GEVs. It makes for
some similarities in the supply and logistics situation, as well as in
training techs to work on them.

My 0.02 for today.

BTW, I loved Los' prayer. "Go easy on my Ma." - ROFL.

My version:
"Dear God, Save My Unworthy Impious Lazy Ass - the world needs a bad
example to show all the Diligent Pious Worthy folk what to avoid. So I'm
still needed - my work here is not yet done."

Tom B.