Re: DSII questions

Andrew Martin 

>>Can someone explain the difference between Stealth and ECM to >>me?
Not the effects in game terms, I'm well aware of those, but in the
>>PSB?
>
>In my background, DSII Stealth is advanced manufacturing, fitting more
>stuff in less space. It seems to fit better that way.

So with a design system which handles the "more stuff in less space"
explicitly your background would have no place for Stealth?

>>ECM is described as:
>>"Systems designed to jam the guidance of incoming Missiles."
> 
>In my background, ECM is a combination of chaff, flares, smoke, laser
>blinders, radar jammers, holographic imagers, directed EMP and
>similar systems directed by an automatic computer system. All these
>designed to confuse and deflect an incoming missile into not impacting
>with the target vehicle.

Hm. What's the difference between this and PDS? That is, what is the
big conceptual difference between having a system with a sensor which
detects incoming missiles and a grenade launcher firing a smoke grenade
into the missile's path or a small laser which blinds the missile's
optics on one hand, and having a system with a sensor which detects
incoming missiles and a fragmentation charge which throws shrapnel into
the missile's pagh or a small gun which puts a bullet through the
missile's optics on the other?

>>What is the big difference between the guidance systems of a GMS
>>and the sensors of an AFV or a sensor drone which makes the >>systems
able to fool the AFV or drone unable to fool the missile and >>vice
versa?
> 
>In my background, I think I solve this problem.

That's nice. Would you like to tell us *how*? <g>

After all, smoke, radar jammers and holographics (all ECM) would most
likely have a certain detrimental effect on AFV targetting systems as
well as on missiles; similarly a low profile (stealth) would make the
vehicle harder for the missile crews to detect and engage.

(BTW, isn't smoke its own system in DSII rather than part of the ECM?)
 
>>In the current rules, ECM works against GMSs but nothing else
>>(should work against MAK artillery too, though),...
> 
>I assume that artillery MAK just overwhelms defensive system with
>numbers. So ECM, PDS and Stealth have no effect versus Artillery.

IMO that's a very weak assumption, and that's in spite of my being
biased in favour of the artillery... Even with cluster munitions you'd
need WW1-style massed artillery batteries to throw enough dumb rounds
into an area; for MAK to have the effects it has in the game, each
sublet needs to be able to aim itself at a target - and the sensors of
a sublet is nowhere near as powerful as those of a GMS, let alone an
AFV, so anything which can fool those systems will degrade the sublets
quite measurably.

>> Finally the hardest question of them all:
>>
>>Do you have any feelings for how much high mobility is worth in DSII,
>>de-coupled from weapon types used etc?
>>
>>That is to say, assume that two forces have identical vehicles,
except
>>that one uses (say) Hi-Mob Wheeled and the other Fast GEV mobility. 

[snip rest of example]

>In my opinion, about 10% roughly. So the wheeled force might need >10%
more vehicles than the GEV force.

OK. Any opinions about other mobility combinations? :-)

Thanks for the input,

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