Re: [DSII] Re: VTOL fighting

On May 4 , devans@uneb.edu wrote:
> 
> 
> ***
> That's one example of why VTOL's may be used. Does it answer any
> questions, or just raise more?
> ***
> 
> As with all good posts, a little of both. ;->=

     Always glad to help....

> However, it does seem you use mostly 'specialized' VTOL's, albeit
> ones that find transiting to orbit as easy as landing, as opposed to
> Jacks-of-all-trades.

     Quite true. I tend to think that the truly general-purpose 
combat vehicle is impossible. It is worth noting, though, that my 
VTOL designs are all based on a few basic templates. The Falcon-A is 
the basic gunship, with the Falcon-C as the command variant and the 
Falcon-E as the engineering variant.

> I suppose that, in my scenario mechanics, the costs would favor
> specialized, drop-and-pickup, 'round trip' landers and somewhat more
> generalized, 'one-way' drop ships, which would require retrieval
> vehicles, though I'd think anything that tries to do it all well
> should be as expensive as petrol is becoming.

     Agreed. I have some problems with the way VTOLs are designed in 
DSII currently, but it mostly has to do with my wanting to be able to 
put in Artillery.... My forces will, and I can almost guarantee this, 
lose to a conventional opponent of equal DSII points cost commanded 
by an equally good tactician. They will, however, win against an 
opponent who a) has few, if any, AA assets, b) has little in the way 
of advanced technology (basic systems mostly, a few enhanced), and c) 
is unable to concentrate as effectively as a VTOL-based force (which 
are, in my own universe, the intended opponents of this task force).
     Essentially, if you put my VTOL artillery against opponents 
using direct fire, they will be destroyed. If you put the APCs (in 
low mode) against MBTs, they will burn. If the gunships loiter around 
in low mode for too long, same notation. The force works well, but 
any individual component, if used for something it's not intended to 
do, is vulnerable. Also, my VTOLs are not fighters. My task force 
includes aerospace fighters, but they are not the VTOLs.

> I'd like to make VERY expensive even the one-ways that can, a) drop
> a platoon or tank, b) follow that them in, giving ground support,
> and STILL c) strike fear into a fighter pilot's heart.

     Agreed. My APC VTOLs could carry a size-2 vehicle instead of the 
infantry, but they have (I think) a size-1 HEL and a GMS/L (and the 
free APSW) as the rest of their armament. My artillery VTOLs only 
have the free APSW. The gunships (size 3) can only carry their guns, 
and the command VTOL has almost NO armament. NONE of them can stand 
up very well to aerospace assets -- that's what the DDVs attached to 
the task force are for (well, their fighters).
     In a way, this reminds me of a passage from the _Aliens Colonial 
Marines Technical Manual_ (highly recommended, btw) about the 
Cheyenne dropships there, to the effect of "If you go up against a 
fighter, you will burn. Same for good AA assets. You're a rocket/APC, 
not a fighter/gunship/APC/rocket/spacefighter." That's roughly what 
I'm trying for too....

-Brian Quirt