Re: [SG,DS] Power Armour Weapon

Ryan Gill schrieb:
> At 12:15 PM +1100 3/11/03, Beth.Fulton@csiro.au wrote:
> >
> >OK excuse dumb Beth question, is this because they
> > really aren't needed full stop anymore or is it because they are
bogged 
> > down by weight/ammo/immobility and so other methods are better and
combat
> > abilities/tactics have evolved to match those methods instead?
> 
> Machine guns in the heavy sustained fire roles were
> abandoned because the human wave tactics fell into rarity. I'm sure
that at
> Korea many US troops were wishing they still had their water cooled
> M1919s over the air cooled ones.

WWII Germans in Russia do not seem to have had problems over the lack
of a water cooled weapon. With a good barrel-change mechanism and a
skilled crew, the delay on a MG42 is no longer than putting in a new
belt. 

I have read anecdotes where in an emergency they even dispensed with
the asbestos glove normally used to handle the hot barrel :-(

> I think, that given off world limitations on supply and
> that given a supply of brass (easy to mine), 

"Easy to mine" would depend on the geology of the planet. Also, brass
is two elements (Copper and Zinc) that are not too commonly found
together. Generally, iron is more likely to be easily found.

> In the infantry role, Water cooled MGs are bloody heavy.
> They aren't terribly good for attack, but are killer for defense.
> Your big problem being displacing quickly to alternate positions
> on the defense. 

Which is indeed a problem as soon as the enemy has spotted the
position. Spotting an MG firing occasional bursts is not that easy, but
a sustained-fire position is something else.

Greetings
Karl Heinz