Brandon wrote: > Shortly after Germany invaded Poland and the first use of glider-borne > battlesuits was demonstrated, the US began a crash course to develop their own > models.
Hello Brandon, are you assuming an alternate history where the tech marvels cancel each other out, or will the history of the war change? If the suits were secret, and not paraded on newsreels, then Germany might have reserved them for Eben Emael. > These tactical faults might have been > forgiven had it not been for a bigger strategic problem -- combat deployment. How would they perform in urban areas? That wasn't really in focus in the early WWII period, but relatively light suits might have been used in buildings. > The > American Waco glider could only carry two and the British Horsa only four. > It wasn't until the British Hamilcar (p.W:MP87) entered service that a full > seven suit squad and supplies could be deployed by a single glider. New suits, no new heavy-duty gliders? > As a > way around this, parachute deployment was tested. While this worked > (after a fashion), it required eight four-engined bombers (B-17's or > B-24's) to deploy an airborne platoon, with the suits jumping out of the bomb > bay. The payload of bombers depended on range. Airborne attacks would be much closer than strategic bombing. > An airborne battlesuit platoon contains three squads, each with five > airborne suits and two airborne flak suits. The HQ section contains two > airborne > command suits (platoon commander and senior NCO) and two airborne flak > suits. Total platoon strength is 24 battlesuits. The flak suits were used more > often against ground targets than aircraft. How about medics, engineers, and dedicated anti-tank? With something like a Boys AT rifle. > Powertrain: 1.1-kW diesel engine with 0.8-kW legged transmission and > 2.2-gallon self-sealing fuel tank; 2,000-kWs batteries Are the batteries necessary? > Occupancy: 1 BS body (120-150 lb pilot) Cargo: 0.7 Body, 0.1 Head. Little kids or women? Rosie the Ranger might be hard enough for Americans, but how about the Germans? > Weaponry > 2xSMGs/modified M-1928 Thompson [RArm:F, LArm:F] (200 each). Is it effective to mount two SMGs? How about a Panzerfaust clone instead? > Equipment > Body: Life support (6 hours), 200-lb hardpoint, smoke discharger, Head: > Small radio transmitter and receiver, IFF. Arms: ST 11 waldo motors. * Why life support? The engine is air-breathing, so it can't dive, and gas could be handled with a mask. * Why the smoke discharger? Is it efficient? * What sensor/targeting system interacts with the IFF? You could have it on command suits only, to coordinate with tactical air. > The most common weapon pod holds one M-2 .50-cal Browning (Long Aircraft > HMG) with 350 rounds. A much less common one has an M-4 20mm cannon (Long > Aircraft AC) with 80 rounds. There is also a disposable triple-tube launcher > for three 4.5" artillery rockets. It should be remembered that the HMG and > autocannon are aircraft versions and will quickly overheat when used if the > soldier not careful. No GPMG/MMG pod? Considering that the integral guns are SMGs, it could use something in the rifle range. > The command suit adds a medium radio reciever and trasmitter, recon > camera, a second smoke discharger and reduces cargo to 0.3 VSP. $4,900. What use is the camera? At this TL, it will use film that has to be developed. How about telescopic optics instead, or nav gear to represent maps and a gyrocompass? > The flak suit adds four .30-cal M-1919A4 Brownings (Ground LMGs) to the > body (with 375 rpg), removes the smoke discharger, and has cargo 0.2 VSP. > $5,200 and 2.03 tons. How are they aimed? Turning the torso? Regards, Onno _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
