Here comes the first batch of replies. More later ... Anthony replied to me: > > * Might there be dedicated vehicles with many cyberswarm hives, > > or will each vehicle have a few? > > Probably neither one; cyberswarm hives will be cargo and normally just > fitted into a transport vehicle, armored if appropriate.
Hello Anthony, cyberswarm hives need power and data links, probably a dedicated computer, and access ways for the microbots. So stacking them in an ordinary truck won't work, you need to mount them properly. > > * Would engineering be a role where bipedal mecha might be > > justified? > > Engineering is a role where arms are justified. If contragravity is > available, legs are pretty much never a good plan. Standing on firm ground might have something to offer. Say the grav vehicle tries to rip a gate off -- when it finally breaks, the vehicle will fly backwards. A tracked or legged vehicle on the lowest gear wouldn't have that problem quite as much. Travis wrote: > TL9+ mines should have a means for the owners to deactivate a field they > leave behind, so mine-clearing may be best done with signal processing(or > better yet, alter their IFF and make it a 'friendly' mine-field that only > targets enemies). Hello Travis, if it can be deactivated remotely, it can be hacked. > I expect that bulldozers would either have a low-velocity/high-thrust mode > or a propulsion system that only does low velocity. Not really in the 3E rules. They could be unstreamlined, then their speed is capped at 600 mph, and they will probably have enough thrust to weight to reach that. > Without that option > you either have bulldozers with a weight/thrust ratio that makes racers > look pokey, or they are simply not viable, and bulldozers may have > contra-grav but use tractor treads for real work. What is the problem with supersonic (and reentry-capable) grav bulldozers? Imagine a 'dozer blade which can fold flat against the hull at high speed. > Construction sites invariably have that little trailer that presumably has > either maintenance or blasting supplies in it(it is the one that is > usually > hung from a crane during off-hours for added security) > Seems like an ideal place to keep your cyber-swarms. Some combat engineers have specialized APCs as engineer squad vehicles -- troops, tools, supplies like explosives or barbed wire, possibly a small bulldozer blade. You could have a grav variant of that. > On the other hand, I suspect cyber-swarms would have difficulty with a > constantly-changing construction site if they are expected to maintain > lots > of vehicles, I'm not just thinking of maintenance swarms. There are cleaning, constructor, defoliator, devourer, explorer, pesticide swarms. > and could lose a lot of their resources from getting buried > when dealing with large earth-movers, making on-vehicle the only semi-safe > place for them to be... Combat engineers, not commercial construction. If the swarms get the job done before they're buried on the way back, that might be cost-effective. Eric replied to me: > > * If you have contragrav at TL12+, mobility and countermobility > > look different, but you'd still want those capabilities to > > clear starports and similar sites. > > > > Bridging is out. Bulldozers, graders, backhoes will still have > > their place. > > There will still be land needs to clear for civilian vehicles, wildlife, Hello Eric, usually wildlife is a peacetime concern. I'm thinking about combat engineers. > perhaps still using bridges to create accessways for people to get to > different floors of buildings. That sounds like base construction. I had lumped it with survivability tasks, but it deserves special attention, right? > Clearing small landing areas will be important. Clear them from nasty surprises, both intentional (mines) and unintentional (unexploded ordnance, NBC, structurally damaged buildings). NBC isn't usually an engineer job. Level the site (earthmoving, building demolition). Improve the site (runways/landing pads, shelters, berms). How deep do you dig? A special bunker-builder vehicle? > > * According to the rules, contragrav vehicles can have bulldozer > > blades, but how much thrust do you need to make them viable? > > Do you want the ST of a pickup truck or a bulldozer? As much as possible within other constraints on the vehicle, like armor, weight, cost. Mecha has Lift ST rules, do they apply to bulldozers, too? > > * Might there be dedicated vehicles with many cyberswarm hives, > > or will each vehicle have a few? > > each vehicle will have at least one (repair, defence, maybe medic) But how about the construction/explorer/... swarms mentioned in my reply to Travis? > > * What is TL12+ mine clearance? What are TL12+ minefields? Does > > it differ from EOD? > > A TL8 mine-clearing device is a large flail. > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mine_flail TL6, actually. This gets harder if there are standoff mines. I'll reply to those mails tonight. > > * At a first glance, manipulator force screens (VXii22) look > > neat, but their ST is too low to matter. > > Could be important for small arms and shrapnel defense (and against > dust/toxic fumes). I'm thinking about force screens with the stealth option, but without the manipulator option. Stealth screens mean that the vehicle remains stealthy even if the bulldozer blade is caked with mud. > > * Would engineering be a role where bipedal mecha might be > > justified? > > I think so. (But I just watched the pilot for Transformers: Rescue Bots > which is about somewhat bipedal high tech recovery vehicles...) > > The flexibility and mobility in urban areas should be useful. I tend to agree, but Anthony doesn't. I'll think about it some more. Regards, Onno _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
