----- Original Message ----- > From: Onno Meyer <[email protected]> > >> One pro to the 9 battlesuit approach, though, was that one hit was highly >> unlikely to kill the whole squad, while one hit could easily kill the APC >> and everyone inside. > > The IFV will be much faster than the battlesuits. So it isn't really suits > vs. IFV, it is suits plus rear-end-of-the-battlefield-armored-transport vs. > IFV.
This depends on how low and fast you are willing to let the IFV fly (I'm assuming contragracity with reactionless thrusters for this thread, although my original thought experiment involved TL8 wheeled and tracked IFV). And anyway, I concede that battlesuits ave inferior strategic mobility compared to other vehicles. Tactically ... depends on the terrain. > So go the whole nine years and make it a suit-carrying IFV. If suits are rare, maybe. If they are common, it's too expensive and the carriers are just big targets. I often refer to the M2 Bradley as an oversized light tank carrying an under-strength infantry squad, too big fr one job and too small for the other. The BMP carries more men but is more of a deathtrap. > The suits will have a hard time following a tank assault. I'd put the infantry ahead of the tanks, not the other way around. > The IFV will be harder to kill. Yes, but if killed, it kills everyone. > An IFV can have a driver, a gunner and a commander. All suit troopers are > multitasked. Not more than any other infantryman with a lot of sensor input directed to their helmet HUD. Or a fighter pilot. > Nobody to take a breath and wonder what is beyond the next > hill while the fight goes on on this side. A battlesuit squad can send someone to take a peek with less chance of detection than an IFV. > On an alien world, the IFV can be sealed with room for the troops to take > a nap or go to the potty. How large has a tent got to be to get out of a > battlesuit, and who carries that tent? Another reason to give the suits a > supporting vehicle. You can have battlesuit repair vehicles (BRVs) that include a sealed area fora suit to unseal. But the BRV is a recovery and repair vehicle, not a troop carrier. >> For orbital assault, I think it really depends on the scale. If you are >> landing thousands (divisions) of men, you can afford losing 10-15 with one >> hit because the logistics and C3 are simpler. For tens of men (platoon or >> smaller), battlesuits in stealth capsules are probably better. The issue >> is really about hundreds of men (company and battalion) sized units. > > Is a stealth capsule more stealthy than a stealth dropship? The dropship > has a higher size modifier, both are likely to top out at radical stealth > and emission cloaking with (TL-4)*2, but the dropship can afford a big > deceptive jammer, the capsules can't. The difference in SM might make up for the loss of a deceptive jammer. A suit is SM +1 or +2, while a dropship is at least +6 and probably more. Brandon _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
