Evyn replied to me:
Say you have TL11 technology with reactionless thrusters. I think that means
flying AFVs replace ground AFVs for most purposes -- vectored thrusters and
the necessary power plants are lighter than tracks or wheels. It doesn't
take much to make such an AFV orbit-capable, and then adding a little
hyperdrive (if it is available in the setting) is no big thing, either. But
I wonder if I'm rationalizing a desire to give the player characters the
mobility and survivability of a 'midget starship', which can't possibly
compete with the real Space Navy ... no crew quarters, no maintenance
workshops, no serious space-grade sensors and point defense.
In essence you are making an long range Amtrac. I would of said Helo
but they tend not to linger in the Area of Operations once they have
delivered their combat load.
Or you envision a Over the horizon "amphibious" vehicle with a APCs
over the beach capability, I don't see a problem with that.
But the Amtrac or the more recent AAV are pretty bad as ground combat
APCs. Bg, clumsy, poorly protected. No army would switch over to AAVs as
standard infantry carrier.
One dividing line is supersonic speed -- if it is supersonic it can also
go to orbit -- and another dividing line is more than 3 or 4 G
acceleration. 3 G from multiple separate thrusters is enough to keep a
VTOL flying with redundancy on any reasonable planet. What cut are you
willing to accept in the armor and armament so that your AFV can keep up
with Navy forces maneuvering at 6 or 8 G?
A VTOL tank could have more than 10k points of frontal armor, and side
armor in the high thousands. A FTL-capable dropship would be in the low
thousands, even without long-occupancy bunkrooms.
Regards,
Onno
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