The Disorder wrote:I was reading through the corresponding post-modern tech thread (viewtopic.php?f=5&t=376203) and the first page contains some neat stuff about armored trains. That got me thinking about trains & planet-side logistical infrastructure - and if futuretech trains would be practical.
If I apply the same technology that my nation's hovertanks use to civilian/industrial vehicles, very high-velocity hovertrains might exist. Multiple independently-powered vehicles could be coupled together into a long chain, with a few cars carrying giant reactors to improve the performance of the entire train.
These trains might not even require tracks - just appropriately flat surfaces to serve as makeshift roads. Slight changes in slope wouldn't seriously affect a vehicle that has a hovering height of several centimeters, so the amount of surface-smoothing that needs to be done could be minimal. With some good industrial-scale plasma torches to carve out reasonably flat & glassed-over roads, it could become trivially cheap & easy to make paths for high-velocity hovertrains.
The Disorder's vehicular hovering technology will also work over water. Driving across an ocean might be practical, although the technology doesn't get great tractive force when operating on liquid surfaces, and it's probably a good idea to avoid storms & really intense wave activity.
based on current real world trends Drones will become the next big mainstay of modern warfare. I doubt trains would be better than drones in some sort of mobile theatre supply line.