NationStates Post-Modern Tech Community Thread

[Supreme Authority]

Hello Gentlemen and Ladies,

I have a request, or a challenge if you would like to view it that way, I have in mind a roleplay for the future, loosely based on Star Wars, but in a PMT/MT setting, I've been having a think myself but I can't seem to think of anything that would require a small squad of guys to enter a military installation, steal plans and then blow up some kind of super weapon, what i'm stumped at is, I need something insanely impractical, (those who know me, know I love the impractical, see: 2km Super State Destroyer Oppressor Class "The Executioner") what I need are some ideas, something thats powerful enough to warrant the operation, but has to be within the realms of PMT/MT, my first thought was to fit a Nuclear capable "grand cannon" onto a vessel, oh yes, this has to be ship based, bigger the better, I'm open to ideas and hope someone can throw some ideas my way, you will be credited for any ideas that I use in the roleplay.

Thanks

Kraven

What about something biological? For instance, a designer microorganism that can break down a wide variety of organic materials, including people? Or just a garden-variety plague.

Instead of a large super-dreadnought, such a weapon could be deployed by small submersible drones, that would be nearly impossible to detect with anti-submarine tactics. The heroes would need to infiltrate a control bunker to disable or destroy them, before they can be deployed against their intended target.

[The State of Monavia]

Thought about this for abit and the only thing I can come up with is a ship that could carry some gray goo nanomachine swarms in a shell that would effectively eat up a nations coastal defense network, beyond that I'm kinda stumped because nukes are kinda vanilla and any planet killers in a PMT setting would essentially kill the person using it as well to (inb4doomsdaycult) .

And what the team would be destroying would the plans for the shell that could feasibly carry the nanites or the code to activate the nanites etc etc etc

I think thats a nice idea, but The Reich have never gone down the nanite path for any of its technology, so I think it would be too far a leap for The Reich to suddenly develop a doomsday nanite shell, one thing that popped into my head was Microwave, how would one develop a weapon based on Microwave technology?

Having previously roleplayed spy drama regarding another player’s exotic weaponry (a Fegosian radio array, a shipwreck containing railguns, and more), I personally prefer that the McGuffin in question be something mechanical, or perhaps a piece of software code. Given the extent of past Kravenite investments in computing technology and the number of ships making up resource fleets and the like, I would not be surprised if the flagships commanding larger Kravenite fleets used partially self-aware software to manage their command-and-control functions. I could easily imagine the operating system on a Kravenite supercomputer becoming self-aware, exploring government networks for knowledge, finding out about Father, developing a lust for power, and then going rogue. Perhaps this computer program mounts a coup and the Kravenite government appeals for outside help to get it under control, or perhaps it hijacks a command ship and then uses automated systems to gradually kill off the crews of other ships and hijack control of nuclear weapons. You could even have the program jump from ship to ship, firing off weapons and spreading chaos all over an entire region.

I also have an alternative proposal, albeit one that relies heavily on biology and may or may not fit into your canon. The Kravenite SS Eugenics Division does not simply breed perfect birthing vectors; they have to go out looking for suitable candidates and bring them in, which take a lot of time and effort. What if some Kravenite scientists proposed a program for breeding perfect birthing vectors (i.e. some would be put to work producing new generations of birthing vectors rather than Capitol Police) in order to make the Capitol Police deadlier? Even better, what if some scientists proposed a breeding program aimed at producing a population of women whose sole purpose is to supply eggs for breeding a new, more perfect generation of Capitol Police? I could easily see a breeding program to produce perfect warriors become a major target for foreigners, especially if it results in the creation of a “perfect” genome that the Kravenite government will want to mass-produce via cloning, much like the Pudites do with their warriors. A file containing the DNA code for the clones (or actual embryos) would make quite an interesting thing for foreign intelligence services to steal or destroy.

Of course, nothing says you cannot have the computer program that becomes self-aware be the creator of the breeding programs. Perhaps Reichmarshal Dietrich sets it up in the hope that he can have two different breeds of Capitol Police running around so he can shut the Relay off and have them kill each other in a race war, thus bringing the whole system down around himself in a misguided attempt at personal redemption, but this only results in instability and the RP revolves around foreign attempts to break into the Relay control center and turn it back on before the victors of the contest decide to set their sights on the rest of the world. Give me more time and I can come up with loads of twists based on what I know of your canon (having followed your writing for about six or seven years)...

[Sylus Trust]

Tag.

[Vistora]

What future innovations do you guys anticipate or at least postulate can be made to a PMT soldier's standard field kit, survival gear, and first aid equipment? The aforementioned antibiotic spider silk is an excellent example, and there is much I can add insofar as first aid is concerned given my professional and academic background, but I am still curious as to what other cool technologies await integration into a soldier's quotidian kit.

[Thoricia]

What future innovations do you guys anticipate or at least postulate can be made to a PMT soldier's standard field kit, survival gear, and first aid equipment? The aforementioned antibiotic spider silk is an excellent example, and there is much I can add insofar as first aid is concerned given my professional and academic background, but I am still curious as to what other cool technologies await integration into a soldier's quotidian kit.

One thing I saw in a Popular Science magazine a few years back kinda broached this issue and a lot of it was that the future soldier's suit would handle a lot of the things typically carried in a pack, the suit could do damage assessment and administer medications, it would administer nutrients when the soldier needed then, optics would be set up in a helmet and a variety of options would be available, GPS would be linked into the suit along with communications, so I kinda think instead of packing your soldiers down in the future perhaps look at lightening their load and possible transferring the heaviest things a squad carries (ammo being the main thing that pops into my head) onto a robot that travels with a squad.

[Second Sanctuary]

What future innovations do you guys anticipate or at least postulate can be made to a PMT soldier's standard field kit, survival gear, and first aid equipment? The aforementioned antibiotic spider silk is an excellent example, and there is much I can add insofar as first aid is concerned given my professional and academic background, but I am still curious as to what other cool technologies await integration into a soldier's quotidian kit.

Most of the additions will probably things along the lines of what Thoricia mentioned- slimming down the load currently carried by having items that serve multiple purposes, or expand their capabilities to make other items redundant. However, given the probable importance of drones and drone swarms on the future battlefield, it would not surprise me to find that items designed to allow individual soldiers to utilize various allied drones and hamper enemy drones would be carried on an individual basis. A small EWAR node perhaps, some form of designator allowing for prioritization of various targets and marking points of interest, even small drones designed to be launched by hand or independently in the field. Another possibility, with the miniaturization of electronics technology, is that of a personal fire control system. Utilized on naval vessels, these systems (whether by parallax, radio, or some combination thereof) took into account wind speed, distance to the target, the target's speed and bearing, even the earth's rotation, to maximize the number of hits landed in an engagement. Such a system deployed on the squad level would be of most use to the team's gunner, or whoever is charged with handling the LMG and/or grenade launcher. The ability to accurately direct fire onto targets usually outside the effective engagement range is something that would likely prove to be invaluable.

[Balochistan and New York]

Is power armour logical to produce? or just too expensive on the basis of what it does.

[Post War America]

Is power armour logical to produce? or just too expensive on the basis of what it does.

Define power armor, and what timeframe you're looking at.

[Balochistan and New York]

Is power armour logical to produce? or just too expensive on the basis of what it does.

Define power armor, and what timeframe you're looking at.

2050's and by power armour I mean the fallout kind

[Post War America]

Define power armor, and what timeframe you're looking at.

2050's and by power armour I mean the fallout kind

Not really, nuclear reactors miniaturized to the point where the can be that small, AND having safety measures to not kill the user would likely be impossible.

[Balochistan and New York]

2050's and by power armour I mean the fallout kind

Not really, nuclear reactors miniaturized to the point where the can be that small, AND having safety measures to not kill the user would likely be impossible.

Hm, ok then. Do you or anyone have any ideas for better protection of my soldiers? Also my thread wants a RPer willing to play as India or Brazil, they requirements are good posts. so when applying I suggest you include a RP sample in your app. Thanks!

[Post War America]

Not really, nuclear reactors miniaturized to the point where the can be that small, AND having safety measures to not kill the user would likely be impossible.

Hm, ok then. Do you or anyone have any ideas for better protection of my soldiers? Also my thread wants a RPer willing to play as India or Brazil, they requirements are good posts. so when applying I suggest you include a RP sample in your app. Thanks!

A different style of powered armor. The concept isn't necessarily unrealistic. It's the application. Basing your tech off of Fallout is not a good way to go since Fallout tech is based off of 1950s Science Fiction B Move ideas of SCIENCE!!! rather than actual Science. For best results look at the types of armor that are being experimented with today and extrapolating. IF you want to be realistic, looking at things in the real world is the way to go.

Lastly, when doing shameless plugs its usually best to provide links to what you're plugging.

[The Macabees]

Some of the "accouterments" that Macabean power armor comes with includes algorithms that speak to a common database to diagnose wounds and other medical problems, so that they can be counteracted — to the extent possible — through the intravenous distribution of drugs. The same system also helps regulate soldiers' heart rate, and can manipulate to a considerable extent emotions like fear, sadness, and shock. It can also mask pain. I RP this as being harmful to the soldier over the long-run; it's one of the costs and weaknesses of my power armor.

The suit's onboard computer can also match language patterns to known patterns in a database to translate languages in both direction, so the wearer can understand the foreigner in the soldier's native language, and the soldier can speak his or her native language and it'll be translated into the foreign language. The algorithm can also learn a new language over time by collecting data on it and then searching for the patterns a linguist would look for when translating an unknown tongue, but it does it much more quickly and without human bias.

Their systems are hooked up to a battlefield management system, and the system filters on a 'need to know basis.' i.e. there's data that's relevant to a certain soldier and data that is irrelevant. The BMS filters the right data to the right people. Using a UAV or other sources of battlefield intelligence, a Macabean soldier can 'see' the enemy even if that enemy is hiding, to the extent that the military intelligence gathering is effective. It helps soldiers aim, choose the right weapon, and, if using guided weaponry, it helps to guide the warhead. It also does risk assessments that are personalized to the soldier, based on the type of threat, their distance, and other data collected on them. The database system, that is not necessarily unique to the individual, but is instead connected via an encrypted network, works in conjunction with different softwares that do image recognition of weapons, clothing, [body] armor, et cetera.

Finally, the onboard computer also keeps diagnostics on the different armor plates — can they take more damage? —, and other vital systems on the power armor itself. This helps manage our soldiers better, withdrawing soldiers who are at high risk of dying so that they can be re-fitted, if possible, on the field.

The armor plating itself is backed by a think anti-spalling layer of kevlar-like material, and each piece of armor (which are modular, meaning their thickness can be customized by need — most of the time our soldiers don't use thick plates, because the main goal is to defeat low-tech enemies and the average enemy round, since high-tech enemies will always find a way to win the gun v. armor battle) is itself "wrapped" or "clothed" in materials that held reduce radar and heat signatures. The helmet is covered from the forehead back by a hood for the same purpose.

These are some of the features, at least. I tend to reveal them ICly over time. This post (section III) is probably the deepest I've ever gone into describing the suit.

The battery is not justified tech-wise. It's a 'rule of cool' handwave to make using power armor possible. I don't use nuclear power (at least, I haven't sold myself on taking the 'rule of cool' that far), but I know players who do and I have no problem with it because they balance it out with a good perspective on roleplaying -- i.e. tech is window dressing, it doesn't determine the story.

I do follow a simple three-point philosophy that I borrow from over a decades worth of research on tanks, tank design and develop, armor, ordnance, and mobility, et cetera. There are three 'local maximas' that the tech endeavors to perfect: agility, protection, and lethality. You can optimize for, at most, two of the three, and more likely what you want is a balance between the three. This guarantees some realism in that there's always an 'explicit' (or, built-in) weakness: either it's not as agile as competing models, it's not as lethal as competing models, or it's not as heavily armored as competing models. And there's no balance that's best for everyone, because everyone is fighting on different terrain, against different threats, et cetera.

[Balochistan and New York]

Hm, ok then. Do you or anyone have any ideas for better protection of my soldiers? Also my thread wants a RPer willing to play as India or Brazil, they requirements are good posts. so when applying I suggest you include a RP sample in your app. Thanks!

A different style of powered armor. The concept isn't necessarily unrealistic. It's the application. Basing your tech off of Fallout is not a good way to go since Fallout tech is based off of 1950s Science Fiction B Move ideas of SCIENCE!!! rather than actual Science. For best results look at the types of armor that are being experimented with today and extrapolating. IF you want to be realistic, looking at things in the real world is the way to go.

Lastly, when doing shameless plugs its usually best to provide links to what you're plugging.

I thought I am not allowed to send links.... anyways sorry.

[Balochistan and New York]

Some of the "accouterments" that Macabean power armor comes with includes algorithms that speak to a common database to diagnose wounds and other medical problems, so that they can be counteracted — to the extent possible — through the intravenous distribution of drugs. The same system also helps regulate soldiers' heart rate, and can manipulate to a considerable extent emotions like fear, sadness, and shock. It can also mask pain. I RP this as being harmful to the soldier over the long-run; it's one of the costs and weaknesses of my power armor.

The suit's onboard computer can also match language patterns to known patterns in a database to translate languages in both direction, so the wearer can understand the foreigner in the soldier's native language, and the soldier can speak his or her native language and it'll be translated into the foreign language. The algorithm can also learn a new language over time by collecting data on it and then searching for the patterns a linguist would look for when translating an unknown tongue, but it does it much more quickly and without human bias.

Their systems are hooked up to a battlefield management system, and the system filters on a 'need to know basis.' i.e. there's data that's relevant to a certain soldier and data that is irrelevant. The BMS filters the right data to the right people. Using a UAV or other sources of battlefield intelligence, a Macabean soldier can 'see' the enemy even if that enemy is hiding, to the extent that the military intelligence gathering is effective. It helps soldiers aim, choose the right weapon, and, if using guided weaponry, it helps to guide the warhead. It also does risk assessments that are personalized to the soldier, based on the type of threat, their distance, and other data collected on them. The database system, that is not necessarily unique to the individual, but is instead connected via an encrypted network, works in conjunction with different softwares that do image recognition of weapons, clothing, [body] armor, et cetera.

Finally, the onboard computer also keeps diagnostics on the different armor plates — can they take more damage? —, and other vital systems on the power armor itself. This helps manage our soldiers better, withdrawing soldiers who are at high risk of dying so that they can be re-fitted, if possible, on the field.

The armor plating itself is backed by a think anti-spalling layer of kevlar-like material, and each piece of armor (which are modular, meaning their thickness can be customized by need — most of the time our soldiers don't use thick plates, because the main goal is to defeat low-tech enemies and the average enemy round, since high-tech enemies will always find a way to win the gun v. armor battle) is itself "wrapped" or "clothed" in materials that held reduce radar and heat signatures. The helmet is covered from the forehead back by a hood for the same purpose.

These are some of the features, at least. I tend to reveal them ICly over time. This post (section III) is probably the deepest I've ever gone into describing the suit.

The battery is not justified tech-wise. It's a 'rule of cool' handwave to make using power armor possible. I don't use nuclear power (at least, I haven't sold myself on taking the 'rule of cool' that far), but I know players who do and I have no problem with it because they balance it out with a good perspective on roleplaying -- i.e. tech is window dressing, it doesn't determine the story.

I do follow a simple three-point philosophy that I borrow from over a decades worth of research on tanks, tank design and develop, armor, ordnance, and mobility, et cetera. There are three 'local maximas' that the tech endeavors to perfect: agility, protection, and lethality. You can optimize for, at most, two of the three, and more likely what you want is a balance between the three. This guarantees some realism in that there's always an 'explicit' (or, built-in) weakness: either it's not as agile as competing models, it's not as lethal as competing models, or it's not as heavily armored as competing models. And there's no balance that's best for everyone, because everyone is fighting on different terrain, against different threats, et cetera.

Thanks alot this helped massively

[Thoricia]

Not really, nuclear reactors miniaturized to the point where the can be that small, AND having safety measures to not kill the user would likely be impossible.

Hm, ok then. Do you or anyone have any ideas for better protection of my soldiers? Also my thread wants a RPer willing to play as India or Brazil, they requirements are good posts. so when applying I suggest you include a RP sample in your app. Thanks!

There's a lot you can do with "power armor" in the time frame you defined as well as enhancing your troops without needing power armor as well.

One thing you might consider are very basic frames that aren't armored but increase your troops strength and/or endurance. Another alternative you might consider is teaching up your soldiers in ways similar to what Mac has described.

One thing Thorician basic infantry has are high tech helmets that do several things, they're hooked into the soldier's weapons and track where other helmets are and calculate angles of fire and will actually kill a soldier's weapon if there's a 99% chance of friendly fire, it has its flaws still such as in instances of suppressing fire for troops in front of a soldier it can and will cut out at inopportune times. Another thing they have is similar to what Mac was talking about. The helmet sends data back to a central command on what troops are where, if there are any hostiles engaged their locations are proximated and also fed back into the central command computer in an effort to make entire military units more efficient when working together because one of the most powerful tools on any battlefield regardless of tech era is information, figure out a way for your nation to exploit that and it'll give your troops a leg up in any fight within the constraints of being a cooperative player with others

[Vistora]

Not really, nuclear reactors miniaturized to the point where the can be that small, AND having safety measures to not kill the user would likely be impossible.

Hm, ok then. Do you or anyone have any ideas for better protection of my soldiers? Also my thread wants a RPer willing to play as India or Brazil, they requirements are good posts. so when applying I suggest you include a RP sample in your app. Thanks!

Contained within one of my military factbooks here, under the Integration Suit tab, is a detailed description of the modular suits used by my own VSOP. They technological level is somewhat past ~2050, but the science (which I can explain in greater detail if need be) behind it all is very sound and thus perhaps justifiable in a reduced form. You can take a look at the specs and see if anything helps inspire an idea of your own.

[Vistora]

What do we assess to be the potential usefulness and application of laser-based CIWS and APS technology for anti-missile purposes? I personally put a fair amount of stake in them as an effective method in countering self-propelled explosive weapons, and such systems see extensive usage in my canon, from warships to APCs.

[The Macabees]

What do we assess to be the potential usefulness and application of laser-based CIWS and APS technology for anti-missile purposes? I personally put a fair amount of stake in them as an effective method in countering self-propelled explosive weapons, and such systems see extensive usage in my canon, from warships to APCs.

Yes, big +1 for lasers.

[The Technocratic Syndicalists]

What do we assess to be the potential usefulness and application of laser-based CIWS and APS technology for anti-missile purposes? I personally put a fair amount of stake in them as an effective method in countering self-propelled explosive weapons, and such systems see extensive usage in my canon, from warships to APCs.

Laser CIWS already exists to an extent. For CIWS the laser doesn't have to be powerful enough to actually burn through the missile (like for BMD), it just hast to burn through the radome or blind the seeker (depending on whether the missile is radar or EO/IR guided, respectively).

[Vistora]

What do we assess to be the potential usefulness and application of laser-based CIWS and APS technology for anti-missile purposes? I personally put a fair amount of stake in them as an effective method in countering self-propelled explosive weapons, and such systems see extensive usage in my canon, from warships to APCs.

Laser CIWS already exists to an extent. For CIWS the laser doesn't have to be powerful enough to actually burn through the missile (like for BMD), it just hast to burn through the radome or blind the seeker (depending on whether the missile is radar or EO/IR guided, respectively).

True, that's a good point. But using ablative-explosive lasers could entail that any part of a missile may be targeted, rather than risking a miss on what I presume to be its significantly smaller targeting systems.

in any case, I'm thinking of their applicability in more widespread adoption alongside advancements in the technology that goes into them. How effective are they now is all well and good, but I'm curious as to how effective they can be in a PMT context. What can we extrapolate?

[Haishan]

I digress on the topic of landing ship scenario but I am attracted to give more detailed cursory glance regarding modern IADS and SEAD. Now let's begin.

standoff and escort jamming

https://youtu.be/6HYpBpG9J6o?t=227

Spam enough MALDS and/or ITALDS (which are cheap and expendable) and the IADS will just run out of SAMs.

As I said earlier, any IADS worth its salt uses multi-band and multi-coverage radar systems. They would be able to tell that a swarm of these decoys that suspiciously appear out of nowhere and give readings that do not seem like an aircraft would (due to different radar wavelengths generate different responses) aren't going to be a legitimate target but, decoys. Couple that to some ESM systems and a proper SAM operator, he will find there is likely a swarm of decoys going in and he can instruct lower level assets to verify his readings, using their optical systems. In other words, the IADS will not simply run out of SAMs. Its point defense assets might, to shoot down those decoys if they're paranoid enough to think the decoys also contained some sort of warhead.

advantage of the AARGM over the HARM

AARGM is indeed quite good but I digress. A notable IADS will and must have its lower level assets which are specifically designed to deal with these kinds of precision-guided weapons; IADS is a layered onion. Let's take an example of Russian IADS since it's the gold standard at the moment. The S-400 battery would be logically covered by S-350, Pantsir and occasional Tor. Additionally, it must be equipped with Gazetchik-E early warning and decoying system at least and some provision of mobile decoys.

AAGRM size might make it rather difficult to engage with higher level assets but as the missile gets closer, it will be engaged by Pantsir and Tor which were designed with this ARM (and PGM) threat in mind. Couple that with smart usage of Gazetchik, ammunition usage of aforementioned point defense system could be somewhat be saved for more critical engagements. All of these assumed higher level assets didn't shoot down the AARGM carrier, at minimum 120 km away first.

The advantage of the AARGM over the HARM is that it carriers an additional MMW seeker so even if the radar stops emitting and displaces the missile can still home in and destroy it.

It also goes both ways; now the IADS element (if supported by ESM systems) know it's being targeted by AARGM (the MMW radar) and thus can instruct lower level assets to engage the said AARGM directly.

Tomahawk

Indeed mass fire of Tomahawk as evident in Gulf War presented big challenge to a IADS. The Soviets learnt from that experience and made their SAM elements mobile (all under ten minutes) and greater emphasis on point defense systems and decoy systems. But how many Tomahawk were fired to take out the rudimentary (not to mention highly static) Saddam's IADS? Apples and oranges here. The subsonic Tomahawk isn't going any faster to engage IADS elements that can actually move out of the way and fight back through their attendant lower level assets (Pantsir/Tor et al). Then there are decoys employed by any worthy IADS.

The same applies if you were attacking say a NATO IADS equipped with Patriot or MEADS

NATO don't have a proper IADS (due to distributed nature of NATO assets) and thus the equations would be somewhat easier. Albeit even for NATO IADS, I wouldn't count on mass application of airborne units. SEAD isn't chiefly about air tactics; such mindset will give you a rude surprise if the other party know what they're doing. MALD is not that useful (inclusive versus NATO systems) except against 3rd world States.

---

I stress that NATO (or American?) tactic to deal with proper IADS is sorely lacking and will induce unacceptable losses in terms of money, time and personnel. Modern IADS are highly complex beasts (particularly for Russian and emergent Chinese systems) where ordinary American toolsets no longer effectively apply without attracting unfavourable attrition. Gulf War/Desert Storm cannot be made as the yardstick given they engaged what was monkey model, static systems. The Serbian conflict also brought a telling experience that IADS elements mobility would also challenge the opposing SEAD units.

As I said earlier, it will take more than standoff jammers (which will be shot down at extended ranges), AWACS (will be shot down at very long ranges), MALDs (can be differentiated to be ignored or engaged by point defense elements if the carrier wasn't shot down first), AARGMs (can be similarly located, decoyed and/or shot down) and Tomahawks (can be located and shot down by low level assets).

If air power is to be useful in SEAD, it must exercise low observability to avoid long wavelength radars and somehow avoid low level assets, fire fast weapons where hypersonics are preferred to compress IADS reaction time and feature their own defenses to deal and accept the fact of long ranged missile threats from said IADS. Jamming might prove some use to help stealth aircraft but considering IRL Russian/Chinese emphasis on digitizing and hardening IADS elements to such attacks, the said jammer must accept the fact that it might be shot down first after MALDs and similar were filtered out.

These of course must be combined (I stress again, must) with other parts of the Armed Forces such as armour units to deny maneuver space to the mobile IADS, artillery units to distract IADS point defense/counter-munition elements and the humble grunt behind the lines to search and locate such elusive IADS elements. It seems that you held known American tactics as good. But if we account for current developments and trends in IADS, won't do any good except fattening the paychecks of the questionable anti-IADS systems' manufacturers. On the side note, MALD conceptual video is quite misleading since it didn't even attempt to simulate the rest of IADS attendant systems and tactics.

What future innovations do you guys anticipate or at least postulate can be made to a PMT soldier's standard field kit, survival gear, and first aid equipment? The aforementioned antibiotic spider silk is an excellent example, and there is much I can add insofar as first aid is concerned given my professional and academic background, but I am still curious as to what other cool technologies await integration into a soldier's quotidian kit.

A pill giving the soldier all the nutrients he needs given less space for MRE means more space and weight for other stuff. Another would be some sort of pill to wash away the soldier's fatigue as combat might happen any time and a momentary drowsiness during patrol duties could mean death for the soldier. Current solution to the fatigue problem does have some nasty side effects such as addiction to caffeine.

What do we assess to be the potential usefulness and application of laser-based CIWS and APS technology for anti-missile purposes? I personally put a fair amount of stake in them as an effective method in countering self-propelled explosive weapons, and such systems see extensive usage in my canon, from warships to APCs.

I believe some literature review on American HEL development could give you better comprehensive answers but in short, laser CIWS helps to deal with saturation attacks where conventional defensive solutions would be hard pressed to deal with them. ICly, due to high prevalence of notTomahawk (Hellion) spam in Greater Dienstad, Haize Armed Forces (chiefly Haize Aerospace Defense Forces) views lasers as something that is absolutely necessary to help build upon current toolsets in event of mitigating repeated saturation attacks that will challenge even the most effective IADS to its limits. In other words, Haize put lasers on everything they can (except people) to help stem the threat. I also put a HEL on my attack helicopter in case it needs to deal with incoming Hellion swarm that want to take out my Army Group.

Laser CIWS already exists to an extent. For CIWS the laser doesn't have to be powerful enough to actually burn through the missile (like for BMD), it just hast to burn through the radome or blind the seeker (depending on whether the missile is radar or EO/IR guided, respectively).

Correct. The said precision weapon could also shoot at specific targets, such as the missile fins and let aerodynamic forces do the rest.

I'm curious as to how effective they can be in a PMT context. What can we extrapolate?

What are you trying to extrapolate? Their effectiveness in terms of cost? Engagement capabilities? Engagement cycles/time? Tactics? The question was simply too broad and thus you should narrow it down.

[UniversalCommons]

Hello Gentlemen and Ladies,

I have a request, or a challenge if you would like to view it that way, I have in mind a roleplay for the future, loosely based on Star Wars, but in a PMT/MT setting, I've been having a think myself but I can't seem to think of anything that would require a small squad of guys to enter a military installation, steal plans and then blow up some kind of super weapon, what i'm stumped at is, I need something insanely impractical, (those who know me, know I love the impractical, see: 2km Super State Destroyer Oppressor Class "The Executioner") what I need are some ideas, something thats powerful enough to warrant the operation, but has to be within the realms of PMT/MT, my first thought was to fit a Nuclear capable "grand cannon" onto a vessel, oh yes, this has to be ship based, bigger the better, I'm open to ideas and hope someone can throw some ideas my way, you will be credited for any ideas that I use in the roleplay.

Thanks

Kraven

Thought about this for abit and the only thing I can come up with is a ship that could carry some gray goo nanomachine swarms in a shell that would effectively eat up a nations coastal defense network, beyond that I'm kinda stumped because nukes are kinda vanilla and any planet killers in a PMT setting would essentially kill the person using it as well to (inb4doomsdaycult) .

And what the team would be destroying would the plans for the shell that could feasibly carry the nanites or the code to activate the nanites etc etc etc

Early antimatter bomb-- the specialized containment devices, nanogel thermobaric moabs (mother of all bombs)-- to make it more exciting drop it from an airship-- the delivery system, high electromagnetic pulse weapons developed from a mix of fusion warheads and nanobatteries-- the vats that contain the nanites, ecoranger bomb from civilization 2-- a mix of plastic, cement, and metal eating bacteria, superkudzu, other superweeds, wheat rust and other plant diseases, etc. completely destroys city infrastructure turning it into jungle (a terror weapon)-- the location of the terror cells, plasma bomb imagine a microwave plasmid sphere half a mile across falling on a city the location of the satellite carrying the weapon, submarine with long range drones capable of carrying nuclear warheads would require launch codes-- the communication codes for the long duration submarine. A few ideas.

[Balochistan and New York]

I think thats a nice idea, but The Reich have never gone down the nanite path for any of its technology, so I think it would be too far a leap for The Reich to suddenly develop a doomsday nanite shell, one thing that popped into my head was Microwave, how would one develop a weapon based on Microwave technology?

The US army has already been developing DEW microwave weapons and a quick look on Wikipedia can give you some thoughts on expanding the idea, it's current use however is intended for non-lethal crowd control. Basically a dish, from what I'm remembering, is mounted on a Humvee and it's pointed at a crowd and it heats the skin up.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Denial_System

Anyone have ideas for manufacturing/production tech?

Could you expand on what you mean and maybe I can help somewhat since most my RL experience is in manufacturing.

Sorry I replied to this late... But what I mean is tech that helps my factories and whatnot manufacture faster, better and cleaner. Mainly cleaner and faster though.

[Thoricia]

The US army has already been developing DEW microwave weapons and a quick look on Wikipedia can give you some thoughts on expanding the idea, it's current use however is intended for non-lethal crowd control. Basically a dish, from what I'm remembering, is mounted on a Humvee and it's pointed at a crowd and it heats the skin up.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Denial_System



Could you expand on what you mean and maybe I can help somewhat since most my RL experience is in manufacturing.

Sorry I replied to this late... But what I mean is tech that helps my factories and whatnot manufacture faster, better and cleaner. Mainly cleaner and faster though.

Automation is the primary thing to look at then as far as running faster and more efficiently, as far as cleaner it would be more specific to each industry but things like biodegradable oils, machines that run on grease and not way oil, alternative power sources and mostly running a factory with virtually no lighting are areas to start in, I'll try expanding on this a little more later