P/MT OOC Discussion and Argument Thread

[Amerikians]

Yeah, bout that; I don't exist on NS Earth so your point is moot when my little Earth-like planet, ie; Earth, is the same size as it is in reality.

I understand what you're saying but you should remember not everyone acknowledges that ridiculous idea.

And it's just as easy to make the rebuttal argument that anyone who refuses to recognize that all same-tech level nations operate on a single plane of existence (barring nations which operate exclusively in closed communities, such as the nations of Earth II) is subscribing to an equally ridiculous idea. The entire concept of having 'Open' threads depends on nations being on the same planet, albeit a freakishly large one, in order to participate with each other. Otherwise, logically, Country A would not be able to sail its sea-based navy or fly its MT air force across the solar system to Country B.

Now, if you are in fact a member of a closed community that does not RP with the outside NS community, then I was mistaken. However, I am just about 100% certain this is not the case. Based only on the 'Open' threads I've seen you participate in, of course.

There's no other way for this game to work, without all nations in the same tech-level (that are participating in the NS community) having the ability to access each other (as is provided by the rules, in the form of 'Open' roleplays). If there is access to a nation, then there is surveillance, global positioning, satellite radio and the like, which means that other nations have to expend more money to maintain that coverage. Otherwise it basically means that the rules are meaningless since under the 'separate planet system' countries could participate in the same MT thread while claiming to be on different planets, making the whole thing utterly illogical, and clearly not MT.

In fairness I have almost entirely withdrawn from mainstream NS communications and interactions; am closing down my embassy thread and devote almost all of my attention to one of those aforementioned groups. So I am in fact a member of one of those closed communities. If my other members aren't well we have the same rule E2 does, don't bring the heat back to our kitchen.

Again, your point is seen, but not relevant [any more in fairness]

[Distruzio]

...

Which means you're using an APC in the role of an MBT...

I still cannot see the logic of completely abandoning dedicated MBTs. Lack of resources, yes, but there's always foreign procurement of available instead of domestic designs.

It's an intentional flaw.

Intentional flaws are good. My nation still relies on propeller aircraft even though we're barely PMT. We fly airships around but propeller aircraft only have an operational ceiling of 45,000 feet so the ships are on their own as they ascend to their operational ceiling of over 65,000 feet. Keeps me vulnerable in quite a variety of ways and forces me to think on my feet in RPs. I have a number of other flaws built into my nations military that I've yet to expose in RP.

[Mediterreania]

It's an intentional flaw.

Intentional flaws are good. My nation still relies on propeller aircraft even though we're barely PMT. We fly airships around but propeller aircraft only have an operational ceiling of 45,000 feet so the ships are on their own as they ascend to their operational ceiling of over 65,000 feet. Keeps me vulnerable in quite a variety of ways and forces me to think on my feet in RPs. I have a number of other flaws built into my nations military that I've yet to expose in RP.

Ah, so you're semi-steampunk?

The root of the flaw is really that our militias is strapped for resources. So we try to make do by using things in roles they shouldn't be used in. For example: APCs used in armored divisions rather than IFVs.

[Distruzio]

Ah... now that I think of it, I've never seen you RP outside of Factbooks. Ill have to look that up. I think it'd be interesting to see how you manage a war.

[Mediterreania]

Ah... now that I think of it, I've never seen you RP outside of Factbooks. Ill have to look that up. I think it'd be interesting to see how you manage a war.

I've never really had an extended war...most of them die before their conclusion. My most recent was against The Grand World Order, over my puppet, Independent Sicily. It died out, but I'm about to revisit it with The Blackhelm Confederacy opening a second front.

[Distruzio]

I hate when they die out. The last 3 I got involved in quickly deteriorated into Rp's involving a single guy running up a street to hide behind a corner ..... wait 3 days for a response... or the OP disappeared. Unsatisfying.

[Dvardis]

War is boring, survival horror is much cooler <.<

[Distruzio]

War is boring, survival horror is much cooler <.<

I haven't RPed one of those. Set it up! Ill join in.

[Crontor]

I hate when wars die out...or you join, and then before you get into any heavy fighting, there is some sort of peace accord.

To date, out of the dozens of wars i participated in, only in about 5 did i actually commit my forces to heavy fighting, or the war was drawn out.

[Mediterreania]

I hate when they die out. The last 3 I got involved in quickly deteriorated into Rp's involving a single guy running up a street to hide behind a corner ..... wait 3 days for a response... or the OP disappeared. Unsatisfying.

There was one that I planned out very well with The Parthians, an invasion of Great Nepal. Should have also planned it with GN, because he never responded to the OP.

[Bokaya]

Hello, guys.

Project Vaala, San Aquinas

Project Vaala was the Bokayan answer to the MAD doctrine. While nations all over the world were building their nuclear deterrant, she was building superguns, artillerypieces designed to deliver shells the size of saloon cars across continents. Capable of both conventional and NBC munitions, the project was scrapped in favour of missile submarines. Although twenty were planned, only fourteen were built and only four were operational. Capable of firing shells at up to 11 miles per second; Untill now, the mighty guns were only ever used by the Ducal Space Agency to launch sattelites into orbit.

Untill now...

The cargo train arrived in the underground station beneath the giant bunker complex. Teams of engineers swarmed over the place, going from gun to gun like busy termites, trying to get the ten dormant weapons operational. Men in orange boiler suits secured winch hooks to several large, smooth, acorn-shaped metal objects on the carriages, which were hoisted up through the celing to the magazine. The first batch of new shells produced for Project Vaala by the National Arsenal.

30 shells, all in all. Each had a yield of around 50 tons of TNT, and ten were specialist thermobaric devices loaded with a fuel of aluminium powder and ethylene oxide. Cost prevented any large volume of these mighty weapons from being fired. Even if the coming experimment proved to be sucsessful, a maximum of 50 more shells would be produced. Otherwise, the regular bullets would start running out...

Command Room

"As you can see, our Foe is sending a fleet. Their ETA is around 5 days." The CEO of the National Arsenal pointed at the chart, produced from orbital photographs. On an LCD television, the animated fleet moved in real time as the simulation ran. "We have four operational guns. Three of them will be used to sink that fleet."
"If the new shells work."
"Have no fear, m'lord. Our scientists calculate a 95.9459r% chance of a sucsessful burst. Running the simulation according to those parameters, we ought to be able to make them turn for home with a single bombardment from the three guns." Large red circles, signifying the blast radii of the three shells, appeared on the screen, enveloping about two thirds of the fleet.
"Just how reliable is this?"
"We ran this simulation 446 million times. The process took an hour with our most powerful computer cluster, linking all computers in all the administrative buildings in the country. We - ah - designed this programme specifically for such an occasion. Ten of those involved one or more shells failing to burst. None of them predicted a misfire."
"446 million, eh? There's still room for error."
"Negligible, Sir."
"Only three guns for the fleet, eh? What about the fourth?"
"That's been modified to fire the thermobaric shells. If the attack on the fleet is sucsesssful, if their anti missile systems are as helpless as wheat before a scythe, if Project Vaala works sucsessfully..."
"Yes?"
"We bombard the enemy Capital. Ten shells. Ten huge shells, of the thermobaric type. We must pray that this will be enough to destroy the enemy's will to fight."
"Yes... pray."
"Unlike a missile, the shells give no warning. They simply travel too fast. Couple this with the massive, burning effect of the blast and you see that they're not weapons of war, they're weapons of terror. If we use them, we're no better than the enemy is. And yet, we need an end to this. Now."
"I understand. Do it. Bombard the fleet."
"Yes, m'lord."

The Surface

Slowly, one by one, the first three guns rose from their underground housings. Massive, long, and terrifying. The hydraulics hissed and strained with effort as the targeting comuters did their jobs.

BANG BANG BANG

Three mind-buggering explosions and the first three shells were on their way. Just as predicted, no misfires.

Time on target: 15 minutes.

I feel the need to get this little problem sorted out...

Anyhows:

Love Dog has just telegrammed me, saying:

First off, read my whole post for you don't have a single clue how godmoddish your post is. My fleet isn't five hours away, its four to five days away. The bombers are five hours away. The whole 'super' gun stuff is godmoddish, too.Nothing can be fired from a cannon like that. You can't launch an attack like that with 'super' gun. And for something to carry four of those guns, they have to be huge. Really fraking huge. Your posts aren't making any sense, you're only trying to one up my post.

Read my posts fully and fix your mess of a post. Stop godmodding.

To which I responded:

First off:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Babylon

Project Babylon was a real life supergun designed by Saddam Hussein's government. According to reports by the US army, the weapon showed promise in all the simulations and would probably have worked had the project not been curtailed by the gulf war.

Think of the amount of time, effort and money the USA and the USSR put into their nuclear deterrents. In Bokaya, that never happened.

Instead, we built these things.

Now, I get what you're saying about them being impractical. They are. That's why the project was scrapped and the four remaining guns privatised for the space programme. However, if a country as large as Bokaya dedicated as large a portion of her budget towards the development of such weapons as the aforementioned nuclear powers did on their missiles, then, like it or not, you CANNOT call it a godmod that, after years of research, we actually managed to build the damn things. Because the technology actually EXISTS, in the real world, today. We in Bokaya just did it bigger.

In response the the hours-days mix-up, that's what it was: a mix-up. I'll happily edit it.

Now, anything else? Or are you just going to continue to complain OOC about my "godmodding" and "one-upmanship" while IC posting about werewolves and - and I quote - "the teleportation abilities of the mutant Nijo with help from an unknown being" ?

What do you guys make of this?

[Salzland]

Short answer: No, it is not possible to design, build and field a successful intercontinental ballistic supergun. Nor are the guns' use as some sort of ultra long-ranged naval artillery even remotely plausible. The shell is provided as being the size of an automobile. In order to even fire it, let alone reach hypersonic velocities with this shell would require so much explosive force that no gun barrel would be able to contain this. We're talking about something along the lines of 33 times the velocity of a bullet fired from a traditional rifle, for context.

Even if some hypothetical alloy were developed that could contain and direct that much force, once the shell reached one of the joints between barrel sections the entire gun would blow apart, because there would be no way that the joint would be able to withstand that much force. Even if the joint was able to withstand the force, the entire (likely half-mile long) barrel would have to be replaced with each shot because the intense heat and force would have distorted it to the point where a second shot would destroy the gun. Even if you are able to replace the barrel of the entire gun after each shot, you still have to deal with the fact that the gun is entirely immobile. You can only fire shells at targets that are precisely lined up with the barrel of the gun. If your target steps five feet to either side, at the distances you're trying to reach, you now have a completely useless weapons system.

Even if everything works exactly as planned, you're talking about your shells exploding with the force of about 50 tons of TNT. While that's all well and good, your opponent can just as easily turn around and fire back a single cruise missile with a nuclear warhead, which will explode with the force of 150 kilotons of TNT. In other words, your shells will carry the explosive force of exactly 0.0004 nuclear-tipped cruise missiles.

To make a long story short, just use missiles. They're much cheaper, much more flexible, much easier to maintain, and they'll actually work. In all likelihood, this supergun would probably just melt and/or explode as soon as you tried to fire a shot. Even if it didn't, you'd need (probably) something along the lines of a controlled nuclear explosion in order to accelerate the projectile fast enough to reach inter-continental distances. Good luck with that.

[Bokaya]

Coolage. So... editing the post, then?

Would it be feasible if the shell were a lot smaller?

[The State of Monavia]

You can build a supergun of sorts if you confined its operatons to certan parameters. While Salzland's points are all valid let me add a few more.

First, no material is indestructible. This means that unless new materials are develped, ten mile long ships and mile long artillery pieces will never be plausible.

As for setting up a gun of great size, a few things need to be considered:

Gigantic calibers of shells will wear out the barrels quickly. There's a reason why the Paris Gun and the Schwerer Gustav weapons (including the Langer Gustav and Dora) did not work in the long run. Wear was one of their worst drawbacks; accuacy was another.

While the crediblity of Wikipedia is subject to question in some circles I will nonetheless cite their article on the Paris Gun:

The Paris Gun was a weapon like no other, but its capabilities are not known with certainty. This is due to the weapon's apparent total destruction by the Germans in the face of the Allied offensive. Figures stated for the weapon's size, range, and performance vary widely depending on the source — not even the number of shells fired is certain.

The gun was capable of hurling a 94 kilogram (210 lb) shell to a range of 130 kilometers (81 miles) and a maximum altitude of 40 kilometers (25 miles, 131,000 ft) — the greatest height reached by a human-made projectile until the first successful V-2 flight test in October 1942. At the start of its 170-second trajectory, each shell from the Paris Gun reached a speed of 1,600 meters per second (5,250 ft/s).

Seven barrels were constructed. They used worn–out 38 cm SK L/45 "Max" gun barrels that were fitted with an internal tube that reduced the caliber from 380 millimetres (15 in) to 210 millimetres (8 in). The tube was 30 metres (98 ft) long and projected 12.9 metres (42 ft) out of the end of the gun, so an extension was bolted to the old gun-muzzle to cover and reinforce the lining tube. A further, smooth–bore extension was attached to the end of this, giving a total barrel length of 36 metres (118 ft). This smooth section was intended to improve accuracy and reduce the dispersion of the shells, as it reduced the slight yaw a shell might have immediately after leaving the gun barrel, that is produced by the gun's Rifling. The barrel was braced to counteract barrel droop due to its length and weight, and vibrations while firing; it was mounted on a special rail-transportable carriage and fired from a prepared, concrete emplacement with a turntable. The original breech of the old, 38cm gun did not require modification or reinforcement.

Though this gun was improvised as poorly as it was (last quoted paragraph), it was an effective weapon in psychological terms. Pactically, it was unfeasible. During World War I, the idea of mounting increasingly large naval guns on ground-based artillery carriages came into vogue and served as the basis for this and other guns. Realistically speaking, a sixteen inch naval gun has an effective range of twenty or more miles using 1940s technology. With modern guidence systems, that range approaches thirty miles, and rocket assisance will boost the shell's velocity during firing enough to increase its effective range to as much as fifty miles.

In addition to barrel wear, other variables, such as the sheer distance traveled through a shifting atmsphere means that longer ranges and larger calibers will reduce accuracy until a gun is only accurate enough to hit city-sized targets. My advice would be to restrict the size of any gun to under one meter (thirty-nine inches) to start. Other variables can be calculated around this measurement.

On a final note, the Schwerer Gustav had the following ammunition specifications:

High Explosive

Weight of projectile: 4.8 t (4,800 kg)
Muzzle velocity: 820 m/s
Maximum range: 48 km
Explosive mass: 700 kg
Crater size: 30 ft (10 m) wide 30 ft (10 m) deep.

AP Shell

The main body was made of chrome-nickel steel, fitted with an aluminium alloy ballistic nose cone.

Length of shell: 3.6 m
Weight of projectile: 7.1 t (7,100 kg)
Muzzle velocity: 720 m/s
Maximum range: 38 km
Explosive mass: 250 kg
Penetration: In testing it was demonstrated to penetrate 7 metres of concrete at maximum elevation (beyond that available during combat) with a special charge.

A lot of things that newbies are trying to build in NS are more ambitious than things that have been attempted (and have failed) in the real world. If a 1,000 ton tank will not work in RL because the laws of physics and material properties will not allow it, it will not work in NS MT either. In RL, there have been designs for all kinds of supersize things: tanks, artillery, battleships, bombers, missiles, etc. Not all of them were cancelled due to a lack of funds or materials or political support. Some designs were scrapped because they simply could not be built, or would blow up after being tested once, or because no material existed that would have been good enough to make it work.

My last piece of advice is to find RL designs for equipment that have failed, read up on why they failed, and try to avoid these issues when designing something.

[Kaukolastan]

My reply to your giant cannon:

Massive Airspace Denial Artillery Emplacement

I see your PMT Babylon Gun and raise you.

[Licana]

My reply to your giant cannon:

Massive Airspace Denial Artillery Emplacement

I see your PMT Babylon Gun and raise you.

You mean that thing who's write up isn't fully complete, yet? Should be careful, I think I hear Transnapastain stalking around with some CAT5 nearby.

[Kaukolastan]

My reply to your giant cannon:

Massive Airspace Denial Artillery Emplacement

I see your PMT Babylon Gun and raise you.

You mean that thing who's write up isn't fully complete, yet? Should be careful, I think I hear Transnapastain stalking around with some CAT5 nearby.

FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

Trollcana, now available in a easy-open spray can.

[Axis Nova]

Missiles replaced cannons as the primary means of antiship firepower for good reason: they have a longer range, they're far more accurate, they're harder to intercept you don't need to absorb sigificant amounts of recoil, they have better penetration, and they can carry a much larger payload of explosives.

Guns will never be as efficient as missiles in an antiship role. The only thing they have going for them is cost per round.

[Distruzio]

My PMT approach concerns airship and armored warfare technology. My airships are based on prototypes that the US military is currently developing. They place blimps at strategic locations off the eastern seaboard at 12 miles up. The way I describe the flying capacity, which is pretty much a dead rip off of the way the military describes it, is:

Since air at that altitude is less than 1/20th the density near the ground, airships rise through the atmosphere using helium gas. As the ship rises, the helium inside the hull expands up to 15 times granting the ship greater stability and maneuverability. Air is forced out of the 4 main ballast tanks and 10 trim tanks as the helium expands making the ship lighter in the air than she was on the surface.

I use helium and not hydrogen b/c I want to, at a later date in RP, expose my nations sketchy history with international trade. Since hydrogen is relatively scarce compared to helium, I imagine my nation would have abandoned the safer gas altogether for the cheaper, more readily available alternative. I am aware that this would make my ships quite explosive, and that's the point. I imagine the ships to be the size of RL surface ships. I realize that flying at altitudes that high makes fighter cover impossible, and I accept this limitation. It is reflected in the aircarriers that I do use and will unveil at later dates. I realize that rigid-airships were made obsolete during WW2. The culture of my nation has never progressed out of the interbellum period, therefore I imagine Distruzio to be stubbornly refusing to address the issues other nations found with such technology in the same manner. Refinement and further innovation verses abandonment. Zeppelins gave way to heavier-than air air-ships with better engines and better metals.

My walker tanks would use similar technology to keep them upright. The lighter than air gas would not allow them to fly, and would serve no other purpose than to offer a better amount of stability while walking. The gas lightens the strain on the leg joints while also helping to absorb the weight of the armor on the machines. Of course these walker tanks are but one of DIstruzio's approach to armored warfare. I realize that the legs are vulnerable, I have story-telling prepared to account for this.

Essentially, I wanted to craft a military force that reflected Dieselpunk fantasy but was based enough on reality to be possible.... sort of. Maybe not entirely practical, which is reflected in my tactics. But neat nonetheless. I'm fairly committed to this idea, mostly b/c I spent alot of time researching appropriate images, information, and technology to illustrate my nation in the manner that I like. But that doesn't mean that I won't abandon the premise.

Thoughts?

[Licana]

Missiles replaced cannons as the primary means of antiship firepower for good reason: they have a longer range, they're far more accurate, they're harder to intercept you don't need to absorb significant amounts of recoil, they have better penetration, and they can carry a much larger payload of explosives.

Guns will never be as efficient as missiles in an antiship role. The only thing they have going for them is cost per round.

Wut? I've never heard of a cannon round that could be intercepted.

As to above poster, I'll probably read over that and respond to it when in about an hour, when I have more time.

[Distruzio]

As to above poster, I'll probably read over that and respond to it when in about an hour, when I have more time.

Look forward to the critique!

[Salzland]

My PMT approach concerns airship and armored warfare technology. My airships are based on prototypes that the US military is currently developing. They place blimps at strategic locations off the eastern seaboard at 12 miles up. The way I describe the flying capacity, which is pretty much a dead rip off of the way the military describes it, is:

Since air at that altitude is less than 1/20th the density near the ground, airships rise through the atmosphere using helium gas. As the ship rises, the helium inside the hull expands up to 15 times granting the ship greater stability and maneuverability. Air is forced out of the 4 main ballast tanks and 10 trim tanks as the helium expands making the ship lighter in the air than she was on the surface.

I use helium and not hydrogen b/c I want to, at a later date in RP, expose my nations sketchy history with international trade. Since hydrogen is relatively scarce compared to helium, I imagine my nation would have abandoned the safer gas altogether for the cheaper, more readily available alternative. I am aware that this would make my ships quite explosive, and that's the point. I imagine the ships to be the size of RL surface ships. I realize that flying at altitudes that high makes fighter cover impossible, and I accept this limitation. It is reflected in the aircarriers that I do use and will unveil at later dates. I realize that rigid-airships were made obsolete during WW2. The culture of my nation has never progressed out of the interbellum period, therefore I imagine Distruzio to be stubbornly refusing to address the issues other nations found with such technology in the same manner. Refinement and further innovation verses abandonment. Zeppelins gave way to heavier-than air air-ships with better engines and better metals.

My walker tanks would use similar technology to keep them upright. The lighter than air gas would not allow them to fly, and would serve no other purpose than to offer a better amount of stability while walking. The gas lightens the strain on the leg joints while also helping to absorb the weight of the armor on the machines. Of course these walker tanks are but one of DIstruzio's approach to armored warfare. I realize that the legs are vulnerable, I have story-telling prepared to account for this.

Essentially, I wanted to craft a military force that reflected Dieselpunk fantasy but was based enough on reality to be possible.... sort of. Maybe not entirely practical, which is reflected in my tactics. But neat nonetheless. I'm fairly committed to this idea, mostly b/c I spent alot of time researching appropriate images, information, and technology to illustrate my nation in the manner that I like. But that doesn't mean that I won't abandon the premise.

Thoughts?

If I read that right, you've got it backward for your blimps. Hydrogen is flammable, helium is not. So filling the blimps with helium would not make them prone to exploding.

[Licana]

My PMT approach concerns airship and armored warfare technology. My airships are based on prototypes that the US military is currently developing. They place blimps at strategic locations off the eastern seaboard at 12 miles up. The way I describe the flying capacity, which is pretty much a dead rip off of the way the military describes it, is:

Since air at that altitude is less than 1/20th the density near the ground, airships rise through the atmosphere using helium gas. As the ship rises, the helium inside the hull expands up to 15 times granting the ship greater stability and maneuverability. Air is forced out of the 4 main ballast tanks and 10 trim tanks as the helium expands making the ship lighter in the air than she was on the surface.

I use helium and not hydrogen b/c I want to, at a later date in RP, expose my nations sketchy history with international trade. Since hydrogen is relatively scarce compared to helium, I imagine my nation would have abandoned the safer gas altogether for the cheaper, more readily available alternative. I am aware that this would make my ships quite explosive, and that's the point. I imagine the ships to be the size of RL surface ships. I realize that flying at altitudes that high makes fighter cover impossible, and I accept this limitation. It is reflected in the aircarriers that I do use and will unveil at later dates. I realize that rigid-airships were made obsolete during WW2. The culture of my nation has never progressed out of the interbellum period, therefore I imagine Distruzio to be stubbornly refusing to address the issues other nations found with such technology in the same manner. Refinement and further innovation verses abandonment. Zeppelins gave way to heavier-than air air-ships with better engines and better metals.

My walker tanks would use similar technology to keep them upright. The lighter than air gas would not allow them to fly, and would serve no other purpose than to offer a better amount of stability while walking. The gas lightens the strain on the leg joints while also helping to absorb the weight of the armor on the machines. Of course these walker tanks are but one of DIstruzio's approach to armored warfare. I realize that the legs are vulnerable, I have story-telling prepared to account for this.

Essentially, I wanted to craft a military force that reflected Dieselpunk fantasy but was based enough on reality to be possible.... sort of. Maybe not entirely practical, which is reflected in my tactics. But neat nonetheless. I'm fairly committed to this idea, mostly b/c I spent alot of time researching appropriate images, information, and technology to illustrate my nation in the manner that I like. But that doesn't mean that I won't abandon the premise.

Thoughts?

Well...first of Helium is almost completely inert and nonreactive, which would make it less prone to Hindenburg type events. Additionally, while some lighter-than-air balloons can get up to some really high altitudes, you'd pretty much have to be at the edge of space to ensure that a fighter couldn't intercept (or protect), and as you get farther into PMT, even that becomes questionable. Additionally, walkers and mecha tanks are bad design concepts pretty much no matter what measures you take to make them "better". Not only do you generally have poorly protected legs, but you have to have a system of controls to power said legs, make them move, and keep the damn thing upright. This, in conjunction with the fact that the legs can't be heavily armoured (unless you don't want your "tanks" to have any reasonable mobility) gives anyone firing at them a realitively easy to hit, easy to damage area to hit (and if something hits your legs, it's bound to hit soemthing important).

Pretty much, a conventional tank design is better in every concievable way than a walker/mech, I'd go more in depth, but i have to go. I'm sure someone has that handy NSD link regarding walkers, though.

[Distruzio]

My PMT approach concerns airship and armored warfare technology. My airships are based on prototypes that the US military is currently developing. They place blimps at strategic locations off the eastern seaboard at 12 miles up. The way I describe the flying capacity, which is pretty much a dead rip off of the way the military describes it, is:



I use helium and not hydrogen b/c I want to, at a later date in RP, expose my nations sketchy history with international trade. Since hydrogen is relatively scarce compared to helium, I imagine my nation would have abandoned the safer gas altogether for the cheaper, more readily available alternative. I am aware that this would make my ships quite explosive, and that's the point. I imagine the ships to be the size of RL surface ships. I realize that flying at altitudes that high makes fighter cover impossible, and I accept this limitation. It is reflected in the aircarriers that I do use and will unveil at later dates. I realize that rigid-airships were made obsolete during WW2. The culture of my nation has never progressed out of the interbellum period, therefore I imagine Distruzio to be stubbornly refusing to address the issues other nations found with such technology in the same manner. Refinement and further innovation verses abandonment. Zeppelins gave way to heavier-than air air-ships with better engines and better metals.

My walker tanks would use similar technology to keep them upright. The lighter than air gas would not allow them to fly, and would serve no other purpose than to offer a better amount of stability while walking. The gas lightens the strain on the leg joints while also helping to absorb the weight of the armor on the machines. Of course these walker tanks are but one of DIstruzio's approach to armored warfare. I realize that the legs are vulnerable, I have story-telling prepared to account for this.

Essentially, I wanted to craft a military force that reflected Dieselpunk fantasy but was based enough on reality to be possible.... sort of. Maybe not entirely practical, which is reflected in my tactics. But neat nonetheless. I'm fairly committed to this idea, mostly b/c I spent alot of time researching appropriate images, information, and technology to illustrate my nation in the manner that I like. But that doesn't mean that I won't abandon the premise.

Thoughts?

If I read that right, you've got it backward for your blimps. Hydrogen is flammable, helium is not. So filling the blimps with helium would not make them prone to exploding.

Damn, you're quite right. Whoops!

[Axis Nova]

Missiles replaced cannons as the primary means of antiship firepower for good reason: they have a longer range, they're far more accurate, they're harder to intercept you don't need to absorb significant amounts of recoil, they have better penetration, and they can carry a much larger payload of explosives.

Guns will never be as efficient as missiles in an antiship role. The only thing they have going for them is cost per round.

Wut? I've never heard of a cannon round that could be intercepted.

As to above poster, I'll probably read over that and respond to it when in about an hour, when I have more time.

No one has ever needed to, but rest assured that a large cannon round certainly can be intercepted. It's slower than a missile and follows a ballistic trajectory, after all.