The walkie-talkie(the backpack radio units(handheld units where handie-talkies)) weighed 38.23 pounds and had a range of three miles with an extra-long antenna.
That is very important when your troops are deployed, but we are expecting lots of downtime with everyone standing around at barracks and occasionally running off to some specific site to investigate. So long as we an mount it in an aeroplane there is no problem.
We likely are not to just fight aliens, there is a world war on afterall. Chances are we get dragged in one one side or another.
Possible, but it doesn't seem imminent.
Simplifying logistics for combat units is always important. Always.
That is the problem with generalisations. Things that are true for every example you have ever encountered will seem like universal laws. If we ship every weapon with enough ammunition to remain in combat for 48 hours then it should last for a couple of years. We are in all likelihood the victim of wide-ranging very small-scale very brief engagements. The supply lines in terms of life-support and equipment maintenance are a big deal because we want our forces to be stationed at all sorts of remote bases, but ammunition takes a fair while to perish from age and it won't be seeing much use outside of random shootings, which, admittedly, will be a problem, no doubt the quarterly "shoot into the air for the thrill of being Foreignian" celebration is a logistical issue to be managed, but in practical terms this is basically a complete non-issue. But obviously, future designs should conform to some sort of agreed-upon standard as this may be a non-issue for our current hostilities but it is still good practise. I like to double these things and use integers...
So a 4mm round for concealed weapons and high-volume low-penetration weaponry for when you want to shoot hundreds of rounds blindly around a corner without making a mess of every suburban home in the area.
8mm will be your standard general-purpose anti-personnel round.
16mm can be a handy sniper-round for when you don't want your bullets to be too concerned with wind conditions, dust clouds, brick walls, body-armour...
32mm for when you want your vehicle's anti-personnel heavy machine rifle to deal with light armoured vehicles and to completely destroy whatever part of the human body it encounters and to expand the definition of "soft cover"... Also useful for an anti-tank rifle if you like that sort of thing...
Then you start over for artillery:
40 mm for rate-of-fire and if you just need a gun and want to keep the prices down.
80mm will defeat most armour without breaking the bank.
160mm will suit your tank-destroyers and serves as a nice utility round for howitzers.
320mm is great if your want to make an impression...
Our bombers are late 1920s tech in most respects. Short range, fabric skin,fixed landing gear, no radio...
Granted, radio is an issue, but we really can't expect our bombers to catch theirs, and bombing really isn't the priority. Dive-bombers will probably be needed early to keep landed craft on the ground, but otherwise... We really need something dramatic-to-the-point-of-stupidity if we want to even engage the enemy in the air, and we should assume that they can board their craft and lift off in the time that it takes for a paratrooper to land from a safe altitude, far less actually attain a safe altitude to drop from if they start from the ground. Now, if we are proposing permanent air coverage with, like, 124-hour flight-times then go for it, but I do not see that being viable in a hurry on anything combat effective, and the troops would definitely land fatigued...
Because being an island nation with no navy is just asking to be invaded or/and its convoys raided at will. Its like building a bank vault and forgetting to put in three walls and the ceiling.
Somewhat, but an aerial force can engage naval targets. Our navy can consist entirely of scouts until we are ready to conquer the world...
Honestly, I am really dubious about the value of paratroopers. They are sort of really slow once you get down to it. They are famous for being fast because they sort of need to be, but it is all a big mess of making up for the inherent disadvantages to their speed. A grounded force will remain cohesive, have a full supply of equipment, including vehicles and ammunition to burn, their chain of command and objectives will be clear, and they will have access to reinforcements and such. Paratroopers are notoriously confused, poorly-equipped, lacking in support of any kind, and are generally a bit of a mess. The advantage of paratroopers is their ability to penetrate enemy lines in large numbers, and there are currently no enemy lines... Helicopters are a compromise, you are likely to see your commanding officer prior to the end of the war, you can carry some heavy equipment and have some ammunition reserves(though no vehicles aside from the helicopter itself, and that probably doesn't even have a joyous 32mm armoured autocannon turret messing up the neighbourhood) but you are still keeping your weights and numbers low. Realistically, we are not going to capture anything until we can cripple a landed craft. Taking anything intact or dropping anything in the air is probably beyond us without extreme fortune or overconfidence playing a role.
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Topic: Arms Race: Forenia vs. Sectoids (Seeking replacement GM) (Read 33081 times)