But will the Megamule impress our investors? They're looking for weaponry. I don't think I'll vote on a design until we figure out how to impress our potential investors - if our revision can cover our asses there though, the Megamule will probably get my vote.
I also have two thoughts I'd like to throw at the wall. Once again, this is my first time participating in an AR, so I promise I won't get salty if you guys pick my shit apart.
A) When I mentioned using smoke a few posts back, the idea kind of stuck in my head and evolved over the long hours spent at work. First, I think the utility of smoke in warfare is largely underestimated (not calling anyone out, I mean by people in general - I've seen how salty some of these get, and I don't want to trigger a saltstorm in one of the more reasonable AR threads I've read). Every arm of our military can utilize smoke, at the very least to cover retreats and advances. Specifically though, my mind wandered to some of the Extras stuff in the Band of Brothers DVDs.
For some of the mortar blasts and the like they used practical effects, namely a cone-shaped device called an Air Mortar that fires compressed air. They buried these under some dirt and were able to fire these off right next to actors without them sustaining injury. If we did something like that with a pressure-activated landmine, where it threw air, dirt, and smoke to the sky, not only would it signal where the enemy is approaching from, but it will initially likely befuddle our foes, and if our artillerybois are properly prepared, once smoke's sighted in the sky they can rain fire down on an enemy not prepared for them. Since it's nonlethal, we might be able to get away with not marking the area, too...
This is about the time we also would produce NVGs and then Thermal Optics, hopefully in such a way that the smoke and thermals are fielded no more than a season or so apart. This would force the Toskeshi engineers to react to that directly if they wanted to level the field. This would also buy us a turn or two to focus on, say, re-neutralizing their capacity for aerial warfare, or any of a dozen areas we could step up and over them in.
It's a shift in the flow of combat, and if there's one thing I've learned reading a few hundred pages of ARs, it's that innovational, proactive change, and not incremental change, controls the game. Opening up a new branch of research gives us a leg up in that field immediately.
2) Going along with the new branch of research thing, what if instead of doing something like the Bull armor we first, or maybe alongside it for the synergies, worked on a bulky, unwieldy exosuit similar to the iconic Caterpillar Exosuit in Alien? A few revisions and miniaturizations later and suddenly we're the Brotherhood of Steel. Grossly oversimplified, obviously, but as a secret project I think it'd also allow for a huge paradigm shift.
Also, Panther's not too bad an idea either, but I'm worried about the complexity of a bipedal walker and getting an insufficient roll, at least in regards to Operation: Getdatfuggenoilrigbuilt. That, and we're ultimately bringing a light tank into battle after we've developed heavier, more durable machinery. When the enemy's armor outclasses the Panther's weaponry, it'll be best used for infantry warfare, but is probably going to be less effective for it's cost than our infantry already is. Also keep in mind all the explosives they're going to be using around our delicate chicken legs. I mean, you saw what the Ewoks did with some rocks, wood, and vines. Once again, not too bad an idea and still totally viable, but in terms of action economy I can see our enemies quickly reducing it's effectiveness.
Ninja'd by johiah, I do too!
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Topic: Arms Race: Iron Behemoths - Nogrania - GAME OVER (Read 52944 times)