meson tanks and core expeditions...

Brian Vaughan:

     >However, let me ask again.  Does anyone think there are
>possibilities in my idea of a Denebian Scout contingent partici-
>pating in the upcoming Zhodani Core Expedition?  Or is the idea
>too unworkable to merit consideration?

I suspect the Zhodani consider their core expeditions too secret to
let  the Imperium help out, even if the Imperium wanted to.


Adrian Hurt:

>> It's not??? In Striker, any weapon that fires in a straight line has a
>> direct fire control.
>
>But most weapons that fire in a straight line are effective for the whole
>length of that straight line.  True, with slug throwers (CPR and gauss
>weapons) range does have some effect, but not as much as it does on a
>meson gun.  You have to know the exact range to the target so that you can
>control the mesons' velocity, so that they will go off inside the target.
>Perhaps the meson gun's fire control would not be exactly the same as a
>standard indirect fire control, but it would resemble an indirect fire
>control more than it would resemble a direct fire control.

??? Laser range finders can do wonders for your ranging shots.  And a meson

gun has an area of effect of 100m diameter, which means a high degree of
accuracy is not required.  If you can see the target, you can obliterate
it.


>Yes.  That "perhaps not" was contrasting with the "... and perhaps meson
>screens" in my list of what a TL 15 tank would carry.  In view of that
>minimum size, I was accepting that the TL 15 tank would probably not
>carry them.  Incidentally, what radius does the screen have?  Does it
>just protect the hull of the vehicle which owns the screen, or can one
>vehicle mounting a big screen cover an area, in which several other
>vehicles would sit protected?

Correction noted.  I misunderstood.  A meson screen has any area you want
it to, if you have the power available:  0.015MW per factor per Kl.  That
works out to 15TW per Km^3.  Impractical to protect the battlefield, and
requires a BIG fusion plant to provide protection for even a company.


>In any case, I would expect that the vehicle with the meson gun would sit
>well back, out of harm's way.  Smaller, cheaper vehicles, perhaps drones,
>would go into the forward battle area, trying to find enemy assets
(vehicles,
>troops, interesting buildings, etc.) and provide targetting information
for
>the meson gun.  Because of the requirement for precise ranging, I would
>expect a meson gun to be less accurate than a laser, so if a tank with a
>meson gun met a tank with a laser, the laser tank would have a better
chance
>of scoring the first hit.  So why risk the meson gun unnecessarily?

That's a reasonable mission profile for any high tech AFV.
However, unless the meson gun has a very long cycle time, it can bounce a
ranging laser off the target and snapfire (using a point defense fire
control) as fast as the laser tank can, and far more lethally (especially
if the meson tank is also heavily armoured).

I notice that the battlefield meson gun was removed from the list of
available weapons in MT.  Someone may have decided it didn't fit their
picture.  Someone may have just forgot, too.


Later...

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I have learned to use the word "impossible" with the greatest caution.
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