Comments on my sci-fi universe

[Admiral Griffith]

Setting: ~4000 yrs. from now
FTL Drive: None. Artificially created* wormholes are used.
SL Drive: Ion Drive
Average Ship Size: ~1000m
Naval Weapons: multi-gigaton torpedoes, and proton cannons.
Ground Combat: Troopers are encased in a mechanical exoskeleton that provides protection as well as speed, agility, and strength. Augmented Reality system used to indicate targets, aim, etc. Arm mounted machineguns fire at ~10,000 RPM and can fire explosive shots with handgun firing characteristics, at +5000 RPM, or anywhere in between. Ammunition is stored in a heavily armoured backpack. As well, they are equipped with jetpacks with a maximum lifting capacity of 2000 kg. The suits themselves weigh in at ~1000 kg. Tanks are usually about twice the size of an M-1 Abrams, and may be carried in huge 'carrier' tanks. Carrier tanks are about the size of an American supercarrier, but have guns and VRLs where the runways would be. Artillery is actually quite pointless due to the sheer power of Rajitor jamming tech, but it's still used anyways. There is no need for some sort of tripod HMG like the E-web, because the weapons used by the standard troopers are powerful enough already. If the need arises however, the Special Forces division are will be trained and sent off to train other troopers, as well as bring along the equipment. Response times are very good, because the machines are controlled directly by the brain of the occupant. Training to use these systems would take a decade, but the soldiers are genetically modified humans that have almost complete control over their memory. This means they can only forget something if they want to. This ability, plus a few others, cuts down on training time by 7 years. At the end of those 3 years, you have yourself a million heavily-armed, fast, durable, and all around nasty bunch of crack soldiers. I'd say my universe is probably the most powerful of all in ground combat.

*the wormholes are created by the ship, and last just long enough for it to pass through.

[Sea Skimmer]

How could jamming make artillery useless???? You can't jam a ballistic arc. Other things might limit its usefulness though.

[Admiral Griffith]

the jamming prevents artillery usage by making it impossible to get a target lock on it. It's very hard to aim artillery by hand, isn't it? not to mention the comms are jammed, too, so spotters are useless.

[drifter god]

well mr. griffith, if youve spent 10 years slowly building up an entire univers, stating every fact, and figuring out how everything works from simple comunications to bigger things like labor force and pop. figures, like i have, and im sure there is more to yorus, then it does sound kinda interesting, if you would post more about it im sure it would get a few more responses

[Sea Skimmer]

the jamming prevents artillery usage by making it impossible to get a target lock on it. It's very hard to aim artillery by hand, isn't it? not to mention the comms are jammed, too, so spotters are useless.

Thus you use landlines or fire by map if needed, you can also just fire LOS. For most of its history, artillery has not had the benefit of radio communications.

[NecronLord]

Or a recon drone with a communications laser.

[Admiral Griffith]

the jamming prevents artillery usage by making it impossible to get a target lock on it. It's very hard to aim artillery by hand, isn't it? not to mention the comms are jammed, too, so spotters are useless.

Thus you use landlines or fire by map if needed, you can also just fire LOS. For most of its history, artillery has not had the benefit of radio communications.

One problem, though. The way the fighting works, very rarely is it that you can see your enemy and not be capable of shooting it. Thus, LOS firing is pointless except in special cases. I have no idea what you mean by landlines (i'm only 13, and not very well versed in military terms) but firing by map; Rajitor targets tend to be easily mobile, and can change location several times during battle. It's more likely that where it is shown on the map is not where it is in reality. As a result, you could end up shelling out a Rajitor civilian taking a $#&t.

The recon drone with comm laser is not a viable solution because it requires a direct LOS with the artillery. That problem has already been dealt with. And if I'm wrong about the comm laser needing a direct LOS, I will gladly accept correction. Angelfire, out.

[Dark Hellion]

Be careful about calling your universe most powerful. I can name at least 10 groups that can slaughter your ground forces. I am understanding that you ae saying that your group is more powerful than any other universe in ground combat right. If not sorry I misread it.

[NecronLord]

the jamming prevents artillery usage by making it impossible to get a target lock on it. It's very hard to aim artillery by hand, isn't it? not to mention the comms are jammed, too, so spotters are useless.

Thus you use landlines or fire by map if needed, you can also just fire LOS. For most of its history, artillery has not had the benefit of radio communications.

One problem, though. The way the fighting works, very rarely is it that you can see your enemy and not be capable of shooting it. Thus, LOS firing is pointless except in special cases. I have no idea what you mean by landlines (i'm only 13, and not very well versed in military terms) but firing by map; Rajitor targets tend to be easily mobile, and can change location several times during battle. It's more likely that where it is shown on the map is not where it is in reality. As a result, you could end up shelling out a Rajitor civilian taking a $#&t.

The recon drone with comm laser is not a viable solution because it requires a direct LOS with the artillery. That problem has already been dealt with. And if I'm wrong about the comm laser needing a direct LOS, I will gladly accept correction. Angelfire, out.

You fly it verry high, and then it relays back to you, they can do this now, failing which you then have to start stinging them or using sattelites.

A landline is a line over land.

[Admiral Griffith]

Be careful about calling your universe most powerful. I can name at least 10 groups that can slaughter your ground forces. I am understanding that you ae saying that your group is more powerful than any other universe in ground combat right. If not sorry I misread it.

alright. i probably havn't heard of them though.

[Sea Skimmer]

the jamming prevents artillery usage by making it impossible to get a target lock on it. It's very hard to aim artillery by hand, isn't it? not to mention the comms are jammed, too, so spotters are useless.

Thus you use landlines or fire by map if needed, you can also just fire LOS. For most of its history, artillery has not had the benefit of radio communications.

One problem, though. The way the fighting works, very rarely is it that you can see your enemy and not be capable of shooting it. Thus, LOS firing is pointless except in special cases. I have no idea what you mean by landlines (i'm only 13, and not very well versed in military terms) but firing by map; Rajitor targets tend to be easily mobile, and can change location several times during battle. It's more likely that where it is shown on the map is not where it is in reality. As a result, you could end up shelling out a Rajitor civilian taking a $#&t.

The recon drone with comm laser is not a viable solution because it requires a direct LOS with the artillery. That problem has already been dealt with. And if I'm wrong about the comm laser needing a direct LOS, I will gladly accept correction. Angelfire, out.

Landlines=Telephones, fiber optic lines, that sort of thing.

You don’t need LOS from the forward drone to the artillery unit, what you can have is a series of relays of drones. One fast high-end drone locates targets over the forward edge of the battlefield, and then relays that back to a bigger comm. drone flying safely over a rear area, which then downlinks the data to the artillery.

Mobility is not much of a defense against artillery if you have real time aerial spotters. Targets are far easier to locate when they're moving, and hitting a moving target was easy enough in the 1940s. With modern ballistic computers, a moving self-propelled howitzer can hit a moving tank platoon at 45,000 meters.

[fgalkin]

Be careful about calling your universe most powerful. I can name at least 10 groups that can slaughter your ground forces. I am understanding that you ae saying that your group is more powerful than any other universe in ground combat right. If not sorry I misread it.

alright. i probably havn't heard of them though.

The Culture
TA
Book MI
Probably some of the 40k races, though I'm not sure.

This is what I can come up with so far.

[Sea Skimmer]

Be careful about calling your universe most powerful. I can name at least 10 groups that can slaughter your ground forces. I am understanding that you ae saying that your group is more powerful than any other universe in ground combat right. If not sorry I misread it.

alright. i probably havn't heard of them though.

The Culture
TA
Book MI
Probably some of the 40k races, though I'm not sure.

This is what I can come up with so far.

Two of own powers
Most any recent STGOD power, that’s about a dozen right there

[Knife]

10,000 RPM is a little excessive. Firing that many rounds per minute does not have that many uses, especialy for ground troops. One thousand to two thousand rpm is more than adaqute for ground based forces. The more you shoot, the more you have to carry. The space where you would keep half a million rounds could be used for other purposes like air, power, and water for the troops.
Such a high rate of fire would be handy for anti armor operations, but not for ground troops.
The artillery issues could also be solved by deploying temporary satelites to recon for targets and relay info to troops.

[gravity]

The Culture
TA
Book MI
Probably some of the 40k races, though I'm not sure.

This is what I can come up with so far.

Add SMAC and possibly The Diamon Age as well.

[gravity]

The Culture
TA
Book MI
Probably some of the 40k races, though I'm not sure.

This is what I can come up with so far.

Add SMAC and possibly The Diamon Age as well.

whoops, make that The Diamond Age. Edit needs to be enabled :/.

[Admiral Griffith]

10,000 RPM is a little excessive. Firing that many rounds per minute does not have that many uses, especialy for ground troops. One thousand to two thousand rpm is more than adaqute for ground based forces. The more you shoot, the more you have to carry. The space where you would keep half a million rounds could be used for other purposes like air, power, and water for the troops.
Such a high rate of fire would be handy for anti armor operations, but not for ground troops.
The artillery issues could also be solved by deploying temporary satelites to recon for targets and relay info to troops.

pretty much, that's the point of the firing rate. the average trooper carries so much armour that he's almost equivalent to a modern tank, if you count the explosive shots.

[sgiathach]

I'll have to agree with the other guys, artillery has been and will be a backbone of ground combat. There are so many ways of recon, and if it's only a small plane or drone flying over the aera and returning with the info saved on video, you can already bombard all fixed installations to dust.
And even without any spotting at all, laying down an artillery barrage can be _extremely_ useful.
I recommend the Ground Control game for a look at combined arms tactics (and the arty there is _very_ short ranged for game balance reasons, yet extremely powerful).

Weapon ROF: you don't want more than, say, 2000RPM.
First, ammo takes up space, even if weight is not a problem. Second, ammo makes recoil which can only be compensated to a certain extent.
Third, if 10 bullets don't penetrate an armour, 100 probably won't, either (try it on a MBT). Or even if, there are smarter ways of dealing with it than resorting to the "Bigger Hammer" technique.
Preferrable methods to pierce armour are: using sub-calibre bullets, making bullets of harder material (tungsten/carbide etc.), using higher charges (e.g. 15g of explosives than 10g...), stuff like that. But only very rarely firing more bullets.

[Admiral Griffith]

10,000 RPM is a little excessive. Firing that many rounds per minute does not have that many uses, especialy for ground troops. One thousand to two thousand rpm is more than adaqute for ground based forces. The more you shoot, the more you have to carry. The space where you would keep half a million rounds could be used for other purposes like air, power, and water for the troops.
Such a high rate of fire would be handy for anti armor operations, but not for ground troops.
The artillery issues could also be solved by deploying temporary satelites to recon for targets and relay info to troops.

before you tell me my firing rate is ridiculous, lemme explain something. The powersuits my infantry use make anti-infantry operations like anti-armour operations. A modern soldier could sit there firing away at one of my troopers and expend all the ammunition they usually carry, and still not penetrate the stuff. A bolter might be able to, though it would take a couple of shots in almost exactly the same spot to do so. The powersuit's ability to steady the weapon adds to its accuracy, and the high rate of fire ensures that all the necessary shots are aimed at exactly the same spot before the gun recoils. Also, they have explosive bullets, but those are only for long range, due to collateral damage concerns.

[Utsanomiko]

before you tell me my firing rate is ridiculous, lemme explain something. The powersuits my infantry use make anti-infantry operations like anti-armour operations. A modern soldier could sit there firing away at one of my troopers and expend all the ammunition they usually carry, and still not penetrate the stuff. A bolter might be able to, though it would take a couple of shots in almost exactly the same spot to do so. The powersuit's ability to steady the weapon adds to its accuracy, and the high rate of fire ensures that all the necessary shots are aimed at exactly the same spot before the gun recoils. Also, they have explosive bullets, but those are only for long range, due to collateral damage concerns.

In that case, wouldn't it be more convenient to simply up the scale of the machine guns? Considering the accuracy of the powersuits, a larger caliber with a slower fire rate would be much more effective. If it takes thousands of rounds to penetrate armor, the obvious solution is to use larger, more powerful rounds, even if it has slower RPMs. It'd be like using a .50 caliber machinegun on a tank, when five seconds of fire from a 90mm cannon would do a better job.

[ClaysGhost]

Naval Weapons: multi-gigaton torpedoes, and proton cannons.

Protons, being charged particles, are far simpler to deflect than neutral particles like neutrons. They could be rendered ineffective, or at least made less effective, by electromagnetic fields.