NR's replacements for Stormtroopers

[Ender]

The god damned hippies finally went and put together a marine force.

The Strike Troops wore mimetic enviro-suits and black helmets with tinted face bowls. Each was laden with blaster rifles, bandoliers of flash grenades, thermal detonators, half-meter-long vibroblades, and survival gear. Specialists in rapid deployment and infiltration, Strike Troops were a relatively new addition to the war, and most of the ones in the cargo hold had participated in months of familirization drills aboard caputred Yuuzhan Vong vessesls.

So they have stormie type armor, but it changes color and the helmet is more like that of the DARPA's Future Warrior project. That and they are armed to the teeth; compare what they are carrying with what the Stormies had boarding Tantive IV

They could tell which way the strike troops had gone by the gaping holes the soldies had blown in membranous interior bulkheads and iris portals

From other barding actions we've seen (and the fight aboard the worldship in Star by Star) hand blasters don't do that kind of damage. Seems they are carrying things the size of clone rifles (the rifles, not the carbines); if not greater.

From the ship's forward came the sounds of war cries and muffled shouts, blasterfire and the dull thudding of amphiostaff strikes

Dull thudding suggests that the armor can stop the strikes. Otherwise the sounds of lopped off limbs would be a bit squishier.

They followed the strike troops farther forward. The soldiers held their blasters at high port, sweeping them from side to side. They advanced in leapfrogging squads, waving signals to one another, overwhelmign amphistaffs with continuous bursts, or concentrating blasterfire on Vonduun crab armor weak points, then searing the exposed flesh beneath.

Competnet tactics and hand signals. Guy apparently did as much research as Denning did when he wrote the infiltration sqaud sequences in SbS. The "seraing the flesh" points to them being clone rifle grade and not something heavier like the massive rifle Biggs uses to hit a spot with a "lucky shot" and take out a Tie in the latest "Empire".

I'm only at chapter 10 now, maybe we'll see these guys up against a Slayer leter.

[Kuja]

Woohoo! It's about time we see something like this!

[Boba Fett]

There's no picture of them on the cover, I guess?

[Chris OFarrell]

Just one question, why are you assuming its the blaster they are using to blow holes in the Vong ships to storm through? Thermal Detonaters are designed for that kind of demolition work (and they are almost certinaly carrying various yields like the YV1's do, for different situations)

But I am impressed.

Though the NR has had these kind of troops for a while (though not with the addaptive armour) if only in special forces style squads and sizes...

[Kerneth]

Doesn't surprise me to see the GFFA marines go back to larger, more powerful weapons, given the resistance of the Vong vonduun crab armor to standard blaster shots. A more powerful rifle is only a logical upgrade for troops meant to face the Vong on the ground.

Against Stormtrooper-grade armor or an unarmored human, a light repeating blaster is (obviously) more than sufficient, but (at least earlier in the series) only the heavier blaster rifles were really effective against Vong personal armor on a single-weapon basis.

[Ender]

Just one question, why are you assuming its the blaster they are using to blow holes in the Vong ships to storm through? Thermal Detonaters are designed for that kind of demolition work (and they are almost certinaly carrying various yields like the YV1's do, for different situations)

Because that sequence was right agaisnt the external bulkhead, and we saw in SbS that a thermal detonator will trash both sides of a passageway at those places in the ship. Jaina gave in to her inner bitch and used that to depressurize part of the worldship in SbS.

Though the NR has had these kind of troops for a while (though not with the addaptive armour) if only in special forces style squads and sizes...

Yeah, except never in numbers, as well armed, or with helmets.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Just one question, why are you assuming its the blaster they are using to blow holes in the Vong ships to storm through? Thermal Detonaters are designed for that kind of demolition work (and they are almost certinaly carrying various yields like the YV1's do, for different situations)

Because that sequence was right agaisnt the external bulkhead, and we saw in SbS that a thermal detonator will trash both sides of a passageway at those places in the ship. Jaina gave in to her inner bitch and used that to depressurize part of the worldship in SbS.

Thermal detonators come in many sizes. I think we should withhold assumption on the weapon type used for now since it isn't stated.

[YT300000]

Thermal detonators come in many sizes. I think we should withhold assumption on the weapon type used for now since it isn't stated.

The smallest we have ever seen is the Class C, which has a blast radius of 5 metres. So, unless those are some huge hallways, it probably wasn't a thermal detonator.

[CmdrWilkens]

Thermal detonators come in many sizes. I think we should withhold assumption on the weapon type used for now since it isn't stated.

The smallest we have ever seen is the Class C, which has a blast radius of 5 metres. So, unless those are some huge hallways, it probably wasn't a thermal detonator.

Umm that's the same kill radius as a modern M69 frag grenade and we routinely use them in room clearing operaitons that would be highly analogous to shipboarding operations.

[Howedar]

Except if you breach the wall of a room, you aren't going to suffocate. A thermal detonator would definately be capable of that.

[Ender]

Thermal detonators come in many sizes. I think we should withhold assumption on the weapon type used for now since it isn't stated.

The smallest we have ever seen is the Class C, which has a blast radius of 5 metres. So, unless those are some huge hallways, it probably wasn't a thermal detonator.

Umm that's the same kill radius as a modern M69 frag grenade and we routinely use them in room clearing operaitons that would be highly analogous to shipboarding operations.

Except a farg grenade is, as you said, a fragmentation weapon, where a TD anhilates everything within the blast sphere. Large difference in the damage to the surroundings between a few chunks of shrapnel and having a sphere carved out of them

[Illuminatus Primus]

Except a farg grenade is, as you said, a fragmentation weapon, where a TD anhilates everything within the blast sphere. Large difference in the damage to the surroundings between a few chunks of shrapnel and having a sphere carved out of them

?

A thermal detonator is simply a tiny-scale fusion warhead.

[Ender]

Except a farg grenade is, as you said, a fragmentation weapon, where a TD anhilates everything within the blast sphere. Large difference in the damage to the surroundings between a few chunks of shrapnel and having a sphere carved out of them

?

A thermal detonator is simply a tiny-scale fusion warhead.

I'm aware of its mechanism (though its a bit more technobabblish then straight fusion), but the EGWT says that anything outside the defined balst spehre is untouched

[Illuminatus Primus]

I'm aware of its mechanism (though its a bit more technobabblish then straight fusion), but the EGWT says that anything outside the defined balst spehre is untouched

I remember official counts of feeling the blast heat or gusts of air or something.

How would one confine the fireball to a fixed radius after the charge already detonated?

[YT300000]

I'm aware of its mechanism (though its a bit more technobabblish then straight fusion), but the EGWT says that anything outside the defined balst spehre is untouched

I remember official counts of feeling the blast heat or gusts of air or something.

How would one confine the fireball to a fixed radius after the charge already detonated?

An in-verse explanation would be that the EGWT has a typo, and they meant to say everything outside the blast radius is almost untouched; maybe a few chunks of shrapnel fly, but not much.

[Vympel]

What's the point of half-metre long vibroblades?

[Sea Skimmer]

What's the point of half-metre long vibroblades?

Cutting stuff

[Illuminatus Primus]

What's the point of half-metre long vibroblades?

Cutting breaches through weak walls n such without expending ammunition or making a lot of noise n such. Same kind of thing as force-pikes.

[YT300000]

Also, if you run out of ammo, they are way better weapons than fists.

[Connor MacLeod]

I'm aware of its mechanism (though its a bit more technobabblish then straight fusion), but the EGWT says that anything outside the defined balst spehre is untouched

I remember official counts of feeling the blast heat or gusts of air or something.

How would one confine the fireball to a fixed radius after the charge already detonated?

I imagine by using some of the same technology that allows SW shields to shrug off nuclear detonations.

Edit: On top of that, its not so much energetic radiation as some sort of charged particle/plasma created on detonation.

[Illuminatus Primus]

What would be generating it since the weapon just exploded? I thought we've through been hell and back on the fact that some energetic weapon self-generating containment fields is nonsensical.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

It's probably just a shitty description more than anything else.

[Connor MacLeod]

What would be generating it since the weapon just exploded? I thought we've through been hell and back on the fact that some energetic weapon self-generating containment fields is nonsensical.

Oh yes, I'm sure forcefields just magically dissipate in an instant even after the generating medium is destroyed. It ONLY has to last long enough to contain the explosion, anyhow.

I might remind you it doesn't have to be a forcefield either, for that matter.

[Illuminatus Primus]

How is that any different than self-containing bolts or magic goop containing energy blasts--its still technobabble crap generated by a generator which has already been destroyed.

EDIT: It has to last long enough such that the fireball has dissipated to where it won't just blow up anyway once the containment fades.

Which leads me to wonder, how does it work? You'd still have to have a lot of energy dump from the "contained" fireball into the surrounding environment, or it'd never fade. Which means you'll still have a lot of heat pulse into the surroundings and unless the fireball is slowly dumping energy over many seconds, its still going to superheat the surrounding air and explode.

Unless, I suppose, one thinks that the magic containment thing magically turns energy passing through it into neutrinos or something.

[Connor MacLeod]

How is that any different than self-containing bolts or magic goop containing energy blasts--its still technobabble crap generated by a generator which has already been destroyed.

Christ, are you even THINKING this through? One, the field itself is not mobile, unlike the "magic bottle" of a blaster bolt. Second, it is generated by the detonator itself BEFORE it detnoates, and needs only last long enough to halt the expansion of the blast, which could be an incredibly short timeframe - even a 1 kiloton nuke's fireball lasts for only .2 seconds.) The device generating the field could even possibly be shielding itself just long enough to maintain the field containing the explosion, particularily in much larger versions (IE TIE Bomber TD's).
If anything, its more akin to a static version of the "tiny projectile inside a bolt" theory.

I'm sorry if this interrupts those EU-bashing wankfests you like to engage in, but you do realize that it has to be explained in some fashion, even if the best you can come up with is "its stupid." .)