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Darth Raptor wrote:Restoring all these jet planes seems like an odd thing to before we know if they can even fly in Hell. From the descriptions, the atmosphere sounds like the air above a volcano, which does Bad Things to jet engines. Unless they're prepping them for operations against Heaven, which we know *nothing* about.

And I, for one, hope the angels aren't completely eradicated. Rawr. <3

That's something they would have to find out; the air can't be that bad, or the humans who teleported into Hell would be choking on it, and you don't know how it changes with altitude. I suppose you could equip a Predator with a simple air filtration box with a mass airflow sensor, in order to determine the density and distribution of atmospheric particulates in Hell. When it gets back, they can take the filters out and examine them to see what's on them, and look at the mass airflow readings to figure out the density of particulates in the air.

Wait, wait, how did his hair magically turn grey? Hair isn't alive. The hair would be growing out grey for now on because of [handwaving/author says so] but changing color? Unless his hair and nails started growing really quickly and now it's very long and grey.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.

And so we lost a few cuss words. We've still got plenty left. All the genital euphemisms, bodily secretions, sex acts, insinuations of people's parents' marital status...

I'm an atheist and I still say "Oh my God" or "Jesus Fucking Christ". I don't think people would necessarily change their speech patterns just because they know they were lied to. Some would, but a lot of others would just keep using the old ones. I imagine this continued usage might draw a few sarcastic remarks from their friends, though.

Darth Raptor wrote:Restoring all these jet planes seems like an odd thing to before we know if they can even fly in Hell.

We may still need to fight on Earth. Just because Hell's first invasion has failed does not mean they won't try again.

Mayabird wrote:Wait, wait, how did his hair magically turn grey? Hair isn't alive. The hair would be growing out grey for now on because of [handwaving/author says so] but changing color? Unless his hair and nails started growing really quickly and now it's very long and grey.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.

You're right, in theory, but Uriel was drawing out/feeding off the life-force/essence/quantum goodness of Jude. I thin Stuart said, in a story about a war on heaven and hell, sometimes the answer is 'magic'.

I wonder what the range of Uriel's power is. He can apparently make people drop dead with a whisper, but so far we have only seen him do it to a single village. We know that the angelic forces are masters of pomp, circumstance, and manipulation of human psychology, so their methods would be quite a bit more devious than those of Hell.

CaptainChewbacca wrote:

Mayabird wrote:Wait, wait, how did his hair magically turn grey? Hair isn't alive. The hair would be growing out grey for now on because of [handwaving/author says so] but changing color? Unless his hair and nails started growing really quickly and now it's very long and grey.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.

You're right, in theory, but Uriel was drawing out/feeding off the life-force/essence/quantum goodness of Jude. I thin Stuart said, in a story about a war on heaven and hell, sometimes the answer is 'magic'.

Uriel could have been extracting certain chemicals from Jude's body directly, including his hair. That would explain why all of the hair turns grey at once.

Also, I don't get the impression that Jude is wearing his tinfoil hat at the time this happens. This leaves the door open for Uriel to be manipulating his thoughts and perceptions in many ways.

Very true. Its easy to cow someone into fearful obedience if you are controlling their perception of reality.

Ah Sharkey Ward. Awesome, just awesome. Given that there isn't really THAT much use for fleet air cover and a huge need for air support for land armies, I'm wondering if the Fleet Air Arm is going to be moved under RAF control, that's sure going to create some friction

So all these ones and twos of old aircraft are great additions to the order of battle, but the real question is… when do they start reactivating the battleships? All of them, everywhere and of every age, the old cruisers too. If the machinery is shot then we can fit them with giant outboard motors as are used on some barges.

Chris OFarrell wrote:Ah Sharkey Ward. Awesome, just awesome. Given that there isn't really THAT much use for fleet air cover and a huge need for air support for land armies, I'm wondering if the Fleet Air Arm is going to be moved under RAF control, that's sure going to create some friction

You might want to consider how little ammunition modern warships carry in comparison to the thousands of harpies that could descend upon them. I’m sure everyone will be doing crash programs to fit more light guns, but that will take time. Hmm... those Tomahawk and Harpoon canisters on the Iowa’s are going to have to go, so that the full glory of the WW2 automatic weapons batteries can be restored… only using digital fire control.

Chris OFarrell wrote:Ah Sharkey Ward. Awesome, just awesome. Given that there isn't really THAT much use for fleet air cover and a huge need for air support for land armies, I'm wondering if the Fleet Air Arm is going to be moved under RAF control, that's sure going to create some friction

The fixed wing carrier portion of the Air Branch is already effectively under Crab control as part of Joint Force Harrier. The Sea Harrier has excellent A2A capabilities, which is useful against harpies. The Harrier GR.9s used by the Naval Strike Wing could in theory be given back to the RAF to allow it to form extra squadrons.

I just had to include Sharkey Ward. There's no way the Andrew would leave Mr. Sea Harrier out of this war.

All of them, everywhere and of every age, the old cruisers too.

So HMS Belfast and HMS Caroline might be seeing some service again.

Sea Skimmer wrote:So all these ones and twos of old aircraft are great additions to the order of battle, but the real question is… when do they start reactivating the battleships? All of them, everywhere and of every age, the old cruisers too. If the machinery is shot then we can fit them with giant outboard motors as are used on some barges.

Thing is, we don't really NEED the battleships. Hell doesn't seem to have much (if any) naval power, and we need all the fuel and resources we can get for air and army.

CaptainChewbacca wrote:
Thing is, we don't really NEED the battleships. Hell doesn't seem to have much (if any) naval power, and we need all the fuel and resources we can get for air and army.

Our ability to fight a modern war and sustain a modern economy is based COMPLETELY on control of the sea. At this point humanity doesn’t know what hell or heaven has, neglecting a naval buildup would be insane, and fuel certainly isn’t an issue. Heck you can burn the best grades of crude in a boiler without any refining at all, though it’s not a particularly good idea to do so. Battleships still have a very useful shore bombardment capability to support troops on land, especially since the lack of threat of shore fire means they can come as close inshore as water depth will allow, and they could support huge automatic gun batteries to deal with harpy attacks.

Remember now, the US is planning on mobilizing what, 25 million men and women? I think we can spare 8,000 or so for at least the four Iowas, its not like we have hoards of other weapons for those men to fight with otherwise.

It looked to me like Jude was mixing up past and presence while looking at his photos and remembering, first Africa and what he saw there and then what brought him to Africa - Uriel. To me it seemed like that was something that had happened before the Message and he was now connecting the dots and trying to inform someone who could deal with it.

On another note, with the re-activation of XH558 I have the strange desire to see the Dambusters in action too.

Remember now, the US is planning on mobilizing what, 25 million men and women? I think we can spare 8,000 or so for at least the four Iowas, its not like we have hoards of other weapons for those men to fight with otherwise.

We might as well give it a shot. If the battleships serve no purpose they can always be withdrawn again and the crews released to other areas.

On another note, with the re-activation of XH558 I have the strange desire to see the Dambusters in action too.

Well 617 Squadron are still around and I'm sure they're Tornado GR.4s will be in action sooner rather than later. Sending a few Storm Shadows into the Hellmouth could cause quite a bit of mischief.

Sea Skimmer wrote:Hmm... those Tomahawk and Harpoon canisters on the Iowa’s are going to have to go, so that the full glory of the WW2 automatic weapons batteries can be restored… only using digital fire control.

Do I sense a CLAA program starting once again, but using as many Bofors 57mm mounts as can be shoved onto a Spruance type hull as possibul? Or would twin 5"/54s or AK-130s be more practical?

13.8 km range, and 7.6 km AA ceiling with 57mm

23 km range, and 15 km AA Ceiling with commie 130mm AK-130s or 5"/54s

Shit, just the Iowas? It's time to start doing repair feasibility studies on BB-55, BB-59, and BB-60. They all use 16in guns, so we just need to manufacture 16in HE. And we know that Hell has areas in which swimming creatures can exist which breath water through gills on Earth, meaning the composition is close enough to that of Earth's oceans that the screws shouldn't be fouled. Cover them in fast 40 mounts for dealing with Harpies and find the theme song to The Final Countdown.

Anyone else get evil thoughts about what a full broadside of 16 inch guns loaded with canister would do to a massed formation of baldricks?

The Duchess of Zeon wrote:Shit, just the Iowas? It's time to start doing repair feasibility studies on BB-55, BB-59, and BB-60. They all use 16in guns, so we just need to manufacture 16in HE. And we know that Hell has areas in which swimming creatures can exist which breath water through gills on Earth, meaning the composition is close enough to that of Earth's oceans that the screws shouldn't be fouled. Cover them in fast 40 mounts for dealing with Harpies and find the theme song to The Final Countdown.

Of course, getting an Iowa into hell would require opening a MASSIVE portal either at the waterline, or into a canal, and it wouldn't be easy to line it up so there isn't some sort of 'drop' into hell. Can you imagine what would happen if we managed to sustain a portal in the ocean? Drown hell.

Of course, they could fill the earth with toxic slime...

They're currently getting the shit kicked out of them by helicopter pilots, actual special forces would be just ugly.

160th SOAR pilots are actual special forces personnel, and it is extremely inadvisable to claim that they're not in their presence.

CaptainChewbacca wrote:

The Duchess of Zeon wrote:Shit, just the Iowas? It's time to start doing repair feasibility studies on BB-55, BB-59, and BB-60. They all use 16in guns, so we just need to manufacture 16in HE. And we know that Hell has areas in which swimming creatures can exist which breath water through gills on Earth, meaning the composition is close enough to that of Earth's oceans that the screws shouldn't be fouled. Cover them in fast 40 mounts for dealing with Harpies and find the theme song to The Final Countdown.

Of course, getting an Iowa into hell would require opening a MASSIVE portal either at the waterline, or into a canal, and it wouldn't be easy to line it up so there isn't some sort of 'drop' into hell. Can you imagine what would happen if we managed to sustain a portal in the ocean? Drown hell.

Of course, they could fill the earth with toxic slime...

The lineup doesn't have to be perfect, as long as the energy of the fall wasn't significantly different from, say, getting hit by one of those 100ft waves down in the Antarctic ocean which even a heavy cruiser can take head-on.

Academia Nut wrote:Anyone else get evil thoughts about what a full broadside of 16 inch guns loaded with canister would do to a massed formation of baldricks?

What about fuel-air bombs? Although I'm starting to wonder if it would be a good idea to simply take old de-gunned tanks, put a huge sharpened plow-nose on the front, and simply drive through enemy ranks at high speed. At least you wouldn't use up any ammo, although you'd be using up diesel.

Darth Wong wrote:Although I'm starting to wonder if it would be a good idea to simply take old de-gunned tanks, put a huge sharpened plow-nose on the front, and simply drive through enemy ranks at high speed. At least you wouldn't use up any ammo, although you'd be using up diesel.

RAMMTIGER!



Only cover it with spikes.

EDIT: and weld sharpened scythes on the road wheels for maximum fun!

I propose that we begin working on Abrams Flail-Tanks and Abrams Ram-Scythe Tanks.

Well, if we're going to do that, we should get those Shermans with the mine flails, only replace them with morning stars on the end. High speed spinning spikes FTW!

Can you imagine the carnage a Abrams with it's turret removed and covered in razor wire; and it's governor removed crashing into Baldrick ranks at 70 MPH would do?