DataPacRat wrote:
On 10/09/2007, DataPacRat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
An entirely new class of smart bomb, the Pigeon, was developed. They were called
Pigeons because they could be launched in flocks that could number a thousand
bombs
and had a tendency to wheel about in the air like a flock of pigeons. The flock
would
make its way to the target area using GPS technology and terrain following
algorithms.
The flock would seek out targets and, through a negotiation process, one and
only one
bomb would attack a target with the rest searching for the next target. The
bombs could
be programmed to seek out vehicles, buildings, and even specific humans as
targets.
Ahead of the tanks and helicopters were tens of thousands of smart bombs called
Pigeons that picked their own targets. Although the amount of explosives
carried by any
single Pigeon was small, the group behavior destroyed any form of resistance.
The
results were even more spectacular when one of them would explode in a weapons
storage area. If the Pigeons couldn't destroy a target, they sent back data for
a cruise
missile to be sent to the target.
When one wave of Pigeons was consumed, another wave was launched. The [good
guys] weren't interested in advancing or holding territory. The soldiers were
too busy
setting up the next wave of Pigeons. It took almost two hours for ten thousand
men to
set up thirty thousand Pigeons for launch.
When night fell, the attack didn't slow down. Three separate waves of Pigeons
with
infrared cameras were released. Anything with a heat signature that differed
from the
background was targeted.
Well, I don't know what I was doing wrong with my first attempt, but
after I started from scratch with a new GVB template, I have, in fact,
been able to cobble together some stats that seem like a workable
representation of the above.
With this draft, a flock of 30,000 still costs about $79 million, even
with the 'cheap' option. Not an insignificant investment, and any
suggestions on reducing the individual cost would probably be
worthwhile.
Well, GURPS Vehicles cost is usually equivalent to fairly limited
production quantity, or mass production with large profit
margins.. If something small and none too advanced was mass produced
in such large numbers, and with somewhat more lax quality controls,
I'd expect the price per unit to go down to about one fourth
(x0.25) the default price while the vehicles would count as
'Cheaply Made' with -1 HT and halved maintenance intervals (see
'vehicle quality' in GURPS Vehicles).. Generally speaking,
the smaller and less advanced a vehicle is, the easier and less
expensive it is to set up a mass production line for it. I guess
the minimum non-profit production cost would be something like
one tenth of price (x0.1) under perfectly ideal circumstances.
Also, I'd recommend using the electronics and computer rules from
the most excellent GURPS Transhuman Space - It should be possible
to extrapolate other TL hardware from the THS values.
I guess that the main problem with a design concept like this
would not be with the actual hardware, but with the software
- It would be much more easier to program a fixed-wing robot
or a helicopter than an ornithopter..
-Pauli
--
"Accompanied only by the full moon, howling of
the nightwolf, and the path under my bare feet,
the elvenpath.."
-Nightwish, Angels Fall First: Elvenpath
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