Hmmmm. Looking at the point defense cannon I would say it would have an effective "kill radius" of 1 meter. 2d explosive damage averages 7 points at contact, and divided by 3 (2 pts) at 1 meter, and divided by3 again at 2 meter (0 pts). So the point defense software could be as simple as laying down a firing pattern to put one explosive round every 2 meter over an area (although this would be rather wasteful of expensive ammunition).
Another option is to go to big point defense, think old WWII 88s. The explosive area of effect is much larger (especially with fragmentation) and you only need two points of damage. Also rather than explosive rounds low tech infantry is much more likely to use shotgun or flechete ammunition. Nape of the earth approaches under cover would be the way to avoid the worst of the point defense issue. But very close range point defense (likely shotgun styles -low power, plastic cased shot shells are cheap and light) would then be popular with the infantry. Clint DataPacRat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent by: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 09/11/2007 11:53 PM Please respond to The GURPSnet mailing list <[email protected]> To "The GURPSnet mailing list" <[email protected]> cc Subject Re: [gurps] [Vehicle] TL8 "Pigeon" Caterpillar: Confidential Green Retain Until: 10/11/2007 Retention Category: G90 - General Matters/Administration On 11/09/2007, Troy Guffey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > DataPacRat wrote: > > On 11/09/2007, Troy Guffey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The gun, concealed behind armor, is 12.5 cf, 250 lbs, $17,000, 7 kW. > > 10,000 rounds of ammo is 4,000 lbs, $60,000. Full stabilization, 25 > > lbs, $2500. Universal Mount (to raise to 90 degrees and keep Pigeons > > from simply dropping down from above) 125 lbs, $250. We can probably > > throw in an anti-blast magazine for those rounds: 1,000 lbs, $10000. > > > > We'll also need a battery (say, $250), PESA (5 of them (for > > 360-plus-above coverage, with 2-mile range they add up to 40 lb, > > Make it a 5 mile range, so that the guns can see them before they get into > Max range. And probably at least 1 AESA, or LIDAR. Don't forget, AESA /includes/ LIDAR. :) Increasing the PESAs by that much would increase the cost by $240,000 - almost enough to buy a whole second 2-mile-sighted anti-Pigeon gun. (Of course, with the rules on sensors' 'Scan ratings', the 2-mile or 5-mile figure is fairly nominal, anyway; especially given that Pigeons have a Size Mod of -3.) > > $160,000), Gunner Program (Complexity 4, skill 12), and a robot brain > > (Complexity 4, dedicated, hardened, is 300 lb, $40,000). > > > > Which puts us at $290,000, plus whatever chassis, propulsion, and > > armor we put on it. > > > > > >> A Pigeon will take 58.77seconds to cover the guns range, during > >> which time the gun can punch out 7052 rounds. For a 1000 member > >> flock, this gun could award each Pigeon as many as 7 rounds. > >> (Assuming zero time to aim, and ending up at the mouth of the > >> barrel.) > > > > It's been quite a while since I used any of the autofire rules; is > > that how such things are targeted? > > That's how *I* would design the firing protocol. Thread 1: Evaluate all > seen targets, chose 'path' for firing solution of X duration. Thread 2: > Find target, aim for target (with appropriate leading), fire X rounds, go on > to next target in list. X is a number of rounds to insure 95% chance of > kill, or less to ensure engagement of maximum targets. (For instance, to > engage a 7000 Pigeon swarm) X would probably be 3 in most cases. > Thread 1 re-orders target list as targets are destroyed, and new targets > enter engagement area. I didn't mean to talk about the firing protocols, which would be covered by the Gunner software - I meant GURPS basic rules on autofire, such as how to handle bursts within a single turn and targeting hexes and all that GURPS-specific stuff. In other words, when firing 120 rounds per second, /can/ you target each round individually in GURPS? > > (Notes to self: When using pigeons against Big Guns, use /lots/ of > > cover, and try not to enter its firing arcs until as close as > > possible. Avoid bunching up the flock to keep individual shells from > > being able to destroy more than a single Pigeon each. Possibility: Use > > /big/ flocks to saturate defense capability, eg 10,000 at a time.) > > Note to self: Deploy multiple units with overlapping fields of fire, and > implement data-net to divide up targets between multiple AA units. Also > deploy even smaller 'close-in' units or 'big boom' SAMs for Final Protective > Fire, Further notes discovered during testing: Although they can be tasked against large targets, Pigeons are primarily an anti-infantry system... and when they come across such significantly hardened defenses, it's probably better to simply fly around them or above their firing ceiling, and call in a strike from the railgun artillery and/or cruise missiles until the area is cleared for anti-infantry operations. :) Random thought: Perhaps a sort of 'anti-Pigeon Pigeon' is a feasible countermeasure, a cheaper, smaller, faster, more agile 'Sparrow' that only needs to inflict 2 points of damage instead of 24d. Thank you for your time, -- DataPacRat VA3BOS "You shall not accept any information, unless you verify it for yourself. I have given you the hearing, the eyesight, and the brain, and you are responsible for using them." -- Qur'an 17:36, Khalifa translation. _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
