Tiglath wrote: ↑Sun Dec 08, 2024 10:51 pm
All
After some preparation the field test / wargame goes ahead.
First off the "remote controlled" 4DC "Grunt" class IFV flies up the approach to the gunnery deck of the Bartizan. Perhaps unsurprisingly the lightly armoured low displacement (for interstellar transport) vehicle fares less well in the inevitable ambush relayed to the audience remaining safely on the Flight Deck. What must be a pair of RAM autogrenade launchers firing full auto occupy and partially overwhelm the VRF gauss point defence system while fusion gun fire penetrates its light armour.
After the initial fusilade the vehicle hovers immobile with hits to its grav lift transmission but, more seriously, sufficient internal damage to the flight controls to more than reflect mission ending crew casualties.
Skeet comments over the comm link
"Well, there's your baseline Professor. The Grunt's a light manoeuvre and fire support vehicle and very much not a tank - but it would have coped with one grenade launcher. We'll reset and let's see if you can rescue the hostage this time around".
The "Trepida" and "Astrin" approach preceded by the four "Grizzly" warbots. They are completely invisible and also undetectable indeed the warbots are about to enter the Bartizan's vacant gun galleries when 4DC triggers their ambush. The explosion drives a wall of micro projectiles over the advancing robots not penetrating but instead scouring their armour and plastering them with both debris and reflective strips. Even as their armour repairs the minor abrasive damage and recalibrates its stealth settings the big robots are visible and engaged from within the gun gallery. Nevertheless, whatever hits them bounces off (autocannon rounds hit two and HEAP greandes burst on the others). One battledress armed defender is tagged by the Trepida's laser rangefinder while also hit by simulated fusion gun fire from two robots. Skeet calls
"Displace!" and Metz's anxiety subsides somewhat as the action continues to go well.
The robots advance only to be thwarted by a human sized hatch that they can't negotiate but they "reason" their way around the obstruction at the cost of more non penetrating hits and having to push through serial trip wires and beams that seem to decoys as is the need to proceed with tactical expediency as the whole of one area (every hatch frame, corridor wall and even floor has been daubed with explosive material. This causes delay but ceases and the 'bots push on only for one to push through some debis triggering a mechanically activated detonator which goes off to reveal it remains unconnected to the main charge - a vacuum sealed Imperial cargo pallet of TDX explosive topped with a winking smiley face and the word
"Gotcha!" The robots care less pushing on through one more ineffective ambush (apparently sprung to limit the opportunity for return fire) to find the hostage "Princess" tied to a support pillar in what used to be the Fire Direction Center. Releasing the captive the robots diagnose her to be entirely healthy but apparently undergoing an unusual amount of emotional agitation - possibly due to her exposure to a combat environment. She greets them with
"Hi, I'm Styx and you boys have royally screwed the pooch".
A grinning Skeet, flanked by the two 4DC instructors, shouts
"EndEx! EndEx!" as he walks across the Flight Deck to rejoin the watching company. Metz thinks that Skeet should still be downstairs - at least one of his men should be... and still visibly is - the one that was "KIA"! As this "trooper" removes their helmet to reveal blond hair Metz begins to suspect...
shenanigans!
"Hmmm," he says, walking around the blonde.
"I detect something suspicious. How do we know who you really are? I'd imagine twins pull this kind of thing regularly. And, in case anyone was wondering, a sister of a princess is still a princess. Clever, but not clever enough. Still, I hadn't considered that angle and am willing to declare a draw, so we both pay up. Acceptable, Colonel?"
Then he scratches his chin.
"We still haven't seen the combat potential of the vehicles, though. Before we shut down the range completely, let's let the smaller drones make a run on the G/Carrier. We can top that out at the Grizzly and then let the tank one-shot its strongest face. We'll send the G/Carrier's Grizzlys away before then, so I don't have to reconstruct them. Then my big drone can take out the tank. That should be spectacular and prove that advanced weapons can really change the outcomes on the battlefield."
I'll do some dice rolling and play this part out myself. Hey, I want to blow things up, too!
Assuming Skeet agrees, the run will need to take place farther out as there is a radiation component to the fusion weapons. Safety first, and under Skeet's direction. All Metz will do is give the orders within the constraints that Skeet sets.
Popgun #1, a two-ton drone with a VRF Gauss Gun makes a run from below. As the damage from this weapon does not reach the threshold to ignore the TL-based armor bonus, the Armor value is: 126.
It all bounces, even with the AP 5 deducting some of the armor.
Popup drone #2 with its light pulse laser gun makes a run on the same spot.
This attack crosses the potential damage threshold (1DD) to remove the TL-based part of the armor from consideration, so the target is 110.
Maximum damage! Still not enough, though the AP 3 helped.
Popup drone #3 will make a run on the same spot with its medium pulse laser gun. This is a starship grade pulse laser and will likely still fall short unless it gets boxcars on the damage.
While it could have pierced the armor with a lucky shot, it does not, even with the AP 4.
Popup drone #4 has a heavy pulse laser gun and should get through the armor with a better than average shot.
It does not, so Metz will send it back around for a second try.
It blasts through the armor, causing internal damage. 16 points of it when factoring in the AP 6.
The vehicle wasn't doing anything to mitigate the targeting, so the effect of the shot is 16 points of hull damage and a critical hit. It likely would have avoided the critical if it had been moving and on the defensive.
The crit is to:
The hull. That's an effect +6 hit to the hull and thus will deal 6D damage to the Hull with no armor mitigation.
36 points of hull damage with what was dealt in the initial penetration. The G/Carrier as 132 Hull points--only a bit more than a quarter of the Hull points--so is damaged but still functional.
Popup drone #5 will make a run on the dorsal surface and unleash a burst from the rapid-fire fusion gun RFX. It deals 3DD just like the pulse laser but is AP 10 and Auto 2. It will focus its wrath to get two full attacks on the G/Carrier.
Both hits exactly meet the armor even with the AP 10, but fail to do a single point of damage.
Annoyed, Metz sends it back for another run.
Two penetrating hits! One dealing 10 points of damage and the other 20. Hull damage now 66/132. Two critical its at effect 6 coming up.
Armor and power plant. The armor loses:
Nine points permanently and future hull crits are +1 severity.
The powerplant takes significant damage and the G/Carrier loses all speed but remains hovering.
"That was pretty good. Let's send its meaner brother against the ventral again."
Popup drone #6 has a rapid-fire fusion gun RFZ with AP 20 and Auto 3. Sama damage, though.
No need to check criticals, the drone rips the underside out of the G/Carrier, and it blows up even as it plunges toward the water.
"Well, that was satisfying," Metz said.
"I'll send the ship's drones to recover what they can later. The debris can be deconstructed and used as raw materials to build a replacement."
He looked at the tank.
"I was going to use the main gun on the main armor of the G/Carrier, but now I'll have to improvise to make that happen."
He'll get the drones from the ship to recover the front of the G/Carrier. It's broken off from the rest but is solid enough for a test shot. He'll make sure and get the drones holding it behind the armor. The armor is good for 210 damage. Almost twice as resistant than the dorsal and ventral armor on the G/Carrier.
"The main gun is the same weapon as on the last drone, a rapid-fire fusion gun RFZ. It shouldn't have much luck penetrating the armor, but we shall see. I only wanted to point out how hard to damage on the strong faces these vehicles are."
Good, solid hits, and other than pushing the armor back and forcing the drones to drop it, no effect. They will retrieve it and haul it back to the ship for deconstruction.
Metz grinned.
"Now for the real show. The large drone there has a fusion barbette. A more powerful version of a ship mounted fusion gun. Let's see how the tank handles that on its forward face, which is a bit stronger than the G/Carrier's." (220 vs 210)
The large drone is almost three times the size of the tank. The fusion barrel is... impressive.
"And let's make this a challenge. I'll have the tank charge the drone, using all its defenses. No attack, but let's make it hard to hit."
The tank heads off after getting the command, vanishes from sight, and presumably charges in.
The first shot is a miss.
But the second is a hit.
The tank is incinerated, melted, and blown apart in a titanic blast that won't leave anything to salvage. Not only could it not survive a hit by that weapon, but most fortified structures would have fared no better.
"The range of damage on a fusion barbette is quite terrifying," Metz said into the silence.
"My calculations are that the tank would have been destroyed--though less spectacularly--after sustaining 1/3 of the potential damage. That was likely not the best hit, either. I would warrant that was perhaps a bit more than 2/3 of the maximum damage potential."
Minimum damage: 150
Average damage: 525
Maximum damage: 900
He turned to face the mercenaries.
"I'm only a scientist, but I can make things warriors can use. My thought is that if I make them powerful enough, it will not take many lessons for those who wish to attack us to find other prey. We don't fight fair. Yet, I as I said, I am not a warrior. We need warriors to fight for our people, and better yet, leaders to know when not to fight. We would much rather make friends than enemies.
"This is what we are bringing to the table that you would need to train our people with. I can design other equipment for purposes that I have not thought of, and your expertise must guide me. Now, I suppose, we need to leave my drones to pick up the debris while we finish the details of our negotiations. Colonel Skeet? Colonel Cross? Polly? shall we see if we can come to an agreement?"
).
