11-16-2018, 03:29 PM | #21 |
Join Date: May 2010
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Re: [Ultra-Tech] What does the TL10 battlefield look like
In real life, jamming etc. doesn't stop insurgents from making good use of cellphones, presumably because occupying armies don't want an occupation to mean "no more cell phones for you, indefinitely". That kind of thing might spark protests. Great for a quick offensive, sure, not so great for occupying territory without angering the civilian populace too much.
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11-16-2018, 03:36 PM | #22 |
Join Date: May 2010
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Re: [Ultra-Tech] What does the TL10 battlefield look like
Are you sure about that? If you interpret it as using a booster/sustainer approach, it might have somewhat lower delta-V.
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11-16-2018, 03:43 PM | #23 | |
Join Date: May 2010
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Re: [Ultra-Tech] What does the TL10 battlefield look like
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11-16-2018, 04:03 PM | #24 |
Join Date: Sep 2018
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Re: [Ultra-Tech] What does the TL10 battlefield look like
If we presume a course that is more of the same humans will largely be removed from a front line, not have line of sight to a living enemy combatant. Most of TL 10 warfare will be fought with drones but more advanced units than what we have, more effective, more maneuverable flyers with more firepower. Ground units that will serve as a launch base for fleets or swarms of drones.
Counter-intelligence will be the technology of domination. Tricking sensors or hacking data feeds will create ghost targets that will consume resources and time. Targets will not be military or civilian but infrastructure. Tactics will be engaging without engagement, military strikes designed to bypass resistance. When full forces can be rebuilt within a week, targets like water processing, food processing and manufacture will be more valuable than military operations. 3d printing will close the gap between military superpowers and nearly unfunded guerrilla movements. Dirty warfare will be bacteria or algae that destroys fuels, or corrupts energy production, or destroys crops, again infrastructure targets taking precedence over more renewable tools. |
11-16-2018, 04:14 PM | #25 |
Join Date: May 2010
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Re: [Ultra-Tech] What does the TL10 battlefield look like
Looking at Transhuman Space: Changing Times, I noticed something funny: HEMP got upgraded between 3e and 4e, and a likely unintended effect of the upgrade is that RATS no longer have adequate protection vs. 15mm HEMP. Rules changes like that will tend to favor smaller robots, I think.
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11-16-2018, 05:07 PM | #26 |
Join Date: May 2010
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Re: [Ultra-Tech] What does the TL10 battlefield look like
Possible limiting factor on the effectiveness of buzzbot-like robots if you're using Ultra-Tech as your Bible: I realized there was an equivalent in Ultra-Tech, the Scout Robot, and they're significantly more expensive, at $5,000 apiece. Unclear if the computer is meant to be tiny or small.
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11-16-2018, 06:12 PM | #27 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: [Ultra-Tech] What does the TL10 battlefield look like
At TL10, Robobugs are actually really quite capable when you look at their design. With a Complexity 5 Tiny Computer, they can run IQ 8 Dedicated AI programs (dumb, but capable enough for something that weighs 0.01 pounds), meaning that they can follow orders without being in constant contact with their controller. With the flier and synthetic organs packages, the costs go up to $100 each, but they are indistinguishable from real insects, meaning that they can hide in plain sight. With their really small weight, you could hide an swarm of 10,000 in the trunk of a car of 1,000,000 of them in a cargo container. Now, imagine a swarm of 1,000,000 Robobugs attacking an entire city...and they are reusable.
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11-16-2018, 07:37 PM | #28 |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: [Ultra-Tech] What does the TL10 battlefield look like
Actually I am. My attempts to reverse engineer a 100mm produced an _exact_ match when I used rules from Ve2 for using conventional missiles in space rather than building them as miniature vehicles.
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Fred Brackin |
11-17-2018, 03:01 AM | #29 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: [Ultra-Tech] What does the TL10 battlefield look like
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(Honestly, that stuff ought to just have a ^ on it. It's way better than the TL10 paralysis gas, or the TL9 injected sleep poison!)
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I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. |
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11-17-2018, 08:20 AM | #30 | |||
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: The Land of Enchantment
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Re: [Ultra-Tech] What does the TL10 battlefield look like
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The current trend- among advanced nations at least- is toward use of precision munitions, since the use of a WMD basically just results in the rest of the world dog-piling on you. I suspect that open wars between nations will degenerate into a contest of who can attrit their opponent's assets to the point that they can no longer defend. Well, actually, I guess that has always been the way wars work, eh? But at TL10 it might be relatively bloodless, with robots being most of the targets. OTOH a robofac can really pump out those bots, huh? And I guess leadership strikes will still be a thing. Don't stand too close to the White House... But I do think that the current trend towards insurgencies will continue. Quote:
But, yeah, weapons aren't much of an issue. It's pretty easy to distribute an illegal weapons blueprint for a 3D printer/ robot fabricator. The materials to make the weapons may be difficult, however- what sane government wouldn't start registering explosives and propellants? (Though if you have atom-scale nano fabrication then even that isn't an issue.) But at TL10 you have things like gauss weapons, and registering all power cells would be an exercise in futility. And then, of course, the government will start distributing disinformation, in the form of robofabricator weapons plans that include bugs and trackers... :) Isn't this FUN ?!? Quote:
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I'd need to get a grant and go shoot a thousand goats to figure it out. Last edited by acrosome; 11-17-2018 at 02:12 PM. |
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