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100 Years Ago Do you like mortars? I like mortars. Zee Germans loving love mortars. The Engineers are so desperate for something to answer Minnie back with, they're making their own mortars out of bits of old drainpipe, a large piece of cardboard, and some sticky-back plastic. (This is when they're not busy making jam-tin bombs to fill the gap left by the terminal shortage of proper grenades.) Meanwhile, the Cambridgeshires are literally building a Roman catapult to twang banging things across No Man's Land...
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Jan 7, 2015 15:57
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The army is interested in individual-level robotics stuff for all sorts of applications. There are some really interesting concepts, like cutting a howitzer crew to 3 or 4 and using a combination of little helper robots and powered exoskeletons to make up the difference; doing away with things like forklifts at tactical bases in favor of exoskeletons, convoys that have one crew driving a truck and then half a dozen robot trucks following the leader, etc etc. I find this all very interesting but I know almost nothing about the technical side of it.
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Jan 7, 2015 15:58
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I think I'd rather have a couple of more guys on a howitzer crew than drag around a ton of poo poo up the mountains that doesn't do anything except shoot a little faster. When you're fully mechanized, then I guess robots are fine.
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Jan 7, 2015 16:10
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What if all the robots figure out that the only winning move is not to play?
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Jan 7, 2015 16:16
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steinrokkan posted:What if all the robots figure out that the only winning move is not to play? Good, less soccer matches at Christmas time, then!
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Jan 7, 2015 16:27
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steinrokkan posted:What if all the robots figure out that the only winning move is not to play? Then you install the patch and reboot them.
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Jan 7, 2015 16:30
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Fangz posted:Then you install the patch and reboot them.
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Jan 7, 2015 16:55
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You can also hit them over the head with a hammer if they don't work. Not a recommended practice with horses, although I hear tell that it works with seriously malfunctioning elephants.
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Jan 7, 2015 17:03
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Ensign Expendable posted:I bet there are top secret CIA mule breeder cells, ready to crank out an army of mules at a moment's notice. Nahh, we just redesignate our large numbers of donkeys into mules.
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Jan 7, 2015 17:04
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Ensign Expendable posted:I think I'd rather have a couple of more guys on a howitzer crew than drag around a ton of poo poo up the mountains that doesn't do anything except shoot a little faster. When you're fully mechanized, then I guess robots are fine. American artillery is fully motorized anyways so.... The people that don't understand the value of big dog have never carried 130lbs of poo poo on their back.
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Jan 7, 2015 17:54
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MassivelyBuckNegro posted:American artillery is fully motorized anyways so.... Problem is, they're not going to reduce the amount of poo poo you have to carry, they're just going to add more poo poo for the robot to carry. "Oh, you have 300lbs of extra capacity? Here, take this mortar with you."
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Jan 7, 2015 18:05
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At least with the dog, you can put big and cumbersome things on it and have the dudes carry the small, easily-carried stuff. I am so glad I never had to carry either the tent or the stove when I was in the army. Those things sucked.
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Jan 7, 2015 18:32
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The future of warfare is in robot muledogs with built-in 3d printers. No more worrying about logistics, you just instruct your printerdog to make more bullets and grenades for you, or heavier body armour, or a bayonet, or toilet paper, or whatever it is that you need atm.
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Jan 7, 2015 19:19
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Sure, if you want your toilet paper made of the same material as a bayonet. Also I see there will be bayonets in this future....
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Jan 7, 2015 19:27
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Siivola posted:At least with the dog, you can put big and cumbersome things on it and have the dudes carry the small, easily-carried stuff. Carrying a stove around is horrible. My grandparents just oiled and buried their portable stove on an island where they went to camp every summer and dug it up again in lieu of carrying that stupid thing back home every year.
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Jan 7, 2015 19:29
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In all honesty while mules and other pack animals are the most common choice for carrying around supplies; there are other animals that could be useful too. Animals that don't need such intense grazing space, constant water and can forage and hunt for food.The best thing is you could even use it for other things like carrying shells to AFVs (Something the Poles tried). Something like a bear, maybe?
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Jan 7, 2015 19:40
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Nenonen posted:The future of warfare is in robot muledogs with built-in 3d printers. No more worrying about logistics, you just instruct your printerdog to make more bullets and grenades for you, or heavier body armour, or a bayonet, or toilet paper, or whatever it is that you need atm. I think you were speaking facetiously but this is pretty much exactly what the sustainment guys are thinking.
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Jan 7, 2015 19:47
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Jan 7, 2015 19:49
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SkySteak posted:Something like a bear, maybe? Nothing like a pack animal that will try to eat you when supplies get scarce.
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Jan 7, 2015 19:51
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SkySteak posted:In all honesty while mules and other pack animals are the most common choice for carrying around supplies; there are other animals that could be useful too. Animals that don't need such intense grazing space, constant water and can forage and hunt for food.The best thing is you could even use it for other things like carrying shells to AFVs (Something the Poles tried). Something like a bear, maybe? You have to keep them clothed, though, because bare bears barely bear berry beer.
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Jan 7, 2015 19:55
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Can anyone recommend a good *academic* (i.e. cited) one- or two-volume treatment of the American Revolutionary War? I'm not familiar with the field, and searching gets me a million titles like "Glorious Wings of Freedom: America's Triumph" and such. I'm searching for a scholarly look with a military/diplomatic focus, and preferably recent, though old is okay I guess if the work is considered an absolute classic, Battle Cry of Freedom sort of thing. Thanks. Xotl fucked around with this message at 20:36 on Jan 7, 2015 |
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Jan 7, 2015 20:27
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SkySteak posted:In all honesty while mules and other pack animals are the most common choice for carrying around supplies; there are other animals that could be useful too. Animals that don't need such intense grazing space, constant water and can forage and hunt for food.The best thing is you could even use it for other things like carrying shells to AFVs (Something the Poles tried). Something like a bear, maybe? As long as you surgically alter the bear so can also destroy tanks. A tank destroyer doctoring, if you will.
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Jan 7, 2015 22:30
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Which was better, the PT boat or the E-Boat?
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Jan 8, 2015 00:22
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Bears are like the ultimate omnivore so keeping one supplied would be a lot easier than horses/mules/whatever because it can literally eat what your troops eat and forage for itself if it needs to. Downside: no winter combat.
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Jan 8, 2015 00:25
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Slavvy posted:Bears are like the ultimate omnivore so keeping one supplied would be a lot easier than horses/mules/whatever because it can literally eat what your troops eat and forage for itself if it needs to. Bears would also save a lot of work in burying the dead.
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Jan 8, 2015 00:45
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cheerfullydrab posted:Which was better, the PT boat or the E-Boat? The Italian MS Boat, actually. They took the E-Boat, made it more seaworthy, and sank the HMS Manchester with two of them.
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Jan 8, 2015 02:21
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Slavvy posted:Downside: no winter combat. Solution: Polar bears, duh.
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Jan 8, 2015 03:43
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If bears are like hedgehogs, and I have no reason to think they are not, then if you keep them just a leeeeetle bit hungry and underweight they won't be able to hibernate and will actually stay awake all winter.
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Jan 8, 2015 03:58
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Arquinsiel posted:If bears are like hedgehogs, and I have no reason to think they are not, then if you keep them just a leeeeetle bit hungry and underweight they won't be able to hibernate and will actually stay awake all winter. Problem: you now have a hungry bear next to you.
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Jan 8, 2015 04:17
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The things early modern soldiers do are numerous. Most of them have little to nothing to do with war:quote:A Calvinist flag-bearer who was the guardian of a castle in the province of Livonia once lamented in the presence of a Catholic priest that he could no longer trap wolves as he used to do because the pits dug to catch them had been bewitched by the local peasants. The priest replied that he had holy water, and he would sprinkle the traps with it, which would undo the enchantments. The Calvinist laughed, the way heretics usually sneer at everything, and said: "If I were to see the spells broken by your lustral water and wolves captured as a result, I should believe at once that your water was actually holy." QED. Eat poo poo, Calvinists. Antonio Possevino, Letter to the Duke of Mantua, 1585
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Jan 8, 2015 04:33
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HEY GAL posted:The things early modern soldiers do are numerous. Most of them have little to nothing to do with war: Calvinists would gladly eat their own poo poo because their poo poo, being as it is from the bums of men holier than all others, would resemble a fine steak in all respects.
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Jan 8, 2015 04:46
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HEY GAL posted:Antonio Possevino, Letter to the Duke of Mantua, 1585 That's great. My favorite bit is that the three people involved--the soldier, the priest, and the guy who wrote the letter passing on the story--all agree that witchcraft is real, but the soldier just doesn't believe that popery is good against witches. That would be ridiculous. It's also fun because it's basically an early-modern e-mail forward, and specifically one in the dropped chalk/Marine Todd "owning an unbeliever" tradition.
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Jan 8, 2015 04:52
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stdh.parchment Edit: And these sorts of things were circulated in the same way; this letter shows up in 1586 in someone else's treatise about why holy water works. Everyone's collecting anecdotes (or printing satirical woodcuts) that prove the correctness of their religion and the complete poo poo-eating moral and intellectual bankruptcy of their enemies. Turns out that if you invent widespread literacy, people never shut the hell up. Edit 2: Note that the dude is specifically a Jesuit. That order's the spearhead of the Counter-Reformation, so he's one of Our Heroes / definitely the most likely to be in league with Satan (depending on which side you're on). HEY GUNS fucked around with this message at 05:12 on Jan 8, 2015 |
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Jan 8, 2015 04:53
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cheerfullydrab posted:Which was better, the PT boat or the E-Boat? E-Boats. If for no other reason than that they actually had working torpedoes for most of the war. Although that can be something of an apples and oranges comparison, since PT boats (at least in the late-war Pacific) spent most of their time as motor gunboats shooting up Japanese barges.
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Jan 8, 2015 05:07
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ArchangeI posted:Problem: you now have a hungry bear next to you. And a lot of dead Taliban... because let's be serious here, Muslim extremists are the new rooskies.
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Jan 8, 2015 05:15
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EvanSchenck posted:That's great. My favorite bit is that the three people involved--the soldier, the priest, and the guy who wrote the letter passing on the story--all agree that witchcraft is real, but the soldier just doesn't believe that popery is good against witches. That would be ridiculous. It's also fun because it's basically an early-modern e-mail forward, and specifically one in the dropped chalk/Marine Todd "owning an unbeliever" tradition. Unbelievable! This Landsknecht tells it like it is! Support our troops (or they'll burn your house down)!
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Jan 8, 2015 05:20
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HEY GAL posted:stdh.parchment  Calvinists are still holier-than-thou dicks, as in they literally believe a finite number of people are chosen for salvation and if anyone somehow loses faith it means they never were a holy person to begin with.
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Jan 8, 2015 05:27
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ArchangeI posted:Unbelievable! This Landsknecht tells it like it is! Support our troops (or they'll burn your house down)!
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Jan 8, 2015 05:41
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HEY GAL posted:This Jesuit had to spend 24 hours with a Calvinist: first you'll be shocked, then you'll be inspired. This Jesuit prayed 5 hours a day for a whole month, you wouldn't believe what happened next.
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Jan 8, 2015 05:44
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HEY GAL posted:The things early modern soldiers do are numerous. Most of them have little to nothing to do with war: I got the mental image of wolves immediately body slamming themselves into a pit as soon as a single drop of holy water touched the bottom. It's just that good!
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Jan 8, 2015 06:13
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