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Raenir Salazar posted:How does this differ from the proposed Montana class? Main armament for one. The model has 15x 18inch guns. The Montana would have had 12x 16 inch guns.
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Dec 27, 2016 01:11
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Ice Fist posted:Main armament for one. The model has 15x 18inch guns. The Montana would have had 12x 16 inch guns. Either one would have been great for shore bombardment and mounting a shitload of AA, the real calling of battleships in the Pacific. 
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Dec 27, 2016 01:33
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bewbies posted:I finally finished this thing for new kid: Nice.
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Dec 27, 2016 01:35
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Raenir Salazar posted:Star Trek until Enterprise and Star Trek Online seem to entirely lack ground forces. As a point of order, this is wrong: Star Trek Deep Space 9 had ground forces playing prominent roles. And DS9 had already ended before Enterprise even started. Biffmotron posted:The most realistic milSF about procurement is and always will be the short story "Superiority" by Arthur C Clarke, which is available on the first page of Google hits. Don't forget how at the very end he switches to stealth ships! The next metaphor on his list is clearly submarine warfare. Weber also has this weird hang-up where prototypes of stuff he likes work out well, while poo poo he hates (like the grav-lance and energy torpedos from the first book) are discarded even when they work out for "reasons". Case in point: In the first book Honor uses a grav lance to knock out the enemy's side shields and then blasts him apart with fast-firing salvoes of energy torpedoes. Then Weber explains that this victory was only possible because Honor got "lucky" enough to get close enough to use her prototype-weapons. (They're rather short-ranged). After the first book they are never mentioned again, apart from 1-2 sentences in passing about how bad it is to be too creative when designing weapons. Edit: To clarify, this always seemed really odd to me, so who cares if energy torpedoes are useless against shields and grav-lances have a short range? The grav-lance of a weak light cruiser neutralized the shield wall of a far larger ship and the energy torpedoes annihilated it in short order. Working on improving a grav-lances range seems to me like it could have changed space warfare far more then just more and better missiles. At least the new stealth-ships look like they could be finally the end of ludicrous macross missiles massacres, depending on how much Weber can resist overdoing his space politics. Libluini fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Dec 27, 2016 |
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Dec 27, 2016 01:58
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Libluini posted:As a point of order, this is wrong: Star Trek Deep Space 9 had ground forces playing prominent roles. And DS9 had already ended before Enterprise even started. Siege of AR558 Never Forget 
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Dec 27, 2016 02:07
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Libluini posted:
There is a decent short story by Glen Cook about "Submarines in Space" called Passage at Arms if you wanted something different from HH. Honestly the Honor books are one of the two series I put down never to finish after starting, that and Wheel of Time.
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Dec 27, 2016 02:57
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Jack2142 posted:Honestly the Honor books are one of the two series I put down never to finish after starting, that and Wheel of Time. David Drake's RCN series is way more fun.
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Dec 27, 2016 03:10
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Raenir Salazar posted:How does this differ from the proposed Montana class? Comprehensively. Significantly different priorities when it came to the balance of speed, armor and armament, much heavier battery on the Montana and a lot more. Compare the 1920s South Dakota for a closer equivalent to the Montana.
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Dec 27, 2016 03:28
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I wanna go back to Star Wars for a second. Just a millisecond. The Empire, prior to the Rebellion, really had no need for a conventional doctrine. They arose from the Clone war, a fairly conventional war between super powers, but inherited a galaxy-spanning police state. What they needed was a way to provide large amounts of military force to reinforce local garrisons, quickly. What they specifically needed was self-contained This is why most of their forces are not conventional. The AT-AT transports is a small example of this: it can deploy a squad of stormtroopers and provides covering fire. The Imperial-class Star Destroyer truly embodied this doctrine. Specifically, the Imperial-class Star Destroyer was a mobile city in space. It would carry consumables for 2 years, with a crew of 46,800 (including nearly 10,000 stormtroopers), so it had no need for a costly support fleet. The primary mission of the Star Destroyer was to act as a hammer, employing the largest amount of force to a small area. While larger opponents were disabled or destroyed with large array of turbolasers and ion cannons, smaller opponents would find they couldn't run from the 72 TIE fighters that could be deployed upon arrival at a target system. The ISD also included a complement of 20 AT-ATs and 15 Imperial Troop Transports, meaning that it could quickly deploy overwhelming force to quell planetary uprisings. But as you guys noted, the ISD was supposed to be deployed in solitude, and the Empire got lax while putting down simple rebellions. In the face of a coordinated assault by nimble fighters with above average pilots, an ISD could be taken down pretty easily. A few torpedoes from a cheap X-Wing or Y-Wing could nearly cripple the entire starship. Which is why, after the Battle of Yavin, you started seeing some improved anti-starfighter defenses on these ships. Not only were the ships beginning to be equipped with TIE Interceptors and TIE Bombers (which could deploy missiles and more effectively combat fighters), but the Lancer-class frigates (designed specifically to counter starfighters). Unfortunately for the Empire, these solutions were expensive and many of their field commanders completely dismissed the threat starfighters and converted freighters had posed.
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Dec 27, 2016 04:07
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Cythereal posted:Got Hornfischer's new book, The Fleet At Flood Tide for Christmas, and finished it this morning. It's an interesting book, but I think it's a step down from his previous works - I think Hornfischer isn't the best at talking about large-scale campaigns in the course of one book, and this one tried to cover the Marianas campaign, Okinawa, Iwo Jima, the bombing campaign against the Home Islands, and the atomic bomb, plus the fleet and air battles along the way and looking at the cost to civilians and how the Pacific war turned into one of total war culminating in the atomic bombs. I largely agree - I think the Marianas section was at Hornfischer's usual level, but it's clear he wasn't quite sure what to do with strategic bombing and Iwo and Okinawa. He didn't go into it on his usual depth but he (apparently) had to still include it at a relatively half-baked level for some reason. The book would have been better on average (and shorter) if it had just been Marianas and ended, with a separate volume to come on the final year. It's still the best thing I've read on the Marianas campaign and I very much enjoyed it but it's probably not a mandatory read on the Pacific for any but the most obsessed.
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Dec 27, 2016 04:23
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I've always found it really funny that people go to great lengths to come up with in depth technical explanations for features and gadgets of movie props that were hastily sketched out by some movie guy strung out on caffeine or coke or weed whose sole objective was "looks cool enough"
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Dec 27, 2016 04:44
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xthetenth posted:Comprehensively. Significantly different priorities when it came to the balance of speed, armor and armament, much heavier battery on the Montana and a lot more. Compare the 1920s South Dakota for a closer equivalent to the Montana. Know any good built models of the Montana class? You have me curious  e: nm, this one is pretty good. Or this one: http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/bb/bb-67/700-is/is-index.html Bizarre sorta-milhist fact: on the original GI Joe Tv show, one episode featured a battleship Montana that actually was a Montana class. Nebakenezzer fucked around with this message at 04:56 on Dec 27, 2016 |
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Dec 27, 2016 04:47
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bewbies posted:I've always found it really funny that people go to great lengths to come up with in depth technical explanations for features and gadgets of movie props that were hastily sketched out by some movie guy strung out on caffeine or coke or weed whose sole objective was "looks cool enough"
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Dec 27, 2016 04:49
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gohuskies posted:I largely agree - I think the Marianas section was at Hornfischer's usual level, but it's clear he wasn't quite sure what to do with strategic bombing and Iwo and Okinawa. He didn't go into it on his usual depth but he (apparently) had to still include it at a relatively half-baked level for some reason. The book would have been better on average (and shorter) if it had just been Marianas and ended, with a separate volume to come on the final year. It's still the best thing I've read on the Marianas campaign and I very much enjoyed it but it's probably not a mandatory read on the Pacific for any but the most obsessed. I haven't finished it yet, but given the focus of his prior books, and the title, I fully expected a book entirely about the Navy in the closing year of the war, when it was quite literally the most powerful fleet the world has ever known. Instead, its split into slightly disjointed sections, which, while certainly important to the outcome of the war, read a little weird.
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Dec 27, 2016 04:54
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HEY GAL posted:that's the game, it's why that sort of thing's fun. trying to explain little greebles or plot inconsistencies or worldbuilding holes has been a thing since at least 1902, with Sherlock Holmes fans I would go as far as saying that the very first religions were attempts at explaining plot holes. "The Sky Man burnt our village because were not offering him a sacrifice; but now he flooded our village instead! What gives?" "Lo! The Sky Man is mad because you are filthy! You must make cuts to your penises to please him!" "I don't like how this sounds..." "Hey, at least Grok the Mad is thinking outside the monolith, we should give it a try..."
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Dec 27, 2016 05:01
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HEY GAL posted:that's the game, it's why that sort of thing's fun. trying to explain little greebles or plot inconsistencies or worldbuilding holes has been a thing since at least 1902, with Sherlock Holmes fans I'd argue it goes back waaaay further than that (glances at bible) To be clear I'm absolutely not mocking nor criticizing the practice, it just illustrates something very innate with how our brains work. the image that always cracks me up, if you were to go on set and ask the twentysomething kid who is building the first star destroyer model what this particular appendage does, he just looks at you blankly with bloodshot eyes, not knowing that 30 years later novels would be written and epic Internet argument had about this particular appendage that he only put on there because it used a leftover piece from the previous model. efb about the religion thing...
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Dec 27, 2016 05:03
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Rent-A-Cop posted:Ditto. Out of the Baen authors its my opinion David Drake is the best, or at least the series I have enjoyed the most are either his or the ones he has worked on in conjunction with other authors.
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Dec 27, 2016 05:38
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WW2 Data Almost missed my weekly update! Anti-Submarine bombs, depth charges, and a buoyancy bomb all make an appearance in the British arsenal. How does a buoyancy bomb work and what does it do? What are the maximum height and speed limits for a 250lb Mk VIII Depth Charge? Why is it good for an Anti-Submarine bomb to have an unstable trajectory after impact with the travel? All that and more at the blog!
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Dec 27, 2016 05:39
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i am drunk, and i would piss blood for the opportunity to play a version of Spec Ops: The Line set in the 17th century
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Dec 27, 2016 05:42
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Jack2142 posted:Out of the Baen authors its my opinion David Drake is the best, or at least the series I have enjoyed the most are either his or the ones he has worked on in conjunction with other authors. Have you read the series he did with Eric Flint about the East-Roman general what got warned by a psychic crystal that an evil computer was taking over an Indian dynasty on the subcontinent and was going to [something something eugenics/genocide] so they gave the romans gunpowder (and later steamships and machine guns, I think)? I really liked that as a teenager but I'm afraid to read it again as a jaded adult
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Dec 27, 2016 06:14
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HEY GAL posted:i am drunk, and i would piss blood for the opportunity to play a version of Spec Ops: The Line set in the 17th century I'm all in for this. Also the really really bad voices in the head are telling me that I should definitely make a full up tabletop rpg system and setting that's 17th century as hell. You should go back to writing so they're less loud.
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Dec 27, 2016 06:22
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Nebakenezzer posted:Know any good built models of the Montana class? You have me curious Speaking of, I wonder what ever happened to this model. Look at how long it is! 
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Dec 27, 2016 06:25
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HEY GAL posted:i am drunk, and i would piss blood for the opportunity to play a version of Spec Ops: The Line set in the 17th century This is an amazing idea, please share where you see the plot going. I see a horrible winter in which there is nothing left to plunder, strange peasants worshipping a rogue mercenary commander, and tear-stained letters begging for aid, respite, and absolution.
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Dec 27, 2016 07:04
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Theres a Tillman class design that sports 24(!) 16 inch guns. 4 Six-gun turrets.
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Dec 27, 2016 07:39
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Grand Prize Winner posted:Have you read the series he did with Eric Flint about the East-Roman general what got warned by a psychic crystal that an evil computer was taking over an Indian dynasty on the subcontinent and was going to [something something eugenics/genocide] so they gave the romans gunpowder (and later steamships and machine guns, I think)? Yes its alright, honestly I thought the other one with a similar premise the General Series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_General_series he did with Sterling was better, would recommend that if you have a hankering to re-visit the Belisarius books, but want something different. Also it has GIANT DOG CALVARY DRAGOONS!!! because this version is sci-fi.
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Dec 27, 2016 08:00
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xthetenth posted:I'm all in for this. Also the really really bad voices in the head are telling me that I should definitely make a full up tabletop rpg system and setting that's 17th century as hell. You should go back to writing so they're less loud. "All right, for my firearms safety check I rolled a 3. poo poo. With the innate -5 that comes from my Drunk Swedish Condottiere class, I... shoot Friedrich in the head accidentally. Whoops."
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Dec 27, 2016 08:45
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xthetenth posted:I'm all in for this. Also the really really bad voices in the head are telling me that I should definitely make a full up tabletop rpg system and setting that's 17th century as hell. You should go back to writing so they're less loud. I've been writing one for a couple of years now. It's even nearly finished.
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Dec 27, 2016 09:16
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Osprey Publishing's got you covered. Admittedly not an RPG, but you know you want to push tiny pikemen around on a table.  quote:Recreate the action and drama of 17th Century warfare on your tabletop with The Pikeman's Lament. Start by creating your Officer – is he a natural leader raised from the ranks, the youngest son of a noble family, or an old veteran who has seen too many battles? As you campaign, your Officer will win honour and gain promotion, acquiring traits that may help lead his men to victory. Before each skirmish, your Officer must raise his Company from a wide range of unit options – should he lean towards hard-hitting heavy cavalry or favour solid, defensively minded infantry? Companies are typically formed from 6–8 units, each made up of either 6 or 12 figures, and quick, decisive, and dramatic games are the order of the day. With core mechanics based on Daniel Mersey's popular Lion Rampant rules, The Pikeman's Lament captures the military flavour of the 17th Century, and allows you to recreate skirmishes and raids from conflicts such as the Thirty Years' War, the English Civil Wars, and the Great Northern War. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPZ3gXPC6n0
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Dec 27, 2016 09:17
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The Star Fury flies at the speed of plot. By which J. Michael StraBabylon5guy meant that the story is more important than any nitpicky details that only nerdlingers, geeks and other spazzy weirdos would pick up. I remember arguing with some milhist sperg that Vikings (the TV series) isn't interested in being super accurate to please geek and dweebs, as it is more profitable to make the show fun for the masses - the same massea that hold history with contempt, it being the boring class at school where only kissless virgins and anemic wretches excelled. That said, I am extremely unhappy with the overcrowded battle scenes in Hacksaw Ridge and almost everything a Warhammer writer ever writes about war.
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Dec 27, 2016 13:33
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JcDent posted:The Star Fury flies at the speed of plot. Yikes. What university did you go to?
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Dec 27, 2016 14:17
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HEY GAL posted:i am drunk, and i would piss blood for the opportunity to play a version of Spec Ops: The Line set in the 17th century I'm in! my dad posted:Considering the number of old ordnance induced Darwin Awards, they made the right call. Just chiming in to say that what astounds me most about the DAs are that Croatia holds the record for both number of Darwin awards and the number of Darwin awards related to tampering with UXO 
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Dec 27, 2016 14:57
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HEY GAL posted:i am drunk, and i would piss blood for the opportunity to play a version of Spec Ops: The Line set in the 17th century
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Dec 27, 2016 15:35
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FastestGunAlive posted:Yikes. What university did you go to? I didn't sleep well last night.
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Dec 27, 2016 15:37
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SoggyBobcat posted:What's the seventeenth century equivalent to white phosphorous? Burning pitch probably.
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Dec 27, 2016 15:53
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Carcass shot. Also, I guess heated shot for the naval situation but then if your unlucky enough to be hit by a roundshot already it being incedibly hot is the least of your problems.
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Dec 27, 2016 15:54
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This is probably the best place to ask, I guess. My uncle knows I'm a bit of a history buff and bought me a bundeswehr greatcoat from I believe the 60s-90s to help my burgeoning collection of cool old stuff. I'm hoping to get some pictures in the next few days whem he arrives, could any more learned goon help me to identify it once it comes? I might end up with a mannequin draped in random NATO gear at some point 
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Dec 27, 2016 16:20
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gohuskies posted:I largely agree - I think the Marianas section was at Hornfischer's usual level, but it's clear he wasn't quite sure what to do with strategic bombing and Iwo and Okinawa. He didn't go into it on his usual depth but he (apparently) had to still include it at a relatively half-baked level for some reason. The book would have been better on average (and shorter) if it had just been Marianas and ended, with a separate volume to come on the final year. It's still the best thing I've read on the Marianas campaign and I very much enjoyed it but it's probably not a mandatory read on the Pacific for any but the most obsessed. I'm inclined to agree. The Marianas would have been enough for one book, then the strategic bombing, looking at Downfall, and the occupation of Japan could have been a full other book. A fine read if you can find it in the library, but I haven't recommended it to friends and family like I have Hornfischer's previous books.
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Dec 27, 2016 17:04
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Surely the Vikings TV series isn't historically accurate because it's talking about possibly entirely mythical Ragnar Lodbrok? Like it should be a mythical saga, he was a saga kind of guy.
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Dec 27, 2016 17:05
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You pour a couldron of lye on a petard crew about to blow your gate and the wind/moat carries the lye towards a group of nuns or something.
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Dec 27, 2016 17:25
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I was thinking magazine detonation in a fortress city or something.
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Dec 27, 2016 17:31
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