Everything old is new again.

[Jefffar]

Ont he barrage ballon idea, lets go back to observation ballons. Float a balloon/blimp with a stableized platform below it. Have an air to air and air to surface radar set on the bottom of the blimp and presto, fire control for SAM units engaging low flying targets and long range battlefield survielence in a cheap, simple package that doesn't risk a highly trained technician getting wasted by an anti-radiation missile.

[Comrade Corsarius]

Zerebus, historical note: The Spartans under Leonidas LOST at Thermopalye to Xerxes' (or was it Darius, I always get them mixed up) persians.

Of course, that Leonidas had only three hundred hand-picked Spartans was very impressive, but the 'phalanx' type of warfare lent itself to the thermopalye defence. Aparrently the pass was so narrow that scarcely two carts could pass alongside one another there.

***reads robotech*** oh yes, this IS an interesting RPG. I wonder if they should perhaps make a forum for it where people can discuss the game, and have another forum called "sound off" where people could discuss things like this (strong hint to Andy. Not that I don't like this topic, because I do, but it is inappropriate here, is all).

[Jefffar]

Yeah, it was a technical loss, all the Spartans save 2 who were either sick or deserted died at the battle site.

But in practical terms, and in morale terms it was a victory for the Greeks. The brave self sacrifice of the Spartans (and a contingent from another city state) gave the other city states of greece the time to martial their forces and meet the Persians in a battle of anhilation at Marathon.

Without Thermopoale, the Greeks would not have had the time to raise an inter-city army, and would have been defeated in small groups of a few hundred at a time agaisnt the waves of tens of thousands of Persians.

[Jefffar]

Andy, you're missing something with the mines

The proximity fuzes on most missiles are 1) Active and 2) Have just enough juice to live the missiles short life.

In practical terms that means that your mines are broadcasting (probably with radar) their presence and location, making avoiding them easy. Second, when these proximity sensors go active, the internal batters are probably only good for a few minutes, may be an hour or two if you're lucky. So your mine field is going to be very short lived.

The satelites idea might work a bit better, with solar panels or maybe a nuclear power source that can be detonated. But again you're stuck with a system that is broadcasting itself on active radar.

Instead of a proximity sensor I'd probably use a Magnetic Anomoly Detector, triggering the mine when a large metalic object got reasonably close. A gravity sensor might work too, and would have the advantage of beign triggered by non-metalic objects. Both systems are passive, and reduce the odds of the mine being detected.

[Jefffar]

See Andy, sometimes you do come up with stuff I can agree with, but typically it requires a little refining to get it to something I consider more practicable and workable.

[Rabid Southern Cross Fan]

I dont know about using MAD detectors in space. Wouldnt any NEO (asteroid) of larger than say...a VW Bug...that was nickel-iron set it off?

[Jefffar]

That's a distinct possibility.

In the conventional minefields today, more mines are triggered by children instead of soldiers.


That's the nature of mines, idescriminant area denial.

[Marcethus]

Siege Engines. AKA those big tower things they use to get over castle walls. could be used in RT in the era where everything fell apart. course you would be using scrap materials to build it but as long as it held the weight that was needed to get your mecha over the wall it would work

[Zer0 Kay]

"Think outside the ammo box" an old friend of mine once said.

Think- Midevil technology on Robotech Terra war-making capabilities. YES, I'M SERIOUS. There's a midevil war engine that COULD be practicably employed on Robotech Earth (Rifts Earth, for that matter). In fact, you PROBABLY have it's kissing cousin lying around your house SOMEWHERE (though more llikely you have the 3rd cousin).

"Think outside the ammo box."

A battering ram??