[gurps] [Vehicle] TL8 "Pigeon"

[Troy Guffey]

DataPacRat wrote:
> On 11/09/2007, Troy Guffey <troyguffey at cyberdude.com> wrote:
>> I'm not sure how that transforms into a 'kill radius'.
>
> Neither am I, yet; that's the fun part. :)
>
>
>
> The gun, concealed behind armor, is 12.5 cf, 250 lbs, $17,000, 7 kW.
> 10,000 rounds of ammo is 4,000 lbs, $60,000. Full stabilization, 25
> lbs, $2500. Universal Mount (to raise to 90 degrees and keep Pigeons
> from simply dropping down from above) 125 lbs, $250. We can probably
> throw in an anti-blast magazine for those rounds: 1,000 lbs, $10000.
>
> We'll also need a battery (say, $250), PESA (5 of them (for
> 360-plus-above coverage, with 2-mile range they add up to 40 lb,

Make it a 5 mile range, so that the guns can see them before they get into 
Max range.  And probably at least 1 AESA, or LIDAR.

> $160,000), Gunner Program (Complexity 4, skill 12), and a robot brain
> (Complexity 4, dedicated, hardened, is 300 lb, $40,000).
>
> Which puts us at $290,000, plus whatever chassis, propulsion, and
> armor we put on it.
>
>
>> A Pigeon will take 58.77seconds to cover the guns range, during
>> which time the gun can punch out 7052 rounds.   For a 1000 member
>> flock, this gun could award each Pigeon as many as 7 rounds.
>> (Assuming zero time to aim, and ending up at the mouth of the
>> barrel.)
>
> It's been quite a while since I used any of the autofire rules; is
> that how such things are targeted?

That's how *I* would design the firing protocol.  Thread 1: Evaluate all 
seen targets, chose 'path' for firing solution of X duration.  Thread 2: 
Find target, aim for target (with appropriate leading), fire X rounds, go on 
to next target in list.  X is a number of rounds to insure 95% chance of 
kill, or less to ensure engagement of maximum targets. (For instance, to 
engage a 7000 Pigeon swarm) X would probably be 3 in most cases.
Thread 1 re-orders target list as targets are destroyed, and new targets 
enter engagement area.

> (Notes to self: When using pigeons against Big Guns, use /lots/ of
> cover, and try not to enter its firing arcs until as close as
> possible. Avoid bunching up the flock to keep individual shells from
> being able to destroy more than a single Pigeon each. Possibility: Use
> /big/ flocks to saturate defense capability, eg 10,000 at a time.)

Note to self: Deploy multiple units with overlapping fields of fire, and 
implement data-net to divide up targets between multiple AA units.  Also 
deploy even smaller 'close-in' units or 'big boom' SAMs for Final Protective 
Fire,


Troy Guffey
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