[gurps] Heinlein Battlesuits

[Jeff Wilson]

> From: "Travis Watkins" <terwin3 at gmail.com>
> I rather thought that they were somewhat larger, I vaguely remember
> the main character sitting in the 'cockpit' of his suit while it is
> packed in the entry vehicle.

Around page 100, Rico describes he suit as literally like a suit of 
clothes, albeit one that weighs up to a ton in full kit. Page 5 mentions 
  they are strapped down motionless when in their drop capsules.

> Also, I don't know that too many vehicles smaller than a heavy tank
> could carry several nuclear weapons that can hit a target over the
> horizon.

I don't recall any details of the engagements in the book that involve 
over-the-horizon distances.

> Also, while there will always be specific environments where one
> specific form factor can defeat another, I always had the impression
> that the speed and maneuverability were one of the big deals of the
> battlesuits.  I'll admit that I don't remember a specific description,
> but as they seem to travel mostly in 'hops' of several kilometers, I'm
> not even certain that it would need to be anthropomorphic in shape.

About p.11, Rico mentions the largest jumps can leave them in the air 
for up to 15 seconds or so, which he doesn't recommend because it gives 
the enemy too much time to draw bead while you're coasting. His platoon 
is is leapfrogging with twenty seconds of movement and twenty of 
evaluation and missile fire, and is hard pressed to make up 500 yards 
during these circumstances - so multi-kilometer hopes is not a needed 
capacity.

> I thought the main targets were smaller things like refineries and
> factories.  Then again the bits I remember seemed to be mostly form a
> 'raid' type attack where they remove the ability of a rebellious world
> to put up any real sort of defense.

The raid on the refinery is a sort of demo to the skinnies, to show how 
deep the MI can get into their infrastructure and how much they can wipe 
out in a very short time, and thus motivate them to cooperate with the 
Terrans. No sizable reduction of war-fighting capability was intended, 
as that would result in a weaker co-beligerent against the bugs.


-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
< http://www.io.com/~jwilson >