Science fiction AFVs

Starship Troopers: anything that isn't human can't possibly be smart, so they have to suck intelligence from humans to be smart! Yeah right...

 

Have you seen Starship Troopers 2?

 

Didn't realise such a thing existed (checks google) doesn't look like I'm missing much

 

Nope, you really aren't!

 

How about BattleMechs?

 

Well, of course we..I mean, they do, Ricky! After all, the Rebels are going to win in the end, so the Imperials should get something out of it!

 

No, the first one was enough for me.

I once read an article whose author stated that he could have wiped out the Starship Troopers with a National Guard battalion! The NG battalion, you see, would have had two things the ST lacked: artillery and armor support. And a lot more air cover than we saw the ST get.

 

Plus their tactics leave a lot to be desired...

Ok, I'll stop now.

 

Plus guns with an effective range of more than six feet.

It was a truly dum film subject closed

 

There was some comedy put out about 10 years ago about the military putting out a hover tank. They made it work enough, but I always thought the real military could actually make a hovertank work effectively.

 

Plan to beat the bugs in ST:

1. Go near planet with missle ship.
2. Turn planet into glass ball w/nukes.

Case closed, we win. Why use infantry at all?

 

If memory serves, that was the modern re-make of Sgt Bilko (Steve Martin as Bilko).
The tank could hover, but not fire at the same time, so they staged it...

Johann... I wondered the same thing! Maybe they needed to keep the population down?

 

science fiction AFV,s.

Must apolagize! Fully intended not to comment further on this Forum, but
still follow daily, could not resist this early Armoured Fighting Force from TV.Hope you can enjoy it, lighten up lads, don't take everything so seriously,you are a long time dead.

 

It was not a truly dumb film idea, but they took only the name from Heinlein's story. The movie got names and titles, but little more. If it had followed the book at all more closely, it would have been a much more enjoyable film.

 

I don't know if this was ever brought up, but why dosn't any one ever put the sheild generators inside the sheild? Am I missing something here, and a quick note the A-wing rocks!

 

In the Film we have seen Walkers pull off advanced maneuvers to hit passing snow speeders. And there is just no anti vehicular mine in the Star Wars universe large enough to cause a massive foot with several atmospheres worth of ground pressure to rebound up and throw the AT-AT off balance. That mine would have to not only be huge, but it would have to be a thermal nuclear weapon. Not a good idea to employ nukes when you got men on the field.

We see AT-ATs going up and down inclines in the films. The AT-AT needs only to shift its weight using its legs and it can manage most inclines, like any quadruped moving down a hill. If you're still referring to this absolutely stupid trench idea, Walkers can deal with Trenches in so many ways it isn't funny. Blasting it once with its heavy cannons would be enough to render all that hard work you guys put forth completely nullified. Or they can be deployed elsewhere away from the trench.

Now to the wise ass who insulted me with the trekkie remark:

Again, no anti-vehicular mine in the Star Wars universe is big enough to cause such a seismic charge through solid rock enough to magically knock all the ground from under the walker. And before anyone says "Hey, yeah, seismic charges!" metal objects like that would be insanely simple to detect through a simple orbital scan, which leads me to the next quote that really @#$%ing pissed me off to no end.

We have that technology right now. The military routinely uses satellites to take strategic pictures of hot spots in the world. If Imperial ships were able to detect the presence of an invisible theater shield, they damn sure as hell better be able to take a picture and see that huge gap in the ground or the silly non-existent nuclear weapons buried underneath the snow.

All cannon sources point to this being how the AT-AT loads and unloads troops on the field. Like it or not, it is right there.

Long range blasting was not foiled by the shield.

Already covered this in an earlier post. Read it then try again.

The Shield at Echo Base was a Theater shield, and Theater shields allow things that have contact with the ground to pass through. The AT-ATs were deployed at the shield, and walked through. Through almost the entire battle of Hoth, they were inside the base shield.

 

OK, but why were the shields of the second death star not contained in it, what is so special about it?

 

The Second Death star was not completed. They said that maybe 10 times during the movie. And that huge uncompleted gap in the entire lower side of the whole thing is proof of that.

 

Down boy! clearly your as passionate about your AT-ATs as some people are about their Tiger and Sherman tanks. I just don't think its a very feasible idea.

It's very much an all your eggs in one baskets approach, how many tanks and personell carriers could you get out of the resources it takes to build on AT-AT? And if you think an AT-AT is big and complicated what they use to get them up and down from space must be really impressive.

As to the getting up and down I'm sorry but I think your wrong. Yes I already knew that the AT-AT's are able to get up and down but there is a world of difference between getting down and falling down.

Yes something that big will have a huge intimidation factor on its first couple of appearances but the people in front of it are going to be feeling really really motivated to find a way to stop it, and they have.

The snowspeeder attack appeared to be on its first try out and would need some refinement but it was capable of dropping at AT-AT and even if you lose several speeders for each AT-AT the rate of exchange will be favourable.

On the subject of mines as already I said you don't necessarily need to send an AT-AT flying though the air. Explosives will crater the ground under it's foot and if there delay so the other forward foot has been lift the machine will take a tumble. I do not need to go nuclear for this conventional explosives should do the job.

Back to the anti AT-AT ditches. This is a delaying action, A DELAYING ACTION! Ditches have never stopped anyone indefinately but they can slow people down. Anything you do whether it be going around or blasting through it will take time. Since at Hoth the Rebels are trying to evacuate time is what they are playing for. If you have the time and the means the ditch is still worth doing.

Like the German Tiger tank the AT-AT is a powerful unit but like the Tiger of the real world it isn't all powerful. In needs other unit type to cover it weaknesses. You seem to be taking the line that only a fluke or a Luke can take it out sorry warfare has never worked that way. There is a why reason real world armies faviour combined arms rather than simply have lots and lots of one thing,



Oh and I always assumed that the AT-AT's were dropped outside the shield and then plodded in under or through the shield. This is probably the reason why the AT-AT's have no air cover.

 

I do think that the AT-AT is feasible, but I reckon that any of the techniques (or better, a combination) outlined above - mines, trenches, even a specially organised Speeder attack a la Hoth - could slow down (or potentially stop if you topple enouth) an AT-AT attack long enough for the defender to retreat in good order.
The Snowspeeder attack did show that they are vulnerable to toppling.
And they can't get up after falling!

btw - just me being dense probably, but if you have a theatre defence shield that coveres a wide area away from your base, and you kknow the enemy has AT-ATs, would it not be better to either have a smaller shield (!), or have mini 'tactical' shields inside your theatre shield, or even defend the shield perimeter (yes, manpower is an issue here).

Another thought just struck me...
The Rebel base on Hoth has starfighters in. While their lasers would not have any impact on the AT-ATs (witness the speeder's attack), would the torpedos they carried be of any use? Could they even target AT-ATs with them?
'cause I reckon they would do the trick...

Danyel - what do you reckon?