[cosmicfish]

Originally Posted by tsofian

I suggest them because provide capabilities that few other aircraft provide. The AH-56A is still the most capable compound helicopter ever built. Even in prototype form it far out performed the AH-64. The XV-15 and the XC-142 have not been equaled until the V-22 became operational. And I will admit I just have a soft spot for the CL-84s.

How do they meaningfully outperform the other aircraft available in a world where there really are no other aircraft expected to be flying? And what role do you see for the XV-15, when it seats two and can carry perhaps 1500 pounds?

Originally Posted by tsofian

Even 5 years after the war ends I believe that the ONLY source of spare parts the Project can count on it what it has stored or what it can make on its own. To count on anything else is folly. To my mind (and the minds of my Project's planners) this means that every piece of equipment has to be provided with sufficient spare parts to operate it until an infrastructure can be rebuilt that can produce the needed parts from scratch.

I agree. Where I disagree is where you can (pre-war!) get a worthwhile supply of parts and personnel experienced in maintaining and operating the vehicle for prototypes! Even at the time these aircraft were flying, parts were essentially being made on the fly and there were only a handful of people capable of doing real work on them. Is the Project going to create a special factory to churn out parts for these things? Are they going to recruit that crew, bearing mind that most of them are probably poor choices for the Project anyway?

Compare that to a production platform, where stocking the Project's shelves takes up little resources and you can recruit flight crews who are the people you want and not just "the only show in town."

And in case it was not obvious, I agree that post-war you cannot count on supplies, my point is that getting everything pre-war is already hard enough without making it harder.

Originally Posted by tsofian

You don't sneak, you publicly buy. Morrow is a huge defense contractor. Hell maybe they bought LTV's VSTOL division and Lockheed's Helicopter Division and just got everything as part of the deal. It is never stated in canon exactly what companies are part of the huge conglomerate that Bruce owns. For all we know they may have been rolling extra air-frames off the prototype production lines and boxing them up as spares for the development process.

And yet we still have V-150's and Stoners and flamethrowers in the official list of gear? They can roll off all the extra airframes they want, but doesn't that seem like a big expenditure of Morrow resources for a handful of marginally (on paper) superior aircraft? And how are they going to continue all the developmental work on these aircraft to get them to the point where they can be used for continuous operations? The US government has Area 51, but Morrow doesn't, and it won't take long before unauthorized eyes are going to take note of these aircraft being test-flown.

Originally Posted by tsofian

For me it comes down to a couple of things, one is equipment that is very capable (at least on paper).

And that is a big chunk of the point. On paper. Most of these aircraft had only a handful of flights, there were a huge number of unanswered questions and each one is a gamble. If you are going to take those gambles, there better be a pretty big advantage, and considering that the assumption is that Morrow is the only real functioning air power anyway ANY aircraft is going to be a massive asset. To me it's like buying 30-round magazines from a questionable manufacturer for $200 when you can get 27-round magazines from a reliable supplier for $20 - the small advantage is not worth the cost or risk.

Originally Posted by tsofian

They provide a "signature" Morrow Project feel that enhances story telling. I have found them to be "fun" items that intrigue players and spark their interest in the gaming universe.

I have always had an opposite reaction from players with the more "fun" items. I have never seen anyone look at MARS 1 or the Airscout and not say "that's stupid". There are some unique items that are essential to the game or are an abstraction for dealing with stuff no one wanted to spend time on anyway, but a lot of the weapon and vehicle selections are pretty impractical and some are outright dumb, and I don't see a new reason to add new items to that list.