Project Artillery

[ArmySGT.]

Originally Posted by Gelrir

I'm not sure how useful a generic warning against fallout would be, five years after an atomic war. "You should leave immediately, and head in a safe direction, away from the radiation."

The actual text might have assumptions or make promises that don't work in 2139. "Hmm, it says here sir that we're working closely with the Federal government. How does that work?"

Hmm:

"You are acting in an unlawful manner. Lay down your weapons immediately or face attack. This is your final warning."

Maybe peek at some Chiêu Hồi leaflets for inspiration, hmm. A generic 'you should give up' leaflet would take some thought. Heh, some of the Viet Cong leaflets aimed at Americans went more or less like: "Come to us, and you will get $10,000 and this girl", along with a pinup picture of a woman.

Another reason, perhaps, for the PsyOps teams to have a lot of silver and gold coins. Sure, you bought their cooperation, but sometimes it's better than fighting them.

--
Michael B.

I would expect that leaflets meant to convince rogue police, citizens, or military to surrender or cease their actions in the 3-5 year time the Project was supposed to operate would be useless after 150 years.

[Gelrir]

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

I would expect that leaflets meant to convince rogue police, citizens, or military to surrender or cease their actions in the 3-5 year time the Project was supposed to operate would be useless after 150 years.

Oh, I agree, but if those are the leaflets the team has ...

It's always interesting to see players try to stuff the square holes in the dam with round pegs!

--
Michael B.

[Gelrir]

Some interesting links on 'carrier' shells (the ones that disperse leaflets):

http://ww2propaganda.eu/spread5.htm

http://www.psywar.org/105mm.php

So apparently a 105mm shell could hold 500 leaflets of the 4.5" x 7" size. It also seems easy to load "when needed" rather than requiring the leaflets to be pre-loaded. So: the team gets X number of empty carrier shells, and Y number of stacks of various leaflets.

--
Michael B

[kato13]

I'm embarrassed to say that I never once considered smoke, CS/CN/BZ, or pamphlets when considering the acceptable uses for my pretty rare (36 total) project howitzers.

Thanks for those ideas. Up to this point I had only considered using HE to dislodge a stubborn military equipped enemy, to assist in taking an island or such, or crossing a river in force.

On a related note, this forum is not like other forums where posting ideas to old posts is frowned upon. To our new users, if you want to comment on an older thread feel free. New information is always welcome.

[ArmySGT.]

Originally Posted by kato13

I'm embarrassed to say that I never once considered smoke, CS/CN/BZ, or pamphlets when considering the acceptable uses for my pretty rare (36 total) project howitzers.

Thanks for those ideas. Up to this point I had only considered using HE to dislodge a stubborn military equipped enemy, to assist in taking an island or such, or crossing a river in force.

On a related note, this forum is not like other forums where posting ideas to old posts is frowned upon. To our new users, if you want to comment on an older thread feel free. New information is always welcome.

Personally, I am going with HEP over HE or HERA.

The HEP rounds have an anti armor effect without stating it loudly, however the HEP round also makes for an excellent demolition round.

So in recovery ops, the HEP round can be used to demolish structures dangerous to be around or impairing recovery such as damaged bridges or large sections of collapsed buildings.

[Project_Sardonicus]

I always looked at the project buying very little truly heavy military hardware.

It's conspicuos, raises all the wrong attention, not to mention it's big, bulky and hard to conceal,

More likely the project would set up specialised teams near, or possibly staffing military bases with the aim of stealing what they need when the time is right,

So they would use political influence to encourage the creation of depots in wilderness areas, poorly staffed, safe from the bombs and ready to be taken over.

Though I suspect they would be more interested in add on sensors and control fins for ordinary mortor rounds. Something like the Copperhead and Merlin systems that would take advantage of projects technological systems. To squeeze more value from smaller 81mm rounds or occasonal artillery rounds

[Gelrir]

Or ... near National Guard posts. For my 'classic era' campaign, I worked up the equipment near Santa Rosa, California as an example:

579th Engineer Battalion

* 579th Headquarters Support Company (Santa Rosa): about 30 M998 Humvees, couple dozen big trucks (including some M809 five-ton trucks), dozen or so cranes and other construction stuff, M728 CEV on display

* 579th Forward Support Company (Santa Rosa): shelter, food, utilities, and a couple dozen trucks

* 132nd Engineer Company (Mount Shasta and Eureka): multi-role bridge building; lots of trucks, construction vehicles, a couple dozen M998 Humvees or M151 Mutts

* 120th Engineer Detachment (Lakeport, on Clear Lake): concrete finishing; two big flatbed trailer trucks, truck with lowbed trailer for carrying equipment, one other truck, plus a couple of M998 Humvees or M151 "mutts"

On October 17, 1989, the 579th mobilized in response to the Loma Prieta Earthquake. The first mission was the construction of a parking lot for the Bay Bridge commuter ferry and the second was to assist in debris clearing and removal in the Santa Cruz area. They had just returned from those tasks and had not entirely demobilized when World War III took place.

Of course, nothing says all this stuff will be sitting around undisturbed 5 years after an Atomic War (let alone 150 years).

There's also the Sierra Army Depot, which has held hundreds or thousands of "the previous generation" of tanks in storage. M60s before the M1 came around, and now has the older M1 tanks.

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/1...-but-no-tanks/

Of course, it's on the target list, but it's a huge, sprawling base.

--
Michael B.

[kato13]

In the T2k forum there recently was a post on the NATO rapid reaction force. They used a 105mm Pack howitzer until 1975.

OTO Melara Mod 56

The facts that they were retired at a perfect time for the project, and that they can be broken into 12 ~125kg parts makes them really promising as an option for my project.

The project just needs to buy them as scrap metal, perhaps manufacturing only the barrel (as I expect it would be tapped and replacements would be desired post oops).

I also had my project buy retired manufacturing equipment (as those jobs moved overseas) as scrap metal so that part of the cover story would match up nicely.

[ArmySGT.]

Originally Posted by Project_Sardonicus

I always looked at the project buying very little truly heavy military hardware.

It's conspicuos, raises all the wrong attention, not to mention it's big, bulky and hard to conceal,

More likely the project would set up specialised teams near, or possibly staffing military bases with the aim of stealing what they need when the time is right,

So they would use political influence to encourage the creation of depots in wilderness areas, poorly staffed, safe from the bombs and ready to be taken over.

Though I suspect they would be more interested in add on sensors and control fins for ordinary mortor rounds. Something like the Copperhead and Merlin systems that would take advantage of projects technological systems. To squeeze more value from smaller 81mm rounds or occasonal artillery rounds

Completely disagree.

Building a colossal project to rebuild the Nation, and restart the United States would really lose credibility for the project and the restored government if looting government facilities and military assets are necessary.

There is quite a lot of military hard ware directly fielded by the Morrow Project up to C-130 Hercules and CH-47 Chinook aircraft.

The MARS One while not conventional military isn't going to pass unnoticed.

I, admit I chucked that one out and the HAAM suit too.

Military equipment is a known quantity. It has been tested, people are trained to use it, and spare parts are found in quantity.