Query regarding Ground Combat

Why do the handheld energy weapons (and presumably there bigger cousins) have a constantly active scanner system doesn't this make tracking the troops using them really easy.

I get whole, moving plasma into another dimension and therefore you have to calculate the required distances etc. but surely direct fire, LOS systems would be more effective?

Also how would you go about laying down short term suppression fire?

or the whole, I know there behind that wall, and I want my shots to go through it?

Garth 2 wrote:Why do the handheld energy weapons (and presumably there bigger cousins) have a constantly active scanner system doesn't this make tracking the troops using them really easy.

I get whole, moving plasma into another dimension and therefore you have to calculate the required distances etc. but surely direct fire, LOS systems would be more effective?

Also how would you go about laying down short term suppression fire?

or the whole, I know there behind that wall, and I want my shots to go through it?

Maybe the plasma weapon was needed to get through the defenses. Its been awhile since I read the book, but I seem to remember the Troll had a forcefield which protected it from direct fire kinetic weapons. IIRC, even a barrage of anti-tank rockets fired in quick succession would not have been enough to get through.

*edited once

Garth 2 wrote:Also how would you go about laying down short term suppression fire?

Suppression fire only works if your enemy is as interested in survival as you are, and has reason to believe that the fire you're using to suppress him would impact that goal.

Remember that AT only gives us a very limited picture of what ground combat against Trolls looked like; Everything we know about it is filtered through the protagonists' limited ressources and perspective.

The E wrote:

Garth 2 wrote:Also how would you go about laying down short term suppression fire?

Suppression fire only works if your enemy is as interested in survival as you are, and has reason to believe that the fire you're using to suppress him would impact that goal.

Remember that AT only gives us a very limited picture of what ground combat against Trolls looked like; Everything we know about it is filtered through the protagonists' limited ressources and perspective.

I do wonder what else humanity had come up with by Mila time?

I think it would play out differently in a normal ground combat action.

Her blaster is the only energy weapon around other than his own that he's plotted, the troll can detect and localize it. However, in general there will be a whole bunch of energy weapons out there. Detect them, sure, but localize them when you're facing a whole bunch of moving signatures?

Garth 2 wrote:Why do the handheld energy weapons (and presumably there bigger cousins) have a constantly active scanner system doesn't this make tracking the troops using them really easy.

I get whole, moving plasma into another dimension and therefore you have to calculate the required distances etc. but surely direct fire, LOS systems would be more effective?

Also how would you go about laying down short term suppression fire?

or the whole, I know there behind that wall, and I want my shots to go through it?

LOS systems usually have some form of delay, and can be intercepted. If we had the proper technology, even modern bullets could be intercepted and/or deflected before impact because they still have to travel.

The plasma for all intents has a zero distance traveled, zero delay. Once I pull the trigger, and the scanner detects and triangulates you, the plasma is already impacting and you have no time to try and relocate to put solid surfaces between us.


Also, keep in mind, that the plasma pistol in question is a pilots bugout backup. It's 'probable' that true infantry, have better rifles that don't automatically give away the shooter. But to get that sort of sensor array, it probably needs to be bigger, and thus harder to give to a pilot who 90% of the time won't live to use it.

Henry Brown wrote:

Garth 2 wrote:Why do the handheld energy weapons (and presumably there bigger cousins) have a constantly active scanner system doesn't this make tracking the troops using them really easy.

I get whole, moving plasma into another dimension and therefore you have to calculate the required distances etc. but surely direct fire, LOS systems would be more effective?

Also how would you go about laying down short term suppression fire?

or the whole, I know there behind that wall, and I want my shots to go through it?

Maybe the plasma weapon was needed to get through the defenses. Its been awhile since I read the book, but I seem to remember the Troll had a forcefield which protected it from direct fire kinetic weapons. IIRC, even a barrage of anti-tank rockets fired in quick succession would not have been enough to get through.

*edited once

And at the power levels they're using for the plasma you wouldn't want to project it LoS. The thermal bloom alone would likely take out the firer even if they were wrapped inside something as durable as a late 20th century battle tank.

As for engagine a target behind a wall I'd expect that at least the infantry rifles (if not necessarily the pilot's emergency sidearm) have settings like the smart mini-grenade launchers people are experimenting with now -- where you can adjust the detonation/target point from the measured distance. So target the wall and hit the +1 meter button and pull the trigger.

Or you could always vaporize the wall to expose the target behind it

Jonathan_S wrote:

Henry Brown wrote:

As for engagine a target behind a wall I'd expect that at least the infantry rifles (if not necessarily the pilot's emergency sidearm) have settings like the smart mini-grenade launchers people are experimenting with now -- where you can adjust the detonation/target point from the measured distance. So target the wall and hit the +1 meter button and pull the trigger.

Or you could always vaporize the wall to expose the target behind it

I was rereading the book, and was wondering why the blaster didn't have a +1 meter setting, or even a +20 meter setting, and thinking that someone dropped the ball. But, as a pilot's emergency sidearm, it fits that it doesn't have all the bells and whistles. From the nature of space combat, she's one of very few, I'd guess, that ever needed her sidearm.

NHBL wrote:I was rereading the book, and was wondering why the blaster didn't have a +1 meter setting, or even a +20 meter setting, and thinking that someone dropped the ball. But, as a pilot's emergency sidearm, it fits that it doesn't have all the bells and whistles. From the nature of space combat, she's one of very few, I'd guess, that ever needed her sidearm.

Yeah, a +1 would be very valuable for avoiding armor. I have a hard time imaginging it not being a standard feature on even the simplest of blasters.

Firing on a troll at close range would be suicide with her weapon, but with a +1 and the power stepped down it would be fine.

Loren Pechtel wrote:

NHBL wrote:I was rereading the book, and was wondering why the blaster didn't have a +1 meter setting, or even a +20 meter setting, and thinking that someone dropped the ball. But, as a pilot's emergency sidearm, it fits that it doesn't have all the bells and whistles. From the nature of space combat, she's one of very few, I'd guess, that ever needed her sidearm.

Yeah, a +1 would be very valuable for avoiding armor. I have a hard time imaginging it not being a standard feature on even the simplest of blasters.

Firing on a troll at close range would be suicide with her weapon, but with a +1 and the power stepped down it would be fine.

Been a while since I read this but I though the Troll, like its heavy combat chassis, has shields not just armor.

The shields somehow block the plasma from dropping back into normal space, so a +1 meter setting would be useless against a shielded target - you'd expose your position but inflict no damage. You need to hit the shields, hard, to overload and drop them. And once they were dropped the standard sidearm killed the troll just fine.