NationStates Jolt Archive

OK. In the itneresst in making my army realisitic I thought of asking you epople for some advice upon a few things. Firstly, Desert Combat.

What elements must you consider when you are going to war in a desert? You see, my nation is entirely desert and the people who survived a fallout are in a underground bunker. By fallout I mean a deivec which removed some of the atmosphere, thereby causing a desert like status. Do not worry, I am not planning on using such devices, you people would nto even know of such things. :)

Anyway, for weapons, what kind of things do you need to bear in mind for thier design? Soldier equipment? Tanks? How can you make them resistant to the sandstorms and making them stop grinding to a halt? Planes and transports?

Next question. I am going to have a mission soon where an assualt team will be going into a underground "Vault". In essance, an underground city where people have lived there for hundreds of years. What tactics should I bear in mind? What elements should I include? I already have beared in mind my militarys inexperiance with this kind of fighting, but what weapons should be used? Any ideas?

I am just trying to make my rp realisitc by making sure that the things I do take into consideration all of the elements involved.

Desert combat you need alot of water for your troops something like a gallon a day per soldier.
Also you you have to build your own cover since deserts are ussually flat and open.

And for vault combat close quarter weapons like submachine guns work best.

You need pleanty of matenence because sand can get caught in tanks/vehicles. You also need to defend the matenence crews.

Water is important for desert soldiers, all troops should have efficient water packs, maybe even Water Reclamation Suits, all vehicles should have water rations inside for troubled times, vehicles should probably have filtering devices to keep sand out of their systems, they should also probably be fully enclosed due to sand storms, and other hazards.

As for the fighting in the Vault, close-quarters weapons will probably be in order in my opinion, shotguns, small grenades, blades, also, stuff like Night Vision could be of use.

A nice heavy chemical weapon could be most useful in the vault. And easy. Gas them out like rats!

Now there is an idea. Gas grenades and the like could prove invaluble. You see, one of the vualts has been caputred and I am going to send in a rather elite assault squadron to clear out the first small area so that we can get a secure base of operation. Or would it be better to secure a foothold with normal platoons, at the risk of more casualities? That way I can prevent some of my more elite squadrons being killed early and save them for more important roles later. The expected forces are going to be raiders, who possibly might have been able to take and use some of the more advanced tech.

Hmm, well if it was me, I'd send some regular guys in with chemical weapons, then elites to mop up immediately afterward (or elites with chemicals first, followed by regulars). Or, you could space it out more, to let the morale effect of being locked in an underground confined area waiting for an attack to take place.

But then it depends on the objective. If you wanted the vault for some common use of your own, chemicals might not be a good idea, as they don't evaporate too easily underground, and would stay there requiring bulky chemical suits at all times.

Everything already mentioned, and you should also have the crews of your tanks and IFVs do about 10-12 hours of maitenance a day, as compared to 8 hours a day in a nondesert environment. Don't expect to make much distance a day either, and in combat a lot of vehicles are going to break down because of the high stress from the heat and the massive amounts of sand that are going to screw pretty much every part of the vehicle. Otherwise, be prepared to have a ton of your vehicles break down. Get sand skirts on your vehicles as well, along with shielding for the more sensitive parts like infrared sights and communications arrays. But that's ultra-realistic stuff, and most NSers aren't really crazy about ultra-realism because it really slows down the momentum of things.

Also in the desert it gets bloody cold out night and you also have to beware of loose sand when moving troops and sandstorms as far as moving goes. Both can bring death

Also they have these huge ass spiders that eat camels overe there..can eat people too if they get hungry enough.

If you want to know a lot about desert warfare, just look up some stuff on the North Africa campaign in World War II. Rommel and Montgomery both had to put up with the blowing wind, sand, etc, so you might want to look there. The equipment used is outdated, but it should give you a general idea.

Ome thing I know of desert fighing, driving a vehicle out in the open desert lands is like sending an open invitation to the enemy to come and tan your hide, and hoping against hope he doesn't get it, therefore, I recomend the development and use of L.E.V. units.

Right. Something to bear in mind. I think I take your point about chemical weapons. They would be highly effective, yet I would need to kit out my troops with bio suits, and I am trying to recaputre the vault. So I think flashbangs and smoke grenades are in order.

With my normal infantry when they fight on desert (as in all the the time) they wear arabic like clothes with light flak armour underneth. Not too brillaint, yet can save many lives. They are issued with ordinary lasguns (40 000. I base some of the tech upon it.) and wear special low tech goggles which protect against the glare of the sun and radiation of the sun, due to the sensitivity of Vault Dweller eyes against the sun after not seeing it for around a hundred years. (Inspiration from Fallout Tactics a great deal, the intro from Fallout 2 reminded me of the radiation!)

What other equipment would a standard trooper need do you think?

Also, for those with some degree of experiance with laser tech, I have a rather low strength weapon which can be cheaply reprouced,rather accurate for what it is, and I should think rarely overheats. What is your opinion on this? It is designed for versitility, and bore in mind the desert conditions, would it be easy to keep it from overheating? Plasma weapons (I have extremely few due to conditions of tech procution) would be out of the question for outdoors due to overheating right? What would a plasma pistol fire, as in the capabilities of the "round" as such. Armour piercing and the like? Any ideas?

Laser weapons will probably overheat quickly in the desert heat, even those made for hot environments, though prepared weapons would last longer, all weapons should be made with good coolant systems, and they should be easy to clean, and yes, I think Plamsa weapons would overheat very fast.

Hmmm thought as much. I think I will play it the laser weapons are robust and rarely brake due to thier simple design (cheap and effective like the AK. Standard issue. The downside to this rifle is that it has no semi or fully automatic mode, the heat sinks would not be able to take it, the energy cells would not be able to take it.)

I may sound daft here, but if you have a grenade launcher, can you load it with different types of grenades in each chamber? As in, first two grenades are smoke, the other four are normal. Just thinking of manuvers for my platoons....

Yeah, a single-shot laser weapon is good, and yes, you can load a Grenade Launcher with different grenades in the assorted barrels.

Thanks for the input. One more thing just for something which I have been designing for the future, I was thinking of methods of swift transportation accross the desert, thinking of the jeep in it's swiftness. How about a hovercraft? I do not mean like floating, but one with air in it. With some design modifactions, possibly a fan for movement at the back, that could take an entire platoon on it's journey, and all of them could fire. Of course, if it was opentopped it would be vunerable, but I could make more armoured ones. Would it be pausible to put small metal skirts around the thing which is full of air? And would such a thing be realiable?

Like this, only smaller and with some degree of armour, and going upon sand. Could it be possible?

http://www.naval-technology.com/contractor_images/marine_electronic/hovercraft.jpg

A Hovercraft is sort of like an L.E.V. unit, want an explanation?

Yes please. :)

L.E.V. stands for Land Effect Vehicle, it is a small, 4-person hovercraft designed for combat, one is a Pilot, another is a Navigator, the third is a Gunner, the cockpit is narrow, and enclosed, and armoed, the fan on the back that provides propulsion is shielded by an armored grating, the air skirt is also armored, the windows of the cokcpit are armored glass, the Pilot sits in the front, obviousley, the Navigator behind him, and the Gunner in a higher seat near the back, controlling a gun turret, of course, there are other weapons, some can be fitted with rockets, some with autocannons, the like.

Thanks. I think I will have a go at designing my own transport however and make it in DoGA. With yours, would it be possible to show an example?

Possibly.