NationStates Jolt Archive

I thought I'd post the stats for the artillery that I began developing last August / Sept but never got around to posting stats and "finalizing" its design. I'd love to have feedback and discussion about it.

Old thread: http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=348936

Here we go!


Sharina Colossus Ultra Artillery:

http://www.rit.edu/~rxd0205/nationstates/pictures/colossus.jpg

Concept picture of what a Colossus may look like.

Dimensions:

Length: 45 meters.
Width: 15 meters.
Height: 18 meters.
Height (with cannon upright): 38 meters.
Weight: 750 tons.

Crew: 6.

1 Driver.
1 Main Cannon gunnery officer.
2 Secondary Weapons gunnery officers.
2 Technicians.

Power Plant Systems:

Bolom Pebblehead Nuclear power plant.

The pebblehead nuclear power plant supplies all the considerable energy needs of the COIL main cannon, as well as providing power for the massive propulsion system required to move this monstrousity.

The power plant can only supply one main function at a time. While the Colossus is in motion, its main cannon cannot fire, and when the main cannon is in "firing mode" the Colossus cannot move.

Propulsion system:

Three sets of 3 meter tall and 2.75 meter wide treads, running for approximately 30 meters along the entire Colossus chassis. The Iarok Tread Band System is employed.

Each tread system is divided into four smaller bands of treads, known as the Iarok Tread Band System. Each "band" is capable of operating independently of each other, providing the Colossus with unparalleled turning ability. The "band" system employs treads with diamond pattern-weave, to aid in grabbing ground and traction, allowing the Colossus to travel through slippery, muddy, and snowy terrain with less difficulty than normal tread systems.

Maximum speeds:

35 kilometers per hour on standard reinforced concrete roads.
25 kilometers per hour in semi-rugged terrain.
15 kilometers per hour in rugged terrain.
25 kilometers per hour standard cruising speed.

Weapons / Offense Power:

Main Weapon:

800 MM Coil cannon.

The main cannon employs COIL technologies to aid in its operation. The cannon employs magnetic coils inside the barrel to accelerate the projectile while eliminating wear and tear inside the barrel. This is due to the fact that the projectile magentically "hovers" inside the barrel, with no physical contact whatsoever between the barrel walls and the projectile itself.

The heating issue is solved by a constant influx of super-cooled water provided as the byproduct of the Colossus's three hydrogen fuel cell generators. The hydrogen fuel generators produce water as a byproduct, instead of carbon monoxide of conventional gas / oil turbo engines used in conventional tanks and diesel propulsion.

The water itself is cooled through two large liquid nitrogen "refrigators", and is forced into the area of the barrel just between the magentic coils and the hollow interior of the barrel where the projectiles are fired. The cold water dissipates the heat, then the heated water is recycled back into the nitrogen "refrigator" along with newly generated water. Excess water is released into two large storage tanks along the underside of the Colossus chassis. The water is used to provide drinking water for the Colossus crew or other military personnel stationed near the Colossus.

Secondary Weapons:

Two Xalis caliber machine gun turrets.

The two turrets, one front and one rear, is equipped with Sharina's patented Xalis 20 MM machine guns which employ centrifrugal technology. This particular technology uses gravity and electronics to release projectiles efficiently, with fewer drawbacks than the metalstorm technology. The centrifugal technology allows the machine guns to engage incoming infantry forces with lethality, while increasing projectile velocity and effectiveness.

Defense systems:

One SLAMRAAM missile battery.

These SLAMRAAM missiles provides the Colossus with a last-ditch defense aganist aircraft, incoming missiles, or dropped bombs. The SLAMRAAM battery holds approximately twelve SLAMRAAM missiles in a two by six configuration.

Factor 3 Valora Layered Armor.

The Valona is Sharina's successful attempt at developing a armor blend that would provide excellent protection aganist most conventional weapons and collateral damage. The need for a heavier duty armor became readily apparent as the original Chobham armor would not hold up on heavy combat vehicles for a sustained period of time. Therefore, Sharina engineers began designing and building the Valona.

The Valona employs an incredible six layers of armor plating, comprising of chobham plating, kinetic reactive armor, solid titanium, tungsten carbide, and a 1 centimeter layer of lead. The kinetic reactive armor covers the tank, with the Chobam resting just below the kinetic armor. This is followed by tungsten carbide, then by the depleted uranium and chromium. The innermost armor is comprised of solid titantium. This provides rigid protection aganist most conventional damage and attacks, including AP rounds, bomb explosions, shrapnel, napalm, thermal damage, pressure damage, amongst others.

The ratio of armor plating is as follows: X-3-1-Y-Z-2.

3 centimeters of kinetic reactive armor (X), 3 centimeters of Depleted Uranium (Y) and 2 centimeter of Chromium (Z) are constant, no matter how thick or thin the Valona armor is overall. The general ratio is 3 centimeters of chobham plating, 1 centimeter of tungsten carbide, and 2 centimeters of solid titanium per factor of the Valona armor.

In the Colossus, the ratio is as follows for a factor 3 Valora armor:

3 centimeters of kinetic reactive armor.
9 centimeters of Chobham plating.
3 centimeters of tungsten carbide.
6 centimeters of solid titanium.
3 centimeters of Depleted Uranium.
2 centimeters of Chromium.

For a total armor thickness of 26 centimeters all around the artillery platform. The armor is heavier around the engines and ammunition storage, employing factor 4 Valora armor.

Sensor systems:

The Colossus is equipped with several sensors and guidance systems to enhance its accuracy. Systems include Sonar, Radar, LIDAR, LADAR, Infrared, and SQUID.

In addition, the Colossus is equipped with a GPS system, which uses satellites to triangulate targets as large as a Doujin or an aircraft carrier, or targets as small as a single infantry soldier.

Should the GPS system fail, the Colossus reverts to its other sensor suites, notably LIDAR, LADAR, SQUID, or Radar.

Miscellanous:

Three Trebonis Hydrogen Fuel Cell Generators.

Each fuel generator provides approximately 2 kilowatts of energy per generator, providing emergency back-up, while providing two immense benefits. First, the Trebonis generates 100% pure drinkable water as a byproduct. Second, this reduces logistics considerably, as the fuel cell would provide all the necessary liquid / water needs of the Colossus crew.

This removes half of the food / nutrition logistics, as the Colossus crews would only need food or combat rations delivered to them. They will not need external water supplies, unless the hydrogen fuel cell generator fails.

Full NBC Protection.

The Colossus employs full Nuclear / Biological / Chemical protection, and is somewhat radiation-proof as its chromium and depleted uranium layers built inside its Valora armor absorbs or turns away most radiation particles. Neutron and dirty bombs would be less effective aganist the Colossus, reducing the chance of capture by the enemy.

Crew:

The Colossus houses two bunker beds, giving a total of four beds. The Colossus crew rotates in shifts, so to reduce the number of men sleeping or resting at any given time. The Colossus also has a small storage area for food rations and hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) supplied drinking water.

The Colossus is able to carry enough food rations for its full six-man crew for three weeks without resupply, and is capable of storing twenty liters of HFC generated water.

Supply:

The Colossus employs a miniature army of supply vehicles. The Colossus usually employs four Kari Supply Trucks, and two Nebo Robotic Reloader Vehicles. The Kari trucks provide sufficient ammunition and surplus material to sustain the Colossus for several days of continuous operation, as they are capable of a 200 ton full load-out per truck. The Nebo vehicle allows rapid reloading of the Colossus, several orders of magnitude safer and efficient than old fashioned massive hydraulic cranes.

The Nebo Robotic Reloader Vehicle (NRRV) is capable of hoisting the massive 1 - 10 ton shells into the Colossus from the supply trucks. A network of electronics, hydraulics, and computer guided precision allow the Nebo to reload the Colossus once every 3 minutes under emergency conditions. Under normal operation, the Nebo can accurately and effectively reload the Colossus within 5 - 15 minutes.

However, there is rarely a need for rapid reloading, as one or two shells is usually enough to silence the enemy artillery or naval vessel, or at the very least, provide ample time for the Colossus to reload at lesiure.

OOC: Ignoring some of the more blatant unrealistic parts for the moment, You do realize the Exocet is a surface to surface, or air to surface weapon? Not a surface to air?

OOC: Ignoring some of the more blatant unrealistic parts for the moment, You do realize the Exocet is a surface to surface, or air to surface weapon? Not a surface to air?

Yeah. For all the intents and purposes of this, I have developed an surface-to-air Exocet version.

That, or I could switch to HAWK missiles.

What other parts do you find blatantly unrealistic?

OOC: I don't care as long as it can
A) Blow shit up
B) Be blown up
C) Screw up occasionally

OOC: Why would you want a Surface to Air Exocet... The missile is slower than most jets! And it's much larger than the average SAM too. It's an antiship missile... And an outdated one at that.

If you want to have something that big, you should use SLAMRAAM.

What in the world would you need a 1000mm artillery piece for? I'm sure a heavy bomber, or some type of large missile could deploy a payload of the same yield far more efficently and probably for less.

OOC: Why would you want a Surface to Air Exocet... The missile is slower than most jets! And it's much larger than the average SAM too. It's an antiship missile... And an outdated one at that.

If you want to have something that big, you should use SLAMRAAM.

I was looking for some type of small anti-missile and anti-bomb system, to provide some kind of defense aganist jets launching missile bombs aganist the arillery.

I want my artillery to have some kind of defense aganist air-to-ground missiles, cluster bombs, ship-to-ground missiles, etc.

What in the world would you need a 1000mm artillery piece for? I'm sure a heavy bomber, or some type of large missile could deploy a payload of the same yield far more efficently and probably for less.

This was designed to attack naval vessels that bombard shores. The artillery will use solid 1 to 10 ton shells, like the Dora gun from WW II.

Simple kinetics and physics, as lightweight missiles would barely scratch a moving 10 ton solid steel, tungsten, or depeleted uranium shell. This would render most anti-missile defenses on battleships, superdreadnoughts, Doujins, etc. useless.

The shells would be more effective than jets and bombers, as it is far more difficult to shoot down a 10 ton solid metal projectile than a lightweight bomb missile or jets.

OOC: You don't want a normal SAM then. The Exocet is very ungainly in terms of manuverability, and the SLAMRAAM is better for anti-air engagement.

I think I know what you want.
http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/missiles/slid/slid.htm
They're made for that kinda stuff, and they're much smaller so you can carry more.

OOC: You don't want a normal SAM then. The Exocet is very ungainly in terms of manuverability, and the SLAMRAAM is better for anti-air engagement.

I think I know what you want.
http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/missiles/slid/slid.htm
They're made for that kinda stuff, and they're much smaller so you can carry more.

Thanks, New Empire. I appreciate your advice / feedback.

I'm trying to design my own military hardware instead of the standard "boring" old M1A1 tank, Paladin howitzer, B2 bomber, Nimitz carrier, etc.

OOC: Exactly... Why stick with the norm when it's much more fun and effective to make your own stuff.

Glad to be of service.

I support the building of ALL large milatary constuctions because bigger is always better (except when weight is an issue but other than that......BIG)

OOC: Exactly... Why stick with the norm when it's much more fun and effective to make your own stuff.

Glad to be of service.

I was just wondering what do you think about the other stuff in the Colossus? Sounds okay, or need more work / tweaking or what?

This was designed to attack naval vessels that bombard shores. The artillery will use solid 1 to 10 ton shells, like the Dora gun from WW II.

Simple kinetics and physics, as lightweight missiles would barely scratch a moving 10 ton solid steel, tungsten, or depeleted uranium shell. This would render most anti-missile defenses on battleships, superdreadnoughts, Doujins, etc. useless.

The shells would be more effective than jets and bombers, as it is far more difficult to shoot down a 10 ton solid metal projectile than a lightweight bomb missile or jets.

However the logistical support just to deploy this thing on to the battlefield would be massive and swould slow down your advancing forces (unless its a fixed object). I mean the amount of fuel this thing would need to move would put a pretty large strain on the other mechinized forces of your military.

I still cant understand the logic of building this huge of an object.

The machinegun.. 1,000,000 rounds a minute?? not likely, not unless you want your barrel(s) to run down your artillery chasis like butter.. Actual CIWS are around the 800 - 1000 round/minute mark (if memory serves), so a 1 million round a minute firing rate would be impossible to achieve without special heat/wear resistant alloys..

Now, a 800 - 1000 round/minute rapid fire gun would still be enough to put fear in the heart of the enemy and alot of holes too.. the problem being, the huge ammount of ammo consumed and barrel overheating.

Also a weapon that big would need some kind of infantry support to protect it from ground and air based attacks, as i assume it would be sometime before it got mobile after shooting to avoid being subject to counter artillery fire or bombing runs.. either that or have it waaaaay behind friendly lines.


My .02$ Varos

OOC: Argheraal: 1,000,000 RPM is very easy when you're using a Metalstorm gun.
http://metalstorm.com/
This rate of fire has already been achieved.

However the logistical support just to deploy this thing on to the battlefield would be massive and swould slow down your advancing forces (unless its a fixed object). I mean the amount of fuel this thing would need to move would put a pretty large strain on the other mechinized forces of your military.

I still cant understand the logic of building this huge of an object.

It's hydrogen fuel cell generator powered. This removes the need for massive oil, gas, and diesel requirements.

If that does not work, I could try using a pebblehead nuclear reactor.

Info about Hydogen fuel cell generator:

http://www.humboldt.edu/~serc/vehiclefactsheet.html


The machinegun.. 1,000,000 rounds a minute?? not likely, not unless you want your barrel(s) to run down your artillery chasis like butter.. Actual CIWS are around the 800 - 1000 round/minute mark (if memory serves), so a 1 million round a minute firing rate would be impossible to achieve without special heat/wear resistant alloys..

Now, a 800 - 1000 round/minute rapid fire gun would still be enough to put fear in the heart of the enemy and alot of holes too.. the problem being, the huge ammount of ammo consumed and barrel overheating.

Also a weapon that big would need some kind of infantry support to protect it from ground and air based attacks, as i assume it would be sometime before it got mobile after shooting to avoid being subject to counter artillery fire or bombing runs.. either that or have it waaaaay behind friendly lines.


My .02$ Varos


METALSTORM is already in use / development right now in real life. This allows the 1 million rounds per minute. Here's a link.

http://www.metalstorm.com/04_the_technology.html


The artillery vehicle would be able to shoot marines or infantry trying to destroy it while in transit to other locations.

I wanted to design an artillery platform that could theoretically sink a Doujin, superdreadnoughts, aircraft carriers, and naval vessels.

One 10 ton solid steel or solid tungsten shell could really wreak havoc on any naval vessel, never mind troop transports and such. These huge shells would be extremely difficult to shoot down with missiles or aircraft. This will render most anti-missile and anti-projectile defenses of navies useless.

It would be like trying to bring down a disco ball with pieces of straw or toothbrushes. ;)

Whats more, imagine a 10 ton napalm shell. I wouldn't need as many bombers because I could literally "bomb" targets hundreds of kilometers away with these huge artillery platforms.

Again, ground based SAM's and such would find it very difficult, if not impossible to shoot down an incoming 10 ton shell of pure solid metal. Again, the bowling ball analogy stands.

To put it simply, I'm designing a weapon that would plow right through the SAM's on the ground, and CIWS systems on naval ships.

Power generation. Allow me to quote from a power rant I made a few months ago.

"Hydrogen
Making hdrogen
Hydrogen is a fuel that, per unit mass, has an ectermely high energy releace when combusted with oxygen into water. It is, however, a terrible fuel, and hard to make.

But wait, I here you cry. You just said that hydrogen and oxygen can be combined to make water. According to what I learned in chemistry, that means it works the other way, and it would only take the same amount of energy as it took to make the water because, according to thermodynamics, energy/mass can not be created or destroyed, just turned into another form.

You are right. However, some energy is lost as waste heat in all reactions. Taking water, removing the hydrogen, and then burning the hydrogen, and so on takes a LOT of energy, electrolocis is terribly inefficient. A far better way is to take gasoline and strip off the hydrogen. That takes way less energy... but you need the gasoline.

Transporting the Hydrogen

Ok, so assuming you understand that, have devoted a nuclear power plant or two to making hydrogen, you still have a problem. How do you store it? Although hydrogen has an amazing energy density by mass (about 40000 joules per kilo as compared to the next best one, propane with only about 14000 joules per kilo, or gasoline with 13500 joules per kilo) it has an absolutely abysmal energy density by volume. At standard atmospheric pressure, it would take more than 3000 liters of H2 gas to equal the energy of one litre of gasoline. If you pressurize it to 150 bar, the safes maximum for pressurized containers (after that, the exponencial pressure/volume curve becomes too shallow to get any real effect) it would still take about 22 times the amount of H2 as Gasoline. Not to mention that another term for any pressurized container at 150 bar is 'bomb,' ignoring the fact that it's filled with explosive gas too. Liquified hydrogen still takes 3 liters per liter of Gas, and it needs to be supercooled, which takes energy. The only reasonable solution would be to combine the hydrogen with another element, like almuminum, and then have the oxygen 'burn' that in the fuel cell. but gasoline is still more efficient. An interesting note: there is more hydrogen in a liter of gasoline than there is in a liter of STP H2.

Fuel Cells

This is how a fuel cell works... It takes hydrogen, and combines it with oxygen to make water. But it performs this combustion without much waste heat, which is why scientists think they will become efficient engines. I hate fuel cell technology, and I will explain why.

It's not so much the tech that I hate as the misunderstandings. Fuel cells don't run on nothing, and they don't run on water either. THey run on hydrogen. 'But wait' I hear you cry. "I've got you there. There's hydrogen in water' This is very true. But since water is the exhaust, a fuel cell can't run on it any more than a car can run on CO2. To see why, check out the Hydrogen section above.

Why are they efficient? Because there are no moving parts. This means that more of the energy being produced is converted into electricity. A friend of mine is currently working on a fuelcell at a lab. it's a fuel cell that burns methane at 800c, and it works pretty well. It's still too big to fit in a car. But the best thing about fuel cells is that they rarely break. The one my friend is helping make is rated for 20 years... how many gas generators last that long? That's why fuel cells are good. In industrial applications, they are wonderful. But no tank, or car, will ever last that long, so it's a waste to use a fuel cell on it."

In other words, in order to fire you monstrocity once, you would use between 16 and 160 gigajouls of energy, assuiming 100% efficiency. Which it isn't. But foir the sake of the argument, let's assume that it is. To generate that much energy, it would take between 110 and 1100 kilograms of hydrogen. If you stored the hydrogen under 150 bar pressure, about as high a pressure as is safe, you're looking at between 1000 0litres and 100000 litres. Cryogenic cooling is a little better... between 1700 litres and 17000 litres.

Then you're looking at the amount of time it would take to generate the power. A nuclear power plant running at 150MW would take between 100 and 1000 seconds to charge the damn thing up.

Hmm. Interesting arguement there.

I was thinking of introducing a pebblehead nuclear reactor for the main cannon itself, while keeping the hydrogen fuel cells to drive the three sets of tank treads.

They have already been attempts to operate hydrogen cars, and there has been some successes. See my link provided in the post before this one.

Also, one shot is all I need to griveously damage a naval warship, or blanket a considerable area with napalm. In addition, I could group a few of these bad boys together to maintain a constant rate of fire. One fires while the other two or three recharge at staggered intervals.

I did see it. The efficiency is impressive... 110mpg. On the other hand, did you see the actual range of the cars? 15-30km before refuling, which takes several minutes. NOT impressive.

If you are going to be using these to engage ships, why not make them fixed emplacements with several dedicated reactors?

Also just saw the speeds you're listing. Not bloody likely for a 600 ton vehicle. Too miuch energy.

I did see it. The efficiency is impressive... 110mpg. On the other hand, did you see the actual range of the cars? 15-30km before refuling, which takes several minutes. NOT impressive.

If you are going to be using these to engage ships, why not make them fixed emplacements with several dedicated reactors?

The guns won't have to travel that far, to evade naval gunsor enemy artillery "boxing in" or "triangulate" the Colossus. After firing, the Colossus can move for perhaps 500 meters, 1 kilometer, or 2 kilometer. Then recharge while its nuclear reactor fires the cannon itself. Then repeat the cycle.

My nation has devoted much more resources towards hydrogen fuel cell research than RL USA does. It is possible within 5 or 10 years in real life, we could push that 15km - 30km limit to around 50km or more.

I wanted to make these artillery platforms mobile, so that it would be much harder for naval big guns or enemy artillery to destroy the Colossus after one shot. That was one big problem of the German DORA cannon.

If I can move my Colossus, then the enemy would have to re-triangulate every time, extending the life-span of my Colossus under heavy war conditions.

yoiu don't understand. It's not the limits of Hydrogen Fuel Cell technology I'm talking about. It's the limits of the fuel. The figures I quoted were given 100% efficiency. Perfect technology. Everything works, no energy is lost. It is thermodynamically IMPOSSIBLE to improve on those niumbers without violating physical and chemical laws.

And as for the movement range... those things are GOLF CARTS. and you have a 600 ton artillery peice. There is a signifigant difference. And they still needed 11 litre fuel tanks. Assuming you do improve on the tech, and assuming those golf carts weigh half a ton... that's terrific. It'll only take you 12 000 litres of fuel to go 50 km. that's 12 cubic metres of highly pressurized explosive fuel in something that's supposed to go head to head with dreadnaughts. And you need to fit the gun in. And the armor. And the nuclear reactor. And the targetting systems. And the engines....

yoiu don't understand. It's not the limits of Hydrogen Fuel Cell technology I'm talking about. It's the limits of the fuel. The figures I quoted were given 100% efficiency. Perfect technology. Everything works, no energy is lost. It is thermodynamically IMPOSSIBLE to improve on those niumbers without violating physical and chemical laws.

And as for the movement range... those things are GOLF CARTS. and you have a 600 ton artillery peice. There is a signifigant difference. And they still needed 11 litre fuel tanks. Assuming you do improve on the tech, and assuming those golf carts weigh half a ton... that's terrific. It'll only take you 12 000 litres of fuel to go 50 km. that's 12 cubic metres of highly pressurized explosive fuel in something that's supposed to go head to head with dreadnaughts. And you need to fit the gun in. And the armor. And the nuclear reactor. And the targetting systems. And the engines....

I am not that proficient in understanding energy physics, so please pardon any gaffes or mistakes I make. :)

I was thinking of having the Colossus be limited to a 5 - 10 kilometer travel range under combat conditions, which should cut down the required 12,000 liters of fuel by 1/3 to 1/5, to a required fuel of anywhere between 4,000 to 2,500 liters. The fuel canisters would be covered by extra armor.

This should be enough to evade "triangulation" the enemy performs to destroy fixed artillery emplacements.

When the Colossus has to travel beyond 10 kilometers, the main cannon powers down, and the pebblehead nuclear reactor switches to powering the treads, helping the hydrogen fuel cells in moving the massive platform.


The reason why I'm using hydrogen fuel cells is so I'll have access to an abunduant power source, and not rely on oil, gasoline, or uranium which can be blockaded by the enemy.

Also, there could be new technologies developed to compress hydrgoen further.

Technology could be used to compress hydrogen to 300 PSI, 1000 PSI or more, thereby reducing the need for large hydrogen tanks. This "miniaturization" has happened with other technologies already in real life. Some prime examples of this include computers, televisions (Cathode to LCD), scuba gear, mini-submarines, tools, etc.

Ok, sorry if I got impatient. Bad habit of mine.

The thing is, you'll still need to rely on oil or uranium because you need energy to generate the hydrogen. The hydrogen is just a carrier... like a battery.

Suggestion: Make a network of heavily reinforced roads for the artillery peices to travel on at speed. Scrap the hydrogen, and use several pebblebed reactors. More space efficient, and less chance the thing will blow.

Or make it even bigger and mount it on a train. Or a barge.


The difference between pressurizing gas and miniturizing electronics are the forces involved. I have no doubt that you could pressurize a tank to a much higher pressure... but you need to remember it is under pressure. And if it's hit, it will pop. Rather spectacularly. And it's filled with explosive gass. It's not worth the risk.

Ok, sorry if I got impatient. Bad habit of mine.

The thing is, you'll still need to rely on oil or uranium because you need energy to generate the hydrogen. The hydrogen is just a carrier... like a battery.

Suggestion: Make a network of heavily reinforced roads for the artillery peices to travel on at speed. Scrap the hydrogen, and use several pebblebed reactors. More space efficient, and less chance the thing will blow.

Or make it even bigger and mount it on a train. Or a barge.


The difference between pressurizing gas and miniturizing electronics are the forces involved. I have no doubt that you could pressurize a tank to a much higher pressure... but you need to remember it is under pressure. And if it's hit, it will pop. Rather spectacularly. And it's filled with explosive gass. It's not worth the risk.

verdant, I appreciate our discussion, as it helps me learn a lot new things I hadn't thought about.

I searched for some info about hydrogen compression then I found some surprising facts. They already have a 414 BAR container, which is nearly 3x more compressed than the 150 BAR.

With that 414 BAR container, I could reduce the required hydrogen storage by 1/3, I believe. Instead of 12,000 liters of 150 BAR hydrogen, I could use 4,000 liters of 414 - 450 BAR hydrogen.

Site for the 414 BAR compression:

http://www.fuelcellmarkets.com/article_default_view.fcm?articleid=3855&subsite=1716

Whats even more, there is research into 700+ BAR containers. This could change the 12,000 liters to somewhere around 2,000 - 2,500 liters. This is assuming I want a 30 - 50 kilometer operating range for the Colossus.

Here's the link to the site that states the 700+ BAR compression is under research:

http://www.stuartenergy.com/our_products/hydrogen_compression.html

Here's a rundown of what can happen.

My nation develops a 750 BAR compressed container based off existing RL research efforts. That would enable me to reduce the hydrogen container requirement by 80%.

30 - 50 kilometer movement range:

12,000 liters of hydrogen at 150 BAR.
2,400 liters of hydrogen at 750 BAR.

6 - 10 kilometer movement range:

2,400 liters of hydrogen at 150 BAR.
480 liters of hydrogen at 750 BAR.


Then I could try super-cooling that pressurized hydrogen, reducing the required liter'age even further. I could theoretically end up with only needing around 1,000 liters of hydrogen for a 30 - 50 kilometer movement range at 750 BAR pressure. On the other hand, I could go for just 200 liters of super-cooled compressed hydrogen at 750 BAR for a 6 - 10 kilometer travel range.

200 or 1,000 liters of hydrogen instead of 12,000. A massive improvement, yes?

There are surely safety measures to reduce the risk of explosions for that RL 414 BAR container. In war-time, my Colossus would employ extra thick armor around the fuel tanks to reduce the likeihood of a bullet or AP round piercing the tank.

Also, if these 414 or 700 BAR containers were applied to these golf carts, they would only need 2 - 4 liters of hydrogen instead of 11.

In addition, I have fusion power plants operating in my nation, and they provide all the power I need.

I'm basically a modern era nation with "bonuses" in energy generation, construction, and robotics / hydraulics.

Rundown:

2005 - 2015 tech level.

+40 years in Energy Generation
+30 yearsin Construction
+10 years in robotics / hydraulics

+0 years in everything else.


Here's even more information regarding enhanced hydrogen storage.

http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/highlights/0309psi-print_e.html

OOC: Argheraal: 1,000,000 RPM is very easy when you're using a Metalstorm gun.
http://metalstorm.com/
This rate of fire has already been achieved.

OOC:

Right. But it doesn't mean that you can shoot one million bullets. Here's the answer from Metalstorm. I bolded two key sentences.


Where do you keep the one million bullets?

In dealing with conventional ballistic weapons, the rate of fire is a measurement and a quite separate issue to the number of rounds fired, or to the number of rounds carried in the magazine.

For instance, it is quite common for an infantry rifle to be capable of firing at a rate of say 600 rounds per minute. However, it does not follow that the weapon carries 600 rounds, or indeed that it continues to fire for a full minute. Rather, such a weapon might be expected to have a magazine capacity of say 15 or 30 rounds.

So too with Metal Storm. The 36 barrel prototype has fired at a rate which is in excess of one million rounds per minute, whereas it has a 'magazine' capacity of 540 rounds.

BUMP!

Added a pebblehead nuclear reactor to the Colossus to power the massive main cannon.


More feedback and advice, please. I'd like to hear more about the cannon, propulsion system, and armor / defenses.

I also would like to know if I should add in more stats.

One additional thing. I don't really understand the RHA stuff that some NS'ers put on their custom tanks.

I never said it was impossible to pressurize things further. I merely said it's unsafe. Have you ever seen a presurized canister blow? One hit from any sizable weapon will rupture the fuel tank on your vehicle, and then it will litterally rip itself apart. Armor isn't the point, it's concussion. You're going to be dueling with ships firing 16-30 inch shells. Those will FLIP your artillery peice. A near miss will shatter the safeguards through shear concussion, it doesn't matter if it's armored or not.

Most tanks aren't killed by penetration. When a shell hits them, a massive amount of momentum is trasfered to the armor. the back of the armor, spalls, spraying fragments into the vehicle. This is the entire princible behind an entire range of weaponry, HEAP and HESH rounds. It's the concussion that would bust the tank on your artillery peice.

Fusion power is not going to be available in 2015. I personally consider fusion power to be postmodern tech, and I don't RP with anyone who uses it, primarly because it suggests that there are advances in materials science that allow fusion to occur. If materials sciences are that advanced, I can't RP with them because trade would bump me iup to their level, and I don't want to have fusion. The proiblems involved with conventional fuels are much more interesting.... fusion is a cheap way out.

I don't really have any more comments. If you have fusion power, then you can simply fiat everything else.

RHA, by the way, is Rolled Homoginous Armor. When applied to tanks, it's the equivelent thickness of the tanks armor if the armor were steel. Most tanks only have a few cm of armor, but because of composites and explosive reactive armor, it has the effectiveness of over a meter of steel

OOC:

Right. But it doesn't mean that you can shoot one million bullets. Here's the answer from Metalstorm. I bolded two key sentences.
OOC: I never said it could shoot 1 million bullets. Neither did he. I was talking about the rate of fire, not the ammunition capacity.

OOC: I never said it could shoot 1 million bullets. Neither did he. I was talking about the rate of fire, not the ammunition capacity.

OOC: Fair enough. Didn't mean to imply that you did. Sorry about that, but I think quite a few might forget about magazine capacity and think "OMG 1 millino bulletz!"

OOC: Yeah, you'd need to reload every 3 milliseconds or so. Generally the million-RPM trigger pull releases the entire gun's in barrel ammunition, so you have to reload the entire chamber, all 36 barrels. 1 million RPM wouldn't be achieved except when you really needed something to die right then and there.

OOC: From what I had read, I had always assumed Pebblebeds were Fission reactors, which also here raises the question of where in this monstrosity you could fit a fission reactor in.

And a 1000mm railgun...

Pebblebeds are small enough to work in locamotives, or in really really big tanks. REALLY big It's not efficient to use them that way, but it can be done.

And yes, pebblebeds are fission.

Guys, I've been thinking.

First, I'm not using fusion power to power any vehicles or anything. I just use fusion power to power civilian stuff instead of gas / oil power plants. Powering houses, traffic lights, malls, etc. for civilians is quite different from putting it to military use.

I am basing my fusion power off current research into tokomoak reactors and internal fusion and the like. I'm not making stuff up, just extraploating the path of RL research into fusion.

If that's too much of a stretch, then instead, I have 100% nuclear power, with no gas / oil power plants whatsoever. I'm trying quite hard to end Sharina's dependence on fossil fuels so that it could become self sufficient for power needs. No more Middle East interfering with power generation or economies. No more blockades causing brown outs in Sharina. That kind of thing.

Also, would two pebblehead reactors work instead of hydrogen fuel cells for the artillery platform? One powers the cannon, and one powers the tank treads and other systems like computers and air filtration systems.

The Coilossus is over 110 feet long, 40 feet tall, and 40 feet wide (converting meters to feet in an approximation). The Colossus is easily three times larger than conventional tanks. I think I could fit in a pebblehead reactor in such a large frame.

I am basically trying to develop a modern day DORA artillery platform, that employs the most modern technologies available.



I would really like to hear some feedback and discussion on this. Please give me more advice on armor, power, and other stuff.

I want a platform that is capable of bombarding targets from a good distance away just like the DORA, and the capability to attack naval vessels, returning bombardment.

The Colossus would be used as a defense aganis naval vessels, that is, if the enemy sinks my navy, or if my navy cannot reach the area in time. I'm interested in using solid metal projectiles, so to plow through the 1000's of CIWS or SAM fire that would otherwise prove very difficult or impossible for bomber aircraft or a cruise missile to breach.

ooc: I as a post modern nation have hot fusion on big vehicles and full powerplants and cold fusion on smaller items.

Still, a 1000mm railgun is ridiculous, you do realize the amount of energy it will take right?

The biggest railgun I use is the 20 inch railgun, mounted on only the hugest of ships/gun batteries/giantass airplanes. It can cut 2 aircraft carriers in half already. A 1000mm railgun can probably send a space shuttle into orbit.

ooc: I as a post modern nation have hot fusion on big vehicles and full powerplants and cold fusion on smaller items.

Still, a 1000mm railgun is ridiculous, you do realize the amount of energy it will take right?

The biggest railgun I use is the 20 inch railgun, mounted on only the hugest of ships/gun batteries/giantass airplanes. It can cut 2 aircraft carriers in half already. A 1000mm railgun can probably send a space shuttle into orbit.

According to my calculations, a 20 inch railgun would be a 508mm one.

My railgun cannon is exactly 1 meter, or approximately a 39 1/3 inch barrel.

Hmm. Perhaps I should reduce the cannon to 700mm or 800mm. I still do want to punch holes through the extreme armor of Doujin's and Superdread's.

I reduced the Colossus diameter to 800mm. Better?

ooc: dude, the amount of kinetic energy released would slice a doujin in half like a hot knife through butter.

ooc: dude, the amount of kinetic energy released would slice a doujin in half like a hot knife through butter.

New stat:

Main cannon = 800mm / 31.5 inch diameter

Much better. And any fusion power is too much for modern tech. Yes, it's merely extrapolating. In the 40s, they extrapolated everyone would have a personal hovercraft. Taking technology one step forward is one thing. Taking something that has never worked, and making it work is quite another.

I would power the Collosus from the pebblebed only.

I'd also reduce the size of the gun to 500mm. The lighter shot means you can accelerate it faster. And yes, it will still penetrate doujin's armor, unless he techwanks to an amaizing degree.

Armor I'd say is too heavy. It's thick enough to stop tank fire, which is good... except it's never going to fight tanks. On the other hand, it's not heavy enough to take near misses from naval guns. I'd reduce the armor... it won't have any operational effect, but will make it look less unrealistic.

By the way, never arc that thing. You can easily send slugs into orbit with the amount of energy used.

Meh. He can reduce the amount of power he feeds into it. He'll have to do arced shots... no battlefleet is actually ever going to come within visual range.

Much better. And any fusion power is too much for modern tech. Yes, it's merely extrapolating. In the 40s, they extrapolated everyone would have a personal hovercraft. Taking technology one step forward is one thing. Taking something that has never worked, and making it work is quite another.

I would power the Collosus from the pebblebed only.

I'd also reduce the size of the gun to 500mm. The lighter shot means you can accelerate it faster. And yes, it will still penetrate doujin's armor, unless he techwanks to an amaizing degree.

Armor I'd say is too heavy. It's thick enough to stop tank fire, which is good... except it's never going to fight tanks. On the other hand, it's not heavy enough to take near misses from naval guns. I'd reduce the armor... it won't have any operational effect, but will make it look less unrealistic.

Thanks once again for your help!

Here's what I propose:

Reduce armor to 25 instead of 40.

Change the 160mm ETC secondary cannon to 140mm ETC cannon, to combat any potential armored threat. If an enemy tank sneaks in or APC's with infatry inside it tries to seize the Colossus, the Colossus can fight back.


Would this be better?

Much better. This would do rather nicely. I still think it's a touch too fast (faster than most tanks) but it should do rather nicely.

Much better. This would do rather nicely. I still think it's a touch too fast (faster than most tanks) but it should do rather nicely.

I could reduce the max speeds by 10 KPH.

The pebblehead nuclear reactor can supply more power for the treads than conventional diesel engines, I think.

1) It goes WAY too fast.

2) Get rid of the turret - you really dont want to go ANYWHERE NEAR tanks with this.

3) Get rid of the MGs. Again, you're not going to be putting an 800mm self-propelled gun near enemy infantry.

It's not the power... it's the stress. Stress on the motors, on the wheels, on the tracks, and on the ground. Perhaps it could sprint at 60kph, but you REALLY don't want to throw a tread on this. And as Prae says, the tank gun is irrelevent... this is a high priced peice of machinery. It doesn't fight tanks. You have tanks to fight tanks. THis fights ships. Don't let tanks near it. The machineguns you can probably keep, mainly because they're so small in relation to everything else that they don't matter.

Okay. Updates:

1. Reduced speeds considerably.

New speeds:

55 kilometers per hour on standard reinforced concrete roads.
40 kilometers per hour in semi-rugged terrain.
25 kilometers per hour in rugged terrain.
30 kilometers per hour standard cruising speed.

2. Removed the ETC cannon.

3. Removed large hydrogen fuel generators, and installed another pebblehead nuclear reactor. The Colossus now has two reactors, one for the cannon and one for propulsion.

4. Added a mini hydrogen fuel cell generator, rated at 2 kilowatts per hour, for backup power, and to generate water for the Colossus's crew, reducing logistics somewhat. This also makes the Colossus somewhat more self-sufficient.

5. Added a Sensors and Miscellanous section.



Any more tweaks or improvements I need to make?

It's actually pretty good now. Might want to stat up a few ammo trucks that can feed it. Backup power is a good thing and perfect for fuel cells.

Include some berths for the crew, so they can sleep in it. Put in some comforts, like a chemical toilet and a kitchenet. And find some way to cammoflauge it... like cover it with green foam and pretend to be a small hill. That way, the crew can simply live inside it.

Another update.

1. Added two new sections to the Miscellanous section.

2. Added description of food / water storage and crew quarters.

3. Added supply system for the Colossus.


I appreciate your help, Verdant, and I'm grateful you were patient with me, and our discussions about tech and stuff. :)

Hey, I'm glad you accepted them so gracefully. Lot of people get really annoyed when I offer suggestions... which is understandable because I can be just a tad agressive. In any case, it's no problem helping out... makes it more fun for everyone if we're all on the same page. If you ever want some advice again, TG me, and I'll give you my MSN or AIM.

Hey, I'm glad you accepted them so gracefully. Lot of people get really annoyed when I offer suggestions... which is understandable because I can be just a tad agressive. In any case, it's no problem helping out... makes it more fun for everyone if we're all on the same page. If you ever want some advice again, TG me, and I'll give you my MSN or AIM.

No prob.

I'd like your opinion one more time regarding the Colossus. Is it now good enough to be presented as a "final" version, for actual RP'ing and stuff?

I'm not fond of mounting SAMs on vehicals other than SAM vehicles, but I suppose that could be your doctrine. I'd remove one of the two batteries. Remember, less is more. The less you put in, the more people will be willing accept it. remember, SLAMRAAMS and the gun are going to need totally different radar and targetting software. It would probably be cheaper to move some SAM vehicles along with it... I'd do that even if you retain the one SLAMRAAM launcher.


Other than that, you're good to go. Make sure the price is HIGH.

Firstly, I would like to say that this is miles ahead of the last thread, congrats on a nice idea.

A bit of a side issue - Imo a 10 ton shell is too heavy, even for a 600 ton beast. From my understanding of physics, a 10 ton shell fired at a measly 60 m/s would generate 600 ton/m/s of momentum, equivalent to the weight of the gun.

Wouldn't it tip over at the thousands of m/s in combat operation?

I'm not fond of mounting SAMs on vehicals other than SAM vehicles, but I suppose that could be your doctrine. I'd remove one of the two batteries. Remember, less is more. The less you put in, the more people will be willing accept it. remember, SLAMRAAMS and the gun are going to need totally different radar and targetting software. It would probably be cheaper to move some SAM vehicles along with it... I'd do that even if you retain the one SLAMRAAM launcher.


Other than that, you're good to go. Make sure the price is HIGH.

Understandable.

However, I feel that the Colossus needs back-up air defense, as it would be a nice juicy prime target for missiles and bombers. Every little bit of air-defense helps. Also, I like to put reunduancy into my designs, to enhance combat survivability.

I'm planning on designing my own SAM unit right after the Colossus and Paragon designs are finalized. I'm thinking of using Doga or Truespace to build a better 3-D model of my designs.

Firstly, I would like to say that this is miles ahead of the last thread, congrats on a nice idea.

A bit of a side issue - Imo a 10 ton shell is too heavy, even for a 600 ton beast. From my understanding of physics, a 10 ton shell fired at a measly 60 m/s would generate 600 ton/m/s of momentum, equivalent to the weight of the gun.

Wouldn't it tip over at the thousands of m/s in combat operation?

That's what the COIL is for. It reduces the stress and force of physical firing of the shells on account that there is no physical contact between the shell and the barrel or the Colossus platform itself. The COIL magnets would essentially make the shell "hover" inside the barrel, then when the time comes to fire it, the magnets push the barrel outwards.

A good analogy would be filling a drinking straw with water, and put in a small spit-ball in it. Then blow with your might, and it will go far.

Update:

1. Added more detail on tread system, known as my own Iarok Tread Band System.

2. Updated my armor, as I discovered that Kevlar wouldn't be an effective armor for heavy combat.



More feedback / suggestions would be welcome and appreciated!

We aren't talking about the friction on the barrel. Remember newton's laws? Every action has an equil and opposite reaction. When you push on the railgun slug, it will push back, even if you're doing it electromagnetically. Have you ever tried to move a magnet through a solinoid? You feel the force on the magnet AND the solinoid.

Also, remember, you have INSULATE and COOL the weapon. Insulation is important, because Newton's 3rd law also applies in cases of huge amounts of electricity. Also, the rails get pretty freakin' hot, so they need to be cooled down somehow. Otherwise, it's 1 shot every 5 minutes.

He did include cooling... I think the listed RoF of one shot every minute in emergencies is surprisingly realistic given other railguns I've seen.

Modified the Colossus armor.

Increased rate of fire by 30 seconds, from 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds.

I think you might have to cut down on the weight of the shells, maybe 2 tonnes max.

Two tons is actually still massive enoiugh that it should punch through point defence, especially considering the limited engagemnt time of the enemy. It also means you can carry more ammo.

IIRC, the German DORA could fire 7 ton shells.

IIRC, the German DORA could fire 7 ton shells.

and could only be shot like twice aday because of it's primitive recoil systems

and were havack to set up and move

and could only be shot like twice aday because of it's primitive recoil systems

and were havack to set up and move

That may be true. IIRC, they used like 30 - 45 minutes to reload the shells. I may be wrong though.

Also, the COIL system I'm employing would help a lot in reloading / unloading because the shell hovers or floats inside the barrel, ready to "eject" at high velocities.


One reason I'd like to have 10 ton shells is because eventually someone will make a Super-Doujin or the like. Or if a FT nation tries to attack me, I can punch holes inside their spaceships as someone has said the power of my Colossus is enough to send objects into space.

The other reason is intimidation factor. No sane person would want 10 ton napalm shells, 10 ton AP rounds, etc. raining down on their navies or armies. ;)

Bump!