Subject: [FFML] Re: [SM] Shades of Darkness - Chapter 1: Opening Gambits
From: Chris Nasipak
Date: 1/3/2004, 3:43 AM
To: ffml@anifics.com


At 09:21 PM 1/2/2004 -0600, you wrote:

Accidentally sent this off-list, meant to be on-list.

First off, let me just say thank to everyone for their comments.

Now, I freely admit that most of the discussion about various weaponry
is over my head, so I won't comment on that stuff.

I am pleased, though, that most of the comments seem to agree with my
gut aprasial of the matter - that once they have a good grasp of what
enemy they're fighting, a First World military would be able to fight a
youma force on fairly even terms, but that teleportation is a very big
advantage for the Dark Kingdom.

Not that the human's don't have their own advantages: though there are
plenty of youma that can fly, none that aren't General-class are likely
to last long against a modern, supersonic fighter jet.

Hmm... at least assuming that the weapons systems on a jet would be able
to target slow-moving, low-flying (semi-)organic opponents without a
major overhaul.  Since I have absolutely no idea on that issue, any
experts care to comment?

Well, I'm not an expert, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night...

*slap*

Anyways. The effectiveness of modern fighters would depend a lot on certain 
features that Youma may or may not posess.

The big factors to consider:

1) Composition. Do they have a noticeable body heat? If this is not 
significant, IR guidance systems (such as used by many short-range 
air-to-air missiles) will be useless.

1b) Composition 2. What sort of radar cross-section do they have? As mostly 
organic objects, one might suspect that they would be fairly small, but 
radar picks up flocks of birds, clouds, all sorts of things that aren't 
metallic.  It would take some time for military analysts to adjust 
procedure and programming of the sensor packages, however, which would 
limit initial response.

2) Speed. How fast are they in flight? Five mph? Fifty? Five hundred? Mach 
1? Mach 2? Modern fighters are built primarily to engage other modern 
fighters and bombers. Slow-moving targets such as wing-powered youma flyers 
would be sitting ducks.

3) Vulnerability to "soft kills". Air to air missiles rarely actually 
directly strike the target. Instead, they explode within a few feet of it, 
sending shrapnel through control surfaces, hydraulics, and cables. Again, 
depending on the vulnerability of your average youma to such an attack, it 
might require some adjustment in seeker programming and engagement tactics.

4) Confined spaces. A lot of youma attacks are going to be taking place in 
a city -- with streets flanked by tall buildings, lots of civilians, and 
not a lot of room for high-speed maneuvering. This is not an environment 
fighter jets excel in. The aircraft that will do best here are your Apache 
type helicopters, with the maneuverability, speed, and armament to go 
toe-to-toe downtown.

Phong Nguyen:

An expensive thought is if various scientists can figure out a detection
routine (perhaps Mercury can analyze the 'emissions' with her computer).
If such events bring out enough energy, one could start placing sensors
all over the place to give rapid-warning of a teleport. Perhaps mass
teleports could then be detected with some sort of satellite.

If it could be done, that would be extremely useful, yes.

My basic thought, though, is that technological methods won't be able to
detect or block teleportation.

Actually, I can think of one very simple possibility.

Does the teleportation displace air? One could 'seed' a large area of a 
city with thousands of mass-produced sensors to detect that sort of thing. 
Add in traffic-control surveillance cameras to get a human eye on every 
incident (you're going to have false alarms), and you have a moderately 
reliable detection system. Eventually, the youma will clue in to this, and 
start appearing in buildings and such, at which point you hope that you've 
sufficiently expanded your surveillance network.

SkyeFire:

Too bad the Youma didn't have the courtesy to invade Texas...  (:)


Not yet, anyway. :)


*evil grin*

Hello, Zoicite, I'd like you to meet the United States Army Corps of 
Engineers. We've prepared a pleasant surprise for you and your army. It's 
called Mister Claymore And His Five Thousand Little Friends.

Once again, my thanks to everyone for their comments!


--

           Aaron Nowack
"Never let reality get in the way of a good hypothesis."
http://www.mimiru.net/

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