"Khurasan first look at Federal XM6 grav tank " Topic

The Duke of Regina will be placing an order soon

LOL!

I was going to issue them to the Consular Guards Tank units.

*Rolls eyes*

I think I am going to take a photo and post it so that people will understand that I am a separate entity from another person.

It makes me wonder why some people think that everyone here needs to be a cheerleader for everything that is ever produced by anyone.

Some things are obviously better products than others.

The Siler Tank, for instance, has a very unified quality that makes it a very realistic and cool looking tank.

This tank has some very cool features, and some that I just wonder about.

I do like the fluid organic curves, and the domed PD/AP weapons (They look like images I have seen in Striker II though. Not that this is a bad thing. It is a freaking crime that the Intrepid has never been done as a grav vehicle). The body just feels "right" for a grav vehicle.

But, as mentioned, I do not care for the gun. And what is it with that window thing in the front?

That looks like a shot trap. If it is a window, then I REALLY wonder, considering that very robust camera systems exist now that are the size of a pencil lead. I would think that any society capable of mastering gravitic technology would find virtual environments to be a piece of cake (considering how good we are getting at creating them), and that the interior views would be generated ala the same way that the car in Ghost in the Shell (the one that stole Project 2501 from Section 9) had its interior views generated (by having multiple exterior cameras that worked together to create an interior 3D image on the interior surfaces of the vehicle).

And I do wonder about the vectored thrust at the back end of the thing.

If the vehicle needs a vectored thrust system to move, then it will act like an air-hockey puck when it is in combat, which probably ISN'T a good idea (more than one drone concept has been shot down by DARPA because of similar problems). But if it has enough gravitic control to keep it from being a hockey puck while moving (or firing or being hit by a weapon), then why does it need the vectored thrust? Wouldn't gravitic control interfere with any secondary thrust mechanism by thinking that it was an arbitrary force to be corrected for?

I suppose there could be mechanisms around that.

And… Matthew says that the gun looks like the Barrel on an old miniature from Martian Metals/RAFM (I think it's in another thread), and that he has no problem with it.

We disagree about certain features, probably because he hasn't taken any EE classes and I have.

I for one am happy to see another design that doesn't look like a rehashed present day vehicle. Though I do like those sorts of vehicles too, I really to welcome the more hi-concept designs like this one.

-Eli

Thats why i am a big fan of hover vehicles in sci-fi no pun intended, :) as i think you get a very good mix of the present and furure technology incorperated into hover vehice designs.

Nice but I am not into grav to bad there isn't a tracked version. I wonder if a turret would fit on a Siler…

It is a fun design.

I do appreciate the body more so than all of the guns…the stubby just looks weird for some reason.

*****

And this is because it is funny?

:)

I think it's a great looking model and I like the guns – they provide a nice visual difference between long-tube cannons that fire kinetic rounds and energy based weaponry. That works for me!

Great work, Jon! I think you have ANOTHER winner here!

-Shawn

Those look cool. Are the barrels separate?

What's the APC look like?

"The perfect a-grav pocket battleship for taking on Garn gun barges."

I had a feeling it was your pawprints all over this design, Mr. Bear…

Eeees very niiiice!!

Please tell us there's going to be an APC/IFV variant…

Leland R. Erickson
(Who will be finishing up his Kark chasseur platoon tonight at long last after he finishes wading through yet another mountain of student papers…)

I can't claim this one, sir, but I can appreciate a nice design.
Best,
JBR

Very nice.

Very nice indeed.. but where are those promised Mi24 in space dropships !! Wheeeree ! :>

Pretty spiffy, but maybe a bit big? They might fit in nicely with GZG's high tech grav vehicles though.

"I can't claim this one, sir, but I can appreciate a nice design. "

Must be some subliminal influence then slipping into the psyche of another designer IMHO.. either way, we all win again!

And don't call me "sir," I work for a living!

Cheers!

Leland R. Erickson

"Pretty spiffy, but maybe a bit big? They might fit in nicely with GZG's high tech grav vehicles though."

Um, what's wrong with a "Grav Maus" anyway? *I* don't see anything wrong with an ungodly big high tech heavy tank gliding around the battlefield of the 29th century spraying mass destruction and death in all directions:

link

I mean, REALLY!

Leland R. Erickson

Absolutely, I think a big-mutha grav tank is far more plausible than super heavy tracked tanks where the ground pressure would cause them to sink into anything less than rock hard soil. Same problem of course with giant mecha with all their weight coming down on two relatively small feet. But hey, suspension of disbelief and all that!

My thought was that size would be less of an issue if the tank has anti-grav mobility, especially as it can deploy directly from space rather than having to be deployed by a transport.

"My thought was that size would be less of an issue if the tank has anti-grav mobility, especially as it can deploy directly from space rather than having to be deployed by a transport."

Ain't sci-fi technology grand?!

Leland R. Erickson

"Express elevator to Hell! GOIN' DOWN!! YEEEEEHAAAAAA!!!"

- Private Hudson, USCM

@ Alex Reed

The big window in the front is what sells it as an energy based weapon for me.

Ever seen this monster?

That is the laser based weapon for the front of an aircraft that Boeing developed.

A futuristic laser based weapon barrel will probably be nothing but optics for focusing and aiming. The actual laser generation will be secure in the hull and probably right next to the power plant.

I'm not trying to bash your negative opinion of the barrel but this explains why I like it barrels.

Can you post the other forum thread? As a fellow EE, I'd like to see that discussion

If it were a barrel like the Boeing Laser (which I've not only seen, but touched), then I would have no problem with the barrel.

It's just that the one on the tank is too busy. Too many things sticking off of it.

Some might be tempted to claim "It's a heat sink."

Well, Military policy is to not have heat sinks on Combat vehicles where they can be damaged by incidental things like rocks from the road, birds that might hit a vehicle while in flight, or rocks thrown at the vehicle by angry kids. This doesn't even mention that if that is a heat sink, then all an enemy needs to do is damage the heat-sink and they have de-fanged the tank.

A Heat-Sink would be shrouded and armored if it dealt with a primary weapon.

In fact, it probably wouldn't even be located on the weapon, but would be, like the heat-sinks in the Airborn Laser, located in a completely different part of the craft, and it would disperse heat from the weapon via a fluid that circulated from the weapon and the heat sink (Liquid gasses are usually what is used).

This also ignores the problem that the military probably wouldn't field a weapon on a "Tank" (meant to fight other tanks) that still had to have a heat sink that big and prominent in order to be viable.

If it isn't a heat sink, then what is it?

Magnets?

Again, protection problem. Have a look at the Navy's Rail Gun… No exposed Magnets. Having magnets out on a barrel like that would also create the ability to locate this thing with considerable accuracy from as far away as the moon.

Now, I have nothing against laser or particle weapons…

But most of the more modern weaponized lasers look to be going with systems that use what look almost like rounds for a chemically propelled round (The rounds use an explosive charge to power a high-energy chemical reaction which is then used to pump a one-use laser built into the round). The rounds being used are pretty big around (something like 10" – 15").

And particle weapons have all kinds of problems with putting them on tanks (Big Magnets being required being just ONE of the problems).

So, it isn't so much the SIZE of the thing that gets to me as the weird detail that seems to have been added simply for the sake of adding detail.

That busy-ness clashes with the simple lines of the rest of the tank (as does that weird window shaped area in the middle-front of the tank's body).

The rest of the tank (again, aside from that weird window area), is smooth and flowing, and doesn't seem to have a lot of detail that is added without reason.

Then one gets to that barrel and its got all kinds of visual noise in it.

In fact, I'd prefer it if it had a gun that looked exactly like the gun on the Boeing YAL-1

With every post you make it's more obvious that you're Matthew Bailey, aka Judas Isacariot, aka cogcomp. These angry rants against gaming concepts (like your war on Hammer's Slammers) are your MO. Can't stay away, can you?

The "I'm his roommate" thing, preposterous as it may be, is just built in to explain why you have the same IP address, of course.

Hey, lay off poor Alex… I'm pretty sure he's the guy that invented Stealth… and the flashlight. Just ask him.

Like the Tank Design, but the size is a bit of downer for me, actually. Any chance we'll see a smaller version?

I could see it as a battlefield supremacy unit, but for a smaller/closer field (like the urban fighting that dominates Tomorrow's War) it seems a little like bringing a Nuke to a bar fight…

well i personaly dont like gravtanks but this one, i like it
maybe i use it for japanese or even alien forces……

While I like the design of the tank and would probably buy one if I wasnt doing just Near Future stuff, why wouldnt an anti grav vehicle have an anti grav powered gun. If you can lift a 120 ton tank, why cant you fire a projectile at hypervelocities? A ten pound projectile going 10 or 20 times the speed of sound should do what when it hits a tank?

With every post you make it's more obvious that you're Matthew Bailey, aka Judas Isacariot, aka cogcomp.

Glad to see I'm not the only one who noticed this.

why wouldnt an anti grav vehicle have an anti grav powered gun. If you can lift a 120 ton tank, why cant you fire a projectile at hypervelocities? A ten pound projectile going 10 or 20 times the speed of sound should do what when it hits a tank?

If you can manipulate gravity then you might also have countermeasures to 'slow down' projectiles that are inbound.

-Will

For the shot trap on the hull glacis, you can just fill that in with putty.

I'd like to see an image of the rear deck, and rear of the vehicle, when time permits, along with the design of the APC/IFV model.

Another issue with hyper velocity rounds is that they tend to burn up. Just like a spacecraft on reentry.

Personally I think the turret design makes a lot of sense, although the barrel could be shorter. The laser mechanism is buried in the tank and the turret just houses a reflector mechanism. The 747 laser isn't designed for combat per se. One hit would almost guarantee it's out of commission. Come to think of it, I wonder if it is bird strike proof. Must have thought of it, but since it's a military derivative the rules are different.

I should probably point out that neither of these guns is a laser. One is a railgun and the other is an atomic cannon.

But of course people can use them for whatever they want!

This is the super high tech, experimental replacement for the Siler, which is the superheavy tank of the Federal Army. So it's big. If it is well-received I may make smaller ones too.

"it seems a little like bringing a Nuke to a bar fight…"

Um, and just what is WRONG with bringing nukes to a bar fight?!

Leland R. Erickson

"Um, and just what is WRONG with bringing nukes to a bar fight?!".

Well, a minor detail like the blast radius for one, comes to mind.

;-)

Yeah, but did I say I was gonna stick around for the blast event?

It's grab yer drinks and head for the hills, 'cause I've got the long-range remote detonator… Mwahahaahahaa!!!

Leland R. Erickson

Angry?

Can we get a rear view, please?

And a front/side/rear of the APC/IFV, please?

PLEASE???!!?!!!111!!!!??

Thanks :)

Hmmm..

"Shot trap" might be a sensor array or some sort of gravitic braking system for those orbital insertions?

These tanks might actually work nicely for my Starfleet marines idea where the tanks use many of the same systems as the ships including tractor tech (grav), sensors, shields, phasers and photon weapons.

-Eli

P.S. What is the release status of these?

Yes, what is the release status for these tanks? For that matter, when will the Cormorant be released?

Haven't had this printed yet, I'm reconsidering whether to have it made because there were so many complaints about the size.

Man, that'd be too bad.

What about having the design retooled for a smaller size model?

-Eli

The size if fantastic! Some of us a.k.a., buy your super cool stuff to use for 28mm games so please don't make it smaller…..well unless I am the only one who buys them, not so good for recvering costs to market….. nah don't see that as a problem. :) keep up the great work!

I've been waiting for these to be released ever since the first post was made. Sorry to hear that they might not make it into production. For me the design and size was just perfect.

"Haven't had this printed yet, I'm reconsidering whether to have it made because there were so many complaints about the size."

Sorry to hear that, but it is a business, so you have to do what's right from that stand point.

Jeff

Yeah, I've gone back and forth on it. Probably makes more sense to just release it. I think the inspiration for these is obvious and those tanks are huge because, well, they can be, so I think I'll just go for the brass ring on this beast.

A strong vote for release and be damned !

I think some people forget that sci-fi can also just be fun & cool.

It doesnt have to pass an engineering exam, especially when only judged by todays knowledge and material standards.

My vote (for what it is worth) is for you to relase it as planned.

I bit the bullet and ordered the print! Think this one is going to be 100% resin as the guns are massive and it's very unlikely they will break.

tracked please.

Excellent news! I look forward to placing my order for them when they are released.

Well then I will just have to order some to put my money where my mouth is. :) And because it is a cool ass grav tank!