Re: Merkava.
DRG,
Sorry about that. Almost if not all quotes are from the site I posted on page 1 of this thread. Most are on the opening page and some are contained in the links on that page.
Mobhack,
On real World need,
Durring the Lebanon conflicts the Israelis had no real heavy APCs that could stand up to the huge amount of RPGs and ATGMs operated by the enemy. The 113s, Pumas, and Achzarit could have hardly been expected to stand up to such weapons without loosing many men and vehicles. At this time the Namer was only a dream. You still need infantry to cover your tanks, even the mighty Merkava has its limits. The solution was loading the infantry into the Merkava. They could ride to where they were needed under the heavy armor of these tanks, deploy where needed, and have the advantage of having a MBT for supporting fire.
If you look at the pic on the site I posted most if not all the troops have some sort of backpack. It's not the size of the one carried by U.S. troops but is there none the less. One pic is a view from inside showing 4 soldiers on the way out and they all have packs on.
Maybe no LMG but a SAW for sure. I have already made clear that no TOW teans, Dragons, Spikes, Or Javalins should be carried inside the Merkava. A LAW size weapon would be no problem. Besides with a MBT for fire support what do you need anti-tank weapons for?
Yes they are packed in tight. As much was said on the site I mentioned above.
Merkava dismount teams,
No real need for these. In my experiments I use a Sayeret section and add a sniper or two. This will have to be up to the individual player as it is in real life. But only 8 men and no heavy weapons. Carry capacity 8.
Class,
I classed mine as Unit Class 127 Gun APC but have not experimented with the AI useing the Merkava with this classification. And like you mentioned this could be a problem for the AI.
Formations,
I did not put any infantry in my formations either. Again this should be up to the player. Some sort of Merk Infantry formation may be nessessary for the AI to use. This would be quite the experiment.
I have registered at Tanknet and will ask the question to see what comes up.
The author of the Amateur site I posted is an Israeli tanker. His tank is the "Black Mamba" a MkIV. Pictures of his tank and crew are also on the site.
Hope I covered everything. I'll get the question posted on Tanknet.
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