WORLD WAR (1942-1964) Mod

[MarkSheppard]

Originally Posted by Suhiir

There was a reason the H6 was never fully developed.

I've seen the actual message transcript in the US National Archives about the Army asking Eisenhower if he wanted the upgunned/uparmored M6A2E1 with 190mm frontal glacis and a 105mm HV cannon for dealing with the Siegfried Line.

[Suhiir]

As I recall in at least one spot on the Siegfried Line someone pulled a self-propelled 203mm howitzer up and after hitting one of the major concrete emplacements a couple times the Germans inside surrendered.

I gather that while the HE rounds weren't all that effective (they'd have blow a hole clear thru eventually tho) the concussion inside was unbearable.

[MarkSheppard]

Here's an adaptation of the Race Flag created by a Deviant Art Member:

Race Flag on DeviantArt

Calls for the Race Empire to adopt its own flag at least in Tosev III have forced the Emperor to decree in order to have the Empire its identity, the Domains of the Ssumaz will fly a flag. It is very simple in description, and also meant to be distinctive to the Tosevite flags. Adopted in 1985, the flag is vertical. The brown parts represent the mainly desert vegetation of Home, the green its people.

While many of the Race resented in having to have a Tosevite borrowing such as a banner, the Race eventually grew fond of it, seeing as a powerful symbol of their species.

Canonically, the Race has been united for so long that they don't even have a unifying flag or symbol, but I needed one for the mod; and using the generic YELLOW flag from early SPWW2 sounded a bit cheap (if keeping in line with the orange-y color that everyone used for the Race on world maps on deviant art)

[MarkSheppard]

Current spec-cing:

Landcruiser: 110mm gun; 5 to 6mm caliber coaxial, SAM on side of turret. Visually very similar to the AMX-40 or OF-40; at about 43 to 45 metric tons combat weight. Armor protection of around mid production T-55 to early T-62 level -- because its stated canonically that a 88mm L56 can't penetrate it frontally, they're still vulnerable to side shots from PAK guns. Plus, by the 1960s, German tanks are pretty much at parity (or close to it) with the Race; something not possible if it was a blinged up M1A1(HA) equivalent. Autoloaded gun, due to the need to economize on manpower in conquest fleet.

Troopcarrier Something roughly analogous to the Argentinian VCTP (aka TAM), with a 20mm or 25mm cannon + SAM.

Artillerycarrier: Analogous to the TAM VCA artillery, but in 100-120mm instead of 155mm. The Race is physically much smaller than humans, so I don't think they can easily manhandle 155mm rounds around.

Mortarcarrier: Analogous to the TAM VCTP mortar carrier variant. 80mm caliber or thereabouts.

Missilecarrier I'm not sure whether to include this. If the tanks have built in integrated SAM defenses (and radars), then why would there be a separate vehicle for carrying SAM systems not organic to the main tactical unit of operation?

[MarkSheppard]

Zingiber said, “If you can’t send landcruisers, send helicopters to help me take out some more of the Tosevites’ armor.”

Rethost made up his mind that if Zingiber made one more such idiotic request, he’d relieve him. He hissed angrily before he pressed the TRANSMIT button. “We have fewer helicopters than landcruisers to spare. The miserable Tosevites have learned something new.” They’re faster at that than we are. The thought worried him. He made himself continue: “They’ve brought their antiaircraft artillery as far forward as they can, towing it with light armor or sometimes even with soft-skinned vehicles. The helicopters are armored against rifle-caliber bullets. To armor them against these shells would make them too heavy to fly.”

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The more he thought about it, the more it worried him. The Lizards didn’t have numbers going for them; their strength had always lain in their guns: their tanks and self-propelled pieces; if they were easing off with those …

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“Indeed so, Exalted Fleetlord,” Kirel said. “To that end, we have recently converted a munitions factory we captured from the Français to producing artillery ammunition in our calibers. The Tosevites manufacture the casings and the explosive charges; our only contribution to the process is the electronics for terminal guidance.”

---------

More shells whistled overhead, these southbound from Bloomington. Mutt hoped they were registered on the Lizard guns, but they probably weren’t; the Lizards outranged American artillery.

---------

“I dunno,” he repeated, “but it does, somehow.” Just then, the Lizards started shelling the front part of Danforth again, probably sowing their little artillery-carried mines to keep the Shermans from pushing farther south anytime soon.

---------

As she approached the Lizards’ artillery position, she got down below treetop height. Some of those gun stations had tank chassis with antiaircraft cannon mounted in place of big guns protecting them. If she spotted one of those, she’d sheer off. A hit or two from their shells would turn the U-2 to kindling. She deliberately thought about it in terms of the aircraft rather than herself.

---------

The airplane passed overhead, almost close enough to touch. In spite of everything, Jäger stared at it in disbelief. It was almost the size of a medium bomber, and had no propeller he could see. It bore neither the German cross and swastika nor the Soviet star; in fact, it bore no device at all on its camouflaged wings and body. And it did not roar like every other airplane he had ever known—it shrieked, as if its motive power came from damned souls.
Then it was gone, vanishing into the east more swiftly than any fighter Jäger knew. He gaped after it, mouth fallen open in most unofficerlike fashion. One pass, and half his company was flaming wreckage.


(Lizard aircraft firing standoff ATGMs at Panzer column)

---------------

“It’s even worse in those places than in the United States, because they don’t need to wreck their roads to make us go into the mud. As soon as it rains for more than two days straight, the roads themselves turn into mud. Why didn’t they pave them to begin with?”

The fleetlord knew Kirel could not possibly answer a question like that. Even if he could have answered it, responsibility still rested with Atvar. The Race’s landcruisers and troopcarriers, of course, were tracked. They managed after a fashion, even churning through sticky mud. Most supply vehicles, though, merely had wheels. Back before Atvar went into cold sleep, that had seemed sufficient, even extravagant. Against spear-carrying warriors riding on animals, it would have been.

--------------

Just then a Lizard troop carrier that had lain low opened up with a rocket and took out a panzer less than a hundred meters from Jäger’s. By luck, he was looking through the periscope that showed where the rocket had come from. “Panzer halt!” he shouted, and then, “Armor-piercing!”

-------------

“Tell me about that thing, will you?”

Ristin turned one eye turret toward it. “That? That is a skelkwank sight, I think maybe from a bomb. Artillery shells use a smaller model. Skelkwank in your language is . . . is—” He paused and fluttered his lingers, a Lizardy way of showing frustration. “I think your language has not this word. Yep, that is what! think.”

(Laser guided weapons)

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Try as they would, the Race’s pilots and missile batteries and artillery had not managed to knock out the Big Uglies’ manufacturing capacity.

---------

Teerts had two pods of rockets mounted under his killercraft. They were some of the simplest weapons in the arsenal of the Race. They weren’t even guided: if you saturated an area with them, that did the job. And, because they were so simple, even Tosevite factories could turn them out in large quantities. The armorers loved them these days, not least because they had plenty.

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The Lizards’ advance positions, being lightly held, were soon overrun, though not before one of the aliens turned a Panzer IV to Jäger’s right to a funeral pyre with a rocket.

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It steers on the same principles as our machines, but it’s a lot easier to drive: the steering is power assisted and the gearbox shifts automatically.”

-------

Then he noticed the turret had no loader’s seat, just as there’d been no hull gunner’s position in the Lizard panzer’s forward compartment. Did the gunner or commander have to load shells, then? He couldn’t believe it. That would badly slow the panzer’s rate of fire, and he knew from bitter experience the Lizards could shoot quicker than their German counterparts.

Some of the gadgetry that filled the turret without crowding it had to be an automatic loader, then.

(Aha, they have Autoloaders)

[MarkSheppard]

His engines changed pitch as they breathed thicker air. Servos squealed, adjusting the sweep of his wings.

(Killercraft have VG wings)

-------

Teerts raked the stampeding herd of aircraft twice more before his ammunition ran low. Rolvar and Gefron had also done all the damage they could. They streaked for low orbital pickup; soon enough, the Race would have landing strips on the ground. Then the slaughter of Tosevite aircraft would be great indeed.

(Killercraft can go to low orbit.)

----

Like all starships of the invasion fleet, the 67th Emperor Sohrheb drew its primary power from an atomic pile. But, like most of the ships that landed on Tosev 3, it used a fair part of the energy from that pile to electrolyze water into oxygen and the hydrogen that fueled the Race’s air and ground vehicles.

(The Race's aircraft are LH2 powered)

[MarkSheppard]

First attempt at a Killercraft. Used the SPCAMO Tu160 icon as a starting point; reduced # of engines to two, and made it a semi-tailless design -- the two vertical tail(s) are directly above the engine pods in a similar vein to the way the F7U Cutlass had twin vertical tails.

This way, the flight control system isn't overburdened by having to do a pure tail-less design, while the rudders are protected from re-entry heat (it's a semi orbital design) by the wing below it.

It's a big plane -- but that's what you get for a liquid hydrogen powered design.

CL-400 SUNTAN -- despite having a 360Klbf MTOW, (vs the B-52's 488K MTOW); and a mere 2 man crew and 1,500 lb payload; the thing was nearly over twice the length of a B-52.

[Suhiir]

Good documentary on an alien attack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lj2afg31oU

[MarkSheppard]

Another mod idea I came up with a while ago, after I bought John Tiller/HPS' Sealion '40 was....

AIRSTRIP ONE

Since you could legitimately do an invasion of Airstrip One (UK) in the 1984 universe.

[Karagin]

Since we are talking about the Alien Space Bats stuff. Mark, I would be interested in your old Draka stuff. I too have been working on a Draka OOB for SP series since I got SP1. Always looking for a need of ideas and such as I am looking to balance them out.