Re: Level of Detail?

[ElevenMike@aol.com]

Damocles-

   Then give the teams an ultralight.  Or check out a Popular Mechanics (or P
Science) from last summer.  Autigyros are coming back.  I didn't say
completely silent.  I said comparatively stealthy.  So it doesn't look like
it breaks down.  I'm no engineer.  I couldn't design one.

   As regarding the attack described.  If you do it at night, it works.  Try
if with a friend as "referee".  Even parachutes and hang gliders make SOME
noise.  By using fusion engines, you reduce the eminated noise level.  By the
time you're heard (if the bad guys are even listening - lots to be said for
poorly trained privates that don't act because they're not sure what to do -
happens in the real world), you are in rocket range.
   As the sergeant of the guard is getting this 18-yr old on the phone (and
the kid may not be making any sense - very common in our Army), the rockets
are being triggered.  The Free State has never has an AIR threat, except for
maybe WWI rattletraps the Confederates may be flying.  (And yes, even those
can shoot down the AirScout.)  Pearl Harbor syndrome comes to mind.  The
planes parked in neat little rows (the military is in love with neat little
rows).  Even if in hangars, the aircraft on the ground are vunerable.     The
AirScout isn't an A-10.  To get use of it's limited combat abilities, you've
really got to work.  2.75" FFARs are NOT very accurate.  So only shoot at big
things with them.  Massed infantry, convoys, aircraft parked but not
dispersed, buildings.  The 2.75" pods on helos and fixed wing aircraft of the
US Army, Marines, Navy, & Air Force can be rippled or single shot.

   I understand the limitations of the aircraft.  Most people that play with
me UNDERUTILSE the AirScout.  But it still remains an effective
scout/reconnisance aircraft for field teams.  To replace it you'd need the
OV-10 Bronco, or a WWI two-seat observation plane.  Niether one can be broken
down into the bed of a one-ton trailer.  That's what I use to carry
AirScouts, thier ammo, and repair parts.  I require 30 minutes of maintenance
for every 90 minutes in the air.  That might be too much, I'm not sure.

   Please reconsider the AirScout.  Maybe make some changes to it to suit you
idea of how it should look like.  But every time I get one in a game, it
always helps me out.  Most recently, I was able to cross half of Ohio, all of
Indiana, and all of Illinios with AirScout assistance.  There are a lot of
streams and rivers that don't all have bridges across them anymore (150+
years after OOOOPS!), and the AirScout was able to range ahead and locate
crossing points for out vehicles (some couldn't swim).  That 120kph cruise
speed (if this is wrong, sorry, the book isn't in from of me) can't be beat.

   Also, I add cannisters (that fix to the hardpoints) equipped with
parachutes to drop needed supplies to someone that needs them before I can
arrive on the ground.  Not much per cannister, say 20 kg each.  But remember,
that's a lot of medicine.

Thanks for you comments & criticism, 
Scott Hann :o)