 July 3, 2011 - 7:53pm | I'm just musing about adventure ideas here after watching an episode of the History Detectives investigating a "grave torpedo" which was basically a mine left on top of a coffin for grave robbers to disturb and blow themselves and a bit about a woman running a charity to help kids that have been mutilated by land mines and IEDs Out post world was the site of a corporate war and now there are hectares of land mines and explosives making living dicey for the inhabitants. The positive here is that some are not lethal- tangler and etc. but they make an offer to recently arrived ship's crew looking for help to solve the problem or even just for a medic to treat a family member that was injured by a mine. I suppose this is more of a hook than a whole adventure. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 July 4, 2011 - 1:59pm | Landmines wouldn't have a real purpose against a modern SF military. Might be used on outpost worlds in conflicts between militia forces. I don't see much use for them as other than as an adventure hook. In game terms they would just slow things down without adding much value. |
July 4, 2011 - 3:54pm | I aggree that it could slow a game but the point is that they know the mines are there and the poor farmers are looking for help to clear them. Clearing them one at a time wont work for a game but a PC generated creative solution is called for. Do you really believed that mines have no real use in military operations? It seems to me that they were developed by militaries for military purposes. Area denial and etc. Perhaps the US military no longer uses them due to perception and negative publicity value but there are millions of them out there on our world because they do serve a purpose and I have no doubt that mega corps would have little scruple against using them in a corporate conflict. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 4, 2011 - 4:37pm | Do you really believed that mines have no real use in military operations? It seems to me that they were developed by militaries for military purposes. Area denial and etc. Perhaps the US military no longer uses them due to perception and negative publicity value but there are millions of them out there on our world because they do serve a purpose and I have no doubt that mega corps would have little scruple against using them in a corporate conflict. The US Military is perhaps the largest user of landmines in the world and still uses plenty of them. Landmines serve a purpose but are primarily a defensive weapon used for slowing an attacker and channeling enemy forces. They work best when your enemy is either poorly equipped for clearing mines or in difficult terrain where an attacker cannot simply bypass the minefields. They are also useful in guerilla warfare to target civilians. These are key points to remember when thinking about their use in Star Frontiers. However, I guess I wasn't clear in my original post as I never said anything about landmines in relation to combat on 21st century earth. I was referring to landmines in relation to the Star Frontiers universe. Hard to tell what tactics would be used in a futuristic environment but I would see the UPF or planetary militia going around minefields--they would simply bombard an enemy from orbit or use shuttlecraft to overfly the mine fields. They could also detonate minefields using weapons similar to our Fuel Air Explosives which is one of the methods used in the present day. That is why I said landmines would more likely be used in terrorist or guerilla conflicts to terrorize civilians on less densely populated worlds. I could see minefields being a major nuisance in space, being left by pirates in shipping lanes or to protect their hideouts in asteroid belts. |
