Retracting Head Ter Ter

Hey, any more where that came from?

Agree on the coolest looking plane part (although XB-70 gives a good fight). I think the Gunship Grey colours really suit the YF-23. Makes it look all mean and menacing.

I can't read much of the article, but it seems like its a theme park kinda thing. Not a movie prop.

Yamato probably would...it was MUCH bigger than the Bismarck (you have to remember...the Bismarck and other German battlewagons was built by packing as many guns on the smallest frame possible, so that the Germans could get around the Versailles limitations) and it was said that when the Yamato made its kamakaze run in April 1945, there were a total of six IOWA-class battleships ready to blast the Yamato if the air attack hadn't done the job. The ships built around the Versailles Treaty were the Deustchland (sp?) class pocket BBs. 10000 tons. The Bismarck was built with no regard to anything much. 4 turrets with 2 guns apiece is not a good idea IMHO. 3 x 3 is better. Its easier to lose 1 turret out of 4 then 1 turret out of 3. And when you lose 1 turret, you are still down to 6 barrels regardless of whether you started with 8 or 9. The Germans used twin turrets only because they did not have much experience with triples. There was never SIX Iowa class ships btw. 4 max. The Montana could probably have taken a Yamato down easy. Almost the same displacement, but 12 guns with superior fire control outmatchs Yamato's 9 guns with inferior fire control (inferior when compared to late war US radar control systems that is, Japanese optics were reputedly world class). Of course with these juggernaughts slugging it out, a lucky hit could decide things early either way. The Montana was armoured to resist the 16/50 superheavy shells. The Iowa's were armoured to resist the 16/45. Yamato's 18.1 shells were heavier then the USN's 16/50 superheavies but their design was apparantly inferior. Of course, when I say 'armoured to resist' I mean it provides reasonable protection at certain ranges. At long range, incoming shots hit the deck. At closer ranges incoming shots hit the sides of the hull. No battleship is theoretically immune to everything at all ranges. Its also important to note that battleships are not armoured all over the place! The armour belt and deck only covers a small portion of the surface area. If you armoured the ship from fore to aft, either your armour is way too thin or the ship will weigh a zillion tons and sink immediately. Even a 'little' 5 inch shell from a destroyer can punch holes all over the hull/superstructure of Iowa/Yamato/Montana if it hits outside the armoure belting.

Bismarck is not in the league of Yamato. Yamato displaces nearly 30-40% more. Bismarck was not the super-battleship Discovery Channel and most other sources of info make him out to be. A South Dakota class BB could theoretically thump Bismarck. To be fair to the Germans, they had to make up for that 2 decade lull period after WW2, so they had a tall order to fill. Even Yamato with that huge armour plating and honking big rifles had weaknesses like lack of radar fire control and proper protection for the secondary batteries and AA turrets. IMHO, the pecking order of WW2 Dreadnaught classes is like 1. Iowa/Yamato 2. South Dakota 3. North Carolina 4. Bismarck/King George V 5. All the WW1 leftovers, although the rebuilt USN BBs with Radar Fire Control could theoretically take out even the Yamato in bad visual conditions. The fire control is pretty important, big rifles can't do squat if they can't hit. Thats why I think the planned 'Super-Yamato' class would suck. Having 6 x 20 inch rifles wouldn't be a good trade for 9 x 18 inches. Its not like you are gonna fire at immobile armoured fortresses. A high rate of fire with more hits is a better bet since the 18 inch shell is enough to give any other BB a bad day when it hits.

I am not so worried about the looks (its still cool even if not anime accurate). I am worried about the poseability of the thing. It looks like parts will fly off once it gets posed and articulation looks quite restricted with that bulk.

Ah! The good old days of the cold war! 50000 Warsaw Pact tanks waiting to roll into West Germany. Tu-95s shadowing the Carrier Battle Groups. Thousands of Mig21s and Mig23s waiting behind the Iron Curtain. Reagan's 600 ship navy.

I'll stick toothe theory that Palps was deliberately losing to Mace in order to turn Anakin by making the Jedi look nasty and himself the feeble victim? After all, if Mace was that good, his 3 buddies shouldn't have been skewered so quick. And I don't think Yoda really lost, probably had to run because the Imperial troops would be on their way to save Palps.

Its just a mock up right? Not even a prototype airframe sans engine? The canopy gap looks as bad as a Dragon Warbird Diecast. BTW, did they ever explain why they did not put a 'bubble' canopy on this bird?

I can only explain it as Obi and Anakin being quite even at the last fight. It was Anakin's overconfidence that cause him to lose (i.e. attacking with his fancy jump from low ground in order to prove Obi's 'don't do it!' wrong). As for him smacking Dooku, its quite possible that Palps was f*cking around in the background like a good Sith should.

Hissatsu? Ok ok, red car huh? Akari?

Bah! I only play Progressquest. http://www.progressquest.com most streamlined features of any online game out there.

I still don't like it! I prefered the faster and (more realistic IMHO) Dragon Warriors mechanics where you roll under your attack-opponent's defence. In any case, the maths in your example is true but once attack % gets over 100, there is no more differentiation.

Would the Blackbird have benefitted from using compression lift like the XB-70?

I liked the runequest armour and hit points system. Especially the parts where you can armour only certain body parts. What I didn't like about Runequest was the separation of attack and defence. e.g. Your parry chance is always the same regardless of whether the person swinging the sword at you is the mother of all swordmasters or just a drunk bum who passed his attack d100 roll. Using armour to determine hit rate sucks even worse. That is my main peeve with D&D. Made touch based attacks stupid. My all time favourite fantasy rules are Dragon Warriors (yes, cheesy name!) by Dave Morris and Oliver Johnson. For modern combat (no mecha or superheroes, just guns and mortal humans), Cyberpunk is ok. I hate those gun based games where you can take multiple 9mm hits to the chest and still run around shooting. Hard to make a 'playable' yet 'realistic' game due to the power of guns.

And now that the Soviets/Russians are not churning out their subs/planes/etc by the bajillions, I finally can afford a titanium watch! Back to the question. Is creating something with the performance of a Blackbird possible by other countries today? Is it just $?

I would love a 1/3000 - 4000 scale ISD. Or a 1/20000 - 24000 Executor with blue fibre optics. A properly done Executor would be the mother of all SW kits.

I always wonder, 40 odd years after the A-12, how many aerospace industries/countries out there can build an aircraft with similar performance parameters? And how much would it cost the US to build another bird with similar performance in 2005 dollars?

I envy the guys who got to fly that beauty, cramped cockpit or not.

COLONIAL MARINES : Check TRASH TALKING : Check COOL GUNS AND EQUIPMENT : Check Some aliens/predators to shoot at : Check Thats all any movie needs!

I don't think its the fact that western europe was not 'interesting enough' that saved them. The Mongols even went as far as Java and that was much less developed and interesting then Europe. Western Europe was just 'at the end of the map'. It would have gone down if the Khan didn't die.

Of course not. Because I accept that all cultures and nations are guilty of usurping land from others. I just don't selectively direct my outrage towards the West. Does that mean that if Native Americans started strapping bombs and blowing themselves up in shopping malls, you can't morally fault them anymore then the white people in the shopping mall? If you do, isn't that taking the line that 'its ok to do that 200-300 years ago, but we are all civilised now, so its wrong to do it now.

Does Bill and Ted's excellent adventure (the one with Keanu Reeves and Genghis with the baseball bat) count as a Genghis Khan movie?

Anyone else here think the steel mask was rather pimp? I don't quite get the part where Balian immediately assumes that Saladin would slaughter everyone in the city. After the Hattin battle, he didn't even think of suing for a peaceful surrender. He just assumed he had to fight to get that non-genocide ending.

Agree, the Mongols were the single most badass army ever. Nothing could stop them short of really bad weather at sea. But if they did make a Genghis Khan movie, it would be centered around his unification of the tribes, defeating the Jin Empire and the start of incursions into China. It wasn't until his descendents turn that they went to the mid-east and europe. They did do a rather ok Genghis Khan TV series. I watched it as a kid.