kalvasflam

The Gunship history page specifically mentions that some of them were deployed to Somalia. 353034[/snapback] Never saw that page before, so don't know... link? All I know was that they did not participate in the actual raid. But I understand they were deployed in numbers along with an aircraft carrier after the event.

Very very true. A lot of these space battles I don't really like since they just consist of two battleships approaching to point blank distance and firing away. Its stupid, its like watching Revolutionary War tactics where the armies would line up face to face and just shoot and reload and shoot again. There's no talk or execution of fleet configuration, manuevering, etc. I like it when there is some element of tactics involved like in LOGH, Macross, Yamato 2520, original Yamato, which all incidentally had Ishiguro involved. 352942[/snapback] A point that's very well made is that space combat is likely to be BVR anyway. I guess the idea of laser is just too attractive. Because I expect missiles to rule the day, although it would be a little more like long lance duels in WWII. You'd shot missiles at each other, and wait for the minutes between when missiles reached their target. And let's fact it, targeting at 300,000 km might be a real pain. But then again, anime would be kind of boring, if it consisted of guys shooting missiles and never seeing each other. Not very personal.

Agreed with the other points above on using AC-130Us alone. But even with other assets, the AC-130 is a bit too slow, and in that kind of AA intensive environment, it would get in trouble. Now, my recollection is that they did not have a Spectre gunship on hand. This is mostly out of the book Blackhawk Down, which was as comprehensive a study as anyone did. But they also made a point that the little birds were already effective. By the way, I disagree with the part about randomly blowing up people. In a combat zone, you have three types, friends, enemies, neutrals. You'd like to avoid hitting the neutrals, but under no circumstances do they ever take priority over friendlies. Having combat data in that situation was impossible. The priority was not positive target ID, that didn't happen much with neutrals anyway, the priority would've been to extract the troops. In that situation, I'd have order the Spectre to literally mow down the entire crowd around Durant's chopper. Idiot Hollywood movie not withstanding, the entire crew was alive when that chopper went down, and they were subsequently all killed with exception of Durant. You know what, as a CO, at that point, I wouldn't have cared about what CNN thought, I would've saved my men, if it meant mowing down a bunch of people, so be it. After all, if they were running in the direction of that chopper, I'm pretty sure they weren't bringing roses. And war is a Darwainian process, the stupid generally died. And you can't do a precision sniping job against a single target anyway in the air. People seem to always misunderstand the value of terror in war. That's something a gunship like that would bring. In Mogadishu, it would've been like Zeus sitting up in the clouds dropping thunderbolts. I dislike the fact that the armed forces decided to put everything in one basket, the marines, the air force, the navy all wanted JSF. Different variants. I remember once upon a time there was this program called FX, it was slated to be the tactical fighter for both the Navy and the Air Force, and it ended badly, although it did give the USAF the F-111. The only successful interservice fighters were the A-4 and the F-4 in my opinion. The requirements are just too different. And those requirements continue to diverge in many cases. Now, if they had a VF-1, then things would be different. :-)

I think it was a shame they decided not to reanimate everything. I know budget constraints and all, but I was disappointed at the fact that so many of the mech scenes were not redone. I like some of the flow with the characters as well. I hope that the next two movies show more reanimation. Because honestly, for a movie, some of the scenes they used on the attack on jaburo was pretty poor quality.

No doubt it's an idiotic list. No Saving Private Ryan, no Two Towers (yeah I liked that one too), how about an old movie, Midway.... I think these guys didn't have a clue what a battle scene is. Heck, arguably, Rocky vs Mr T is also a battle scene.

Think European theater where you have literally a dozen mobile AA guns, 10s of SAM sites... it makes survivability difficult. Too much mass. But otherwise, I agree, if they put in Mogadishu a couple of AC-130U, it would've carved a clear path.

I would think not. Harriers are total hell on wheels when it comes to supporting troops on the ground and for coastal defense, but really I can think of a handful of fighters that can do every other job much better. 352846[/snapback] Harriers had a rocky start in the U.S. marines, used to be known as the widowmaker due to the number of test pilot deaths. It's usefulness to the Brits and others were because of the ability to deploy from their baby carriers. Marines liked it because it gave them the ability to have very front line air support. But it seems to sacrifice a bit too much in terms of bomb loads, and range. I'd take a loaded A-6 any day. The real question is also logistics. Supporting Harriers or any jump jets in such close proximity to the battle field risks the loggies who are there to support the planes, i.e. load it with bombs, put fuel in it, etc. The best thing about VTOL is the ability to disperse, and not be caught on a conventional field. But as luck would have it, the weakness of any warplane is the ability of their loggies to support them. Kill them, and survivability of airplanes don't mean jack. BTW, AC-130s rock. I'd love to have one of those overhead in a low threat environment, i.e. Mogadishu. But unfortunately, in real battlefields with lots of SAMs and anti-air guns (thinking a potential Europe battle field in the 80s), AC-130s could get in trouble in an awful hurry. But it would destroy any unguarded target.

The problem though is that most of the Yamato based space battles were too one sided. Bad guys show up, wipes out gallant earth defense forces.... Yamato arrives with their black tiger fighter squadron and proceed to wipe out the enemy. There are may be two exceptions to this rule. Series 2, there was one battle not involving Yamato that EDF won, of course, the comet killed the EDF soon there after. Final Yamato had a battle with Yamato centered task force that fought essentially an anti carrier battle. One theme that is very recurring and very funny is the fact that Yamato series always concentrated on the bad guys having carrier centered task groups cowardly attacking the proud battleship Yamato with their little insect of fighters and bombers. Then Yamato always triumphs over those cowardly user of attrition units. (The theme here seem to be Yamato/Japan is finally having its revenge against the evil carriers/US 5th or 3rd fleet) Funny considering historically, the Japanese were the pioneer of carrier warfare and were the masters before the Americans knocked them off the top of the hill. Never even thought of that until I started reading history and looking carefully at the Yamato series as a whole. Gamilon: destroyers, poor battle ships, main threat: carriers Comet empire: carrier centric Black Nebula: carrier centric, some battle ships Bolar: not carrier centric, but their enemies Galmons were The last bad guys: carrier centered ships

I know it's been a while, approaching 20 years now. But that was definitely true in the late 80s. It's sad to see that happening, I believe carrier air wings are mostly F-18s now. And it bugs me a little because the -18s had a light designation on them when they were first put up. As in light attack aircraft. They couldn't haul the same load as an A-6, didn't have the range either. But that has changed a little over time. As for the JSF, it's just an example of how screwy things have become. I remember when the original proposal to replace the A-6 was the A-12 Avenger (that was in the early 90s), then it was the F-18 E/F which ended up replacing the F-14s, and now it's the JSF. Now that may be cancelled. Whoever is in charge of these projects should be led out into the woods and just shot. One would think that the logic is replacement of classes, and with number. For the airforce: An air superiority fighter: F-22 (replacing F-15) A long range strategic bomber: B-2 A theater attack aircraft: F-117 or replacement (may be something to replace the F-111F) A close range support aircraft: (in the mold of an A-10) A tactical attack aircraft: JSF type (replacing F-16) capable of tactical ground strikes and SEAD missions. A tanker type project: Think that's the Boeing 767 variant An AEW aircraft: AWACS replacement/upgrade I think a replacement for B-52 is a great idea too, nothing like a weapon that can loiter for hours dropping massive tons of bombs on targets. Also, somebody need to buy more AC-130Us.

Someone should've told Scirroco that then. The O is definitely saddled with tons of armor. 352613[/snapback] Remember though, in space, mass is fairly irrelevant. The O was quite manueverable since it had a large number of verniers. An oh by the way, part of the skirt on the O had two extra arms, each holding a beam saber. So, not all is as it seemed.

I think the pacing has to do with the fact that the movies probably wanted to focus more heavily on some of the key plot points, for example, when Amuro meets Char again, and later on, the Four situation, her ultimate demise, and the fight vs Scirroco. I think there is a good chance (correct me if I'm wrong) that they don't even bother to show the second drop to Earth.

Did that include units for both Navy and the USAF? If so, then it's absolutely sad. Because at some point, the USN had on average, 2 squadron of 12 each F-14, and 2 more of 12 each F-18 on station per carrier. At a minimum with 6 carriers cruising around every day, that was essentially 144 Tomcats and 144 Hornets at sea on a daily basis.

You can pretty much equate having Congress making buy decisions on military hardware to have a bunch of drunk self absorbed jerks trying to show how big they can be by pushing for every little scrap they can get. On the same side, the cost of weapon systems have gone dramatically up, you can equate the capabilities as greater or equaling to those of a decade ago due to the leaps in technology. But the U.S. military seem to be slowly putting more and more eggs in the same tiny small basket. Quick examples, at the height of the cold war, there were more than 1000 F-15s, I think the exact number were 1300 or so, more than 1800 F-16s in the U.S. inventory alone. To replace this, they are going to end up with something like 200+ F-22s, and I don't recall how many JSFs. Sure, those are more capable, but they will be like an overstretched work force in the long run.

There is a lot of value in stealth and precision munitions, but I would not so easily dismiss the B-52. I honestly think there should be a true replacement for that type of strategic bomber. The B-2 is not quite capable of carrying that bomb load, the B-1 is better, but let's face it, if you want someone carpet bombed, you go with B-52s. Although this is the age of precision munitions, you can never forget that raw firepower will always have its place. Remember how they brought the Iowas back in the 80s. Sure, those were 40 year old ships at that point, but who could forget the effect of 16 inch gunfire support off shore.

It's all about high speed internet and where you are on the backbone as far as the download. I averaged 50 to 60 from the time I started, so total time was not bad at all for the download. In terms of what to watch. Think of the movies like Macross TV vs Macross: DYRL. The stories are fairly similar once you take out the minor nitpicks like the whole Zentran/Meltran thing. It has all the major plot points, i.e. Hikaru as recruit, Hikaru stranded with Minmei, Roy kicking the bucket, Hikaru stranded with Misa, Max fighting Milia, etc. I'd say watch the series first, it gives you a better appreciation of the movie. Otherwise, you'll go through the series later, and not like a lot of the small stuff they put in.

I think you're right to an extent, too many models in Gundam, but in Macross, there weren't enough models. In space war one, you had essentially VF-1, with two armored variants. Then five destroid models. I don't mind it I guess with just Macross, but I thought they should've had a few more models with the rest of the Earth forces. I'd compare this to the 1980s U.S. armed forces, there were four mainstay fighters at that point. Not to mention a plethora of other bombers, support aircraft, etc. That's why I come down on not quite enough models.

Personally, I don't know any designer other than Kawamori, but, his designs are the best in my opinion, the designs in CCA are pretty decent too, but I don't really know the person that Graham named. The only disappointment in Macross series was that they didn't have more variants on the VFs and mechs they had. Compared to Gundam verse, I think Macross comes up a little shy. But I don't mind too much, VF21 is my favorite Kawamori. Followed closely by VF-1, and although you guys might not believe it, GP02 from 0083.

Personally, I think the Neue Ziel was a bit better, but I liked the flexibility of GP03. All those missiles and extra bazookas... oh, and the beam sabers weren't bad either. Looking at the two designs, the GP03 was more of a heavy anti-mobile suit weapon, although with its beam cannon, and saber, it could just as easily be a ship killer. But in combat action, the Neue Ziel was a much better fleet killer. If the two fought together, the GP03 would go ahead of the Neue Ziel and clear out the MS, and the Neue Ziel would go kill the heavy warships.

Ah, the Neue Ziel, now that was an MA. Personally I liked it more than the Azieru. Mainly because it was not piloted by a newtype. But it kicked ass anyway. GP03 never stood a chance against it... at least not in Kou's hands. Destroy was supposed to be equivalent to Psycho Gundam I guess, but it was utterly unimpressive because they gave it to Stella. Bah.... but that just goes to show you how bad the characterization was in GSD.

The Transportation Security Agency? Why would anyone want to join the TSA, and why are they involved with Logos, ZAFT, and GSD? P.S. When you say killing off the bad guys... who are they again? I thought it was Kira et al... you mean they should've committed suicide?

In terms of the old vs new Galactica debate. I simply look at it as an attempt by sci-fi to put up a new show leveraging off the names and concept of an old classic. However, the new show has gone beyond its predecessor in my opinion, and now is able to stand on its own. To me new and old Galactica are just completely different shows, the only things they have in common are names, and the concept of surviving a holocaust. Now, things could still go south for this show, they've been talking about the Cylon plan, and so far, it's being hinted at around the fringes. If the storyline behind that plan is pulled off well, then the show will work out. In my estimation, BSG need to be a little like Babylon 5. In terms of story concept, they need to at some point have a momentous episode like the Coming of the Shadows or a Severed Dreams that moves the show along in a different direction and answer some key questions. There needs to be an ah'ha moment, that hasn't happened just yet.

Agreed, can anyone tell me what Kira et al really stand for? Oh, and speaking of Neo/Mwu, the ruthless user of innocent children as weapons, the evil SOB who manipulated Orb to do all his dirtywork, whatever did happen to him? Oh right... heh heh, he "recovered" his memory and became a hero. Ain't that funny. Wait a minute, who did he join again? Oh yeah, ha ha, the 3-ship alliance. Oh yes, let me assist in the death of tens of thousands, and all I have to do is claim I lost my memory, and all is well. Heh heh, that would sure fly.

I miss the old cast. But things change. I'm slowly getting in tune with the new crew, but the storyline just hasn't been that great after RDA became the general. At least they more or less tied up the Gou'ald arc. A few here and there left, but not many. SGA is a little better. Fresh concept.... more or less.

But how can we tax him if he doesn't live here.... oh wait.. heh heh, he hasn't made any money in a while to tax anyway. Never mind. Seriously though, I have a bit of a problem with the idea of having knock offs of the original. Somehow, the bastardization of the original Macross just seems blasphemous to me. After all, it's like throwing up a sign that says U.S. animators in the 80s has no good ideas and they have to get knock offs from everyone else. (actually, now that I think about it, that was pretty much true.... Simpsons was late 80s, and the Flintstones were the 70s).

May be Jack Bauer will act as a supporting character for a season, that might be a nice switch up. Cause let's face it, after all the hell he has gone through the ideal thing would be to retire to some tropical island.