ChalkLine's Desiderata

[ChalkLine]

I did some research into this years ago, as near as I could find it comes from the 101st AB in Vietnam, when they were using M113 with the .50 and two 7.62 MG's. The Vietnamese were waiting for the MG's to run out of ammo (all ran out at about the same time) then a guy with a RPG would step out and shoot the track. So the commanding General (I do not remember his name and to lazy right now to look it up again) put out an order that you would not use the .50 to engage the troops, but would save it for when the M60's were reloading to take out the anti-tank weapons (this became equipment over time).

I can't find my source but I think this exact thing happened over and over.
Originally tanks were either little and well protected (FT-17) or big and less protected (British Mk IV). The little ones couldn't survive the .50 AP round but the big ones created a problem; they were so big inside that 37mm AT shells, the standard of the time, could sail right through one and out the back without hitting anything and this got worse as the vehicle got more refined and the crews were reduced in size. However the M2 (not the HB variant I have noted above) could riddle the bastard and kill everyone inside. The US developed this doctrine fighting UK-supplied or captured armour in The Russian Civil War.

[Adm.Lee]

There's a lot to chew on in here, thanks for posting it all!

[mpipes]

In 1963 the "Mongoose" missile system was renamed "Rapier" because no one in the project could think of what the plural of "mongoose" was.

Why it is mongeese of course!

[pmulcahy11b]

Why it is mongeese of course!

+1

[Raellus]

Bonzer!

Thanks for posting your codex here, Chalkine. It's a great resource and I hope that you continue to add to it.

-

[CDAT]

I can't find my source but I think this exact thing happened over and over.
Originally tanks were either little and well protected (FT-17) or big and less protected (British Mk IV). The little ones couldn't survive the .50 AP round but the big ones created a problem; they were so big inside that 37mm AT shells, the standard of the time, could sail right through one and out the back without hitting anything and this got worse as the vehicle got more refined and the crews were reduced in size. However the M2 (not the HB variant I have noted above) could riddle the bastard and kill everyone inside. The US developed this doctrine fighting UK-supplied or captured armour in The Russian Civil War.

Are you sure of this As near as I can find the M2 (and the .50 BMG round) were not fully developed tell after the death of Browning (in 1926), there were some test bed units as early as 1921 (such as the M1921 MG), but all the issues were not worked out yet. Also it was made due to a need of an anti-aircraft gun, but I have never seen it listed as an AT weapon. As near as I can tell depending on the round (only looking at AP) the .50 BMG can penetrate between 19mm (3/4 of an inch) to 34mm (1 1/3 inch) so not really what I would think of as an anti-tank round (yes it can take out WWI and some of the early WWII tanks). So not saying it was not, but I have never seen it listed as such and the dates that I have seen for it have production starting well after WWI and the Russian Civil war.

[Olefin]

Are you sure of this As near as I can find the M2 (and the .50 BMG round) were not fully developed tell after the death of Browning (in 1926), there were some test bed units as early as 1921 (such as the M1921 MG), but all the issues were not worked out yet. Also it was made due to a need of an anti-aircraft gun, but I have never seen it listed as an AT weapon. As near as I can tell depending on the round (only looking at AP) the .50 BMG can penetrate between 19mm (3/4 of an inch) to 34mm (1 1/3 inch) so not really what I would think of as an anti-tank round (yes it can take out WWI and some of the early WWII tanks). So not saying it was not, but I have never seen it listed as such and the dates that I have seen for it have production starting well after WWI and the Russian Civil war.

It was used during WWII in the anti-armor role but it was more against lightly armored vehicles and not tanks - the AP and API rounds could penetrate the hull plates or fuel tanks on German half tracks and light armored cars and they could penetrate the armor on the light Italian, Japanese and French tanks they faced as well as the rear and side armor of the original Panzer II, III and IV tanks before they started up-armoring them.

But you are right - it was more a weapon of last resort when it came to armor - if you took on a tank there were a lot better weapons to use than the M2 Browning

[kato13]

Have not logged in for a while.

Just wanted to say this thread is awesome.

[Olefin]

Have not logged in for a while.

Just wanted to say this thread is awesome.

I would like to second what Kato said about the awesomeness of this thread

[ChalkLine]

Ugh, facebook has stopped me linking images to it. Looks like I'll have to go through and find some way to host them.

[ChalkLine]

Tractors

One of the most useful vehicles ever constructed is the agricultural tractor. While it might seem a strange topic for a post this will probably be one of the most critical vehicles for non-military activity.

The Ursus ('Bear') tractors were famous for rugged simplicity and reliability in a time when western tractors were growing in complexity and cost which came with a commensurate lessening of reliability. Poland, being a country with a large agricultural sector, had many indigenous agricultural plant companies and a thriving import/export trade in this equipment.

During the Twilight period Ursus in Poland had been producing many tractors, here is three versions:

- Ursus 2812 (light tractor). 2,000kg, 25km/h, 60 litre (D,A), Equipment: Hydraulic Three Point Hitch (lift 1,300kg), 28Kw Power Take Off, Pulley - 21.0L/Period working, 10L/Period on road

- Ursus 1014 (medium tractor). 4,000kg, 25km/h, 90 litre (D,A), Equipment: Hydraulic Three Point Hitch (lift 3,000kg), 60 kw Power Take Off, Pulley - 45.0L/Period working, 22L/Period on road

- Ursus 1614 (heavy tractor). 5,000kg, 25km/h, 200 litre (D,A), Equipment: Hydraulic Three Point Hitch (lift 5,500kg), 100Kw Power Take Off, Pulley, 4x4 - 70.0L/Period working, 35L/Period on road

(0.75l/period x Kw)

A three point hitch is the adaptor point for machinery and includes a hydraulic system. The lift value is the maximum weight of an attachment.

A power take-off is normally a drive shaft running out of the engine to provide motive power for an attachment. Like the three point hitch it is an adaptor point (important note: these can be incredibly dangerous)

A pulley is simply a wheel that transfers power by pulley action.


Attachments:

Tractors are only the motive power, they are mainly made useful by their attachments. In Twilight 2000 they are either using their traction via tow cables, towing a trailer or attached to machinery such as ploughs or diggers.
Trailers.


Trailers

Generally a tractor can tow twice their weight so it may be possible to tow some of the following trailers at reduced load.

- Single Axle Livestock Trailer, 3.5 Tonne
Weight: 1,800kg, Load: 3,700kg, Max Speed 40km/h, Required power 20Kw, Notes: Rear loading doors, unroofed, rear ramp, spare wheel. Capacity: 4x 700kg animals, 6x 550kg animals

- Single Axle Livestock Trailer, 7.5 Tonne
Weight: 3,150kg, Load: 7,850kg, Max Speed 40km/h, Required power 30Kw, Notes: Rear loading doors, side access doors, roofed, rear ramp, spare wheel. Capacity: 8x 700kg animals, 10x 550kg animals

- Single Axle Utility Trailer, 2.5 Tonne
Weight: 1,300kg, Load: 2,400kg, Max Speed 40km/h, Required power 20Kw, Notes: spare wheel

- Double Axle Utility Trailer, 4 Tonne
Weight: 3,100kg, Load: 4,000kg, Max Speed 40km/h, Required power 25Kw, Notes: spare wheel

- Double Axle Bale Trailer, 9 tonne (low flat trailer with no sides for hay bales)
Weight: 1,950kg, Load: 8,900kg, Max Speed 40km/h, Required power 80Kw, Notes: spare wheel

- Double Axle Bale Trailer, 15 tonne (low flat trailer with no sides for hay bales)
Weight: 4,800kg, Load: 15,800kg, Max Speed 40km/h, Required power 45Kw, Notes: spare wheel

- Tandem* Tipping Trailer, 13 Tonne (*two rear wheels, no front wheel)
Weight: 5,200kg, Load: 13,200kg, Max Speed 40km/h, Required power 75Kw, Notes: spare wheel, this vehicle has 4mm walls 1.8m high

- Single Axle Dump* Trailer, 8 Tonne (low, fixed trailer. Lifts up at the front on hydraulic rams)
Weight: 2,200kg, Load: 8,100kg, Max Speed 40km/h, Required power 45Kw, Notes: Rear folding gate.

- Tandem Utility Trailer, 13 Tonne (high sided, rear ramp trailer)
Weight: 10,800kg, Load: 13,200kg, Max Speed 40km/h, Required power 135Kw, Notes: Rear folding gate, 2.2m high 1mm sides


Plant

Backhoe
Each backhoe has a seat, jacks to raise the tractor off the ground and a digger arm. Excellent for making deep trenches.
28Kw: 330kg
60Kw: 430kg
100Kw: 530kg

Front End Loader
A large bucket on the front of the tractor that lifts up and tilts for moving bulk material. Good for quickly creating earthworks and vehicle hides.
28Kw: 300kg
60Kw: 400kg
100Kw: 500kg

Auger
A honking great big drill for making deep holes in the ground. Excellent for making sturdy anti-vehicle barriers.
28Kw: 100kg
60Kw: 200kg
100Kw: 300kg

There are far more attachments but they are dedicated agricultural tools. Generally a farm would have three times its weight in tractors in these pieces of equipment

[swaghauler]

Check out BELARUS tractors. They are another Eastern European tractor that sold very well in the West too.
On the Asian front, there's only one name in tractors made as a cooperative venture between China and India and is now the best-selling tractor in the world... MAHINDRA Tractors.

One added detail you might need to add is with regards to the hydraulic attachments system. There are...
SINGLE (two hoses & quick-couplers) for use with minor implements like snowplows and manure spreaders that only need hydraulics to raise.

DOUBLE (four hoses & quick-couplers) for use with variable geometry units that may be required to rotate or flex/bend like buckets, backhoes, and plows.

TRIPLE (six hoses & quick-couplers) for use with full geometry units like backhoes with claws, buckets with claws, and hydraulically adjustable forks.

Most tractors come with a Double Point Hydraulic system (noted by having TWO hoses on each side of the tractor) but small tractors may only have a Single Point system (noted by only having one hose on each side of the tractor). This will limit the equipment the tractor can use as much as PTO power will.

[ChalkLine]

Dogs in Twilight 2000

Dogs tend to occur in three different situations in Twilight 2000; as guard dogs, as war dogs and as wild dogs.

Guard dogs are one of mankind's oldest early warning systems.
A dog's hearing is about 2.5 times better than a human's and they can pinpoint a sound to within 5o of its origin. In fact this is accurate enough that at close ranges you can use a dog to 'point' and direct grenade launcher fire and expect a fairly good chance of a hit on the source of a sound within 100m. Similarly dogs have been used at close ranges to direct machinegun fire at unseen targets.

A dog's sense of smell is of course legendary and comes in at about 40 times better than a human's admittedly poor sense of smell. Dogs can detect not only a target but can also track the scent trail and fully understand how this corresponds with the target's movement.

Guard dogs are extremely valuable, it would not be unusual to find settlements trading pups with a good guard lineage and breed. Settlements would utilise guard dogs to not only provide early warning against human threats but also wild dogs and similar animal threats. Note that guard dogs can be trained to alert handlers silently of threats.

War dogs are used by all combatants in Twilight 2000's Polish theatre. Using their senses noted above a war dog can track a target off to the side of the target's line of movement on the downwind side. This is incredibly useful as small foot patrols will often pause and set up an ambush to surprise followers. In Vietnam Australian tracker dogs could allow combat patrols to parallel a target and intercept them while being totally out of contact with the enemy. War dogs can be used in a shock attack and their fast movement and ability to knock down even quite large people is not to be underestimated.
War dogs can also be used as messengers. Well trained dogs can quickly, quietly carry messages unseen to other areas.

Another use of war dogs is mine detection dogs. These dogs work especially well against IEDs and above-ground munitions.

Wild dogs are extremely formidable. Usually in Twilight 2000 they are depicted as charging the players at first sight. From experience hunting dangerous feral dogs in Australia* I can say that this would be extremely rare. Usually a wild dog utilises its superb senses to observe threats from out of contact. Wild dogs learn vey quickly by observation that humans can kill dogs if they can see them so they avoid this at all costs, often you barely see any movement. Their prey of choice would be wounded, distracted or sleeping larger prey or unaware juveniles. They attack from ambush from multiple directions and have anecdotally used distraction pack members to occupy a prey's attention while the actual hunting dogs get close into position. Wild dogs are well known for using many different hunting styles from long pursuit to leopard-crawling up close before assaulting in without warning.

Dogs are mankind's oldest domesticated animal and the only domesticated animal we can be sure we have undertaken significant evolution alongside. People form strong bonds with dogs and this can have positive and negative effects in warfare. Dogs are extremely good for reducing stress in humans and historically soldiers and survivors have adopted dogs when they can. Conversely, dogs are relatively fragile in regards to modern weaponry and having a wounded or killed canine companion can have adverse morale effects. While players are immune to morale this will have a large effect on non-player characters.

Modern canine body armour, including the modern canine mask/helmet, were rudimentary in the Twilight 2000 setting. All sides have a lightweight ballistic harness that included a webbing system. This would usually hold water for the dog and a medical first aid kit. Some larger dogs can quite easily carry large amounts of ammunition if the load is spread carefully over the dog but this can easily damage the dog if in adverse situations. Loaded dogs are prone to heat stress and if pushed can simply collapse and die in a very brief interval.

(*I adore dogs but feral dogs can pull down and kill children as almost happened to a friend's child. This is why they are culled in Australia along with the immense ecological damage they do.)

[ChalkLine]

Alcohol Fuels.

In 1981 the US Army did a study of pure alcohol fuels* and found the following results.

Methanol promoted engine wear in certain sections of the engine. Top of bore and top of ring, cam followers and cam lobes, valve faces and valve guides all wore about seven times faster than ethanol or gasoline fuels. This was due to chemicals created as the by-products of combustion.

The found that pure alcohol fuels ran cleaner engines with less gumming and other deposits.

However Ethanol has its own problems. It absorbs water from the air and this separates if the engine is allowed to sit for extended periods (they didn't say how long). It is also corrosive and will attack the fuel lines of that period.

Game Effects:
Really, this can be used just for colour for mechanic characters or GMs could call for more rolls for methanol-powered vehicles.

(*They also studied alcohol blends and found no appreciable difference to 100% gasoline)

[ChalkLine]

A Third Echelon Campaign

In most games the players get the gee-whiz stuff at the very start and it slowly degrades during the game. Little by little, they start to pick up AKMs for the ammo, shoot off their 40mms and so on.

But in this style campaign the players starts off with real last-ditch stuff, not even Vietnam-era body armour. 1950s webbing, old style uniforms, weapons two generations out of date and so on. A hardcore GM will make their equipment and weaponry actually a severe disadvantage so the players have a strong incentive to scrounge, loot and cobble together more modern gear thats more effective. The vehicles are clapped out old horrors that should really be in the back lot of a museum awaiting restoration. Even horses should be scruffy old nags. Worse, it could be cheap repurposed civilian gear that rapidly falls to bits.

The main challenge in this is letting the players get access to their own sides equipment. Unless you want them indistinguishable from the enemy in a short spate of time you need to let them find out where stuff they can use is. It also really kicks up the trading aspect of the game.

This by definition is a lean campaign. Im usually of the opinion that the enemy simply dont engage if possible if they're down to their last magazine because really by then youre combat ineffective, but in this style game everyone is short of everything and the players should not be able to pick up four magazines off a fallen enemy. Usually loot should be in the order or a dozen rounds, and Id bump the combat difficulties up so theres a lot more shots per hit than there is now (T2K, and all modern games, makes it far too easy to hit in a firefight).