a2d9e2d7   
   From: AKWolffan@gmail.com   
      
   On 2016 Dec 27, MrAnderson wrote   
   (in article<4836da33-2290-449d-8527-c289ffd3ef02@googlegroups.com>):   
      
   > Hi guys, so what do you think would be best lightly armoured amd lightly   
   > armed vehicle for outer worlds? I am assuming planets were terraformed, and   
   > are like wild west, so not big population density, some bigger cities and   
   > many more smaller, a lot of rural areas, and rough terrain.   
   > Vehicle is used by "colonial marines" type of forces, and must be space   
   > transportable.   
   > If you need more data about the setting, just ask :D   
      
   you to give more info about the requirements.   
      
   do you want battle taxis, something which hauls infantry up to the fight and   
   then bugs out, or do you want fighting vehicles?   
      
   what’s the opposition? do they have heavy weapons? do they have significant   
   local citizenry support?   
      
   what’s the terrain? desert, semi-desert, prairie, woodland, tundra,   
   mountainous, temperate rain forest, tropical rain forest, swamp/marsh/bog   
   (there’s a difference)   
      
   what kind of weather/climate (there’s a difference) will the vehicles be   
   expected to operate in?   
      
   can the ‘marines’ expect mines/other explosives? what’s the road net   
   outside of town look like? (dirt, gravel, hardtop?) how’s the water   
   transport situation? how’s the air and/or aerospace transport situation?   
   what’s the road net _inside_ town look like?   
      
   can the ‘marines’ expect air or artillery or orbital support? if so, to   
   what level? what kind of comms are available? how important is the noise or   
   lack thereof of the vehicle likely to be?   
      
   is speed or reliability more important than cross-country performance, or the   
   other way around? how important is load-carrying capability? how important is   
   effective radius of action?   
      
   and what’s the budget look like? the _operational_ budget, to keep the   
   things running, not just the _capital_ budget, to buy them in the first   
   place? And what kind of strength are we talking about? a platoon, a company,   
   a battalion, a brigade, something bigger?   
      
   A vehicle intended for extended long-distance operations in summer in a   
   prairie or a semi-desert or desert with dirt roads and requiring a long   
   radius of action might be wheeled (four to ten wheels, depending) with some   
   kind of internal combustion engine, unless there are lots of heavy weapons   
   around. That would mean heavier armor, which in turn would probably mean a   
   tracked vehicle. If it’s important to the vehicle be quiet, then we’re   
   back to wheels, and an electric motor. The batteries for an electric vehicle   
   would likely restrict the range. Hovercraft would handle swamps and the like   
   better than wheeled or tracked, but would be much noisier and could be fitted   
   with much in the way of either weapons or protection, unless we’re talking   
   Hammer’s Slammers fusion-powered hovercraft. In that case they’re just   
   noisy. And expensive. Iridium ain’t cheap. A vehicle intended for   
   short-range operations in a temperate rain forest in winter on graveled roads   
   and cross-country would be a whole different beast, though it, too, might be   
   a wheeled machine with an internal combustion engine.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)