[TML] 20mm cannons and bulky aliens

[Brad Murray]

On Jan 23, 2008 7:42 AM, Joseph Paul <josephnjody at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Carrying capacity is also influenced by shape. We are not very well suited
> to carry much at all. Four footed creatures are often better at it. I can't
> find anything on rhinos as they haven't taken to domestication well enough
> to measure a carrying capacity. I have a reference for Indian elephants at
> 545kilos but I think that is very conservative. The surface area of an
> Indian elephant is 20 meters square found here:
> http://idiosynchrony.wordpress.com/2007/11/15/a-half-wet-elephant/  That is
> 27 kilos of armor per meter square. Anybody got some ideas on how much armor
> that is in CT/MT/G:T terms? Humans have about 1.8 meters of surface area and
> 60 lbs (27.2 kilo) is about the max we can carry for armor without serious
> degradation of performance. That comes out to about 15 kilos per m^2. So in
> this case the big animal gets an edge it looks like.

Damn, real numbers!  Now this is the kind of derivation I can get
behind.  :D  Thank you Mr. Paul!  Now how do you think carrying
capacity would be effected for a centaur shape like the K'kree?  I can
see their supporting portion being very powerful and commensurate with
a horse or better but the vertical torso seems like it should be *at
best* the same strength as a human.  How does their inside work?  Is
it worth armouring the vertical torso or is all the vital equipment in
the (heavily armoured now) hind portion?

Cool stuff to chew on; thanks all!

Oh and regarding the value of high calibre ordinance for the
individual infantryman, I'm thinking that very strong infantrymen (our
hypothetical rhino warrior) should find some value in automatic 20mm
cannon firing discarding sabot ammunition -- that is, equipment that
maximizes KE and ROF as a use of strength rather than just hurling
bigger shot.  As far as payload goes, increasing payload decreases the
need for velocity, reducing recoil, and placing the higher calibre
weapon in the realm of something a human can carry anyway: consider
the 40mm grenade launcher, for example.

-- 
Brad Murray (halfjack)