Agiel

*BWWWWAAAAAAA* The GAU-8 thunders. The GCAS warnings ring and a female voice, "B****ing Betty," protests "Altitude! Altitude!" as Baldie ceases fire and pulls up. "Playboy 3-1, request BDA." Baldie says as he drops another series of flares. He waits for a moment before Playboy is on the horn again. "Hawg 1-1, three trucks destroyed, re-attack is authorised. Turn 180 degrees from your heading and reference secondaries. Remaining targets are 300 meters to the west, over." While the A-10 is not a quick aircraft by any stretch of the imagination, it's straight wing set-up means it has an incredibly tight turn radius, Baldie is quickly ready for another run. "In hot!" He cries. The altitude warnings ring again as Baldie pulls up barely 500 feet above the deck. Baldie continues on course before Playboy's voice cackles on the radio again. "Hawg 1-1, targets destroyed. No further tasking available. Nice work! You may depart." Baldie affirms and egresses along the Georgian coast, contacts the air-traffic controller at Batumi International Airport, the makeshift airbase for NATO forces at the moment. He lines up with the runway, lowers his landing gear, and extends the flaps. Code one. As Batumi International Airport was not necessarily intended as a military airbase, the airstrip is rather short, which necessitates extending the airbrakes along with applying the toe-brakes for the landing gear. As the aircraft slows to under 50 knots, Baldie taxis the Hawg to the parking area and powers down the aircraft. The crew-chief will at least be satisfied that Baldie returned his "baby" no worse for wear. Another job well done!

Mission: Provide CAS (Close Air Support) to NATO ground forces blocking a Russian advance to the city of Batumi. Package: 2x A-10C (Hawg 1), 2x A-10C (Boar 1), 2x F-16C SEAD (Colt 1), 2x F-16C CAP (Enfield 1). Execution: Upon reaching initial point, contact ground JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller), callsign "Moonbeam 1-1" for tasking. Time on station is 0h+30m. ------ Welcome to my office. The A-10C is an upgrade to the venerable Fairchild Republic A-10A which has seen service since the early 70s. The upgrade included an updated avionics suite and a precision-guided munitions delivery capability, which augments the "Warthog's" already formidable ground attack capabilities all the while helping to minimise "Blue on blue" situations: I power on the Hawg's engines and avionics, as well as uploading mission data from my data cartridge and check navigation data and weapons profiles. The process takes ten minutes, after which I taxi to the runway and await take-off clearance. "Hawg 1-1, airborne." Captain Jordan "Baldie" Roe (despite the callsign, he has a full and sumptuous head of hair, honest!) says as the aircraft clears the runway. He raises his landing gear and retracts the flaps, "Wheels up." "Grrrr... I'm angry... grrr... I've got a giant gatling gun sticking out of my mouth... grrr..." The key identifying feature of the Hawg is the GAU-8 Avenger 30mm gatling gun that juts out from the nose of the aircraft. It fires a "Combat Mix" of four depleted uranium armour-piercing 30mm rounds for every one high-explosive incendiary round at a rate of fire of 4,200 rounds per minute. It was designed to counter hordes of T-55s and T-62s pouring through the Fulda Gap in the event of a Soviet Invasion of West Germany, but it is still retains its effectiveness against more modern armoured vehicles against the weaker side and rear armour, as well as from a steep dive angle against the top. Upon reaching the initial point, Baldie could make out dark columns of smoke emanating from burning tanks in the distance. The Russian forces are mostly comprised of T-72Bs, butter for the A-10's GAU-8 gatling gun. But they outnumber a single NATO mechanised infantry battalion that stands between them and Batumi, and the Russians will win unless the fast-movers can turn the tide. Baldie tunes his radio to Moonbeam 1-1's frequency: "Moonbeam 1-1, this is Hawg 1-1. Two A-10s 9nm west of IP Adder at 1600. Armed with AGM-65D, GBU-12, CBU-97, 2300 cannon. Play-time is plus 30. Available for tasking, what do you have for us?" A moment before the radio cackles: "Hawg 1-1, this is Moonbeam 1-1, type two in effect, we have trade for you, advise when ready for nine-line." the JTAC responds. A "nine-line" brief is a standardised format for requesting air support which includes the following conditions: The IP for the aircraft to begin his or her attack from, the heading of the target offset from the attacking aircraft's nose, distance from the target, the target's elevation in MSL, the type of target, its GPS co-ordinates, what it is being marked with, location of friendlies in proximity to the target, and finally the suggested egress. "Ready to copy." Baldie says as he circles NATO ground forces below him. "Line is as follows: Adder, three-five-zero, 12 nm, 270 feet MSL, tank column, coordinates Kilo Mike five one seven four five zero, marked by Willy Pete, friendlies southeast 2000 meters, egress east." the JTAC sounds off. "Advise when ready for remarks and further talk-on." "Ready to copy remarks." Baldie responds. "Requesting AGM-65D. Zeus and MANPADS 3 nautical miles north. Make your attack heading 70-290. Stand-by data." Some of the key features of the A-10C's upgrade package were a tactical awareness display (TAD) using NATO's ubiquitous Link-16 situational awareness data-link and a LANTIRN targeting pod that can be slaved to the SADL. Whereas before A-10 pilots would typically locate targets using their Mark I Eyeballs, forward air controllers can now upload GPS co-ordinates to the A-10's TAD, minimising the time between nine-line briefing to rounds on target. Moonbeam sounds off: "Report IP inbound." "Hawg 1-1, IP inbound." Baldie says as he begins his approach. "Roger, continue." Moonbeam responds. A loud "fwump" could be heard over the radio. "Mark is on the deck." The JTAC had launched a white phosphorous "Willy Pete" grenade into the general vicinity of the target. Baldie spots the smoke emanating from the grenade a short time later. "Contact the mark." Baldie cooly says. "From the mark, 50 meters. Cleared to engage" the JTAC replies. Baldie slews the view of the targeting pod accordingly. The T-72s are lit up like a Dutch Brothel when viewed through the LANTIRN TGP's thermal-imaging mode. Baldie switches on the Master Arm of the aircraft and changes the sensor of interest (SOI) to the AGM-65D's seeker head. "Hawg 1-1, in from the west. Rifle!" he cries, as he lets loose three Maverick missiles. While the A-10's trademark weapon is the GAU, the deadliest weapon in its arsenal is the AGM-65 Maverick series of fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missiles. Loaded with a 125 pound shaped charge, the "D" infra-red seeking variant is capable of defeating almost any armour. "Shack!" the JTAC reports that the three missiles have hit home. "Hawg 1-1, targets destroyed." Baldie switches on his countermeasures program to pop a series of flares in the event a Russian Motor-rifle manages to launch a SAM in retaliation. Then, a new voice sounds off over the radio. "Hawg 1-1, Magic, divert to IP Towel and stand-by for re-tasking." "Magic", an E-8 JSTARS operator reports. "Special operations team has identified OPFOR C3 assets coordinating the Russian advance. Contact Playboy 3-1 for tasking, over." "Copy that." Baldie responds. He turns 10 nautical miles to the north where he then contacts the spec-ops team's forward air controller. "Playboy 3-1, this is Hawg 1-1. Available for tasking, what do you have for us?" "Hawg 1-1, we've got multiple trucks 1200 meters west of our position. Looks like a Russian CP. Stand-by for laser spot, code one two one four, requesting gun run, over." The LANTIRN targeting pod also has a built-in feature that can locate a target being painted by an encrypted infra-red laser being fired by a forward air controller. After spotting the laser, all of the A-10s sensors are immediately slewed to the target. "Copy, I've got your sparkle." Baldie says as he spots the trucks, some with communications antennae sticking out of them. Some of the trucks were lined up in columns, ideal for a strafing run with the Avenger. "In hot!" Baldie says as he begins his run. "Cleared hot!" Playboy cries.

As someone slightly left of center yet still pro-military, I couldn't help but shake my head when people in America were celebrating in the streets and in front of the White House over the death of Bin Laden. I agree that his killing was needed to send a message to his ilk that "kill our civilians and we *will* find you," but I viewed the deed as more like putting down a rabid dog than something to break out the champagne over (as I also felt over the death of Gaddafi, who I feel should have been brought before the Hague than suffer at the hands of a lynch mob). I guess what I'm trying to say is that even if you feel that strongly about something or someone, at least have some tact.

Should be noted that while the comments section for that post on RPS mentioned in the OT is closed, that hasn't stopped the community from commenting on post on the forum. The general opinion is that while most (if not virtually all) agree with the sentiment to at least some extent, the closing of the comments section stinks of silencing opposition and insisting that the community that has stuck with them since the very beginning is an enemy for not wholeheartedly agreeing with the post (whereas most of the commenters would simply just add to the discussion or presenting other points of view for the sake of the Socratic method).

Paid $35, if only for the artbook.

Welp... ~$61,000 to go for Paypal slacker backers to reach that $4.5m stretch goal. I'd hate to beat Torment when it does come out and say to myself: "Man, we could have experienced the definitive vision of inExile if only it had gotten that much more."

Add me if you like, i'm AirfixPanzer on steam. Am currently level 6 as Ostheer, getting pwned by soviet infantry spam :/ Sent you the invite. Came from "Apokatastasis."

Playing the Company of Heroes 2 closed beta at the moment, which because of the NDA that's about all I can say about it for the moment (hell, hesitated to post this in the first place). That said, trying to get my practice in after spending months away from CoH 1 and Dawn of War 2 will bite into my time with Falcon 4.0 BMS and Tera (bet you I blew your mind with how diverse my taste in games is).

So do you think it's on track to beat Project Eternity all-in-all, Paypal included? Not knocking on either (I contributed to both, but truth told, my heart goes more with Torment), but I honestly thought Kickstarter fatigue would kick in when this was announced, but I'm glad I was proven wrong.

I load this clip up to remind myself that no matter how frustrating point-and-click adventure games can get (looking at you, The Longest Journey), they can't get more infuriating than this. In order to watch the full video, you'll have to purchase a subscription to Giant Bomb, which I actually recommend for their Random PC Game videos.

Not laugh out loud funny. But whenever I'm having a down day, loading up this clip always puts a smile on my face: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v6Gc7roJ6g WMS: Weapon of Mass Seduction

Most francophone BD collectors I know when conversing with English speakers usually use the term "comics," and unlike some anglophones don't insist upon the term "graphic novels" to give it an air of literary legitimacy, as oby pointed out that in Europe the form is already considered a serious artistic statement (hence the topic of the title, translating to "the 9th art," though shamefully my rusty French shows and I have forgotten that "art" is masculine and this forum's stupid edit limits makes it too late for me to make the correction). Among the defining traits of European bande dessinée is a particular fondness for large, elaborate scenes that can take up a 2-page spread, and with it, more detailed colour drawings, many times hand-painted (the above spread in Oby's post is from one I'm very fond of, Requiem: Chevalier Vampire drawn by Olivier Ledroit, who goes sinfully unnoticed outside of France. Seriously, I can't stress that enough). However, that does mean that a 50-100 page album has a turnover rate of months or even a year, where a British and Japanese artist does a 10-15 page black and white comic every week in a serial or a ~30 page colour comic issue every month (which isn't to say I'm knocking on those artists for sacrificing quality for quantity. It's understandable that with that approach it becomes easier to tell larger, sometimes more complex narratives than with the continental European tradition). I don't necessarily stick my nose up at American comics. I am a big fan of Garth Ennis' work (granted, he's British born and raised), though I am of the opinion that the superhero genre has interfered with the medium's artistic growth in the US.

I'm a bigger fan of the European tradition of comics (my view of American superhero comics can be adequately summed up by Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill's Marshal Law and Garth Ennis' The Boys) and have recently discovered Izneo, which means I no longer have to wait an agonizing couple of daysto receive my comics ordered through Amazon.ca. Of late, I've been finishing up Monsieur Mardi-Gras Descendres (the first two volumes of four have been translated into English by Heavy Metal, though the last issue it appeared in was published in 2008). It's about a cartographer who dies (slips on his son's toy car in the bathroom and breaks his neck on the edge of the bathtub) and ends up in Purgatory where everybody walks around as a skeleton. Humourously, the Kafka-esque bureaucracy of the afterlife puts down on his death certificate that he perished in an "automobile accident". Have also looked at Enki Bilal's latest, Julia et Roem. This being Bilal, the story is quite impenetrable at first reading (though my only three years of high school French has something to do with this), but the art is still to die for:

Those rockets aren't too far-removed from the Katyusha rockets from the Second World War. Even then (as well as with its immediate successor, the BM-21 Grad), their conceit was volume of fire and mobility rather than accuracy.

The same "technological superiority" that makes them go to war in Georgia with incomplete GLONASS (basically the Russian home-grown GPS network) coverage and generals using mobile phones (which went through *Georgian* cell phone towers, meaning the Georgians could have easily intercepted Russian communications) to give orders to their troops because the radios weren't working? I believe Russia had been slated to sell SA-10 derived SAM systems (equivalent to, and in respects better than the American MIM-104 Patriot) to Iran at one point, then when the UN sanctions on weapons to Iran went into effect the Russians welched on the deal (I'd be lying if I said I didn't derive some perverse delight from this that makes me want to shake PutinMedvedev's hand that this happened after Iran's cheque to Russia had cleared). Iran later claimed they had purchased a similar system from Belarus, even parading the "TELAR" at one point. However, a defense analyst took a closer look at the erector and determined it to actually be 55 gallon drums welded together and mounted on a generic heavy lifter truck.

A bit optimistic thinking here, but hopefully everybody can win (or at least, everybody who matters in the short run). Russia can keep its naval base in the Mediterranean if they can make nice with the rebels, and Iran is deprived of its only state actor regional ally, which would really put the screws in the clerics when UN sanctions are doing a number to their economy (not to mention Hezbollah potentially being de-fanged to boot). However, my biggest concern if the rebels win are pogroms against Shi'ites and Alawites in Syria, and whoever takes over would probably put Syria's more than half-century long project of taking back the Golan Heights by force into overdrive.

I suppose an early death may have been a blessing in disguise for the former Chavez and other neo-Bolivarian leaders in Latin America. I suspect had the deficit spending continued to grow unabated, Hugo Chavez would later face the prospect of having to make cuts in the very programs he pushed through and would be remembered for the austerity protests that had also plagued Greece and Spain rather than a martyr of socialism.

While the Russians have been clawing back their old Soviet military glory and the Chinese are catching up with the West at a pretty rapid pace, by most reasonable estimates North Korea is laughably under-equipped. While the Russians did have some great Cold War tank designs (the T-80 was actually better than what many western analysts at the time had given the Soviets credit for, and older designs like the T-64 found a new lease on life with upgrades), they typically exported downgraded versions to other Warsaw Pact and Soviet client states. These versions, called "Monkey Models" usually lacked some of the modern bells and whistles enjoyed by what the Soviet army uses, like composite armour (virtually every exported T-72 uses cast steel instead of composite armour), turret stabilisation, and fire control systems (Soviet client states had to make do with obsolete coincidence rangefinders). The latest tanks the North Koreans received were T-62s, again lacking things like stabilisation and laser rangefinders. This model was christened the "Chonma-ho" (no doubt North Korean propaganda claims this to be a a completely original design). Though North Korea notoriously holds its cards close to its chest, we can make several educated guesses based on experiences the US, Israel, and western proxies had against "Monkey model" equipment used by former Soviet client states like Syria, Libya, and Iraq. For instance, Iraq did also receive monkey model T-72s from the Soviet Union, and copied the design for their own Asad Babil, or Lion of Babylon tank (which mind you, uses a higher velocity 125mm smoothbore gun over the 115mm rifled gun of T-62-derived tanks). However, given the results of rather one-sided tank battles like 73 Eastings and Norfolk, the effectiveness of monkey model tanks should be made self-evident. Couple that with the fact that by all accounts Iraq was better equipped, better trained, and the troops had hot food in their bellies before going off into war and the KPA ground forces' odds of re-uniting the peninsula under the DPRK banner are basically zero. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, China has given North Korea some token pieces of equipment (some newer electronic gadgets and exported Russian 125mm smoothbore 2A46 guns to mount on North Korea's newer tank "designs", though given that even the latest in Russian penetrators will only barely penetrate the frontal armour of the K1A1 at combat ranges, it's unlikely this will be of much help to the Norks), that said, China prefers North Korea to be strong enough that the Combined Forces won't steamroll their strategic buffer in an afternoon, and weak enough so that the KPA doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of pushing the CF back to the Pusan Perimeter (South Korea is one of China's biggest trading partners after all). The North Koreans do have the benefit of hindsight though, and seeing Desert Storm and Allied Force, and understand that no matter what the United States will own the air. Memories of B-29s bombing North Korea back to the stone age (Curtis LeMay said he only stopped sending strategic bombers towards the end of the Korean War because there were literally no more targets left to bomb) means the latest aircraft in the North Korean inventory, the MiG-29, are dedicated more towards defending Pyongyang rather than in support of ground troops. The MiG-29 is still a very good aircraft (it took a long time before the west was able to have a comparable capability to the helmet-mounted cueing system of the MiG-29), but for reasons mentioned before, finds itself outclassed in beyond-visual range engagements (not to mention that it hasn't seen the upgrades the Russians have been conducting on their own MiGs, lacks the complex Ground Control Interception and AWACS network the Russians would enjoy, and that the North Koreans are in sore need of fuel, and thus their pilots only have a fraction of the amount of flight time and training as pilots of other air forces). The North Koreans have heavily invested in ground based IADS, though that mostly comprises of equipment that has long since been phased out of service with Russia and the former SSRs like the SA-2 Guideline, the SA-3 Goa, and SA-4 Ganef and are vulnerable to modern jammers and anti-radiation missiles. However, I have read a statistic where if all the shell-based air defense guns in North Korea were to fire a single shell into the air at the same time, the combined weight of all the shells expended would roughly equate to the displacement weight of an Iowa class battleship.

Strictly speaking, the J-11 (about comparable to the F/A-18E/F Superhornet and the Su-35) and PL-12 in service with the PLAAF are reverse-engineered Su-27s and AA-12 missiles respectively. For the former, the external airframe and and flight handling characteristics were fairly easy for them to copy, they simply put in their own indigenously made avionics, radar, and other electronic guts into it. I should also clarify by what I mean by "lack of reliable engines" The engines part is a bit of a problem for the J-11 because that part wasn't as easy for them to copy from the Su-27 (and now the Russians know better not to sell them more stuff to copy, so the Chinese must either pay exorbitant costs for the actual engines, or make do with the ones they have). As for the latter, due to the Russian's lack of funding for newer toys, equipment like the R-77/AA-12 didn't see significant updates since their introduction (and that's only one part of the equation., the bulk of the Flanker fleet hasn't been upgraded to "talk" to the "Adder" so to speak, though Russia in recent years has been trying to correct this problem). And so, the Chinese having purchased some of these missiles said to themselves "Well, if the Russians don't want to upgrade them, why don't we?" That said, the Chinese have managed to field very competent aircraft designs of their own design, such as the supermanueverable J-10, and their stealth "fighter" the J-20 is a fairly novel design. My guess is the latter isn't necessarily a multirole "fighter" as the rest of the world understands it, but an IADS penetrating deep strike bomber/maritime attack aircraft and a supersonic long-range interceptor similar in concept to the proposed (and unfortunately named) B-1R.

I'm honestly a bigger fan of the aesthetic direction of Numenera. Don't get me wrong, my love of Arcanum (warts and all) will keep me chomping at the bit for Eternity, but the shades of Enki Bilal I'm seeing in the concept art for Torment has me psyched. Backed.

First read the news that Chavez bought it in Le Monde. Checked the comments section and it does give you a sense that the wide spectrum of attitudes towards the man also permeates the rest of the Western world. There are comments that "the world has lost a great socialist" as well as ones that compare him to Mao and Stalin.

Good luck when the current fleet of Eagles, Vipers, Hornets, and Rhinos can shoot down the entire fleet of Su-27s and MiG-29s faster than you can say "Pitbull" due to a lack of a missile comparable to the AIM-120B/C AMRAAM by non-NATO aligned countries (the AA-12 "Adder" hasn't seen significant upgrades since its introduction in the mid 90s, and sees wider use by the Indians than its own native air force), Even in Flaming Cliffs 3, developed by a *Russian* company, the Su-27S and the MiG-29 are severely outclassed in BVR engagements. Actually, the Chinese Air Force is a more formidable opponent these days due to being able to field AESA radars, being at the top of the game in avionics, and the PL-12 ARH missile (said to be at least as capable as the AIM-120B). Their only Achilles heel being a shortage of reliable engines.

One in a thousand incidents like that hardly impact morale, especially in the face of countless other instances of tanks like the Abrams and the Challenger enduring hellish amounts of punishment (both use 3rd generation Chobham composite armour and DU inserts). Even in the event of penetrating hits, the Abrams enjoys outstanding crew protection due to the fact that the ammunition is stowed in a separate compartment of the turret and also boasts a sophisticated fire suppression system. While it isn't an "invincible tank" (not that anyone was claiming otherwise), its fearsome reputation is quite well-deserved. As yet, you haven't provided any citable sources more valid than those by Lakowski. That said, my favourite tank is the French AMX-56 Leclerc; its got the world's most sophisticated fire control and ballistics computer, a battle-management data link giving it unparalleled situational awareness, and the latest and greatest autoloader capable of firing 12 aimed shots a minute (a machine gun in tank gun terms).

Find it easier to believe documentation utilising sources both western and former Warsaw Pact for a piece of software also used by modern militaries for gunnery training and platoon to battalion level armour and mechanised infantry tactics instruction and practice. Same vulnerabilities present in the T-72B series and forward. Rear half of the side is not covered with ERA bricks, as well as a spot on the top of the turret to make way for the infra-red searchlight for the T-80U and forward. Coax ports, driver's hatch, and the turret ring are the traditional weak points of a tank, and tanks using ERA are no exception. Attached is said documentation. Be warned, it makes for incredibly dry reading, such that even a semi-hardcore simmer like myself glosses over a lot of it, especially the maths part (major in studio art). ArmorBasics.pdf

From Steel Beasts Pro Personal Edition armour documentation - RHAe: Ammunition penetration chart from the Steel Beasts wiki: http://www.steelbeasts.com/sbwiki/index.php/Ammunition_Data For reference, the 120mm M256 is mounted on the M1A1+, the 120mm L/44 on the Leopard 2-2A5, and the 125mm 2A46 on T-64s and on. In the pure protection department, Challenger 2 currently holds the title of most well protected. However, as the British were quite adamant they retain their capacity to fire HESH rounds from their rifled 120mm guns, the British sabot suffers in penetration power compared to comparable rounds fired from smoothbores. That said, the Challenger 2's turret does have provisions to mount the Rheinmetall 120mm gun and derivatives.