Approved Submission [Nepleslia] Pontifex Mk1 Gun Carrier

Formatting issues:

• Forced line breaks were used instead of bullet lists.
• Some headers have no text after them.
• There's at least one red link.

This is not a complete review, just pointing out some stuff that will need to be fixed before approval.

Question: Why is this tank focused on stealth when after the first shot everyone will know where it is anyway? Any why use a mass mesher on a planet? It's not like mass sensors are useful on planet surfaces.

"The Short 'n' Thick"

Good lord.

I'll run a full review later.

Wes said:

Formatting issues:

• Forced line breaks were used instead of bullet lists.
• Some headers have no text after them.
• There's at least one red link.

This is not a complete review, just pointing out some stuff that will need to be fixed before approval.

Question: Why is this tank focused on stealth when after the first shot everyone will know where it is anyway? Any why use a mass mesher on a planet? It's not like mass sensors are useful on planet surfaces.

Click to expand...

I would appreciate if you would point out the first two formatting issues in their entirety. Try as I might I can't see the errors listed, any help here would be appreciated.

Also, for clarification: the gun motor carriage, not a tank, is designed primarily for indirect fire. The gun carrier's primary job is to rain fire on other ground units that don't have a chance of engaging it the first place. The snakeskin camo and mass mesher, particularly the snakeskin camo, are primarily intended as countermeasures to units that would attempt to spot the gun for counter-battery fire. The purpose is not to mask the shot, but the carrier firing it. This is also assuming that the Pontifex is in the absolute worst case scenario, where there is no air ceiling to operate safely under or other defenses to 'screen' the gun carrier.

These stealth features also have a secondary purpose when the Pontifex is utilized in a direct fire role, as simply making it much harder to see before, during, and after firing directly against an emplacement or enemy vehicle. This is however not the intended use of the weapon. It is more artillery piece than tank destroyer, but it can be used as such.

The mass mesher was cribbed as a stealth implement from the M10 Raider armor, that also uses it, and the intent is to defeat atmospheric or off-planet assets attempting to locate the gun carrier, again, for counter battery fire. If there is any mention of it not being applicable for terrestrial use in either the M10 Raider article, or the Mass Mesher article itself, I did not see it.

So it's an Very Long-Range Artillery piece designed to avoid destruction by not being found in the first place?

Is it possible to figure out it's position by triangulation or tracking it's shots back to the source? If so, that really ruins the only strong point your unit would have.

Edit: I do like that you have both passive and active cloaking. Nicely done and thought out there.

Can you link to and write out acronyms on first reference? Generally you do it well with either footnotes or by writing it out, but I didn't get to "PLAs" until the very end. Linking that and writing it out on first ref would be a kindness. Same for RWS, NBC, IED, VSP, SynAraS, so on.

Also, you mention shields in the ACE-AI description text. I assume that's just boilerplate from the Maximus?

There also was a mention of ammunition storage. Is that for the HPAR and any other spare weapons the carrier has?

Overall, I think everything else looks good. A solid unit if there ever was one.

(Srs though, "Short and thick"? Aiyaa.)

Talonis Wolf said:

So it's an Very Long-Range Artillery piece designed to avoid destruction by not being found in the first place?

Is it possible to figure out it's position by triangulation or tracking it's shots back to the source? If so, that really ruins the only strong point your unit would have.

Edit: I do like that you have both passive and active cloaking. Nicely done and thought out there.

Click to expand...

Again, the stealth systems are a countermeasure, not an insurance policy.

You're assuming every opponent the DIoN will face is Yamatai, and has such a capability to triangulate and detect, which may not be necessarily true for the DIoN's current, low intensity opponents. But let's assume they do.

Yes, it is possible to triangulate and kill a Pontifex, if you dedicate the time and effort to it. It could even be very easy if the gun is deployed improperly or the crew isn't particularly well-trained. Such is true of almost every piece of equipment or soldier in SARP. The Pontifex and its stealth systems are a small part of a greater combined arms whole, and used properly, with an air power cover, non-atmospheric space craft support, tanks, infantry, and all the other combat arms branches of the NSMC and NSN, it will do its job, which is sling blobs of plasma at those the DIoN has deemed needs to die. We make fighting equipment at NAM, not miracles.

Doshii Jun said:

Can you link to and write out acronyms on first reference? Generally you do it well with either footnotes or by writing it out, but I didn't get to "PLAs" until the very end. Linking that and writing it out on first ref would be a kindness. Same for RWS, NBC, IED, VSP, SynAraS, so on.

Also, you mention shields in the ACE-AI description text. I assume that's just boilerplate from the Maximus?

There also was a mention of ammunition storage. Is that for the HPAR and any other spare weapons the carrier has?

Overall, I think everything else looks good. A solid unit if there ever was one.

(Srs though, "Short and thick"? Aiyaa.)

Click to expand...

Added a lot more footnotes to clarify the abundance of confusingly military acronyms, and cut out the confusing remnants of the Maximus. Guess some engineer at NAM forgot to edit his design docs properly (ahem).

And c'mon Doshii. They're nepleslian tankers, what else were they gonna name it?

I suppose expecting to find gentlemen in a backwater whorehouse is a foolish notion indeed. </Yamatai>

Edits are confirmed and looking fine.

Approved.