Vehicles

Wheeled Vehicles Edit

The low cost of such vehicles is just too tempting to ignore when you're watching the bottom line. They may not be able to go everywhere that a tracked vehicle can go, but they're cheaper, easier to maintain and don't use as much fuel. [Maximum Metal]

Hovers Edit

Hovercraft have their uses. They're faster than anything else on the ground (except rockets and dragsters) and they have no problems with land/water interface, since they can drive off the water and right onto the beach. [Maximum Metal]

Helicopters Edit

Despite the enormous advantages of aerodynes, helicopters are still extremely useful. They are less expensive per kilo of mass lifted, they are cheaper to operate, and they can autorotate down to earth if their engines fail (if an aerodyne's engines fail, it assumes the flight characteristics of a metal ingot). And they can still carry a lot of weaponry. [Maximum Metal]

Aerodynes Edit

For sheer tactical versatility, there's not much that can beat an aerodyne. They can go anywhere that's above water, they can land in an area twice their size (which is fairly small area), they can hover and preform all manner of vectored thrust maneuvers, they're faster than helicopters, and they can carry more armour. [Maximum Metal] '

Ospreys Edit

Tilt-wing aircraft, now know as "Ospreys" after the first production model, are the backbone of short-haul air cargo transport in the 21st century. They're larger than AVs and helicopters, and require correspondingly larger take-off and landing areas, but they are faster than helicopters and carry more cargo mass than aerodynes. Typically unarmoured, most militaries use Ospreys as troop transports or heavy load-lifters. [Maximum Metal]

Airplanes Edit

Thanks to the advent of commercial airships and AVs, the role of airplanes has been reduced to that of high-speed cross-country transport. And this transport costs more, too, since the petrol-based fuels needed to run the jets are rarer than in former times (and are needed to run AVs and Ospreys in any case). The fuel consumed on a single jet-liner trip will keep an AV flying for days. [Maximum Metal]

Airships Edit

Military airships are usually cargo-lifters, not combat units. There are a couple of combat support uses for airships: Electronic Warfare and Anti-Submarine Warfare.

Tanks Edit

Still queen of the battlefield after all these years, despite the best effort of AT-gun designers, ATGM's, attack helis, etc. Over the last two decades, there has been an upper limit reached in terms of overall size and weight. The emphasis now is on lighter armours, autoloaders to reduce crew numbers, full amphibious capabilities, higher ground speed speeds, and improved anti-missile self-defence. [Maximum Metal]

Assisted Combat Personnel Armour Edit

Dressed to kill [Maximum Metal]