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Posted by: TheWanderingJewels May 5 2011, 06:25 PM

http://defensetech.org/2011/05/04/what-the-secret-bin-laden-raid-helo-might-look-like/

Stealthed insertion helo. wonder what a 2072 version would be like

Posted by: hobgoblin May 5 2011, 08:05 PM

Looks a bit to me like they applied what they learned from the Comanche to the Blackhawk.

Posted by: Rasumichin May 5 2011, 08:43 PM

That's what i'd imagine moderate-rating Signature Masking for sound and radar to look like.
The highest ratings would probably involve much stronger alterations to the rotors for sound masking that makes the helo quiet even if it's overhead (no more insomniac IT guys tweeting about your operation!), better RAM, smart materials and an even sleeker silhouette.

Posted by: hobgoblin May 5 2011, 08:51 PM

this kind of quiet? http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-02/video-eurocopter-introduces-silent-rotor-blade-stealth-choppers

Posted by: Daddy's Little Ninja May 6 2011, 09:11 PM

Considering how old SR is as a game you wonder if any of the planners ever played. I mean except the fact these guys were gov't ops, the whole bin laden raid was pretty much right out of SR.

Apparently cell phones and intenet links went down just as the raqid hit and suddenly came back when they were on their way out.

Posted by: Fortinbras May 6 2011, 09:13 PM

One of my players is an engineer for Bell Helicopter and Lockheed Martin.

Posted by: Daddy's Little Ninja May 6 2011, 09:16 PM

And?

Posted by: CanRay May 6 2011, 10:53 PM

Given how popular RPGing is in the military, I wonder how many of the SEALs have played.

"Damn... Too bad this is so Black. I bet my GM would give MAD Karma for having done a RL Shadowrun like this!"

Posted by: longbowrocks May 6 2011, 11:42 PM

Lol. Is it really that common? I've heard a few people on the board claim to have military backgrounds, but I wasn't sure if the numbers were magnified by people's assumptions.

As for that copter, are we really ruminating on the Shadowrun application of an artist's rendering of a helicopter based on a photo that happened to catch a section of tail?

Maybe it's not even a helicopter, but a... A blender? MilSpec tech can get the job done, even if the job is a smoothie.

Posted by: CanRay May 6 2011, 11:50 PM

Very common. My FLGS is owned/operated by a veteran, and is a hangout for other vets and serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces. It's also become the city's main Army Surplus Store after a very large and infamous one was run into the ground by new owners.

It's not a safe place to badmouth the military in. Even folks that aren't (Like myself) will rip new holes in people for doing so. And, frankly, rightly so.

Posted by: longbowrocks May 6 2011, 11:53 PM

Hm. I thought you were one of the military guys, but I guess I was wrong. I didn't have any other names in mind though.

Posted by: hobgoblin May 7 2011, 12:15 AM

Heh, i guess one got to spend time somehow during downtime. And i guess a book and some dice is easier to use then a video game if power is in short supply. And then there is the thing that RPGs grew out of simulation wargames.

Posted by: longbowrocks May 7 2011, 12:40 AM

Suddenly the military sounds like a great place to be. Except for the threat of death and draconian organization. Then again, we're weighing this against having friends who want nothing more than to roll up characters with you.

Posted by: Adarael May 7 2011, 01:07 AM

Literally every single friend I have who is or was in the armed forces was a gamer of some variety.

Although I think that says more about me than it does about the military. I know over the years on Dumpshock, though, we've had quite a few, including soldiers from Europe. Austere Emancipator comes to mind, for one.

Posted by: warrior_allanon May 7 2011, 01:19 AM

4 and a half years USMC here, and i've known probably about a hundred military members who were also gamers personally (irl) and i wont even begin to try and count the number i've talked to online. Another place you might find odd for gamers though its rife with them is prison, and i wont get any deeper into that so dont ask.

Posted by: Dez384 May 7 2011, 01:26 AM

A person sitting around all day with nothing to do and plenty of people to play games with. Makes sense to me.

Posted by: CanRay May 7 2011, 02:21 AM

The problem with prisons, however, is that dice are banned from most of them, to try and curb gambling. (Doesn't make sense to me either.).

My personal favorite story about gaming in a war zone was about some AD&D players... They used rounds as minis. The Machine Gunner had a tracer for his Mage.

One day, he showed up without his "Mini", and everyone asked what happened, his face fell and he said, "I shot him."

Posted by: LurkerOutThere May 7 2011, 02:30 AM

I'm not sure if the percentage is any higher then society as a whole but the insular nature of the military communities makes it a lot easier to find each other. How often can you find a gaming group by finding an ad in the town newspaper. On a military base that's actually pretty easy.

Posted by: kzt May 7 2011, 03:44 AM

I played SR with a guy who's day job was a Pave Low driver at Kirtland AFB. He mentioned that in SR you get a job from a guy in a bar and have 6 hours to do it.

In real life he would get assigned a mission typically a month out and have a 100 guys who would spend that month doing research, getting sat photos and maps from DoD organizations (who have thousands of people who produce this for them), building models in the simulator or in reality, planning ingress and egress paths, checklists, decision trees for how to handle issues, etc. And then they would practice running the mission in simulators and actual fight if possible.

Posted by: Fortinbras May 7 2011, 07:32 AM

That's probably why they have a much lower casualty rate than the typical Shadowrunner.

Another one of my players was a Marine stationed in Okinawa for a time. He claims they played Earthdawn almost constantly.

Posted by: longbowrocks May 7 2011, 07:35 AM

Good man.

Posted by: Sixgun_Sage May 7 2011, 02:06 PM

'Nother former military guy here, several more gamers existed in the company, one of the few periods in my life when a game was consistently available that I did not have to gm...

Posted by: Method May 7 2011, 03:06 PM

It's very common in the military for the various reasons above.

In fact a couple years ago DS participated in a collection drive to send used gaming materials to US service members deployed to war zones.

Posted by: CanRay May 7 2011, 04:00 PM

My FLGS did the same.

Along with Silly String and Tim Horton's Gift Certificates.

Posted by: Bigity May 7 2011, 06:12 PM

Agreed, I've met far more gamers that were/are military than not. Of course, I was military so the sample might be skewed. But yes in my experience bases are a good place to find table top gamers, whether that's RPGs or wargaming.

Posted by: CanRay May 7 2011, 10:37 PM

To sum it up: Don't pick fight with RPGers.

We call in the reserves.