A BOLO is a sort of super tank of Science Fiction. It is characterized by size, intelligence and power. I was reading a story today, "Miles to Go," by David Weber in which a BOLO was described as being 75 meters long and 30 meters tall. We're at a loss for the intelligence, but that size is big enough to carry a polywell with room to spare.
How big would a tank need to be to carry a polywell, and what kind of armament could it muster.
Has any thought been given to a polywell powered BOLO?
Re: Has any thought been given to a polywell powered BOLO?
Nope, no one has considered that idea at all.... 
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... now the serious question: why?
Bigger armored fighting vehicles?... sure. But smaller power units such as Focus Fusion DPFs would shine there, though...
But Bolo-class combat units.... why?
Why build such a huge high-value target that would cost as much as an aircraft carrier and yet not be nearly as effective?
What sort of opponent are you engaging that can't be otherwise defeated by cheaper aircraft, missiles, artillery and various kinetic and directed energy weapons?
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The obvious answer would seem to be a 7 meter cube plus weapons plus propulsion mechanism plus armor...Aero wrote: How big would a tank need to be to carry a polywell, and what kind of armament could it muster.
... now the serious question: why?
Bigger armored fighting vehicles?... sure. But smaller power units such as Focus Fusion DPFs would shine there, though...
But Bolo-class combat units.... why?
Why build such a huge high-value target that would cost as much as an aircraft carrier and yet not be nearly as effective?
What sort of opponent are you engaging that can't be otherwise defeated by cheaper aircraft, missiles, artillery and various kinetic and directed energy weapons?
Sorry, but it is not in the cost class of an aircraft carrier. An aircraft carrier, 300 meters of steel is the cost of a division of BOLOs.
Why ? Well, Science Fiction places them on far off planets, relatively undeveloped so they don't face the power of a developed planet but can defeat anything the undeveloped planet can field. Would they be useful on Earth? Maybe not, but then what will Hammer's Slammers drive?
Why ? Well, Science Fiction places them on far off planets, relatively undeveloped so they don't face the power of a developed planet but can defeat anything the undeveloped planet can field. Would they be useful on Earth? Maybe not, but then what will Hammer's Slammers drive?
Aero
Timber WolfAero wrote:Sorry, but it is not in the cost class of an aircraft carrier. An aircraft carrier, 300 meters of steel is the cost of a division of BOLOs.
Why ? Well, Science Fiction places them on far off planets, relatively undeveloped so they don't face the power of a developed planet but can defeat anything the undeveloped planet can field. Would they be useful on Earth? Maybe not, but then what will Hammer's Slammers drive?
Aero wrote:Sorry, but it is not in the cost class of an aircraft carrier. An aircraft carrier, 300 meters of steel is the cost of a division of BOLOs.
Carriers don't have to carry armor capable of stopping heavy anti-tank rounds... 70 meters by 30 meters by an unknown width times armor enough to stop at least an APFSDS launched by a 120mm cannon... and that's current requirements... the fictional Bolos are supposed to waltz through nuclear near-misses with ease and even survive nuclear direct hits along with attacks by vaguely defined future weapons with great names... and the costs will snowball from there...
I think that the most realistic Bolos proposed for near-future weapons and concepts were the early-model Bolos that were retconned into the Boloverse by the writers that followed Laumer.
Those units serve as semi-autonomous mobile firebases... but even those fall closer to the "larger AFV" concept than the huge Bolos that are seen later in the chronology.
The Martian revolts must be crushed? Waittaminute... I thought all the Liberteapartites were emigrating to Mars... that's what Project Ares over at NASA was all about, right?Aero wrote:Why ? Well, Science Fiction places them on far off planets, relatively undeveloped so they don't face the power of a developed planet but can defeat anything the undeveloped planet can field. Would they be useful on Earth? Maybe not, but then what will Hammer's Slammers drive?
As for the Slammers... even the relatively low-powered DPF unit gets us hovertanks with frickin' laser cannon...
Yeah, a BOLO is more akin to taking the Kennedy Space Center crawler and putting armor and weapons on it. Rockwell International builds them for $14 million each.Aero wrote:Sorry, but it is not in the cost class of an aircraft carrier. An aircraft carrier, 300 meters of steel is the cost of a division of BOLOs.
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GIThruster
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Not sure how you'd cool any of this stuff (except the carrier), but if you have to have fusion battle weapons, I'm holding out for a PPC. Isn't that what a DPF is perfect for?
What Kitty is saying is true though. We no longer build main battle tanks because high mobility and small signature is more effective than armor.
I think a DPF powered A10, rapid-firing plasma bolts, is more likely than a huge tank. Seems no matter how big you build a tank, the Navy is gonna shoot it with their rail gun from hundreds of miles away.
What Kitty is saying is true though. We no longer build main battle tanks because high mobility and small signature is more effective than armor.
I think a DPF powered A10, rapid-firing plasma bolts, is more likely than a huge tank. Seems no matter how big you build a tank, the Navy is gonna shoot it with their rail gun from hundreds of miles away.
"Courage is not just a virtue, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." C. S. Lewis
I think the OGRE concept is similar
Steve Jackson Games.
High tech, major mobile base vs. multiple small units.
Depending on the technologies involved, things could fit on a massive scale super-tank that could not fit on a small one. Laser systems and medium-range missile batteries come to mind.
The Germans designed a 1500 ton tank in WWII that was going to have an 8" gun.
The 110 ton tank they DID make (jokingly called the Mouse) had such a heavy ground loading it was basically worthless.
Steve Jackson Games.
High tech, major mobile base vs. multiple small units.
Depending on the technologies involved, things could fit on a massive scale super-tank that could not fit on a small one. Laser systems and medium-range missile batteries come to mind.
The Germans designed a 1500 ton tank in WWII that was going to have an 8" gun.
The 110 ton tank they DID make (jokingly called the Mouse) had such a heavy ground loading it was basically worthless.
Wandering Kernel of Happiness
Main Battle tanks has always been in a race against hand held anti tank weaponry. unfortunately for armored fighting vehicles, It's easier to design a small weapon capable of defeating even the heaviest and most capable armor than it is to design ever more capable armor. 
The push now is towards more capable and flexible defensive options like extreme mobility and automated defense systems.
Interestingly. a polywell could well usher in a new generation of yet more capable armored fighting vehicles.
With such a large amount of electrical power available it becomes feasible to mount point defense laser turrets onto a tank. This would potentially tilt the balance in favor of the main battle tank again. until someone figures out how to make missiles capable of defeating the pd lasers that is.
But what enemy is there that one would need such a monster tank against? Against insurgents (light foot soldiers that use stealth and deception) it is practically worthless.
The push now is towards more capable and flexible defensive options like extreme mobility and automated defense systems.
Interestingly. a polywell could well usher in a new generation of yet more capable armored fighting vehicles.
With such a large amount of electrical power available it becomes feasible to mount point defense laser turrets onto a tank. This would potentially tilt the balance in favor of the main battle tank again. until someone figures out how to make missiles capable of defeating the pd lasers that is.
But what enemy is there that one would need such a monster tank against? Against insurgents (light foot soldiers that use stealth and deception) it is practically worthless.
GIThruster wrote:Not sure how you'd cool any of this stuff (except the carrier), but if you have to have fusion battle weapons, I'm holding out for a PPC. Isn't that what a DPF is perfect for?
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I've been thinking about this. Using Prof. Prins approach to eletromagnetic and matter waves (where an electron gives up energy and converts it into a matter-wave when entering the nucleus), could we not synthetically provoke a greater mass-wave component of the plasma so that it becomes a more coherent ball of goo that we can shoot out a cannon (I think this starts to go in to some of Frank Zndidarsic's work too)
But first youi have to develop a point-defense laser system that can intercept and somehow disable a solid dart of depleted uranium/nickel/zinc alloy with a 2-3 cm diameter cross section, a length of over half a meter and traveling about a kilometer per second... and the pd system has to do that repeatedly against multiple concurrent attackers.Antice wrote:Interestingly. a polywell could well usher in a new generation of yet more capable armored fighting vehicles.
With such a large amount of electrical power available it becomes feasible to mount point defense laser turrets onto a tank. This would potentially tilt the balance in favor of the main battle tank again. until someone figures out how to make missiles capable of defeating the pd lasers that is.
Possible? Sure.... but that's a lot of megawattage and other resources devoted to just keeping the fusion AFV (FAFV?) alive against a squad of Abrams...
@roger. Are you thinking of the Shiva tank named bun bun? Now that was a fun story. 
@zapkitty. well. missiles are a bigger threat than direct fire guns. simply because a missile can be launched from a simple tube carried by a single soldier. No soldier i know of can carry 120mm main cannon. heck. i dont know anyone that would be able to fire a 30mm auto-cannon either without a major supporting frame present. We have armor that can deflect a 120mm DU spear. but the same armor is easily defeated by the Eryx portable anti tank missile.
However the best defense against other direct fire weapons is to take them out before they can take you out. if they can see you, then you can see them. this is what the expensive electronics suite is supposed to help you with.
@zapkitty. well. missiles are a bigger threat than direct fire guns. simply because a missile can be launched from a simple tube carried by a single soldier. No soldier i know of can carry 120mm main cannon. heck. i dont know anyone that would be able to fire a 30mm auto-cannon either without a major supporting frame present. We have armor that can deflect a 120mm DU spear. but the same armor is easily defeated by the Eryx portable anti tank missile.
However the best defense against other direct fire weapons is to take them out before they can take you out. if they can see you, then you can see them. this is what the expensive electronics suite is supposed to help you with.
The size of the power plant for a mobile vehicle, or 'BOLO"? Bussard speculated that an advanced Polywell might be small enouth to power a semitrailer truck. As the power scales so fast, a moderately larger power pack could provide a lot of power for lasers, rail guns, etc.
As far as armor, the world is changing. Active defense with interceptor rockets is already on the verge of wide scale deployment on tanks. Also, electric armor* continues development, especially in Briton, and probably US, Russia, etc.
* Esentially a highly charged capaciter, that when penetrated discharges a huge current into the projectile or molten jet so that it is vaporized and defocused.
Dan Tibbets
As far as armor, the world is changing. Active defense with interceptor rockets is already on the verge of wide scale deployment on tanks. Also, electric armor* continues development, especially in Briton, and probably US, Russia, etc.
* Esentially a highly charged capaciter, that when penetrated discharges a huge current into the projectile or molten jet so that it is vaporized and defocused.
Dan Tibbets
To error is human... and I'm very human.