4 ms·

A comically silly question. I bet 99% of HN has played a game with Class called or refered to as "tank." Its not a matter of do tanks have a future just what

A comically silly question. I bet 99% of HN has played a game with Class called or refered to as "tank." Its not a matter of do tanks have a future just what the format will be. Even in a made up fantasy games the concept of a military unit with heavy armoring is always going to have a place. Same as real life.

serf 4y ago
fantasy worlds rarely have an equivalent of a 'rods from god' type weapon. the future of warfare , according to most of the RAND papers i've read, is in cheap/commodity available 'nodes' , part of a 'system of systems' that can all interconnect cheaply and provide good data without being valuable assets themselves. in a future where any group can destroy any one thing quickly and without hopes of defense (hypersonic missiles, for example) it becomes increasingly more risky and less valuable to shove a lot of effort and value into a single strong piece of equipment -- 'distributed warfare' is going to become increasingly common, and it's one of the few strategies that remains viable in a future without sufficient anti-air defenses.
- citizenpaul 4y ago
  >fantasy worlds rarely have an equivalent of a 'rods from god' type weapon. I don't have a compendium of every game ever but they usually throw some OP weapon in. Doesn't invalidate the tanks. There is not in the game or real life an infinite supply of the god rod. On a side note I'm surprised there is no weapon called the god rod yet. Heavy armor will always have a place in battle. What happens when someone makes a slightly better armored swarm and you have to make a more armored swarm to take out their more armored swarm? Yep, escalation leads to escalation and eventually you end up with a......tank. Then you use the god rod to take out the tank and start over again. Battle is not a fixed state.

4 ms·

A comically silly question. I bet 99% of HN has played a game with Class called or refered to as "tank." Its not a matter of do tanks have a future just what

by citizenpaul 4y ago

serf 4y ago
fantasy worlds rarely have an equivalent of a 'rods from god' type weapon. the future of warfare , according to most of the RAND papers i've read, is in cheap/commodity available 'nodes' , part of a 'system of systems' that can all interconnect cheaply and provide good data without being valuable assets themselves. in a future where any group can destroy any one thing quickly and without hopes of defense (hypersonic missiles, for example) it becomes increasingly more risky and less valuable to shove a lot of effort and value into a single strong piece of equipment -- 'distributed warfare' is going to become increasingly common, and it's one of the few strategies that remains viable in a future without sufficient anti-air defenses.
- citizenpaul 4y ago
  >fantasy worlds rarely have an equivalent of a 'rods from god' type weapon. I don't have a compendium of every game ever but they usually throw some OP weapon in. Doesn't invalidate the tanks. There is not in the game or real life an infinite supply of the god rod. On a side note I'm surprised there is no weapon called the god rod yet. Heavy armor will always have a place in battle. What happens when someone makes a slightly better armored swarm and you have to make a more armored swarm to take out their more armored swarm? Yep, escalation leads to escalation and eventually you end up with a......tank. Then you use the god rod to take out the tank and start over again. Battle is not a fixed state.