StarDestroyer.Net BBS

So here's something I've been developing over a week or two so that my future science fiction story has somewhat realistic vehicles that when you do the numbers on them; they come out as being 90 percent "About right", rather than me just pulling numbers out of my @$$.

And as I developed it more, and added more detail after buying a Jane's Armor and Artillery Upgrades 95-96 book, I thought: "Why not call it TankSharp?", and further thought "I wonder how far we can go with it?"

So here's the link:
Link

It's a 532 kb ZIP which includes:
TankSharp (Tracked - BMP-1).xls (MS Excel 2000 format I think)
TankSharp (Tracked - BMP-1).ods (Open Office 2.2.0 Format)
TankSharp Manual.pdf (Da Manual)

I know that there are probably some limitations in it; most notably:

• Does not allow for Side or Rear Hull Sloping. (see last number)
• Does not allow Curved Armor (such as Cast RHA Gun Mantlets).
• There is "missing" armor on the turret whose weight is not accounted for if you slope all four sides;
because I did not have the knowledge or skill to figure out the calculations required to do that (I only
passed basic High School Algebra a looong time ago). I decided to allow complete sloping of all four
sides on the turret, since the area that goes "missing" is very little compared to what would go "missing"
with it applied to the hull.

Basically, Take a look and see how it works; and please be kind to me this is my first attempt :lol :

BTW a screenie of an early version:



All around armor of 800mm thick Aluminum 5xxx series; with roofs and floor of 100mm thick Aluminum.

Carries 2 x Automatic 203mm L54 Rifles, with 50 rounds for each of them in the turret; and another 500 rounds in the hull.

For air defense, it carries four 40mm Bofors L70, and for close in defense, it carries 200 x 12.7mm class HMGs in the hull.

Looks like a good start. (For the next 'Love Guns' story, the APC I'm using carries four 155 mm howitzers.) At this size, you might as well include a Phalanx or Goalkeeper CIWS for air defense.

Very nice program, Shep. It's going to take me a couple days of playing to figure it out, but it looks good.

edit: Quirks I've noted so far:

Red triangles on KE Resistance level on the printout screen (I believe it means it exceeds 120mm protection, but it's not explicitly stated)

Top turret armor states: "Resistant to 2000s 120mm"

The armament breakdown doesn't note how many ATGMs are carried

Linka to v0.2

The red triangles are because the columns are smooshed up. I'll have to fix that next version by loading Open Office's Excel Output in Real Excel and fixing it up by hand.

Ah, that makes sense (by the way, I'm only testing the OpenOffice version).

I also figured out the "2000s" reference after my third time through the manual. I assumed it meant seconds (which made no sense) rather than being the first decade of the twenty-first century. It might be better to put "modern 120mm" instead.

Fixed the "2000s" reference in version 0.3 and refined the ammunition resistance somewhat

Link to Version 0.3

LOL, I've created an impossible design.



A 9.45 metric ton vehicle I literally optimized down to the last meter and ton; it's resistant to US 25mm on the frontal hull, and 40mm M56 on the turret (which as gonna be unmanned); and originally carried an autoloading 60mm L70 gun.

Out of curiosity, I began drawing it out using a scale of 1 pixel = 1 cm, using Paint Shop Pro, and right away, I found that I was going to have to start compromising right away for the scout role; in the end I had to go down to a 35mm L45 to gain an acceptable level of manuverability for a vehicle this small; and when I overlaid the figures in sitting/reclining, sitting and standing positions (taken from Dick Hunnicutt's Sheridan), I found that I had over optimized the vehicle so much that there was no room left at all; that it would be a ungodly cramped fit inside for anyone short of a midget, even supposing a Crusader-like combat compartment, and that in order to actually fit in the drive sprockets in, I would have to make it front engined, and shift the turret and driver back.

I am having a weird problem, it would not open for me using open office and it is asking for a filter selection.
Anyone know anything about this and can help me?

filter section? What are you trying to use? the XLS or ODS sheet?

MKSheppard wrote:LOL, I've created an impossible design.

<snip>

A 9.45 metric ton vehicle I literally optimized down to the last meter and ton; it's resistant to US 25mm on the frontal hull, and 40mm M56 on the turret (which as gonna be unmanned); and originally carried an autoloading 60mm L70 gun.

Out of curiosity, I began drawing it out using a scale of 1 pixel = 1 cm, using Paint Shop Pro, and right away, I found that I was going to have to start compromising right away for the scout role; in the end I had to go down to a 35mm L45 to gain an acceptable level of manuverability for a vehicle this small; and when I overlaid the figures in sitting/reclining, sitting and standing positions (taken from Dick Hunnicutt's Sheridan), I found that I had over optimized the vehicle so much that there was no room left at all; that it would be a ungodly cramped fit inside for anyone short of a midget, even supposing a Crusader-like combat compartment, and that in order to actually fit in the drive sprockets in, I would have to make it front engined, and shift the turret and driver back.

It's still workable if you transform it into a robot vehicle. Then you can shoehorn an engine where the standing figure is, and a computer with advanced AI and GPS antennas (for navigation) where the guy in the turret is. The driver can be replaced with a battery pack that doubles as a "shield" for the computer.

Completed a rough draft of the Wheeled vehicle drive train calculator.

Used typical axle weights from detroit diesel's axle site; and did some looking at michelin tire specs; and came up with this sheet, still in early phase testing:



playing around with it shows how pointless wheeled vehicles become at 30-40 ton weight levels; since in order for your wheels to actually be capable of supporting your vehicle with reduced tire pressures off road, you're going to have to add more wheels, which will in turn lengthen your vehicle and add weight

Uploaded a beta of v0.4 with the wheeled vehicles

Linka

It's a beta because I haven't implemented the "useful facts" page, and rewritten the manual to take into account 0.4's features.