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So how energetic is a baldrick charge compared to a lightning bolt? Natural lightning is generally in the Terrawatts range, at about 100 kilo-amps.

Would that actually damage an artillery shell? Even if its just premature detonation it would probably help the people under an MLRS.

So, the demons are learning. Good for them. But will they be able to communicate their learnings to the other demons in time for them to make a difference? And even if they can, will they be believed?



Oh, and we haven't even started to pull out the bigger guns yet.

CaptainChewbacca wrote:So how energetic is a baldrick charge compared to a lightning bolt? Natural lightning is generally in the Terrawatts range, at about 100 kilo-amps.

The electric eel generates up to 650 volts at 1 amp. I'd guess the minor demons we're dealing with here can manage at least ten times that and it doubles each time one goes up the scale. Also the ability to control amplitude etc grows and in higher demons they can share power which allows them to do things like open portals.

Would that actually damage an artillery shell? Even if its just premature detonation it would probably help the people under an MLRS.

I don't think so. Thel works by buring off a proportion of the shell so that it destablizes and then get's broken up by aerodynamic forces.

Aranfan wrote:But will they be able to communicate their learnings to the other demons in time for them to make a difference? And even if they can, will they be believed?

That's what the story is really all about.............

It's a favorite meme of mine; people get into trouble because they see the world the way they want it to be, not the way it is.

Ah well. It WOULD have been cool to see a demonic lightning storm that intercepts artillery.

Throwing lighting is pretty cool, though. I wonder when they'll realize its far better to saturate with lightning than to charge the guns. I mean, if they have a clear view of the enemy, and EVERY demon in a legion fired a shot, it'd be madness. As I understand it, hardening isn't an infinite protection against electricity.

Tank vs. demon battles are awesome. By the way, what happened to the harpy whose wings were shot off, and who entangled some al-Qaida members before killing them? Is he going to try to off Gen. Petraeus?

CaptainChewbacca wrote:I wonder when they'll realize its far better to saturate with lightning than to charge the guns. I mean, if they have a clear view of the enemy, and EVERY demon in a legion fired a shot, it'd be madness. As I understand it, hardening isn't an infinite protection against electricity.

The demons will have to concentrate their fire on select targets to overcome that protection, or call for help from higher-level demons. In the first case, that means a lot of armored vehicles are NOT being shot at, and therefore free to shoot the demons concentrating their fire on the tanks that are being shot at. In the second case, the demons are presenting a big, fat target for concentrated artillery fire, air strikes, RPGs, anything we humans can throw at the higher-level demon-- with VERY BAD consequences for anyone next to the higher-level demon.

Sidewinder wrote:By the way, what happened to the harpy whose wings were shot off, and who entangled some al-Qaida members before killing them? Is he going to try to off Gen. Petraeus?

We'll meet him again - very soon. Along with another "guest star".

Sidewinder wrote:Tank vs. demon battles are awesome. By the way, what happened to the harpy whose wings were shot off, and who entangled some al-Qaida members before killing them? Is he going to try to off Gen. Petraeus?

Oh, he's probably fucked pretty good - after all, the Americans are all wearing tinfoil headgear, so they'll pick him out and riddle him with 5.56mm.

Or capture him.

Hehehe, Satan's going to be pissed.

Illuminatus Primus wrote: Right, I am just wondering how they were afraid of the Iranian T-72s, but not Americans and British tanks. Is it the relative proportion of steel in the make-up, or was it that the T-72s were aggressively closing?

They didn't see the American and British ones in that way. The tanks were emplaced behind the ridge and the only thing visible was the turret and the gun. They were boxes spitting magic. The Iranians were the first time the baldricks encountered the tanks as a mobile force in all their chariot-ness.

Are we going to have any survivors captured as POWs?

It would be fun to put them in the back of a humvee; chained down or handcuffed, and driven past the full might and breadth of 1st Armored.

I like the distinguishing characteristics between the British troops and the American troops:

British Troops: Deadpan serious; and ancient military witticisms (wellingtons comments)

US Troops: Semi-Serious; and amusing quips "Hey guys, they go crunch too!"

Just a question, what happened to the AAA and SAM support the Iranians had attached to the Brits in the pre battle planning?

Unless of course the Shilka's were busy tearing into the Demon infintry, in which case disregard. Ammo intensive, but it wouldn't be nice to feel.

Reading thisd I can`t help but wqonder how long till the units work through their ammo supplies? Both in theatre and the reserves back home and how quickly they can be repleaced?

Chris OFarrell wrote:Just a question, what happened to the AAA and SAM support the Iranians had attached to the Brits in the pre battle planning?

Did you forget when they engaged the Harpies at 5km out? (Rather than 30km)

Stuart wrote:That's a heck of a job to do on an entire population though, especially since several languages have to be created. Since communications are a basic skill I think it is very deeply hard-wired into our brains - we can even communicate cross-species - so it amounts to a complete brain reconstruction. It's much easier to assume Yahweh saw a process happening and decided to use it for his own ends.

By our standards "an entire population" of bronze age people could fit in a small town of a few tens of thousand.

Given how sparcly populated bronze age people had to be (simple economics, they couldnt produce enough food in a small enough area and move it to feed too many people), all you need todo is mind-fuck with people when they groups interact.

Which would be vastly smaller population set than everyone at once.

KlavoHunter wrote:

Chris OFarrell wrote:Just a question, what happened to the AAA and SAM support the Iranians had attached to the Brits in the pre battle planning?

Did you forget when they engaged the Harpies at 5km out? (Rather than 30km)

I'm wondering where they went AFTER that, given that these 30 harpies managed to attack the armor.

Chris OFarrell wrote:

KlavoHunter wrote:

Chris OFarrell wrote:Just a question, what happened to the AAA and SAM support the Iranians had attached to the Brits in the pre battle planning?

Did you forget when they engaged the Harpies at 5km out? (Rather than 30km)

I'm wondering where they went AFTER that, given that these 30 harpies managed to attack the armor.

Maybe they were out of ammo?

Also nice, super iron!!!!

And great chapter

Chris OFarrell wrote: I'm wondering where they went AFTER that, given that these 30 harpies managed to attack the armor.

Different batch of harpies; the first lot were wiped out by the Osa-Ms and ZSUs. What happened was that the fighters got most of the harpies but the survivors were in small groups more or less hiding fom the fighters (in folds in the ground, whatever). Once the fighters had gone, they reassembled and tried to help out the ground troops. The baldricks aren't short of sheer courage, they took a far worse hammering in this battle than any comparable force I can think of

The demons having a past history with "Iron Chariots" is a little disconcerting. Their hated enemy? I highly doubt that any Bronze Age army, chariots or no, could have stood up to them for very long. That says to me think the forces of Heaven have something similar to tanks.

MKSheppard wrote:Are we going to have any survivors captured as POWs?

It would be fun to put them in the back of a humvee; chained down or handcuffed, and driven past the full might and breadth of 1st Armored.

Have you been reading Homer?

Stuart wrote:The baldricks can also throw a charge by generating it into their hand and then tossing their resulting ball lightning

We need a Baldrick constipating so heavily so that his lightning ball power level will exceed 9,000.

I'm curious what the level of media reporting of this battle will be like. Will it be as intensive as the invasion of Iraq, or is it far more censored for security reasons? Certainly embeds are something of a luxury, I would think more affordable when you're trouncing a know-to-be-hopelessly-inferior-enemy than facing an incredibly dangerous (to humanity) unknown. OTOH decent footage of the demon break-and-rout will be great propaganda.

But you DON'T want any old Demons walking down cities of other streets to see a TV broadcast from a global hawk, reporting from airbases, all manner of what we might consider 'soft' intel that might give the demons a glance at capabilities.

Of course, they might rob a bookstore or four and walk way with every Jane's publication in the last decade for the same effect.

Then again, live Global Hawk streaming on Pay per View and iTunes might net a tidy sum for the war effort

Chris OFarrell wrote:Of course, they might rob a bookstore or four and walk way with every Jane's publication in the last decade for the same effect.

I doubt that would be terribly useful without a lot of cultural and technological context the demons don't have. 'The Big Book of Warfare (ages 8 to 12)' * would probably be more useful.

* I suspect Shep likes to donate copies of this to grade school libraries.