[Heir of the Void]

Originally Posted by Gentranum

Oh my! Thanks for all the info! I'm still relatively new to the series, newer still to actual military and actual application of information! So in theory, if say an Assault Cannon that belonged to say, a Tornado, if the group salvaged some spare rounds from downed TSFs in decent condition they can, in theory, just join them up in a mag to save money? That is, of course, if they get to the scrap before the actual army does.

The Assault Cannons are more or less completely interchangeable. In Total Eclipse, at one point when the gang is running low on consumables (fuel and ammo, basically), they discuss resupplying at a Soviet base. Gennerally, the ammo is kept standardized for the same reason, so I see no reason why that wouldn't work.

Originally Posted by Gentranum

I wanted to ask. Since the Balalaika is a somewhat of a knock-off of the F-4, is it plausible to have interchangeable parts for serviceable use? Like, a Balalaika arm for say, an F-4 or it's lighter European Export cousin the Tornado? I was thinking that the mainstay unit are essentially F-4 derivatives with various parts from salvaged scrap here and there.

So, the first generation basically consists of Phantoms and Phantom Localizations. The U.S. couldn't keep up with the explosively growing demand for TSFs from around the world, so they came up with the F-5 Freedom Fighter, basically a Phantom design simplified for ease of production that traded armor and operational range for ease of production, and licensed the Phantom technology to basically everyone. The aforementioned basically everyone made some modifications to the design to suit their local needs, and thus we have the first generation.

This gives us the F-4 and F-5 (obviosuly), the Mig-21 and the Su-11 and Su-15 (neither of which ever reached mass deployment, unlike in the real world), the European Tornado and Mirage, and the Japanese Type-77 and Type-82 (though I don't believe Japan was ever in the export business during the 20th century).

Ergo, I think it would be safe to say there would be a lot of interchangeable parts. Not all of them, but they're from the same family and were built to be rugged.

Originally Posted by Gentranum

Is it also plausible to assume that rock bands that are American existed at that time? Like say, Black Sabbath or DIO? Given the state of the world itself, would it even have time to indulge in such?

I think a better question would be how there is any other music.

Originally Posted by Gentranum

Also, if your unit is light and maneuverable enough with excellent radar, would it be possible to avoid Laser-Class fire as a means of distracting a pod of say, Laser Classes?

One of my pet peeves is that we really have no idea how Laser-class acquire or track targets. Given that they fire their beams from their eyes, optics would suggest that their eyes would then be terrible for wide-angle searches, but optics is weird. I'd guess it's some sort of tight-beam LIDAR, with an effective networked targeting, but I have very little to support that.

The big problem with dodging lasers is that they propagate at the speed of light, which is the same as any information that they're firing can reach you, which at a Laser-class' normal peak engagement range of thirty-odd kilometers, is going to happen effectively instantaneously. Ergo, dodging in the conventional sense is impossible, and trying to be like Char dodging beam weapons isn't going to work because:

1. You are not the Red Comet.
2. You can't really see where the laser is pointed, given that it has no telltale 'barrel'.

The best way to distract Laser-Class is to shoot lots of howitzers at them, then ripple fire an MLRS battery or three once they're engaged. That said, if someone had solid sensors and a Squad Support Gun, basically TSF-mobile artillery, there might be a way you could make it work by not giving the lasers a line of fire.

Originally Posted by Gentranum

One more thing: what details do we have of Operation Palaiologos? Do we have more info on the matter? Also, is there a specific military slang for 'cleaning up' after the dead? Sorry for all the questions~

It was more like the fighting you see in Schwarzesmarken than Total Eclipse, with lots of conventional forces and relatively little Tactical Armor. In general, the whole thing was an abysmal failure, but the Soviets were able to poke around inside the Hive for a while before dying horribly; the data they gathered, nicknamed the 'Volk Data', proved somewhat useful.

As for the other thing... Not sure. Crows do that, or at least are reputed to, so maybe something involving them?