Axis retreat and scorched earth

[malika]

Okay I thought this might be a cool idea. Look at this link to see what exactly the scorched earth tactic is. Its basicly the one side making the area useless for the enemy to take over.

Now how does this fit with our game? The Germans are not definately losing the war yet, but this might be a tactic the Germans use when retreating. I could see the Russians beating back the Germans somewhat (hence the reason why the Russians are also a major force in this game) so I could also see the Germans using the scorched earth policy to make sure that the Russian victories are not that great. Sure they reconquered their lands, but what use are those areas if they are scorched wastelands.

Now how would this scorching be done? Since this is a pulp/sci fi game I thought something intense, some sort of machine responsible for doing this. The Germans might have a unit similar to the Desolator from Red Alert 2. The desolator could be deployed in the game, making a small piece of land totally radiated temporarily. Now only our unit would I think be a tank sized vehicle based on the Norwegian heavy water technologies. The vehicle would be deployed and would radiate large areas of land, making life on them practically impossible and agriculture would be non-existent after this.

Now you should note that a unit like this is a last resort unit, the Germans actually wanted to conquer Eastern Europe for "Lebensraum", so just desolating random areas would be out of the question, the scorched earth tactic is a very desperate thing do to.

Any ideas/opinions on this? Or perhaps it would be more fitting that the Japanese had such a vehicle which they would use to desolate Chinese agricultural areas as some sort of punishment for their disobedience.

[xeoran]

The Japanese make more sense for a weapon like this but i can see the Germans using it in areas of Russia, I imagine they are currently holding the Russians in the Ukraine but might well have scorched earth parts of Russia. I can also see this as a great weapon to fight with and a better idea to full nucleur bombs. Also i can actually see the Americans using this on Japanese held islands/jungles, much like agent Orange.

[malika]

It would be another form of use from the Norwegian heavy water technology. This might also give norway a more important role. Perhaps this vehicle would be a Japanese/German hybrid of technology, proof of their coorporation. So Germans and Japanese scientists actually designed this thing.

As for the Americans...they simply use napalm. It would also give them some variation.

[xeoran]

Ah...the napalm is a nice distinguisher!

And its a good idea to make Norway yet more important!

[malika]

Napalm is downright nasty...and its very easy to make. Gasoline and...ok I will quit it, I dont want to go to jail for posting this kind of info (we're living in dangerous times kids) ;D But yeah napalm sounds like a fitting weapon for the American to use, heck they even used it against the Japanese. So we could have aircraft firing napalm bombs or tanks with napalm firing turrets on them!

And the more important role for Norway was the whole concept behind the Norwegian front. Their heavy water facilities...[insert evil music here]

[xeoran]

I dont think they can get you for saying how to make napalm...i think most people already know (hell i remember a couple of years back sitting in a Phsics class while they cheerfully told us how to make a car bomb.....!)...well i do...
A large flamethrower tank (the British created one based on the Churchill but i cannot remember the name) would be cool...

[malika]

Ah cool an american/british hybrid! Awesome!!! I think that would be a great way of showing certain alliances in the game. Hence the suggestion of the technological mix the Russians have with German technological elements due to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Agreement.

[xeoran]

Well heres a good tank list...

And the tank is the Churchill Crocodile tank (although one called the Churchill OKE based on a redesigned churchill hull was also created...link here.. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_tank

[malika]

I would imagine this machine to be a four legged walker, sort of similar to the drilling robot from the Matrix, or something more along the lines of this. This walker would drill/shoot a shell into the ground which would spread the radiation/poison/heavy water rad across the land and then walk on to the next area. I would imagine this to be a medium sized walker (bit larger than a normal WWII tank). This machine would fire the shell into the ground, then the shell needs some time to "open up" and poison the area. I would imagine that if this radiation wouldnt kill all present life it would seriously mutate it, hence poisoning those who come in contact with those plants. However the process could be stopped, Russian troops are known to stalk these German walkers and attack them while they are drilling the holes. So then they either prevent the radiation or they try to remove the shell from the ground and thus safe the area from destruction.

[xeoran]

Thats a really cool idea...you know your London bomb..perhaps the Germans are trying to smuggle a larger version of one of those in and are currently building it in the London Undergruond, they will drill then put a bomb in, that way they get a) earthquakes and b)everyone gets radiation sickness without knowing, kills more people than just using the bomb conventionally....
You could have ones like that which drill, plant big underground mines and then *boom* goodby one tank and mine detectors cant find them....

[malika]

Hmm I think mines would be drilled in my smaller walkers.

The idea of the Germans attacking London in that way is also interesting, but I dont see them do that to the same city they are already bombing. Radiological weapons have a very short term radiation, so you bomb the city but the radiation would be gone after days or ever hours IIRC. The Luftwaffe and German V2 missles were used to bomb London in real history, this is basicly the same but more "high tech". I could see the Germans trying to use these "radiation walkers" (needs a better name) to scorch the surrounding lands of moscow or other large Russian cities, hence preventing them from getting food and thus starving them out. The Russians eventually defeat this tactic and also figure out how to beat these walkers so the Germans on their retreat perform a scorched earth policy.

[tordenskjold]

The idea is good, but the whole point of the invasion of Russia was to create more "living space" (lebensraum?) for the German people, and radiating everything the German army lost would make it pretty useless for living in.

[xeoran]

Good point Tord...but if the Germans were desperate enough....at the very least you could use them for mines.
Malika..hmm, perhaps they are planting the nuke closer to the surface so that it will cause an earthquake and wipe out London- includingall the bunkers?

[malika]

tordenskjold said:

The idea is good, but the whole point of the invasion of Russia was to create more "living space" (lebensraum?) for the German people, and radiating everything the German army lost would make it pretty useless for living in.

Yet when the Germans retreated during WWII they used the scorched earth tactic. It could also be used to starve out the existing large cities, after the war the Germans would then build new cities.

Malika..hmm, perhaps they are planting the nuke closer to the surface so that it will cause an earthquake and wipe out London- includingall the bunkers?

Hmm, that would simply be blowing up earth (as in ground), earth quakes would be caused probably by placing bombs on tentonic plates and vulcanos (which are caused by those plates) but I think that would be too dangerous to employ. After WWII though the Russians had some sort of earth quake machine.

[xeoran]

Its just an idea as everyone really that important in London had a bunker so it might be easier that way....plus quake machines are fun!