u/Weakest_Serb

MTC has several elements that make Hawk's weaponry appear subpar compared to Eagle or Schwabelheim, but they are just made for different purposes.

Here's an example. The RPG-7 is a reusable rocket launcher, as you know. It weights a bit under 7kg, with the fragmentation shells (OG-7V) weighing at around 2kg each.

The non-tandem heat shells (PG-7VL) weight around 2.5kg

You can carry at most 4 HEAT rpg shells at a time, making the full weight of the weapon system a solid 17kg.

Eagle's ingame alternative, The AT-4, weights 6.7-7kg. It is disposable. You can also carry 4 of them, for a total weight of 27-28kg.

A full 10kg heavier.

For comparison, a Hawk soldier could carry an RPG-7 with a full 8 rounds of HEAT for the same weight, or 10 fragmentation shells. That's an insane difference.

That explains why the AT-4 is so much better ingame. It has a much faster velocity because it's just a bigger, heavier weapon with more propellant.

And the Panzerfaust 3 is even worse, as far as I know, you can also carry 4 shells with it. The reusable fire control unit is 2.3kg. The disposable tube is 9.8kg, and the warheads are around 4kg.

This means the total weight for a Panzerfaust 3 capable of carrying 4 shells is 57.5kg That's as much a RPG-7 with over 20 HEAT shells. That's insane.

Now, onto the Panzerfaust 3's competitor, the RPG-29.

The RPG-29 weighs 12.1kg, with the PG-29V rockets weighing 6.1kg each.

But the RPG-29 is reusable.

So a RPG-29 with 4 shells weighs 36.5kg

A RPG-29 kit that weighs as much as a Panzerfaust 3 with 4 rounds would have over 7 rounds.

That's a massive discrepancy again.

Now, onto Russian disposable RPG's

The RPG-30 is a crazy double projectile launcher designed to defeat APS. It isn't in the game, of course, but it makes a solid comparison.

It first fires a small projectile a few fractions of a second before the main one, so the APS shoots down the first one, and the second one can proceed unimpeded.

The second projectile is a tandem round with around 600-650mm of pen. Not on the level of the Panzerfaust 3, but generally more than enough for the side armor of tanks.

And it does that all for a weight of 10.3kg.

You could comfortably carry 5 of them for the weight of 4 Panzerfaust shells, with a few beers as well for fun. And it's an anti-aps anti-era RPG.

The RPG 28 however is an almost direct comparison to the Panzerfaust 3, weighing 13kg, also being disposable, with 1000mm+ of penetratiom behind ERA. And the full kit is still several kilograms lighter.

So, to summarize, my main point is the difference in Hawk doctrine, and how it doesn't show up well in game. Hawk prioritizes reusable, light, versatile RPG's vs the Eagle's heavier, disposable, but more capable and specialized designs.

And the issue isn't just in RPG's, but that's beside the scope of this post.

ERA is the obvious choice, but it's expensive, small (so it takes long to put on), and disposable.

I've been experimenting a bit, and according to my tests, 2 of the biggest drone cages overlapping each other typically can stop a drone without damage to the vehicle.

But 2 of the largest cages are very cumbersome, and only doable for the top of the turret, leaving the rest unprotected.

Apart from that, the largest cage with a flat rubber sheet under also works a decent amount of the time and is cheaper.

Those are generally my conclusions for now. I haven't figured out a truly great, consistent system yet.

It's a new strategy I figured out.

You first have to spawn as Engineer with the howitzer/f82 automatic mortar, place it at a designated location, aling with a supply crate.

Next, spawn as infantry with a recon drone, and go to your howitzer. Fly the recon drone until you spot a (stationary) target.

My favorite are enemy drone operators. You can spot them as they typically use the big supply truck, or are close to supply crates that are near points.

Next, spot them in game with the middle click, go to the map, remember their exact spot, and transfer it over to the artillery calculator, with your exact shell type (for the howitzer, use low charge).

And then shoot. A shot or two first, and if they aren't dead, shoot another, and watch it through the drone camera as it hits, and then correct the fire manually, playing it by ear until you hit.

That's it. It's a moderately effective strat, especially if they camp certain areas (like the fish spawn at D on dustbowl, which always has atleast 3 operators that try their best to shut down the entire game).

The issue is the long setup time, being exposed to being spotted by enemy operators, and inability to hit moving targets.

The last one is especially problematic, sometimes you'll just have no viable target to attack, as everyone is moving. If that happens, start monitoring points more, as you'll see infantry enter buildings, which you can bomb directly and precisely.

The benefits are: you get to keep your heterosexual status (fpv drones are gay), you have better situational awareness than with fpv drones, and follow up hits are much, much faster. Every 6 seconds you can lob a shell way more powerful than a drone (which can take 40+ seconds to fly over to the area you are trying to target).

Also, the entire cost for this setup is just 1250 points, vs 2500 points for the fpv drone. Sometimes you're just having a shit game, and can't be bothered to scrounge up the extra points.

All in all, it's generally less effective than using fpv drones, but it's a fun strat. It's excellent at suppressing enemy fpv operators (as long as they don't figure out where you're shooting from, and get a solid 60 second block to launch and reach you).

It sucks at preventing spawn camping though, unlike fpv drones.

I'm not really a ryo smoker yet, I've only done it once or twice, but I'll try it for real soon.

My smoking experience is exclusively smoking a pipe, and even then, I've smoked less than half a pouch (maybe 15g in total) in over a year.

In general, I'm a very light smoker, and am planning to keep it that way.

I've tried rolling stanwell melange (aromatic pipe tobacco), and even though I did a very bad job, the taste was suprisingly great.

And because it's very light in nicotine, I didn't even feel a buzz. I'm not sure I've ever gotten a buzz to be honest.

Given all that, I can imagine rolling a few cigs with a friend and taking a few to a social/drinking event.

I'm talking like 4-6 in total for the both of us, not per person.

What is the best choice to use as a cig case?

Regular cases hold atleast 12-20, and thats way, way too much.

I was thinking of an altoids tin or something similar?

What do you guys think?

PS. btw, I'm also looking for recomendations for a good beginner ryo tobacco. We have stuff here like pueblo blue/yellow, mac baren's of all types, golden virginia, bali shag, george karelia, drum (european version), old holborn etc.

Thanks in advance.

Thinking about it, they are already franken/refurbished watches, highly available, have a solid, reliable movement, and are very cheap.

So why shouldn't they be used as a base for modding?

Do they have a very specific dial size or something, meaning you can't find proper dials?

Has anyone tried it? Thanks in advance.

I've been sharpening for about 3 years now, with very mediocre results. At most, just about hair shaving and that's it.

I've followed Outdoors55 for most of that time and I love his stuff, but I never got the hang of it.

And here is my issue. I would apex, and then try my hardest to chase the burr. That sounds like a decent plan, but it never worked for me.

I'd use inconsistent angles, watching the burr's location after every pass with a flashlight, and paradoxically, focusing on the burr made it so i'd never actually remove it.

I'd be left with a bad apex, and a large burr.

And here's my advice to break free of that. Don't even think of burrs or sharpening.

Think of polishing the apex.

Polishing will put in your mind the idea of what type of pressure you should use (no one thinks of featherlight, nor gigantic pressure when they think of polishing an item).

And it will get you away from this burr-focused mindset.

If you sufficiently "polish" each side, the burr will have nowhere to hide. You don't need to chase it or draw it out like I used to do.

A good angle, and a good rhytm and you can't go wrong.

Keep the exact same angle, pretty light pressure, and just polish it in circles (or whatever is your preffered method, I have a very small stone, so I do circles) for a decent length of time.

Don't worry about where the burr is, or if you've apexed yet. Keep a decent grit stone (800 grit for me) and polish each side for a minute or so, and when you feel or see that you are close to apexing, start slowly tapering it down.

It might be 15 seconds, and after a few alternations, 10 seconds, and so on. Don't focus on the exact time.

MAKE SURE THE ANGLE IS CONSISTENT. And then keep doing what you were doing previously.

Polish for a few seconds, flip, polish the other side, flip, etc, each time taking away few seconds.

DON'T FOCUS ON THE EXACT TIME YOU SPEND ON EACH SIDE. Develop a feel from it. Nothing bad will happen from overpolishing.

You won't develop a massive burr on the other side from 3 extra passes. Don't be scared.

And at the end, do a single pass on each side, alternating a few times. And that's it.

So, to summarize, think of sharpening like polishing. Keep a good angle, a decent pressure, and go to town on it. Reduce the amount of passes gradually when you feel you've apexed or are close to apexing, until you are down to single passes.

Then do a few single passes. Done.

Don't chase or monitor the burr. It's fine to check on it occasionally, but don't get too focused on it.

Most people are well aquainted with the videos of the Spyridon firing both of it's main cannons at once, the cannons shaking all around.

That's true. The cannons vent the fumes toward each other, creating a constant loop of causing the other to shake.

But that doesn't impact it's combat effectiveness. Let me explain.

For the BMP-T, one cannon is always loaded with HE, and the other with APFSDS. This means that only one cannon will ever be fired at one time, where such shaking isn't present, and the accuracy is completely satisfactory.

There is not a single type of target where you'd want to fire both cannons at the same time.

Now, it's main issue and why it isn't used anymore. Drones. It is that simple.

To counter the danger of drones, most tanks are relegated to "sniper" roles most of the time.

Firing HE round from kilometers away, sometimes even beyond line of sight.

That prevents them from being detected and destroyed by drones.

But the Spyridon is completely ineffective in this role. It has no large-caliber main gun, so it doesn't have the range nor the damage to be useful in this role.

And that makes sense if you look at what it's designed for. Supporting armored columns advancing in urban areas.

It's 2 cannons with great elevation angles are fantastic for clearing out rooms in buildings from infantry, or destroying lightly armored vehicles with it's APFSDS. It can even destroy tanks with it's ATGM's, although it isn't perfectly suited for this role of course.

But given large armored assaults on cities just aren't possible with today with the amount of drones, it's a vehicle built for a role that no longer exists. Atleast until good counter measures for drones are developed.

Looking into making one as my first forge and burner, I'm personally looking into a (roughly) 1/2 inch burner, for a forge roughly the size of a fire extinguisher.

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I heard that's roughly a good size of burner for that forge. But, I live in Europe, and all parts sizes I could find are all in imperial units.

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Does anyone have some metric ones?

Thanks.

It's a very interesting phone, a flagship of it's time, yet tiny by todays standards. And it's processor still (kinda) hangs with current (low end) phones.

I'm thinking of getting it as a work phone, mainly because of it's size.

Battery will be an issue, but I have a powerbank basically everywhere, so it'll be fine.

Does anyone have one, and how is it today? Thanks in advance.