Artkin

I appreciate that. Right, automation. "Over the road" trucking benefits the most from this. A driver is legally limited to their driving hours a day. A computer wouldn't, since it doesn't need to sleep. I agree, though companies like Tesla sleeze-balled their way into getting massive amounts of capital to invest into low effort manufacturing, though that was not my point. It is relevant though, as the same exact thing is happening in that factory, or at a McDonald's cash register... which is ironic. My point was China has been on a very strict modernization plan for the past few decades, and it they seem to surprise "experts" often. I just wouldn't doubt that the tech is far off if they really wanted it. That is not exactly what I meant, I can't disagree with you. Golgafrinchans? What a rabbit hole that search was. Totally lost. Is that from a book? I agree that time saved is worthwhile. But some things are unnecessary and are more "quality of life". As said China seems to profit every year considering they love exporting goods. I'm not sure what they're doing, or if it's working, but they strike me as a government that will stop at nothing to have it their way domestically. I haven't learned about the 5 year plan in a long time, so I'll refresh myself later. People in the Western world can't be told what to do but they can be persuaded. Right of course not, but now new positions have been opened up to get those avocados on the shelves faster. I have to admit I despise this industry. They select their "boys" products and oust anybody they don't agree with. Supermarkets are a terrible, despicable industry in this country. I do believe people should be farming and taking care of themselves. Of course it's not easy initially when you don't have the right tools. It's also not easy digging a hole without a shovel. Using drip lines and wood chips you can have a self sustainable garden on the cheap which requires little to no maintenance. So long as you have a dedicated, organized, and well thought out plan. Nothing is easy to start. This is all forgotten knowledge. Yes there is an efficiency and know-how benefit when you have specialized roles. This isn't exactly what I meant but I replied with my thoughts anyway. Okay if that example wasn't good enough for you, how about cash register jobs? Those can be completely automated without the risk. With that, I am finished. This was pointless, but this post is just explaining what I meant before. On topic: Why are we training Ukrainians on F-15s? I would have thought F-16's would have been more than enough. We are modernizing the F-15 to the EX standard, so what gives? A new air superiority fighter in the works? F-15 might be on its last standard but we haven't even deployed it yet.

Money talks, end of story. How did a Chinese stealth program come to fruition? This is totally off topic so I am finished here.

I was hoping someone would chime in and lend some knowledge but that was wishful thinking. Few people on here have the knowledge that I seek. I'm stirring the pot, some pretty satisfying information has come from this. It takes some back and fourth. There's nothing wrong with theorizing. One thing is for sure. When I'm your age I won't be ******* on others.

Food service, truck drivers, salons, junk "food" producers, tertiary jobs that maintain rather than produce. I could spend all day thinking of more but I wont. Sure a lot of the economy is true necessary work. Think of a wartime economy, sort of. The truck driver dilemma is probably the best way to go about this. My question: Why need truck drivers when computers can do the same thing (eventually)? I'm sure everyone has heard of this arguement. What to do with the drivers? It's one of the largest occupations in the US if I'm not mistaken. This is now a filler job. Something that doesn't produce as meaningful results (Since computers can do it better) but has to stay because it employs masses of people. People dont want to let large companies invest into the tech because it will drive them out of their occupation. This is what I mean. If you are a producer like a farmer, someone who crafts, etc. That is valuable and essential work.

I assume China is capable enough to have whatever technology to drill that Russia lacks. Why wouldnt they share it with the Russians? Do they have to compete like China and India does? I actually don't know. But it doesn't make sense for China to throw away a potentially powerful ally when they already have India on their own border. A lot of the global economy is "fake". I wonder how crippled a full sanctioned China would be when they shift their efforts from creating throwaway cheap goods and focus it somewhere else. After all, their government has total control over their economy.

Cool, thanks. So by C2 you mean the layout of the Syrian formations? Or the leadership structure more specifically?

Thank you for the in depth analysis. I didn't dive THAT deep into it. I thought the EU had stopped receiving imports from Russia entirely, gas included. For sure the loss of 900M a day is a lot and probably unexpected for the Russians. This number without a doubt goes up and down as the days pass. For the past month or so we have seen an operational pause. The loss of equipment has slowed during this time. So at any point things can change with that figure. The 11% GDP hit is probably because Russia stopped exporting. But I thought China was buying their resources now? For sure this situation will get worse as the years pass by. 11% will turn into much more. AFAIK production has started to come to a halt. Though I do wonder if Luhansk and Donetsk were accounted for. They are huge areas (Though destroyed), and have a very large amount of people. These aren't Eastern farmers without internet access either. They will be valuable in the long run if Russia manages to retain control of the territories it currently holds. I've been much more interested in the combat side of things rather than the economic. Just stating my thoughts. I dont think the war was started for the profit of resource gain. But I think it was a factor influencing their decision to invade.

The Russians have already been seen rebuilding in their newly occupied areas. It's not offshore drilling rigs just yet, but since Russia is now economically closer to China I can absolutely see them receiving technical support from them somewhere down the line. The idea that this land is valueless to the Russians is laughable. They now deny Europe easy access to gas. As I said previously, the price will now be driven up. Maybe not substantially, but every bit counts. In general here in America corporations would go nuts for a 3% financial gain. I believe the purpose is to deny the West gas, not to supply the Russians even more. What do they need the surplus gas for? Economics is definitely not why this war was started. It was because Putin wanting to be remembered. I totally agree with this. However, if the Russians find steady buyers for their gas (Like India and China) then it's a win for them in some small way. That gas will pay for the losses in Ukraine and mucg much more. To disregard the gas part of this is nonsense, especially with the supply being cut, and European nations vowing to stop using Russian energy and food. It's obvious the Russians rely heavily on these two businesses. Coincidence? I'm no professional but I have been reading for a long time here.

@Freyberg see Liveload's first post from this link:

If I have a truck of some fools in Combat Mission I will consider throwing them out in the open to be slaughtered to find out where my enemy's positions are. I have no doubts that regular Russian troops weren't briefed and it was left to higher commanders.

I think the real surprise was the intel on the attack at Kiev. Wasn't it a shock to everyone when we heard troops were rolling through Chernobyl? They probably expected those troops to die, after being fatally poisoned with radiation. Just half joking. I wouldnt be surprised to hear that 40 mile long convoy was held up because the front of it was struck by artillery or aviation. They couldnt reliably take their supplies off road, so maybe they were stuck navigating ukraine with phones off, and gps equipment possibly limited. Not specifically that convoy, but perhaps in general.

Pretty much this. Who in the world would tell their army that they're going to be slaughtered? As others have said, Russian propaganda is everywhere, so even if you try to find the truth youre still stuck reading more propaganda. But we saw a ton of cruise missiles launched during the first days of the war. I saw the total was close to 3000 by now. It's been about 140 days of fighting. These missiles have been targeting everything (Civilians too), but on the the first days of the war we heard about many UA S-300 systems getting hit. Those are fragile, we have seen videos of pkm's being able to cause their missiles to explode with 7.62. It's safe to assume if the S-300s were operating in batteries as intended then they probably suffered significant losses and damage. No need for risking pilots. Russia has definitely been documenting emplacements for a while, esecially considering theres been conflict on their border for the past 8 years. I don't know the extent of the cruise missile strikes, but they have been hitting priority targets. They definitely dont have ISR like the Nato powers do, but it seems apparent that they have done what they were able to On the planes - Russia lost at least 6 aircraft the first day of fighting. Reported on this thread. They were out and operating. I think Russian commanders are just inexperienced and approached this differently than how the US would. I have always felt that the Russians had a certain pride about being different than us. Totally unlike China who will copy designs. Also, they clearly use PMCs, police, volunteers as shock troops. This happened in Kiev and it's still happening today. Wagner is apparently leading the fight wherever they go.

In reality seizing the capital is a just a propaganda win. Lines of supply and communication would be cut, but every military should be prepared for a situation like this. It was the first major city over the Dniepr. We have seen efforts toward these large population centers for one reason or another. Kiev was just a stepping stone to keep to advance moving. I could see the Russians not expecting the US to intercept intel about the Gostomel airport raid, and then the subsequent mechanized attack. Then again, it's impossible to stealthily set up an attack like this in the 21st century, so might as well pretend like your brigades are on manuevers.

Yep Soviet heavy armor would roll over the US while their 90mm guns would bounce off upper front plates. British 17lbers would be the best troops to counter those, so the Brits MUST be included. Soviets would have initial success but the Allies did not lose too many troops in the West, so they would generally be a larger and more hardened army than the Soviets, whose infantry particularly were suffering by this point. Squads would be too small from the Soviets to counter American forces seriously. American 75s would bounce off almost every piece of soviet kit (You can try this now in F&R). T-34/85s would be the US' worst problem. This game would sell like hotcakes. We've all been waiting for something special like this. I have been since SPWAW days.

I don't believe this. Ukraine had one of the largest ground armies in Europe before the fight. I think the fighting toward Kiev was Russia's primary effort to negotiate the Dniepr defensive line. It was a gambit, they lost it. But what fool would seriously think Ukraine would capitulate after having years of combat experience on their own border. That's total nonsense. Years of war probably strengthened their discontempt of Russia and added to their will to fight. Edit: Of course I remember the convoy but I think this was the typical logistics slog. That axis of advance was extremely narrow. All of us are speculating here, don't forget.

I agree with this. Fine, what's your theory of an attack on years of prepared positions in the muddy season then? No fool would think they could assault Ukraine via the road network alone.

I'm sure this is where most of the M777's were lost. That cauldron was a great place to exchange artillery fire between both sides

So yeah that video was posted previously and was discussed a bit. It went into how most of Ukraine's energy is located in the far East and how the grain is next if Russia keeps pushing North and West. The video isn't sobering to me. It's been no mystery that the Ukrainians have taken losses. They lost a lot of APC's and IFV's which probably won't be replaced anytime soon. The tanks have already been replaced, and Poland is giving up its PT-91 Twardy's now? Not sure if that's a fact yet. Ukraine's army is going to get larger and larger while they wait for the winter to come and go. So either Russia will try something hasty, or wait until next year. It's obvious they thought this war would take a long time, and they wanted to finish it within the year, so they started as early as possible. They probably thought they initial shock of the first two weeks would have them far in Ukraine's road network, and then as the ground dried they would be able to shift their tactics back onto the dirt. This is all speculation, but to me it makes sense. You can monitor their defense industry by checking copies of The Military Balance as the years go by. It appears they have spent their time mostly modernizing equipment. Their newest stuff looks like anti-air systems.

Still UA MOD reported that all of T-80BVMs were killed, which has the same FCS as a T-90M. Considering Russia is a mechanized army, this is really bad. They will remain an army, just not nearly as powerful as they were before, and it will take a long time to get back to that level. Don't forget Russia is a country who's young male population is already lower than normal. Understandably many fighters are from the poorer regions of Russia and are probably fighting for the cash. I doubt many people from Moscow and the more socially connected regions will have the gut to give up their standard of living and join the fight for Eastern Europe.

My bad. Was Russia*.

Lol what? Nato's only threat is Russia. Russia has lost 2000 tanks according to UA MOD and almost 900 confirmed by Oryx. Russia is a mechanized army considering its large swathes of land, a lesson they obviously learned after ww2. Now that army is gone. 2000 tanks. Nato is probably pretty pleased about this, Russia won't have ground forces that are capable of much. As said their production capability is laughable. The Military Balance suggests they are creating around 150 BMP-3 a year. And they have stuck mainly to modernizing tanks rather than producing new ones. I wonder what proportion of Russian tanks were killed by Javelins or Nlaws. They probably knocked out a large percentage of vehicles. The cost of those atgm's is essentially nothing in comparison to what the US spends every year on it's military budget. With Russia gone and proven as a joke only China will be left. And we will probably see something similar with them if fighting ever broke out. So my point is Nato's primary adversary is broken, and next to defeat. The organization must be pretty happy with this result overall. What will happen next? I'm not going to predict it, because who knows? I can't see the Russians conceding anything, and I think it will only happen from UA offensives. What is happening is very sad, and watching videos of it hurts the soul. I don't want to discount the suffering of the Ukrainian people and the performance of their military.

I believe the one limiting factor is storage density as noted before. Lithium ion batteries are too heavy and inefficient, and don't last long at all. They can't really provide the sustained amperage between heat and output inefficiency. I'm sure the armed forces are waiting for these breakthroughs too. I wouldn't doubt we would see some of this tech implemented first on a small scale from DARPA. They are likely watering at the mouth at the idea of having vehicles operate with little to no thermal signature besides the tracks. After this, then it would be more feasible.

Indeed, I reached out via an old email but I think the account was closed because I haven't received anything back. It's all good, hopefully round 2 will be better

Sure the SPGs are nice, and are a definite game changer. I believe they are one of the most modern versions in the world. But as Europe's most prosperous economy, they are letting Poland do all the heavy lifting. I've only stated my opinion on it once. The best game changer in Ukraine was NLAW and Javelin. Those without a doubt did the most to stop Russia's advance more than any other Western aid. Germany's contribution helps, but people are dying, what's going on isn't right, and it's time to end it already. NATO's foreign policy goals are pretty much fufilled. Russia can't scratch them after this. This is all before the nuclear problem though. If Ukraine wanted to use leo2 to spearhead their attack onto russian soil, that'd be different

Lol yeah, it's by far the best. Every master released was a work of art. You have every caliber of weapon that you could think of. But watch out, someone released crazy maps for SF2 that bumps it up significantly