Would a Hovercraft unit be any use?

[Mad Eye]

Was thinking about it last night. Some militaries nowadays have have hovercrafts but I've never heard about them being used for anything. I can't imagine they'd be very powerful, but their ability to cross land and water might be useful.
I was thinking of is as a weak-medium strength, low defence, and reasonable fast unit, that can traverse flat terrain including oceans that could transports 2 of 3 land units. For the same era as the tank and marine and to be made obselete when the hovertank is researched.

Good or bad idea?

[Locutus]

I don't know if it's a good idea, especially since we already have fusion tanks.

But the British Royal Marines do actually use hovercraft frequently (in small numbers):

Hovercraft were used during the recent operations in Iraq for tasks including reconnaissance and mine clearance. The advantages of hovercraft include speed, the ability to access a higher percentage of beaches than conventional craft, the ability to travel over small obstacles and in shallow water and a relatively high level of immunity from the threat of mines.

Currently, the Royal Marines (539ASRM) operate four Griffon 2000 TDX hovercraft. They have the capacity to lift 12 fully equipped troops or 2 x 1000kg pallets of stores and are capable of deployment in C130 Hercules aircraft. It is expected that the current fleet of hovercraft will be replaced in around 2007.

Adam Ingram (British Minister of State for the Armed Forces), June 16, 2003 (source)




British hovercraft in Iraq.



I know for a fact they were deployed on a peace mission in Congo as well, a couple of years ago.

[The Big Mc]

how about a plane.



some Russian leader who name i can't spell (Khrushchev) . Ones claimed he had a boat that could jump over a bridge .

this is a ground effect aircraft which allows it to be fuel efficient fast and hard to detect. The one the Americans nicknamed the Caspian sea monster and claimed was a unfinished plane.

[Mad Eye]

Heh, the only reason I knew the Royal Marine used Hovercrafts was because of one of those scrap heap challenge types shows - a team had to create a hovercraft out of a dodge viper (I think) and have it race an R.A. one.
How many technology leaps are there between say combustion engine or tank ware and fusion? If there isn't that many it might not be worth implimenting, unless I can think of a fair few more "throw away" and stop gap units for each age.

I'd love to see that plane, MC, haha.

I can only remember there being the helicoptor unit for transporting units over land, and that may make the idea of using the hovercraft to transport units defunct. What do armies use to transport units over terrain that doesn't have roads?

That reminded me. Is it possible to create units that can only move on specific improvements? I was thinking of a fast moving defence unit that can only travel on rails and/or maglevs.

[Mad Eye]

There's a vehicle that uses 2 giant archimedes screws to move enabling it to traverse the arctic. There are two vehicles using the same principle - Snowbird 5 and 6.
I saw it on Scrapheap Challenge a couple of years back and it's a fascinating machine but I can't find a single pictures of it!


HEREFORDSHIRE man is on course to register an amazing first for British exploration as he crosses the frozen Bering Strait this week.

Graham Stratford, 38, of Hoarwithy, said farewell to his wife and two young daughters on Saturday, March 17, to begin the potentially life threatening journey across the 56-mile windswept ice sheet between Alaska and Siberia with team mate Steve Brooks.

The pair, neither of whom are experienced Arctic explorers, are bidding to make the crossing in six days and may experience temperatures as low as -60C.

They have to achieve this in their vehicle, Snowbird 5, before the unstable ice floe begins to melt.

The ice-bridge has not been crossed by man since the Ice Age, though many have tried and failed, including the renowned adventurer Ranulph Fiennes. Ford, Fiat and Peugeot have also attempted to set the world record.

"We are carrying an Explorers Club Flag which we are very privileged to have. There are just three in the world: at the South Pole, North Pole and on the Moon," said Graham.

The flag is being flown from their vehicle as they cross the date-line between the Diomede Islands, marking the border between America and Russia.

The Snowbird 5, designed by the men, cost £150,000 to build. Some components were made by Barrs Court Engineering and Precision Engineers on Rotherwas Industrial Estate, Hereford. The parts were flown to America where the vehicle was built to a British design.

The two-man machine, also known as a 'piste basher' requires both Graham and Steve to handle it across the icy wastes. There is no time for a proper sleep and all food has been ready-prepared.

"We have added two large screw-like propellers on each side of the vehicle so that we can move through water, because it is inevitable we will end up in it at some time."

The snowbird travels across ice and sea and should be able to claw back on to the ice sheet. If disaster strikes, sledges packed with emergency provisions will keep the men going until they are rescued by helicopter.

Graham, a member of Longtown Mountain Rescue and a property developer, has previously explored Africa.

His adventures will take another turn in the summer when he and Steve attempt to drive from New York to London - a journey that would set four world records and break the existing world record for the longest continuous car journey. They would cross the Bering Sea a second time.

The drive in their specially designed Hummer car will raise money for the Just a Drop Red Cross charity which helps thousands of people in developing countries access fresh water.

Their epic journey across the Bering Straight can be updated on the web-site icechallenger.com. An ITN news crew will also follow their progress.

[HuangShang]

i like the hovercraft idea, because it will fit BETWEEN the cargo helo and the troop ship and is mutually exclusive from fusion tanks as it does not attack
the cargo helo only carries infantry, so armies must rely on either rail or troopship for tanks and artillery, but the hovercraft will be able to pick up the artillery earlier, reducing the time, but it will not carry as many, this doesnt really affect tanks cuz they can reach troop ships from far away

the ground effects plane also is a good idea, it can be an integral tech, a forerunner to hovercraft tech that has tremendous speed and range w/ troopship cargo abilities, but low l-o-s and no attack

[The Big Mc]

Sorry but the Russians like normal were ahead of the time. The acranoplan is still being developed and could hold great potential. the one in the picture is a rocket attack plane but they had troop caries that could rival any trop ship.

[HuangShang]

well gameplay-wise, it might be possible that a rocket bombardment/attack ground effects plane can come at the some time or after hovercrafts
however, there arent too many requirements for studying ground effects lift, thus, depending on the tech flow of the mod, ground effects shouldnt be too much later than WWII/modern

maybe a little later than the cold war Russian experiments of course, b/c there were likely still somethings to do when they stopped development and the only the thing that troopship will have on the acranoplan is that it doesnt run out of fuel

how about introducing ground effects lift at the same time as hovercraft lift, and then the player can chose which one: the ground effects giving a heavy transport and a bomber both w/ speed, range, fuel limits, and hovercraft-stlye movement, or the hovercraft path gives medium/light transport, access to fusion tank later, a light attack hovercraft able to capture cities, and no fuel limits cuz they could sit on the ground fairly easily

[Mad Eye]

I was thinking that the hovercraft would be a throw away technology - in the same way that researching tank warfare creates creates tanks and leads nowhere else. I wasn't thinking of it as a technology that fusion/fusion tank is dependent on, if that's what you were saying?
Ideally, since the hovercraft is a strange and unique unit that it could be a civiliztion specific unit - one that cannot be researched by anyone else but can be traded, along the same idea of LStanley's idea.

I'm considering having the snowbird as a unit - one that civilizations caught in snowy areas can only develop. The snowbird can give them high mobility rates over frozen and water tiles. I think that's possible to set up, isn't it?

[demon59]

The U.S. Navy operates several hovercraft (Landing Craft, Air Cushion or LCAC, for short) for troop, vehicle and cargo transport during amphibious landings by the U.S. Marine Corp. With a payload capacity of 60 tons, and a top speed of 40 knots they are used regularly for initial amphibious deployment and resupply. The Navy also has an agreement with the Los Angeles Fire Department to use the LCACs for emergency transport of firefighters and equipment, to battle wildfires on islands off the coast of California.