Laithan xenobiology, sociology and history.

[Captain Seafort]

ROFLMAO!

[Mikey]

Sometimes a giant honking long-barrelled gun is just a giant honking long-barrelled gun, right?

[Granitehewer]

well its not the calibre that counts,but the velocity of the bullet

[DarkOmen]

well its not the calibre that counts,but the velocity of the bullet

erm... yes and no... a 40 grain .22-250 bullet goes 4,300+ ft/s but has muzzel energy of IIRC around 1,500 ft/lbs... where as a 800 grain .50 BMG bullet has a velocity of only 2,800 ft/second, but a muzzel energy of 15,000 ft/lbs... so you cant just say its caliber or its just speed, or just weight of the projectile.. balistics are tricky, its a combination of alot of factors.

[Granitehewer]

dark, it was an inneundo......

[DarkOmen]

oh... rofl


i dont want to know about you and your bullets... keep it to yourself

[Granitehewer]

lol

[DarkOmen]

ps love the art, and have a request

oh yeah... i was going to ask you... who/what were you referring to?

[Mikey]

BTW, it's not just muzzle velocity OR caliber/round length - the famed M-16 only uses a 5.56mm round, and not a particularly long one; plus its muzzle velocity isn't outstanding among assault rifles. However, it does massive damage to a soft target (i.e., human body) because the round length and relatively small caliber causes the rounds to tumble on impact.

I guess you could say, it's not the size of your barrel but the motion of your cartridge...

[DarkOmen]

tis true... but the AK-47's 7.62x39 has a much higher PENETRATION ( rofl ) ability, with a slower cartridge....

so you want a nice smooth pace on that bullet too

lol yay for innuendo

[Mikey]

*bows head*
Please, Lord, do not let any psychologists ever find and read this thread. Amen.

[Granitehewer]

too late,mikey

[Granitehewer]

although in my particular case,its' primarily for self-remediation lol

[Sionnach Glic]

Jeez, I don't check up on this thread and it degenerates into sexual inuendo.
Anyway, here is a fairly detailed run-down on the Laithan infantry force. I'll do another update tommorow which does a run-down on vehicles.
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The Laithan Army

The Laithan Army is the (rather unimaginative) name of the Imperium's ground forces. Unlike most races we have encountered, the Laithan put a good deal of emphasis on ground warfare, seeing space warfare as too inflexible to allow proper take overs of ground positions.

The soldier:
Each basic soldier, or saighdiúir, is a well armed and trained professional. Laithans are on average stronger than humans, due to their physiology, and their technology allows them to use this natural strength and resilience to create endless legions of murderers.

Unlike the soldiers of many other races, Laithan soldiers appear to be heavily armoured. This armour is composed of an unknown type of metal, built in plates to form a sort of carapace over the creature. The effectiveness of this armour is unknown as in the only incident in which Laithan soldiers were encountered (see details of the USS Bastion) there was little evidence left of the gunfight. We believe, however, that this armour will prove mostly ineffective against the more advanced phasers used by the Federation, and would only be of use in stopping low powered shots, such as stun settings.
Under this layer of metal, is a thick layer of fabric. This appears to be fire-retardant and possibly resistant to chemicals.
What few samples of the armour itself was found to have wires (a type of primitive way of getting power) running through the inside of the armour. This, along with details of the helmet (see below), leads us to believe that the armour is powered in some way, possibly from a small battery located on the lower back. Whether this serves to increase their strength or abilities in any way is unknown.
The helmet of the Laithan armour is highly unusual in shape and function. The helmet itself is elongated, due to the shape of the Laithan head, with two domes on either side which cover the Laithan's compound eyes with some sort of glass-like material. The helmet has many built in features, one of the reasons we believe the suit of armour to be powered, which assist the Laithan in combat. The helmet includes a built in communicator, activated by one of the creature's mandibles, a targeting system which works through some unknown method, although our current guess is at a low-level AI, a compass and a map of the area which can be projected onto the inner surface of the eye-domes, a magnification system, and a group of other sensor systems built into the top of the helmet where the Laithan's antennae would normally be. Also, the entire suit is able to seal fully and run off a small tank of air located on the back of the suit, providing protection against harmful chemicals, or even a vacuum.
The hooves of the suit also appear to have some sort of magnetic clamps on the soles of them, providing traction in the event of boarding a hostile starship.

Each Laithan soldier is outfitted with several weapons. Each soldier will have a primary weapon, which is the most commonly used, a secondary weapon, used if the primary weapon runs out, and a selection of other deadly tools.
Laithan weapons are incredibly varied, though the most common of which is the Automatic Projectile Rifle, designated 'APF' for short. This weapon resembles firearms similar to those used during Earth's late twentieth century. It has a long barrel, which is used to help accelerate the projectile, a stock, which is used to steady the weapon, and a handle, with a primitive trigger unit built into it.
The weapon fires a small projectile which contains a miniature explosive device built into the head. Once the projectile hits something (such as a person) the device will explode 1/3 of a second later, this delay is to allow the projectile to penetrate the skin of a target, thus exploding inside and causing severe internal damage. Each weapon carries magazines of forty projectiles, and each Laithan carries around five of these magazines.
The secondary weapon is similar, but smaller. They fit comfortably into the hand of the user and are quick and easy to use. There is a surprising number of variants, but the most common one uses a twelve shot magazine, with two spare clips. The projectiles of this weapon are not explosive.
Each Laithan soldier also carries several other devices. The most common of which is a small, roughly spherical, object known as a 'grenade'. There are an astonishing number of different grenades, many of which perform different functions, but the most common one is the Fragmentation grenade. This device explodes and fires out thousands of small bits of shrapnel. These white-hot fragments are lethal at fifteen meters, and are capable of wounding at greater ranges. Laithan soldiers carry five of these devices. Another variant is known as the 'armour' grenade. This device is specially designed for destroying hardened targets such as vehicles or buildings. Laithan soldiers carry four of these. Other, rarer, variants include stun grenades, EMP grenades, smoke grenades (it is confirmed that Laithan troops carry two of these), vaporisation grenades, and many others. Many of these variants are hardly ever seen in combat, and are only issued to troops sent on specific missions.
Other devices include a sensor unit, similar but less versatile as a tricoder, a backup set of magnification devices, smoke pellets, for use in signal communications, a small first-aid kit, a small laser-designator, and several other items.
Also, every second soldier carries a small, one shot, 'rocket launcher', capable of destroying armoured targets.
It is due to the fact that each soldier is capable of carrying such a heavy load with little apparent difficulty that we assume strength must be increased by the armour suit.

Organisation:
The basic Laithan ground unit is known as a rannóg, which translates roughly as 'squad'. This squad is composed of fifteen individuals. One sergeant, who leads the squad, two corporals and twelve privates. The squad is occasionally broken up into three fire-teams, one led by the sergeant and the others led by the corporals. Each fire-team will contain at least one 'heavy' weapon. These weapons range from larger versions of their infantry weapons known as 'machine guns', capable of putting out a large amount of fire, flame-throwers, a barbaric weapon long since outlawed by the Federation, high powered energy weapons of an unknown nature, and a myriad of other devices of death.
There are four squads in a platoon, which is commanded by a lieutenant. The lieutenant often directs the battle from a command vehicle or dropship of some sort, and rarely goes into battle.
There are ten platoons in a battalion (commanded by a major), and twelve battalions in a regiment (commanded by a colonel). There are twenty regiments in a legion (commanded by a general, and bringing the total up to 144,000 troops), which is the lowest amount of troops that have ever been committed to a ground invasion. It is not unknown for close to a hundred legions to be involved in fully pacifying a planet
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Basicaly, Trek is up against a competant enemy for once.
Yeah, those redshirts are going to die gloriously...all over the walls, ceiling, windows....

[DarkOmen]

they need lightsabers... lightsabers are sweet.