Quote:
Originally Posted by kevineduguay1
IMP,
Yes weapons slots are a problem but they can be overcome by combining the firepower of some of the MGs. For instance the 50cal MG and the 7.62mm CMG can be made into on weapon as could the two 7.62 mm AAMG. This leaves two slots open, one for the mortar and one for the main gun. The only versions of the Merkava that this will not work with are those armed with the LAHAT ATGM. Even if you eliminate the 50cal MG you still have to include the 7.62mm CMG and at least one 7.62mm AAMG. So with the LAHAT armed vehicles the mortar would have to be left off or all the AAMGs.
Ammo for the mortar came up as 30 rounds on most sources I found. They also said that most were HE. But like you said there are other rounds carried. So a game loadout of 15-20 rounds would be a fair solution.
Marcello,
I classed mine as a "Gun APC" Unit class 127. I will edit my original post for clarification. When the AI uses this class of APC it will move and shoot like a tank but I must admit that I have not fully tested this yet so your concerns may be valid. If a AI problem exists a custom human player unit would still be nice.
I have seen sites that also talk about reduces ammo loadouts for the main gun if infantry are carried. But other sites claim that this space is available for troop evacuation even with a normal ammo load.
If you can evacuate troops you can carry troops.
The rear compartment can be packed with more main gun ammo if nessessary. 30+ rounds of 120mm can be placed in this space. With this load no troops would be carried.
So if they can put 30 extra rounds of 120mm back there why not why not 8 men with small arms and maybe a LMG?
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The rear compartment holds 30 of the 48 standard rounds (and MG ammo cans etc),
not 30 'extra' rounds. Otherwise the Merkavas would be carrying
70 120mm!. The rear compartment is mainly for ease of resupplying ammo while under fire or when on a fire-step. i.e. the same philosophy as the M109 and similar SP arty, easier to bung a palette in the back passage than to break rounds down and hump them up and over the turret hatches one by one.
The merkava can carry some infantry in the ammo space,
if required, but only at the cost of ammunition storage. Thus it is best to have any infantry in separate APCs, unless you like MBT with only 12 or so ready rounds.
We could allow a carry count of 4 - so they could squeeze in a ditched tank crew there, but this would be for humans only. And if we did, then the end users would immediately be using this to carry scout teams. In addition - tank carry is
not protected, so any such would be shot off the rear decks because they are classed as tank riders.
The merkava carrying of infantry is a myth. The carry capacity is there, at the expense of ammo for dire emergency situations, which is out with the game's scope.
By all means feel free to make a heavy APC class Merkava with 12 or so 120mm and a carry capacity of say 8 in your own local OOB. But such a beast will not be appearing in our OOB. Only of use in perhaps a contrived Hollywood movie scene, as the Israelis have perfectly adequate heavy APC to shift grunts in - while the merkavas shift 120mm bricks, as they are designed to.
Cheers
Andy