In other news, here's KD helping seniors stay in shape.
Showing posts with label Better Options. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Better Options. Show all posts
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Round holes
I've often complained about why F-35s are no good for Canada, so I'm finally going to write a post about it. And I'm going to write under the best-case assumption that it does everything it's supposed to. And all things considered, it's still a square peg.
Here's the thing about F-35s, people look at it, compare it to something like an F-22: they're both 5th gen stealth fighter aircraft, and then conclude that they are meant to perform the same roles. People assume that we pay more and shrink the fleet size for a plane that is better at defending our air space.
(The F-35 airframe was based off of the Raptor airframe, accounting for some similarity in appearance)
But that is not the trade-off. F-22s and F-35s are not similar planes, they weren't designed to be. F-22s were designed to be air-superiority (or as some marketing guys like to call it, air-dominance) planes while F-35s are what people like to term "multirole" fighters.
What this actually means is you don't want to go against other fighters if you can help it.
That's because designing a plane for missions like strike (i.e. air-to-ground) adds weight, weight, weight. If you want an idea of how much, an F-15E is about 2000kg heavier than an F-15D. That is huge in the domain of high performance aircraft. Most of it goes towards strengthening the airframe for heavy ordnance payloads. Affectionately (or sometimes not so affectionately) we can call it a "bomb truck".
Of course most nations cannot help it, because there are limited amounts of money to buy airplanes with: not enough for a separate fleet of pure-blooded air superiority fighters. F-16s are cheap, that's why they are popular. The problem is that F-35s are not cheap, they are extremely expensive. You're buying a next-gen F-16 for $120-170M/pop. What bang does that extra buck buy?
The flight envelope of an F-35B is reportedly comparable to that of an F/A-18 (4th gen multirole fighter). It has a bit more power in some maneuvers and an A model will be a bit more agile but the performance difference will not be huge.
It is stealthy but it is stealthy with caveats; an F-22 has all-aspect very-low-observability (VLO), the F-35 does not. It is mostly stealthy in the front and somewhat stealthy from the side. The American versions will be slightly stealthier than export versions. Of course if the afterburners go on, it's not stealthy. If it's not flying clean, it's not stealthy. It's also important to note that all 4.5 generation fighters have radar cross-section reduction features, especially from the front, even if it's not outwardly apparent. For instance, a F/A-18E Super Hornet is harder to detect than a F/A-18C even though it is bigger and looks like basically the same plane to the casual observer.
It has a very good AESA radar but F/A-18E/Fs also have very good AESA radars. The advantage is that the F-35 will be able to conduct electronic warfare missions with it and even purportedly "insert malicious code into enemy radar stations".
A big selling point of the F-35 is that it offers interoperability between nations, but realistically everybody will still be flying a diverse fleet of fighters into the far future. The USN (who by the way spend more money on aircraft procurement than the USAF) will be operating Super Hornets for the next 30 years; upgrading the RCAF to those planes instead will not necessitate such drastic changes in our support structures (which includes things like training pipelines and fleet tankers that are completely absent in public discussions but will obviously incur large costs beyond aircraft procurement).
So the F-35 is a strike aircraft with frontal low observability and electronic attack. What kind of mission does this lend itself to? Penetrating strike. Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses.
This is not something in alignment with Canadian strategy and interests.
The F-35's strengths are oriented for Day 1 strike in a war of aggression. Canada has no overseas colonies and only two notable neighbors (Russia and the United States); Day 1 strike is not a capability that we should be building towards. Super Hornets are more than adequate to exercise control over our airspace, can be purchased at less than half the price of F-35s, and are conflict tested.
Our CP-140s perform important roles in maritime patrol and interdiction but they are aging and people tend not to take notice. The extra money would go well towards purchasing P-8s and maybe even BAMS. These would be especially appreciated support for allies in conflict because maritime assets are always in demand and its ability to effectively persecute naval targets under and below the surface is invaluable.
Here's the thing about F-35s, people look at it, compare it to something like an F-22: they're both 5th gen stealth fighter aircraft, and then conclude that they are meant to perform the same roles. People assume that we pay more and shrink the fleet size for a plane that is better at defending our air space.
(The F-35 airframe was based off of the Raptor airframe, accounting for some similarity in appearance)
But that is not the trade-off. F-22s and F-35s are not similar planes, they weren't designed to be. F-22s were designed to be air-superiority (or as some marketing guys like to call it, air-dominance) planes while F-35s are what people like to term "multirole" fighters.
What this actually means is you don't want to go against other fighters if you can help it.
That's because designing a plane for missions like strike (i.e. air-to-ground) adds weight, weight, weight. If you want an idea of how much, an F-15E is about 2000kg heavier than an F-15D. That is huge in the domain of high performance aircraft. Most of it goes towards strengthening the airframe for heavy ordnance payloads. Affectionately (or sometimes not so affectionately) we can call it a "bomb truck".
Of course most nations cannot help it, because there are limited amounts of money to buy airplanes with: not enough for a separate fleet of pure-blooded air superiority fighters. F-16s are cheap, that's why they are popular. The problem is that F-35s are not cheap, they are extremely expensive. You're buying a next-gen F-16 for $120-170M/pop. What bang does that extra buck buy?
The flight envelope of an F-35B is reportedly comparable to that of an F/A-18 (4th gen multirole fighter). It has a bit more power in some maneuvers and an A model will be a bit more agile but the performance difference will not be huge.
It is stealthy but it is stealthy with caveats; an F-22 has all-aspect very-low-observability (VLO), the F-35 does not. It is mostly stealthy in the front and somewhat stealthy from the side. The American versions will be slightly stealthier than export versions. Of course if the afterburners go on, it's not stealthy. If it's not flying clean, it's not stealthy. It's also important to note that all 4.5 generation fighters have radar cross-section reduction features, especially from the front, even if it's not outwardly apparent. For instance, a F/A-18E Super Hornet is harder to detect than a F/A-18C even though it is bigger and looks like basically the same plane to the casual observer.
It has a very good AESA radar but F/A-18E/Fs also have very good AESA radars. The advantage is that the F-35 will be able to conduct electronic warfare missions with it and even purportedly "insert malicious code into enemy radar stations".
A big selling point of the F-35 is that it offers interoperability between nations, but realistically everybody will still be flying a diverse fleet of fighters into the far future. The USN (who by the way spend more money on aircraft procurement than the USAF) will be operating Super Hornets for the next 30 years; upgrading the RCAF to those planes instead will not necessitate such drastic changes in our support structures (which includes things like training pipelines and fleet tankers that are completely absent in public discussions but will obviously incur large costs beyond aircraft procurement).
So the F-35 is a strike aircraft with frontal low observability and electronic attack. What kind of mission does this lend itself to? Penetrating strike. Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses.
This is not something in alignment with Canadian strategy and interests.
The F-35's strengths are oriented for Day 1 strike in a war of aggression. Canada has no overseas colonies and only two notable neighbors (Russia and the United States); Day 1 strike is not a capability that we should be building towards. Super Hornets are more than adequate to exercise control over our airspace, can be purchased at less than half the price of F-35s, and are conflict tested.
Our CP-140s perform important roles in maritime patrol and interdiction but they are aging and people tend not to take notice. The extra money would go well towards purchasing P-8s and maybe even BAMS. These would be especially appreciated support for allies in conflict because maritime assets are always in demand and its ability to effectively persecute naval targets under and below the surface is invaluable.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Routes to victory
Game 4, the same
It is now turn 1 (crobert)
...
[Lockon Stratos] so I know like two win conditions
[Lockon Stratos] and one is really fragile
[Lockon Stratos] I thought I could storm out
It is now turn 1 (Lockon Stratos)
[Lockon Stratos] then I realized the deck doesn't have a tendrils
(Realistically the two routes to victory in my deck being Tinker for Blightsteel Colossus or assembling Voltaic Key and Time Vault; technically it's possible to win with Jace's ultimate, but it doesn't really happen. Since it isn't a Tezz deck, there is also no Tezzeret so the latter combo is not self assembling and therefore painful to put together. Other win conditions in some Gush decks are a Storm into Tendrils or Empty the Warrens kill or creature beatdown with Dark Confidants and Snapcasters but neither are present in this build.)
Lockon Stratos draws a card
Lockon Stratos plays Scalding Tarn from Hand
Lockon Stratos taps Scalding Tarn
Lockon Stratos sacrifices Scalding Tarn
Lockon Stratos puts Tropical Island into play from Library
Lockon Stratos shuffles library
Lockon Stratos's life total is now 19 (-1)
Lockon Stratos taps Tropical Island
Lockon Stratos plays Fastbond from Hand
[crobert] whoah
[crobert] wait
[crobert] ok
Lockon Stratos plays Underground Sea from Hand
Lockon Stratos's life total is now 18 (-1)
Lockon Stratos plays Underground Sea from Hand
Lockon Stratos's life total is now 17 (-1)
[Lockon Stratos] go
...
It is now turn 4 (crobert)
crobert untaps his/her permanents
crobert draws a card
crobert plays Black Lotus from Hand
crobert taps Underground Sea
crobert plays Voltaic Key from Hand
crobert taps Black Lotus
crobert sacrifices Black Lotus
[Lockon Stratos] hang on
Lockon Stratos taps Underground Sea
Lockon Stratos plays Mental Misstep from Hand
[Lockon Stratos] key
crobert puts Voltaic Key to Graveyard from Play
crobert plays Tinker from Hand
crobert sacrifices Grim Monolith
[crobert] yes?
[Lockon Stratos] yeah no hand
[crobert] oh wait you have no hand lol
[Lockon Stratos] and you too
(We both have empty hands now)
crobert is looking its Library...
crobert puts Blightsteel Colossus into play from Library
crobert shuffles library
[Lockon Stratos] sure
It is now turn 4 (Lockon Stratos)
Lockon Stratos untaps his/her permanents
Lockon Stratos draws a card
...
Lockon Stratos plays Yawgmoth's Will from Hand
(I put it there previously with a Preordain, so I knew I would draw it this turn)
[crobert] FFFFFFFFFFF
Lockon Stratos puts Yawgmoth's Will to RFG from Play
...
Lockon Stratos puts Jace, the Mind Sculptor into play from Graveyard
[crobert] fuck you lol
[Lockon Stratos] -1
crobert puts Blightsteel Colossus to Hand from Play
Jace, the Mind Sculptor now has 2 (+2) counters.
...
Lockon Stratos puts Preordain into play from Graveyard
Lockon Stratos puts Preordain to RFG from Play
Lockon Stratos is looking top 2 cards of its Library...
Lockon Stratos puts a card on bottom of Library from Library
Lockon Stratos puts a card on bottom of Library from Library
Lockon Stratos draws a card
[Lockon Stratos] go
...
It is now turn 6 (Lockon Stratos)
...
Lockon Stratos plays Time Walk from Hand
Turn 6.5 (Lockon Stratos)
Lockon Stratos untaps his/her permanents
Lockon Stratos draws a card
[Lockon Stratos] Jace 0
Lockon Stratos draws 3 cards
Lockon Stratos puts a card on top of Library from Hand
Lockon Stratos puts a card on top of Library from Hand
Lockon Stratos plays Mox Ruby from Hand
Lockon Stratos plays Mana Crypt from Hand
Lockon Stratos plays Island from Hand
[crobert] lol
Lockon Stratos plays Volcanic Island from Hand
Lockon Stratos's life total is now 14 (-1)
Lockon Stratos taps Tropical Island
Lockon Stratos taps Underground Sea
Lockon Stratos taps Underground Sea
Lockon Stratos taps Tropical Island
Lockon Stratos taps Island
Lockon Stratos taps Volcanic Island
Lockon Stratos taps Mana Crypt
Lockon Stratos taps Mox Ruby
(So I tap everything and float 9)
[crobert] god lol
Lockon Stratos plays Gush from Hand
Lockon Stratos puts Island to Hand from Play
Lockon Stratos puts Volcanic Island to Hand from Play
Lockon Stratos draws 2 cards
Lockon Stratos plays Island from Hand
Lockon Stratos's life total is now 13 (-1)
Lockon Stratos plays Volcanic Island from Hand
Lockon Stratos's life total is now 12 (-1)
(Gush, bounce two islands and replay them with Fastbond)
Lockon Stratos taps Island
Lockon Stratos taps Volcanic Island
Lockon Stratos plays Misty Rainforest from Hand
Lockon Stratos's life total is now 11 (-1)
Lockon Stratos taps Misty Rainforest
Lockon Stratos sacrifices Misty Rainforest
Lockon Stratos puts Volcanic Island into play from Library
Lockon Stratos shuffles library
Lockon Stratos taps Volcanic Island
(Float to 12)
Lockon Stratos plays Blightsteel Colossus from Hand
[Lockon Stratos] hardcast
[crobert] wow
It is now turn 7 (crobert)
crobert untaps his/her permanents
[Lockon Stratos] lmao
crobert draws a card
crobert taps Underground Sea
crobert taps Underground Sea
crobert plays Echoing Truth from Hand
[Lockon Stratos] shit
[crobert] bounce
Lockon Stratos puts Blightsteel Colossus to Hand from Play
[crobert] go
It is now turn 7 (Lockon Stratos)
[crobert] yo i need more mana
[crobert] and cards
Lockon Stratos untaps his/her permanents
[Lockon Stratos] heads
Lockon Stratos flips a coin: HEADS
[Lockon Stratos] yes
[crobert] fuck
Lockon Stratos taps Volcanic Island
Lockon Stratos plays Sol Ring from Hand
[Lockon Stratos] I'm going to have to try this again next turn
[Lockon Stratos] WAIT
[Lockon Stratos] jace 0
Lockon Stratos draws 3 cards
[crobert] lol
Lockon Stratos puts a card on top of Library from Hand
Lockon Stratos puts a card on top of Library from Hand
Lockon Stratos plays Misty Rainforest from Hand
Lockon Stratos taps Misty Rainforest
Lockon Stratos sacrifices Misty Rainforest
Lockon Stratos puts Island into play from Library
Lockon Stratos shuffles library
Lockon Stratos taps Mox Ruby
Lockon Stratos taps Mana Crypt
Lockon Stratos taps Sol Ring
Lockon Stratos taps Island
Lockon Stratos taps Volcanic Island
Lockon Stratos taps Island
Lockon Stratos taps Tropical Island
Lockon Stratos taps Underground Sea
Lockon Stratos taps Underground Sea
Lockon Stratos taps Tropical Island
Lockon Stratos plays Blightsteel Colossus from Hand
It is now turn 8 (crobert)
crobert untaps his/her permanents
[crobert] HEART OF THE CARDS
crobert draws a card
[crobert] gg
It is now turn 1 (crobert)
...
[Lockon Stratos] so I know like two win conditions
[Lockon Stratos] and one is really fragile
[Lockon Stratos] I thought I could storm out
Lockon Stratos draws a card
Lockon Stratos plays Scalding Tarn from Hand
Lockon Stratos taps Scalding Tarn
Lockon Stratos sacrifices Scalding Tarn
Lockon Stratos puts Tropical Island into play from Library
Lockon Stratos shuffles library
Lockon Stratos's life total is now 19 (-1)
Lockon Stratos taps Tropical Island
Lockon Stratos plays Fastbond from Hand
[crobert] wait
Lockon Stratos plays Underground Sea from Hand
Lockon Stratos's life total is now 18 (-1)
Lockon Stratos's life total is now 17 (-1)
crobert untaps his/her permanents
crobert draws a card
crobert plays Black Lotus from Hand
crobert taps Underground Sea
crobert plays Voltaic Key from Hand
crobert taps Black Lotus
crobert sacrifices Black Lotus
Lockon Stratos taps Underground Sea
Lockon Stratos plays Mental Misstep from Hand
crobert puts Voltaic Key to Graveyard from Play
crobert plays Tinker from Hand
crobert sacrifices Grim Monolith
[Lockon Stratos] and you too
crobert puts Blightsteel Colossus into play from Library
crobert shuffles library
Lockon Stratos untaps his/her permanents
Lockon Stratos draws a card
...
[crobert] FFFFFFFFFFF
Lockon Stratos puts Yawgmoth's Will to RFG from Play
...
Lockon Stratos puts Jace, the Mind Sculptor into play from Graveyard
[Lockon Stratos] -1
crobert puts Blightsteel Colossus to Hand from Play
Jace, the Mind Sculptor now has 2 (+2) counters.
...
Lockon Stratos puts Preordain into play from Graveyard
Lockon Stratos puts Preordain to RFG from Play
Lockon Stratos is looking top 2 cards of its Library...
Lockon Stratos puts a card on bottom of Library from Library
Lockon Stratos puts a card on bottom of Library from Library
Lockon Stratos draws a card
[Lockon Stratos] go
Lockon Stratos plays Time Walk from Hand
Lockon Stratos untaps his/her permanents
Lockon Stratos draws a card
Lockon Stratos draws 3 cards
Lockon Stratos puts a card on top of Library from Hand
Lockon Stratos puts a card on top of Library from Hand
Lockon Stratos plays Mox Ruby from Hand
Lockon Stratos plays Mana Crypt from Hand
Lockon Stratos plays Island from Hand
[crobert] lol
Lockon Stratos plays Volcanic Island from Hand
Lockon Stratos's life total is now 14 (-1)
Lockon Stratos taps Tropical Island
Lockon Stratos taps Underground Sea
Lockon Stratos taps Underground Sea
Lockon Stratos taps Tropical Island
Lockon Stratos taps Island
Lockon Stratos taps Volcanic Island
Lockon Stratos taps Mana Crypt
Lockon Stratos taps Mox Ruby
Lockon Stratos plays Gush from Hand
Lockon Stratos puts Island to Hand from Play
Lockon Stratos puts Volcanic Island to Hand from Play
Lockon Stratos draws 2 cards
Lockon Stratos plays Island from Hand
Lockon Stratos's life total is now 13 (-1)
Lockon Stratos plays Volcanic Island from Hand
Lockon Stratos's life total is now 12 (-1)
Lockon Stratos taps Island
Lockon Stratos taps Volcanic Island
Lockon Stratos plays Misty Rainforest from Hand
Lockon Stratos's life total is now 11 (-1)
Lockon Stratos sacrifices Misty Rainforest
Lockon Stratos puts Volcanic Island into play from Library
Lockon Stratos shuffles library
Lockon Stratos taps Volcanic Island
Lockon Stratos plays Blightsteel Colossus from Hand
[Lockon Stratos] hardcast
crobert untaps his/her permanents
crobert draws a card
crobert taps Underground Sea
crobert taps Underground Sea
crobert plays Echoing Truth from Hand
[crobert] bounce
Lockon Stratos puts Blightsteel Colossus to Hand from Play
[crobert] yo i need more mana
Lockon Stratos untaps his/her permanents
Lockon Stratos flips a coin: HEADS
Lockon Stratos taps Volcanic Island
Lockon Stratos plays Sol Ring from Hand
[Lockon Stratos] I'm going to have to try this again next turn
Lockon Stratos draws 3 cards
[crobert] lol
Lockon Stratos puts a card on top of Library from Hand
Lockon Stratos puts a card on top of Library from Hand
Lockon Stratos plays Misty Rainforest from Hand
Lockon Stratos taps Misty Rainforest
Lockon Stratos sacrifices Misty Rainforest
Lockon Stratos puts Island into play from Library
Lockon Stratos shuffles library
Lockon Stratos taps Mox Ruby
Lockon Stratos taps Mana Crypt
Lockon Stratos taps Sol Ring
Lockon Stratos taps Island
Lockon Stratos taps Volcanic Island
Lockon Stratos taps Island
Lockon Stratos taps Tropical Island
Lockon Stratos taps Underground Sea
Lockon Stratos taps Underground Sea
Lockon Stratos taps Tropical Island
Lockon Stratos plays Blightsteel Colossus from Hand
crobert untaps his/her permanents
[crobert] HEART OF THE CARDS
crobert draws a card
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Lost in translation
You can share my experience as I put my friend's tweets through Google Translate.
Well that sounds like something a pedophile would say, but I'm sure there's some context here.
Okay..
Oh I see, it's something Pokemon related.
Wait whut
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Optical Illusions
Here we see Kayne West rocking a bomber with what looks to be some kind of flame adornments but if you look closely they are actually rottweilers.
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Nicholas Cage
Okay, I've given this some thought.
If I were in a zombie apocalypse and I can pick 3 characters, real or fictional, to bring as sidekicks these would be my choices:
Autobot Hoist (Toyota Hilux tow-truck ver.) - Hoist is a good choice because in vehicle mode he offers moderate off-roading capability, is indestructible, can tow away epic loot and consumes no gasoline. He is also an expert on mechanical repair and can transform into a robot. Robots have a favourable matchup vs zombies because they have no brains and are made of metal.
Hayate Yagami (Force ver.) - Having a magical girl around is like the ultimate swiss army knife isn't it? Plus, having a healer is probably important in a post-apocalyptic landscape. I had also considered Hermione Granger, but felt that her load of useless art courses and clear inferiority in offensive magics would lessen her utility by comparison. <_<
Kirby (ice+spark) - I just really like the idea of having a refrigerator full of food around at all times.
If I were in a zombie apocalypse and I can pick 3 characters, real or fictional, to bring as sidekicks these would be my choices:
Autobot Hoist (Toyota Hilux tow-truck ver.) - Hoist is a good choice because in vehicle mode he offers moderate off-roading capability, is indestructible, can tow away epic loot and consumes no gasoline. He is also an expert on mechanical repair and can transform into a robot. Robots have a favourable matchup vs zombies because they have no brains and are made of metal.
Hayate Yagami (Force ver.) - Having a magical girl around is like the ultimate swiss army knife isn't it? Plus, having a healer is probably important in a post-apocalyptic landscape. I had also considered Hermione Granger, but felt that her load of useless art courses and clear inferiority in offensive magics would lessen her utility by comparison. <_<
Kirby (ice+spark) - I just really like the idea of having a refrigerator full of food around at all times.
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