Use of vehicles in water warfare

[isoaker]

Seems like there's more talk recently about designing, developing and/or using different sorts of vehicles for water warfare.

Personally, I don't like the idea of vehicle use during a water war game expect, perhaps, to be used to assist with transporting equipment (not for carrying people and definitely nothing motorized). Use of a vehicle to get to a game location before a game starts is not in the scope of this limitation, but use of a vehicle to get around a game area during gameplay takes some of the fun and challenge away, IMO. Don't get me started on the problem of having a mostly non-destructible mobile platform on a battlefield, either.

Anything motorized would be a no for me and anything that allows movement faster than a typical person can run is also a no (i.e. no bicycles or similar vehicles that use gears). I suppose the only vehicle combat I could see myself doing would be having some sort of canoe/paddle-boat naval wars or using things like wheelbarrows and wagons to pull portable refill stations around.

In the end, I'm still of the belief that water wars are best played primarily on foot.

What about you? What are your thoughts on the use of vehicles during a water war?

[HBWW]

Land:
- Vehicle must be suitable for terrain and may not move faster than power-walking person (say, 5-8mph).
- Anything capable of going on the freeway may not be used; must remain stationary.

Water:
- Pretty much anything goes, as long as it's safe. Speed limit of 20mph, perhaps. No super jet-ski's or anything crazy.

Of course, I've never had use of vehicles in wars, with one exception. One time, some neighborhood kids came over and brought along small, motorized bikes they rode over the grass, which others complained about. The bikes were slow though. Of course, when I was their age, I was riding on bikes, not using some motorized crap.

Bikes are good as transportation for large battlefields, terrain permitting. They seem to be excessively dangerous to use for combat and would also be difficult. For combat, a foot-powered or otherwise slow tank should be used instead, which can carry a good weapons platform if setup right.

[GJIV]

Never ever thought about using a vehicle in a water warfare. Does not make much sense to my mind. If you run, you can climb, hide, jump or ly down on the bottom. Using a car in a warfare, while the people inside do fire out at the enemies(like in SUPER SOAKER DRIVE BY on youtube...)is not a good idea. Does not help much since a car is not as mobil as a running person and it does not reach the limited areas in a battle. Also I think it is dangerous in a way, when driving through the battle area the car has to come in small range (5-10 metres) and then might hit someone if the worst comes ot the worst. NO WAY

Using a bike is not useful too, you cannot fire well while driving, you cannot drive that fast since battle area is usually a mixture of all type of land. And if you sprint and run very fast you are about as fast as a bike.

using boots for a battle on a sea is cool! Using motorized ships is also ok but people have to be careful to not hurt anybody^^

I can only agree with isoaker, the best water warfare is archived by great Soakers and lots of running people

[GJIV]

aa, using a car for bringing guns to a battle is ok, of course. I am talking about using things IN a battle.

[HBWW]

On a good surface, one can bike far faster than run, and anyone can shoot while riding on a bike, though that's dangerous since the average person isn't trained to do that effectively.

Most I would do is use bikes for faster transportation during a game, but not in combat. Anything non-motorized/human powered is fair game, and I'd use tanks/mobile bases if I had access to anything like it. A good mobile fortress should have a WBL and several guns as well as a large water supply. Pressure for the WBL and guns can come from foot pedal pumps where each gunner operates a pair and steps back and forth to build pressure. Unfortunately, pumps that work with water have to be built or converted, while air foot pumps can be bought.

[DX]

For vehicles, I wouldn't use anything with an engine or a motor outside of transport. Fighting is a distracting activity. Most of the places I fought in were not accessible to vehicles anyway - they'd be useless. Even in the ones that were, like Waterbridge, riding a bike down the trails would just invite ambushes and the rider would be essentially defenseless. At the Goffle, you'd need a mountain bike to navigate the rocks and roots. Running would be faster and more efficient.

As for vessels, it is an extremely bad idea to use anything that isn't powered by paddle or foot action. Motoring or sailing across on water can be hazardous in a flash if you're not concentrated on what you're doing and have local knowledge of every inch of the waterway. If you forget about that rise, rock, or other obstruction in otherwise deep water, you can hit it at-speed and get thrown from the boat, not to mention damage or sink it. I'd seriously recommend limiting naval warfare to kayaks, canoes, paddleboats, and the such.

I'm usually pretty lax when it comes to safety, but I take vehicles and vessels seriously - I've been in pretty harrowing incidents with both. If you have to use something with an engine or a motor do it in a field/on a road or on controlled flatwater. In any case, be very familiar with the vehicle/vessel and the surrounding area.

[scottthewaterwarrior]

I have never used a vehicle in a water war exept once, but that was more of a mad chase when my sisters friend took my bike then a battle (see botom of post for that). For the most part vehicles wouldn't be very practical, maybe bicycles on a large battle field. As far as tanks go I think it should be run by people power and just be a frame with cardbord armor so it wouldn't be invincable. For the most part though even bicycles would not be practical in most wars, at least the ones I have.

It was on a camping trip, I must have been about 10, and my sister and her friend went biking. Her friend didn't have a bike so she toolk mine. I had kind of a bad temper back then so I got really mad. I pumped up two XP-270s and chased her on my scooter. I'm pretty lucky I didn't crash, it was really hard to hold the handle bars and two water guns at the same time. She finaly stopped thinking she lost me and I cought up to here, she was on an up hill and so she couldn't get started up before I unloaded both 270s on her. Other then that I have not used vehicles in a war.

[mr. dude]

In most cases any type of vehicle is highly impractical, but if's there's a huge and open field, I can see some value to them.
Cars are a definite no, it's dangerous for everyone.
Bikes are hard to use (and also dangerous) while holding a soaker, but they're great for transportation.
I think golf carts would be usable. They're obviously not completely harmless, but they're slow and light enough to pass my safety test. It's hard to imagine a scenario where a slow, hard to turn, and unprotected vehicle would come in handy, but I like golf carts
Otherwise, it's safe to assume any motorized vehicle is highly unsafe.

[K3YD0N]

motorized vehicles are too dangerous unless it was a toy car or wheeled thing like if it was carrying a water balloon, hose, or squirt gun to another player or had the hose hooked up to the top hanging out a bit and then driving it with a remote control to the enemy base and spraying them with water from above or behind a large shield or ledge. but other than that motorized vehicles are too dangerous.

[the oncoming storm]

I have a Desine of sorts for a tank I would love to build it would be 5' long 3' wide 4' tall with turret armed with a heavy cannon and 2 pistols armord with cardboard and pedal powered.

I might post the plans sometime

I would also like to Desine a boat for navel warfare but there is no water nearby

[cantab]

Well, in Assassins cycle-by shootings were allowed, and not uncommon. Projectile weapons (like nerf guns) were naturally banned from use on or by a cyclist. Commons sense was also advised; cycling with a CPS 2000 has been tried but is not recommended. Punts were also fair game, but canoes and rowing shells out-of-bounds (since you're out-of-bounds if you're playing another sport). Motor vehicles - whether private cars, buses, trains, or planes - were off limits. Assassins isn't exactly normal water warfare though.

In Capture The Flag I think the only time a vehicle was seen was in an urban game where someone played on rollerblades.

[SEAL]

I never replied to this thread when it was posted, so I'll take this opportunity to do so.

This is not a new idea to me; I've thought about using vehicles in water wars ever since I got into it. We once had an ATV that I thought would be perfect for drive-by gunning, but we never got it running, and ended up selling it.

So would I use vehicles in water warfare? Yes, although invincible vehicles like tanks would need some way to "Defeat" them, otherwise it wouldn't be much fun. I don't think I'd use anything more than ATVs and go-carts though.

[Ox-11]

Personally, I would limit the materials for vehichle armor to mud, snow, or anything else easily broken down water.

[Andrew]

Welcome to WWn Ox-11!

I agree that armour used in serious water wars should not be impenetrable, but am not entirely sold on the idea of vehicles in a water war, other than something of quad-bike size or smaller. As mentioned earlier, bicycles are too dangerous, not only for the rider, but also those trying to take them out.

I can't imagine how you'd build a vehicle from mud or snow. I suppose you could use a wire mesh and 'bond' the mud or snow to that.

If you have any images of these ideas feel free to share them in a post!

[atvan]

A shell of sawdust and ice would be perfect. It doesn't melt much, and is very strong.
Perfect for getting around rules anyway.

[TacticalTyphoon]

I'm not really into the idea of actually having vehicles on the battlefield; a tank would be impossible to take out assuming it an enclosed cockpit and a car is just impractically stuck to roads, which would be useless in my area, which is half village half rural. The village-estate area only has a few roads, and the rural area has none.

Bikes could be useful in my area to quickly transport oneself and maybe tactical information along to a seperate contingent of a team, but aside from this, would be useless as I can't imagine a bike being particularly useful in attacking.

Still, I would be totally in support of one of these, provided the pilot was skilled.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I-4Zi7eavs

[scottthewaterwarrior]

Still, I would be totally in support of one of these, provided the pilot was skilled.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I-4Zi7eavs

Hey, I'll fly that thing, played flight sims for years, about to buy a hobby grade RC plane. I thought I while back about having airsoft guns on RC planes and using them in airsoft battles, then I relized how powerful airsoft guns were (was like 12 at the time) and had no idea how to do it. Maybe if I ever get big into the hobby I will try and mod one with a water gun, the weight might be a problem though, and the fact that most water wars are in wooded areas.

[marauder]

I have used cars for pranks on many occasions. Having a sunroof on my old Camry was awesome. We'd roll up and just hose someone. I did this at camp one year where my friend was shooting people as we drove around. The best was on Halloween when we were in a wealthy neighborhood and soaked some highschoolers who thought they were all that. We also chased people around and took their candy. In the band Sum 41's documentary Cross Your Ts and Gauge Your Is, the band invades a pizza place with soakers, shoot the workers, and then jump the counter and grab the pizzas while the workers are covering their faces and cowering, then they run out the door and drive off in a car with the pizza employees chasing after them. It's an awesome 5 minute clip.

But in actual battles, I think it's pretty much cheating if you can't shoot the people in the vehicle. It's also dangerous if you are driving a big vehicle. If the vehicle is open like a four wheeler or go cart, andyou can shoot into it, I think that's fine.

[mr. dude]

But in actual battles, I think it's pretty much cheating if you can't shoot the people in the vehicle. It's also dangerous if you are driving a big vehicle. If the vehicle is open like a four wheeler or go cart, andyou can shoot into it, I think that's fine.

My problem with that, how easy is it to drive while someone's blasting their 2k's pressure chamber at your face? Even something as small as 4-wheelers or go-karts can cause injuries if you drive them into people, and driving while blinded by water would be a bit of a threat.

[carbonate]

I used to hold my 1000 and bike around the block shooting people with that, but the whole battlefield was paved environment where bikes have high mobility. If I used anything heavier I probably would have lost control and crashed.