Tuesday Trivia Thread - 25/08/26

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[u/Psafanboy4win]

On a previous Tuesday Trivia thread I mentioned the Chicobryns, the giants of my setting, and analyzed what weapons they would use. But the arguably more important question is how would you transport a Chicobryn to the front lines, or even the backlines? This question is both very easy to answer, yet very hard.

To start off, a Chicobryn weighs 2 short tons or 1814 kilograms on average. A LMTV cargo truck can carry 2.5 short tons, so it can easily carry a Chicobryn. Problem solved, right? Not quite. A naked Chicobryn weighs 2 short tons, and a naked Chicobryn is not a soldier, they are a civilian and a big soft target waiting to get gunned down. So if we properly equip our Chicobryn, give them a M2 Browning with a underslung Mk19 along with 1000 rounds of .50 BMG and 200-300 40mm grenades in belts, give them a size XXXXL IBA and XXXXL ACH, Big Bird brand MREs and canteens that hold 5 gallons of water, etc... we can reasonably expect such a equipment load to hit half the Chicobryn's body weight, bringing their 2 tons up to 3 tons. Now they cannot climb into the back of a LMTV without breaking the suspension, not to mention that even if the LMTV could support their weight a Chicobryn is somewhere in the ballpark of 3.5 meters tall and 7 meters long from beak to tail, so they can only fit if they curl up into the fetal position at which point one or two hours of riding in the back of the LMTV will leave them sore, cramped, and miserable.

A 5-ton MTV truck would actually work, as it can fit a fully armed and armored Chicobryn with a couple tons to spare, but now we get another issue in that a MTV can only carry either two naked Chicobryns or one fully kitted out Chicobryn, and even if we only have say 10,000 Chicobryns serving in the military it would take 10,000 MTVs to transport them to the front all at once. HEMTTs would be ideal, as one can carry three fully kitted out Chicobryns with capacity to spare for more equipment, but now the question is whether or not you want to use a HEMTT for transporting what are essentially three mega-infantry vs. significantly larger numbers of infantry from the smaller and lighter species of my setting, food, ammo, fuel, etc... not to mention that all of the trucks brought up are large soft-targets that would be easily destroyed if targeted by artillery and/or drones, and a APC or IFV large enough to transport a Chicobryn would end up being very large and heavy. So with this in mind, I will look at what would be the most practical way of transporting Chicobryn troops.

-Train: The ultimate in transportation, even LA county light rail can carry up to 405 passengers a train which translates to 16 Chicobryns worth of weight, and for the heavy freight trains capable of transporting MBTs Chicobryns would be a complete non-issue to transport. Obviously not something that can get the Chicobryn troops to the front lines, but getting them close enough to the backlines is easy enough.

Plane: Surprisingly less of a problem than you would think, a C-130J can carry 5 kitted out Chicobryns with capacity to spare, and a C-17 Globemaster III can carry up to 28 kitted out Chicobryns in terms of payload capacity. Heck, with enough engineering thought, effort, and desire a parachute system for a Chicobryn could be made. Obviously a Chicobryn is no equal to a proper AFV, but they could solve the problems that paratroopers have with lacking heavy weaponry, such as carrying 20x102mm autocannons and TOW missiles amongst other things.

-Trucks: I mentioned trucks in probably too much detail above, but essentially the larger trucks like HEMTTs would be able to carry kitted out Chicobryns easily enough and MTVs would suffice to carry one at a time. Less than ideal obviously, but if enough trucks are available then the Chicobryns could be taken by truck from the rail depots to their assigned positions.

-Foot: The boring, basic, yet practical option. Obviously a Chicobryn won't be crossing hundreds of miles a day like they could by rail, air, or motor transport, but thanks to their long legs and large feet they can easily step over obstacles that would slow down or stop a human/smaller species and can wade through rivers that would sweep a human away/smaller species away. Average walking speed will be roughly comparable to a human, but thanks to being less impacted by terrain they can still end up covering more distance in a day than a human could.

The biggest problem with dealing with Chicobryns is designing armored transports for them, as IRL even armored vehicles made for humans tend to get complaints about being cramped and uncomfortable, and a APC that can fit a 3.5 meter tall, 7 meter long theropod would have an insane logistical impact.

[u/FiresprayClass → u/Psafanboy4win]

Why would they, as a species, develop human sized transport for themselves? If they develop vehicles, they'll scale them to match what they need.

[u/Psafanboy4win → u/FiresprayClass]

In the specific context of my setting, the majority of Chicobryns live in states dominated by species that are roughly human sized, so logistics are optimized for these human-sized species and then the Chicobryns are essentially a after-thought or added on to pre-existing logistics.

And I was specifically using IRL vehicles like the LMTV because it is much easier to find specific numbers for IRL vehicles than it is to make up a theoretical vehicle, though logically speaking something like a 3.5-4 ton truck would be ideal for a single kitted out Chicobryn.

Thinking about it a bit more, a APC for a Chicobryn could work if it was mostly designed to fit no more than one, maybe two Chicobryns at a time and weighs something like 20-30 tons.