Random "Walking Dead" question

[makattak]

Since I don't watch the show, and, honestly, don't really have the time or inclination to, I wondered:

Do they not have artillery? Seems to me a cannon would be a useful thing, given that the walkers appear to travel in packs...

Cannon are scattered all over the south. Museums, personal collections, etc...

[K Frame]

Given that you need a brain shot, it would just be a waste of resources, really.

[TommyGunn]

In The Walking Dead the Governor's group had a tank.  They used it to some good effect -- but not against the walkers, but against our heroes, who were held up in a prison.

Artillery in a zombiclypse seems a bit useless.  A very expensive way to TKO a walker's brain.  A .22LR should be quit adequate.
I suppose you could, if you had enough arty, "walk" a barrage into a group of massed walkers and cut 'em up.  But then, the ones who still had intact brains, would still be dangerous, unless their jaws got splattered across the countryside.  Really, only an organized army could do it that way, and that's not what our survivors are.
Some of the gunplay on the show is beyond what I would do in that situation but it still remains more realistic than having them haul arty around.

[K Frame]

The simple fact that anyone uses full auto when dealing with walkers is idiotic.

[TommyGunn]

The simple fact that anyone uses full auto when dealing with walkers is idiotic.

B-b-but it' so COOL!
Recalling the sheriff & son shooting the walker hoards entering the prison through the broken chain link fence with FA M-4s, yes, that was wasteful & stupid-----as well as the times I am failing to mention.

[Blakenzy]

[K Frame]

A flail tank would be very useful.

Or that thing that Ashe built in the Medieval Evil Dead movie.

As would a compaction roller, but it would need to be a big compaction roller with an enclosed cab. Sort of like this one. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Seabees_compactor_roller.jpg

[makattak]

Given that you need a brain shot, it would just be a waste of resources, really.

I disagree. Cannon shot, even if not terminating the walkers, would incapacitate them and/or slow them so that the clean-up brain shots become much easier. (And, of course, many would be terminated, as well.)

Blow off a walker's legs, and, yes, it can keep coming, but suddenly causing a mass of walkers to become a mass of crawlers makes the problem more manageable. I'm assuming broken limbs are incapable of supporting even a walker, no?

[Angel Eyes]

If you can keep it running, and keep it fueled.

One of my pet peeves about the show is how they hardly ever run out of vehicles that run or gasoline that's still usable.   (Yes, I know, it's just a TV show)

[K Frame]

"Cannon shot, even if not terminating the walkers, would incapacitate them and/or slow them..."

Maybe, maybe not.

How many rounds did Shane pump into Herschel's example walker to show him that they weren't just sick, but dead?

That one wasn't particularly slowed...

Sure, if you have a large enough cannon to throw a shell or other projectile(s) large enough to have some sort of effect, it MIGHT be worth the expense in manpower, resources, time, inherent lack of portability, etc.

But sorry, I'm just not buying that there would be enough use out of a cannon to justify its disadvantages.

However, if you were to have yourself a static position, say, a fortified compound, then that's an entirely different story. Then a cannon could very well be useful against herds of walkers.

How about a Napoleon 12 pounder firing chain or bar shot?

THAT would be effective as hell, as long as you could figure out how to keep the chain from breaking (which was a big problem), and which is apparently why bar shot were ultimately developed.

[Jamisjockey]

Grape shot or HE to do damage to them to make them easier to mop up.
But like Mike says...in TWD universe, it's of questionable utility except in a fortified position.  We also know the sound would draw more in, so you'd have to use it sparingly out of desperation.

[K Frame]

Grape shot would be questionable. The stuff you have to hit in the body to actually make it worthwhile is pretty damned small compared to the areas where a hit won't do squat for you except waste time, effort, and resources.

That's why I'm saying chain or bar shot. A big old flailing scythe. IF it works like it's supposed to.

High explosive is better, but unless you've got someone who truly understands artillery, that's gonna be very, very dangerous to attempt.

Finally, there's one other issue with using artillery or anything like it...

Zombies react to sound. When you pop something off, you're ringing the dinner bell.

I wonder how effective a homemade air cannon would be firing chain shot from a static location.

[birdman]

They respond to sound, and react en masse.
The show takes place in GEORGIA

Solution.  Multiple teams, scoped 10/22's, LOTS of ammo.
Go up on water tower (plenty of them).  Team 1 starts shooting walkers and keeps doing it over hours and hours.
Once they need a breather, team 2 starts using another tower a few miles away.  Hell, use loudspeakers to draw them.

Repeat.  
Given typical walking dead speeds, repeating the above every other day should be more than sufficient.

Hell, put noisemakers on a dummy location to draw them there, within earshot of your two towers, to build up a large enough group.

Basically, the only reason zombie movies have plots is people are morons.

https://xkcd.com/734/

[K Frame]

I've been saying 10/22 since season 1

[Scout26]

MLRS with DP/ICM  then go clean up.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IroOVamQZHQ

[Blakenzy]

I've been saying 10/22 since season 1

w/ can and subsonic ammo

[birdman]

w/ can and subsonic ammo

Why?  If you are fighting zombies in a way that requires silence...you are doing it wrong.

See WWZ (book, not movie)

MLRS with DP/ICM  then go clean up.

Yeah...same answer, see WWZ (book, not movie)

Waste of ammo.

The one time I did an effectiveness analysis for current military weapons vs zombies (yeah, I was bored for a few hours...about the same time I did a comparison of D-day vs now in terms of whole USN vs. Shore weapons and material delivered to target...with surprising results), the best weapon was...
Either M-2 bradley (since you can single-headshot or group slow down with the 25mm, and it can carry a metric assload of ammo for coax)
Or for lots
Ah-64.  Specifically, the fact that 70mm rockets can be had with flechette warheads, which are by far THE most effective weapon against lots of zombies. 

[Blakenzy]

I don't understand, it's good to make noise and attract zombie herds to you when all you have is a .22 rifle?

I maintain that flail tanks or other heavy vehicles/machinery is the way to go.  

[Jamisjockey]

Oh in one of Larry Corriea's MH books, the protagonist makes good use of a giant snow blower

[Fitz]

I don't understand, it's good to make noise and attract zombie herds to you when all you have is a .22 rifle?

I maintain that flail tanks or other heavy vehicles/machinery is the way to go.  

Dead rising on xbox one lets you construct something very similar to that, but with a motorcycle body, and it's GREAT fun going through hordes of zombies with it.

[dogmush]

John ringo ' s zombie apocalypse series has portable zombie traps that are basically  shredders set up in a connex with noise and light bait. Zed goes in one side, paste comes out the other. Set it and forget it.

I'm stealing that idea when the time comes.

[Jamisjockey]

John ringo ' s zombie apocalypse series has portable zombie traps that are basically  shredders set up in a connex with noise and light bait. Zed goes in one side, paste comes out the other. Set it and forget it.

I'm stealing that idea when the time comes.

Governator had pits for catching them. 

[BryanP]

One of my pet peeves about the show is how they hardly ever run out of vehicles that run or gasoline that's still usable.   (Yes, I know, it's just a TV show)

All the time they spend walking around, apparently this world doesn't have bicycles.

[MechAg94]

I had been thinking of the snow cutter example from the 3rd Monster Hunter book also.  A modified combine occured to me as well.  I wonder why I haven't seen that idea used.

That was one of the things I thought was BS about the World War Z book is the author dumped on any thought of using tanks, but never even considering using modified combines or other maybe stationary zombie processor.  Seemed ideal the zombies in that book.  Instead, the author focused on infantry acting as zombie killers and bait at the same time. 

[charby]

I had been thinking of the snow cutter example from the 3rd Monster Hunter book also.  A modified combine occured to me as well.  I wonder why I haven't seen that idea used.

That was one of the things I thought was BS about the World War Z book is the author dumped on any thought of using tanks, but never even considering using modified combines or other maybe stationary zombie processor.  Seemed ideal the zombies in that book.  Instead, the author focused on infantry acting as zombie killers and bait at the same time.  

Problem with a combine is that it is designed with the bean head to cut cereal grains or soybean plants stem near the ground, then move the cut plant into a threshing machine. Corn head snaps the stalks off and moves the ears into the threshing machine. Bone would destroy either head and the threshing part in a short period of time if you are using it repeatedly.

A forestry head on a skid steer would make more sense for the mythical zombies.