LARGE SCALE WARFARE IN IMPERIUM:
Dean assumes a TL15 invasion although no presumption of defending TL
is made. A TL 15 defending force can have some of the same options as the
attacker, they can be where the "defenders are not" by using black globes to
mask their prescence. Also since deep site mesons can basically fire in ANY
direction from their site it can be practically impossible to pin the general
location of the site especially if the planet has moons with their own meson
guns. Since sensors are fairly cheap they can be redundantly placed with only
a small fraction active at any given time. While the former approach requires
atleast TL15, the later just requires the technology to build meson guns
TL-11. Communication lines can be land lines protected against detection and
radiation effects. There can be multiple back-up systems to allow continuous
flow of information.
Lets also be careful of the densitometer's capabilities. Most worlds can have
or even "set-up" fake meson-gun sites by setting up large mineral deposits
with high metallic content. Since meson guns are quite lethal even at low
numbers the tonnage of these 'deposits' can be highly variable. I am not
certain whether the depth of a site is solely a function of the densitometer
capabilities. Depth may be more a function of protection from more
conventional weapons, in which case the site may be much closer to the
surface making an attacker's job harder since most metallic deposits would
be fairly close to the surface and let us not forget the forged metallic
cities of the future. Some of these cities could run quite deep beneath the
surface of the planet, raising some tough ethical questions for the attacker.
Especially if the defender did intentionally put a meson site under the city.
In any case, every wrong guess means atleast one dead spinal mount armed
ship which can wipe out a fleet eventually. I also think that the initial
attack will be the best place for ground pounders.
My scenario is that the fleet moves in at full strength destroys as much
of the defense as it can, inserts troops and then the major ships pull
back leaving as Dean said, the fighters and the "smaller" craft to slug it.
If the attacker fails to win orbital superiority then all is lost for them,
but the defender even if defeated can silo and husband their craft for later
use in vital tactical superiority missions. ftrs as no large ships will be
be in combat range. Their hardened silos may have little to fear from the big
ships but they could still be bombed by attacking fighters. Similarly if the
attacking small craft win they will also have to withdraw otherwise they will
be wiped out by planetary defenses.
So they'll withdraw returning only to provide tactical support to ground troops
The tanks and the troops will have to quickly start occupying cities to protect
themselves and then find these meson sites with the "Low Power Densitometers"
ASAP.
The main point being that until those sites are found the attacker's
victory is not assured and those sites may not be all found out for a long
period of time. And they will not be found without overwhelming "ground
forces".
While the hi-tech sensors in MT make it very hard to surprise a well
defended site, it does not make it any easier to find guerrillas. In a large
urban sprawl it may be impossible to distinguish or find them. The rapid
response force while a good idea has no real edge. Most guerrillas in the
modern age rarely use any kind of mechanical vehicles, hard to understand
why they might want to in the future considering it is so obvious. Especially
grav units of any kind as they are immediately detectable by densitometers.
How would the sensor perimeter prevent the guerrillas from leaving armed?
Neural Activity Sensors work only at fairly short range and most hand weapons
require little or no power, and even batteries may be hard to detect.
Consider a hi-tech guerrilla force in Combat Environment Suits with helmets
including psionic shields carrying non-metallic ACRs. In a jungle or in a
urban situation very hard to find. If they bury their guns they can come back
for them later. Again this is not very hi-tech stuff only TL-12 at most and
most of it is much lower.
Guerrillas job will be harder in attacking valuable strategic targets but
the opposing force' job in finding them will not become easier.
A high-population hi-tech world can be very hard to capture and control. The
best way may be kidnap a portion of the population from all over the world
and of all walks of life and hold them hostage to force compliance of the
people until a sufficiently large garrison force is available.
Ameer