Re: Planetary Invasions Revisited

> From: "Robert S. Dean" [email removed]
> Subject: (2555)  Planetary Invasions Revisited
>
> Invasion vs. Bombardment: We are all agreed that you would only invade to
> capture, not to destroy, correct?  Some interesting bombardment techniques
> have been mentioned, but they are also divergent.

  If I'm allowed to diverge some more: The best method I've heard of would
be to take a random asteroid, install jump and manuever drives on it, let it
accelerate to some awful velocity and program it for a jump to the 100 diameter
border of an enemy planet....
  It depends however on if a jump conserves the movement, and movement relative
to what, but we've already had that discussion once:)
  [Originally it comes from someone on rec.games.frp]

> Planetary Defense Meson Guns:  The prospect of espionage seems to me to make
> concealment difficult (perhaps not impossible), but how does anyone think the
> Imperium feels about these guns? Would they allow a planetary government to
> build them as part of a secret program, or would they require the locations to
> be on file somewhere in case the planet should rebel?

  I've seen something called the 'Meson Gun Rebellion' mentioned in some old
traveller papers, which might be a clue that this is a hotly contested question.

> Dogfight Phase:  I think that this would be the phase of decision, and that
> it would be quite possible for the defender to win here.  I phrased my
> suggestion the other way, so I could offer an opinion on the 'mop up'.  I
> do think that it would make more sense for the defender to put everything that
> will fly into the air as early as possible, because I think that the pace
> of operations will make any imbalance grow rapidly.

  It depends on if we are using modern air-war as the analogy or if we compare
the orbiting ships to modern artillery, and the grav-crafts to modern ground
forces. It makes sense for the defender to stay under cover as long as the
attacker is out of range of their weapons. I also have my doubts about the
effectiveness of small grav-crafts when used against naval vessels. Pounding on
the big ships are the tasks of the SDBs, the meson pits and the other space
defence installations. The purpose of the grav-crafts and other small crafts
is to engage the attackers small crafts and grav-crafts when they appear in the
atmosphere.

  As for why the attacker would risk his small crafts before the defender is
totally neutralized, I can only offer two reasons:

  o  They would want the war over with within a resonable time-frame (To
     begin invading the next world presumably)

  o  It is hard to determine *if* the defender is neutralized unless he is
     forced to react to something the attacker does.

> Mop-Up:  Are we agreed that infantry would only be used for 'low intensity'
> portions of the operations? And that ground forces would be devastatingly
> outmaneuevered?  (Making the TL12-13 tracked tanks in 101 Vehicles a little
> silly...)

  Hmm, I tend to include grav-tanks and lift infantry in 'ground forces'. If we
assume that it is easier to aquire a target in free air than one hugging the
ground it would be possible to have something looking like ground combat:
Both the attackers and the defenders grav forces can't use their entire
potential because if they ventured too high, they would be blown away. The
defender by the attackers orbiting ships, and the attacker by the defenders
space defence lasers installed on every roof.
  [Gives a whole new dimension to 'Home defence':)]

> Black Globes:  What happens if you turn a black globe on while sitting on a
> planet's surface?

  I think that the globe would cut out a half-hemisphere below the generator,
not destroying it, but cutting all drainage pipes, power lines etc. This would
not be an issue if it was done in the wilderness.
  Some messages echoed from GEnie about BG's suggested another effect: That the
globe would begin to absorb kinetic energy from the surrounding molecules of
air or whatever, thereby absorbing heat from the environment until the sinks
are overloaded.
  Maybe there would become an insulating layer of frozen air around the globe
that slows this process, does anyone know the insulating properties of ice
made of oxygen and nitrogene?

> Rob Dean

- - -bertil-
- - --
"Some people almost never think. They just reshuffle their prejudices."