Rob Dean writes:
COMPARISON OF 'MILITARY CAPACITY' OF THREE SECTORS:
>Gvurrdon, Spinward Marches, and Trojan Reaches
>
>Prewar
>
> Imperial Aslan Florian Strend
>TL15 28 billion - 6 billion 80 billion
>TL14 20 billion 55 billion - -
>TL13 10 billion 170 billion - -
>TL12 - - 20 billion -
>
>Current
>
> Imperial Aslan Florian Strend
>TL15 - 28 billion 6 billion 80 billion
>TL14 - 75 billion - -
>TL13 10 billion 170 billion - -
>TL12 - - 20 billion -
>
>Calculations 1TL15=2TL14=4TL13=8TL12
I once asked Steve Higginbotham about relative strength due to TL
differences, and in his opinion you're a bit off. Here's what he
said:
>Hans:
>>This is something that I think would be very useful for us non-TCS
>>types to know. Do you think you could whip up a rough chart about TL
>>advantages for navies? Nothing fancy, just something like
>
>Using MY notion of good ship design (ship design has a LOT to do with
>relative capability), and keeping in mind the following size limits:
>
>TL9 - 4000
>TL10 - 10000
>TL11 - 50000
>TL12 - 100000
>TL13+ - 1000000
>
> TL 10 TL 11 TL 12 TL 13 TL 14 TL 15
>TL 9 2/1 5/1 12/1 100/1 * *
>TL 10 - 3/2 6/1 50/1 1000/1 *
>TL 11 - - 2/1 5/1 12/1 500/1
>TL 12 - - - 3/1 10/1 20/1
>TL 13 - - - - 3/2 5/1
>TL 14 - - - - - 3/1
>
>* - can defeat any number of foes of the lower TL
Thus one TL 15 ship should be the equal of 3 TL 14 ships or 5 TL 13 or
20 TL 12 ships of the same size.
>Prewar strengths (Later)
>
>Imperial : 84.25 46.25
>Aslan : 70 108
>Florian : 8.5 8.5
>Strend : 80 80
>Vargr : 72.5 72.5
>The biggest single contribution to decrease in Imperial strength is the loss
>of Tobia, right on the pre-Rebellion Aslan border. If this one world was
>convinced somehow to join the Aslan voluntarily, it becomes quite believable
>that the Aslan would be able to push all the way to Glisten with the new
>balance in forces.
Leaving aside the question of how you persuade the Imperial sector capital
to switch sides voluntarily you're ignoring the Aslans' two greatest
handicaps: 1) Their division into separate clans and 2) that we're dealing
with _ihatei_.
1) Seperate clans: There are literally hundreds of clans. Of these there
are 29 especially powerful, but those 29 by no means represent all the
military strength of the Aslans. How strong can the biggest clan be? I'd
say no more than 5% of the total Aslan strength.
2) Ihatei: We're not talking about a concerted attack backed by the full
military power of the entire Aslan population of the Trojan Reaches.
We're talking about younger sons being fitted out with _surplus_ ships
out of what the clan chief feels that he can spare. Is he going to
commit his full military strength? No, he's going to keep 90% of it
home to defend against his own lands against rival neighbouring clans.
In Rebellion we're told that the typical _ihatei_ fleet is TL 13.
Since maximum hierate TL is 14 I interpret this to mean that _ihatei_
are equipped with obsolescent ships (and I think that makes sense).
If so, your 55 billion TL 14 Aslans will muster the equivalent of
the full navy of 5.5 billion TL 13 beings for their _ihatei_ and your
170 billion TL 13 Aslans will represent an actual menace equal to the
full navy of 17 billion TL 12 beings.
IMO the Trojan Reach forces can deal with this. But even if you
inflate the strength of the Aslan _ihatei_ they still can't win.
Even if the Domain didn't have the muscle to deal with all aslans,
they will certainly have enough to make life impossible for any one
clan if they get really upset. Any ihatei admiral is going to think
long and hard before sacrificing his fleet so that other clans may
have it a bit softer.
>Also, note the existence of Strend in subsector A of the Trojan Reaches. I've
>never combed the Trojan Reaches data before, but this single world has TWICE
>the combined population of Mora, Trin, Glisten and Rhylanor combined, and
>therefore twice the potential military strength. I suddenly realize that the
>diplomatic
>maneuvering by EVERYONE centered around this world must be the real
>driving force behind all diplomatic efforts in the Domain and the surrounding
>regions.
Very true. And since we've never hear of Strend being of the slightest
importance to the politics of the Marches we've obviously got a major
contradiction that must be resolved by either deciding retroactively that
Strend has always been of paramount importance in the politics of the
Marches or that Strend isn't really that powerful. In my universe I've
chosen the second option as the least disruptive. Oh, Strend is the
center of a small trade association called the Strend Economic Orbit,
but Strend has 8, not 80, billion inhabitants. (Which still would earn
them an active spot if I ever decide to run a FFW style game).
>Anyway,
>on the surface of it, there would seem to be no reason at all why the
>Aslan could not take Glisten, especially if Tobia were to change sides.
That's a mighty big if to start with.
Hans Rancke
University of Copenhagen
[email removed]
- ------------
"A subsector official pompously states that the
subsector armed forces have four Kinunir class
ships in service, each with enough troop strength
to put down any military operations that threathen
the peace of the Imperium."
---Adventure 1, The Kinunir