Yeah, gotta love techinicals. You can own any battlefield in them as long as nobody brought actual military vehicles or air power. There was a battle back in 2006 between a Muslim extremist faction in Somalia against the Ethiopian army. Turns out that a 100+ pickup trucks armed with heavy machine guns and assorted heavy weaponry will do exactly jack shit against tanks, even early Cold War era tanks like what the Ethiopians fielded.
That could make for an interesting plot bit. One group has relatively advanced vehicles, all hastily modified into combat types (like sports speeders equipped with heavy guns or rocket launchers) versus a far less technologically gifted force that has vehicles and equipment built from the ground-up for combat.
rollin' on dubs
Sometimes it's just easier to go to war with what you have than what you wish you had.
Video Games and Tabletop Games have the main characters riding around in modified civilian vehicles or ones with an Ace Custom paint job. This can be a Justified Trope. Military and civilian tech crosses over and IRL things and vehicles do get modified.
So a star spanning nation would have rich worlds with mecha, Powered Armor etc, not so rich worlds with older mech's and more wheeled AFV's and at the bottom the "frontier". Worlds with whatever they could get their hands on (horses, horse-y like animals).
The Home Guard fights in trucks with machine guns, on "horseback" until the main force arrives. Again a Justified Trope. There might even be pirates who have cars, trucks, "horses" or carry them around when they raid a planet.
Of course some RPG creators use this trope as an to sell more models and Splatbooks...
edited 14th Oct '13 9:17:46 AM by TairaMai
I tried to walk like an Egyptian and now I need to see a Cairo practor....edited 14th Oct '13 2:35:49 AM by MattII
^ Of course surprise is all they can rely on. Like the Viet Cong vs American GI's in the jungle, if technicals go up as a pitched fight, they easy fodder for even old WW 2 shit. An old M8 Greyhound armored car would defeat as many technicals as it had ammo for its 37mm in a pitched fight. But a technical stationed in ambush with ATGM's would make short work of those.
rollin' on dubs
And here's a link to "The Toyota War
".
Good points from all involved.
In my setting, generally they go to great pains to keep everyone roughly on the same level skills and equipment-wise, though second line units do tend to suffer from having less up to date* and training. The reason for this is that FTL travel makes it much more difficult to prevent enemy forces from making raids* into your territory*.
However, I imagine that the militias of various Confederate planets would be perfectly happy scrounging up anything they need on-site and might well end up using the futuretech equivalent of technicals, which would also be true of the stay-behind units.
Have a quick question to chew over: I've decided* that rather than using Link Gates/Drives/Projectors*, the Sirian Union utilises T-drives/Teledrives.
As the name suggests, this allows the vessels equipped with them to instantaneously* teleport from one spot to another, with little to no warning.
The teleportation technology can also be applied on a smaller scale to teleport vehicles, Powered Infantry, etc. However when used in this manner it has a much shorter range*.
It has some weaknesses, however - its range is not unlimited, so ships have to travel in "jumps" (giving an astute opponent something from which to extrapolate their likely movements), and it also takes a good deal of energy to send a warship across several solar systems in an instant, as you might imagine.
To get to the gist of my question, how could this tech be used tactically and strategically?
As an aside, their FTL technology is obviously something of an out-of-context problem for the Coalition and Confederacy, since a good deal of their assumptions about space warfare revolve around the concept of an enemy using the Link Gates/Drives/Projectors and hence giving the defenders/attackers both advance warning and some leeway.*
Locking you up on radar since '09Are short ranged, high accuracy, rapid jumps possible?
If so, then jump drives are a massive tactical advantage. A small jump drive equipped force could jump halfway across a solar system to bypass defenders and smash enemy infrastructure to pieces, and be gone before the defenders can move forces to intercept.
Also, are these link drives devices that exploit naturally occurring wormholes/phase lanes/what have you or are they physical, artificial devices in the vein of EVE Online's warp gates? Because if the latter, then the Sirians have a massive offensive advantage, as in they are the only ones that can go on the offense. The other factions would be restricted to sending a highly vulnerable STL "gateship" to deploy that gate before offensive operations can be conducted.
Also, are the wormhole/phase lane "exits" local points in space or just anywhere? Because if the former, these "exits" can easily be defended and fortified as natural choke points by the Sirians, which is another disadvantage to the other factions.
I forgot to mention this, but telefragging* is possible with the T-drives. Such incidents tend to incur high fatalities and are generally messy (in terms of damage and casualties). However, the T-drive computer terminal software includes a "sanity check" function that prevents a jump being made if it's calculated it is highly likely a telefrag is going to occur, throwing up a warning message as it does so. Only the captain/ranking officer (in the case of a vehicle/PI squad) can override the warning. However, the system has been known to fail, and sometimes it's overzealous, stopping perfectly safe jumps from being made.
Though the issue has long since been resolved, on the test ships that were carrying prototype Teledrives there were one or two incidents where the part of the ship holding the Teledrive successfully made the jump... but the rest of it didn't, which was put down to an incomplete "saturation" of the vessel with the field produced by the drive.
Though I'm reconsidering it since from an out of universe perspective it might make their vessels too strong, I was also thinking the Sirians have figured out how to weaponise the Teledrive in a fashion: when put into a certain submode, the T-drive can target an enemy vessel and teleport part of the hull away from the rest of the ship with predictable results (favourite targets include powerplants and/or the command centre/bridge). However, no jumps can be made in this submode and it puts a higher strain on the drive since it's trying to project the field over a distance rather than at "point blank".
Yes, they are - generally, the smaller the distance covered the less time and energy is needed to make a jump. So a Sirian capital ship wanting to hop from one end of a solar system to another as in your example would be able to do so very quickly and with the minimum of power; jumping multiple systems would take longer and put bigger demands on the Teledrive.
Depends on the specific system: Link Gates are essentially like warp gates* or Jump Gates - they are "fixed" in space and only ever go from System A to B and vice-versa. It's a major no-no to damage or destroy a Link Gate due to the high cost and immense amount of resources required to build them, but subverting them* is a grey area/seen as de facto acceptable and there's nothing preventing the Sirians (or the Coalition/Confederacy for that matter) from setting up a blockade or picket to capture or destroy any incoming vessels. The Confederacy, being smaller than the Coalition (and thus having to traverse less space), makes the most use of Link Gates, though the armed forces also utilise Link Drives and Projectors.
So if the Confederacy was to be attacked by the Sirian Union, they would probably suffer the most from a relative lack of mobility.
Link Drives are basically your common or garden warp drive-alikes; they force open a wormhole/portal for the ship to travel through, and create an exit portal/wormhole prior to arrival*. They are relatively unremarkable aside from the aforementioned travel time and the fact that they give advance warning of their user's arrival, allowing for interception. Military/government traffic is almost the sole user of Link Drives and their precursor technology, Link Projectors. The Coalition of United Peoples is the prime user of Link Drive tech.
Link Projectors fulfil the same role as Link Drives, being the forebear to the Link Drive. However, they project (hence the name) a wormhole/portal a fair distance in front of the ship. The main advantage of these systems is that they are cheaper and less complex than Link Drives, but they also have the fringe benefit of letting multiple ships "share" a portal if they fly in close enough formation. Care must be taken to avoid collisions, however, and co-ordination is paramount.
In terms of gateships, there probably are specialised ships for the construction and repair of Link Gates - but they are off limits in terms of being legitimate targets for destruction (capture is A-OK, though).
As an aside, natural wormholes can be utilised by Link systems, and indeed put much less strain on them, extending drive life. However, since they are unstable it's something done at the traveller's own risk, especially since the entrance and exit can shift location unpredictably. Up to date wormhole maps can fetch a pretty penny for obvious reasons, and subscriptions can be bought for electronic wormhole maps.
Link Gates have their entrances/exits fixed, as mentioned above - so really there's nothing stopping a Sirian Army fleet rocking up to a Link Gate and denying entry to anyone they don't like.
Link Drives and Projectors can spit out their bearers almost anywhere, but gravity wells trigger their built-in safety limits and force the ship(s) into normal space. That and there's anything from 1-10 minutes of warning prior to the arrival of a Link Drive/Projector using vessel (Link Gates are even easier, since there's a spike in energy output and noticeable movement on the Gate's part as it prepares to receive or send away a ship).
Thanks very much for the info, by the way; it's a boon! The amusing thing is that I imagine that tactically Sirian ships are slower than human ones (and larger for reasons of Sirian physiology), and yet judging by what you've said they've got a strategic mobility advantage.
So if it has those effects in space warfare, then how might the teleportation technology be utilised by Powered Infantry and other planetside units?
Locking you up on radar since '09To my knowledge, wormhole travel is either a Portal Network or a Jump Drive depending on whether one uses existing black holes (more realistic) or generates them on its own (less realistic).
^Yep. My setting is as soft as marshmallow/jelly/pillows/[INSERT SOFT ITEM HERE], it seems!
As an aside, the reason why using natural wormholes extends drive life is simple: the Link Drive/Projector doesn't have to create a portal/wormhole itself, which makes up a significant portion of the demands on those systems*.
So a lot of cheapskate captains do use these wormholes to wring every last bit of longevity out of their ships.
Locking you up on radar since '09Yeah my wormhole-traversing spacecraft either find a black hole or generate an artificial one, than detonate a spherical shell of negative-density exotic matter inside the event horizon, linking to another singularity based on their jump calculations. Wormholes are basically tunnels through hyperspace.
My setting has "fine particle manipulation" tech so using graviton and anti-graviton beams to wedge open micro-singularities enough for the spacecraft to enter and do its negative density shell detonation thing isn't unheard of.
Jumping directly into hyperspace by opening a wormhole outside the membrane of this universe is technically possible but considered insane and suicidal. Theoretically though, if one can overcome the limitations, they'd be able to jump from hyperspace to anywhere in the universe, even distant galaxies humans haven't reached yet, or back in time, or a dozen other possibilities, since our laws of physics don't apply in hyperspace. By contrast, most commercial FTL drives have an average range of a 50-100 light year radius.
edited 19th Oct '13 4:36:35 AM by fulltimeD
That's pretty neat. At the very least, it sounds like you've put a lot of thought into it. And if hyperspace is a scary place, then how do they prevent the crew being negatively affected by it?
Also, I just realised that the Sirians' teleportation tech would also allow them to teleport squads of Powered Infantry into enemy ships, allowing them to avoid having to deal with the hassle of disabling the ship and sending boarding craft or whatever over to it. That may pose a bit of a problem for any marines aboard those ships* just because their weapons aren't going to be as effective against powered armour as they would against other marines. On the plus side, the PI would present a nice big target for 'em.
By the way, I finally posted that thread about sci-fi weapons, gear and vehicles. If you've ever wondered how to equip your armies, well, wonder no more!
[/shamelessplug]
Locking you up on radar since '09Thank you, I have put a lot of thought into it. I'm on Draft 3 of the novel.
To answer your question, they don't. They "remember" parallel timelines and some people, but not all, carry that knowledge with them once they leave. They can only stay for a very short amount of time because it involves operating the navigational shield they use for jumps constantly and that's a major power drain. Without that shield, they'd be ripped apart particle by particle. They stay only as long as it takes to jump out.
Visually, hyperspace is constantly changing shape and takes on subjective images for different people, like a crystal fractal latttice or a construct of mirrors. It has no defined laws of physics, these laws only apply locally within the spacecraft because the navigational shields (I call them "Hawking Shields") effectively seal it up from all the distortions of hyperspace, like a pocket universe, but even a big part of that depends on what might be the crew's altered perceptions. Thoughts can shape reality there. But after a few minutes, or instantly without the nav shield, it's lethal exposure.
edited 19th Oct '13 8:10:32 AM by fulltimeD
Visually, hyperspace is constantly changing shape and takes on subjective images for different people, like a crystal fractal latttice or a construct of mirrors. It has no defined laws of physics, these laws only apply locally within the spacecraft because the navigational shields (I call them "Hawking Shields") effectively seal it up from all the distortions of hyperspace, like a pocket universe, but even a big part of that depends on what might be the crew's altered perceptions. Thoughts can shape reality there. But after a few minutes, or instantly without the nav shield, it's lethal exposure.
Well, it certainly sounds like a rather interesting experience for everyone involved (though I'm now imagining painters using hyperspace as inspiration for surrealist paintings).
Another implication of the Teledrive I figured out only recently (despite it being smack-on-the-forehead obvious) is that it renders logistics much easier to handle. You don't really have to worry about whether or not that shipment of food/uniforms/materiel will arrive, as the transports will just pop into existence next to where they need to go. Of course, this has a knock-on effect of making it very challenging to reliably disrupt their logistics.
I also realised that it might be possible to drop Powered Infantry, armour or other forces behind the enemy's defences. That'll probably result in a lot of confusion too, though they will probably wise up and start establishing better rear defences among other things. And, of course, it'd be entirely possible for an officer to overestimate their troops' abilities (or underestimate the enemy) and plonk their unit right into the middle of something they can't handle. The most dangerous thing in the world is an officer with a map after all, and when said officer can say "I want to go... here" and warp her squad there in an instant, that is only magnified.
Locking you up on radar since '09^ It's funny you say that about artists being inspired by the surreal qualities of hyperspace; the Cyborg pilot of the ship that experiments with jumping directly into hyperspace (rather than bypassing it with a more typical wormhole) is quite the artist, and her murals adorn the inside of the ship.
Huh, I see. Cool!
Changing tack from teleportation etc., how might hover tanks be employed differently from tracked armour? They can boost power output to hover at higher altitudes (though they're not as agile, fast or high flying as even helicopters), if that helps any.
Locking you up on radar since '09On an individual level, being teleported thousands of feet into the air. After all, the latter is quick (albeit gruesome), while falling thousands of feet will mean that you'll (probably) be conscious the whole way down.
From an efficency standpoint, teleporting them into the ground is better.
Electronic warfare, chaff/flares, decoys... basically whatever I could to distract enemy surface to air weapon systems.
I'm not sure what you're referring to by "drop troops", though. Can you explain?
Locking you up on radar since '09Drop troopers are infantry that's loaded into small, usually one man capsules meant strictly for atmospheric re-entry. These drop pods are launched en mass toward the planet. Usually, this is done while the transport ship is making a relatively low and fast pass. Often, drop pods are designed to ablate on their way down. Density is kept low so they can air brake. The pods are usually disposable and may use either retro rockets or parachutes for final deceleration. The assumption is that no matter how well you armor a shuttle the enemy anti-air batteries would shoot them down anyway. The drop pods, being small and simple, would be harder to detect behind a wall of chaff, decoys, and ECM.
Ah, okay.
It would also be an idea to ensure that the pod is on the descent for the absolute minimum of time, as that is when it's most vulnerable. Depending on the design of the drop pods, hard/erratic maneuvering will make it difficult to acquire a firing solution and buy extra time.
Those are the main ways I'd handle drop pods, anyway. I imagine that although drop pods might be a thing in my setting, they'd probably be launched from stealthy vessels to quietly insert special forces, at least when a dropship would be too obvious. I can't really imagine them playing a significant role in a battlefield where dropships have sufficient defences to penetrate integrated space/air defence systems.
Locking you up on radar since '09I'd mix in submunition pods with the infantry pods. Those bust open on the way down and deploy countermeasures, air-to-surface missiles, bomblets, etc. to suppress enemy defenses. Assuming that I didn't just gain air superiority first like one normally would need to for airborne operations. Then again, if you could attain air superiority, what's stopping you from using a more conventional Air Assault using drop ships to deposit troops directly on the ground?
In my brainstorming headspace, I'm seeing Drop Pod assaults as being one of those things that a first rate military force trains and equips for as a contingency, but is generally not too excited about having to actually do if they can avoid it. High attrition, high cost, high difficulty, etc. Better to establish a beachhead on a more peaceful part of the planet and use it as a jumping off point for a conventional assault if you can manage it.
edited 26th Nov '13 2:13:33 PM by AFP
rollin' on dubs
Fractional Orbital Bombardment System
only for drop troops:
- given an objective, troops make 1/4 or 1/5 an orbit and then drop.
- "Fighters", decoys pods, gravity bombs and dropships follow the pods down.
- Flack is only good against subsonic aircraft, hence most fast movers are targeted by missiles.
- A 1,000 kg bomb on the radar or missile launcher beats all the decoys evar. In my 'Verse, most "fighters" are smaller ships that are atmosphere capable and follow the drop troops down.

^ Nah I remember that too. I think it was October 10 when we did a paradrop over southern Afghanistan. Classic plane jump type. I don't remember if it was Marines or Rangers or Airborne however.
Made notable in that like three days later after they'd set up a forward base the Taliban launched a massive technical (as in the weaponized truck) counterattack on the position and were assraped to Hell by attack helicopters (some of which were Marine Cobras) and fast air.