Space Warfare

[SadGeezer]

I’ve been writing stories for my own amusement since I was four, but recently I’ve turned more to building my own internally consistent universes instead.

I’ve been working on one of my scifi universes recently and I was just thinking –

How assymetric is future warfare likely to be?

I’ve invented a hyperdrive justification, but it would probably be horrendously expensive to build, equip and crew a warship that moved fast enough to be of any tactical use outside of system defence.

Apart from a few major powers, the Earth Empire, the Kyriosan Cluster, the Grand Church for instance, which have the money to equip fleets.

But what of smaller colonies? Would they rely on ground forces equipped with out-of-date weaponry? Would their battles be fought with guerrilla actions and insurgent tactics? Would they use "fireships" in dockyards, and long-range radio-controlled bombs?

What does the forum think on the topic of the poor man’s war in the future?

[mandara k]

[quote=Elohim]

I’ve been writing stories for my own amusement since I was four, but recently I’ve turned more to building my own internally consistent universes instead.

I’ve been working on one of my scifi universes recently and I was just thinking –

How assymetric is future warfare likely to be?

I’ve invented a hyperdrive justification, but it would probably be horrendously expensive to build, equip and crew a warship that moved fast enough to be of any tactical use outside of system defence.

Apart from a few major powers, the Earth Empire, the Kyriosan Cluster, the Grand Church for instance, which have the money to equip fleets.

But what of smaller colonies? Would they rely on ground forces equipped with out-of-date weaponry? Would their battles be fought with guerrilla actions and insurgent tactics? Would they use "fireships" in dockyards, and long-range radio-controlled bombs?

What does the forum think on the topic of the poor man’s war in the future?

__________________________

 

[/quote]

 

I’m not much in the warfare department… but wouldn’t it be more likely that a bulk of fighting age beings would be recruited into these three power groups?

To know how one would war ,one must know their developments in peace time. Are they are warring race like the Romans on Earth?

Are you saying the common person is rejecting the power groups and wish to be truly revolutionary? To forge a new way without influence.

Are they educated, do they have a say in their everyday lives or are they subjugated?

How much is a single life worth in their culture?

Is it like now-adays that we build weapons due to tech advances that outweigh ethics ’cause we damn well can.

There must be a peacetime otherwise the first two beings of your race prolly killed each other.

How do you guerilla-fare a hyperdrive? Delay yes, but if something is going to be built; it will be.

Hey, your race, your decisions.

 

And breaking points; who decides them; who gets to push the button and what are the consequences? ANd is the common man aware of those consequences.

 

And hey, welcome to the Sad board

[mandara k]

 

My God what posting hell I was in.

 

Dude :wilkommen to Saddy’s.

If everyone is experiencing breaking the barrier of trying to post, I can truly see why no one IS posting.

 

We got trouble (right here in River City)… because, for the exception of watching my sweet sister chain-saw to death an alien in Gears of War, I’m not getting the "war love" of people.

 

But well back to the question… it depends on " peace-time" poor man. And it depends on what happens years before the war.

Most "common people" are attracted by shiny and slick:shiny teeth, shiny personalities. Bling over substance.

 

Thus are very malleable and manipulated.

 

SO they will join w/the the slick and ideals closest to how they can reasonably survive and possibly get something that can’t get on their own.

 

No one , in a right frame of mind.truly chooses to rebel but sometimes circumstances are thus as it is needed.

 

SO you need specifics…. are they are warring culture, like say the movie "300" type .

 

How much do they value a single life of thei species?

 

SO a majority of fighters wil join your three power houses to be a part.

 

 

 

[SadGeezer]

A planetary attack is going to be either out and out distruction or aimed at occupation. 

I cant think of a defence against out and out destruction, such as attack could be any thing from bombing usung any type of material (boi, concussive, heat…. anything).  But what would be the point.  Such destruction wouldn’t be profitable as the huge cost would need to be re-couped somehow.

If the attack were occupational then the attacker would need troup carries and all the transport paraphinalia and that means slower less manouverable ships.  Bettwe still, a defencive force to attack when the ship is landing and more vulnerable would be even better.

Personally, I would say the cheapo defence would be explosives used in a range of ways:  Tagetting the large ships as they slowed down to enter the planets atmosphere, when they landed.  Energy weapons could be deflected.

Also, the cheapo defence would engage in using the cheapest stuff they could, why blow a ship up with a huge bomb in space if you can just dissable it and let it drift.   

To be honest though, I’ve never really thought of such a thing before.  Interesting topic!

[Hollydays]

dna changing warfare. Slowly change your enemies into your slobbering slaves! bwahaha! Each generation changes a bit – the parents turn to science to stop/reverse the changes. large sums of money to be made by selling "cures" from one of your "unbiased" cultures.

 

[londondyke]

Are we talking settled colonies of one race spread out over space ? Or different races that come into contact ?

 If the former, the major power would be smart to monopolise space travel and not ALLOW its new colonies to develop deep space travel..maybe only between planets. Then you don’t need  lots of expensive big ships to police space, what you need is lots of spies and agents on the colony planets…if one  runty planet gets too big for its boots you either orchestrate  a regime change or you fix  engines to a few  big asteroids  and smash them into the planet….dinosaur style extinction, problem solved.

But of course if you want every planet in your story to have space travel, then I guess warships become neccessary. I am guessing they would be big and fire missiles and be covered in concrete or rocks 50 feet thick  as armour..or they could be smaller if they had  force field type defence shields….jeez  no matter how I think it through it all sounds just like star wars or BG    

[londondyke]

 Mercenaries….

Been thinking more about it , OP was asking about poor man’s war,  I don’t think a small colony planet could afford a war basically,   not have the industrial base to produce weapons. They would  have to engage Mercenaries maybe?

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