Re: [VVerse] Trickier FTL gates

At 1:14 PM -0500 2/1/05, Grant A. Ladue wrote:
>   There's a bunch of wonderful defense ideas here.  Thing is, if you
build
>  defenses like this and I'm the opponent, I build my much smaller,
cheaper
>  mobile fleet and launch periodic minor attacks.  Then I just wait for
the
>  cost of maintenance and staffing to bankrupt your government and 
>move in after
>  your civilization has collapsed.

A bunker cost less than a tank	to maintain. Less fuel costs too. :-)

>Sure, you can build *something* that can't
>  be beat, given near infinite resources and time.

Proximity to logistics helps. In Gibralar's case it was a logistics
base.

>Where do you get infinite
>  resources and time though?  The Magninot Line *could* have been
extended to
>  the coast and probably would have worked.

Note, the Germans didn't actually attack the Maginot line. They went 
around. They did have to attack Eban Emael, but the Belgians ignored 
some developments and their position commanders didn't show 
sufficient initiative in conducting the defense. If the Belgians had 
done 2 things, the German gliders would have had a greater problem. 1 
mines on the roof and better training of their garrison troops (house 
them near the guns blast it!) and officers. Oh, more machine guns to 
cover the close in.

>If Germany doesn't attack for the
>  next 25 years though, you've just built the biggest boondoggle of all
time!

I don't see the US going bankrupt from the Nike Zeus bases, the older 
Shore forts or such. Britain didn't go bankrupt from the defense of 
England fortifications they build. Germany would have however lost 
big time due to their lack of planning for sealion (logisitcs and

>  Eventually Germany just *buys* the bankrupt French government.  The
biggest
>  problem with "The Mote in God's Eye" is that eventually the human
governments
>  are going to have something happen to them and not be able to hold
the line,
>  and the Motie's are going to get out.

Minde you I'm advocating that fixed defenses are a good multiplier 
for mobile forces that cost less than the same firepower of mobile 
forces. Defending an entire frontier is hard. Defending a specific 
point like a worm hole junction or a straight or such is far far 
easier. Note, the Germans had to take Eban Emael because of the 
geography of that particular area.
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