Re: realistic fleets

On Fri, 19 Sep 1997, Robin K Paul wrote:

> Inspired by that excellent "Byzantium" series on Channel 4 (UK), I dug
out
> my WRG "Armies of the Dark Ages" book to have a look at the Byzantine
> Thematic system.  The "Themes" were the "Military Districts" of the
> Empire, responsible for defence on both land and sea.  There was an
> Imperial standing army (and navy), of elite status units collectively
> known as the Tagmata, and each theme provided a set number of troops
(and
> ships where appropriate).  The Thematic troops were divided into 1st
and
> 2nd classes, the latter only suitable as police, and were supported by
> land grants and a regular (but infrequent and often inadequate) cash
grant
> from central funds.  Large portions of the armed forces were provided
by
> foreign mercenaries.	
> 
> This seems to me like a pretty reasonable way to run an SF empire,
with
> Themes consisting of a small group of planets under a governor.  The
> Thematic forces might include patrol vessels on merchant hulls (2nd
> class), with some reasonable cruisers and escorts as the 1st class
forces,
> and almost all of the really heavy units belonging to the Tagmata.
> 
> Rob Paul
> 
> 
> 
> 
This sounds very cool - and could be a good campaign basis, with players
as Sector Governors/Sector Admirals/whatever, with orders to make war
upon
the enemy and stuff. It would get rid of a lot of diplomatic/admin BS,
and
allow players to concentrate on the front line instead of the bottom
line...

Brian (burger00@camosun.bc.ca)