Planetary Infrastructure/Invasion/etc

One thing to keep in mind with colony worlds and Earth is what I call
'depth of infrastructure' : Basically, here on Earth there's a vast
infrastructure that we hardly ever think about.

If you have a car, think of this: the steel and other metals started as
ore from a mine somewhere, went to a refinery/smelter complex, then
through one or more factories before it became your car. Ditto for
rubber,
plastics, electronics, etc - all the complex bits of a car. Then theres
the selling and support structures - transporting of new cars, selling,
garages and gas - especially gas. All of this involves masses of
resources, transport systems, and usually several different nations.

Damn few colonies will be able to muster this, usually. We can argue
specifics and tech differences, but the basics of building a car won't
change that much, I'd think. And of course military vehicles have even
more specialized needs that civilian vehicles (armour, weapons,
electronics, etc).

Colonies could set up the more basic manufacturing processes fairly
quickly, probably - things like ammo, basic trucks, maybe handweapons -
but most colonies are going to be dependant on outside sources for heavy
weapons, AFVs etc for a generation or two. To return to other people's 
Isreali
example: Only after about a generation (30 yrs, or more) were they able
to
produce to produce their own MBTs - the Merkava. They still, AFAIK,
import
almost everything else in the way of vehicles, military & civilian.

Colonies are going to be exporters of raw materials, I'd think, but
importers of almost anything else - the neccesary depth of
infrastructure
will take time to develop. And if a war or something disrupts the whole
infrastructure, add years to the time needed.

In FT/DS/SG game turns, this means that a wheeled light APC might be the
local norm, as it's the only armoured vehicle a colony can locally
produce
- and locally make spare parts for. Ditto for the fancier weapon systems
-
HELs, DFFGs, Infantry Plasma weapons, etc. It would take a very mature
colony to produce & maintain an aerospace fighter, and an even older one
to produce any sort of starship.

If your vehicles and spare parts are shipped in, you can of course have
any tech level you care to pay for - but what happens if your
supply-line
gets cut? Gonna take that 100-ton HEL/5 armed grav-tank to the local
garage? That mechanic could handle the local militia's wheeled APCs -
they're just the local truck chassis with armour - but your 100-ton
FGP-powered supertank? Might as well render it down for scrap metal, or
parts for the rest of your supertanks...

 Something to think about for any strategic-level thinking &
background development, anyway. Comments always welcomed...

Brian (burger00@camosun.bc.ca)