Re: Communication and Travel

Richard spake thusly upon matters weighty: 

> > Ever visited a Mennonite Farm? Or was that Hutterite? I can't 
> > remember which it is (or both) - but they have FULL machine shops
> > that make some commercial ones look like nothing. And this includes
> > computer driven CAD/CAM rigs, which are getting cheaper, smaller and
> > more capable. It is entirely within the range of imagination to
> > imagine a single farmstead (with adequate raw materials) turning out
> > 20-25 serviceable assault weapons in a week. Now raw materials,
> > ammo, primers, etc. become a bit of an issue, but you'd be surprised
> > what a colony of people who live by being self sufficient because
> > most of the time help is not nearby or DNE can do. 
> 
> Can Mennonite farms produce apache attack helicopters, missile 
> systems, AWACS, strike fighters, M1 tanks. Nope.

True. But doe strike fighters an AWACS land? yep. Do they need fuel? 
Yep. Do they need parts? Yep. Are they crewed by people? Yep. Is 
there a way to attack them? Probably.  Can they produce things to 
kill M1 tanks for $10,000 or less... probably. Can they deal with the 
49% mission capable (with a full contingent of mechanics mind you) 
apache when it is grounded? Yep.  Can they hid from these things so 
they are nearly useless and infantry has to be sent out? Yep. 

 Farm machine shops 
> on colony worlds won't be able to make state of the art hardare 
> either. A guy with a rifle (ten guys with rifles... 100 guys with 
> rifles?) Aren't much threat to state of the art systems. (q.v. road 
> to basrah)

Oh, you mean the ambush of the already broken and fleeing troops by 
the overwhelming air, ground, surveillance, resources of the united 
force of about a dozen countries (although only 3 or so were major 
contributors to the war)? hmm. I don't think this is terribly 
analogous. Try the chechens vs. the russians. Try the russians vs. 
the afghans. Try the americans vs. the vietnamese. Try a number of 
other conflicts in the last century. I'm sure if the NAC, NSL, and 
the Israelis and OU banded together to pound on one annoying colony 
world led by Sodamn Insane or the like, they wouldn't have too much 
trouble trashing it. Especially if given six months to build up. But 
maybe, just maybe, other scenarios might pan out differently. 

To each his own, as far as a universe setup. Strictly from a gameplay 
point of view, I find a universe with a lot of colonies with 
different flavours (some defended by high tech regs, some by 
colonials, some by private forces or colonists) and different 
strengths (some an easy mark, some like attacking Switzerland - eh 
Oerjan?) makes for a much more interesting set of strategic and 
tactical problems - and maybe political too. So it's just then a 
matter of picking constraints for the universe in terms of economy, 
politics, and physics to make such an environment feasible. 

:) Tom.  
> You also talked of luring the elite troops into ambushes etc. I 
> understand the Vietnam parallels, and the desire to perhaps have 
> scope for such problems (perhaps for RP potential, or just for that 
> 'feel). However, elite units have come a long way (and learned a lot 
> of lessons) as well as advanced technolgy and sensor systems looking 
> carefully down from space.
> 
> My thrust is.... civil based defense is at a severe disadvantage from 
> top of the line military units with space superiority. A real 
> garrison with planet or orbital defenses and/or fleet presence is the 
> best line of defense, and probably the most economic. The role of on 
> planet grunts would be for them to hide (with stealth technology) and 
> conduct guerilla actions in preperation for relief by their own 
> fleet, who will no doubt want to take the place back again asap.
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Richard Slattery	       richard@mgkc.demon.co.uk
> I have nothing to say, and I'll only say it once. 
>      Floyd Smith, NHL Hockey coach
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> 
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