RE: [SG/DS] Orbital assault was RE: Troop Quality was RE: [SG2] weapons

Just for the sake of arguement, and to prevent DS from
being rendered irrelevant,

--- B Lin <lin@rxkinetix.com> wrote:

> Orbital bombardment doesn't necessarily equate with
> radioactive slag.  The large rock, shower of
> Hyper-kinetic projectiles (Thor?) or possibly even a
> mega-large class 8 beam weapon could be used.  The
> large rock has the downside that you probably will
> be lucky to land it within the same state (or 200
> miles) of the target,

And conjures up all sorts of political/strategic
nightmares a la WMD's etc.

 but Hyper kinetic guided
> rounds could probably land within 100 meters of the
> target and a Beam weapon that can smack a thousand
> foot ship at light second distances is not going to
> blink at a mere 50,000 miles for a 100 foot
> non-moving target.  

One PSB that can mitigate this is that the Firecons on
ships are specialized for targeting other ships in the
blackness of space, and that all the Interference of
atmospheres and Ground clutter makes it difficult for
anything other than a dedicated Ortillery Bombardment
ship to deliver their payload with the accuracy needed
for surgical or tactical strikes.

> If you have orbital superiority, 

*snip a bunch that harkens back to my previous
comment*

> I can't imagine that there would be more than 100
> installations on a planet worth knocking out
> militarily, especially if you have orbital
> superiority. 

*IF* you have Orbital Superiority is a VERY BIG IF. 
This is especially true if you're talking about
campaigns on crowded and/or balkanized worlds and/or
systems.  If these conditions are true, you will also
have to rethink how many targets of Strategic
importance there are, and how close they are to
Non-military targets whose destruction may cause
negative repercussions on the diplomatic/political
front.	This is especially true if the planet's
inhabited by Three or more colonies/political groups.

=====
"Teach a man to make fire, and he will be warm for a day.  Set a man on
fire, and he will be warm for the rest of his life."   -- John A.
Hrastar

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