RE: [SG/DS] Orbital assault

You actually don't need to PSB anything - just make it a Convention -
something like MAD or the Geneva Conventions - you don't slag civilian
populations or your country/planet/empire will get slagged in return.

Seems to work in the modern world with nukes.

Target identification is a separate issue - you still have the problem
of ID whether you are shooting a Class 10 beam, a 2000 lbs PGM or a
class 5 HEL.  Is it an armory or a hospital?  Are those reporters with
abig camera or enemy infantry with an ATGM?  The only difference is
scale - at one end you end up with a single dead friendly, at the other,
maybe a couple of thousand.  If you are having trouble ID'ing targets,
you might want to stay away from the large scale stuff.

--Binhan 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Laserlight [mailto:laserlight@quixnet.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 6:19 PM
> To: gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu
> Subject: Re: [SG/DS] Orbital assault 
> 
> 
> > 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.	So call it 50 hours of bombardment to remove any type of
> major military resistance (military bases, supply centers, large
> fortifications, automated military factories)  This also assumes that
> you've only brought in a single Ortillery ship, three would be more
> preferrable to give complete coverage of the globe.
> 
> This assumes
> a) that you can economically build as large a beam as you want.
> b) that beam weapons are effective through atmosphere--you might lose
> 90% of the effect.  Or 10%, or 100%, or whatever number makes you feel
> happy.
> c) in some cases, that you can distinguish the hospital from the
> school from the armory, and hit only the one you want.  Oops, even if
> you only hit the armory, you'll get the school and the hospital from
> the secondaries.  Looks bad on the evening news.  (of course, some of
> us don't much care about the evening news).
> 
> Basically, to make orbital assaults work--and I agree with Beth that
> we should have them--then we pretty much have to PSB a reason why
> orbit-to-ground weapons are very limited.
> 
>