It was pointed out by the inestimable Mr.Case that the old adage "quantity has
a quality all its own" often applies. The problem with stanks (supertanks!) or
large heavy units is they still can die, and when they do,
instead of losing 1/100th of your force (for example) you may lose
20/100ths. So unless you are sure you could kill 20x your number...
well...
the small tanks are the better deal. This is why colonial militias can
sometimes outpower superior tech but smaller forces from offworld. They
(unhappily) have to do it by taking casualties... to score kills. There loses
are less important (other than to the lost folk themselves) than are the loses
to the high tech force. This is especially true when the local resupply chain
is a few hundred or thousand kms and the off world force must
resupply from light-years away.
The trick is, it doesn't hurt to have a few decent hammers in your force in
case the enemy brings out some turtles (vehicles with lots and lots of
survivability) but it also pays to have a fair sized force of medium power,
medium-low survivability vehicles. Vehicles with punch, but mostly with
numbers on their side.
This is a lesson learned by some WW2 germans late in the war. A panther is
awesome and clearly is a much better tank than a sherman. However, grab 15
shermans and the panther is in a world of hurt.
> This is a lesson learned by some WW2 germans late in the war. A
This addage is somewhat true. There were a number of German heros (most
winning the Iron Cross or better) while fighting, often times alone, against
superior numbers of enemy units. Although the hardware does make a great deal
of difference, the quality of the troops makes a greater difference in the
overall scheme. For example, Barkman had faced well over 20 tanks and other
fighting vehicles while in the bocage country in France. Granted, he knew the
terrain, had a good place to 'hide' under a shady tree, and had surprise on
the American and British forces there; however, the allied forces attempted a
counter attack on two occasions and were only greated by high velocity 75mm
rounds poking holes in them. If you were to reverse the scale, Operation
Barbarossa pitted German light tanks against Russian KV tanks which in the
same turn were far superior. The quality and leadership of the German war
machine were the overall defining factors during the invasion. Tactics and
leadership (and a little morale didn't help either) allowed the German tanks
to keep the KV's busy while the infantry support would almost always take out
the tanks with mines or grenades.
This would be a good scenario to play. An invading force is striking deeply
into the countryside with their support assets well out of range and
are faced by an S-tank with a low quality. The invaders have a high
morale and hi quality values. Even though the invader's tanks cannot seem to
damage the S-tanks, the infantry will most likely end up destroying the
tank. Then reverse the tables. The invaders have a low quality and morale,
while the S-Tank has superior everything. 9 times out of 10 that S-tank
in that situation would be avoided rather than engaged.