Re DS/SG Future of Warfare

Okay, here I go being the village crank, but I'm going to have to postulate a
different future (sort of)...

1.  Most low-intensity fights NOT during major conflicts or incidents
(ie--those instigated by local governors or settlers over a short period
of time) would be basically light infantry type conflicts. Basically, this

would be for spur-of-the-moment kind of stuff.  Anything with any
planning or
build-up time involved may bypass this level.

2. Some minor skirmishes and most attacks during major incidents (not
all-out war, but local stuff supported from outside) could be a mix of
LI/militia and armor-heavy forces.  The reason?  In the GZGverse, power
is
plentiful (and cheap) and anti-grav technology is available.  That means
that moving mass to orbit is relatively inexpensive (note the use of the term

"relatively"). Furthermore, if we assume that troop pay is consistent with
current Western levels, we find that salaries are a major part of the military
budget. Now, if we assume that a lot of equipment can be designed
either as modular designs or self-repairing smart systems, then the
personnel drain for maintenance operations can be reasonably low. This leads
to the
very un-historical point that it may be cheaper to ship lots of heavy
equipment and just a few troops, than loads of troops and just a little
equipment, once salaries are taken into account. Think of a system like a
modified version of Maritime Prepositioned Equipment, though for different
reasons than currently used by the US. Also note that this approach could
vary between nations--the ESU could be mostly LI for expeditionary
forces (assuming cheap wages) while the NAC could be more heavily weighted
toward mechanized and PA forces (due to the need for transporting the most
firepower for the least manpower).

3.  All-out war--anything goes--heavies for major assaults or defending
key
locations while LI/militia handle "routine" planetary duties or support
the heavies.

Please also understand that I'm not saying this is the only way to go. I'm
just suggesting that we need to not look at things just from the currently
popular perspective. Also, I am a former Marine so while LI is my preferred
approach--not those big heavy targets people seem to like driving
around--but
we need to look at our assumptions when pointing out how we think the future
will go.

Anyhow, that's my 2 pennies worth.

Rob

Hello All.

When we had a regular group gaming SG2. Most of the players (almost all
ex-starwars miniature gamers) thought the campaign
was going to be a high tech blast fest. After the third turn of the campaign
the all out war anything goes war
turned into a low-intensity fight for survival.

The campaign was an NEU vs FSE fighting over a newly discovered world. But we
where also using the Star Wars rebel commando miniatures as the planetary
population armed with small arms supplied by the ESU.

I agree with Rob's 2 cents about the levels of warfare in the future.

I guess my point is in the future how would other governments standing on the
side lines see a war? The NEU warring with FSE on an descent planet with a
third government sending arms to the local pop. hoping to jump at an
opportunity when one of both sides are too weak.

sorry I know the above is totally off the main track.

I don't think your post was off track at all :-)

Our own current campaign is very similar. Esperence we've set in the current
stages of the Third Solar War; OU and IC fleet presence consist of three or
four ships none larger than destroyer. Ground forces are at Brigade sized
and well dispersed with Bn/Battle Group as largest concentration.
Orbital platforms are now very scarce as there aren't the replacemetns
available. Very uneasy staus quo with platoon and company level actions most
common.......

Grav is hoarded jealously as it is too fragile to replace easily in this
backwater!

Owen G

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