Post by flightoficarus on Jul 15, 2016 0:50:31 GMT -6
In the standard sci fi setting of FTL and commonplace space warships is a ground army all that useful? I'd argue no if we're being realistic. The only reason you'd fight a large conventional ground war is a powerful constraining one. All they're good for is occupying planets you capture or making sure your own worlds aren't rebelling. If the orbitals are cleared and taken your best bet is to surrender or resort to guerilla war. All heavy equipment and large troop concentrations would be wrecked from orbit. So ground troops would be glorified cops with assault rifles and IED resistant armored vehicles.
We wouldn't have soldiers in the sense we know them in the army. Soldiers would only need to be trained as MPs or irregular fighters since guerilla warfare is the only combat they would really see. Tracking down and arresting suspected fighters and/or their families is a lot like police work. Then send the irregular spec ops after intel. In the event of invasion the spec ops would be the guerillas. MPs would be expected to surrender or follow the lead of the irregulars. These guys wouldn't have heavy equipment. What's the point of a big visible MBT or SPG when it'll just get scragged from orbit without even seeing an enemy? They would probably have wheeled IED resistent vehicles like humvees or MRAPs at most. There would also likely be drones, a flying utility transport, and a gunship. Artillery would likely be something small and portable like mortars.
Like what Winchell Chung of Projectrho said, spaceships are the Sine Qua Non of sci fi writing. Everything they do in a war affects literally everything else. Nothing else can do much about it either. Sitting at the bottom of a gravity well puts you at a significant disadvantage. It's like a man having a rock fight with a guy at the top of a well from the bottom. It's obvious who's goanna win that contest. The real soldiers are the guys in the ships. The closest equivilent to troops we know would be the Espatiers (Astrotroopers maybe?) the warships carry. Those people would board and capture space stations and ships and assault habitats on harsh worlds. The Mobile Forces of the Space Force would be the single most important force to any Star-Nation worth its salt. A Constellation of warships giving ortillery support would wreck any resistance. KKVs don't give off fallout either and can be precise enough to avoid hitting civvies.
The above assumes a lack of surface to orbit defenses, or atleast a low concentration. It may be different when there are multiple nations on one planet. Having large conventional formations might make sense then. This might even extend to having wet navies. If this is a developed world there would likely be surface to orbit defenses dense enough to pose a threat to spacecraft in low orbit. This does not mean the spacecraft can't overwhelm the defenses. If all the STO defenses are flattened, the situation I envision above would likely happen. Nontheless, STO defenses may discourage the space force from getting into low orbit for precision bombardment. They may land troops to take out the defenses before they get in for close ortillery support. It depends on how powerful the STO defenses are and how willing a Space Force is to sacrifice spacecraft.
The Navy probably would not have large warships. It would likely just have submarines and gun boats. Aircraft carriers, cruisers, and battleships traveling at 20 knots are too easy to see and too slow to avoid orbital fire. Submarines can be hidden under hundreds of meters of water. They could be used for STO duties with missiles. But the problem is that they can't be submerged very far to launch. There is evidence nations right now have satellites that can spot submerged submarines from orbit. A submarine could be struck by orbital fire potentially if the depth isn't sufficient. If you could hand wave some sort of shield and/or armor that would survive tungsten rods from orbit hitting at several kps there might be big warships, however.
We wouldn't have soldiers in the sense we know them in the army. Soldiers would only need to be trained as MPs or irregular fighters since guerilla warfare is the only combat they would really see. Tracking down and arresting suspected fighters and/or their families is a lot like police work. Then send the irregular spec ops after intel. In the event of invasion the spec ops would be the guerillas. MPs would be expected to surrender or follow the lead of the irregulars. These guys wouldn't have heavy equipment. What's the point of a big visible MBT or SPG when it'll just get scragged from orbit without even seeing an enemy? They would probably have wheeled IED resistent vehicles like humvees or MRAPs at most. There would also likely be drones, a flying utility transport, and a gunship. Artillery would likely be something small and portable like mortars.
Like what Winchell Chung of Projectrho said, spaceships are the Sine Qua Non of sci fi writing. Everything they do in a war affects literally everything else. Nothing else can do much about it either. Sitting at the bottom of a gravity well puts you at a significant disadvantage. It's like a man having a rock fight with a guy at the top of a well from the bottom. It's obvious who's goanna win that contest. The real soldiers are the guys in the ships. The closest equivilent to troops we know would be the Espatiers (Astrotroopers maybe?) the warships carry. Those people would board and capture space stations and ships and assault habitats on harsh worlds. The Mobile Forces of the Space Force would be the single most important force to any Star-Nation worth its salt. A Constellation of warships giving ortillery support would wreck any resistance. KKVs don't give off fallout either and can be precise enough to avoid hitting civvies.
The above assumes a lack of surface to orbit defenses, or atleast a low concentration. It may be different when there are multiple nations on one planet. Having large conventional formations might make sense then. This might even extend to having wet navies. If this is a developed world there would likely be surface to orbit defenses dense enough to pose a threat to spacecraft in low orbit. This does not mean the spacecraft can't overwhelm the defenses. If all the STO defenses are flattened, the situation I envision above would likely happen. Nontheless, STO defenses may discourage the space force from getting into low orbit for precision bombardment. They may land troops to take out the defenses before they get in for close ortillery support. It depends on how powerful the STO defenses are and how willing a Space Force is to sacrifice spacecraft.
The Navy probably would not have large warships. It would likely just have submarines and gun boats. Aircraft carriers, cruisers, and battleships traveling at 20 knots are too easy to see and too slow to avoid orbital fire. Submarines can be hidden under hundreds of meters of water. They could be used for STO duties with missiles. But the problem is that they can't be submerged very far to launch. There is evidence nations right now have satellites that can spot submerged submarines from orbit. A submarine could be struck by orbital fire potentially if the depth isn't sufficient. If you could hand wave some sort of shield and/or armor that would survive tungsten rods from orbit hitting at several kps there might be big warships, however.