WAR!In General
It is almost inconceivably expensive to transport ships, equipment,
people, and supplies just from planet to planet let
alone to other systems. Less direct tactics are more practical and
usual, such as skirmish and raids. Even fairly major assaults are often just intended
to strategically damage or intimidate an enemy, or to gain resources or
grab items or people for ransom
In interstellar war, intelligence and supply lines are critical. One
great danger lies in charging into a system, only to have the bad guys
snuff the wormhole the invading force came through. Without proper
supply, the invaders are soon starved off.
Control of space is generally key as it gives access to critical
supplies and reinforcement. It's also much easier to send troops and
bombs to a target on the ground from space than the other way around. In
the case of a prolonged invasion, it is imperative to get troops onto
the ground. They are still critical to holding and controlling anything
important like cities or resources.
Space
ships, especially combat ships, expensive to build and maintain
ships diversified for flexibility but specialized for effect
The distances involved in ship-to-ship combat are often huge. There are
often large delays involved in the time it takes sensor and scanner
information to reach a ship from potential targets. Ship to ship combat
is often won and lost on the ability to maintain active probes and
patrols and gather intelligence on the enemy before they gather intelligence
on you. Because it is common for a ship to have moved before accurate
sensor data returns, targeting computers often calculate and provide
all-possible and most-likely target solutions to weapons officers.
Weapons officers need to evaluate the threat and determine which weapons
are most appropriate at which distance... whether they can reliably hit
a target with a single powerful weapon, whether they need to employ a
spread of weapons over the all-possible location in the hopes that some
will hit, or whether they need to dispatch AI-controlled missiles or
fighter groups to get in close and dirty.
Patrols and probes may be manned or biots. Their
activities may be limited to reconnaissance and intelligence gathering,
they may actively engage targets of opportunity, or they may attempt to
blind the enemy with Counter Measures while the motherforce closes to
engage.
Ground
wheeled, tracked, grav, hover, legged (pedal)
diversified for flexibility but specialized for effect
augmented soldiers, remote, autonomous
Reasons for conflict
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