Johannes replied to me:
> If I understand the look and feel correctly, there will be small isolated
> oasis settlements. They will have their own militia at least in practice,
> because troops stationed there for long durations, likely have a tendency
> to go native. They will protect the settlement from raiders (the primitive
> people and plain outlaws) and act as local security forces.
Large cities near the poles, smaller hamlets as you go out.
This militia thing is a two-edged sword -- yes, it keeps the best troops
of the central government from growing loyal to the regions, but it also
means that the regions are allowed/encouraged to raise their own troops,
unquestionably loyal to the settlements.
> There will be one or more large towns, that are more directly under the
> control of the central goverment. (Even if there is actually no large
> town, the area around the starport would have most of that qualities)
Several big cities. They can maintain TL9, that doesn't work with a rural
economy.
> The central goverment will still want to keep the small settlements in
> line. More so if they have some large impact on the ecconomy (do you plan
> to have some sort of spice with serial numbers filed off and less
> impact on galactic scale, so it fits to traveller?).
Dust spice. By the way I'm a player, not the GM, but I provide vehicle
writeups once something has vaguely shown up. We players know that the
"Motorized Desert Division" is important to the oligarchy, and we met
the XO of a "Grav Carrier". I'm going with those names and try to find
the designs behind them.
> So the central goverment will want to have some commando units, who can
> take over an oasis settlement, fast, with little if any advance warning
> and without causing too much general destruction. That way they can keep
> the threat of retailiation hanging over the settlements, without having
> permanent watchdogs.
>
> The commandos might very well all come from one or a few tribes of the
> primitive people, that have some sort of loyality bond to goverment
> figures and exchange services for high tech equipment. Or there is a long
> tradition of members of that tribe serving the military (kinda Gurkhas).
Won't work. Even dictatorships rely on the non-resistance of the majority
of the population. ("15% for, 15% against, 70% don't give a damn and go
with the current government.") Hiring the desert tribes would destroy the
legitimacy.
> Regarding hiding SDBs. You could hide them in caves in rocky areas. If
> it's desert area and practically no one lives there, the goverment can
> create many caves of suitable size. Even if their locations get known
> eventually, you can have a lot more caves then SDBs.
A diving SDB can submerge, then break contact, then move to the base. A
desert SDB would have to break contact in the air if it wants to hide.
> Does anyone have an idea how fast stuff gets burries in the sand, if you
> pick the right spot in a sand desert? Would it be viable to land the SDB
> at a good spot (make a Survival(Desert)) roll and wait till it's under a
> dune? If you do that, you can also have the army bury decoys. (And you can
> have soldiers complain, that they want a more glorious job, then burying
> scrap metal in the desert.)
I think months or years to do the job, unless the planet is very stormy.
Regards,
Onno
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