Evyn replied to me:
Is it the Navy's job to escort the landing forces all the way into the
atmosphere?
Yes. No, it really depends how your forces are set up.
I'm trying to find out what "should logically follow" from the GURPS 3E
rules at TL11, with a focus on the space and aerospace assets -- but a
logical structure has to be built from the ground up.
I've convinced myself that vectored thrust flyers replace ground
vehicles. Say those are generally unstreamlined, to minimize the armor
area. Sufficient thrust gives them a speed of 600 mph. That makes it
possible to fly into orbit, but that is no survivable tactic in a
high-threat environment. The flying AFVs stay close to the ground
clutter. For MBT-equivalent or IFV-equivalent vehicles, the main guns go
into a turret.
Capital ships of the space force are unstreamlined as well, because they
don't do go down into the atmosphere in a tactical situation. The
battleships have big spinal mounts and aim by turning the ship, plus
missiles. I'm not sure if there are carriers.
Obviously there have to be streamlined aerospace vehicles, but are they
"fast planetary forces" scaled up from the flying AFVs or "aerospace
navy" scaled down from the capital ships? And it gets really interesting
if there are both, with different strengths and weaknesses. Imagine the
same weapons load, one in a single-seater with a small cockpit and the
other in a small starship with enough crew to operate for several weeks.
Or an equivalent weapons load, but not exactly the same.
If you need an exit strategy for ground forces, can you make pickup in orbit
or do you need a hyperdrive to get into the outer system?
I guess that would depend on the radius of operations your
"Amphibious" or more properly "Space borne" fighters can operate with.
The idea of parking your invasion fleet at the edge of a system and
conducting operations from that base amuses me. Heck from that model I
would look at Riverine operations instead of air operations. Your APCs
would be Tango Boats, your primary escorts and Heavy fire support
would be Monitors with PBRs, Alpha Boats and Swift Boats being your
intercept forces.
Interesting analogy, but were the brown water navy craft ever deployed
from ships rather than shore bases? The range of anything with a
hyperdrive is enough to get into the outer system.
Regards,
Onno
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