Post by sebastiangrey on Oct 24, 2014 18:36:30 GMT
The Turkmen idea was blatantly inspired from a quote from an old Sid Meiers game; roughly quoted, it goes something like "War is war, destruction is destruction. But war is not destruction, it is victory. Just appear to give the enemy what he wants, and he'll either stop or join you in a quest for additional power." My impression was the Turkmen wanted medicines and technology from Minerva. In that, it shouldn't be too hard to bribe them with stuff and have them leave us alone.
Satellite coverage, satellite coverage, satellite coverage... my favorite kind of ISR. (Sarcasm. Lots and lots of sarcasm.) Don't get me wrong, it's a powerful tool that fills some notable gaps and is incredibly easy to use. Problem is, it puts out a LOT of information that needs to have human operators (I mean self-aware operators, which raises some questions about how many AI we have on hand) to be put to any use, and it's really easy to spoof. Take a tan blanket, go lay out under it in the desert, and *poof*, unless they know exactly where to look for you, you're practically invisible to visible light observation, IR, thermal... And it's really easy to play the cup game against any kind of overhead surveillance. Good tool, yes, but we can't be over reliant on it. I'd suggest checking out Wikipedia's article on Operation Anaconda, but it's such a piece of propaganda now there's hardly anything of any use on it.
Basically, we need scouts to augment satellite coverage... and if it comes down to choosing the reports of one over the other, you always trust the guy on the ground. I'd suggest locals for scouting. They know the terrain, and can justify their presence if caught.
Now, onto some visual aides. First, my attempt at drawing my rough opinions on how our battle lines should be constructed:
Green line (which matches the outmost borders) is harassing attacks. Nothing major, unless a significant target of opportunity arises. Civilian populations should either be turned into Minervan insurgents or evacuated inside the red line, at least. If villages are evacuated, remove as much food from the area as possible, and poison the water supplies. Dysentery has killed more soldiers than other soldiers have, so biological methods are enthusiastically encouraged. The point of the green line territories is literally to make that massive desert the biggest pain in the ass for invading armies possible, forcing them to either bring in supply trains or deal with insurgent-infested areas. IEDs/mines should be right at the border, if at all possible, before the attack, with random clusters of booby traps further in along with a large number of fake traps. Either they'll just run through and take casualties, or they'll squander momentum and proceed with caution for each and every potential trap they find. There shouldn't be any major battles, but we need to bleed them dry before they hit the yellow line, because...
Yellow line is where major battles should be played out. Retreat is an option, but unlike the green zone, force-on-force battles can and should be enacted, especially as they progress further and further into the yellow zone. That being said, if success (notice I didn't say victory, last stands and causing Pyrrhic victories for the enemy are valid, if carefully weighed, options) is highly unlikely, units can and should retreat to the red zone.
The red zone is where s*** gets real. Retreat is the last option taken, ever. At this point, everything we have needs to be mobilized, because if we get pushed back into the black zone, we won't have half the friggin populated area of Minerva's resources to call on any more. Effectively, the red zone is also the first and last line of defense against the Temples and the Turkmen. (Which is why both of those forces should be targeted hard, first. We have time to deal with the NeoRussians, Sons of Muhammed, and the Mongols. Not so much with the Temples and Turkmen.
The Black zone is it. No retreat, no surrender. With the exception of the Minervan Garrison, the men either hold or die with their boots on. Use it or lose it time for literally everything we have. The black zone is almost all contiguous mountains, which should provide a hefty advantage to our troops.
Assuming we lose the black zone, and Minerva herself looks about to be besieged, I would suggest the following defensive posture, with green dots as artillery laden, mountain top defensive positions, and red lines as what I currently deem the most likely avenue of approach for large amounts of enemy forces. In case one of the mountaintop bases fall, it should all be blown sky-high. If the enemy gets artillery that close to Minerva, we're deader than dogs***.
Speaking of an actual siege, that actually may be cool to see in the comics... since we know this is pretty close to the "current" Demon Archives timeline, thanks to references to the psychotic murdermechs. Or like a side comic. I'd volunteer help draw it, if I could figure out how to make a straight line.
Satellite coverage, satellite coverage, satellite coverage... my favorite kind of ISR. (Sarcasm. Lots and lots of sarcasm.) Don't get me wrong, it's a powerful tool that fills some notable gaps and is incredibly easy to use. Problem is, it puts out a LOT of information that needs to have human operators (I mean self-aware operators, which raises some questions about how many AI we have on hand) to be put to any use, and it's really easy to spoof. Take a tan blanket, go lay out under it in the desert, and *poof*, unless they know exactly where to look for you, you're practically invisible to visible light observation, IR, thermal... And it's really easy to play the cup game against any kind of overhead surveillance. Good tool, yes, but we can't be over reliant on it. I'd suggest checking out Wikipedia's article on Operation Anaconda, but it's such a piece of propaganda now there's hardly anything of any use on it.
Basically, we need scouts to augment satellite coverage... and if it comes down to choosing the reports of one over the other, you always trust the guy on the ground. I'd suggest locals for scouting. They know the terrain, and can justify their presence if caught.
Now, onto some visual aides. First, my attempt at drawing my rough opinions on how our battle lines should be constructed:
Green line (which matches the outmost borders) is harassing attacks. Nothing major, unless a significant target of opportunity arises. Civilian populations should either be turned into Minervan insurgents or evacuated inside the red line, at least. If villages are evacuated, remove as much food from the area as possible, and poison the water supplies. Dysentery has killed more soldiers than other soldiers have, so biological methods are enthusiastically encouraged. The point of the green line territories is literally to make that massive desert the biggest pain in the ass for invading armies possible, forcing them to either bring in supply trains or deal with insurgent-infested areas. IEDs/mines should be right at the border, if at all possible, before the attack, with random clusters of booby traps further in along with a large number of fake traps. Either they'll just run through and take casualties, or they'll squander momentum and proceed with caution for each and every potential trap they find. There shouldn't be any major battles, but we need to bleed them dry before they hit the yellow line, because...
Yellow line is where major battles should be played out. Retreat is an option, but unlike the green zone, force-on-force battles can and should be enacted, especially as they progress further and further into the yellow zone. That being said, if success (notice I didn't say victory, last stands and causing Pyrrhic victories for the enemy are valid, if carefully weighed, options) is highly unlikely, units can and should retreat to the red zone.
The red zone is where s*** gets real. Retreat is the last option taken, ever. At this point, everything we have needs to be mobilized, because if we get pushed back into the black zone, we won't have half the friggin populated area of Minerva's resources to call on any more. Effectively, the red zone is also the first and last line of defense against the Temples and the Turkmen. (Which is why both of those forces should be targeted hard, first. We have time to deal with the NeoRussians, Sons of Muhammed, and the Mongols. Not so much with the Temples and Turkmen.
The Black zone is it. No retreat, no surrender. With the exception of the Minervan Garrison, the men either hold or die with their boots on. Use it or lose it time for literally everything we have. The black zone is almost all contiguous mountains, which should provide a hefty advantage to our troops.
Assuming we lose the black zone, and Minerva herself looks about to be besieged, I would suggest the following defensive posture, with green dots as artillery laden, mountain top defensive positions, and red lines as what I currently deem the most likely avenue of approach for large amounts of enemy forces. In case one of the mountaintop bases fall, it should all be blown sky-high. If the enemy gets artillery that close to Minerva, we're deader than dogs***.
Speaking of an actual siege, that actually may be cool to see in the comics... since we know this is pretty close to the "current" Demon Archives timeline, thanks to references to the psychotic murdermechs. Or like a side comic. I'd volunteer help draw it, if I could figure out how to make a straight line.
