Oh yes, the one last wrinkle (which I forgot to put in in the first place. Shame, Jame) is that the planet is very high population (billions). And to clarify, I do mean that it is not only Earthlike, but Like Earth. And there's another high-tech civilization out there, but has no interest in supporting the _population_ of the planet - they'd just want the planet.
Capturing a planet?
- Thread starter Jame
- Start date
Well that is a significant piece of information, don't you think? Especially since it countermands your previous statement that the world had only half a billion people.... I suspect you've got an alien invasion of Earth in mind, don't you? You're writing a movie or a book, eh? Well once you've written it, maybe you could share with us the bits of glory in it relevant to all this nice information that has been provided, please? We like reading.
My own take on this is that you've already been given all the most pertainent suggestions, you simply need to put those pieces in place.
Most of the time, when you want some one to do what you want, you have to use a carrot-and-stick approach. Probably the best thing to do first is reveal the carrot. "We need this unobtrusive island over here, and in exchange, we're willing to give you the secret of fusion reactors."
Most governments would grab that right up. The populace's reaction will depend on their country. Restrictive governments will probably not tell their people anything, or only what they need to know. The rest of the world will almost certainly, at some point, detect the aliens, and want to know what's going on. governments may try to keep the secret from the populace, in order to also benefit from what can be gained, but they may also release the details to the public, in order to gain the power of popular opinion.
"The Chinese have aliens helping them, we need to take them down before they decide to conquer the world." What happens when the whole world gangs up on that nation that helped the aliens?
Nothing... the THREAT of violence is the key here. This is also the Stick part of the deal. Once all these crazies start thinking they need to invade China to get the aliens to share their nifty tech with the rest of the world, then if the aliens wish to protect their base, they are going to have to threaten to use force, and a suitable demonstration will have to be arranged. Note that you should never threaten something you are unwilling to carry out; on the other hand, that doesn't mean you can't make yourselves look tougher than you are.
A lot of the people of Earth are "free". That means the gov't has to con them into doing what they want them to, instead of just ordering it and expecting the threat of all those soldiers on the street corner, or the MIBs, coming to get them if they disobey. The aliens don't necessarily want to start a war here, so instead of blasting apart some of the critical infrastructure (including communication satellites), they hijack what they can.
You take over the satellites, you can squelch the various gov'ts from preaching to the people, AND you get to preach your own message. If there is some centralized something or other (like a giant power station to power the planet, or a few sources of water, or the air recyclers in a vacuum world) then you can also take these critical things and threaten to destroy them if the people don't settle down. As long as the aliens don't play the part of reptilians from Sirius, trying to strip our planet bare of all its resources and people, the world might be willing to settle down.
One potential thumbscrew you can tighten, if the world is human or human-like, is to threaten their ability to reproduce. For instance, say you are able to tailor a virus that shuts down the reproductive system of the dominant lifeforms (the humans). Now life is a rather precious commodity (again). You don't go throwing it away on pointless raids that succeed only in getting your people killed, cuz there WON'T be replacements. Then you say "Play nice and we'll let you go back to normal. We just want this little base over here, and we even paid for it. Stop making us hurt you. You keep pissing us off and we'll glass your asses."
So basically, you took from them what they wanted (normality), and then you offered it back to them, if they'd stop being so senseless and just let you live in peace.
Of course, there are places where you just CAN'T force people to do what you want. You can try assassinations against the leaders who are stirring things up, you can try demonstrating your power now and then, and you can try public relations. It's hard to judge what's likely to happen, but in a human society, you're going to have some people go along with it, some people try to take advantage of it, and some people oppose it. If you try to put the best face on it possible, play by their rules, and establish yourself as friendly, you should be able to carry it off. If you go and force your way in, beat down resistance, and act like your goal is to take over the world, then you'll have problems.
People fight hardest when they feel they have nothing left to lose. As long as you never make them feel like that, you have a chance of getting them to do what you want. People also don't like having their world turned upside down. If you try to minimize your effects on their lives (even the gift of fusion would cause riots as oil barons stirred up trouble about all the evils of free, limitless energy), they will be more inclined to ignore you. Failing that, take their normality away, and then offer it back to them, so that they can see what the alternative is.
When all else fails, glass them, and use them as an example to the next world (if the carrots don't work).
My own take on this is that you've already been given all the most pertainent suggestions, you simply need to put those pieces in place.
Most of the time, when you want some one to do what you want, you have to use a carrot-and-stick approach. Probably the best thing to do first is reveal the carrot. "We need this unobtrusive island over here, and in exchange, we're willing to give you the secret of fusion reactors."
Most governments would grab that right up. The populace's reaction will depend on their country. Restrictive governments will probably not tell their people anything, or only what they need to know. The rest of the world will almost certainly, at some point, detect the aliens, and want to know what's going on. governments may try to keep the secret from the populace, in order to also benefit from what can be gained, but they may also release the details to the public, in order to gain the power of popular opinion.
"The Chinese have aliens helping them, we need to take them down before they decide to conquer the world." What happens when the whole world gangs up on that nation that helped the aliens?
Nothing... the THREAT of violence is the key here. This is also the Stick part of the deal. Once all these crazies start thinking they need to invade China to get the aliens to share their nifty tech with the rest of the world, then if the aliens wish to protect their base, they are going to have to threaten to use force, and a suitable demonstration will have to be arranged. Note that you should never threaten something you are unwilling to carry out; on the other hand, that doesn't mean you can't make yourselves look tougher than you are.
A lot of the people of Earth are "free". That means the gov't has to con them into doing what they want them to, instead of just ordering it and expecting the threat of all those soldiers on the street corner, or the MIBs, coming to get them if they disobey. The aliens don't necessarily want to start a war here, so instead of blasting apart some of the critical infrastructure (including communication satellites), they hijack what they can.
You take over the satellites, you can squelch the various gov'ts from preaching to the people, AND you get to preach your own message. If there is some centralized something or other (like a giant power station to power the planet, or a few sources of water, or the air recyclers in a vacuum world) then you can also take these critical things and threaten to destroy them if the people don't settle down. As long as the aliens don't play the part of reptilians from Sirius, trying to strip our planet bare of all its resources and people, the world might be willing to settle down.
One potential thumbscrew you can tighten, if the world is human or human-like, is to threaten their ability to reproduce. For instance, say you are able to tailor a virus that shuts down the reproductive system of the dominant lifeforms (the humans). Now life is a rather precious commodity (again). You don't go throwing it away on pointless raids that succeed only in getting your people killed, cuz there WON'T be replacements. Then you say "Play nice and we'll let you go back to normal. We just want this little base over here, and we even paid for it. Stop making us hurt you. You keep pissing us off and we'll glass your asses."
So basically, you took from them what they wanted (normality), and then you offered it back to them, if they'd stop being so senseless and just let you live in peace.
Of course, there are places where you just CAN'T force people to do what you want. You can try assassinations against the leaders who are stirring things up, you can try demonstrating your power now and then, and you can try public relations. It's hard to judge what's likely to happen, but in a human society, you're going to have some people go along with it, some people try to take advantage of it, and some people oppose it. If you try to put the best face on it possible, play by their rules, and establish yourself as friendly, you should be able to carry it off. If you go and force your way in, beat down resistance, and act like your goal is to take over the world, then you'll have problems.
People fight hardest when they feel they have nothing left to lose. As long as you never make them feel like that, you have a chance of getting them to do what you want. People also don't like having their world turned upside down. If you try to minimize your effects on their lives (even the gift of fusion would cause riots as oil barons stirred up trouble about all the evils of free, limitless energy), they will be more inclined to ignore you. Failing that, take their normality away, and then offer it back to them, so that they can see what the alternative is.
When all else fails, glass them, and use them as an example to the next world (if the carrots don't work).
The most ephemeral of targets in a war is the most effective, The enemy opinion and will to fight.
The basic equations questions ranked by weight are;
- What is their basic belief system?
- What do they have to gain?
- What do they have to lose?
- What have they already lost?
- What effort is required on their part?
- What effort is required on your part?
- what do you have to lose?
- What do you have to gain?
The targets belief system is crucial.
- Can it be used to your advantage?
- How will your aims affect their beliefs
- Are they fanatical? Think the Nazi supermen, Japanese bushido code, Moslem jihad, American freedom lover.
- Can a leader replacement make a difference?
What do you have to offer?
- Free fusion tech
- Elimination of their classical opponent.
- Return of their oxygen plant
What do they have to lose or have already lose?
- You can kill all of them that are on the planet, but not those elsewhere
- You can destroy their buildings, factories, trade, crops, means to live, but what off planet holdings do they have?
Going after the wrong opponent who has nothing to lose and a fanatical will to fight who can hide his family and still strike effectively against your home world will be a mistake.
Annexing a low tech planet while building upgrades for them that will make you rich is preferred.
The basic equations questions ranked by weight are;
- What is their basic belief system?
- What do they have to gain?
- What do they have to lose?
- What have they already lost?
- What effort is required on their part?
- What effort is required on your part?
- what do you have to lose?
- What do you have to gain?
The targets belief system is crucial.
- Can it be used to your advantage?
- How will your aims affect their beliefs
- Are they fanatical? Think the Nazi supermen, Japanese bushido code, Moslem jihad, American freedom lover.
- Can a leader replacement make a difference?
What do you have to offer?
- Free fusion tech
- Elimination of their classical opponent.
- Return of their oxygen plant
What do they have to lose or have already lose?
- You can kill all of them that are on the planet, but not those elsewhere
- You can destroy their buildings, factories, trade, crops, means to live, but what off planet holdings do they have?
Going after the wrong opponent who has nothing to lose and a fanatical will to fight who can hide his family and still strike effectively against your home world will be a mistake.
Annexing a low tech planet while building upgrades for them that will make you rich is preferred.
Hmmm... Trying to respond to all the good suggestions here, focusing on vegascat's from the last post.
The nature of the planet is very much like Earth, and since yes, I am writing a book, let me give you the scenario. The high-tech invaders have somewhere between tl 15 and 17, are very organized, have control of several galaxies (as opposed to star systems) and are to a certain extent have a Roman-like belief in their own culture (being culturalists). This government contains many different species, including humans. They are not trying to capture the planet to bring it into their own culture/government, since the planet not only isn't settling other planets but isn't governmentally unified. However, the invaders are fighting another interstellar/intergalactic government with a slightly higher tl, slightly lower pop. and who are more like scientific Sword Worlders who may or may not show up later and contest system ownership.
Now, this invaded planet has (as I said) tl9, a human population in the single billions, many governments and is undergoing something like a more limited (fewer nukes) Twilight War (the nukes flew several years ago), and two of the major powers are fighting. Surprisingly enough, these two powers have some limited spacefaring capacity, but aren't using it to go past their moon; once the invaders show up they order these space forces to stop them.
Oh yes - the invaded planet has _absolutely_ NO IDEA that there are _any_ other species/governments/whatever out there, since they can't take notice of anything outside their own asteroid belt.
So, what should happen, and what forces would the invaders use?
The nature of the planet is very much like Earth, and since yes, I am writing a book, let me give you the scenario. The high-tech invaders have somewhere between tl 15 and 17, are very organized, have control of several galaxies (as opposed to star systems) and are to a certain extent have a Roman-like belief in their own culture (being culturalists). This government contains many different species, including humans. They are not trying to capture the planet to bring it into their own culture/government, since the planet not only isn't settling other planets but isn't governmentally unified. However, the invaders are fighting another interstellar/intergalactic government with a slightly higher tl, slightly lower pop. and who are more like scientific Sword Worlders who may or may not show up later and contest system ownership.
Now, this invaded planet has (as I said) tl9, a human population in the single billions, many governments and is undergoing something like a more limited (fewer nukes) Twilight War (the nukes flew several years ago), and two of the major powers are fighting. Surprisingly enough, these two powers have some limited spacefaring capacity, but aren't using it to go past their moon; once the invaders show up they order these space forces to stop them.
Oh yes - the invaded planet has _absolutely_ NO IDEA that there are _any_ other species/governments/whatever out there, since they can't take notice of anything outside their own asteroid belt.
So, what should happen, and what forces would the invaders use?
Why does the first star faring civilization need this particular planet when they have several galaxies to draw from? Even having only a thousand systems (versus millions/billions), why this particular system? Why not the next system over? Or, why not the next planet over? Or the moon(s) orbiting the planet?
An immense starfaring civilization spread across even part of a galaxy has an incredible quantity of resources to draw upon. To say that they'd need a particular planet seems a little far fetched.
Assuming that they do want this planet for some bizarre reason (maybe they really like passion fruit or brussel sprouts), two great powers involved in a power would almost certainly fall over themselves to grant access to a portion of land in exchange for high tech weapons or equipment to be used against the other.
And, if they don't, how would they be able to stop a much higher tech level civilization with such an immense resource base to draw upon?
Taking another tack, how would a balkanized area (say, the Balkans) of the 1700's fight off the modern US army? A much more evenly matched scenario than the one that you are proposing is the US vs. Iraq. Taking the country hasn't been a problem. Holding it and dealing with the consequences is another matter entirely.
A more realistic variation of your scenario would be that the world's military forces get squished in short order. The invaders bribe some governments with toys, they nuke a few unimportant areas of other countries, land troops to take the key objectives, and then, seeing that their sepoys are now in power/control, leave only some third echelon police troops to back up the sepoys. The opposing star faring civilization lands some recon troops, provides some weapons, and then a proper guerilla war starts taking place.
Bad sci-fi movies and books notwithstanding, if a higher TL civilization showed up and wanted to invade, we wouldn't stand much of a chance unless we had help.
Ron
Why would the invaders occupy the planet? First, they have a strong tradition of wanting potentially "civilized" (i.e. tl 9+, strong colonies on other planets) systems to join their civilization; second, they think the other interstellar government is going to try something.
Keep in mind that the other, higher tech civilization is, for my purposes, somewhat balkanized, like the Sword Worlders, and they are, in fact, already trying something completely different from the first one thinks.
Keep in mind that the other, higher tech civilization is, for my purposes, somewhat balkanized, like the Sword Worlders, and they are, in fact, already trying something completely different from the first one thinks.
Okay, outside of "because they're aliens!" reasons, again, why invade? If the first starfaring civilization is predisposed towards getting systems to join their civilization, it seems that it would make far more sense to use carrot type approaches. Pick one of the two major powers on the world, offer high tech toys and support in exchange for basing rights. Much lower cost than a full scaling invasion.
Ron
Ah, so you expect most interstellar civilizations to try to be peaceful. But what happens if the invaders are either not given their small piece of land or are attacked once they have it, either by the land's former owners or by others who have no rational reason? And what if the invaders decide they'd rather not glass more than a few cities, but want to give the planet a lesson?
Looks like I may want to change my story around to accomodate this...
Looks like I may want to change my story around to accomodate this...
No, I don't expect most interstellar civilizations to be peaceful. I based my suggestion that the "invaders" would try to carrot approach partly because you said that the civilization is predisposed towards trying to get civilizations to join them (which I read to be primarily a peaceful process).
I would think that the carrot approach (bribes) is fundamentally cheaper than a stick approach (invasion forces), particularly if the invaders want to use the planet as a base of some sort.
But, fundamentally, it's your story, your universe, and your civilizations. If you've decided that the civilization is going to invade, then it's going to invade.
Ron
You want it cheap and easy?
Send a scout in to kidnap a few natives from different area.
Find out what kind of nasty virus you have a cure for that they are grotesquely suseptable to.
Drop a few infected victims in areas you don't want.
Make contact and offer the cure to the government you want as your slave.
Explain to them that the cure is only good for about a month, then they need a special supplement.
Let them fall all over themselfs to get you whatever you desire.
Send a scout in to kidnap a few natives from different area.
Find out what kind of nasty virus you have a cure for that they are grotesquely suseptable to.
Drop a few infected victims in areas you don't want.
Make contact and offer the cure to the government you want as your slave.
Explain to them that the cure is only good for about a month, then they need a special supplement.
Let them fall all over themselfs to get you whatever you desire.
The Hinterworlds Rambler
SOC-14 5K
Ye Gods, Man!
I'm so awesome! I figured out from the smattering of clues what you were doing! For my next trick, I will try to figure out why all these perfectly good solutions are not good enough for you...
Civ A: the Protagonists, TL~15, Pop:10^16
Civ B: the Antagonists, TL~16, Pop:10^15
Civ C: the "Americans", TL~9, Pop:10^8
Civ D: the "Soviets", TL~9, Pop:10^8
Civ "E": ROTW
First, this is a story about 1 world out of thousands that this is happening to. The Pros do this all over the place as worlds approach the beginnings of advanced tech. This is common for the Pros, so they have an SOP (standard operating procedure).
Second, the Ants are doing much the same thing, or the Pros are worried about them coming and bringing the war here. I'm sorry I'm not much up on Sword Worlds, so I'm guessing poorly on this.
Third, you want to see what a "real" invasion of Earth might look like. This world is in a key location or those in power of the Pros think that if they can prevent the impending nulear disaster, they will gain a useful tool in their own war.
So, you have to decide a few things. What makes this world so important? Simply to place a base is rather weak. This can still be an underlying reason, but it has to be explained to make it less weak. Generally, if it's in a key location, or there is some great discovery expected to be made, it will strengthen the idea.
You need to answer some of the questions vegascat pointed out, like how crazy they are. How do they react to what the Pros might do.
You seem unwilling to let the Pros choose one power to support; if you've decided this is a "bad idea"(tm) then you have to figure out something else. (Like, you thing the Ants will come along, support the powers that were crushed, and upset the balance, or worse, offer your team nicer toys to switch sides.)
Once you've figured out what the SOP is (and I'm talking just general intents; a full SOP for something like this would be as long as the book itself), it may be interesting to see how the circumstances or choices of major characters cause this procedure to slowly unwind into chaos, which is exacerbated all the more with the untimely arrival of the Ants. Everyone suddenly has to make a choice: unite or die. (Or backstab.) Getting protagonists out of this hairy situation, and returning some semblance of normality will make for very tense reading.
The SOP you make could be as simple as a decision tree. It starts out by gauging the target world's receptiveness to outside rule. Depending on the answer, the next step is to offer either a carrot or a stick (or a con, like the disease post above), and the size of which is determined by the answer. Their response to the offering determines the next step. Refusal could mean Stick, or it could mean larger Carrot. Acceptance probably means another Carrot.
The interesting part will be in deciding what these Carrots, Sticks, and Circumstances all are. Not everything has to be determined in advance (or even at all), but the chain of events that you want to see should definitely be detailed, as well as where things start to get off kilter (and is why they send PEOPLE to do this stuff, and not robots) and what's done to try and get them back on track.
I think you've already got some really good ideas in this post. If they AREN'T to your liking, you need to either figure out something that IS to your liking, or explain why we're not giving you what you are expecting (and what you're expecting, if you know).
Civ A: the Protagonists, TL~15, Pop:10^16
Civ B: the Antagonists, TL~16, Pop:10^15
Civ C: the "Americans", TL~9, Pop:10^8
Civ D: the "Soviets", TL~9, Pop:10^8
Civ "E": ROTW
First, this is a story about 1 world out of thousands that this is happening to. The Pros do this all over the place as worlds approach the beginnings of advanced tech. This is common for the Pros, so they have an SOP (standard operating procedure).
Second, the Ants are doing much the same thing, or the Pros are worried about them coming and bringing the war here. I'm sorry I'm not much up on Sword Worlds, so I'm guessing poorly on this.
Third, you want to see what a "real" invasion of Earth might look like. This world is in a key location or those in power of the Pros think that if they can prevent the impending nulear disaster, they will gain a useful tool in their own war.
So, you have to decide a few things. What makes this world so important? Simply to place a base is rather weak. This can still be an underlying reason, but it has to be explained to make it less weak. Generally, if it's in a key location, or there is some great discovery expected to be made, it will strengthen the idea.
You need to answer some of the questions vegascat pointed out, like how crazy they are. How do they react to what the Pros might do.
You seem unwilling to let the Pros choose one power to support; if you've decided this is a "bad idea"(tm) then you have to figure out something else. (Like, you thing the Ants will come along, support the powers that were crushed, and upset the balance, or worse, offer your team nicer toys to switch sides.)
Once you've figured out what the SOP is (and I'm talking just general intents; a full SOP for something like this would be as long as the book itself), it may be interesting to see how the circumstances or choices of major characters cause this procedure to slowly unwind into chaos, which is exacerbated all the more with the untimely arrival of the Ants. Everyone suddenly has to make a choice: unite or die. (Or backstab.) Getting protagonists out of this hairy situation, and returning some semblance of normality will make for very tense reading.
The SOP you make could be as simple as a decision tree. It starts out by gauging the target world's receptiveness to outside rule. Depending on the answer, the next step is to offer either a carrot or a stick (or a con, like the disease post above), and the size of which is determined by the answer. Their response to the offering determines the next step. Refusal could mean Stick, or it could mean larger Carrot. Acceptance probably means another Carrot.
The interesting part will be in deciding what these Carrots, Sticks, and Circumstances all are. Not everything has to be determined in advance (or even at all), but the chain of events that you want to see should definitely be detailed, as well as where things start to get off kilter (and is why they send PEOPLE to do this stuff, and not robots) and what's done to try and get them back on track.
I think you've already got some really good ideas in this post. If they AREN'T to your liking, you need to either figure out something that IS to your liking, or explain why we're not giving you what you are expecting (and what you're expecting, if you know).
TheDS, I'm going to modify your post a bit for a bit of accuracy. My replies will be in these [] things (brackets, right?) so you know what I have to say.
Originally posted by TheDS:
I'm so awesome! I figured out from the smattering of clues what you were doing! For my next trick, I will try to figure out why all these perfectly good solutions are not good enough for you...
[Sounds of Applause - good fer you...
Civ A: the Protagonists, TL~16, Pop:10^17
Civ B: the Antagonists, TL~17-18, Pop:10^14
Civ C: the "Americans", TL~9, Pop:10^8
Civ D: the "Japanese", TL~9, Pop:10^8
Civ "E": ROTW [Rest of the World, right?]
First, this is a story about 1 world out of thousands that this is happening to. The Pros do this all over the place as worlds approach the beginnings of advanced tech. This is common for the Pros, so they have an SOP (standard operating procedure).
Second, the Ants are doing much the same thing, or the Pros are worried about them coming and bringing the war here. I'm sorry I'm not much up on Sword Worlds, so I'm guessing poorly on this.
[For the Pros, they do not do this unless they have a good reason (i.e. somewhere with a strategic resource, such as rare earths or only real "breadbasket" world in the sector. makes it somewhat rare.). For the Ants, what they primarily do is take sapients (or non-sapients), perform experiments on them and/or act like Traveller's Ancients. They are fighting because one of the factions of the Ants declared that he/she/it would conquer the Pros and use them as a vast playground.]
Third, you want to see what a "real" invasion of Earth might look like. This world is in a key location or those in power of the Pros think that if they can prevent the impending nulear disaster, they will gain a useful tool in their own war.
So, you have to decide a few things. What makes this world so important? Simply to place a base is rather weak. This can still be an underlying reason, but it has to be explained to make it less weak. Generally, if it's in a key location, or there is some great discovery expected to be made, it will strengthen the idea.
You need to answer some of the questions vegascat pointed out, like how crazy they are. How do they react to what the Pros might do.
[Keep in mind that this planet has just fought a version of T2K's Twilight War, and are still trying to kill each other; when the Pros show up and take over a near-Earth asteroid both sides freak out and try to kill the Pros.]
You seem unwilling to let the Pros choose one power to support; if you've decided this is a "bad idea"(tm) then you have to figure out something else. (Like, you thing the Ants will come along, support the powers that were crushed, and upset the balance, or worse, offer your team nicer toys to switch sides.)
[The Pros tend to want a whole united world, even if they have to unite it themselves.}
Once you've figured out what the SOP is (and I'm talking just general intents; a full SOP for something like this would be as long as the book itself), it may be interesting to see how the circumstances or choices of major characters cause this procedure to slowly unwind into chaos, which is exacerbated all the more with the untimely arrival of the Ants. Everyone suddenly has to make a choice: unite or die. (Or backstab.) Getting protagonists out of this hairy situation, and returning some semblance of normality will make for very tense reading.
The SOP you make could be as simple as a decision tree. It starts out by gauging the target world's receptiveness to outside rule. Depending on the answer, the next step is to offer either a carrot or a stick (or a con, like the disease post above), and the size of which is determined by the answer. Their response to the offering determines the next step. Refusal could mean Stick, or it could mean larger Carrot. Acceptance probably means another Carrot.
The interesting part will be in deciding what these Carrots, Sticks, and Circumstances all are. Not everything has to be determined in advance (or even at all), but the chain of events that you want to see should definitely be detailed, as well as where things start to get off kilter (and is why they send PEOPLE to do this stuff, and not robots) and what's done to try and get them back on track.
[I haven't figured all this part out yet.]
I think you've already got some really good ideas in this post. If they AREN'T to your liking, you need to either figure out something that IS to your liking, or explain why we're not giving you what you are expecting (and what you're expecting, if you know).
Seeing as how these two main powers are intergalactic/multigalactic, it is trivial to assume that of the BILLIONS (trillions?) of worlds they have access to, that something like this is going on in many other places, or that it's somethng fairly common and they are experienced in dealing with it.
The SOP is something that you should try to figure out. It may take a while, and will probably never be truly complete, but even if the story has nothing to do with the SOP-gone-awry, you still need to know what the standard approach for these guys is. You might even mention, from one character to another, how a failure of the past has altered how the SOP is being used for this world.
Uniting a world:
Hopefully we'll get some more people chiming in on this part here.
You imply there is something besides a potential client state to be gained here, that is worth trying to unite these people, but not supporting one particular side in a bid for domination/conquest. This isn't quite easy for me to wrap my brain around, but here's something that may help.
In general, conquests (which don't see one side eliminate the other) succeed or fail based on how the victor treats the loser. For instance, had Grant not offered Lee the very generous amnesty from prosecution, we might still today be militarily occupying the southern states, trying to root out die-hards. Once that precedent was set, the other southern generals quickly accepted the terms. If the rebels had not had that guarantee, what would they have had to lose by continuing to fight?
But anyway, I really see little problem with the Pros coming in, offering small bribes for the people to join hands, and get them to unite. The shooting war has to stop, though. There's no reason why they SHOULDN'T clear the skys of local spacecraft, neutralizing/capturing instead of destroying if at all possible to show their benevolence, and then when it's safe to approach the world, offer to trade.
Find out what they want, and offer it to them in exchange for what you want. Or bring in a sufficiently sky-blocking fleet to get their attention. I don't know what else to say. You keep this up, and I'll write the book before you do!
The SOP is something that you should try to figure out. It may take a while, and will probably never be truly complete, but even if the story has nothing to do with the SOP-gone-awry, you still need to know what the standard approach for these guys is. You might even mention, from one character to another, how a failure of the past has altered how the SOP is being used for this world.
Uniting a world:
Hopefully we'll get some more people chiming in on this part here.
You imply there is something besides a potential client state to be gained here, that is worth trying to unite these people, but not supporting one particular side in a bid for domination/conquest. This isn't quite easy for me to wrap my brain around, but here's something that may help.
In general, conquests (which don't see one side eliminate the other) succeed or fail based on how the victor treats the loser. For instance, had Grant not offered Lee the very generous amnesty from prosecution, we might still today be militarily occupying the southern states, trying to root out die-hards. Once that precedent was set, the other southern generals quickly accepted the terms. If the rebels had not had that guarantee, what would they have had to lose by continuing to fight?
But anyway, I really see little problem with the Pros coming in, offering small bribes for the people to join hands, and get them to unite. The shooting war has to stop, though. There's no reason why they SHOULDN'T clear the skys of local spacecraft, neutralizing/capturing instead of destroying if at all possible to show their benevolence, and then when it's safe to approach the world, offer to trade.
Find out what they want, and offer it to them in exchange for what you want. Or bring in a sufficiently sky-blocking fleet to get their attention. I don't know what else to say. You keep this up, and I'll write the book before you do!
Die hards, huh? Guess those durn Southners haven't wised up and civilized after all! 
Over-cultured agrarians!
All right, given an Earthlike planet, tl8-9, ~8-9 billion inhabitants, all human, cut off from the rest of the universe, balkanized and even more twitchy than today, and a tl16 invader that has landed to take a base over, what are the tactics both would use - and assume that the defenders haven't taken the carrots.
Over-cultured agrarians!
All right, given an Earthlike planet, tl8-9, ~8-9 billion inhabitants, all human, cut off from the rest of the universe, balkanized and even more twitchy than today, and a tl16 invader that has landed to take a base over, what are the tactics both would use - and assume that the defenders haven't taken the carrots.
Similar threads
