Defensive Naval Strategy for the Star Confederation

[Leitz]

atpollard and I are playing in a sandbox of his creation. The Star Confederation of includes Tenalphi and is 300 years post Imperium. The other fleets, Sacnoth and Hofud, are just now secretly breaking into J3 capability.

If you look at the Traveller Map of the area, Wardn is an edge territory that isn't aligned to the SC. A major fleet action is coming up, and I'm thinking the end game for the SC might be to secure Biter and Iron. Since they don't really know the others have J3, and even if they do have it not a lot of ships do, that puts a forward choke point on any major invasion into SC territory.

Thoughts? atpollard, does this represent what you said?

 

[AnotherDilbert]

If you are a small nation you have no strategic depth. I assume you cannot afford to lose control of Tenalphi.

I would be wary of splitting your forces. Even it you control Biter and Iron the enemy can attack Tenalphi directly using drop tanks, tankers, or deep space fuel depots.

If you control Biter and Iron with light forces the enemy can blow straight through them. If you base heavy forces there you can be defeated in detail.

 

[Leitz]

Not sure I agree. My understanding is that X amount of offensive power is cheaper for non-Jump capable ships. Thus the majority of defensive power could be in those two locations. If the southern planets were also trouble then defend Steel and Mithril, with J2 capable fleets at Mithril and Iron. That way the Jump fleets can reinforce each other as needed, and messenger ships can quickly carry the message if a large fleet comes into the system.

If a J2 fleet moves to Biter it can hit 4 of 7 worlds on the northern map while the Mithril fleet moves into support at Biter.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

I think I misunderstood the strategic position. Is it only Sacnoth and Hofud, or are the rest of the Swordies involved? What are relative fleet strengths?

If it is only Sacnoth and Hofud, they have no strategic depth, while the Confeds have a reasonable distance to Strouden and Lunion. A Confed fleet in Biter would be a lethal threat to both Sacnoth and Hofud. It might force a decisive battle when the Swordies tries to retake Biter, as I imagine they must. Does the Confeds have the fleet strength available to hold Biter against the entire combined Swordie fleets?

The Swordies will likely try to raid the Confed interior. A deep space fuel depot in a hex next to Adabicci threatens many systems, and is only one jump away from Tenalphi and two jumps from Lunion.

Two fleets cannot easily support each other. If the enemy attacks one system, it takes at least two weeks before reinforcements can arrive, one week for the messenger to jump, and one week for the fleet to jump. The space campaign in the attacked system can be long over by then.

My understanding is that X amount of offensive power is cheaper for non-Jump capable ships.

Depends entirely on which system and TL you use. TL 11 (implied by J-2) combat can be very different from TL 15 combat. What system do you use?


P.S. I like you setting, pocket empire conflicts are much more interesting than multi-sector empires.

 

[Leitz]

Credit for the setting goes to atpollard, I'm just hijacking it. :rofl:

The Star Confederation (TL Just into 14) is probably mirrored in Sacnoth (TL 13) and further out space. I'm just aware enough to know that the threat is viable in both directions. My guess is that many of the Sword Worlds are marginally aligned as they have suffered greatly and the Biter system's genocidal leader is being supported by Hofud.

Oddly enough, atpollard came up with the game and I started playing in the Biter system scenario. That action is dirtside but set in the upcoming naval war. I started running a game that began dirtside on Wardn and will shortly move directly into space. I'm working on is the SC Navy plans before the PCs started messing everything up.

Psionic prophecy says the SC plans will cause both fleets and all three involved worlds, Hofud, Tenalphi, and Biter, to become space dust. My character's plan is to establish a buffer zone between the super-powers; a zone large enough that neither can attack the other without going through the zone. Then the zone builds up defensive capability so that's discouraged and has alliances with both sides so they can respond if the other aggresses.

I believe both sides have sufficient tonnage to discourage a direct attack. With a buffer zone it strengthens the discouragement and hopefully encourages recovery from the death spiral the planets are on. While the two games aren't interacting, it is becoming a "Send Marco in if reason might work. If not, well, send Ben." sort of environment.

Also, don't forget the invitation to play!

 

[AnotherDilbert]

It seems the scenario is best suited to narrative fleet combat.

Biter is an excellent offensive base for the Confeds. I would expect the Swordies to fight bitterly for it. They might even raid Tenalphi in force to draw off forces from the Confed offensive fleet?

Also, don't forget the invitation to play!

Thank you, but I prefer face-to-face roleplaying.

 

[Enoki]

In naval (which is a close approximation to space) warfare, you need to have a fleet concentrated such that you can commit it all at once into an action.

In terms of the map above, if you had a J2 fleet you'd need three bases to cover the entirety of it: Sting, Mithril, Zaibon. That covers every system except Caladborg and Excaliber.
You'd need small picket forces in each system to detect the arrival of an enemy fleet. These would be like the aviso of sailing ship days. That is, a fast ship specifically for delivering the news to the fleet(s).
The fleet would then deploy to the threatened system.

Systems themselves would be better served having a combination of powerful orbital forts, fortified planets, and satellites (moons). The later would be particularly useful for denying the enemy use of gas giants for refueling. Think of small satellite moons of a gas giant as (potentially) very large asteroid monitor ships with powerful weapons on them. The enemy would be running a gauntlet of powerful forts to do anything in the system.
You could over time even move larger asteroids into orbits around worlds to use as additional forts.
These have a big advantage in survivability and firepower as they don't require a propulsion or jump system and would be huge in size compared to a ship.

The system need only hold out for a week or so at which point a large powerful fleet will arrive to challenge the enemy wherever they are in the system.

 

[Leitz]

Biter is an excellent offensive base for the Confeds. I would expect the Swordies to fight bitterly for it. They might even raid Tenalphi in force to draw off forces from the Confed offensive fleet?

That might be why the psions predicted the end of a few civilizations.

 

[boomslang]

The system need only hold out for a week or so at which point a large powerful fleet will arrive to challenge the enemy wherever they are in the system.

I suspect this is also going to make Zaibon the go-to base for Tenalphi's reserve forces and their most likely rally point.

It will be pretty much impossible to sweep an asteroid belt completely free of entrenched defenders, cached resources, and hit-and-run harassers, while such forces will remain only J-1 from Tenalphi and J-2 from Iron or Wardn in a worst-case scenario.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

I would not trust central reaction forces. It takes a minimum of two weeks to get reinforcements (one jump to ask for help, one jump for the help to arrive).

The enemy can jump in, destroy any picket force that tries to engage them, reduce the main world to a barren, smoking ruin (simply by dropping rocks) and be long gone when the reinforcements arrive.

Much depends on how nasty you are willing to be, are you willing to perform terror-bombing on civilians? The setting indicates that some worlds might be reduced asteroid belts.

According to the thetravellermap.com the system Tenalphi has a belt also.

 

[Condottiere]

Depends on depth, of which you have three, strategic, operational and tactical.

If you can bog down the attacker at the system/tactical level, long enough for reinforcements to arrive; if not, you're inviting pre-emption.

 

[boomslang]

The enemy can jump in, destroy any picket force that tries to engage them, reduce the main world to a barren, smoking ruin (simply by dropping rocks) and be long gone when the reinforcements arrive.

Well, of course Tenalphi itself will be fortified.

But if the enemy adopts a Scorched Earth policy instead of looking to invade and occupy (the assorted technical issues of rock-dropping notwithstanding), the fleet reserves will be tasked with returning the favor postmortem in the enemy home system(s).

 

[atpollard]

I have an inkling of how Marc must feel some mornings. :rofl:
This is insanely intimidating.
I just wanted to run a little game with a 'wild west' feel ... you know, heroes and bad guys operating just past where civilization and the law stopped.
So I chose to move into the 'dark ages' ... after the fall of the Great Empire ... another Long Night. (because Hard Times had lots of interesting stuff in it setting aside the rebellion and OTU stuff.)


I was scanning the Traveller map to save time rolling everything from scratch, and noticed that Lunion and Strouden (Ind, TL D) had a jump 1 route to Tenalphi (Ag, TL E). If the Imperium fell, the hungry billions on those industrial worlds with TL D Class A Starports and Navy Bases, had a VERY STRONG INCENTIVE to maintain a J1 merchant fleet to Tenalphi. That seemed a natural basis for forming a Confederation of the worlds along that J1 route. This isn't about economics, this was about survival!
Fast Forward three hundred years (100 years of slow imperial decline, 100 years of finding a new stability, 100 years of starting to make forward progress again.) The Star Confederation adopted the Tenalphi Democratic government model (the most TL advanced world drives the culture) which has made them largely a defensive and introverted military entity. Their greatest strength is that they are far and away the largest economy and the most advanced (TL 14 Navy vs TL 9-12 neighbors). The weakness has been, and remains, a very long frontier with little 'safe core'. For the record, the Star Confederation consists of the J1 route from Strouden to Lunion (STROUDEN - Drolraw - Gandr - Sharrip - Carse - LUNION), Shirene, and the J1 route from Lunion to Tenalphi (LUNION - Derchon - Ianic - Adabici - Zaibon - TENALPHI) and Spirelle. Those 13 systems form the Star Confederation and represent the 'safe' or 'pocket empire' within our campaign world.

Everything within about 4 J1 or a J2 from the Star Confederation is 'Frontier' and includes the worlds that the adventure has been focused on Wardn (allied with the Star Confederation, but not a member), Iron, Biter (site of future Invasion/battle).

Beyond that lies the 'wilds' (including most of the former Sword Worlds). These worlds had their populations adjusted based on the physical ability of the world to support a population. Many of these worlds have become small pocket empires of one system in their own right. The constant fighting and raiding has driven the Sword worlds to be better prepared to deal with Naval issues than the Star Confederation. They have smaller navies, but they have smaller territories, so a system like Sacnoth could actually field a fleet comparable in size to a Star Confederation Navy fleet (the SCN needs to operate multiple fleets to defend its long borders). As stated earlier, the advantage, historically, has been a TL 14 SCN vs a TL 9-12 enemy Navy. Recently, HOFUD has achieved TL 13 and upgraded its fleet and established strong political ties with Sting (that has become INDUSTRIAL) and Biter (AGRICULTURAL, but about to collapse into a civil war). Hofud has plans to build an alliance of its own and challenge the Star Confederation for Political dominance in the region.

Recent saber rattling included a show the flag trip by the SCN to the Steel System (neutral wilds) that was attacked by Hofud Warships to embarrass the SCN and cause neutral worlds (and Wardn) to question the actual ability of the SCN.
The SCN is planning on capturing Biter as retaliation for the Steel system attack and to provide humanitarian relief to a government about to collapse and cause wide spread starvation.

That was the political background for the adventure on Biter.

I just wanted a pocket empire with some frontier and wilds.
I yield tactics to you admirals ... I never thought that far ahead.

THIS TOPIC has been a fascinating read.



If it matters ... the SCN has two brand new 50,000 dTon ships (the largest in the sector) and each of the other major players has one or two 10,000 dTon ships and a 1000 to 5000 dTon ship fleet.
I view it as a predominantly small ship universe for Economic rather than technical reasons. None of the worlds could afford to build or maintain a 100,000 dTon ship.

[EDIT: Found some data ...]

"War is not merely an act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse carried on with other means. What remains peculiar to war is simply the peculiar nature of its means." - Carl von Clausewitz

13 Months Ago:
In the Star Confederation, it is easy to overlook the growing influence of Wardn as a 'bread basket to the stars' when compared to the staggering agricultural surpluses that stream from Tenalphi's TL 14 commercial mega farms located just 1 parsec from Wardn ...
... surpluses that have fed the Star Confederation almost single-handed for over 300 years.
To the independent star-faring worlds and loose alliances along the frontier and beyond, the Tenalphi surpluses are beyond reach and the birth of a new Agricultural world does not go unnoticed.
When a few Free Traders with strange markings began arriving at Warden to buy food, almost nobody noticed.
When Subsidized Merchants bearing the same markings started arriving to make larger purchases, Wardn merchants noticed and celebrated.
When foreign warships arrived in orbit around Wardn for a meeting of government representatives ... one parsec from Tenalphi ... the Star Confederation Military Command noticed.
..........
Suddenly the 'Wardn Situation' was being discussed in halls of political power throughout the Star Confederation.
Some spoke of membership, some spoke of annexation, some spoke of the plight of the frontier worlds, some spoke of the need for bigger/newer/more warships, and a few whispered behind closed doors of a coming war.
On Tenalphi, the military demanded immediate political action to deal with what was, at its core, a political problem and the politicians demanded immediate military action to deal with a perceived military threat.
The reality of the situation was that Wardn and Tenalphi had enjoyed 300 years of peace and neither world wanted to change the status quo.
From a military perspective, a single Star Confederation Dreadnought could probably crush the Wardn Planetary Navy, but there weren't enough Marines in the entire Star Confederation to win a ground war on Wardn.
It was not an accident that Wardn had remained an independent world for 300 years.
..........
Sublieutenant Vradok Joranger - age 21 - (Navy Medical Department) is looking forward to continuing his duties as Chief Medical Officer aboard the SCN Corvette "Scimitar" ... (the "Stiletto" was scrapped following your success against the Heavy Cruiser with the Captain and surviving crew transferred to a new ship). Vradok is enjoying some shore leave while waiting for the new ship to be finished at the shipyard at Lunion. Lunion is the center of the universe for the Star Confederation Navy. Home to the headquarters of both the SC Navy and the secretive SC Scout Service. Strouden has a slightly higher industrial capacity and Tenalphi has a slight edge in advanced research, but Lunion has always been Fleet Command for the Star Confederation and the leading manufacturer of warships. The talk around the officer's club and water coolers is the appearance of a hostile war fleet only Jump-1 from Tenalphi. Facts are in short supply, but rumors abound. One 'fact' that sends a chill through the room is the official announcement that the Star Confederation's newly finished second Dreadnought has been christened "Spirit of Tenalphi" and will be permanently stationed at Tenalphi. From the grapevine, you hear that the first dreadnought, the "Spirit of Lunion" is being recalled from the base at Strouden to the base at Lunion ... closer to Tenalphi.

 

[Leitz]

If space navies are like Earth navies, any ship takes a few years to build. That's one reason the same design gets redone, it becomes more efficient to build over time. The bigger they are the more complex as well. Data can project expected rates of deployment well in advanced, and of course, industrial espionage can delay things or get critical plans.

Just because a political entity has J3 doesn't mean all their ships are soon J3 capable. Unless they stole extensive plans and effectively built ships just like the enemy, any option would be 3-5 years on the drawing board and then 5-10 years before a sizeable ship flew.

Fleets are slow to move as well. Most ships are have a skeleton crew in port and it would take a day or three to get everyone back except for battle conditions. That's what makes fleet intelligence so valuable. An experienced admiral can look at the data and see what options the opposing fleet is capable of.

My proposed solution provides a hawkish but defensible solution. Hofud could wipe opt SDBs and access the SC, but it would be bloody and they wouldn't have much of a fleet left. That means they'd have less to defend the hom land with as well, and raiders coupld make a killing while the fleet was away.

 

[Condottiere]

Biggest issue is obsolescence at Moore generations, not a problem when you've fixed technological progress in century long stages.

 

[aramis]

Fleets are slow to move as well. Most ships are have a skeleton crew in port and it would take a day or three to get everyone back except for battle conditions. That's what makes fleet intelligence so valuable. An experienced admiral can look at the data and see what options the opposing fleet is capable of.

That's one of the reasons many navies are moving to two or even three crews per ship. Even in home port, the duty crew can be required to be sail ready on 30 minutes notice, assuming the ship herself is sail ready... As soo as she hits homeport, next crew moves in and goes over the logs for needed projects; both crews spend some time fixing, and then while B crew sails, A crew (1) takes a month liberty at homestation, then does additional training.

 

[Matt123]

Interesting scenario and a good read.

I see Biter as the key to the SCs interstellar security. In order to secure the safety of the confederation I would occupy it in force with a J2 fleet capable of threatening either Sacnoth or Hofud should their main fleets launch. If significant fleets arrive at Biter, Sting or Iron or are reported by scouts patrolling the empty space within J2 of Tenalphi, the J2 fleet will launch for Sacnoth (or Hofud), abandoning Biter to the care of a small stay behind force.

The Biter J2 Fleet will become a deterrence fleet, capable of taking Sacnoth or Hofud only if those worlds elect to use their defensive fleets elsewhere (ie: to attack the the SC). It will also be the place to eventually rotate much of the J2 Naval capability the SC has and provide a strategic reason for a few TL14 J2 capital ships (much more capable warships than J3 ships). The SC Navy will actively promote this fleet, its capabilities and its mission. The promotion should add to the deterrence and ideally convince Sacnoth or Hofud over time to focus on highly effective, non-jump capable defensive fleets.

The balance of the SC fleet will perform one of four roles. Home defence for Tenalphi, a large fleet of monitors (no jump drives). Scouts for patrolling, couriering messages and gathering intel, plus a handful of fleet tankers. Stay behind units for star systems of interest (more shortly). And a J3 or J4 reaction force based at Tenalphi, not a large fleet but based around a handful of advanced capital ships.

The Stay behind units will occupy Biter, Iron, Wardn and Bronze and be a presence in Sting (J2 units can rotate in and out without needing local refuelling). Sting will be promoted as "disputed territory", but the SC unit there will be tasked with intel gathering only and with staying away from trouble. A presence is all that is required to maintain the disputed status.

In other systems occupied by Stay behind units, their role will be monitoring and policing trade and protection from state sponsored privateers. Should even a light force contest the system, the Stay behind unit will avoid combat unless it enjoys overwhelming superiority and it will request assistance from the reaction force. By being in one piece and active, they force an attacking power to permanently occupy the system with a force of greater strength. In this way the Stay behind units divert enemy fleet assets. If the enemy ignores the system, they are ideally placed to deprive access to fuel and communications through this system. Occasionally they may be able to ambush badly damaged ships limping home.

Regards the rumoured J3 technology that Sacnoth may be developing, it takes decades to build an attack capable fleet, especially against fleets with even a handful of advanced TL14 warships. If the SC ensures it includes J2 TL14 warships in its fleet building program, against this capability it gains both tech advantages and an extra 10% hull capacity for more armor, agility or weapons.