MGT Only: Planetary invasion ships

[AnotherDilbert]

A J4, at about 2/3 the cost, and 2.5x the payload.

Which means that to carry the same payload a J-6 tender is about 4 times more expensive than a J-4 tender.

-1% M1

2%?

 

[McPerth]

Note that numbers are worse in Bk2 and MGT 1 & 2 ... 2.5% per Jn instead of (1+Jn)%...

So if you're building a setting on the MGT drive paradigms, it will be worse.

MgT CB only reaches up to 3000 dtons, so those 5000 dton ships must be designed with MgT:HG rules (with the modifications Brandon C gave in his setting).

 

[whartung]

Except that grav technology allows things to fly that are far more heavily armoured than aircraft. So a defender could have a go with grav gunships that are both fast/agile and heavily armored.

But they'd have to be armored "from above". Most "tanks" are armored from the "front".

The biggest problem is ground scatter, but this is what distinguishes NOE flying vehicles and something flying higher up. The higher it goes, the easier it is for it to stand out and be counted by an orbital platform.

Also, "orbit" can be considered "very high". The key distinction is their vulnerability to ground fire. Ostensible ships mount weapons and system designed to fight against large and small vehicles at inter-system ranges, ranges which are quite vast compared to a terrestrial environment.

Whereas ground based "anti-air", may well not be designed for space defense. Mounting large lasers on the ground suffers from having to punch through the atmosphere, perhaps making orbital platforms more useful.

It's difficult to model, as we don't have any real scenarios to try to decide whether such systems are worth putting on the ground (thus, perhaps, shielded from an initial bombardment, via hidden in obscurity than anything else). Perhaps these ground defenses are the last ditch after the orbital facilities have been reduced and secured. It's now an issue of volume -- are the enough ground based defenses to damage the invading orbital assets enough before they, in turn reduce the ground defenses.

And how many of these defenses are actually hidden from the invader. Permanent installations tend to be mapped via intelligence services. The invader may well know where they are when they arrive.

Which brings up idea of simply have grav mounted ground defense weapons. When the invading fleet arrives in system, the planet dispatches and the ground force goes scurrying off in to the trees, canyons, lakes and oceans, waiting to be activated.

Then its a matter of scale. How many would a planet have? 100? 1000? More? Could they be dual purpose, useful against ground forces as well?

Unfortunately, most Traveller editions don't handle this phase very well if at all so it is hard to say how it would turn out.

Megatrav at least made an attempt. Under the MT rules it is actually not a trivial exercise to hit and destroy an evading grav vehicle from an orbiting starship. Is this realistic? I don't know but them's the rules.

Interface is particularly difficult. It brings up all sorts of issue. And, as has been mentioned, it also depends on the goals of the invasion. Including why invade at all. It could be enough to maintain space superiority and leave a space patrol designed to leave the planet alone, and simply kill anything that tries to leave it with occasional close in photo/bombing runs to take out any in progress ship building operations.

 

[aramis]

MgT CB only reaches up to 3000 dtons, so those 5000 dton ships must be designed with MgT:HG rules (with the modifications Brandon C gave in his setting).

Many ignore HG and simply extend the progressions in both CT and MGT.