Staging Areas

[Dragoner]

This post: https://www.travellerrpg.com/index....t-classic-traveller.42235/page-31#post-640746

Re: Staging Areas

In military usage, a staging area is a place where troops or equipment in transit are assembled or processed.[2] The US Department of Defense uses these definitions:

(DOD) 1. Amphibious or airborne – A general locality between the mounting area and the objective of an amphibious or airborne expedition, through which the expedition or parts thereof pass after mounting, for refueling, regrouping of ships, and/or exercise, inspection, and redistribution of troops. (DOD) 2. Other movements – A general locality established for the concentration of troop units and transient personnel between movements over the lines of communications. Also called SA. See also airborne; marshalling; stage; staging.[3]

Often and historically this military staging area has been termed a point d'appui, which is often on high ground and sometimes coincident with a significant prehistoric monument, as in the case of Catto Long Barrow in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Unlike normal bases, the facilities of a staging area are temporary, mainly because for a certain time it will hold much more troops and materiel than would be reasonable in peacetime.

Militaries use staging areas to deploy military units, aircraft and warships and materiel ahead of an attack or invasion. In former times, this used to be generally the border area of one's own country, but in recent wars (Gulf War, Kosovo War, Iraq War) it may also be the border area of another unrelated country granting access.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagi...other elaborate presentations. More items...

In game, with this forum being for strategy, I was looking at the battles and thinking, one could build a staging area jump one from any system one is going to attack, and it would be basically undetectable until years later. There is simply too much space, and even a depot, a large one, is fairly small in comparison. Then simply create a bunch of ready to go packages, have them load into a bunch of type A's for transport, even if stuff had to abandoned, it is not that big of a loss, not overall. Which also makes me think of Piper's Junkyard Planet ...

 

[Condottiere]

Stealthed monitoring satellites are relatively cheap, and a monthly visit by stealthed scoutship could have recent data transferred.

 

[whartung]

You can stage in the system you're going to attack. Depending on your worldview, they have to do this anyway as the fleet trickles in over the Jump arrival window.

What's the home team going to do, come out and meet you? Fight in open space? Why would they do that? So the attacker can fly by them and hit their world targets while the home team is turning around?

Nah, they'll wait. Lure them in to the teeth of the ground platforms.

 

[Dragoner]

As an advance position, yes, though staging areas act as supply and maintenance areas after the fleets have moved in. Anywhere in system will be able to be hit by the defenders in a counter attack, out system there is too much space to find it, not in a timely manner. Though I can imagine an adventure to go check out a former depot area. Generally space is a question of density, even empty space can have rogue planets, ice worlds suitable for fuel production facilities.

 

[kilemall]

You can stage in the system you're going to attack. Depending on your worldview, they have to do this anyway as the fleet trickles in over the Jump arrival window.

What's the home team going to do, come out and meet you? Fight in open space? Why would they do that? So the attacker can fly by them and hit their world targets while the home team is turning around?

Nah, they'll wait. Lure them in to the teeth of the ground platforms.

High velocity flybys. Hit with conventional missiles that strike like nukes, and before the invading fleet gets it together.

Or at the highest vee the invaders have while coming in from the refuel- combined vee is key.

 

[Dragoner]

In my setting, which is real star position, I have the battle of Celestino, the gas giant in the Luyten 726-8 system, and the mainworld, Posa was bypassed, there was some ground combat to clear out defenders.

 

[Condottiere]

You want to stage from an area outside the strike range of the enemy.

 

[mike wightman]

Isn't this already covered in the boardgame Invasion: Earth?

The Imperial forces have a marshalling point in the outsystem 'box'

The Space Boxes: Four space boxes are located along
the bottom edge of the mapsheet. The close orbit, far orbit,
and deep space boxes represent the confines of the Sol system.
The close orbit box represents the, region nearest to Terra;
naval units in this box are allowed to interact with the surface
of Terra. The far orbit box represents the region of space near
Terra but further from the planet than the close orbit box.
Luna, Terra's moon, is located within this box; Luna may be
used as an advance base in preparation for the invasion of
Terra. The deep space box represents the remainder of the Sol
system. The nearby stellar systems, controlled by the lmperial
player, are represented by the out-system box. This box is
used by the lmperial player as a marshalling ground for the
forces allocated to the invasion of Terra.

 

[Dragoner]

"Out-System Box" sounds like good slang for the staging area base, and the box being the area of space one is jumping into.

I think another thing, from how disorganized things become when moved, or in movement, even after creating other forward bases, the staging area base being a parsec, or jump one out-system would still be the prime base. Equipment, material, would move on a timetable; the J1 movement would essentially cover the whole system.