The Imperial Army

[McPerth]

Actually your are wrong...

Maybe, it would not be the first (and probably nor the last) time...

Colonel proprietors owned their units and considering the noble filled the majority of the officer roles de facto evolution of feudal powers ....I refer you C. Duffy, Warfare in the Age of Reason.

So I would like to make a suggestion I see you are heavily invested in this argument. Read up a little more on history and drill down into the meat of the subject.

I compared it with Medieval feudal situation (keeping all the distances and differences), and this was well out in XVII and XVIII centuries you tell about, and the Age of Reason only covers the last part of this period you tell, that includes from the Barroque (let's say the thirty Years War) to Age of Reason (let's say the Seven Years War) and French Revolutionary Wars, and incluiding several major (and many more minor) European wars (some of them even exported to overseas territories).

There are key diferences in this times. In the Middle ages feudalism, the Nobles has their own standing forces, while in the times you talk about, no matter how much power a Colonel could have in his regiment, it was not really his, but King's, and nobles were no longer allowed to have their own standing armies.

The colonel, that used to be a noble (but not always), as you say, did not recruit the troops in his own name, but in King's name, and was responsive to him, something not so true in Feudalism. And his post was not hereditary, another important difference.

Same (or at least likewise) happened with Governor's and other Royal Officers.

I find the whole argument against a Imperial army absurd. It is clear there is a centralized authority that asserts a political will. There are clear references to it in canon materials. The Imperial Army clearly exists de facto. FFW/Invasion Earth says "regular" forces.... Not Colonial or feudal. They are the real armored fist of the Emperor period.

Several questions here:

I've never denied IA existence, and not only de facto, but as a true Imperial service, just I don't believe it's a large standing one, but a cadre one.

Can you tell me how the centralized authority of the IA is exercised? not even the Imperial Navy or bureaucaracy is so centralized...

What are those clear references in canon material about a large, centralized Imperial standing Army?. all those given by Mike can apply also to a cadre & huscarles Army.

Regular forces are not the same as standing Army. Medival nobles had standing forces, but they could hardly be seen as regulars, while most regular armies are kept at cadre levels and depend on mobilization, so not being really standing ones.

The real armored fist of the Emperor is IN (I include Marines on it, hope no one is ofended by this), not IA, and IMHO this is quite clear in most canon. Remember that in Civil War it was the IN control that was critical, and llttle (if any) references are given (AFAIK at least) about IA stance on it.

After all, what is IA worth wihtout IN support, being left stranded on their positions, where they can sit forever without a true influence in the Imperium as a whole?

If we carried your faulty model further its fails the test. An Imperial Army has to exists or else there wouldn't be a centralized authority of doctrine, training, and technological standards of development.

Again, Navy's duty, not Army's, as army alone cannot even keep any communication among their units in different planets (well, I guess they have a (relative, as always) few courriers, but I guess they mostly rely on IN and IISS for this).

Further any Sector or Domain level Forces would have the be overseen by a Higher Command and Staff, or what you are going to let the navy plan it's operations?, Do you think the navy can plan a prolonged ground campaign?

And can Army plan for any campaign without IN support, when it has not even the mobility needed to go from a point to another in the intestellar void?

Sure the Army has a good planning corps, and it plans for actions in most planets where it can be needed to be bought to bear (mostly the more populated and HiTech, as lesser words can be dealed with I marines of COlonial Forces), and this planning may well be the main peacetime mission of the HQs and cadres (and part of the deterrence role told by kilemall is having those plans updated (and letting local goverments know about the fact).

Getting back to the point without an imperial army it would be a logistics nightmare with the various technology and different weapon systems, reference the French Expeditionary Corps in Indochina with all the various weapons and ammunition nightmares they suffered in combat effiency and utilization.

I sat back and watched this argument long enough to realize everyone has their interpretation, but the reality is if the 3rd Imperium existed their would be a Imperial Army for the sake of centralized standard in training, doctrine, logistics and to ensure combat utility and efficiency.

IA (or any imperialwide service, for what's worth) is a logicital nightmare no matter how you try to mitigate with standarization. The French Expeditionary Corps probles are dwarfed by the mere fact that all its troopers where from the same race and planet, used to the same atmosphere and gravity. In Imperial Services not even this is standarized. Just the diferent racial, atmospheric, gravity and racial diferences (not to talk about cultural views and biases) among Imperium citizens will ensure it is a true nightmare to coordinate people from different locations.

This said, sure there are titanic efforts by the Imperial services (not only Army) to standarize as much as they can. Hence the existence of the IDPs. And sure they try to standarize doctrines too, probably forcing (or at least strongly encouraging) any imperializable unit to follow their IDPs equipment and doctrine.

This is not personal McPerth, but wake up and smell the coffee... And a brioche.

I understand this is not personal, but, frankly, the (IMHO again) unnecessary harshness of your post surprised me. I hope I have not responded in kind (be sure I tried).

And BTW, I prefer croisant to brioche, but that's for another discusión...:coffeegulp:

 

[Garnfellow]

Revised FFW Imperial Units [1 of 2]

I used the VASSAL module for FFW to check the unit designations, and assuming that source is reliable caught enough errors that here's my second take:

Source	Unit	Designation	Size	Type	TL
Colonial	Porozlo Lift Infantry Field Army	Porozlo	Field Army	Lift Infantry	10
Colonial	Porozlo Grav Tank Field Army	Porozlo	Field Army	Grav Tank	10
Colonial	Alell Lift Infantry Corps	Alell	Corps	Lift Infantry	10
Colonial	Efate Lift Infantry Corps	Efate	Corps	Lift Infantry	13
Colonial	Equus Lift Infantry Corps	Equus	Corps	Lift Infantry	11
Colonial	Extolay Lift Infantry Corps	Extolay	Corps	Lift Infantry	10
Colonial	Feri Armored Cavalry Corps	Feri	Corps	Armored Cavalry	11
Colonial	Jewell Lift Infantry Corps	Jewell	Corps	Lift Infantry	12
Colonial	Regina Armored Infantry Corps	Regina	Corps	Armored Infantry	10
Colonial	Vilis Lift Infantry Corps	Vilis	Corps	Lift Infantry	10
Colonial	Zivije Lift Infantry Corps	Zivije	Corps	Lift Infantry	11
Colonial	Esalin Motorized Infantry Division	Esalin	Division	Motorized Infantry	8
Colonial	Porozlo Armored Cavalry Division	Porozlo	Division	Armored Cavalry	10
Colonial	Garda Vilis Lift Infantry Brigade	Garda Vilis (GV)	Brigade	Lift Infantry	10
Colonial	Yori Lift Infantry Brigade	Yori	Brigade	Lift Infantry	13
Colonial	Mongo Grav Tank Battalion	Mongo	Battalion	Grav Tank	10
Colonial Reinforcement	840th Lift Infantry Field Army	840	Field Army	Lift Infantry	15
Colonial Reinforcement	1931st Lift Infantry Field Army	1931	Field Army	Lift Infantry	12
Colonial Reinforcement	2151st Lift Infantry Field Army	2151	Field Army	Lift Infantry	15
Colonial Reinforcement	1385th Lift Infantry Corps	1385	Corps	Lift Infantry	14
Colonial Reinforcement	1571st Lift Infantry Corps	1571	Corps	Lift Infantry	11
Colonial Reinforcement	1871st Armored Cavalry Corps	1871	Corps	Armored Cavalry	13
Colonial Reinforcement	1920th Armored Infantry Corps	1920	Corps	Armored Infantry	14
Colonial Reinforcement	3912th Lift Infantry Corps	3912	Corps	Lift Infantry	10
Colonial Reinforcement	9174th Lift Infantry Corps	9174	Corps	Lift Infantry	13
Colonial Reinforcement	155th Lift Infantry Brigade	155	Brigade	Lift Infantry	10
Colonial Reinforcement	197th Lift Infantry Brigade	197	Brigade	Lift Infantry	10
Colonial Reinforcement	854th Lift Infantry Brigade	854	Brigade	Lift Infantry	12
Colonial Reinforcement	3817th Lift Infantry Brigade	3817	Brigade	Lift Infantry	12
Colonial Reinforcement	823rd Armored Cavalry Regiment	823	Regiment	Armored Cavalry	15
Huscarle	1st/4518th Lift Infantry Regiment	1st/4518th	Battalion	Elite Armored Infantry	15
Huscarle	2nd/4518th Lift Infantry Regiment	2nd/4518th	Battalion	Elite Armored Infantry	15
Huscarle	3rd/4518th Lift Infantry Regiment	3rd/4518th	Battalion	Elite Armored Infantry	15
Huscarle	4th/4518th Lift Infantry Regiment	4th/4518th	Battalion	Elite Armored Cavalry	15
Huscarle	5th/4518th Lift Infantry Regiment	5th/4518th	Battalion	Elite Armored Cavalry	15
Huscarle	6th/4518th Lift Infantry Regiment	6th/4518th	Battalion	Elite Jump Troop	15
Mercenary	Omega Armored Cavalry Regiment	Omega	Regiment	Armored Cavalry	14
Mercenary	PSG Armored Infantry Brigade	PSG	Brigade	Armored Infantry	14
Mercenary	SPL Lift Infantry Brigade	SPL	Brigade	Lift Infantry	12
Mercenary	Alpha Armored Cavalry Battalion	Alpha	Battalion	Elite Armored Cavalry	15
Mercenary	Beta Lift Infantry Battalion	Beta	Battalion	Elite Lift Infantry	16
Mercenary	Delta Lift Infantry Battalion	Delta	Battalion	Elite Lift Infantry	13
Mercenary	Epsilon Lift Cavalry Battalion	Epsilon	Battalion	Elite Lift Cavalry	15
Mercenary	Gamma Lift Infantry Battalion	Gamma	Battalion	Elite Lift Infantry	14
Mercenary	Phi Lift Infantry Battalion	Phi	Battalion	Lift Infantry	15
Mercenary	Psi Lift Infantry Battalion	Psi	Battalion	Lift Infantry	12

 

[Garnfellow]

Revised FFW Imperial Units [2 of 2]

Source	Unit	Designation	Size	Type	TL
Regular	37th Grav Tank Field Army	37	Field Army	Grav Tank	15
Regular	85th Lift Infantry Field Army	85	Field Army	Lift Infantry	15
Regular	94th Lift Infantry Field Army	94	Field Army	Lift Infantry	15
Regular	95th Armored Infantry Field Army	95	Field Army	Armored Infantry	15
Regular	123rd Armored Cavalry Field Army	123	Field Army	Armored Cavalry	15
Regular	357th Lift Infantry Field Army	357	Field Army	Lift Infantry	15
Regular	851st Grav Tank Field Army	851	Field Army	Grav Tank	14
Regular	921st Lift Infantry Field Army	921	Field Army	Lift Infantry	15
Regular	437th Armored Cavalry Corps	437	Corps	Armored Cavalry	15
Regular	812th Lift Infantry Corps	812	Corps	Lift Infantry	15
Regular	854th Grav Tank Corps	854	Corps	Grav Tank	15
Regular	923rd Lift Infantry Corps	923	Corps	Lift Infantry	15
Regular	1041st Lift Infantry Corps	1041	Corps	Lift Infantry	14
Regular	1091st Lift Infantry Corps	1091	Corps	Lift Infantry	14
Regular	850th Lift Infantry Division	850	Division	Lift Infantry	15
Regular	2012th Lift Cavalry Division	2012	Division	Lift Cavalry	15
Regular	2013th Lift Cavalry Division	2013	Division	Lift Cavalry	15
Regular	3012th Armored Cavalry Division	3012	Division	Armored Cavalry	15
Regular	3013th Armored Cavalry Division	3013	Division	Armored Cavalry	15
Regular	3014th Lift Infantry Division	3014	Division	Lift Infantry	14
Regular	3512th Armored Infantry Division	3512	Division	Armored Infantry	14
Regular	3513th Armored Infantry Division	3513	Division	Armored Infantry	14
Regular	85th Lift Infantry Brigade	85	Brigade	Lift Infantry	15
Regular	86th Lift Infantry Brigade	86	Brigade	Lift Infantry	15
Regular	87th Lift Infantry Brigade	87	Brigade	Lift Infantry	15
Regular	88th Lift Infantry Brigade	88	Brigade	Lift Infantry	15
Regular	45th Jump Troop Regiment	45	Regiment	Jump Troop	14
Regular	616th Grav Tank Regiment	616	Regiment	Grav Tank	15
Regular	3122nd Jump Troop Regiment	3122	Regiment	Jump Troop	15
Regular	3123rd Jump Troop Regiment	3123	Regiment	Jump Troop	14
Marine	1071st Line Marine Regiment	1071	Regiment	Elite Line	15
Marine	1931st Line Marine Regiment	1931	Regiment	Elite Line	15
Marine	2091st Line Marine Regiment	2091	Regiment	Line	15
Marine	3277th Line Marine Regiment	3277	Regiment	Line	15
Marine	5722nd Line Marine Regiment	5722	Regiment	Line	15
Marine	6127th Line Marine Regiment	6127	Regiment	Line	15
Marine	8041st Line Marine Regiment	8041	Regiment	Line	15
Marine	8327th Line Marine Regiment	8327	Regiment	Line	15

 

[jec10]

One interesting challenge for the "no standing army" philosophy is the initial Imperial setup in FFW. The section of the Spinward Marches that is mapped in the game would appear to be garrisoned by at least a corps, 4 brigades and 4 regiments of "troops" that are not colonial forces, huscarles or mercenaries before the Fifth Frontier War breaks out. The counter colour codes key tells us these are Imperial "regular units". These units can set up on any Imperial world.

 

[mike wightman]

And look at the regular forces available off board as reinforcements after a few months - you don't train regular units that quickly so they have to be regular standing army forces.

 

[Condottiere]

One argument between activating the reserves and training new forces was, that it's easier and faster to train and indoctrinate new recruits in the latest equipment and doctrines, possibly even cheaper, in a six month period.

But since technology and innovation tends to be locked in Traveller, perhaps not in our case.

 

[Vargas]

One argument between activating the reserves and training new forces was, that it's easier and faster to train and indoctrinate new recruits in the latest equipment and doctrines, possibly even cheaper, in a six month period.

But since technology and innovation tends to be locked in Traveller, perhaps not in our case.

Except that warfare in Traveller sufficiently high tech that it's better to have trained reserves than train recruits. (It's the same argument in the present day for why having a professional all volunteer force is superior to conscripts or a draft).

 

[McPerth]

One interesting challenge for the "no standing army" philosophy is the initial Imperial setup in FFW. The section of the Spinward Marches that is mapped in the game would appear to be garrisoned by at least a corps, 4 brigades and 4 regiments of "troops" that are not colonial forces, huscarles or mercenaries. The counter colour codes key tells us these are Imperial "regular units". These units can set up on any Imperial world.

Not all units may be placed on any Imperial world, as the Corps must be placed at Efate (where the Imperium is helping to fight a revolt).

This aside, some comments:

When I talk about HQ + Huscarles IA, I don't refere to the Huscarles as the 4518^th, but I use the word Huscarles to refer to "Royal cadre standing units". I use the word Huscarles just because that's the one used for this view of IA. In fact, the 4518^th would be somewhere in between Colonial and Imperial Marines, being quite a special case (I guess if they had not been so described in Traveller published material they would not be so represented in the game, but that's only my guess).

This is a good example of how the same fact (the number of units present in the initial TOE) can be read both ways.

Puting the corps aside (as it can be seen as a fully mobilized unit sent to fight a specific crisis, as said in my first paragraph this same post), the IA standing garrisson in the coreward third to a half of the Marches amounts only to 3 division equivalents (60 battalions). This does not seem to me a large IA policy...

As comparison, the mobile Colonial Forces (counters) deployed in the map at the same time amount to nearlu 2000 battalions (albeit lower TLs, of course).

And see that there are so small troop units in the whole reinforcing IA countermix, the smaller units being divisions. Again this can have various lectures, but one of them (as good or bad as anyone else's) is that this is because those units have already built up to full strehnght, unlike the ones caught in the initial assault.

See that this can also be seen as going against the deterrant use of it, as those 60 battalions would not cow any HiPop/HiTech planet from revolting (the only such a world in the whole Imperial territory in the map, Rhylanor, has 500 such battalions, and Efate twice that number, plus one mobile Corps, albeit lower TL).

 

[McPerth]

And look at the regular forces available off board as reinforcements after a few months - you don't train regular units that quickly so they have to be regular standing army forces.

But you can build up cadre units to full strenght 10 weeks, either with reservists or imperialized units.

BTW, did you realize that in FFW the Imperium has more reinforcement armies that it can transport? There are 8 field armies, each only able to be transported by an assault carried squadron and only 7 such squadrons (the corps may be transported along with them, and the divisions by battlesquadrons).

 

[LeperColony]

Whether or not you believe the cadre is a better model than a centralized, large standing army, I don't see how anyone could reasonably maintain the view that the sources require the cadre conclusion.

We can argue about historical models or troop strengths until the cows come home, and it wouldn't be a useless discussion. But the idea that it can only be a cadre force is simply not supported by the sources. Of course, because the sources are contradictory, the opposite is also true.

But that's Traveller.

 

[jec10]

But you can build up cadre units to full strenght 10 weeks, either with reservists or imperialized units.

BTW, did you realize that in FFW the Imperium has more reinforcement armies that it can transport? There are 8 field armies, each only able to be transported by an assault carried squadron and only 7 such squadrons (the corps may be transported along with them, and the divisions by battlesquadrons).

I don't know about you, but when I play as Impies in FFW I always deploy a fleet with only a colonial assault ron assigned at Porozlo. Early in the game it shuttles colonial troops forward from that region of the board and can later bring forward the regulars.

 

[McPerth]

I don't know about you, but when I play as Impies in FFW I always deploy a fleet with only a colonial assault ron assigned at Porozlo. Early in the game it shuttles colonial troops forward from that region of the board and can later bring forward the regulars.

And just curious, what use do you give Porozlo Armies once sent forward?

I mean, the will not make any difference against any Zhodani resolved offensive, as they will be bombed to destruction before being mopped up by troops, but, if lost, they will be sorely missed when you make your counteroffensive latter in the game.

I rather use the AsDron to retreat the troops (all of them, Imperial and Colonial Corps and Merc División) in Efate to make it available for the counteroffensive. Until the Imperials have fleet reinforcements and can go on counterofensive, troops are just sitting ducks in "first line".

Those troops in Efatw won't make any difference there if the Zhodani break their Space/DSB defenses, as they will be destroyed by bombing, along Efate's battalions and it will be taken, and if the space/SDB defenses are not broken, tropos are not needed there.

That's what I meant when I said the Army (be it Imperial or Colonial) is an ofensive tool.

 

[Enoki]

And, as I point out, defensively, the IA would be primarily fortress troops.. As McPerth points out (as have I) if the enemy holds the space around a planet and has ships in orbit, ground forces designed to fight ground forces are basically worthless. They get hammered from space and there's nothing they can do about it.

But, if the planet has a number of "spinal" weapons disposed for planetary defense and these are the largest available (energy isn't going to be an issue like it is on a ship) and they are well protected (again, armoring them is not a space and weight issue here) against enemy fire, these become the first line of defense for the world.

I'd expect the IA to be the ones manning these defenses along with providing troops in serious fortifications to protect them in the event the enemy lands ground forces on the planet to take them.

Think of the planets and satellites as extremely large non-jump capable star ships or orbitals. That makes fortress and planetary defense troops a big part of an Imperial Army.

 

[kilemall]

And, as I point out, defensively, the IA would be primarily fortress troops.. As McPerth points out (as have I) if the enemy holds the space around a planet and has ships in orbit, ground forces designed to fight ground forces are basically worthless. They get hammered from space and there's nothing they can do about it.

But, if the planet has a number of "spinal" weapons disposed for planetary defense and these are the largest available (energy isn't going to be an issue like it is on a ship) and they are well protected (again, armoring them is not a space and weight issue here) against enemy fire, these become the first line of defense for the world.

I'd expect the IA to be the ones manning these defenses along with providing troops in serious fortifications to protect them in the event the enemy lands ground forces on the planet to take them.

Think of the planets and satellites as extremely large non-jump capable star ships or orbitals. That makes fortress and planetary defense troops a big part of an Imperial Army.

If we take the boardgame Imperium as a model, and jump troops as Marines and Regular as Army, then the Army units usually end up used defensively in two roles- screening and keeping the PD alive and outpost/world safe, and if the PDs are knocked down, offensively to boost the Marines during a straight up invasion, usually of a major world.

Jump troops get through without risking the fleet, if the fleet is big enough the whole army can be landed.

Bombardment can be quite hazardous to the overall health of the fleet if there are significant PD assets. Bombardment can also strand jump/regular units fruitlessly if their outpost can be destroyed with relatively little loss, denying the key maintenance/basing function without wasting time on the ground battle.

Jump troops are usually located with the main fleet or sometimes as major defenses at critical spots. Army troops are usually built up in advance for said critical spots, or world defenses.

Remember, regulars get that first shot, which to me always indicated better set logistics and/or heavy artillery. So they can be valuable offensively in the right situation with enough numbers.

An option to consider is making fighters be more like SDBs or aerospace capable 'air support' and give them an attack value- commit them to the ground attack/defense instead of the space battle.

A major objective at least in our games was to destroy the transport line. That meant stranding armies on their base worlds without allowing offense and/or defensive shifts/rescues.

I'll get to the rest of McPerth's post later.

 

[Whipsnade]

If we take the boardgame Imperium as a model...

We shouldn't.

We shouldn't take Imperium - or Dark Nebula, FFW, IE, HG2, and Mayday - as models of much of anything. They're games first and models an extremely distant second.

We shouldn't take Traveller's RPG rules as a model of much of anything either. Again, it's a game and only "models" the "reality" of the OTU in a very distant and vague manner.

A similar proviso holds for all the game's descriptive or "fluff" text.

We all realize that chargen gives us skewed picture of 57th Century populations; i.e. "No shoe salesmen...". Most of us realize that sysgen doesn't provide accurate astrophysical information. Many of us realize that the various trade systems aren't meant to provide macroeconomic information. Not enough of us yet realize that there is no one true answer regarding the nature of the IA or a thousand other questions.

Traveller is a game. It wasn't conceived, designed, and written as a model. It wasn't conceived, designed, and written with answering those types of questions in mind. It was conceived, designed, and written as a game to be played.

All that really matters is how you answer your questions about the IA in your Traveller universe.

Have fun.

 

[LeperColony]

Even if we were to reject Whipsnade's contention that the boardgames are not a source of canonical information, Imperium would still not be a good model for the Imperial Army in 1106. Too many years distant, and a completely different government and political ideology.

 

[Condottiere]

GURPS Ground Forces and Star Mercs were really entertaining reads, and I'm sort of sorry they never did an Imperium Navy, Sector Fleet having a rather dry feel to it.

But I'm going to guess that the writers took a post Cold War United States Army and envisioned it three millenia into the future.

It's possible that previous examples were then perceptions of Cold War NATO order of battle.

Personally, I think the only example that likely reflects the situation is the British Empire.

 

[kilemall]

Even if we were to reject Whipsnade's contention that the boardgames are not a source of canonical information, Imperium would still not be a good model for the Imperial Army in 1106. Too many years distant, and a completely different government and political ideology.

Hmm, it's very abstract, and the J-2 limitation means much more channeling of potential bases and approaches, and one might disagree with the heavy Marine valuation, but I think it IS instructive as to relationships to potential missions, PD, bombardment, space control and facility denial.

And the TC ends up building a similar but better ground force along the same lines, so perhaps it would be more like TL11 forces look like that.

And perhaps TL11 PD is porous enough to allow unsuppressed jumps, but not higher TL.

 

[LeperColony]

Hmm, it's very abstract, and the J-2 limitation means much more channeling of potential bases and approaches, and one might disagree with the heavy Marine valuation, but I think it IS instructive as to relationships to potential missions, PD, bombardment, space control and facility denial.

And the TC ends up building a similar but better ground force along the same lines, so perhaps it would be more like TL11 forces look like that.

And perhaps TL11 PD is porous enough to allow unsuppressed jumps, but not higher TL.

Well, obviously nobody can stop you from drawing what conclusions you will from it.

But for me, the 2,000 years that separate the game from 1106 are enough to give me pause in thinking it's very useful for modeling the army of the Third Imperium.

It would be like finding a Roman tactical manual and trying to model the U.S. Army.

 

[Enoki]

We shouldn't.

We shouldn't take Imperium - or Dark Nebula, FFW, IE, HG2, and Mayday - as models of much of anything. They're games first and models an extremely distant second.

We shouldn't take Traveller's RPG rules as a model of much of anything either. Again, it's a game and only "models" the "reality" of the OTU in a very distant and vague manner.

A similar proviso holds for all the game's descriptive or "fluff" text.

We all realize that chargen gives us skewed picture of 57th Century populations; i.e. "No shoe salesmen...". Most of us realize that sysgen doesn't provide accurate astrophysical information. Many of us realize that the various trade systems aren't meant to provide macroeconomic information. Not enough of us yet realize that there is no one true answer regarding the nature of the IA or a thousand other questions.

Traveller is a game. It wasn't conceived, designed, and written as a model. It wasn't conceived, designed, and written with answering those types of questions in mind. It was conceived, designed, and written as a game to be played.

All that really matters is how you answer your questions about the IA in your Traveller universe.

Have fun.

Absolutely! I reexamined LBB 4 and the MT character generation rules for "Mercenaries." These are really thin if you compare them to the debate on what the Imperial Army would look like. They are primarily for generating a character that is in a ground combat unit or support service for the same and the skills that can be acquired are largely those for small ground combat units.

For example, if you go strictly by the character generation rules, you cannot get one that is skilled in the use of larger energy weapons that a vehicle might mount unless you choose "Artillery" as an arm of service.
That means if you wanted to create a character that could operate a grav tank with a plasma or fusion gun you'd have to try and change combat arms between say, cavalry, and artillery to gain the skills necessary to be able to be the gunner on such a vehicle and the driver. (Yes, there is a slight chance with artillery you can get both).

There is no category or means to generate a character skilled in operating planetary defense systems unless you extend these from the Imperial Navy. This would require the "Army" character to gain skills in things like "Gunnery" (cascades to screens, spinal weapons, turret weapons) and sensor ops or computer.

The system was set up to generate what are expected to be useful characters for small parties in adventures. That should be clear.

That said, when you take Traveller and turn it into a board-type wargame all that kind of goes South instantly. Now you have to get outside the game and start thinking about what sort of units the various combatants would have and use.

For example this was mentioned in response to my earlier posts:

If we take the boardgame Imperium as a model, and jump troops as Marines and Regular as Army, then the Army units usually end up used defensively in two roles- screening and keeping the PD alive and outpost/world safe, and if the PDs are knocked down, offensively to boost the Marines during a straight up invasion, usually of a major world.

Jump troops get through without risking the fleet, if the fleet is big enough the whole army can be landed.

Then it's a poor model. Let's start by extending the CT / MT starship combat rules to include planetary defenses. Assume the planet under attack has heavy weapons of the sort found on starships defending it. If the fleet attacking the world stays out of range and launches "jump troops" in some sort of small spacecraft to invade without taking out the planetary defenses they get slaughtered.

The extreme range for most spinal mounts and heavier starship weapons is on the order of a million kilometers +. That means the fleet has to hang out far enough from the planet under attack that the troops going in are in transit for something between 2 and 4+ hours. They can be fired on for most or all of that time.
The defense knows they're coming and can even predict the likely reentry trajectories for their ships. If they are dropping battledress equipped troops from low orbit or within the outer atmosphere they're going to take massive casualties before anyone hits the ground.

Once on the ground, the survivors find that the defenders are in fortifications that require ship level weapons to make a dent in and those same defenders are targeting them with all sorts of nasty stuff.

These defending troops would be "regulars" so the jump troops get no advantage. In fact, after being under fire in transit for hours with no way to respond, their fleet staying out of range, they are being massacred with no way to effectively respond.

Or, the fleet moves in to support and takes serious hits from the same defenses. Now the jump troops take lighter casualties but ones that are still prohibitively heavy as the planet has lighter ship level weapons to take them on while the heavier ship level ones (think major spinal mounts) battle their fleet delivering them.

You need to eliminate the equivalent of "coast defenses" before you land unless these are light and can be brushed aside. If the defender has any brains they've installed a couple dozen say, UCP Q - T meson guns or particle accelerators on the planet (although I'd think it would be possible to build even more vicious ones at lower tech levels for use on planets than on ships due to the elimination of size and weight as major problems... the limitation is what the planet or government can afford to pay for).

That alone makes a planet the equivalent of a fleet of battleships in terms of their major armament. The only limit really is the cost to install, man, and operate these. The same goes for shields and armor.

You'd need a much better plan against a seriously defended planet than "We'll show up with a fleet and drop a division or three of jump troops on it..."