What the heck do all those fleets do?

[rancke]

Both active and reserve fleets have BatRons and CruRons, but it was sort of my impression (though it very well may be mistaken) that Colonial forces rarely built ships of those sizes. Do you see the Duchy navies as being tasked for a similar role as reserve fleets? Or are they more of an upjumped colonial squadron?

I see the reserve fleets of MT material as having "taken over" (so to speak) the function of subsector navies in CT material, and I see the duchy navies of my proposal as having "taken back" (so to speak) those functions, shifting the reserve fleets to the role naval backup forces. A place for training and for shuffling off obsolescent ships so that the regular forces can get some new ships.


Hans

 

[Dragoner]

Except that huge sections of the Imperial Navy are loyal only to the geographical region in which they happen to be stationed anyway, as per MT. Thus making it somewhat irrelevant, from an internal security standpoint, whether you have ships in Ilelish's 16 subsectors or just 16 fleets in 1 subsector.

I get what you are saying about a nominal base being different from a deployment area, and I could certainly see if administratively each subsector were responsible for one active and one reserve fleet, but I don't get the feeling that the fleet deployments described in canon are purely administrative.

Hans is right, MT substantially retconned CT; originally it was tiered program, where the reserve fleeets were ships and crew to provide replacements for battlefield losses. The Imperium is a just a fancy name for a trade federation, surrounded by enemies and without many natural borders, the fleet strengths would have a high deterence value.

 

[tanksoldier]

In _my_ Traveller Universe there are 4 main naval forces based on the 4 main levels of Traveller political power:

1. The Imperial Fleet - Consists of Domain Fleets and the Imperial Home Fleet. Commander in Chief is the Emperor himself, viced by the Archdukes for the Domain Fleets. Weighted towards line-of-battle ships and their escorts. Sent to reinforce sectors, show the flag, etc. Also provides offensive power for counterattacks or planned offensive operations.

2. The Sector Fleets - The main combat arm of the Imperial Navy. Commander in Chief is the Sector Duke. Weighted towards line-of-battle ships Many conflicts begin or end before elements of the Imperial Fleet can become involved. A Sector Fleet is expected to maintain itself out of Sector resources, but some in high risk but low population areas are subsidized by the Imperium. Size, quality and technology level vary based on the Sector: it's wealth, it's location and it's prevailing tech level. Some Sector Fleets are the equal in technology and training, if not in size, to the Imperial Home Fleet itself. Others consist of worn and outmoded hulls seconded from the Domain Fleet. Most peacetime training is consolidated at the Sector level. Basic training, OCS, academies, technical schools all are administered by the Sector Fleet and attended by all Imperial Navy personnel in that Sector: Imperial Fleet, Sector Fleet, Subsector Fleet. Systems Squadrons may administer some or all of their own training programs, or may send their personnel to Imperial programs.

3. The Subsector Fleets - Active vessels are weighted towards small patrol frigates, escorts and couriers. Mothball vessels can be anything from Scouts to Dreadnoughts. Commander in Chief is the Subsector Duke. Often called the "Reserve Fleet" the Subsector Fleet has five main functions: 1) Anti-piracy/ Safety of Navigation patrols, 2) Maintenance of mothball fleets for reactivation in wartime, 3) Maintenance of personnel records for reserve and retired personnel subject to recall in wartime, 4) Command and supervision of active reserve personnel and vessels during their periodic training evolutions, 5) Supervision and certification of Colonial Fleet elements subject to levy by the Imperium in wartime. In time of war the Subsector Fleet begins organizing merchant shipping into convoys and providing escorts. It also begins calling up personnel and reactivating vessels, feeding them either to it's Sector Fleet or to it's own operations. Subsector Fleets also administer reserve training units which activate in wartime and process new recruits thru various training programs.

4. The System Squadrons/ Colonial Fleet - Vessels maintained by individual systems for defense, law enforcement, customs and search & rescue functions. Often subsidized by the Imperial government in return for the right to levy a set number and type of vessels for Colonial Fleet service. This is how many worlds afford system defense squadrons which are larger or more capable than their local tech level and production capability would suggest. Vessels and personnel designated for Colonial Fleet levy must maintain qualification and training standards as monitored by the Subsector Fleet. The Commander in Chief of a System Squadron is determined by the system's political structure. However, the System's Imperial representative, usually a Baron, becomes the Colonial Fleet element's Commander in Chief upon being called up for levy duty.

Conversely, the Imperial Marine Corps is a single organization. The IMC doles out detachments to embassies, patrol frigates, war graves and a thousand other taskings and activities, and the Marines are under the operational control of the commander of those activities or vessels, but every Marine has a single chain of command which extends from the lowest Recruit Private to the Emperor himself. Training and administrative functions are generally consolidated at the Sector level. Marine Reserve units have the same chain of command as active duty Marine elements. They usually have some specific wartime mission or assignment: reinforce security at a nearby Naval depot, provide Marine detachments for activating mothball fleet vessels, etc. Marine Individual Reserve and retired personnel records are maintained by detachments assigned to the headquarters of Subsector Fleets. Upon activation individual reserve or retired personnel are slotted into active, active reserve or new provisional units as circumstances dictate.

The Imperial Army is a Subsector level organization and consists almost exclusively of units levied from the world of the Subsector. Like the Colonial Fleets, worlds agree to make elements of their land, sea or air forces available to be levied by the Imperium in time of war or emergency in return for subsidies, training and equipment. This is how many world afford hi-tech space defenses such as deep meson guns and systems defense boats which are out of the reach of the local production capabilities. Some portion of the world's forces are on active duty, and some portion are usually in a reserve status. Those forces subject to levy are monitored by Subsector Army liaison officials, and initially come under the overall command of Subsector Imperial Army headquarters when called into Imperial Service. They may subsequently be transferred to other Subsectors, or even other Sectors depending on the needs of the Imperial military. Except in the cases of units with highly unusual capabilities it is usually more efficient to call up a unit located closer to a disturbance than to transport regiments across several Subsectors.

I mean, I'm not a military expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I would be shocked to learn that the US military is evenly apportioned over the 50 states.

...but there is SOME military in every state.

The US is a bad example because our military isn't organized or deployed to deter actual physical invasion.

Our deployments in a combat zone, Iraq or Afghanistan, are a better analogy.

 

[RainOfSteel]

We know that each subsector [...]

What's really going to look strange in comparison to other OTU fleet organizational statements is that the OTU Imperium officially adopts the Elastic Defense Posture after the Fifth Frontier War.

Realizing that crustal defense is not possible across so great a border, the "reserves" are the great masses of BatRons held about two subsectors back from the border. When you look at the territory, you realize that there are going to be about two such reserve points per sector. One of those reserve worlds may, or may not, be a Depot world, depending on where the local Depot was placed.

In most places, the border sees no "stationed" Imperial Navy capital ships or even cruisers, unless you have a capital or politics creeps into it. Even light units are seen only occasionally.

Red Zoned worlds are usually patrolled by the Imperial Navy, but most other ships never jump near worlds with a Red Zone and so those Imperial Navy units are usually also not "seen".

IMTU, the Imperial Navy "reserves" do release some squadrons for patrol to keep them in operational readiness. These CruRons and BatRons sweep through routes taking them to important worlds and/or as far as galactography and their jump drives allow (if they can jump at max range, they will), and then arrive back at their reserve world. When maintenance comes up, they are rotated to the sector Depot world, which in turn rotates freshly maintained units forward to the reserve worlds.

Some few units are detached as individuals, especially destroyers, light cruisers, and occasional heavy cruisers, to conduct longer more detailed patrols. These tours are expected to last one to two years and may encompass movement through twenty to sixty systems.

IMTU, Fleet Pickets, J-6 vessels (probably around 500-600 dTons, like Fleet Couriers but with additional facilities for sensors, stores for long endurance, and additional crew entertainment facilities), are grouped into flotillas of 20-24 vessels. Two to four flotillas are assigned per subsector along the border to watch over the worlds within J-6 of the border. At least two are assigned per world, but important worlds on strategic routes may receive as many as eight. The pickets hang around the system and watch for enemy fleet activity. If certain parameters are met, they jump out to take a message to a communications nexus point behind the J-6 band. From there, Fleet Couriers take over and a chain of jumps then follows to deliver the message to the nearest reserve world. The admiralty at the reserve world determines what movement, if any, is necessary. The go/no-go decision is made in light of standing General Orders from Capital/Core, the sector duke (my nobility play a big role), and the Sector Admiral. This web of Fleet Pickets is the primary "sensor net" of the Imperial Navy along the border.

These major and minor patrols, plus formal fleet training exercises (usually conducted in the outer solar system of the local reserve worlds or at the Depot), form the majority of Imperial Navy non-warfare activity as far as I am concerned. Warfare activities would be to find enemy fleet elements, have superior forces on hand when doing so, and attempt to force said enemy to engage and be destroyed. The conquest of new worlds is rare in ~1100, but reconquest could be necessary when recovering from an enemy military thrust. After all, it may take two or more months for major Imperial Navy fleet elements to respond and engage the enemy. Many worlds could be lost in an invasion during this time, providing plenty of opportunity for the Imperial Marines to go to work.

IMTU the Imperium taxes individual worlds, which contribute their share to the local subsector. A large portion of the subsector's fund goes to sector, and then a large portion of the sector's fund goes to the Imperium. The Imperium's overall share funds the Imperial Navy, which defends and patrols the space between the stars. The subsector share goes to build the susbsector's own fleet, which is typically composed of lighter units, destroyers through heavy cruisers, and very few capital ships (maybe a handful of BatRons, kept in reserve at the subsector capital, depending on the subsector's wealth, which can vary wildly). The sector contributes some funds back to the individual subsectors which face the greatest military need, like the Jewell subsector in the Spinward Marches, or, in calmer regions, where political might can wrest the biggest shares from the sector duke.

Subsector navies normally exist to guard against minor raiding by the light units of foreign nations and against piracy. They have only their one subsector to take care of, and so many of their vessels are stationed in single star systems* for a year or two at a time. Some of their larger vessels, especially the heavy cruisers, are dispatched to systems that may be experiencing difficulties. Fleet base facilities are almost always located at the subsector capital. In war, subsector navies fall under the control of the Imperial Navy.

IMTU, for the Spinward Marches, I place the reserve worlds at Rhylanor and Trin. Mora is too close to Rhylanor and too far away from the Trojan Reach subsectors, which IMTU fall under the bailiwick of Spinward Marches political and military management. Because of the Zhondani Consulate and the forces it maintains on the border, there are large Imperial fleet elements at Jewell and a "forward reserve" at Regina. Mora does get a couple of BatRons, though, for those ever-present political reasons due to its immense wealth and the importance of the world to the sector. Mora does maintain a fleet of heavy monitors and tenderless battle riders on its own (as do most high-tech, high-pop worlds); attacking it would no more pleasant than attacking Rhylanor, Trin, or Glisten.

Of course, I always identified Regina as the sector capital, only finding out in the 2000s that Mora had been selected to be the sector capital. IMTU, I kept Regina as sector capital.

-----------------

* In ordinary Traveller, each "system" contains only one world, one UWP-line. However, if each system were "developed" into a full solar system, and it were a little more liberal in placing populations on those other bodies**, we suddenly have lots of additional places to patrol. Why is this important? Because if there is only one world per system, the Imperium and its subsectors are by far wealthy enough to blanket that single world with so many system defense boats and destroyers that no pirate would ever be able to even conceive of raiding commerce. The coverage would be too dense. But if there are a eight to twelve worlds per system, and some of them are gas giants with nice twenty-moon systems, plus Kuiper Belt and Oort cloud population locations, we suddenly have a whole better reason for why piracy can exist, as it would be very hard for even a flotilla of destroyers to guard a system with, say, five inhabited worlds, fifty inhabited moons, their orbitals, plus a hundred minor asteroids and dwarf planets floating about with their own colonies, and even some space stations unattached to any object. (At least, outside of systems with high-pop high-tech parent worlds, they'll be wealthy enough to field local planetary navies to guard every last significant system object. Only the Kuiper belt or Oort cloud colonies would remain vulnerable.)

This is one of the reasons, difficult to explain in a mere sound bite, for why I want a superior solar-system generation process, Book 6 was revolutionary for its time, but had many issues which we now know about. Regrettably, I'm not knowledgeable enough to fix it on my own.

** I only rolled up two solar systems using the Book 6 rules, but I was quite disappointed in finding out how under-populated all other bodies were. Zero was a common population value for non-mainworld objects. In order to have reasons for pirates to commit piracy, there have to be enough people around to generate enough business to be worth pirating.

 

[RainOfSteel]

The very idea of a required contribution being equal to about 1/6 your local fleet budget is enough to dampen local fleets and make any world's fleet small by comparison of tonnages.

Using the Sunbane UWP data, taxing at just 2% of each world's GDP, leaving 1/3 of those taxes at the subsector and 2/3rd to the sector, and then 2/3 of what the sector gets moves on to the Imperium as a whole, my liberal estimate is that the Imperium gets 4,070,605,814,688,729. That's four quadrillion credits. You could entirely pay for 30,129 Kokkirak dreadnoughts per year with that. Using the mortgage system, you could order far more into construction.

Yes, you can't spend the whole budget on just battleships, but I'm just illustrating how much money it is. I think the IN could easily afford to build 250-500 new dreadnoughts per year (or more), along with a far larger collection of lighter vessels.

1. The Imperial Fleet - Consists of Domain Fleets and the Imperial Home Fleet. Commander in Chief is the Emperor himself, viced by the Archdukes for the Domain Fleets.

What era is this IYTU? It isn't mentioned in your post, but it sounds post-1116, GURPS:Traveller timeline where the archdukes were reactivated by Strephon. Or were the archdukes never downgraded IYTU (as occurred post-civil war)?

 

[aramis]

Using the Sunbane UWP data, taxing at just 2% of each world's GDP, leaving 1/3 of those taxes at the subsector and 2/3rd to the sector, and then 2/3 of what the sector gets moves on to the Imperium as a whole, my liberal estimate is that the Imperium gets 4,070,605,814,688,729. That's four quadrillion credits. You could entirely pay for 30,129 Kokkirak dreadnoughts per year with that. Using the mortgage system, you could order far more into construction.

Yes, you can't spend the whole budget on just battleships, but I'm just illustrating how much money it is. I think the IN could easily afford to build 250-500 new dreadnoughts per year (or more), along with a far larger collection of lighter vessels.

I come up with 3378 plankwells. (Per sup 9, they're right shy of GCr120 each. 120 Billion. And that ignores the basing side of the budge.

16 sectors averaging 14 subsectors each, that would be two batrons per SS...
Now, maintenance and 20 year replacement is 15%, which means only 6x that in fleet assets.

Lets be nice and round those numbers... CGr4,070,600
x6 in fleet assets GCr24,423,600
224 SS with GCr109,034 each
Figure half the assets for dirtside...
GCr54,517 per SS
All in CGr
A 1/4 batron of Tigresses: 2x363 (1 batron per 4 SS)
a batron of plankwells: 8x120
3 cru rons
• one of Atlantic class: 8x 47.5=380
• one of Arakoine class: 8x 20=160
• one of Gianetti class: 8x18=144
4.25 desrons
Midu Agaasham 34x2.2=74.8
8.5 esrons 68x0.8=54.4

So far, just GCr2500 in assets. so...
we could go MUCH higher... adding a reserve fleet and a subsector fleet each backing the imperial one... upping to a full batron of tigresses each, GCr2499.2 per exemplar fleet... we can still have 20 such fleets per subsector ....

 

[RainOfSteel]

I come up with 3378 plankwells. (Per sup 9, they're right shy of GCr120 each. 120 Billion. And that ignores the basing side of the budge.

Supplement 9 verifies that 135,102,000,000 is the price of a Kokirrak dreadnought.

When I plug the figures into Google, they produce:

4,070,605,814,688,729 / 135,102,000,000 = 30,129.8709

I rounded down to 30,129 in this case.

For Plankwells, it's:

4,070,605,814,688,729 / 120,494,000,000 = 33,782.6432

Also, again, I did not mean to imply that the entire Imperial Annual Budget would be spent on any one thing. It was just to concretely illustrate the direct buying power of the amount in question. Of course there will be Imperial Navy costs for personnel*, bases, maintenance, mothballing, scrapping, supplies, transportation, bases, contracts with IISS to move personnel across the X-Boat network in the spare stateroom (not the most popular form of transport), etc.

---------

* I didn't estimate personnel costs for IN, but I did do MTU intelligence agencies, Imperial Interstellar Intelligence and the Imperial Secret Service. I came up with some extremely ad hoc figures:

Imperial Interstellar Intelligence	
Employees
1,000,000,000   Salary Levels    Personnel at Level     Total Credits at Level
                50,000           250,000,000.00         $12,500,000,000,000.00
                75,000           200,000,000.00         $15,000,000,000,000.00
                80,000           150,000,000.00         $12,000,000,000,000.00
                85,000           140,000,000.00         $11,900,000,000,000.00
                90,000           130,000,000.00         $11,700,000,000,000.00
                95,000           100,000,000.00          $9,500,000,000,000.00
                100,000           18,900,000.00          $1,890,000,000,000.00
                125,000           10,000,000.00          $1,250,000,000,000.00
                150,000            1,000,000.00            $150,000,000,000.00
                175,000              100,000.00             $17,500,000,000.00
                200,000               10,000.00              $2,000,000,000.00
                300,000                1,000.00                $300,000,000.00
                500,000                  100.00                 $50,000,000.00
              1,000,000                   10.00                 $10,000,000.00
              ----------------------------------------------------------------
Avg/Tot/Tot->   216,071           1,000,011,110.00      $75,909,860,000,000.00

Imperial Secret Service
Employees
50,000,000      Salary Levels    Personnel at Level     Total Credits at Level
                100,000          10,000,000.00          $1,000,000,000,000.00
                125,000           8,999,450.00          $1,124,931,250,000.00
                150,000           7,500,000.00          $1,125,000,000,000.00
                200,000           7,000,000.00          $1,400,000,000,000.00
                250,000           6,500,000.00          $1,625,000,000,000.00
                300,000           5,000,000.00          $1,500,000,000,000.00
                350,000           2,000,000.00            $700,000,000,000.00
                400,000           1,500,000.00            $600,000,000,000.00
                450,000           1,000,000.00            $450,000,000,000.00
                500,000             500,000.00            $250,000,000,000.00
                750,000                 500.00                $375,000,000.00
              1,000,000                  50.00                 $50,000,000.00
              1,250,000                   5.00                  $6,250,000.00
              1,500,000                   1.00                  $1,500,000.00
              ----------------------------------------------------------------
Avg/Tot/Tot->   523,214          50,000,006.00          $9,775,364,000,000.00

I well imagine that the payroll for the Imperial Navy would be higher than the III or ISS figures of $75,909,860,000,000 and $9,775,364,000,000, even with lower salaries for the bulk of the lower ranks.

EDIT--------

Note: I have been recently thinking of changing the taxation rate to 1% instead of 2%, in order to reduce the MTU's Imperium's total available funds and nerf-bat by 50% the titanic stipends the ruling nobility are receiving (they get 1% of their level's share).

For example, under my 2% base rate, the Emperor's stipend at the Imperial level is 40,706,058,146,887. That's 40 trillion in annual funds. Of course, paying for the Imperial palace and his huscarles, the Imperial Guard (I make the emperor pay for that unit's expenses, but I never estimated it directly), and for care and maintenance of his many estates, charity, gifts, etc., are rather expensive. Perhaps the emperor could make do with only 20 trillion a year.

EDIT--------2012-01-05

These values for III and ISS payroll obviously don't take into account things like benefits, retirement, insurance, and any applicable Imperial-level taxes on salaries.

 

[tanksoldier]

What era is this IYTU? It isn't mentioned in your post, but it sounds post-1116, GURPS:Traveller timeline where the archdukes were reactivated by Strephon. Or were the archdukes never downgraded IYTU (as occurred post-civil war)?

I use GURPS as the basis of all my Traveller stuff.

However, even in OTUs where Archduke became an empty title, you'd still probably see a similar organizational structure. There would just me military personnel (Admirals and Generals) running things for the Emperor at that level instead of a nominally civilian noble. The Imperium is simply too big to have a centralized command structure... AND by segmenting out the power of the military the Emperor ensures that no one individual (Duke, Archduke or Admiral) is likely to claim the personal loyalty of a large enough fleet to usurp power, since the Emperor is Commander in Chief of both the Home Fleet and the Sylea Domain Fleet.

You'll note that offensive power is reserved to the higher levels of the structure. Subsectors can DEFEND but have little ability to attack. Sector fleets have limited counter attack ability, but are still organized mostly to detect and repel invasion. Large scale offensive operations require the addition of Domain and Home Fleet units, which are the elements likely to be most loyal to the Emperor.

In the event of attack fortress worlds (with strong ground armies and local defense installations like deep meson sites and planetary-based SDBs) require that the attacker divert resources and lay siege to these worlds in their rear. Planets with strong system squadrons which find themselves "behind the lines" can even sortie and disrupt supply and communication. However, planets and subsectors are easy to bring to heel if necessary due to the imbalance of power and the subsector or planet's inability to conduct significant offensive operation on it's own. Many planets, like Regina, could likely hold out against a siege for quite a while but few would be able to break a siege on their own. A subsector in rebellion couldn't concentrate it's military power because it is invested mostly in planetary defenses, system defense craft and small patrol vessels. Likewise a Sector can't concentrate the power of it's subsectors, and most have fewer and smaller vessels than the Domain fleets above it... but a loyal subsector can DEFEND against a rebellious Sector above it, or rebellious subsector next to it, fairly well.

 

[Murph]

Excellent. I agree this is pretty much how I arranged mine in my Traveller Universe. I also see the subsector Fleet having a more reserve/support orientation than the Sector fleets. I see subsectors as having a cruiser squadron or two, and more destroyers/frigates/corvettes to chase down pirates, with the Sector fleet having the big boys.

In _my_ Traveller Universe there are 4 main naval forces based on the 4 main levels of Traveller political power:

1. The Imperial Fleet - Consists of Domain Fleets and the Imperial Home Fleet. Commander in Chief is the Emperor himself, viced by the Archdukes for the Domain Fleets. Weighted towards line-of-battle ships and their escorts. Sent to reinforce sectors, show the flag, etc. Also provides offensive power for counterattacks or planned offensive operations.

2. The Sector Fleets - The main combat arm of the Imperial Navy. Commander in Chief is the Sector Duke. Weighted towards line-of-battle ships Many conflicts begin or end before elements of the Imperial Fleet can become involved. A Sector Fleet is expected to maintain itself out of Sector resources, but some in high risk but low population areas are subsidized by the Imperium. Size, quality and technology level vary based on the Sector: it's wealth, it's location and it's prevailing tech level. Some Sector Fleets are the equal in technology and training, if not in size, to the Imperial Home Fleet itself. Others consist of worn and outmoded hulls seconded from the Domain Fleet. Most peacetime training is consolidated at the Sector level. Basic training, OCS, academies, technical schools all are administered by the Sector Fleet and attended by all Imperial Navy personnel in that Sector: Imperial Fleet, Sector Fleet, Subsector Fleet. Systems Squadrons may administer some or all of their own training programs, or may send their personnel to Imperial programs.

3. The Subsector Fleets - Active vessels are weighted towards small patrol frigates, escorts and couriers. Mothball vessels can be anything from Scouts to Dreadnoughts. Commander in Chief is the Subsector Duke. Often called the "Reserve Fleet" the Subsector Fleet has five main functions: 1) Anti-piracy/ Safety of Navigation patrols, 2) Maintenance of mothball fleets for reactivation in wartime, 3) Maintenance of personnel records for reserve and retired personnel subject to recall in wartime, 4) Command and supervision of active reserve personnel and vessels during their periodic training evolutions, 5) Supervision and certification of Colonial Fleet elements subject to levy by the Imperium in wartime. In time of war the Subsector Fleet begins organizing merchant shipping into convoys and providing escorts. It also begins calling up personnel and reactivating vessels, feeding them either to it's Sector Fleet or to it's own operations. Subsector Fleets also administer reserve training units which activate in wartime and process new recruits thru various training programs.

4. The System Squadrons/ Colonial Fleet - Vessels maintained by individual systems for defense, law enforcement, customs and search & rescue functions. Often subsidized by the Imperial government in return for the right to levy a set number and type of vessels for Colonial Fleet service. This is how many worlds afford system defense squadrons which are larger or more capable than their local tech level and production capability would suggest. Vessels and personnel designated for Colonial Fleet levy must maintain qualification and training standards as monitored by the Subsector Fleet. The Commander in Chief of a System Squadron is determined by the system's political structure. However, the System's Imperial representative, usually a Baron, becomes the Colonial Fleet element's Commander in Chief upon being called up for levy duty.

Conversely, the Imperial Marine Corps is a single organization. The IMC doles out detachments to embassies, patrol frigates, war graves and a thousand other taskings and activities, and the Marines are under the operational control of the commander of those activities or vessels, but every Marine has a single chain of command which extends from the lowest Recruit Private to the Emperor himself. Training and administrative functions are generally consolidated at the Sector level. Marine Reserve units have the same chain of command as active duty Marine elements. They usually have some specific wartime mission or assignment: reinforce security at a nearby Naval depot, provide Marine detachments for activating mothball fleet vessels, etc. Marine Individual Reserve and retired personnel records are maintained by detachments assigned to the headquarters of Subsector Fleets. Upon activation individual reserve or retired personnel are slotted into active, active reserve or new provisional units as circumstances dictate.

The Imperial Army is a Subsector level organization and consists almost exclusively of units levied from the world of the Subsector. Like the Colonial Fleets, worlds agree to make elements of their land, sea or air forces available to be levied by the Imperium in time of war or emergency in return for subsidies, training and equipment. This is how many world afford hi-tech space defenses such as deep meson guns and systems defense boats which are out of the reach of the local production capabilities. Some portion of the world's forces are on active duty, and some portion are usually in a reserve status. Those forces subject to levy are monitored by Subsector Army liaison officials, and initially come under the overall command of Subsector Imperial Army headquarters when called into Imperial Service. They may subsequently be transferred to other Subsectors, or even other Sectors depending on the needs of the Imperial military. Except in the cases of units with highly unusual capabilities it is usually more efficient to call up a unit located closer to a disturbance than to transport regiments across several Subsectors.



...but there is SOME military in every state.

The US is a bad example because our military isn't organized or deployed to deter actual physical invasion.

Our deployments in a combat zone, Iraq or Afghanistan, are a better analogy.

 

[shadowdragon]

There is one Cr devouring black hole everyone forgets about........

How does a society go from TL 14 to TL 15? its not a maaaaaagicaaaaaal process..

R&D!!!!!

I would estimate that R&D costs would eat up a significant enough portion to have some sort of impact, even if it is a never discussed issue..


just my Cr2

shadowdragon