Zyobot
Just a time-traveling robot stranded on Earth.
Per Isaac Arthur’s thoughts on the subject, a common tendency I’ve seen in more militant sci-fi is the presence of ground forces. Interstellar navies have obvious uses, but I find it harder to figure out how terrestrial armies would actually work, aside from cases where the factions fielding them want to carry out “asteroid-hopping”, boarding operations, or occupy planetoids whose resources and infrastructure are to be left mostly intact, as opposed to launching orbital bombardments that leave excessive collateral damage or something.
This is further complicated by how sci-fi armies tend to employ approaches we twenty-first century people wouldn’t find out of the ordinary (once they’ve been deployed to the surface from space, anyway). In fact, some commentary I’ve seen even remarks that their tactics and approaches are even quite primitive, such as Warhammer 40K’s Imperial Guard relying on sheer numbers and stubbornness to drown the enemy out or the Droid Army on Naboo marching in large, easy-to-target formations that the Gungans can see coming from a million miles away.
I’m no expert on hard sci-fi or military history, but I’d think that all the technological breakthroughs and centuries of war-fighting experience that interstellar societies ought to have under their belt should drive considerable advancements in tactics and strategy. Naturally, this should extend to how terrestrial armies are used and what kinds of crazy hardware they employ, such as drone swarms or human soldiers walking around in power armor. So, what realistic uses would interstellar factions have for large terrestrial armies, and how would they likely be equipped and deployed to perform tasks that their naval or airborne counterparts are ill-suited towards? Note also that said ground forces don’t necessarily have to be comprised of organic soldiers; they can easily be more realistic versions of the Separatist Droid Army from Star Wars and still fit the bill, for example. Or, perhaps, a force that mixes and matches organic and mechanical troops, though how exactly they’d do this is also up for discussion here.
Here are some of Isaac Arthur's actual videos on the subject, for those interested. Hopefully, they provide a good basis for what I hope is to be a productive and long-running thread.
Interplanetary Warfare
Planetary Invasions & Assaults
The Next Century of War
Thank you in advance,
Zyobot
This is further complicated by how sci-fi armies tend to employ approaches we twenty-first century people wouldn’t find out of the ordinary (once they’ve been deployed to the surface from space, anyway). In fact, some commentary I’ve seen even remarks that their tactics and approaches are even quite primitive, such as Warhammer 40K’s Imperial Guard relying on sheer numbers and stubbornness to drown the enemy out or the Droid Army on Naboo marching in large, easy-to-target formations that the Gungans can see coming from a million miles away.
I’m no expert on hard sci-fi or military history, but I’d think that all the technological breakthroughs and centuries of war-fighting experience that interstellar societies ought to have under their belt should drive considerable advancements in tactics and strategy. Naturally, this should extend to how terrestrial armies are used and what kinds of crazy hardware they employ, such as drone swarms or human soldiers walking around in power armor. So, what realistic uses would interstellar factions have for large terrestrial armies, and how would they likely be equipped and deployed to perform tasks that their naval or airborne counterparts are ill-suited towards? Note also that said ground forces don’t necessarily have to be comprised of organic soldiers; they can easily be more realistic versions of the Separatist Droid Army from Star Wars and still fit the bill, for example. Or, perhaps, a force that mixes and matches organic and mechanical troops, though how exactly they’d do this is also up for discussion here.
Here are some of Isaac Arthur's actual videos on the subject, for those interested. Hopefully, they provide a good basis for what I hope is to be a productive and long-running thread.
Interplanetary Warfare
Planetary Invasions & Assaults
The Next Century of War
Thank you in advance,
Zyobot