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warships and troop transports disguised as grapeships
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(02-08-2016, 01:03 PM)Drashner1 Wrote: The main questions that come to mind when I read this are:

1) What role are transapients playing in this?

Your mention of memetic attacks implies that this system is ruled by a transapient and possibly that the attackers are as well. If the attackers are not ruled/protected by a transapient then their attack (and possibly their entire civilization) is doomed from the start if the target system is. Modosophonts cannot offer any kind of credible threat or defense against a transapient and will be summarily crushed if they were to attempt it. But your explanation isn't clear, as I mentioned.

2) What do these 'troops' consist of?

Your description makes it sound like human/biont soldiers would be playing a role in this combat. Biological intelligence has almost no role in any kind of serious (or even just semi-serious) combat in the setting. Machines are equal to or superior in all things to biologicals and that includes fighting. They are faster, stronger, smarter, and not burdened with such useless concepts as mercy, pity, or compassion. This applies across all levels of combat, including modosophont level conflicts. Instead machines are used and the biologicals have no role but to cower and hope that they either live or that the end comes quick.

About the only exceptions to this are heavily augmented, transapient backed special forces units that do specialized stuff - and even they are generally backed up by tons of automated firepower.

3) How is such a tiny number of ships and troops going to deal with local defenses?

Measured against Y11K construction technology, the number of ships and troops you describe here is minuscule. Using a single large asteroid (or a number of smaller ones), a given system could easily produce 'local defense forces' measured in tens or hundreds of billions of warships, each massing a million metric tons or so and armed to the teeth. That's before we get to fixed installations like solar and conversion powered lasers generating multi-petawatt beams and the like. A planetary angelnet could draw on a 100 petawatts of ambient solar power if really motivated. And a planet size solar collector is small construction by Y11k standards.

4) Why is the wormhole going to allow the attacking force through?

Wormhole are thinking entities in their own right in OA, although not always talkative and sometimes quite alien. But they ultimately answer to whatever creates and maintains the Nexus, which is presumably the ruling S6 archai. So, if your attack fleet wants to pass through the gate,they will need it's permission to do so. And why is it going to provide that?

My 2c worth,

Todd


Thanks for the feedback.
1. There are several transapients with attackers and defenders.

2. 'Vecs and Goo battalions and autowars make up the shock troops, but much of the invasion force is made up of civil affairs and psychological units, military police, etc. It's mostly an occupation force. Very little actual fighting going on. Sort of like Genghis Khan's invasion of Kara-Khitai: agitators convinced the people that they would be better off switching rulers, enabling the Mongols to just march in.

3. I thought the invasion force might be kind of small. I will adjust the numbers, but again, there's not going to be much fighting. Still, the invaders should have much more firepower at their disposal.
I wonder if a defender would have the amount of defensive weapons you outlined on hand, or would the defender order up the stuff if it sensed danger? How prepared might the defense be? How much lead time is required to build stuff as needed?

4. The wormhole mind has to be deceived in order for the invasion to succeed.
However, I did not realize that a S6 archai might be present in the system. I'll have to think about that.

Anyway, thanks again for the feedback. Smile
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RE: warships and troop transports disguised as grapeships - by m.ellis - 02-08-2016, 04:08 PM

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