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Mikael Hasselstein
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 Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 12:24 am Post subject: |
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| crmcneill wrote: | | There is also EU evidence indicating that Palpatine was at least somewhat aware of the potential Yuuzhan-Vong threat. As such, the galaxy would require a large and battle-ready military to counter that threat once it ultimately presented itself. This is not to say that Palpatine's goals were altruistic; his plans were simply such (as with all his plans) that they achieved multiple objectives simultaneously. |
Sure, if the Vong are in your conception of the SWU, that's fine. I guess I know nothing about them, except that in the imagery they look like a derivative of the Shadows from Babylon 5 - or at least their ships do. Other than that, I haven't heard a lot of fine things said about them.
| crmcneill wrote: | | Agreed, and this also ties in with the Alliance naval strategy, in that knowing they lacked the force to challenge the Empire directly for control, they chose to cede superiority while denying supremacy, in effect, waging a guerilla war in space. This is similar to the projected naval combat strategy of the Soviet Union if conventional warfare had ever broken out in Europe. Knowing that they lacked the power to directly contest the US Navy for control of the Atlantic, they went instead with submarines and bombers armed for anti-ship combat. Rather than fighting a battle on Mahanesque terms, their intent was to choke off supplies and reinforcement coming from the US to continental Europe. The Alliance in the SWU would be using a similar strategy, but on a far grander scale, attacking not just military supply and reenforcement, but commerce shipping and isolated military units. |
The same goes for the Germans in WWI, and you could say that it's a similar idea to Gen. Washington's fight against the British, even if we're no longer really talking about naval strategy. The general idea is that you don't fight a conventional war against an opponent possessing overwhelming conventional warfighting superiority. You engage instead in asymmetrical warfare.
Asymmetrical warfare is also about the political goal (strategy). For the rebels it does seem very Washingtonesque. They do what they can to make themselves look like a conventional military complete with military ranks, the pretense of a navy and starfighter force, ground troops in uniform, a symbol, a formal declaration, yadda-yadda, etc. This in order to pretend to be a legitimate (ie. non-terrorist) actor. Meanwhile, the Empire political strategy is to paint the rebellion as terrorist insurgents, similar to what states do with rebellious actors everywhere - attempt to deny them that legitimacy.
Unfortunately, none of that appears in the movies, nor do I know of much of the rebellion era literature, given that what I've read has been in the post-Endor era, where the Alliance has become the New Republic. Can anyone more widely read confirm what I am suggesting above? |
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Mikael Hasselstein
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| Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2014 4:39 am Post subject: |
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Wow, it's been since May that this thread got bumped?
Anyway, the (old) news is that Fantasy Flight Games is going to be publishing a capital ships game alongside the X-Wing fighter-scale game. That was Dromdarr Alark's news back in August.
They also announced the first wave of ship just the other week. They'll be starting the line off with a Victory-class Star Destroyer, CR-90 Corvette and a Nebulon B in the Core Set, and then fighters, a Gladiator-class Star Destroyer and a Mark II Assault Frigate in the first wave of expansions.
The Gladiator is not exactly the one I saw coming. |
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CRMcNeill
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 9:27 pm Post subject: |
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Why not the ISD and the MC80, I wonder...
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Mikael Hasselstein
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| Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2014 5:34 am Post subject: |
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| crmcneill wrote: | | Why not the ISD and the MC80, I wonder... |
I'm guessing that they are going to be fairly large models, with a fairly hefty price tag on them. They may just be trying to lure people in before giving them sticker shock.
That's my guess anyway. Besides, I wonder if to do the ISD justice, it would be too much of an all-eggs-in-one-basket type of squad, which may not be all that fun to play. |
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CRMcNeill
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| Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 11:56 pm Post subject: |
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A little thread necromancy here...
Mikael, in our earlier discussion on the system patrol ship, we never really came to a conclusion. However, there is a real life example in the form of the US Coast Guard. Separate from both the Navy and Customs, with jurisdiction over maritime safety & rescue, law enforcement and navigation support, it only falls under naval command during time of war.
Making system patrol the SWU equivalent of the Coast Guard solves most of the organizational issues; if it is a separate organization, it wouldn't need to take up slots in the OB. It would also allow system patrol to engage in search & rescue, buoy maintenance and obstacle clearance, as well as supporting both the Navy and Customs as needed.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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Mikael Hasselstein
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| Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 4:00 am Post subject: |
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| That's certainly a plausible explanation. You might also see it as the equivalent of the state or local police, depending on the degree of local autonomy in the system. |
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CRMcNeill
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| Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 2:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Mikael Hasselstein wrote: | | That's certainly a plausible explanation. You might also see it as the equivalent of the state or local police, depending on the degree of local autonomy in the system. |
Agreed. If US law enforcement is any indicator, there will be multiple, overlapping agencies, so having three or four different agencies involved in space security (navy, system patrol, customs, sector rangers, etc.) would be the norm. In fact, system patrol as a separate agency might also have hyperspace-capable light ships in the corvette or frigate range to cover deep space aspects of their mission, particularly navigation maintenance and search & rescue, but also rapid response for law enforcement. The US Coast Guard calls its ships Cutters, but they are as big as some frigates, just not as heavily armed.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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Thx1138
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| Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 7:01 pm Post subject: |
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| some systems might actually have their own ships instead of imperial owned ships. I think sullust had its own private system defense force. |
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Mikael Hasselstein
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| Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 1:51 am Post subject: |
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| crmcneill wrote: | | Mikael Hasselstein wrote: | | That's certainly a plausible explanation. You might also see it as the equivalent of the state or local police, depending on the degree of local autonomy in the system. |
Agreed. If US law enforcement is any indicator, there will be multiple, overlapping agencies, so having three or four different agencies involved in space security (navy, system patrol, customs, sector rangers, etc.) would be the norm. In fact, system patrol as a separate agency might also have hyperspace-capable light ships in the corvette or frigate range to cover deep space aspects of their mission, particularly navigation maintenance and search & rescue, but also rapid response for law enforcement. The US Coast Guard calls its ships Cutters, but they are as big as some frigates, just not as heavily armed. |
| Thx1138 wrote: | | some systems might actually have their own ships instead of imperial owned ships. I think sullust had its own private system defense force. |
I think the answer lies in what sort of regime you think the Empire is. I see it as being a hegemonic regime that doesn't rule the known galaxy from top to bottom, but rules more like a colonial/hegemonic power. Sure, in the core the Empire rules through-and-through, but the further out you get, the more autonomous systems get from their sectoral government. Also, the less and less the Empire really cares what goes on.
So, in the core you might have customs and coast guard, whereas out on the less uncivilized parts on the Mid and Outer Rim you will have local authorities, and of course the complete breakdown of law and order in some of the more free-wheeling sectors. The moffship of one of those sectors might even be a form of punishment for those appointed to those positions (similar to what the Ottomans used to do to generals who were out of favor). |
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CRMcNeill
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| Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 5:43 pm Post subject: |
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Makes sense. This would also be where local forces would come into play. A system could have its own defensive ships on the understanding that those ships existed at the sufferance of the Empire and the Imperial Navy.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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evilnerf
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| Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2015 7:47 pm Post subject: |
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The Essential Guide to Warfare goes into this quite a bit actually.
The Republic (Post Russan and Pre-Clone Wars) had no standing military, just system defense forces that were built and maintained by those systems under the understanding that they could be used in the event of an emergency.
Some systems, like Kuat, had massive system defense forces that consisted of everything from Picket ships to Star Dreadnoughts (the predecessors to the Super Star Destroyers) while others had virtually nothing.
Naboo was in kindof a middle area where it had no military for a long time, until Padme's predecessor began building it up with the Naboo Starfighters.
During the Clone Wars, these began getting adopted into the Grand Army, that's probably where most of the Dreadnaught Cruisers came from. And I'd bet money they never gave them back after the Empire came to power.
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