Golan Space Defense Stations, problem with turbolaser ranges

[vanir]

I do understand what you're saying lurker and don't want to hijack the thread with an off topic discussion, but just food for thought consider for example the Wehrmacht, existing as it did under a socialist dictatorship and yet it was strategically constructed "from bottom up" rather than "top down" philosophy, ie. high command gave the general objectives handed to them by the CiC (Hitler), but tactical decisions lay completely with the field commanders, in many cases as low as Colonel or Major in rank and I'm talking decisions which changed the direction of a Wehrmacht putsch, such as moving south in the crimea to take Sebastopol instead of linking up with von Kleist, or withdrawing from Kharkov to regroup and come back at it after diverting Soviet reinforcements...that was completely against Hitler's firm instructions. But field commanders always had full authority, if it didn't pay off they found themselves in a court martial and if it did they got decorated, they survived on the initiative of field commands, the entire "Blitzkreig" style of warfare was dependent upon the field commanders autonomy, the Stukas were literally attached to Panzergruppen and the command tanks assigned Luftwaffe radio operators so they could act with complete autonomy. No other military in the world gave so much authority to its field commanders, nobody.
The US painstakingly studied Wehrmacht warfare doctrine both during and following the war and adjusted its own conventions to follow it starting in the 1950s.

What you're really discussing is a case specific example of Soviet communism established by the Stalinist era and his terrifying Purges which ravaged the military, literally horrifying all personnel into submission. Did you know literally all commanders above the rank of Colonel, all staff officers, without exception were arrested and either executed or sent to Gulags during the 30s? That 50% of all mid ranked and administrative officers ranked between Captain and Colonel were similarly taken during the same period? That a noticeable number of all junior officers in the entire military met the same fate? They were terrified into submission, literally. No wonder they had no battlefield initiative in the early war period 41-43 but even so, by late 1942 the creation of Shock Troop formations, the Guards formations, improved training and experienced gained by the replacement commanders and senior staff, the Soviets actually showed plenty of initiative according to the Wehrmacht's own combat reports.

In fact the only military which markedly displayed a complete lack of any field initiative was the Imperial Japanese. Time and time again it was noted by US/Allied forces that whenever Japanese field command bunkers could be taken down, or squadron leaders shot down, or command flagships sunk, the rest of the present formations immediately broke into noticable and catastrophic tactical disarray, often throwing all pretence at organised warfare in the gutter and simply charging reinforced positions en masse. And to their own slaughter.
But this was under a strict Imperial and authoritarian monarchist system of old school training, where soldiers are dehumanized as serfs to become automatons fighting blindly for their Lords. Such an oligarchy is really much closer to west European and US systems of military doctrine than anything from central or eastern Europe (which was largey reconstructed during the 20th century all fresh and new).


But I think at any rate we can all agree if the Galactic Empire is styled on any particular historical theme the Nazi one is up near the top of the list, and whilst hardly representing anything other than ideological dictatorship, they did believe in getting the job done and that meant letting the experts on the scene, the field commanders act autonomously for the most part.
And look at Admiral Ozzel, who arrogantly decided which tactic to employ for the interdiction of Hoth: under his own authority. Look at Vader who happily does battlefield executions under his own authority. If their military doctrine challenged this autonomy, their own Stormtrooper guards would not have let them make those decisions.

It's just, not real good for you if your decision doesn't pan out well for the Empire. Then you pay.
But hey, it was the same in the Wehrmacht too. Some of Manstein's staff wound up in Dachau with their families because of unsuccessful field actions in the Crimea during 42. That was what happened: one minute you're in charge of an army, next minute you're in a concentration camp, so is your family, because a decision didn't pan out.

[Fallon Kell]

By strange and happy coincidence, I'm reading The Last Command right now, and those six ISDs just dropped out of hyperspace above Coruscant!

My two cents forthcoming later...
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Or that excessively long "Noooooooooo" was the Whining Side of the Force leaving him. - Dustflier

Complete Starship Construction System

[ZzaphodD]

Id say that if you designed an immobile space fortress you would certainly see to it that it would shoot further than any known enemies..
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My Biggest Beard Retard award goes to: The Admiral of course..

[garhkal]

So what do we all think the Hull/shield should be? 1d higher than an ISD? 2d?
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[jmanski]

What's an SSD? 10D hull and 8d shields, or something? I say go with that, or something similar.
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Blasted rules. Why can't they just be perfect?

[CRMcNeill]

[lurker]

[jmanski]

[garhkal]

I have always seen it as 5-1 when figuring out defenses.. part of our training in the Seabeas for setting up our perimeter defenses.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[CRMcNeill]

[ZzaphodD]

On the other hand. Are Golans made to stand up against Star Destroyers en masse, at least Imperial and above? If the Empire is the main user, what enemy would attack a core world with 20+ ships in the SD range?

Even if a Golan is just the equivalent of one ISD, they are much cheaper because they are stationary, so you can have more of them.
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My Biggest Beard Retard award goes to: The Admiral of course..

[jmanski]

Hadn't thought of it that way. Maybe the Golan I should be about ISD power level, Golan II more powerful, and Golan III as powerful as an SSD?
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Blasted rules. Why can't they just be perfect?

[lurker]

[CRMcNeill]

[ZzaphodD]