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Post by wafflestoo on Oct 9, 2016 0:18:56 GMT
At the very least, you cannot rely on such, because if you do and it turns out your enemy is in fact willing to play scorched earth, you are, in a word, screwed. So you need a plan B, and that plan be can be bringing enough infrastructure to start living off the land, or have home sending sufficient tankers and reinforcements to continue combat operations in the face of opposition. I'm with you acatalepsy; you can NOT rely on captured supplies as part of an ongoing campaign without a solid alternative (ask the Wehrmacht how well that turned out for them). You've got to at least have some way to resupply your propellant if nothing else It's kind of a shame that Qswitched had to (understandably) keep the game so limited on scope. I'd like to see if the existing designs could even effectively blockade a planet given that most civilian ships have more dV than the military ones. Drone and missile boats have a lot more options at orbital denial than gunboats of course. Even if they can't be in game the operational implications these systems are fascinating to study all by themselves, aren't they? (also, YAY! first proper post as a board member!)
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Post by argonbalt on Oct 9, 2016 0:34:09 GMT
I'm with you acatalepsy; you can NOT rely on captured supplies as part of an ongoing campaign without a solid alternative (ask the Wehrmacht how well that turned out for them). You've got to at least have some way to resupply your propellant if nothing else It's kind of a shame that Qswitched had to (understandably) keep the game so limited on scope. I'd like to see if the existing designs could even effectively blockade a planet given that most civilian ships have more dV than the military ones. Drone and missile boats have a lot more options at orbital denial than gunboats of course. Even if they can't be in game the operational implications these systems are fascinating to study all by themselves, aren't they? (also, YAY! first proper post as a board member!) think this is a misconception based on the lack of in game drop tanks. the military ships would actually have more Dv in most cases they would just carry it in big drop tanks and ditch them before combat insertion into the sphere of the planet or moon or asteroid they are attacking.
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Post by ross128 on Oct 9, 2016 1:11:16 GMT
The main reason ISRU is not heavily used by military forces is that war is generally very mobile, and theaters of operation generally move too quickly for an investment in resource extraction and processing infrastructure to pay for itself. Besides, putting infrastructure on the front lines puts it within easy reach of enemy missiles. ISRU, such as it is, would only likely be viable for stuff that is abundant and can be utilized directly, like water (which is trivial to collect and distill), or collecting hydrogen via ramscoop (for a hydrogen-fueled craft).
Most invasion forces will likely instead opt to pile up supplies until they can win the war by letting them fall on the enemy. Especially since once you're no longer at the bottom of a planet's gravity well, it doesn't actually take much delta-V to get those supplies pretty much wherever you want.
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Post by wafflestoo on Oct 9, 2016 3:19:05 GMT
I would agree that almost all war material could be transported pretty easily EXCEPT propellant. Trying to ship mass amounts of propellant is problematic at best (damn you Tsiolkovsky!)
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Post by argonbalt on Oct 9, 2016 7:33:14 GMT
I would agree that almost all war material could be transported pretty easily EXCEPT propellant. Trying to ship mass amounts of propellant is problematic at best (damn you Tsiolkovsky!) I agree, this would make fuel depots irreplaceable and a much valued target. ISRU makes an interesting scenario of not just launching a fleet, but also launching mobile fuel refineries just afterwards, hopefully gambling on setting up and collecting/refuelling the fleet and drop tanks for moving to a new theatre.
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Post by wafflestoo on Oct 9, 2016 14:45:53 GMT
Pretty much. This is why I'm leaning towards the feeling that simpler propellants would likely be strategically superior even if they are tactically inferior. Methane, hydrogen, maybe even water would win out simply because a fleet could be refueled within days or even hours of victory.
An important condition for a ship holding a blockade, it just wouldn't do if the ship exhausts itself on its first intercept and then has to impotently watch the rest of a convoy march right on by because he cannot recover his strength in a timely manner.
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