SPACE LAND BATTLE II: THE ROLE OF MARINES IN ASCENDANCY BGS AND POWER PLAY
23 Nov 2024Viper 6
SPACE LAND BATTLE: THE ROLE OF MARINES IN POST-ODYSSEY BGSby
VIPER 6
COMMAND SERGEANT MAJOR – FEDERAL FLEET MARINE FORCE
This study will explore the evolution of the Federal doctrinal thinking during the development of Space-Land Battle and explain the doctrine’s concepts. This paper will demonstrate that Space-Land Battle was developed in large part as a reaction to the shortcomings inherent in the Federal Navy’s doctrine of Space Defense. The progression which led to Space-Land Battle saw doctrinal thinkers go to great pains to seek out new ideas and opinions including efforts to reach out to Federal Player Minor Factions (PMFs). In part because Space-Land Battle was deliberately designed to defeat mass Imperial-style attacks, it literally deepened and broadened the Navy’s vision of the battlefield. In doing this, the Navy moved beyond its previous narrow tactical focus by integrating a broad array of influences including the use of Marines for settlement defense and settlement assault. Controlling settlements set conditions for the unrestricted use, solely for the proprietor, as staging grounds for successful follow-on operations.
Imperial forces typically only fight in space, and more often than not, in solo or private group (PG). When Imperial Forces do fight in open, they are in such high numbers as to be impossible to contend with. Facing sheer numbers of Imperial ships or Imperial commanders working in solo or PG, the Federal Navy began to look for ways to increase their combat power in small background simulation (BGS) conflicts. It became apparent that taking on the Imperial Navy one on one was not effective. New methods needed to be designed. Fortunately, with the arrival of Odyssey, settlements were created to make the experience for commanders more immersive. Settlements create missions only for the owning faction. This is where this becomes important. In many systems, the settlements hold the real power, not the star-ports. Many times, the system will only have outposts and settlements and no star-ports. Settlements with large landing pads are the prize. Settlements are mission producing cash-cows. They only produce missions for the controlling faction, and they produce a lot of missions.
Settlements, unlike star-ports or outposts, are all on the table in every conflict. The faction with the most wins per settlement per conflict wins the settlement, whether they win or lose the conflict. What? Yes, each settlement is like a mini-war within the whole conflict. Settlement CZs can only be defended or taken by ground forces. Ships have little to no use in the land CZ. Marines (or Naval Infantry) are key to winning these ‘land CZs’. So, now the task force commander must decide where best to array his forces. Other issues are at hand, like the winning of the entire conflict. A space conflict zone (CZ) is worth twice what a land CZ is in determining the calculations for victory. If a high space CZ is worth 4 points, a high land CZ is worth 2 points. This presents the quandary for the task force commander – ‘I need to win, to win I need maximum points, but I need these settlements to exploit a win or rebound from a loss.’ The task force commander must balance his forces and commit his best at each task (space and land). You cannot win a protracted conflict in space or on land alone. Win in space and lose all the settlements… you are set up for a repeat conflict, as the former loser has gained all the valuable ground assets and can very quickly recover lost influence and re-trigger the conflict.
Winning the land conflict can be done several ways. The first and most preferred method is to use the Frontline shuttle. Frontline allows the Marine commander to pick a mission, catch a hassle-free ride to the land CZ, and return the commander safely back to port, regardless of any other commander’s ill wishes. That’s right! When on Frontline, you cannot be interdicted. Enemy commanders have very small opportunities to cause you problems at the very beginning, and the very end, of the Marine’s trip. A Frontline shuttle cannot be interdicted. The second method is for the Marine to use his/her own ship to deliver themselves and other commanders to the CZ, along with their surface recon vehicle (SRV) – if they chose to bring one. Once the CZ has ended, they may relog from their SRV and repeat. This method can be faster for the commander until all their SRVs are destroyed. It’s really up to personal preference.
In conclusion, the implementation of Space-Land Battle has showed mixed yet positive results. Most notably would be in the Selgeth system which was fought over for several months, and eventually ended in a Federal victory. The Imperial forces failed to take any significant settlements, and after repeated small BGS conflicts, conditions were set to finally allow a decisive Federal victory. However, in Men Samit, Imperial forces used mass to completely over-power the Federal Navy, at high cost. In smaller BGS conflicts (especially uncontested ones), Space-Land Battle is the most effective method of warfare. Small PMFs can take an entire system’s assets in months (settlements, outposts, and star-ports) by only fighting the conflict with Marines on land.
Update:
Enter Power Play 2.0 - Finally, after a redesign of Power Play (PP), Frontier Developments (FDEV) (in its wisdom) has decided that commander's actions in these settlements will generate PP merits. Since these settlements are mission generators for the owning faction as well as a great place to undermine the owning faction, control and defense of these settlements has become more important. Systems without any factions aligned to an attacking power will be difficult to undermine. Similarly, systems with no factions aligned to the controlling power will be difficult to support. Aggressive Imperials working towards the Sol system may find themselves in progressively harder systems to control. As systems closer to Sol tend to have no Imperial presence, an overwhelming number of Federal factions in these systems will make an Imperial presence almost impossible to maintain.
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