Solomani Confederation (Military)

[Condottiere]

Solomani Confederation: Mahan, Geostrategy and Islands in the Sun

One thing you might notice is that there's no supercontinent in space, allowing armies to just walk their way to conquest.

Planets are isolated from each other, and need some form of transportation to be able get from one to another.

Undoubtedly, the Confederation can find enough enthusiastic and capable volunteers to man their ground forces; their problem will be getting them safely to where they are needed, which is where a Navy capable of maintaining or at least disputing, control of space; in peace time, having a large enough Navy creates a bubble of security that allows the flow of trade, and resultant economic activity that pays for that Navy.

In any opening phase of the coming War of Liberation, once the major naval assets are committed, they need to locate and destroy major concentrations of the Imperium Navy, then using their local superiorty, hunt down any remaining cruisers and escorts, and isolate any Imperium occupied system that an initial aerospace assault couldn't easily overcome Imperium occupying forces.

 

[Condottiere]

Solomani Confederation Army: Ranks

Let's have another go at this.

Army seems very singular, possibly emphasizing the unity of command.

Well, it's not General of the Armies of the Solomani Confederation, for which you'd get six stars, and I get the feeling that there are no Marshal titles. So let's adapt this into a unified rank table, with the lower half field officers, and the upper being flag ones.

O9 General of the Solomani Confederation Army
O8 Colonel General
O7 Lieutenant General
O6 Major General
O5 Brigadier General
O4 Colonel
O3 Major
O2 Captain
O1 Lieutenant
O0 Ensign

and these guys would normally be in charge of:

O9 General of the Solomani Confederation Army all military ground forces personnel
O8 Colonel General army group/front/subsector
O7 Lieutenant General field army/system
O6 Major General division/continent
O5 Brigadier General brigade
O4 Colonel
O3 Major
O2 Captain
O1 Lieutenant
O0 Ensign

Notes:
1. I ran out of distinctive General rankings, except Captain General, which i debated whether to substitute that for Brigadier.
2. I wanted to distinguish the Army variant from the Marine one, so the title really is Brigadier General, which fits in with the General theme.
3. In the Army, there is only one General.
4. In theory, we could have kept the corps, but I preferred to have a heavily reinforced division of twenty thousand plus, and armies of hundred thousand plus, with nothing inbetween.
5. A front, theatre and/or district could be four subsectors deep or wide; I don't think there's much point in trying to squeeze another rank, as it's more of a case of wider responsibilities for the Colonel General placed in command, and you do want to be able to move them around without demoting them.
6. You know that General Admiral is an actual rank? Joint forces, maybe. Sky Marshal sounds better.
7. The General Staff can coordinate all the four subsectored commands without adding another level of supervision.

 

[Condottiere]

Solomani Navy: Armaments and Railgun Spinal Mounts

The Solomani Naval Staff recognize the intimidative nature of a twenty tonne iron ball bearing down at sublight speed on an urban centre, and equip their assault carriers, as well as a few cruisers, with their customized variant:

Railguns
. Angela
.. Thyssen Krupp Stahl AG
.. prototype
... increased size
.. TL 9
.. 25'200-tonnes
.. 6DD
.. medium range
.. 3'000 scotts
.. MCr 15'000.00
. Brunhilde
.. Thyssen Krupp Stahl AG
.. basic
.. TL 10
.. 21'000-tonnes
.. 6DD
.. medium range
.. 3'000 scotts
.. MCr 3'000.00
. Constanze
.. Thyssen Krupp Stahl AG
.. advanced
... resilient
.. TL 11
.. 21'000-tonnes
.. 6DD
.. medium range
.. 3'000 scotts
.. MCr 3'300.00
. Dagmar
.. Thyssen Krupp Stahl AG
.. very advanced
... long distance
.. TL 12
.. 21'000-tonnes
.. 6DD
.. long range
.. 3'000 scotts
.. MCr 3'750.00
. Elsa
.. Thyssen Krupp Stahl AG
.. high technology
... long range
... resilient
.. TL 13
.. 21'000-tonnes
.. 6DD
.. long range
.. 3'000 scotts
.. MCr 4'500.00

Notes
1. Angela was the progenitor of this weapon system series, reputedly named after the Iron Lady of the defunct European Union.
2. The Brunhilde model was a worthy successor, as the Vilani discovered that even their heaviest armoured warship proved no match against the sheer power of this railgun spinal mount.
3. The Constanze moel was built during the dying days of the Interstellar Wars, and saw little employment.
4. Dagmar was developed as a demonstration model from the notes discovered in the Thyssen Krupp archives; the go ahead was given, to research and develop a more advanced gun.

Time for an update:

Railguns
. Angela
.. Thyssen Krupp Stahl AG
.. early prototype
... increased size
... energy inefficient
.. TL 8
.. 50'400-tonnes
.. 6DD
.. medium range
.. 3'900 scotts
.. MCr 30'000.00
. Brunhilde
.. Thyssen Krupp Stahl AG
.. prototype
... increased size
.. TL 9
.. 25'200-tonnes
.. 6DD
.. medium range
.. 3'000 scotts
.. MCr 15'000.00
. Constanze
.. Thyssen Krupp Stahl AG
.. budgeted
... increased size
.. basic
.. TL 10
.. 25'200-tonnes
.. 6DD
.. medium range
.. 3'000 scotts
.. MCr 3'000.00
. Dagmar
.. Thyssen Krupp Stahl AG
.. budgeted
... increased size
.. advanced
... energy efficient
.. TL 11
.. 25'200-tonnes
.. 6DD
.. medium range
.. 2'250 scotts
.. MCI 2'475.00
. Elsa
.. Thyssen Krupp Stahl AG
.. budgeted
... increased size
.. very advanced
... long range
.. TL 12
.. 25'200-tonnes
.. 6DD
.. long range
.. 3'000 scotts
.. MCI 2'812.50
. Fryda
.. Thyssen Krupp Stahl AG
.. budgeted
... increased size
.. high technology
... long range
... energy efficient
.. TL 13
.. 25'200-tonnes
.. 6DD
.. long range
.. 2'250 scotts
.. MCI 3'375.00

Notes:
1. There's really no point in trying to build a smaller railgun, the size and cost of the bullet remains the same.
2. The Solomani decided adding an extra twenty percent in size to save a quarter in cost was a fair exchange in repeating ages of austerity.
3. Energy efficiency permits a smaller investment in power plants.
4. Increased range permits a commander to engage an enemy at a more stand offish range; or dropping cherry bombs on a planet's capital city.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

2. The Solomani decided adding an extra twenty percent in size to save a quarter in cost was a fair exchange in repeating ages of austerity.
3. Energy efficiency permits a smaller investment in power plants.

Bad idea. Making the spinal bigger, makes the entire ship larger (with the same performance), you save millions but lose billions in bigger drives.

But what can you expect from a procurement bureaucracy?

 

[Condottiere]

You have to look at the opportunity costs, as well.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Military: Confederation Authorized Volunteer Armed Regional Lorried Yeomanry

Replaces Mobile Infantry.

There would be three basic types of units:

1. Volunteers

2. Probationary

3. Penal

 

[Condottiere]

Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, Mars.

Terraformed.

 

[Condottiere]

Starships: Texas Light Cruiser Class

It's listed as an eight thousand tonne light cruiser manufactured at technological level twelve, with a principle armament of two hundred tonne particle accelerator bays, and ten ten tonne light fighters, in a standard wedge configuration preferred by the Solomani Navy.

It has a range of three parsecs, but an acceleration of four, below the default line of battle speed.

It should have seventy double staterooms, thirty emergency low berths, a sickbay, an engineering shop, five airlocks and probably an additional seventy tonne hangar.

Amongst the earliest examples of Confederation shipbuilding, you have to wonder if high/low doctrine was already in force, with the emphasis on building capital ships and minor combatants at the expense of major combatants.

However, let's see if we can squeeze in a spinal mount and make it an actual cruiser, although ultralite.

At technological level twelve, you have the choice between an advanced particle accelerator, and a very advanced railgun with a default weight of three and a half thousand tonnes, which is within the half hulled required size.

My preference is usually for lager weapon systems, which are either cheaper and/or more capable, but this is a space sensitive issue, so they'll have to be scaled down to either thirty one hundred fifty tonnes, or twenty nine hundred seventy five tonnes.

Jump drive and fuel is three thousand and five tonnes; manoeuvre would be three hundred and twenty tonnes, providing thirty two thousand newtonnes of thrust, and needs together with basic requirements for a total of two thousand scotts, one hundred thirty four tonnes of fusion reactors. The total is thirty four hundred fifty nine tonnes. We're going to need thirty one engineers.

The Solomani tended to be farsighted with planned upgrades, notwithstanding the Texases' resistance to a new computer. Would they upgrade the spinal mount? Hindsight says not in this case, so installing a twenty eight hundred tonne railgun prototype is a pointless expense (to be replaced by a technological level thirteen production model).

By the time of the War of Imperium Aggression, the Texas were obsolete, but severe losses forced the Confederation to use them, though on second line duties, like raiding and probably rear area security against the same by the Imperium.

The original design didn't even have the thousand tonne variants, and we certainly can fit in a five hundred tonne bay, which is plan B. But even a minimized spinal mount would make largish non spinalized warships leery of getting into range; mission kills tend to be sufficient.

The difference between a railgun and a particle accelerator is five hundred scotts, one technological level, and twenty tonne bullets. Five hundred scotts is thirty four tonnes of fusion power plant and one engineer, which is two bullets; the technological difference is one hundred seventy five tonnes, or nine bullets.

That would make a magazine total of sixteen bullets, or one hour thirty six minutes of engagement; that would make an equivalent amount of volume spent on either weapon system, though on ortillery, that would make any defenseless world rather vulnerable when faced with a railgun.

So how many megatonnes of TNT is a DD(thousands)?

 

[Condottiere]

Solomani Confederation Army: Ranks

E9 Sergeant Major General - army senior non commissioned officer
E8 Command Sergeant Major - divisional senior non commissioned officer
E7 Command Sergeant - brigade senior non commissioned officer
E6 Sergeant Major - battalion senior non commissioned officer
E5 Master Sergeant - company senior non commissioned officer
E4 First Sergeant - assistant platoon leader
E3 Sergeant - squad leader
E2 Corporal - team leader
E1 Private
E0 Recruit

Notes:
1. I thought it would be a neat analogue to the officer flag ranks that E5 enlisted pay grades require warrants.
2. I doubt that it's worthwhile for the Army to create a position for non commissioned officer whose responsibility stretches beyond that of an army command.
3. The highest ceremonial position in the Confederation Army would be the Garrison Sergeant Major General on Home; still an E9.
4. E3 is sometimes referred to as a buck sergeant.

 

[Condottiere]

Solomani Confederation Navy: Ranks

O9 Grand Admiral of the Solomani Confederation Navy
O8 Fleet Admiral
O7 Vice Admiral
O6 Rear Admiral
O5 Counter Admiral
O4 Captain
O3 Commander
O2 Lieutenant Commander
O1 Lieutenant
O0 Ensign, Midshipman, (Pilot (Warrant)) Officer, Officer Candidate

Notes:
1. Once you've made flag rank, you'd be referred to as Admiral, unless there are differing flag ranks present in the same room.
2. The exception would be the head of the Confederation Navy, who's always addressed as Grand Admiral.
3. Commodore made me uncomfortable, so it's a brevet or honourary rank, establishing a temporary flag rank, authority and/or position, that can easily to eliminated.

 

[Condottiere]

Solomani Containment

While the Confederation tends towards conservatism and tradition, I'd lie to think that they'd be flexible enough to accommodate our spaceship deckplans in regard to a modified twenty foot container standard.

Dimensions
. External
.. length
... 599 centimetres
.. breadth
... 239 centimetres
.. height
... 259 centimetres
. Internal
.. length
... 580 centimetres
.. breadth
... 230 centimetres
.. height
... 239 centimetres

So three millenia with screwing around with the specifications, and we get something slightly shorter, slightly higher inside, slightly narrower. The length of two containers equals five breadths, which should allow some really tightly compacting.

It's just a tad above two and a quarter tonnes in volume.

 

[Condottiere]

Making Solomani Containment Palatable

In order to neatly fit in pallets into these new internal dimensions, pallet sizes need to be tweaked a little as well.

. 76 centimetres
.. doorway compatible
. 114 centimetres
.. semi containerish
. 149 centimetres
.. quarterish

Notes:
1. The base would be about fourteen centimetres.
2. Material would either be aluminium or plastic, as organic material such as wood wouldn't be permitted to be used in interstellar trade, due to possible contamination.

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceship: Solomani Wherry

Egg class
. Orbit to surface connector
.. Wherry
. Hull
.. spherical
.. titanium steel
.. non gravitated
.. semi streamlined
.. light
.. self-sealing
.. technological level nine
.. ten tonnes standard
.. hull points
... three point two
.. cost
... one hundred twelve thousand five hundred schmuckers
.. armour
... none
.. aerofins
... plus two dice modifier for pilot checks in atmosphere
... half a tonne
... cost
.... fifty thousand schmuckers
. Bridge
.. single seat cockpit
... one and a half tonnes
.. cost
... ten thousand schmuckers
.. Computer
... bandwidth
.... five
... cost
.... thirty thousand schmuckers
.. Sensors
... basic
. Engineering
.. Manoeuvre drive
... factor one
... one Egg module
.... orbital range
.... technological level nine
.... energy efficient
..... twenty five percent
.... budget
..... twenty percent rebate
.... one hundred kilogrammes
.... cost
..... one hundred fifty thousand schmuckers
.. Power plant
... output
.... eight scotts
... one Tokimeki module
.... early fusion
.... technological level eight
.... budget
.... cost
..... three hundred seventy five thousand schmuckers
.. Solar panelling
... half a tonne
... cost
.... fifty thousand schmuckers
.. Bunkerage
... hydrogen tank
.... one tonne
... Fuel scoops
.... none
... Fuel processor
.... none
. Armaments
.. Turret
... none
. Crew facilities
.. Staterooms
... none
.. Low berths
... none
.. Common areas
... none
.. Acceleration benches
... twelve passengers
... three tonnes
... cost
.... thirty thousand schmuckers
.. Airlocks
... one
... two tonnes
.. Cargo hatch
... none
.. Ship's locker
... one
... four hundred kilogrammes
. Cargo
... three tonnes or twelve passengers
. Crew
.. Captain
... pilot
... astrogator
... engineer
... administrator
... steward
... medic
... gunner
. Software
.. Manoeuvre
.. Library
.. Jump control
... none
. Operations
.. endurance
... forty weeks, or short of sixty three if minimized, though constant, output
.. energy budget
... basic systems
.... two scotts
... sensors
.... none
... manoeuvre drive
.... three quarters of a scott
... jump drive
.... none
... armaments
.... none
... battle stations
.... one and three quarters scotts
. Purchase cost
.. 807'500 schmuckers
. Daily maintenance cost
.. 2.22 schmuckers

Notes:
1. You actually only need a minimum of one and three quarters scotts to keep it flying, since you're certainly aren't powering artificial gravity and inertial compensation; assuming Striker economies of scale for power plants, that means the fusion plant would be 0.4375 tonnes.
2. Solar panelling is five hundred percent over capacity.

 

[Condottiere]

Flying/Pig\Iron class
. Orbit to surface connector
.. Car/pet\rock
. Hull
.. planetoid
.. nickel iron
.. gravitated
.. inertiated
.. non streamlined
.. self-sealing
.. technological level nine
.. ten tonnes standard
... eight tonnes usable
.. hull points
... five
.. cost
... fortty thousand schmuckers
.. armour
... two
.. aerofins
... plus two dice modifier for pilot checks in atmosphere
... half a tonne
... cost
.... fifty thousand schmuckers
. Bridge
.. single seat cockpit
... one and a half tonnes
.. cost
... ten thousand schmuckers
.. Computer
... bandwidth
.... five
... cost
.... thirty thousand schmuckers
.. Sensors
... basic
. Engineering
.. Manoeuvre drive
... factor one
... one Egg module
.... orbital range
.... technological level nine
.... energy efficient
..... twenty five percent
.... budget
..... twenty percent rebate
.... one hundred kilogrammes
.... cost
..... one hundred fifty thousand schmuckers
.. Power plant
... none
.. Solar panelling
... half a tonne
... cost
.... fifty thousand schmuckers
.. High efficiency batteries
... technology level ten
... power
.... forty scotts
... cost
.... one hundred thousand schmuckers
.. Bunkerage
... hydrogen tank
.... none
... Fuel scoops
.... none
... Fuel processor
.... none
. Armaments
.. Turret
... none
. Crew facilities
.. Staterooms
... none
.. Low berths
... none
.. Common areas
... none
.. Acceleration benches
... twelve passengers
... three tonnes
... cost
.... thirty thousand schmuckers
.. Airlocks
... one
... two tonnes
.. Cargo hatch
... none
.. Ship's locker
... one
... four hundred kilogrammes
. Cargo
... three tonnes or twelve passengers
. Crew
.. Captain
... pilot
... astrogator
... engineer
... administrator
... steward
... medic
... gunner
. Software
.. Manoeuvre
.. Library
.. Jump control
... none
. Operations
.. endurance
... indefinite
.. energy budget
... basic systems
.... two scotts
... sensors
.... none
... manoeuvre drive
.... three quarters of a scott
... jump drive
.... none
... armaments
.... none
... battle stations
.... one and three quarters scotts
. Purchase cost
.. 460'000 schmuckers
. Daily maintenance cost
.. 1.26 schmuckers

Notes:
1. Range and endurance would be indefinite, engineeringly speaking,as long as the solar panels get radiated.
2. In theory, the basic power requirements are one point five five scotts, though that would make gravitation and inertial compensators a little jumpy, which wouldn't be an issue while within an atmosphere.
3. In theory, technological level eight solar panelling at default would produce seventy five scotts per tonne.

 

[Condottiere]

Confederation Military: Volunteers

Just as the Confederation Authorized Volunteer Armed Regional Lorried Yeomanry is a refuge for washed out and rejected Marine and Navy personnel, or anyone who demonstartes some combat acumen in a zero gravity environment but wouldn't be accepted in either the Corps or the Navy, the Confederation Army maintains similar formations for anyone who wants to fight. but doesn't quite fit in with the Army's more stringent standards, whether discipline or competency.

It was time to move on from the Mobile Infantry moniker, it belongs to Heinlein; or at least, the powered armoured variant whose functions would be taken over by the Solomani Confederation Marine Corps, or Verhoeven's take on them, which I would be going for.

The difference is that the Confederation Army consists principally of heavy mechanized armoured infantry with combat support and specialized light infantry, for the occasions when a scalpel works better than a sledge hammer.

I could have called them Volksgrenadiers, but Volunteers seems better suited.

Here goes anyone who wants to fight, or wants to avoid something worse than military service with the Confederation, and the Army will organize and support these units, and the Navy will transport them to where they can, likely the Aslan frontier.

Like CAVALRY units, Volunteer formations can develop their own cultures, like the Army may arrange for anyone with a chronic stomach ailment to be concentrated in one battalion.

 

[AndrewW]

It was time to move on from the Mobile Infantry moniker, it belongs to Heinlein; or at least, the powered armoured variant whose functions would be taken over by the Solomani Confederation Marine Corps, or Verhoeven's take on them, which I would be going for.

Ah, what's wrong with borrowing from Heinlein?

I could have called them Volksgrenadiers, but Volunteers seems better suited.

There's also Legionnaires.

 

[Condottiere]

Borrowing directly from the source hobbles later development, especially when you start to deviate, not to mention borrowing recognized non generic terms isn't really cricket.

I've considered legionaries, but that's a long term professional commitment; Solomani Volunteer units, unless they've volunteered to avoid jail time, can quit at the end of short enlistment terms.

The idea is to use a resource that the Confederation Army or Navy can't use, or haven't room for, and give those who're enthused enough a way to serve the Confederation.

 

[Condottiere]

You also have to weigh what legionary or legionnaire, implies.

For most of us, it's either the professionals that enlisted for twenty or thirty years that carried out the emperor's will, or their commander's, protected the integrity of the Empire, or expanded it, and eventually became kingmakers. In the meantime, they acted as a visible deterrent.

Or a long term, highly trained and disciplined expendable expeditionary force.

In the context of the Confederation, it doesn't need the first, though it could use the expendable expeditionary part of the second.

It would give an outlet for the more restless members of the Confederation, who wouldn't qualify for either the Army, Navy or Marines, or got kicked, or retired due to age and still wants to serve on the frontline.

Once this adventurous phase has passed or after a year of continuous combat experience, few obstacles would be placed in their way of leaving, since they\ll have had their fill.

The system could be used in a general conscription, but considering how militaristic Confederation society is, and the few opportunities to leave your home system, the Confederation will always have more than enough volunteers.

 

[Condottiere]

Another reason for the Volunteers, would be so that the Confederation can push young Solomani towards the frontier from the interior.

While after their enlistment is up, the Navy offers them transportation to any Confederation planet within reason or their homeworld, the idea is that they'll want to settle on the frontier, which acts as the additional advantage of creating veteran colonies.

I'm sure that the Confederation has a less paramilitary Peace Corps equivalent to act as their evangelistic instrument.

 

[Condottiere]

Solomani Military: Cavalry Squadrons

I will state that I didn't consciously try to conjure them to be Spacemarine Chapters, it's just that when I reflected, they seem awfully derivative. Maybe parallel evolution.

Cavalry squadrons are supposed to be capped at two hundred and ninety permanent personnel, whereas the Smurfs dictate a thousand directly. The Forty Kay variant is based on the classic regimental establishment, whereas mine is to stop short of one man less of what's usually considered the lowest number for an infantry battalion.

The commanding officer would be The Captain, though for what appears to be a heavily reinforced company, you'd usually bump that to major; but Captain fulfills both roles as head of the company, and that of the starship. There can be only one, and he's both ground troops and ship commander.

Since a cavalry squadron would at least need to be nominally independent, it has an organic flight department that flies and maintains the starships and smallcraft attached to the squadron, hence Captain.