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Author Topic: You are a Minister of Defense  (Read 7010 times)

griffinpup

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Re: You are a Minister of Defense
« Reply #30 on: June 09, 2013, 09:55:24 pm »

Your numbers are right, but your premise is wrong.  The population isn't going to be equally divided o to 100 in any way, shape, or fashion.  Count the number of newborns you know, then count the number of people exactly one hundred you know.  You then compare those numbers, and find them vastly different.  But let's say there is 75,000 people in a certain age group.  Half of them are women, who are generally exempt from all mandatory conscription, so you're left with 37,500.  We then take out all the people who are exempt for health reasons, or people who have jobs vital to the empire.  -20,000.  We're left with 17,500 people eligible for the mandatory conscription.  It's still too many, but a far more manageable number. 

We could also work on a completely different system, with us taking voluntary people only.  We could just pay them well, and then we'd actually have good troops as opposed to regiments upon regiments of green troops.

We could require that all men of fighting age at the starting of the army must do a four month boot camp and take the top 10,000 as conscripts. I gives us a very large army with out going over the limit.
And give people motivation to deliberately learn nothing in boot camp?
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Grek

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Re: You are a Minister of Defense
« Reply #31 on: June 09, 2013, 11:12:17 pm »

Your numbers are right, but your premise is wrong.  The population isn't going to be equally divided o to 100 in any way, shape, or fashion.  Count the number of newborns you know, then count the number of people exactly one hundred you know.  You then compare those numbers, and find them vastly different.  But let's say there is 75,000 people in a certain age group.  Half of them are women, who are generally exempt from all mandatory conscription, so you're left with 37,500.  We then take out all the people who are exempt for health reasons, or people who have jobs vital to the empire.  -20,000.  We're left with 17,500 people eligible for the mandatory conscription.  It's still too many, but a far more manageable number.

I picked those numbers so that we'd have an underestimate of the number of 18 year olds in the nation. Generally speaking, as you go up in age the number of people of that age in a country goes down for obvious reasons. It's entirely possible that we actually have 100,000 18 year olds. Like you said, even if we exclude women, the disabled, anyone employed in vital industries, etc. we will still be looking for ways to disqualify people from conscription. I'm not saying it's an impossible problem, but it is something we need to think about when we get the demographic info in.
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kaian-a-coel

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Re: You are a Minister of Defense
« Reply #32 on: June 10, 2013, 01:23:32 am »

Does the treaty says "limited to 10.000 professionnal soldiers" or something like that? If yes, military training for everyone is OK.
Of course we'll want a professionnal army, but it won't hurt to start by having everyone a little trained.

Alternatively, if it says "men bearing arms", you know the loophole...  :P
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3_14159

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Re: You are a Minister of Defense
« Reply #33 on: June 10, 2013, 03:56:34 am »

I'd propose:
- 5,000 men professional soldiers, to be kept about ten years.
- 5,000 men rotating, with six months training each.
- Everyone of age otherwise will have a civil service of the same duration.

That should give us:
a) A professional core army
b) 10,000 trained soldiers (well, with a refreshment course) per year for later.
c) Better infrastructure and trained people.

I agree with the logistics construction.

Alternatively, if it says "men bearing arms", you know the loophole...  :P
Bears manning arms?
Bears arming men?
Arms bearing men?
Men arming bears?
Arms manning bears?
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kingfisher1112

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Re: You are a Minister of Defense
« Reply #34 on: June 10, 2013, 04:48:27 am »

We need a navy and an army, and possible, army aviation too guys.
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kaian-a-coel

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Re: You are a Minister of Defense
« Reply #35 on: June 10, 2013, 06:05:12 am »

Alternatively, if it says "men bearing arms", you know the loophole...  :P
Bears manning arms?
Bears arming men?
Arms bearing men?
Men arming bears?
Arms manning bears?
That was a Warhammer 40.000 reference. The Ecclesiarchy was forbidden to have "men in arms" under its service, so they formed the Sisters of Battle. Technically the treaty is respected...

We need a navy
we are forbidden to have one.
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10ebbor10

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Re: You are a Minister of Defense
« Reply #36 on: June 10, 2013, 06:18:32 am »

As I said, ask to have acces to prototypes and other experimental but not immediately usefull research. we could get some gamechanging technology there.
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Morrigi

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Re: You are a Minister of Defense
« Reply #37 on: June 10, 2013, 10:50:32 am »

My suggestions, in no particular order:

Advisers
I suggest the formation of a unit responsible for the upholding of morale, discipline, and advising officers on the battlefield, but outside the chain of command. Training about morality and military strategy and tactics should be the focus of the program, and they should all be sent through basic training with the rest of the troops. I suggest at least one such specialist per brigade of 1,000 men. If we're going to create an army out of nothing, morale and discipline will be an issue and who better to take care of it than men trained specifically for the task? However, it would be preferable if they weren't too heavy-handed. No summary executions. Yet.

Questions
If we're going to be an effective fighting force, we're going to need to know what we're facing.
How is the occupying force equipped? What are their strengths and weaknesses? How does their command structure work?
As for the treaty, does it say ten battalions, ten battalion-sized units, ten thousand men specifically?

Arms and Munitions
Request equipment for eight thousand men including rifles, ammunition, and grenades. If we can get them, order one hundred civilian trucks for transport of supplies and troops. We will also need machine guns, so order two hundred heavy machine guns (if they have any) and eight hundred light machine guns. so Once we get the equipment, evaluate its strengths and weaknesses. With this information, we can develop our own weapons.
We should also ask for some scout aircraft if we they are available.

Overall Strategy
If we cannot have a standing army of more than ten thousand men, we will need force multipliers in the form of aircraft, armor, and special forces. If we can create a combined-arms fighting force, we will have an army the likes of which the world has never seen. Considering that the world considers aircraft largely useless, taking advantage of their potential before anyone else does will grant us a huge advantage. Taking the initiative like this is the only way we are going to get anywhere against such a superior force, because we cannot allow ourselves to get caught up in the grinding attrition of trench warfare considering our small population.

Since we do not currently have the capacity to do that, institute a one-year draft in order to get people military training. If we cannot have a large standing army, then we will have a large body of citizens ready to form one in short order. In addition, if there are any laws regulating privately-owned firearms in the country, relax them. If we are forbidden from doing so, fail to enforce them. Even an untrained citizenry armed with rifles and shotguns will cause a massive pain in the ass to an occupation force when war comes, and will severely damage their mobility, morale, combat effectiveness, and ability to hold terrain.

See if we can't poke the Foreign Relations people into talking to other nearby countries as well.

The Army
The army will be organized as:
5,000-man regiments
1,000-man brigades
200-man companies
50-man platoons (each platoon with one machine gun squad with 2-3 LMGs)
10-man squads
5-man fireteams for urban combat

Standard infantry brigades should be broken up on the company level as follows:
One command company
Three infantry companies
One support company containing an infantry platoon, medics, a mortar platoon, and an armored car platoon with nine armored cars for use in scouting.

Considering our current lack of equipment, our first brigades will be without mortars or armored cars, though hopefully the MG orders will go through.
With the current lack of real armor, a light armor brigade will be made up of 180 armored cars with necessary logistics and could be used as an impromptu "armored fist" on open terrain as well as for infantry support. In addition, we will likely have only one full-size regiment in the beginning, probably belonging to the infantry.

Research
Being the Minister of Defense, I propose that we found the Defense Research Institute in order to take care of the technical aspects of things, and put someone who knows what the hell they're doing in charge. Any new prototypes should be tested by soldiers in order to get their input, which will greatly help the development process. If the DRI has no ongoing government projects, give them funding and tell them to be creative.

Their first project should be to design a four-wheeled armored car.

Specifications:
Designation: M5 Cobra Armored Car
4x4 Wheeled Suspension
2 light machine guns, double-mounted in a turret with a 360 degree field of fire.
Armored against rifle fire (10mm hardened steel flank and rear armor, 12mm over the engine and turret)
Minimize use of bolts and rivets in construction to prevent spalling
Engine mounted in front to protect the crew
3 Crew (1 gunner, 1 driver, 1 commander/navigator)
Top Speed: 60-70kph road speed
Range: 250-300km
Mass: 5 tonnes

M5A Cobra
Same as above, but with a single HMG mount in the turret in the event that we go up against armor. .50 cal M2 machine guns were designed and used for this purpose in WWI.

Tell them to focus on reliability, mass-production, and off-road capability and give them some funding.

Construction
We're going to need a munitions and vehicle factory, so build them.

Strategic Situation
Where are the occupying forces based? Do they send out regular patrols? Where might we mount an effective attack?

Conscription
I suggest a 1-year mandatory military service period, though our advisers should have a five-year service period at least. Our standing army will be formed from the top 10-20% of the conscripts and will be paid more and also have access to the newest equipment. We'll need MPs as well, so once they're formed give a company to the DMAC (Discipline, Morale, and Advisory Corps)


If we hit a budget crunch, focus on the equipment and construction, but we don't have to do this all at once. We are already occupied so it is relatively unlikely that we will be attacked. This means that we can bide our time. Building up too quickly will raise suspicions and potentially cause friction.




« Last Edit: June 10, 2013, 11:12:20 am by Morrigi »
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Funk

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Re: You are a Minister of Defense
« Reply #38 on: June 10, 2013, 11:41:13 am »

Can we have a price list for what weapons our pig dog masterfriends will sell us.
 
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Morrigi

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Re: You are a Minister of Defense
« Reply #39 on: June 10, 2013, 01:26:54 pm »

That'd be nice.
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Morrigi

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Re: You are a Minister of Defense
« Reply #40 on: June 10, 2013, 02:50:15 pm »

Oh, could we get some more information about IC? What can one do with say 1 IC?
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Ukrainian Ranger

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Re: You are a Minister of Defense
« Reply #41 on: June 11, 2013, 01:09:31 am »

So, your actions are

Create a professional branch of army

Fill the rest by half-year conscription hand picking the best 18+ male recruits

Raise ten infantry battalions

Try to buy small arms and improve logistics

Petition our prime minister to fund munitions and canned food industries

Look for weapons rejected by Capusan army\navy as impractical?

Is it right?
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kaian-a-coel

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Re: You are a Minister of Defense
« Reply #42 on: June 11, 2013, 02:15:39 am »

Yes, and also promote being innovative. Though it is not today's priority.
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3_14159

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Re: You are a Minister of Defense
« Reply #43 on: June 11, 2013, 06:01:01 am »

Correct, though I'm still a bit against the impractical weapons due to cost considerations.

Do you want us to bold proposals in the future?
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10ebbor10

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Re: You are a Minister of Defense
« Reply #44 on: June 11, 2013, 06:18:26 am »

Well, the point is to get cheap acces to higher tech weaponry. If it turns out that it's too impractical, we don't need to use it.
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