Logistics of Invasion: Federation vs Empire

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AFT
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Post by AFT » Tue Dec 12, 2006 3:12 am

First, I’m sorry for the delay, I had some problems with my internet connection but it seems to be working fine now.
Even if their productivity is different, the number of worlds in the Federation being 150, and not 1500 like I (so strangely) thought so, means that the Empire controls even more ressources then the Federation could ever hope to match.
Picard quote has been addressed elsewhere and even pro-Wars debaters accept that he probably was talking about member worlds and that he didn’t include all of the colonies and such but that’s not the point, even if the Empire controls more resources than the Federation (No one is disputing that) it doesn’t mean that they can use those resources more efficiently not even manage them better. The Death Star projects are not a good example of how to administrate your resources.
Of course not, and I never said as much.
Since the beginning, I believe I have stated that if a reinforcement fleet of 2800 ships (so by using reinforcement I'm already stating I know it is not the only ships they are fighting) can scare them, then a power capble of bringing more reinforcements -meaning more ships than those they are already fighting- would be an even bigger threat.

In fact, here is part of one of my statements:
ships are considered a considerable reinforcement,
So we both agre that they were already fighting a big fleet, but that 2800 ships as reinforcement was enough to scare them.
The only actual place we disagree on, is the Empire's capacity to produce the kind of reinforcements I'm talking about.
We'll get to that later... :)
If I understand correctly, you said “Thousands of ships as reinforcements are enough to scare them”, and then I replied by saying “Thousands of ships are enough to scare them only if they are reinforcing ten of thousands of ships that they are already fighting and losing”. But yes, a power capable of deploy tens of thousands of ships would be a big threat, but now I’m not quite sure if the Empire can be that power.
Because we like to?... :)
We are debating the actual industrial capacity of both the Feds and the Empire to produce huge fleets.
If you re-read all our posts, you will notice that is essentially the only thing we disagree on... :)
But boy, do we ever... :)
Now that’s the difference, when needed to be, the Federation did deployed thousands of ships even tens of thousands, meaning that they actually have the capacity to produce huge fleets but in the other hand, the Empire failed to deploy even a few hundred ships at their most important engagement.
Well, yes and no...
Yes because, since the beginning, I stated that if the Empire had a million ships, they would not only be ISDs.
Their total ship count would include all the smaller cruisers, transport vessels, all the support vessels they needed, just like the Fed's fleet isn't only comprised of Sovereign-class vessels.
No because, your point is a really good one:
30 vessels, no matter how big, would not have been noticed any more than perhaps 100 to 300 (I'm not too sure about 1000, because I truly feel a fleet movement of 1000 ISDs would be too big to pass unnoticed... ).
I wasn’t clear enough, my mistake. When I stated a million ships I never meant that they would be only ISDs. The thousand ships that I also mentioned could have been a mix of a few hundred ISDs and other lesser classes, but my point stands, a thousand assorted ships would be only a drop in the bucket.

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Post by SailorSaturn13 » Fri Dec 15, 2006 12:52 am

39 ships at Wolf 359 vs 27 at Endor...

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Post by Mike DiCenso » Fri Dec 15, 2006 6:57 pm

40 ships at Wolf 359, 39 were destroyed or wrecked. Technically you could make it 41, if you count the E-D, even though it was late.
-Mike

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Post by somerandomhobo » Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:42 am

im just putting this out here and i maybe wrong but suppose the war was in full swing what happens if the feds send a strike team to just kill the emperor just a small ship or maybe a handful using cloaks from romulans to get into the empire (i think they can under some amendment i might be wrong)then wait till the time is right then all of a sudden bam he's dead then wouldnt the empire go into total disorder and civil war over who would control the empire[/quote]

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Post by AnonymousRedShirtEnsign » Fri Dec 22, 2006 8:25 am

That doesn't sound like something Starfleet would do. Section 31, yes, but not Starfleet. Though I think that the Romulan Tal'Shiar would be the most likely to do that, especially since the Obsidian Order has disbanded (AFAIK).

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Post by watchdog » Sat Jan 20, 2007 5:12 am

Interesting thread, here is a similar post I made a few years back, posted with your kind indulgence;
An imperial invasion of the federation would not be quite the cakewalk some think it would be. It can be done but not easily;

First off they need a way to get to the federation, a portal of some kind. If the portal is in or near federation space, all the better. If its on the opposite side of the galaxy then the federation has no immediate worries as the empire wont even know they exist until they can explore the region they find themselves in and map out hyperspace lanes.

To put it another way, the further away from federation space, the less likely the empire will run into or hear about the federation. This can be good for the empire as it would give them time to to get a good foothold in the galaxy and conquered territory along with the technology(unless of course they find themselves in Borg space in which case they'll be way to busy to worry about the federation). Also the further away the crossover point, the less likely a conflict between the two powers. Star wars ships need precise calculations in order to use hyperspace and would need to map out routes, this would be time consuming. The star wars galaxy has had hyperdrive for over 25 millennia and still there are areas around the edge of the galaxy that remain unknown. The very existence of an unknown region and the fact that it took Grand Admiral Thrawn nearly 10 years to map out what's essentially an unexplored spiral arm (if the maps in the new jedi order books are to be believed) in an area that he's originally from tells me that it would take decades for the empire to make contact with the federation on their own (how long would it have taken Thrawn had he not been from the unknown regions?)

I know some out there will say that they'll use probe droids, but even assuming that Thrawn was smart enough to employ such a tactic, it still took nearly ten years to map/conquered the territory in the unknown regions, and he didn't map out the whole thing. Also you run the risk of other aliens out there capturing your droid and examining its technology (even with its self destruct there was quite a bit of the droid in ESB left to examine). Lastly there are also all sorts of strange anomalies in the star trek galaxy that could make hyperspace travel more hazardous than usual, and cost the empire a lot of time and effort trying to study or avoid them.

If the portal is near or in federation space, things get interesting. The empire can steal astrogation charts from weaker ships which will give them an idea of what to expect. However they would still need to do some mapping duty to deal with out of date info, and that would most likely call attention to their presence. The federation would of course send ambassadors but the sight of such heavily armed ships would make them suspicious and they would probably start long-range surveillance of imperial activity. At this point the empires cover is blown and they would need to prevent the federation of learning of the location of their crossover point. The portal is the important part and needs to be defended at all costs. If the federation gains control of the portal then they can collapse or mine the opening thus cutting off imperial forces from their home base. The ships would have no repair base or a way of replenishing their ships and would be on the run.

If upon entering federation territory, the first ship they encounter is a Starfleet ship, then they must destroy it. If it gets away then the word would get out and any invasion will get harder due to the federation knowing of the presence of an aggressive empire out to get them. Better if they encounter a freighter first, they can capture it and get star charts, technology, and prisoners to interrogate. It also gives them time to report back to the empire and begin planning an invasion

Getting an established foothold is all important for success, without absolute secrecy, they're open to attacks before they're ready to invade. Once the decision has been made, they can start diverting resources towards the invasion. A base on both sides of the portal is necessary, as well as a system of bases to better consolidate their position. They should also look into making an alliance with federation enemies such as the Romulans. The Romulans have a cloaking device (not as good as the Klingons but still useful) as well as detailed info on the federation (having a few warp-capable ships would be a plus as well). The only problem is that the Romulans don't trust others and the empire hates aliens. The empire is most likely going to be alone on this. Once the invasion begins then the empire is in a much better position and can inflict massive damage in a surprise assault. the problem is of course keeping it a secret long enough to begin the invasion which I think I have shown here would not be all that easy
The Deathstars are nonentities in my opinion, the first one took 20 years to perfect and build, the second took 4 (DS2 started immedeatly after destruction of first) and were destroyed rather quickly in their existance, the Emperor probably busted his economy building that second one.

As Luke Skywalker himself notes to Palpatine "Your overconfidence is your weakness." He is right, the Emperor may have been cautious in his early days but once he fully took over he and all his underlings became extreamly overconfident ( the really weird thing is that you see this exact same trait in many of the warsie debaters), the Federations greatest strength is of course their dynamic adaptability. When I originally wrote the above thread I did not give much thought to the Empire gaining useful maps through espionage, that alone in my opinion would shift much of the balance of my above post towards the Empire ( the first part of the essay was writen to combat the ridiculous idea that the Empire could establish a base on the other side of the galaxy and easily zip back and forth with their hyperdrive). There is more nuance to this debate and I can think of different scenarios for the Empire depending on what it is they hope to acomplish.

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Post by AnonymousRedShirtEnsign » Sat Jan 20, 2007 6:38 am

I agree that intel would be essential for the empire, the problem is that there aren't really any good candidates in the region, they are all xenophobic or on good terms with the Federation. The Ferengi would have been a good choice pre-DS9, but with Rom as the Nagus they won't sell out the UFP. The Cardassians' joining of the Dominion was an act of desperation brought on by the Klingon/ Cardassian war, and with the UFP helping to rebuild Cardassia I doubt they will betray them (though they did before, but that was mainly Dukat). The Breen are, as always, an enigma. They might flop and help the Empire, it all depends on how the Federation alliance treated them after the Dominion war and how the Breen viewed that treatment.

Assuming the gateway between the galaxies is near Federation space, since it becomes rather illogical if it isn't, the Empire had better make damn sure it secures it because there is a high probability that the Romulans would collapse it. No matter where the trans-galactic-gateway is in the Milkyway the Empire has to be careful to avoid the dozen or so near omnipotent/ highly advanced beings and races that dwell in the Trek galaxy.

The Empire also has to secure the gateway to prevent knowledge of the Federation from spreading. Its values could remind people of the good old days with the Republic, which would generate a lot of support for the Rebelion, possibly enough for a full blown civil war, which would mean that the Empire couldn't launch an invasion. I don't think that the Empire can afford to deploy enough ships in an invasion fleet, since it would lose control of its own territory.

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Post by watchdog » Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:08 am

AnonymousRedShirtEnsign wrote:The Empire also has to secure the gateway to prevent knowledge of the Federation from spreading. Its values could remind people of the good old days with the Republic, which would generate a lot of support for the Rebelion, possibly enough for a full blown civil war, which would mean that the Empire couldn't launch an invasion. I don't think that the Empire can afford to deploy enough ships in an invasion fleet, since it would lose control of its own territory.
You know I had never thought about that, what would happen if the rebels learned of the Federation? how would they exploit this knowledge for their advantage? What would happen if the Federation captured the x-over point and made contact with the rebels, would they ally with them or simply seal off the rift? Interesting questions.

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Post by AnonymousRedShirtEnsign » Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:52 am

It's why the Dominion destroyed the Federation and Bajoran colonies and bases in the Gamma quadrant.

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Post by Mike DiCenso » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:52 pm

watchdog wrote:
AnonymousRedShirtEnsign wrote:The Empire also has to secure the gateway to prevent knowledge of the Federation from spreading. Its values could remind people of the good old days with the Republic, which would generate a lot of support for the Rebelion, possibly enough for a full blown civil war, which would mean that the Empire couldn't launch an invasion. I don't think that the Empire can afford to deploy enough ships in an invasion fleet, since it would lose control of its own territory.
You know I had never thought about that, what would happen if the rebels learned of the Federation? how would they exploit this knowledge for their advantage? What would happen if the Federation captured the x-over point and made contact with the rebels, would they ally with them or simply seal off the rift? Interesting questions.

The Federation probably would seal the rift, if they could. Remember that in order for there to be a conflict with the Galactic Empire and the Federation, it's not merely a matter of distance, but also time. The Federation in giving aid to the Rebellion would be tampering with the history of the SW galaxy and it's natural development.
-Mike

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Re: Logistics of Invasion: Federation vs Empire

Post by Jasonb » Mon Sep 07, 2009 12:51 am

It difficult to know what happen it depends on lots of unknowns. How many starships could Empire afford to send into this invasion would be a big one. What are those spacecrafts in the Mars Defense Perimeter that we saw best of both worlds. Are like the Cardassian Dreadnought or are unmanned drones armed just normal weapons. While Federation could make it very cost battle to say the least Empire. IF the Federation just us Navigational Defector dish as a weapon on many different kinds of starships. But known if they win or not depends a known date.

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Re: Logistics of Invasion: Federation vs Empire

Post by Picard » Fri Jul 16, 2010 1:58 pm

Maybe, but when we see that GCS can penetrate ISD's shields with 0.04 second phaser blast or completely destroy ISD with single photon torpedo... even if Empire wins, it would be bloody war. Galaxy class carries 250 torpedoes, and each torpedo can destroy ISD in single hit. Also, Federation Attack Fighters are vastly superior to any Imperial or SW fighter in general, plus few can blow up ISD. About numbers of capital ships, DITL estimate is 7877 for Starfleet, 7853 for Klingon Empire, 1255 for Cardassian Empire, 457 for Romulan Empire (that gives combined cound of 17 442 for all powers). That means that if there are 25 000 ISD's and SSD's (as per Darkstar's high-end estimate) around, Empire will be unable to conquer any of mentioned powers with its full strength, let alone if all of them unite. Now, about FTL drive, Empire has advantage, and although Federation has researched Transwarp drive, that failed (actually, transwarp worked but was sabotaged; it is assumed it failed due to mechanical failure and all research was suspended).

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Re: Logistics of Invasion: Federation vs Empire

Post by Praeothmin » Fri Jul 16, 2010 4:08 pm

Picard wrote:(actually, transwarp worked but was sabotaged; it is assumed it failed due to mechanical failure and all research was suspended).
That would mean that Starfleet is full of the dumbest, stupidest people in the Galaxy if it's true.
TransWarp fails, and we're to assume that they never looked into the problem, and never found out the oh-so-important piece missing from the assembly?
We're suppose to believe that because that part was taken off, Starfleet said:
"-Well, there's the problem, an important part is missing!
-We should replace it Chief!
-Who gave you permission to speak? Guard, shoot that engineer. I'll report to Starfleet that the experiment was a complete waste of time..."

Yeah, right... *rolleyes*

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Re: Logistics of Invasion: Federation vs Empire

Post by Mike DiCenso » Fri Jul 16, 2010 6:38 pm

Picard wrote:Maybe, but when we see that GCS can penetrate ISD's shields with 0.04 second phaser blast or completely destroy ISD with single photon torpedo... even if Empire wins, it would be bloody war. Galaxy class carries 250 torpedoes, and each torpedo can destroy ISD in single hit. Also, Federation Attack Fighters are vastly superior to any Imperial or SW fighter in general, plus few can blow up ISD. About numbers of capital ships, DITL estimate is 7877 for Starfleet, 7853 for Klingon Empire, 1255 for Cardassian Empire, 457 for Romulan Empire (that gives combined cound of 17 442 for all powers). That means that if there are 25 000 ISD's and SSD's (as per Darkstar's high-end estimate) around, Empire will be unable to conquer any of mentioned powers with its full strength, let alone if all of them unite. Now, about FTL drive, Empire has advantage, and although Federation has researched Transwarp drive, that failed (actually, transwarp worked but was sabotaged; it is assumed it failed due to mechanical failure and all research was suspended).
Some points here:

- Where do you get this estimate that ISD shields are only 100 megatons from again?

- Graham's starship fleet numbers are not estimates by any means, just a kind of black magic, pick something that sounds reasonable out of the hat. I'd find it odd, for example, that the Romulans only have about 460 ships, especially given the horrdenous losses they took in the Dominion War.

- Robert Anderson's numbers for the Imperial fleet is an equivalency, there may be hundreds of thousands of ships in the Imperial fleet, as per the higher end estimates. But it is for an euivalent firepower to roughly 25,000 ISDs.


Praeothmin has already brought up why the transwarp project failure could not have happened the way you suggest, so I'll let that slide.
-Mike

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Re: Logistics of Invasion: Federation vs Empire

Post by Picard » Sat Jul 17, 2010 5:05 pm

I used DITL and sw-v-st for technical information

http://www.ditl.org/
http://www.st-v-sw.net/STSWhi2.html

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