OBT Forum

I prefer the word military rather than army there Ice as your military includes naval forces

My bad. I meant military but I made a short cut between armed forces and army (not nice for all the other arms).

Oh there is naval doctrine, but as this was the Clans we're talking about, I would have assumed that it was ground force focused and thus went for a ground focus.

Your idea sounds like turning the Clans military into the USMC.  Large, mobile forces capable of bringing lots of firepower to a place at incredibly short notice, deplyoing from ships or helecopters.

Well 'large' is a problem cause no matter how you slice it 'the Clans' are not going to be a 'large force' or rather big enough to take and hold the InnerSphere in a traditional sense. Taking heavily populated worlds and assimilating their people requires an enormous resource commitment that no matter the SLDF in Exodus growth rate is gonna be impossible and like the Vikings of old they seem to be destined to fade into those they would conquer.

Establishing 'naval supremacy' however is an intriguing concept which could serve as a force multiplier isolating a numerically superior foe and in my scenario 'lording over them'.

Your idea sounds like turning the Clans military into the USMC.  Large, mobile forces capable of bringing lots of firepower to a place at incredibly short notice, deplyoing from ships or helecopters.

But this is a way to win every battle but without long-term objective, which would allow the Clans to turn a series of battles into something coherent and in a strategical victory.

What about just Terra? 

Wouldn't be a bit too limited? This is perhaps a bit too headhunting for me as it would not bring any decisive advantage on the long run as it is too narrow and lonely to allow for a real foothold.

A fleet as large as you would need just to seize Terra is likely to be discovered as it is headed towards humanity's core worlds.

That was one question I asked myself. Is it possible to reach Terra undetected? Or in other words, how far could one fleet go from the Clan Worlds towards Terra while avoiding detection? This is of course a pure theoretical question as it is more than likely that something would go wrong along the way.

I don't think Terra is too limited a conquest Ice. Especially if your looking to control communications across the InnerSphere which would be a goal. Another objective in seizing control naval is establishing supremacy throughout space which is done by targeting jumpships. Without a working HPG network and jumpships to carry messages how would the House Lords maintain control of their interstellar realms?

Is it possible to reach Terra undetected? Yes but it makes for one hell of a boring story. I guess it depends on the timing of such an attack and the size of your fleet, which would need to be large in order to accomplish this task. Theoretically anything is possible with several historical surprise attacks achieving varying degrees of success. Unlike Pearl Harbor, as one example, your not just trying to raid a target or destroy an objective but conquer it. Here are some other historic examples;

https://militaryhistorynow.com/2016/12/07/didnt-see-it-coming-nine-of-military-historys-most-amazing-surprise-attacks/

Your forgetting Murphy's Law "whatever can go wrong, will go wrong." Space is endless and so are the possibilities for this during such an operation Bradshaw. From a misjump among one of the ships in your fleet to accidentally running into a variety of vessels (traders, transports, etc.) as you journey deeper into the core of the InnerSphere. Keeping ComStar in the dark is especially difficult as they would be your targeting in this operation.