On 1/17/06, Jon Lincicum <lincicum at comcast.net> wrote: > Would a higher tech level really cause the Empire any problem? > > Would anthrax, atomic weapons, Sarin gas, Tanks, high explosives, > particle weapons, etc be very effective against a little Elder Sorcery? Hmmm. If I were in control of a 21st-century military, tasked with taking on the Dragaeran Empress, what would I do? Assume there are no funny "technology doesn't work around sorcery" effects, a la Harry Potter. Advantages that are mine: 1. Mass production. If I can make an effective weapon, I can put it in the hands of more troops she has sorcerers. Sorcerers can do this too (spell sticks), but probably not with anything fancy. 2. Mobility. I'll have a much better logistic train than she will, and I can move my troops from place to place more quickly. At minimum this means I'll be able to achive higher force concentration when on the offence. 3. Information. I will probably have better intelligence capabilities than the Dragaerans, better communication systems, and more ability to integrate information into a coherent picture. 4. Lifespan. If the war is sustained enough, I have more capability to absorb and replace losses. I expect this to have more effect on morale than on actual operations, though. My method of waging warfare will probably seem very fast and brutal from the Dragaeran perspective--early on, Vlad mentions a fellow Jhereg who "works" about once a decade, and yet Vlad carried out forty-something assassinations in the course of 4-5 *years.* 5. High tech. My huge technological base ought to give me *something* that's usable, even against sorcery. I'd probably try out long-range tank warfare, see if it worked; long-range artillery, same way; high-altitude bombing. This is mostly about testing the limits of Dragaeran sorcery. I'd probably also try the straightforward strategy of ambushing a Dragaeran army on march with a company of soldiers firing automatic rifles and launching RPGs. If I were forced to face Dragaerans on their own terms, their superior size would make it iffy, but I might try body armor. (There have been interesting, nemourlon-like developments in that area recently. Armor which is rigid only when struck.) That's playing to their strengths, though. I may also have superior night vision technology, judging from /Dragon/. Disadvantages: 1. Sorcery is very common among Dragaerans. The key question is exactly *how* good the average Dragaeran can be expected to be. If a typical soldier is good enough to set off the ammunition in a rifle at 300 yards, my options become more limited. Same thing if the typical soldier is good enough to see in the dark as if it were daylight. If he can pretty much keep the rain off himself on a good idea, I grin and shoot him. 2. Teleportation magics. Dragaerans aren't able to mass-teleport armies (see /Dragon/), but I can't effectively defend my perimeter from individual infiltrators. I may have to disperse my forces widely. 3. *Powerful* sorcerers exist among the Dragaerans. Then again, even Sethra doesn't seem to be able to make armies fall over dead. This will probably affect my morale more than my operations, although if I make the wrong mistakes it may also make them more costly, e.g. if Sethra drops an amorphia bomb onto my central command post. Keep in mind that Dragaerans have fought armies of Easterners in the past, and it was less than a cake-walk, judging by TPG. High technology could make things a lot harder on the Empire. Max Wilson -- Be pretty if you are, Be witty if you can, But be cheerful if it kills you.