Dragaera

High Tech vs. the Orb WAS Re: the honing of Vlad

Howard Brazee howard at brazee.net
Thu Jan 19 15:29:33 PST 2006

Ken Koester wrote:

>Doesn't really matter; your armies aren't fighting in a vacuum.  They 
>have a range.  They have needs.  High tech armies need enormous amounts 
>of things, just to stay in one place, much less move around.  And when 
>they do move around, all that stuff has to move with them.  I cut off 
>the flow of juice to your electronics, it just becomes a box somewhat 
>less protective than the equivalent mass of iron.  Heck, it takes 3 or 4 
>or 5--maybe 10-- of your high tech guys totin' beans, just to get one 
>guy to blast out with a directed energy weapon.  Invading, defending, 
>conquering--doesn't much matter; unless you suddenly repeal the law of 
>inertia or tap into a *concentrated* energy-everywhere source, you've 
>got an enormous tail to take care of, even if all you do is repel an 
>invader.  Even if you repel one at your border--borders are not the 
>factor, distance from railhead/port is.  A Dragaeran army has little of 
>that to contend with.  Your best counter isn't high tech at all, but to 
>burn all the fields in its path.
>  
>
One place where logistics makes a huge difference is in whether you are 
doing the invading or the defending.

In this issue another question comes up - how difficult is it to disrupt 
sorcerous supply lines?  It appears that this gets done all the time - 
to a degree that would be hard to match with mechanical supply lines.