Yeah, but I want Rods because Missiles have guidance packages, which given NOD's love of ECM and jamming, means it'll be going elsewhere. Plain old kinetic though, not so much.
I'm pretty sure that an unguided hunk of metal dropped from orbit won't be more accurate than a guided hunk of metal told to steer to specified coordinates.
Especially since a truly passive hunk of metal is likely to undergo unpredictable minor course changes during re-entry. It's not a good weapon for precision aim.
If we want more orbital bombardment, we should just build the orbital laser satellites Space Force wants.
Those have some big advantages for orbital bombardment, such as "you can adjust fire in real time if your shots are going off target."
Also do we really want NOD having a nice big target for them to aim rockets at?
[/QUOTE]
I am of the opinion that going beyond Q1 2063 is a grievous error.
Nod is a moving target, and there are multiple technologies they have developed independently or stolen that we want to forestall before they get them into broad production.
The longer we wait, the stronger they get, but the stronger we
also get. The experience of Steel Vanguard suggests that
on the whole our military is equal to the task of defeating Noddies on the open field of battle. Indian Nod may have secret weapons that tilt the balance of raw strength per unit population more in their favor (i.e. they may be stronger than an equal number of 'normal Nod'). But offsetting this is the fact that GDI is a global military that can concentrate very large forces against India while still holding on the defensive elsewhere in the world.
The really critical question of when we push the 'GO' button on Karachi is "when do we have the specific capabilities we now
lack that will give us a credible chance of success that we lack
now?"
Consider that among these capabilities are:
1) An adequate navy to secure our global shipping lanes against the scale of Nod raiding efforts
while also fighting a pitched naval war in the western Indian Ocean and covering a massive amphibious assault.
2) Supplies of power armor to counter mass deployment of biomonsters; Ground Forces seems to be able to manage without that, but then, India will probably deploy biomonsters on a far larger scale than any Noddies we've come across so far.
3) The ability to drop mass formations from orbit, which is an obvious asset to commit in an operation like Karachi, for the same reasons that the Western Allies' ability to drop a corps' worth of airborne troops into Normandy was a major asset for Operation overlord.
It seems reasonably likely that once we have these capabilities, we will be able to handle Karachi... But if we try to push 'GO' before those capabilities are ready, we risk an overwhelming disaster.
...
Furthermore, the longer you wait, the more time that the Nod combat forces and reserves and industry we gutted/are gutting during the Regency War have time to recover and attempt to pull shit while we're committed in Pakistan.
Yes, but on the other hand, we have just succeeded in
offensive operations against Nod as a whole. The strategic defensive is easier to sustain than the strategic offensive. We can pull a lot of forces (replenished much more thoroughly after two years of downtime than one) from elsewhere in the world and rely on holding the defensive to discourage Nod attacks from regaining much lost ground.
We do not need every man and every gun now operating to expand the Green Zones at the Yellow Zones' expense just to
hold the Zone boundary where it is.
I dont want to have to rush an invasion in order to save the Himalayas because the Indians finally figured a way to bypass the Himalayan fortifications and wrecked a chunk of the place.
That is a valid concern. On the other hand, it may well be that if the overall Regency War tapers out, India will relax their private war against BZ-18, precisely to avoid drawing an unmanageable amount of aggro. We'll have to see how things evolve over the course of 2061 and 2062 before making up our minds about when to push 'GO.'
It's been recently hinted that they've even managed to create a Blue Zone there.
Yes, but we have like literally over a dozen of those, so their ability to do so doesn't prove that we're in danger of losing the ability to beat them up a bit around the periphery of their territory if we make it our #1 strategic priority.
There is one thing I don't see people considering when talking about the build schedule. Not only does GDI need to build the ships, they also need to work them up abd get them ready for service. Training takes time. Especially when you don't want to skimp to avoid ending up like Taihou. As a result, for the purposes of analysis, I'd add a 1-2 quarter delay before they actually matter. The number of CVEs in full service in Q1 2063 would be 7. We had, last time I checked, something like 35 super carriers. Super carriers which were fully tasked just with escort missions. With the 50-50 ratio of 'at sea' to 'in maintenance' that GDI uses, I'd expect a grand total of 3 or 4 super carriers to actually be freed up for the invasion.
I don't like those odds. And for this reason, I would argue for a delay to Q1 2064. Three years and a bit out. At that point, we'd have enough CVEs and Sharks to replace a good chunk of the Super Carriers, Battleships, and Cruisers on escort missions. Minimum of 12 super carriers to start with. This would give us a much better chance of pulling off the amphibious invasion.
Now, if the Navy comes in and says 'Yep, we're ready in Q1 2063', then I'll go by their wishes. But I don't think it's likely.
To be fair, CVLs still in the process of working up can probably be tasked with convoy escort within the
relatively lower threat environment of 2062-63, which is
likely to be lower due to strategic exhaustion on Nod's part. We hope.
I think we should get the all the Frigates Yards done next turn, and aim for Q1 2062. Further delays do not help us.
We've got the carrier conversions running, so we don't need to wait for the new carriers.
I don't think the Navy will share your assessment that the conversion carriers alone are enough to free up enough escort capability to make Eastern Paris sustainable.
If they do share your assessment, we will
know.
(Also, 2062Q1 is a bad time for us to do much of anything with Tiberium dice except income-increasing measures)
