[Mass Combat] PLAUSIBLE army diversity in settings

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

The issue isn't the military logistics...air logistics might not be feasible for truly massive campaigns, but if you aren't doing something like Operation Overlord I wouldn't worry that much. It will be unreasonably expensive but you can potentially absorb that cost.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

However, there has been no point in recent history, possibly in history at all where civilian trade didn't make heavy use of water transport as the cheapest of all bulk transport methods. (I have no clue why Mass Combat sea logistics cost more than land logistics.) Contragrav might be able to upset that, though.

Some trade goes by sea, some goes by air (in our world).

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

"Unable to import or export heavy goods at reasonable prices" is not an economic niche I can believe.

That's not what niche I'm proposing. I'm proposing 'imports/exports/transports those goods that are normally transported by air anyway, and has better aerospace technology, thus having an advantage over the competition'.

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Well, I thought you said they didn't have naval commerce to speak of, I was aiming for their air commerce instead.

Not much by sea, but it can't be totally zero (besides, there's fishing). Okay, let's look at air commerce.

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Do they not engage in long distance trade? As a nation in a TL9+ world? That's very hard to credit. If your Khæn have no commerce outside easy air patrol range of their land bases that might protect them from raiding, but it's unbelievable.

Isn't air (or even aerospace) patrol range pretty long by TL9? As in, 'global'?

I get the impression that you're saying that to engage in air trade, a nation must have 'above-average' navy.

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Also, naval forces don't so much require a 'logistics trail' as such. They can have one, but they also have internal range and stores to allow them to cruise for long distances and timeframes. A modern SSN (nuclear submarine) can circumnavigate the globe without surfacing, never mind resupplying.

Are you saying that Submarines (or the Navy in general) can ignore the requirements for Logistics TS, don't lose Logistic TS from Raids etc.? I hope not.

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

but when each SAM brings down an airliner or cargo plane and a handful of shells or a torpedo destroys a surface freighter that limit is more than enough to be intolerable.

What are you trying to say? You keep pointing at the fragility of logistics/merchant vehicles, but they are no less fragile in our world, yet nations trade.