[Game] Generate a military sci-fi setting

[(E)]

A while ago there was this Sci-fi setting game.

We can use the answer a question -> ask a question format as before.
Try to keep the questions open-ended and avoid "leading" questions, which sneak in too much detail in a question that should be in an answer.

This time the goal is a miltary sci-fi setting, armies and soldiers clashing, the odd naval engagement that kind of thing.

Anyway Q1
How big is the setting?

[ericthered]

The setting is mostly concerned with a single system, but that system has a Trillion People or more*

Question 2: How different are the people who live in the system from each other, physiologically? All human? Multiple Alien Species? Gene tweaks? Uploaded minds? AIs? rubber forehead aliens? Hive minds? You probably shouldn't lay it all out, just give us an idea of how different people can be.


*I have several very different ways this could be done. I don't want to muddy the waters with specifics yet though.

EDIT: also, hurrah! I love this game!

[sir_pudding]

Well if it is one system then either there aren't any aliens or the aliens are stuck there for whatever reason. Aliens are cool though. So there is a homeworld (which may be Earth but doesn't have to be) and a native sapient species, along with their daughter species (including AI and uplifts) and a multispecies population of aliens (which if the homeworld isn't Earth includes humans) that either arrived without FTL or can't leave now for some reason.

Q3: How did the aliens get here and why can't they leave?

[TGLS]

Sorry this was simulpost:
Most are human, but some aren't, not anymore. The ones that aren't come in all shapes an sizes; some are small like spiders; others as large as a spaceship. Some don't have a physical body at all.

Aliens got here around two hundred years ago. They arrived when a colossal interstellar ark of unknown construction crashed into Jupiter, destroying the engines. Apparently it was collecting sapient lifeforms. This touched off a space race.

Question 4: This is military sci-fi, so what major development defines armed conflict?

[(E)]

The Short Range Quantum Interference Device is a key development in warfare (SQID). It degrades the effects of electronic devices that do not have the processing power to overcome a sudden increase in the internal noise it creates. High level A.I.s compare the effects to those of LSD on humans. As a result many formerly automated weapons are now required to have a sentient operator.

Some low level electronics can be replaced with pseudoptical systems but they are very low powered in computing terms. Very expensive shielding also exists.

Recently new material technology has greatly improved armour capabilities, as a result new weapon technologies are getting rushed through testing to counter the improved armour. At this stage a plethora of different very new weapons are being introduced to conflicts across the system.

Q5
How well occupied are the other planets and moons in the solar system?

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by (E)

Q5
How well occupied are the other planets and moons in the solar system?

Every solid body that's obtained a hydrostatic equilibrium classified as a terrestrial planet, moon, or dwarf planet in the system has at least one pressure/environmental dome colony, save for Venus. In addition, there are O'Neill cylinder and/or Stanford torus stations in every L4 and L5 position for the major planets, and possibly a few of the minor ones.

Q6: What superscience technologies exist, and how are they applied militarily?

[sir_pudding]

Just the SQID, some creepy spooky action at a distance psionics two the alien species are packing and gravity drives. The SQID as mentioned is used to interfere with enemy AI and electronics, the psionic aliens can do the usual: interrogation by mind-reading; pulling pins from enemy grenades; mind-control, ect. The gravity drives allow fast reactionless space travel.

Q7: In the conflict that is about to break out who are the principal combatants?

[ericthered]

Who knows? There are enough different groups floating around that there is almost always a war going on, one way or the other.

Q8: which locations have the most people?

[Apollonian]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Who knows? There are enough different groups floating around that there is almost always a war going on, one way or the other.

Q8: which locations have the most people?

Mars, split up among a few different polities. After the near-abandonment of Earth, Mars' mostly-terraformed stated meant it had the most carrying capacity of any other body in the system. Other leading population contenders are the Jovian moons and Luna, but a very large portion of the system's population lives in orbital habitats or ships.

Q9: Why was the Earth (mostly) abandoned, and how is that abandonment about to trigger a major conflict between three powers?

[doulos05]

A9: The earth was being abandoned right about when the alien ship crashed because of an imminent pole shift. The pole shift took about 200 years and now there is a rush to recolonize the newly habitable planet.

Q10: What's the keystone doctrine for the Martian military (For example the US had Air-Land-Sea Battle while the Soviets had the "Deep Battle" theory.)