As the commander of an exploration fleet in the Star Citizen Universe, I’ve spent considerable time thinking about how I will protect my assets and people, when we are outside UEE controlled space. In real life, I come from a long line of commercial fisherman and I am an accomplished blue water racing sailor with many off-shore regattas on my own resume. There’s an old Sicilian proverb about sailing, I sometimes share with my fellow crew mates, as the sun sets on a challenging and intense day of racing:

In calm winds and gentle seas, any man can be the captain of his own ship.

What my old Sicilian relatives are trying to say here is that adversity is the true measure of a man. Particularly the measure of one who is a leader of men, and who is responsible for the careful management of his life, and assets when his goals may take them into harm’s way.

I may not like Pirates, but I can agree with them on one salient fact: Those who wander into uncontrolled space without the means to defend themselves deserve to lose their assets. But what does the means to defend oneself look like in a zero gravity, hard vacuum, and 6DF space?

One of the amazing things about Star Citizen is that we are about to run a real-time simulation on the mechanics of mining, supply chain logistics, and military operations at a scale and level of detail which is unprecedented. Quite literally, the book on how to succeed under these conditions does not exist, because nobody really knows yet.

However, we are free to dream, speculate, and plan, and I am interested in spending some time thinking about the lessons I’ve learned leading virtual men into combat in FPS and Air to Air combat mil-sims, as well as my own academic research on the relevant factors in air, ground, and naval warfare, and military history.

Space-Ops Strategy: The road ahead

The Space-Ops Strategy series will be an ongoing exploration of this topic. Along the way I hope to build up some definition around the various, relevant considerations while sparking an intelligent conversation on the subject, wherever it may take us. As with any matter of strategy, it’s hard to avoid ‘boiling the ocean’ so that’s why I’ve chosen to make this a series of posts, with a common goal: A deeper, more meaningful understanding of what it will take to accomplish our dreams in the Star Citizen Universe.

Topics which we intend to discuss include, but are not limited to:

Space fleet maneuvers

Defensive and offensive strategy

Strategic planning and preparation

Personnel management

Environmental factors, advantages, & disadvantages

Military intelligence and counter-intelligence

Training

Operational execution

Command and leadership

Definition of objectives

Mass and economy of force

The intended audiences for the Space-Ops Strategy series are ship’s officers, captains, and fleet commanders, but we’ll always try to keep the conversation at a level where anyone interested in the subject can participate. We welcome your ideas for posts and, as always on Imperial News Network, we would be honored to accept contributions which meet our editorial standards of excellence while moving the conversation forward in a thoughtful, respectful manner.