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Planetary warfare: Difference between revisions
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==Theatres of combat== | ==Theatres of combat== | ||
===Land=== | ===Land=== | ||
While air power is important strategically, and orbital superiority is ultimately the crux upon which battles between spacefaring powers are won or lost, land warfare has been, and continues in the 26th century to be, the most prominent aspect of warfare. Infantry are an integral part of any army, no matter how technologically sophisticated. During the Forerunners' wars with humanity, both sides continued to use soldiers equipped a range of handheld armaments and protective armor. Initially, Forerunner ground forces consisted of infantry wearing powerful combat skins, supplemented by AI-operated [[Sentinels]] and [[Armigers]], though as the war with the Flood wore on the Forerunners increasingly relied on automated forces to sterilise or destroy Flood forces, eventually producing the [[Prometheans]] from composed Warrior-Servants and unwilling humans. In the modern era, both the Covenant and the UNSC, as well as other human military and paramilitary groups, also use infantry, equipped with a range of weapons designed to occupy different niches. Both sides primarily use infantry to take and hold strategically and tactically important areas, particularly military bases and population centres. Infantry are also useful during counter-insurgency operations, which the UNSC conducted during the Insurrection, to sweep populated areas and clear out buildings of hostile occupants. Infantry are also much easier to transport and supply than larger and heavier vehicles, which can be awkward to operate in narrow urban environments and can cause significant collatoral damage. | |||
armor | |||
artillery and anti-air | |||
The Flood is particularly dependent on engaging land forces - their strategic goal is the infection and absorption of all sentient life, and ground troops tend to be vulnerable to the infection process, particularly infantry. Vehicle crews usually have a degree of protection from Flood infection forms, though are not immune to it, and once infected provide the Flood with a powerful armored vehicle to add to its forces. | |||
===Air=== | ===Air=== | ||
Most military forces deploy a range of aerial combat units to establish aerial supremacy and close air support. Establishing aerial supremacy can be critical to winning a battle, defending land and sea-based forces from aerial attack, improving one's own ability to attack enemy land and sea-based forces, and even repelling orbital attacks - the UNSC Air Force was able to hold off Covenant invasion for three years when the Covenant attacked Meridian, before the colony finally fell. UNSC military branches deploy a number of different craft for the role - the SkyHawk jump-jet, the GA-TL1 Longsword and the F41 Broadsword. The Covenant rely on the small, fast and nimble Type-26 and Type-54 Banshee flyer, supported by smaller numbers of the larger, more powerful and better protected Type-31 Seraph, as well as Type-29 Vampire craft for anti-air capability. Forerunner forces established air superiority through the use of small [[weapon-ships]], with a single operator able to control at least a million craft remotely, or directly operated by onboard pilots. Even the Flood deployed aerial forces to deter enemy air units and attack ground-based units - [[Flood swarm]]s were able to attack both air and ground units, and although were individually weak, were deployed in large numbers. | |||
Close air support is another important aspect of air combat. Ordnance can be delibered by fighters and bombers, but their speed and method of flight gives them small loiter times before they leave the area and need to refuel. To this end, the UNSC and Covenant utilise a range of craft for the purpose. The key strategic advantage of the Banshee is that it is able to operate at sub-sonic speeds and even hover, allowing them to attack enemy ground forces with plasma cannons and fuel rod guns. Spirit and Phantom dropships are also equipped with plasma cannons to cover the deployment of their troops and provide air support for them once they have been deployed. The UNSC prefer to separate those roles into dedicated transports, usually with at least rudimentary armament, and dedicated gunship variants with more firepower. Both the D77 and D79 Pelicans had a number of variants, but most were equipped with a chin-mounted cannon, a troop-bay mounted machinegun, and some variants equipped with wing-mounted missile or rocket pods. The G79 Pelican gunship was a Pelican airframe equipped with a diverse range of armaments, including an M8 Spartan Laser, side-mounted machinegun turrets, and chin-moounted autocannons, but also featured limited troop transport and resupply capabilities. The AV-22 Sparrowhawk was dedicated to the role, and featured wing-mounted autocannons and a nose-mounted M6 Spartan Laser, and lacked the troop transport abilities of the Pelican, but was lighter, faster and more agile. The UNSC also utilised the smaller AV-22 Hornet, a tiltjet which used missile pods and wing-mounted machineguns to attack ground units and transport up to two passengers. | |||
The air is also important to control because it enables fast tactical and strategic deployments. The UNSC maintains a range of air cavalry units, operating a mixture of Pelican dropships, and planetary-based UH-144 Falcon utility helicopters, to rapidly transport infantry and vehicles across the battlefield, which is one reason why the UNSC Marine Corps favor lighter Warthogs and Scorpions over heavier, better-armed and armored vehicles. Many of these craft, particularly Pelicans and the larger D96-TCE Albatross, are rated for space operations, allowing them to transport personnel and material to and from orbit. The Covenant generally rely on the slow, cumbersome Spirit dropship, which features a light armament and awkward deployment pods, but has superior armor to its smaller, faster and better armed companion, the Phantom, which features a nose-mounted plasma cannon and side-mounted plasma turrets that cover troop deployment. | |||
===Sea=== | ===Sea=== | ||
While ocean combat has been eclipsed by air and space assets, it has not fallen out of use entirely. The UNSC Navy maintains planetary-based naval forces, particularly aircraft carriers, to support land forces. The Covenant attempted to excavate the seabed off the Yucatan peninsula during the Battle of Earth, but their efforts were halted by [[Blue Team]]. The UNSC maintains a range of diving equipment, and has introduced MJOLNIR variants specifically designed to allow Spartans to operate underwater. | |||
===Orbital support=== | |||
Given the importance of orbital supremacy, there are a number of ways orbital forces can support planetary campaigns. Spacecraft often serve as troop transports and staging points for assaults - UNSC and Covenant carriers carry large numbers of fighter craft, able to operate in both space and in atmosphere, to escort atmosphere-capable dropships to deploy troops and vehicles to ground-based combat theatres. Spacecraft are also able to directly engage in planetary combat, delivering ordnance from high or low orbit - UNSC ships used a range of nuclear and conventional missiles with varying warhead yields and the standard Magnetic Accelerator Cannon to strike targets from orbit, and the Covenant frequently bombard population centres with devastating plasma torpedoes or energy projectors. | |||
The battle of an entire planet can be waged across its surface, but it is more often than not won or lost in orbit by whoever can establish orbital superiority. During the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC had enormous difficulty overcoming the Covenant's sheer technological advantage in orbit, but were able to win several key battles to support ground troops: the Harvest campaign was waged for five years because the UNSC space forces outnumbered the Covenant occupiers by a significant margin; UNSC air power on Meridian held off Covenant invasion for three years before it finally fell; and while the ''[[Solemn Penance]]'' blew past Earth's orbital defence grid, the rest of the [[Fleet of Sacred Consecration]] was destroyed by the UNSC Home Fleet in the early hours of the Battle of Earth, forcing him to make an emergency slipspace jump over New Mombasa to retreat. | |||
Both sides also utilise insertion pods that can deploy individual troops or small squads from orbit to the surface, the UNSC utilising the [[Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Pod]] and the Covenant using a range of [[Covenant drop pod|drop pods of their own]], which present smaller targets than a dropship, are more manoeuvrable, and carries a smaller number of occupants if hit. Even the Flood had their own version, the [[dispersal pod]]. which it used to insert combat forms across the Ark and Installation 04B to prevent the Halo Array from being fired. | |||
==Battle doctrines== | ==Battle doctrines== | ||