2d4chan - User contributions [en]

War

2023-02-27T21:43:59Z

2607:FB90:6CA3:5C65:1DCD:7EB5:C0A6:5CCD: /* Why do we go to war? */

{{topquote|War, what is it good for?|Edwin Starr}}
{{topquote|Everything!|[[Team Fortress 2|Soldier]], replying to the upper question.}}

War, for some the be-all-end-all of civilizations, the harbinger of death to others. For thousands of years, perhaps even millions, us humans have gone to war for as long as we've been able to create weapons. Whether it be over matters of ideology, natural resources, or territory, men have fought for millennia on end for the betterment of mankind as a whole... or for their own interest.

War has been part of human society for a very long time. So long in fact that we can hardly even pinpoint when did the fashion of [[Orks|bashing someone else with a big pointy stick]] even started originally. Some even theorized that the practice of warfare is not something proper to humans, but perhaps to animals as well, as our cousins the apes have learned how to manipulate sticks and machetes. In any case, wars have been omnipresent for a long while. So much so, in fact, that we humans have draw a lot of inspirations for our stories and cultures. War is present in our books, our ancient texts, our games, our movies, our shows, and so on and so forth.

==/tg/ relevance==
[[Warhammer 40k|Are]] [[Warmahordes|you]] [[Wargaming|seriously]] [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|asking]] [[Horus Heresy|that?]]

Barring any horror, mystery, civilization-building, RPG, and puzzle tabletop games, you’re more likely than not to find a tabletop game focused on war. Hell, the earliest version of modern tabletop gaming came from military war games using set miniatures pieces and military unit markers for strategists to sharpen their tactics with wargaming skills despite the proliferation of software simulations and training exercises. And ironically it’s still a practice that continues to this day. Both with hypothetical scenario exercises for governments and think-tanks or private service members finding some peace and quiet from painting miniatures before marching them to war.

==War in practice==
{{topquote|[[Ogre#Shrek|Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make.]]|Any ruler worth his crown in History.}}

Warfare. A profession for many, an art to some. Wars can be waged by just about anyone, but they cannot be won by everyone. At the end of the day, as long as there's still conflict to be settled, [[Team Fortress 2#Sniper|someone is gonna want someone else dead]]. To maximize the chances of winning, plenty have elaborated plans of actions to conduct war in a proper manner. Any regime that had plenty of men and who knew how to use them made some pretty drastic changes in history, plenty left their mark through sheer force of will... And lethal application of weaponry.

So, you wanna wage a war, son?

==Why do we go to war?==

{{topquote|War is merely the continuation of policy by other means. We see, therefore, that war is not merely an act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse carried on with other means. What remains peculiar to war is simply the peculiar nature of its means.|[[Roboute Guilliman|Carl von Clausewitz]] in his treatise, Vom Kriege (On War)}}

{{topquote|All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.|[[Alpharius|Sun Tzu]] in his treatise, the Art of War}}

BECOZ IT'Z A ZOGGIN' GUD TIME, DATZ WHY!

Okay, seriously, why do we go to war? You might have heard philosophers, politicians, artists, thinkers, or even people on the street saying that war is terrible and should be avoided at all cost. Even military officials highly suggest to not apprehend conflict at all. As it seems that War brings more bad than good. But if that is so obvious, then why do people '''still to this very day''' fight to the death? It has been a very frequent subject of debates and researches. Despite the disapproval of war as a concept, it is ever omnipresent in our media and culture. Even games! How many tabletop games do you know are based around the concept of war? Isn't that enough proof that despite the odds, there is an interest in the matter of conflict?

Over the years, many explanations for war were given, but none really serve as a definitive answer.

*Natural resources have been a frequent one in the early days of civilization. The Euphrates river, for example, has been the theater of a metric ton of conflicts and battles over the water the river provided. And given how it was one of the only sources around in Ancient Mesopotamia, you better believe people were going to fight over it. With the first development of agriculture and infrastructures made to circumvent problems created by the river, the disputes lasted until the establishment of the first Akkadian civilization.
**Later down the line, natural resources kept being a main motivation for war; but instead of it being based on its literal rarity, most cases were economic matters. Say a country is doing a blockade on certain trades and another needs said trades to complete certain megaprojects. In most cases, negotiations were cut short in favor of a simple cut to the throat. In desperate times, men can get very violent. Or repress with a lot of violence.
* Following the "realist" political theories, war is the result of nations trying and failing to produce stability with their neighboring nations by maintaining a balance of military power with each other; often by using coercive actions to compell neighbors to take their considerations into account when all other options are either nonviable or failed. If that does not work out (say, because one nation is believed to be [[Nazi|developing nuclear weapons]] and [[USA|we'd rather be the ones holding that particular trigger]]), war happens to try and balance it out so war can be avoided in the future. This also works with other resources; if a country is in need of water, oil or other necessities, war becomes more likely as their desperation rises (see current east-European/Russian relations).
* If you're an authoritarian regime, war is one of many ways to keep your regime propped up. This serves multiple purposes; it provides the populace with jobs in the form of industry and conscription, it directs people's negative sentiments towards an external foe and away from the state itself, and if the war is successful, gains the state prestige and resources (which are intended to not only offset the cost of the war but also grow the state's overall power). The threat of an external foe also justifies an increase in the state's power, such as cracking down on civil liberties. That being said, if the state is already unstable or overextended and you fail to make any meaningful gains, people will start questioning the legitimacy of the ruling class.
* Ideology may be a major dividing line between two opposing forces; while political ambitions and desire for power usually coincide as motivating factors, a major ideological difference can make it intolerable for two different groups of people to live with each other due to the fundamental incompatibility with their ways of life. This dividing line can be further exacerbated by ongoing bad blood between the two different factions, making long-term reconciliation difficult.
* Civil Wars usually start with some segment of the population being upset with who's in charge of the nation, be it an interest group, a socioeconomic class, or a particular head of state. This can take a number of different forms, occasionally multiple of these at once:
** Rebellion - A group of people are unhappy with the current state of affairs and want to set something on fire about it. Rebellions are, if we're defining things for categorization here, mostly just an outlet for pent-up frustration or some unbearable conditions, not a fully formed attempt to establish a new order. You don't need a manifesto, just a brick. They tend to be the prelude to something more serious.
** Coup d'Etat - The rebel faction wants to replace the current ruler. Generally, this happens as a conspiracy by military officers, government officials, the nobility, or some outside force that's gotten the ear of any of the previous three.
** Succession Crisis - more common in a [[Monarchy]]; if it's unclear on who will be the next ruler, if the heir apparent is deemed unfit to rule, or if the next in line is someone that everyone absolutely can't stand, the different claimants will fight each other for the throne.
** Secession - The rebel faction wants to splinter away from the country to form their own country. This undermines the authority of the previously united national government, leading to high tensions even if the secession itself is peaceful, and often leads to war afterwards when the seceding party throws the emperor's diplomats out a window, finds a big strong friendly nation with a vested interest in building a canal, or starts a war in a fit of jingoistic arrogance then cries about losing for the next 160 years.
** Revolution - The rebel faction wants to change the system of government entirely. These are, generally speaking, The Big Ones. Since the concept of a revolution in the modern sense, beginning in the late 18th century, revolutions hardly ever stay in one country. Power bounces around into new and unknown hands, long-established societal norms are challenged openly, and more often than not the neighbors start to get nervous about it and decide to help, quietly or in full force, one side or the other. No matter the outcome of one single revolution, in a world that has grown ever more interconnected, it's bad news for the powerful and unpopular everywhere when the barricades and banners start showing up.
** Failed State - If the central government fails altogether, local populations will start fighting each other to reestablish a new state; usually with different warlords wanting to eventually defeat the rivals and become the new ruler of the country.
*** Partition - if a country (often a buffer state) between neighbors is unstable to the point of having conflict spill over national borders, then said neighbors may consider such a state as an existential threat and should be split between each other for the sake of keeping their realms in order. Oftentimes, this means mutually agreed annexation of land at the expense of the locals (whether it be via political marriage, puppet states, or plain old force population transfer).

War

2023-02-27T21:39:44Z

2607:FB90:6CA3:5C65:1DCD:7EB5:C0A6:5CCD: /* Why do we go to war? */

War

2023-02-27T21:38:56Z

2607:FB90:6CA3:5C65:1DCD:7EB5:C0A6:5CCD: /* Why do we go to war? */

{{topquote|War, what is it good for?|Edwin Starr}}
{{topquote|Everything!|[[Team Fortress 2|Soldier]], replying to the upper question.}}

War, for some the be-all-end-all of civilizations, the harbinger of death to others. For thousands of years, perhaps even millions, us humans have gone to war for as long as we've been able to create weapons. Whether it be over matters of ideology, natural resources, or territory, men have fought for millennia on end for the betterment of mankind as a whole... or for their own interest.

War has been part of human society for a very long time. So long in fact that we can hardly even pinpoint when did the fashion of [[Orks|bashing someone else with a big pointy stick]] even started originally. Some even theorized that the practice of warfare is not something proper to humans, but perhaps to animals as well, as our cousins the apes have learned how to manipulate sticks and machetes. In any case, wars have been omnipresent for a long while. So much so, in fact, that we humans have draw a lot of inspirations for our stories and cultures. War is present in our books, our ancient texts, our games, our movies, our shows, and so on and so forth.

==/tg/ relevance==
[[Warhammer 40k|Are]] [[Warmahordes|you]] [[Wargaming|seriously]] [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|asking]] [[Horus Heresy|that?]]

Barring any horror, mystery, civilization-building, RPG, and puzzle tabletop games, you’re more likely than not to find a tabletop game focused on war. Hell, the earliest version of modern tabletop gaming came from military war games using set miniatures pieces and military unit markers for strategists to sharpen their tactics with wargaming skills despite the proliferation of software simulations and training exercises. And ironically it’s still a practice that continues to this day. Both with hypothetical scenario exercises for governments and think-tanks or private service members finding some peace and quiet from painting miniatures before marching them to war.

==War in practice==
{{topquote|[[Ogre#Shrek|Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make.]]|Any ruler worth his crown in History.}}

Warfare. A profession for many, an art to some. Wars can be waged by just about anyone, but they cannot be won by everyone. At the end of the day, as long as there's still conflict to be settled, [[Team Fortress 2#Sniper|someone is gonna want someone else dead]]. To maximize the chances of winning, plenty have elaborated plans of actions to conduct war in a proper manner. Any regime that had plenty of men and who knew how to use them made some pretty drastic changes in history, plenty left their mark through sheer force of will... And lethal application of weaponry.

So, you wanna wage a war, son?

==Why do we go to war?==

{{topquote|War is merely the continuation of policy by other means. We see, therefore, that war is not merely an act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse carried on with other means. What remains peculiar to war is simply the peculiar nature of its means.|[[Roboute Guilliman|Carl von Clausewitz]] in his treatise, Von Kriege (On War)}}

{{topquote|All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.|[[Alpharius|Sun Tzu]] in his treatise, the Art of War}}

BECOZ IT'Z A ZOGGIN' GUD TIME, DATZ WHY!

Okay, seriously, why do we go to war? You might have heard philosophers, politicians, artists, thinkers, or even people on the street saying that war is terrible and should be avoided at all cost. Even military officials highly suggest to not apprehend conflict at all. As it seems that War brings more bad than good. But if that is so obvious, then why do people '''still to this very day''' fight to the death? It has been a very frequent subject of debates and researches. Despite the disapproval of war as a concept, it is ever omnipresent in our media and culture. Even games! How many tabletop games do you know are based around the concept of war? Isn't that enough proof that despite the odds, there is an interest in the matter of conflict?

Over the years, many explanations for war were given, but none really serve as a definitive answer.

*Natural resources have been a frequent one in the early days of civilization. The Euphrates river, for example, has been the theater of a metric ton of conflicts and battles over the water the river provided. And given how it was one of the only sources around in Ancient Mesopotamia, you better believe people were going to fight over it. With the first development of agriculture and infrastructures made to circumvent problems created by the river, the disputes lasted until the establishment of the first Akkadian civilization.
**Later down the line, natural resources kept being a main motivation for war; but instead of it being based on its literal rarity, most cases were economic matters. Say a country is doing a blockade on certain trades and another needs said trades to complete certain megaprojects. In most cases, negotiations were cut short in favor of a simple cut to the throat. In desperate times, men can get very violent. Or repress with a lot of violence.
* Following the "realist" political theories, war is the result of nations trying and failing to produce stability with their neighboring nations by maintaining a balance of military power with each other; often by using coercive actions to compell neighbors to take their considerations into account when all other options are either nonviable or failed. If that does not work out (say, because one nation is believed to be [[Nazi|developing nuclear weapons]] and [[USA|we'd rather be the ones holding that particular trigger]]), war happens to try and balance it out so war can be avoided in the future. This also works with other resources; if a country is in need of water, oil or other necessities, war becomes more likely as their desperation rises (see current east-European/Russian relations).
* If you're an authoritarian regime, war is one of many ways to keep your regime propped up. This serves multiple purposes; it provides the populace with jobs in the form of industry and conscription, it directs people's negative sentiments towards an external foe and away from the state itself, and if the war is successful, gains the state prestige and resources (which are intended to not only offset the cost of the war but also grow the state's overall power). The threat of an external foe also justifies an increase in the state's power, such as cracking down on civil liberties. That being said, if the state is already unstable or overextended and you fail to make any meaningful gains, people will start questioning the legitimacy of the ruling class.
* Ideology may be a major dividing line between two opposing forces; while political ambitions and desire for power usually coincide as motivating factors, a major ideological difference can make it intolerable for two different groups of people to live with each other due to the fundamental incompatibility with their ways of life. This dividing line can be further exacerbated by ongoing bad blood between the two different factions, making long-term reconciliation difficult.
* Civil Wars usually start with some segment of the population being upset with who's in charge of the nation, be it an interest group, a socioeconomic class, or a particular head of state. This can take a number of different forms, occasionally multiple of these at once:
** Rebellion - A group of people are unhappy with the current state of affairs and want to set something on fire about it. Rebellions are, if we're defining things for categorization here, mostly just an outlet for pent-up frustration or some unbearable conditions, not a fully formed attempt to establish a new order. You don't need a manifesto, just a brick. They tend to be the prelude to something more serious.
** Coup d'Etat - The rebel faction wants to replace the current ruler. Generally, this happens as a conspiracy by military officers, government officials, the nobility, or some outside force that's gotten the ear of any of the previous three.
** Succession Crisis - more common in a [[Monarchy]]; if it's unclear on who will be the next ruler, if the heir apparent is deemed unfit to rule, or if the next in line is someone that everyone absolutely can't stand, the different claimants will fight each other for the throne.
** Secession - The rebel faction wants to splinter away from the country to form their own country. This undermines the authority of the previously united national government, leading to high tensions even if the secession itself is peaceful, and often leads to war afterwards when the seceding party throws the emperor's diplomats out a window, finds a big strong friendly nation with a vested interest in building a canal, or starts a war in a fit of jingoistic arrogance then cries about losing for the next 160 years.
** Revolution - The rebel faction wants to change the system of government entirely. These are, generally speaking, The Big Ones. Since the concept of a revolution in the modern sense, beginning in the late 18th century, revolutions hardly ever stay in one country. Power bounces around into new and unknown hands, long-established societal norms are challenged openly, and more often than not the neighbors start to get nervous about it and decide to help, quietly or in full force, one side or the other. No matter the outcome of one single revolution, in a world that has grown ever more interconnected, it's bad news for the powerful and unpopular everywhere when the barricades and banners start showing up.
** Failed State - If the central government fails altogether, local populations will start fighting each other to reestablish a new state; usually with different warlords wanting to eventually defeat the rivals and become the new ruler of the country.

Rocket

2023-02-27T19:15:58Z

2607:FB90:6CA3:5C65:1DCD:7EB5:C0A6:5CCD: /* Rockets and Missiles */

Historically there have been many methods in which humanity has sought to cheat death. In China, the desire for immortality lead to the practice of alchemy. Needless to say, the Chinese did not find the source of eternal life, but their alchemical pursuits did discover one thing (among many others): gunpowder. Despite the modern name, "gunpowder", guns and firearms were only invented and used later. Rockets came first.

==The Physics of Rocketry==

The functioning and physics of rockets generally revolves around Newton's Third Law of Motion, commonly simplified as "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." All a rocket boils down to is a tube filled with something either very explosive (like, say, gunpowder) or something under pressure that wants to get out of the tube (like, say, steam or water). When you close one end of that tube, the contents will force their way out of the open end, causing a reaction that pushes the tube into the air. This is of course assuming that the tube is made of a material of sufficient strength to survive the reaction or else what you have is a bomb, not a rocket. It ain't rocket sci— Wait a minute...

The ballistics of rockets work a little bit differently than those of, say, bullets or arrows. In a bullet, the propelling force comes from outside; the bullet is pushed by expanding gasses, but once it's left the gun there is nothing to continue moving it forwards and it will start to decelerate. Rockets, on the other hand, generally produce continuous but much weaker thrust for the first few seconds of their trajectory, leading to slower acceleration but generally longer time in flight.

==Rockets and Missiles==

Technically, rockets ''are'' missiles, as a missile is just a projectile-based weapon (an arrow or javelin can be classified as a missile, which is why games tend to refer to their users as missile troops).

However, in modern parlance, the term "[[Missile Launcher|missile]]" is generally used to refer to guided projectiles. These weapons can steer themselves mid-flight, either automatically or with guidance from the shooter. This is in contrast to rockets, which are fired and the forces of gravity and inertia does the rest. Additionally, rockets tend to use a standalone rocket motor (basically an one-side, open-ended engine with stored oxidizer and solid propellant). Meanwhile, some larger style missiles will use a jet engine (with a mouth and exhaust to scoop air in as an oxidizer and preserve space for storing only liquid propellant fuel).

==A Brief History of Rockets==
*'''400-100 BCE:''' A prototypical rocket is developed in Greece. A Roman named Aulus Gellius writes of how the Greeks would entertain the people of the city of Tarentum with a wooden pigeon on a wire propelled by steam. Three hundred years later, Hero of Alexandria describes the Aeolipile: a metal ball on a water kettle. When the kettle is heated, the water turns into steam, goes up the pipes, and spins the ball around by escaping two L-shaped nozzles. While not rockets per se, they operate in the same manner through the usage of hot gas escaping in order to create movement. The Greeks never expanded on this concept beyond mere amusements, so these remain only as interesting footnotes in rocket history.

*'''1000s-1200s CE:''' At this point, the Chinese are believed to have invented the rocket proper, although not until 1232 is solid evidence established with records mentioning the Chinese attacking invading Mongols with "Arrows of flying fire". These "Fire arrows" were regular arrows with rockets attached or rockets with primitive warheads. Rockets also make an appearance in Europe around this time. Arabs wrote about rockets which the Mongols used to help capture Baghdad. The Arabs, in turn, used this rocket technology against the French during the Seventh Crusade.

*'''1300s CE:''' Around this time “Huolongjing,” a tactical black powder weapon primer, is written in China. Included are 10th-century fire arrows, rocket launchers, two-stage rockets, winged rockets, land mines, naval mines, their triggers, and several other weapons of the class. Notably, this book is the first to establish the design of a multi-stage rocket: the "fire-dragon issuing from the water"/''Huo Long Chu Shui''. The Fire Dragon is a tube set borne by rockets, with more rockets inside of it. When the booster rockets ignite mid-flight, their ignition launches the secondary rockets from the front. The Fire Dragon was used mostly by the Chinese Navy. However, the Koreans invented a type of Fire Arrow cart, known as the "Hwacha,” that could fire 100-200 fire arrows in quick succession (like those Russian Grad rocket trucks). Just a few dozen of these could be rapidly deployed to drive back any massed force, making them decisive defensive weapons.

*'''1400 CE:''' Military Rockets are used by Europe itself rather than Europeans simply getting rocketed by the Ottomans in the Middle East or at Constantinople. Then again, the Ottomans received the burny-end of early flamethrowers, so let’s call it even.

*'''1500s CE:''' The earliest experiments with multistage rockets in Europe are made. The Koreans use massed Hwacha barrages and rocket-firing cannon in their wars against Japan. Moving on.

*'''1600s CE:''' The "Artis Magnae Artilleriae pars prima" (''Great Art of Artillery, the First Part'', also known as ''The Complete Art of Artillery'') is printed in Amsterdam and used, naturally, as an Artillery manual. It includes instructions on the production and properties of Rockets; including multi-stage rockets, batteries, and rockets with wing stabilizers rather than the big sticks typically used until then.

*'''1700s CE:''' the first all-metal rockets are developed in India in the Kingdom of Mysore. The Mysore rockets were used very successfully against the British East India company (East India Company brief summary: think a cyberpunk mega corporation but with tea and racism) and the British were surprised by what these rockets could do. Their all-metal design allowed more fuel meaning they had a lot more range (2 kilometers) then what the British had seen a rocket do, and so like any good British man, they stole a few and sent them back home so that they could learn how to make more.

*'''1800s CE:'''* The British invent the Congreve rocket from their study of the Mysore rockets. The Congreve was very effective for its day; while it lacked the same range as cannons it could be fired a great deal faster, was generally more mobile, and could carry variable payloads. Thanks to slower acceleration on launch rockets could carry incendiaries, airbursting warheads, or even solid heads designed to bounce through groups of close infantry. The "rockets red glare" in the star spangled banner is referring to these, the British used some in the 25 hour bombardment of Fort McHenry. In 1844 William Hale came up with the Hale Rocket, a much more accurate version of the Congreve without the need of a stick to stabilize itself since it was able to spin itself like a rifled bullet.

*'''1900-early 1945s CE:'''* Now things get interesting. Up to now, humans only had experience with solid fuel rocket engines, mostly of gunpowder, but by the early 20th century the first liquid fuel rockets started to be developed and rocketry came back into the public eye with the establishment of numerous scientific and amateur research groups. Military rocketry had largely died off by the beginning of World War 1; everything a rocket could do a howitzer could do better since the design of shells had become much more advanced. Rockets saw some use during the Great War, primarily as an anti-zeppelin weapon; they could deliver a heavy incendiary payload but were light enough to mount on a plane. Over the course of the war, much research was done into rockets on both sides, with important implications in the postwar period. After the diktat of Versailles war though Germany found itself with a problem: their army was forbidden from possessing long-ranged artillery. Like good rules lawyers, they found a loophole and funded rocket research instead. As the Germans had learned in WW1, the best artillery barrage was short, sudden, and overwhelming- the speed with which rockets could be fired made them perfect for this. So they invented the ''Nebelwerfer'', which was basically a bunch of launch tubes strapped together that could fire a volley of rockets all at once. It worked really well, the only major disadvantage being the long reloading time of the weapon. Meanwhile the Soviets developed their own cheaper, easier version and mass-produced their ''Katyusha'' launcher so they could put it everywhere they could think of. Every-fucking-where, from man-pulled sleds to the back of trucks, to atop of trains, to boats, to fixed emplacements; all in order to rain explosive death down on top of anything in front of them. As tanks became increasingly prevalent on the battlefields of the Second World War, rockets saw handheld use as well- a shoulder-launched rocket could carry a warhead big enough to crack a tank but still be light enough for infantry to carry, and this idea reached its conclusion in the American Bazooka and German Panzerfaust anti-tank weapons. Both sides developed a variety of anti-ship, anti-air and anti-building rockets, though Germany led the way in their use. The most famous rocket of the war was, of course, the German V2 ballistic missile, the first of its kind- though inaccurate, unreliable and incredibly expensive, it would provide the basis for basically every liquid-fuelled rocket or missile that came afterwards.

*'''Late 1945s-2000s CE:'''* As the fragmenting Allied powers snapped up every German rocket scientist they could in the aftermath of the War, missiles came to dominate the weapons and scientific systems of the future. The Germans had laid some groundwork for inertial navigation systems with a basic gyroscopic mechanism that kept their V2 rockets on course; and it took all of ten seconds after the war for everyone to realize such a rocket could be used to get something else than an explosive charge where it was needed without the need of a pilot inside the thing. Sergei Korelev designs the R7 Rocket, which is used to deliver the first artificial object, dog and man into space. Meanwhile, anti-tank weapons took notes from the Bazooka and Panzerfaust to create cheaper rocket launchers such as the RPG and LAW or dedicated antiaircraft weapons like the Igla or Stinger launchers. Things like a big camera in space to <s>spy on your enemies</s> peacefully observe the weather and what happens on the other side of the world. As technology advanced the Space Race saw newer, larger and improved rockets put scientific probes into orbit and culminated with astronauts landing on the Moon, but also saw the same platforms used for the delivery of nuclear weapons. Missiles also came to dominate the atmosphere, becoming the standard weapon for aircraft the world over. Rockets and missiles are still ubiquitous for ground forces, and the Soviet Rocket-Propelled Grenade launchers are an international symbol of asymmetrical warfare. In addition, new missile guidance systems began to emerge in co-evolution with countermeasure systems; infrared-guided missiles can be defeated by flares and smoke, leading to the development of wire-guided missiles, which can be blocked by reactive armor or active protection systems, leading to more creative warhead designs such as the mortar-like firing arc of the FGM-148 Javelin or the use of tandem warheads to make an opening for the real warhead.

*'''Looking Ahead:''' Unlike firearms which have the Railgun of Damocles hanging over their future, Rockets and Missiles always seem to stick around in how we picture future wars thanks to their various advantages over guns: the ability to carry an explosive payload and computer guidance systems, effectiveness in the vacuum of space, and sharing lots of components with non-military rocketry all imply rockets in the form of the [[Missile Launcher]] are here to stay for the foreseeable future. Rockets as vehicles are still being developed, with SpaceX trying to create cheap reusable rockets capable of landing vertically so that they can deliver large payloads of material to distant worlds.

==Rockets in fantasy==
Rockets are fairly common in fantasy works, but only as a means of launching fireworks rather than as a combat weapon. Even in settings with gunpowder weapons, the somewhat spotty history of rocket weaponry in wide usage means that they seldom get more than a passing mention. Asian-themed settings may tend to feature them more heavily, for obvious reasons, but guns will always be king.

Rockets make an appearance in [[Warhammer Fantasy]]. Cathay (Warhammer China, of course) came up with them and makes heavy use of them in artillery and airships. The Empire saw them and decided to copy them for some of their artillery. Skaven clan Skryre has the occasional handheld version. In Total War: Warhammer they also have [[Awesome|tactical nukes]].

Rockets also make an appearance in [[The Lord of the Rings]], albeit as fireworks rather than weapons of war.

{{MedievalWeaponry}}

Rocket

2023-02-27T19:14:35Z

2607:FB90:6CA3:5C65:1DCD:7EB5:C0A6:5CCD: /* Rockets and Missiles */

Historically there have been many methods in which humanity has sought to cheat death. In China, the desire for immortality lead to the practice of alchemy. Needless to say, the Chinese did not find the source of eternal life, but their alchemical pursuits did discover one thing (among many others): gunpowder. Despite the modern name, "gunpowder", guns and firearms were only invented and used later. Rockets came first.

==The Physics of Rocketry==

The functioning and physics of rockets generally revolves around Newton's Third Law of Motion, commonly simplified as "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." All a rocket boils down to is a tube filled with something either very explosive (like, say, gunpowder) or something under pressure that wants to get out of the tube (like, say, steam or water). When you close one end of that tube, the contents will force their way out of the open end, causing a reaction that pushes the tube into the air. This is of course assuming that the tube is made of a material of sufficient strength to survive the reaction or else what you have is a bomb, not a rocket. It ain't rocket sci— Wait a minute...

The ballistics of rockets work a little bit differently than those of, say, bullets or arrows. In a bullet, the propelling force comes from outside; the bullet is pushed by expanding gasses, but once it's left the gun there is nothing to continue moving it forwards and it will start to decelerate. Rockets, on the other hand, generally produce continuous but much weaker thrust for the first few seconds of their trajectory, leading to slower acceleration but generally longer time in flight.

==Rockets and Missiles==

Technically, rockets ''are'' missiles, as a missile is just a projectile-based weapon (an arrow or javelin can be classified as a missile, which is why games tend to refer to their users as missile troops).

However, in modern parlance, the term "[[Missile Launcher|missile]]" is generally used to refer to guided projectiles. These weapons can steer themselves mid-flight, either automatically or with guidance from the shooter. This is in contrast to rockets, which are fired and the forces of gravity and inertia does the rest. Additionally, rockets tend to use a standalone rocket motor (basically an one-side, open-ended engine with stored oxidizer and propellant). Meanwhile, some larger style missiles will use a jet engine (with a mouth and exhaust to scoop air in as an oxidizer and preserve space for storing only propellant fuel).

==A Brief History of Rockets==
*'''400-100 BCE:''' A prototypical rocket is developed in Greece. A Roman named Aulus Gellius writes of how the Greeks would entertain the people of the city of Tarentum with a wooden pigeon on a wire propelled by steam. Three hundred years later, Hero of Alexandria describes the Aeolipile: a metal ball on a water kettle. When the kettle is heated, the water turns into steam, goes up the pipes, and spins the ball around by escaping two L-shaped nozzles. While not rockets per se, they operate in the same manner through the usage of hot gas escaping in order to create movement. The Greeks never expanded on this concept beyond mere amusements, so these remain only as interesting footnotes in rocket history.

*'''1000s-1200s CE:''' At this point, the Chinese are believed to have invented the rocket proper, although not until 1232 is solid evidence established with records mentioning the Chinese attacking invading Mongols with "Arrows of flying fire". These "Fire arrows" were regular arrows with rockets attached or rockets with primitive warheads. Rockets also make an appearance in Europe around this time. Arabs wrote about rockets which the Mongols used to help capture Baghdad. The Arabs, in turn, used this rocket technology against the French during the Seventh Crusade.

*'''1300s CE:''' Around this time “Huolongjing,” a tactical black powder weapon primer, is written in China. Included are 10th-century fire arrows, rocket launchers, two-stage rockets, winged rockets, land mines, naval mines, their triggers, and several other weapons of the class. Notably, this book is the first to establish the design of a multi-stage rocket: the "fire-dragon issuing from the water"/''Huo Long Chu Shui''. The Fire Dragon is a tube set borne by rockets, with more rockets inside of it. When the booster rockets ignite mid-flight, their ignition launches the secondary rockets from the front. The Fire Dragon was used mostly by the Chinese Navy. However, the Koreans invented a type of Fire Arrow cart, known as the "Hwacha,” that could fire 100-200 fire arrows in quick succession (like those Russian Grad rocket trucks). Just a few dozen of these could be rapidly deployed to drive back any massed force, making them decisive defensive weapons.

*'''1400 CE:''' Military Rockets are used by Europe itself rather than Europeans simply getting rocketed by the Ottomans in the Middle East or at Constantinople. Then again, the Ottomans received the burny-end of early flamethrowers, so let’s call it even.

*'''1500s CE:''' The earliest experiments with multistage rockets in Europe are made. The Koreans use massed Hwacha barrages and rocket-firing cannon in their wars against Japan. Moving on.

*'''1600s CE:''' The "Artis Magnae Artilleriae pars prima" (''Great Art of Artillery, the First Part'', also known as ''The Complete Art of Artillery'') is printed in Amsterdam and used, naturally, as an Artillery manual. It includes instructions on the production and properties of Rockets; including multi-stage rockets, batteries, and rockets with wing stabilizers rather than the big sticks typically used until then.

*'''1700s CE:''' the first all-metal rockets are developed in India in the Kingdom of Mysore. The Mysore rockets were used very successfully against the British East India company (East India Company brief summary: think a cyberpunk mega corporation but with tea and racism) and the British were surprised by what these rockets could do. Their all-metal design allowed more fuel meaning they had a lot more range (2 kilometers) then what the British had seen a rocket do, and so like any good British man, they stole a few and sent them back home so that they could learn how to make more.

*'''1800s CE:'''* The British invent the Congreve rocket from their study of the Mysore rockets. The Congreve was very effective for its day; while it lacked the same range as cannons it could be fired a great deal faster, was generally more mobile, and could carry variable payloads. Thanks to slower acceleration on launch rockets could carry incendiaries, airbursting warheads, or even solid heads designed to bounce through groups of close infantry. The "rockets red glare" in the star spangled banner is referring to these, the British used some in the 25 hour bombardment of Fort McHenry. In 1844 William Hale came up with the Hale Rocket, a much more accurate version of the Congreve without the need of a stick to stabilize itself since it was able to spin itself like a rifled bullet.

*'''1900-early 1945s CE:'''* Now things get interesting. Up to now, humans only had experience with solid fuel rocket engines, mostly of gunpowder, but by the early 20th century the first liquid fuel rockets started to be developed and rocketry came back into the public eye with the establishment of numerous scientific and amateur research groups. Military rocketry had largely died off by the beginning of World War 1; everything a rocket could do a howitzer could do better since the design of shells had become much more advanced. Rockets saw some use during the Great War, primarily as an anti-zeppelin weapon; they could deliver a heavy incendiary payload but were light enough to mount on a plane. Over the course of the war, much research was done into rockets on both sides, with important implications in the postwar period. After the diktat of Versailles war though Germany found itself with a problem: their army was forbidden from possessing long-ranged artillery. Like good rules lawyers, they found a loophole and funded rocket research instead. As the Germans had learned in WW1, the best artillery barrage was short, sudden, and overwhelming- the speed with which rockets could be fired made them perfect for this. So they invented the ''Nebelwerfer'', which was basically a bunch of launch tubes strapped together that could fire a volley of rockets all at once. It worked really well, the only major disadvantage being the long reloading time of the weapon. Meanwhile the Soviets developed their own cheaper, easier version and mass-produced their ''Katyusha'' launcher so they could put it everywhere they could think of. Every-fucking-where, from man-pulled sleds to the back of trucks, to atop of trains, to boats, to fixed emplacements; all in order to rain explosive death down on top of anything in front of them. As tanks became increasingly prevalent on the battlefields of the Second World War, rockets saw handheld use as well- a shoulder-launched rocket could carry a warhead big enough to crack a tank but still be light enough for infantry to carry, and this idea reached its conclusion in the American Bazooka and German Panzerfaust anti-tank weapons. Both sides developed a variety of anti-ship, anti-air and anti-building rockets, though Germany led the way in their use. The most famous rocket of the war was, of course, the German V2 ballistic missile, the first of its kind- though inaccurate, unreliable and incredibly expensive, it would provide the basis for basically every liquid-fuelled rocket or missile that came afterwards.

*'''Late 1945s-2000s CE:'''* As the fragmenting Allied powers snapped up every German rocket scientist they could in the aftermath of the War, missiles came to dominate the weapons and scientific systems of the future. The Germans had laid some groundwork for inertial navigation systems with a basic gyroscopic mechanism that kept their V2 rockets on course; and it took all of ten seconds after the war for everyone to realize such a rocket could be used to get something else than an explosive charge where it was needed without the need of a pilot inside the thing. Sergei Korelev designs the R7 Rocket, which is used to deliver the first artificial object, dog and man into space. Meanwhile, anti-tank weapons took notes from the Bazooka and Panzerfaust to create cheaper rocket launchers such as the RPG and LAW or dedicated antiaircraft weapons like the Igla or Stinger launchers. Things like a big camera in space to <s>spy on your enemies</s> peacefully observe the weather and what happens on the other side of the world. As technology advanced the Space Race saw newer, larger and improved rockets put scientific probes into orbit and culminated with astronauts landing on the Moon, but also saw the same platforms used for the delivery of nuclear weapons. Missiles also came to dominate the atmosphere, becoming the standard weapon for aircraft the world over. Rockets and missiles are still ubiquitous for ground forces, and the Soviet Rocket-Propelled Grenade launchers are an international symbol of asymmetrical warfare. In addition, new missile guidance systems began to emerge in co-evolution with countermeasure systems; infrared-guided missiles can be defeated by flares and smoke, leading to the development of wire-guided missiles, which can be blocked by reactive armor or active protection systems, leading to more creative warhead designs such as the mortar-like firing arc of the FGM-148 Javelin or the use of tandem warheads to make an opening for the real warhead.

*'''Looking Ahead:''' Unlike firearms which have the Railgun of Damocles hanging over their future, Rockets and Missiles always seem to stick around in how we picture future wars thanks to their various advantages over guns: the ability to carry an explosive payload and computer guidance systems, effectiveness in the vacuum of space, and sharing lots of components with non-military rocketry all imply rockets in the form of the [[Missile Launcher]] are here to stay for the foreseeable future. Rockets as vehicles are still being developed, with SpaceX trying to create cheap reusable rockets capable of landing vertically so that they can deliver large payloads of material to distant worlds.

==Rockets in fantasy==
Rockets are fairly common in fantasy works, but only as a means of launching fireworks rather than as a combat weapon. Even in settings with gunpowder weapons, the somewhat spotty history of rocket weaponry in wide usage means that they seldom get more than a passing mention. Asian-themed settings may tend to feature them more heavily, for obvious reasons, but guns will always be king.

Rockets make an appearance in [[Warhammer Fantasy]]. Cathay (Warhammer China, of course) came up with them and makes heavy use of them in artillery and airships. The Empire saw them and decided to copy them for some of their artillery. Skaven clan Skryre has the occasional handheld version. In Total War: Warhammer they also have [[Awesome|tactical nukes]].

Rockets also make an appearance in [[The Lord of the Rings]], albeit as fireworks rather than weapons of war.

{{MedievalWeaponry}}

War

2023-02-27T19:05:32Z

2607:FB90:6CA3:5C65:1DCD:7EB5:C0A6:5CCD: /* /tg/ relevance */

{{topquote|War, what is it good for?|Edwin Starr}}
{{topquote|Everything!|[[Team Fortress 2|Soldier]], replying to the upper question.}}

War, for some the be-all-end-all of civilizations, the harbinger of death to others. For thousands of years, perhaps even millions, us humans have gone to war for as long as we've been able to create weapons. Whether it be over matters of ideology, natural resources, or territory, men have fought for millennia on end for the betterment of mankind as a whole... or for their own interest.

War has been part of human society for a very long time. So long in fact that we can hardly even pinpoint when did the fashion of [[Orks|bashing someone else with a big pointy stick]] even started originally. Some even theorized that the practice of warfare is not something proper to humans, but perhaps to animals as well, as our cousins the apes have learned how to manipulate sticks and machetes. In any case, wars have been omnipresent for a long while. So much so, in fact, that we humans have draw a lot of inspirations for our stories and cultures. War is present in our books, our ancient texts, our games, our movies, our shows, and so on and so forth.

==/tg/ relevance==
[[Warhammer 40k|Are]] [[Warmahordes|you]] [[Wargaming|seriously]] [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|asking]] [[Horus Heresy|that?]]

Barring any horror, mystery, civilization-building, RPG, and puzzle tabletop games, you’re more likely than not to find a tabletop game focused on war. Hell, the earliest version of modern tabletop gaming came from military war games using set miniatures pieces and military unit markers for strategists to sharpen their tactics with wargaming skills despite the proliferation of software simulations and training exercises. And ironically it’s still a practice that continues to this day. Both with hypothetical scenario exercises for governments and think-tanks or private service members finding some peace and quiet from painting miniatures before marching them to war.

==War in practice==
{{topquote|[[Ogre#Shrek|Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make.]]|Any ruler worth his crown in History.}}

Warfare. A profession for many, an art to some. Wars can be waged by just about anyone, but they cannot be won by everyone. At the end of the day, as long as there's still conflict to be settled, [[Team Fortress 2#Sniper|someone is gonna want someone else dead]]. To maximize the chances of winning, plenty have elaborated plans of actions to conduct war in a proper manner. Any regime that had plenty of men and who knew how to use them made some pretty drastic changes in history, plenty left their mark through sheer force of will... And lethal application of weaponry.

So, you wanna wage a war, son?

==Why do we go to war?==

{{topquote|War is merely the continuation of policy by other means. We see, therefore, that war is not merely an act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse carried on with other means. What remains peculiar to war is simply the peculiar nature of its means.|Carl von Clausewitz}}

{{topquote|All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.|Sun Tzu}}

BECOZ IT'Z A ZOGGIN' GUD TIME, DATZ WHY!

Okay, seriously, why do we go to war? You might have heard philosophers, politicians, artists, thinkers, or even people on the street saying that war is terrible and should be avoided at all cost. Even military officials highly suggest to not apprehend conflict at all. As it seems that War brings more bad than good. But if that is so obvious, then why do people '''still to this very day''' fight to the death? It has been a very frequent subject of debates and researches. Despite the disapproval of war as a concept, it is ever omnipresent in our media and culture. Even games! How many tabletop games do you know are based around the concept of war? Isn't that enough proof that despite the odds, there is an interest in the matter of conflict?

Over the years, many explanations for war were given, but none really serve as a definitive answer.

*Natural resources have been a frequent one in the early days of civilization. The Euphrates river, for example, has been the theater of a metric ton of conflicts and battles over the water the river provided. And given how it was one of the only sources around in Ancient Mesopotamia, you better believe people were going to fight over it. With the first development of agriculture and infrastructures made to circumvent problems created by the river, the disputes lasted until the establishment of the first Akkadian civilization.
**Later down the line, natural resources kept being a main motivation for war; but instead of it being based on its literal rarity, most cases were economic matters. Say a country is doing a blockade on certain trades and another needs said trades to complete certain megaprojects. In most cases, negotiations were cut short in favor of a simple cut to the throat. In desperate times, men can get very violent. Or repress with a lot of violence.
* Following the "realist" political theories, war is the result of nations trying and failing to produce stability with their neighboring nations by maintaining a balance of military power with each other. If that does not work out (say, because one nation is believed to be [[Nazi|developing nuclear weapons]] and [[USA|we'd rather be the ones holding that particular trigger]]), war happens to try and balance it out so war can be avoided in the future. This also works with other resources; if a country is in need of water, oil or other necessities, war becomes more likely as their desperation rises (see current east-European/Russian relations).
* If you're an authoritarian regime, war is one of many ways to keep your regime propped up. This serves multiple purposes; it provides the populace with jobs in the form of industry and conscription, it directs people's negative sentiments towards an external foe and away from the state itself, and if the war is successful, gains the state prestige and resources (which are intended to not only offset the cost of the war but also grow the state's overall power). The threat of an external foe also justifies an increase in the state's power, such as cracking down on civil liberties. That being said, if the state is already unstable or overextended and you fail to make any meaningful gains, people will start questioning the legitimacy of the ruling class.
* Ideology may be a major dividing line between two opposing forces; while political ambitions and desire for power usually coincide as motivating factors, a major ideological difference can make it intolerable for two different groups of people to live with each other due to the fundamental incompatibility with their ways of life.
* Civil Wars usually start with some segment of the population being upset with who's in charge of the nation, be it an interest group, a socioeconomic class, or a particular head of state. This can take a number of different forms, occasionally multiple of these at once:
** Rebellion - A group of people are unhappy with the current state of affairs and want to set something on fire about it. Rebellions are, if we're defining things for categorization here, mostly just an outlet for pent-up frustration or some unbearable conditions, not a fully formed attempt to establish a new order. You don't need a manifesto, just a brick. They tend to be the prelude to something more serious.
** Coup d'Etat - The rebel faction wants to replace the current ruler. Generally, this happens as a conspiracy by military officers, government officials, the nobility, or some outside force that's gotten the ear of any of the previous three.
** Succession Crisis - more common in a [[Monarchy]]; if it's unclear on who will be the next ruler, if the heir apparent is deemed unfit to rule, or if the next in line is someone that everyone absolutely can't stand, the different claimants will fight each other for the throne.
** Secession - The rebel faction wants to splinter away from the country to form their own country. This undermines the authority of the previously united national government, leading to high tensions even if the secession itself is peaceful, and often leads to war afterwards when the seceding party throws the emperor's diplomats out a window, finds a big strong friendly nation with a vested interest in building a canal, or starts a war in a fit of jingoistic arrogance then cries about losing for the next 160 years.
** Revolution - The rebel faction wants to change the system of government entirely. These are, generally speaking, The Big Ones. Since the concept of a revolution in the modern sense, beginning in the late 18th century, revolutions hardly ever stay in one country. Power bounces around into new and unknown hands, long-established societal norms are challenged openly, and more often than not the neighbors start to get nervous about it and decide to help, quietly or in full force, one side or the other. No matter the outcome of one single revolution, in a world that has grown ever more interconnected, it's bad news for the powerful and unpopular everywhere when the barricades and banners start showing up.
** Failed State - If the central government fails altogether, local populations will start fighting each other to reestablish a new state; usually with different warlords wanting to eventually defeat the rivals and become the new ruler of the country.

Highlander

2023-02-27T16:53:33Z

2607:FB90:6CA3:5C65:1DCD:7EB5:C0A6:5CCD: /* Overview */

[[File:BTHighlander.jpeg|thumb|300px|GET FUCKED, YA WEE LADDIE!]]
{{topquote|THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!|Average Highlander [[Mechwarrior]] before performing a Highlander Burial}}

Sometimes, just shooting an enemy 'Mech to death isn't enough. You want to get up close and personal, and send a message few will forget. And you want to do so by channeling your inner [[Team Fortress 2|Demoman]] and rocketing across the battlefield.

You, my good sir, need a '''Highlander'''.

==Overview==
The Highlander is an [[Inner Sphere]] Assault [[BattleMech]] from the world of [[BattleTech]] that clocks in at 90 tons, is built on a Star League XT frame with a GM 270 fusion engine, and was originally intended to defend cities and installations. However, the combination of its weight, a top speed of 54 km/h, and possessing HildCo Model 10 jump jets with a 90-meter range (meant to be used to clear obstacles in urban warfare and such) meant that even in initial trial runs it found use in [[Awesome|bringing death from above by slamming feet-first into the enemy]]. Originally a desperation tactic, these 'Highlander Burial' maneuvers (so named because Light 'Mechs are [[Rape|regularly and quite literally buried 6 feet under by it]]) would be soon adopted into later iterations of the design, with the Highlander's legs being reinforced so they could survive multiple high-speed impacts with other 'Mechs. Thus it became a viable tactic for picking off certain targets and would be refined by Mechwarriors into an art form.

Highlanders have been around since the days of the original [[Star League]], so despite being primarily associated with the Inner Sphere some members of [[The Clans]] have held onto some from their original exodus and later upgraded them to be IIC variants with better weapons. In fact, a custom one was known to be used by [[That Guy|the last, asshole Khan]] of Clan Widowmaker who was responsible for killing Nicholas Karensky with a "[[Skub|stray]]" Heavy Laser shot. (You give him a Highlander and [[Derp|make his most impactful kill, regardless of original intention, ''not'' be a Higlander Burial]]? For shame...)

After the fall of the League, the Inner Sphere was stuck with an inferior variant, though compared to other mechs from the same time period it weathered the storm better than expected. [[ComStar]] of course held onto some original Highlanders and refused to share how to make them, the selfish bastards.

The Highlander is most famously used by the [[Mercenaries (Battletech)#Well known Units|Northwind Highlanders]] mercenaries (no surprise since they're Scottish and, more importantly, have the 'Mech in their name), who are considered the masters of the Highlander Burial.

==Armament==
Other than its own weight being used for deadly CQC takedowns via the Burial maneuver, the Highlander's standard loadout is more jack-of-all-trades. For its main weapon, the 'Mech utilizes an M-7 Gauss Rifle for taking on heavier targets, while for a secondary it possesses a Holly-20 LRM-20 launcher used to supplement its Rifle at long range. However, it also possesses a set of weapons intended for defending itself from close range - namely a pair of Harmon Starclass medium lasers and a Holly-6 SRM-6 launcher. A CASE system protects the two tons of ammunition needed for the Gauss, LRM, and SRM, while 12 heat sinks maintain mech temperature. Targeting is provided by a Starlight LX-1 and communication by a Hector VII.

In terms of defense, a standard Highlander is protected by 15 tons of Grumman-3 Ferro-Fibrous armor.

==Variants==
Due to being one of the older 'Mechs to still be in use, the Highlander has gained several variants over the years:
*'''HGN-641-X-2''' - A [[ComStar]] variant that was originally a prototype. It utilizes a pair of MML-7 launchers equipped with Artemis IV Fire Control Systems that have 4 tons of ammo, as well as upgrading to a pair of ER medium lasers. The Gauss Rifle is kept, with CASE II protecting its ammo alongside the missiles. Other changes are swapping the armor to be Light Ferro-Fibrous with Reinforced Structure, a C3 Slave Unit, and an XL Engine and XL Gyro. Saw a lot of use in the Jihad by the [[Word of Blake]].
*'''HGN-694''' - [[What|A later variant with a number lower than the original]]. We know it definitely isn't a prototype since it came centuries after the 732. A variant introduced during the FedCom Civil War, this Highlander [[Heresy|ditches the Burial-enabling Jump Jets]], missiles, and medium lasers in exchange for taking a Heavy Gauss Rifle and two Large Lasers. The original Gauss Rifle remains, so this is definitely a variant trading the OG's versatility and epic finisher for more long-range capability.
*'''HGN-732''' - The standard Highlander loadout as originally designed by the Star League for the SLDF.
*'''HGN-732b''' - Made for SLDF Royal units, this Highlander variant reduces the number of heat sinks to 10 and a ton of SRM ammunition, in exchange for changing the original medium lasers to ER variants as well as adding an additional regular medium laser, adding Artemis IV FCS to the launchers, and upgrading to Double Heat Sinks.
*'''HGN-733''' - The downgrade that was used after the 732 became [[LosTech]]. Switches the Gauss Rifle for a Mydron Class B Autocannon/10 with two tons of ammo with one additional ton of LRM ammo. The 'Mech's armor also is two tons heavier for more protection and communications are now handled by a Hartford Com/A-7.
*'''HGN-733C''' - A variant of the 733 that uses an Autocannon/20 as its main gun instead of the Autocannon/10 while having a ton less of LRM and SRM ammo each.
*'''HGN-733P''' - A 733 which swaps out the Autocannon for a PPC, and adds seven more single heat sinks to acommodate the new source of heat.
*'''HGN-734''' - Made to emphasize its role in urban combat by the [[Lyran Commonwealth]] during its Lyran Alliance phase in the FedCom Civil War, these Highlanders ditch the LRM-20 and use a Light Fusion Engine in exchange for a series of changes. The main gun is now a LB-X Autocannon/20 while the SRM-6 has been upgraded to two Streak SRM-6s. The Medium Lasers are now ER variants and an ER Large Laser is added on top of that.
*'''HGN-736''' - Another [[ComStar]] variant introduced in the late 3050s whose main claim to fame was integration of an improved C3 computer. It also upgraded the LRM-20 to have a Artemis IV FCS and switched out the SRM-6 for a Streak SRM-4 that only had one ton of ammo. The twelve heat sinks were reduced to ten by upgrading them to Double Heat Sinks.
*'''HGN-738''' - Another [[Lyran Commonwealth]] variant, this one made after the FedCom Civil War. Directly upgrades the main gun by making it a Heavy Gauss Rifle, and switches the LRM to a LRM-15 guided by an Artemis IV FCS. An ER Large Laser was also added to the package. Other upgrades include using ER Medium Lasers and a Streak SRM-4. Has a drawback of having its ammo concentrated in one side of the torso, meaning even with CASE there's a risk of it causing a critically damaging explosion if damaged.
*'''HGN-740''' - The Dark Age Highlander, the 740 changes out the Gauss Rifle for an ER PPC with a PPC Capacitor, and upgrades the LRM-20 to have an Artemis IV FCS. The SRM-6 is also upgraded to be Streak, and the Medium Lasers are ER variants. The armor is changed to be Light Ferro-Fibrous, and CASE II is used to protect the two tons of LRM and one ton of Streak SRM ammo. Finally, a pair of M-Pods are installed on each leg, intended to make a Highlander Burial even more deadly.

===Highlander IIC===
[[File:CIdUnQvUcAA elE.jpg|thumb|300px|Will [[Mario|Goomba stomp]] your ass for spitting on the Batchall.]]
The <s>[[The Clans|Clannerscum]]</s> {{BLAM|I declare a Trial of Grievance for your insult!}} variant of the Highlander is based off of the 732s brought with Kerensky's Exodus. However, unlike that original design, uninterrupted technological development means the IIC variants have followed a different path from their Inner Circle counterparts. Namely, the usage of lighter weapons systems as well as shaving off a half-ton of ferro-fibrous armor has allowed the Clans' engineers and scientists to effectively double its firepower. It still has the Jump Jets of the original, meaning the Warriors of the Clans have not forgotten the art of the Highlander Burial.

*'''Highlander IIC 1''' - The standard Highlander IIC, the IIC 1 brings into battle an EMRG "Captain" Series Gauss Rifle and a Type XXVI "Great Bow" LRM-20 Launcher for long-range engagement as well as a pair of MPA-14 Mod. 12a Streak SRM-6 Launchers and a trio of Series PPS-VIII Medium Pulse Lasers for close-range combat. 12 Double Heat Sinks keep everything cool and the pilot decidedly un-fried.
*'''Highlander IIC 2''' - A mod of the IIC for anti-infantry roles introduced to fight the [[Word of Blake]]'s ''Manei Domini'' during the Jihad. The LRMs are swapped out for three ATM 6 Launchers with four tons of ammunition between them, while the Medium Pulse Lasers are replaced with ER Medium Lasers. Its left arm is also now kitted out with ''six'' anti-personnel Gauss Rifles for its role, with a ton of ammunition between them. This doesn't sound like much for six 'Mech guns until you realize their anti-personnel ammo is likely the size of modern HMG ammo, meaning there's plenty of [[rip and tear]] coming out of those barrels before it runs dry. Defensive-wise, its chassis is upgraded to be endo-steel for extra internal protection.
*'''Highlander IIC 3''' - A minor alteration of the Highlander IIC which is intended to increase battlefield endurance by swapping the main Gauss Rifle for a Hyper-Assault Gauss Rifle 20 with four tons of ammo as well as adding an ECM suite. [[Anal circumference|The HAG/20 makes Battle Armor and Combat Vehicles roll critical existence failures]], so the IIC 3 sees use as anti-light armor.

==Design Quirks==
The Highlander is considered a Command Battlemech, with its construction giving it the crunch Design Quirks of being Cowled (increased side and rear protection for the cockpit) and having Reinforced Legs (for that Highlander Burial takedown) at the expense of being difficult to eject from. (You'd think the Clans would fix that last one, but nope!)

The 641-X-2 in particular has the Prototype quirk due to its origins as one.
[[Category:BattleTech]]
[[Category:BattleMech]]

Highlander

2023-02-27T16:53:01Z

2607:FB90:6CA3:5C65:1DCD:7EB5:C0A6:5CCD: /* Overview */

[[File:BTHighlander.jpeg|thumb|300px|GET FUCKED, YA WEE LADDIE!]]
{{topquote|THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!|Average Highlander [[Mechwarrior]] before performing a Highlander Burial}}

Sometimes, just shooting an enemy 'Mech to death isn't enough. You want to get up close and personal, and send a message few will forget. And you want to do so by channeling your inner [[Team Fortress 2|Demoman]] and rocketing across the battlefield.

You, my good sir, need a '''Highlander'''.

==Overview==
The Highlander is an [[Inner Sphere]] Assault [[BattleMech]] from the world of [[BattleTech]] that clocks in at 90 tons, is built on a Star League XT frame with a GM 270 fusion engine, and was originally intended to defend cities and installations. However, the combination of its weight, a top speed of 54 km/h, and possessing HildCo Model 10 jump jets with a 90-meter range (meant to be used to clear obstacles in urban warfare and such) meant that even in initial trial runs it found use in [[Awesome|bringing death from above by slamming feet-first into the enemy]]. Originally a desperation tactic, these 'Highlander Burial' maneuvers (so named because Light 'Mechs are [[Rape|regularly and quite literally buried 6 feet under by it]]) would be soon adopted into later iterations of the design, with the Highlander's legs being reinforced so they could survive multiple high-speed impacts with other 'Mechs. Thus it became a viable tactic for picking off certain targets and would be refined by Mechwarriors into an art form.

Highlanders have been around since the days of the original [[Star League]], so despite being primarily associated with the Inner Sphere some members of [[The Clans]] have held onto some from their original exodus and later upgraded them to be IIC variants with better weapons. In fact, a custom one was known to be used by [[That Guy|the last, asshole Khan]] of Clan Widowmaker who was responsible for killing Nicholas Karensky with a "[[Skub|stray]]" Heavy Laser shot. (You give him a Highlander and [[Derp|make his most impactful kill, regardless of original intention, ''not'' be a Higlander Burial]]? For shame...)

After the fall of the League, the Inner Sphere was stuck with an inferior variant, though compared to other mechs from the same time period it weathered the storm better than expected. [[ComStar]] of course held onto some original Highlanders and refused to share how to make them, the selfish bastards.

The Highlander is most famously used by the [[Mercenaries (Battletech)#Well Known Units|Northwind Highlanders]] mercenaries (no surprise since they're Scottish and, more importantly, have the 'Mech in their name), who are considered the masters of the Highlander Burial.

==Armament==
Other than its own weight being used for deadly CQC takedowns via the Burial maneuver, the Highlander's standard loadout is more jack-of-all-trades. For its main weapon, the 'Mech utilizes an M-7 Gauss Rifle for taking on heavier targets, while for a secondary it possesses a Holly-20 LRM-20 launcher used to supplement its Rifle at long range. However, it also possesses a set of weapons intended for defending itself from close range - namely a pair of Harmon Starclass medium lasers and a Holly-6 SRM-6 launcher. A CASE system protects the two tons of ammunition needed for the Gauss, LRM, and SRM, while 12 heat sinks maintain mech temperature. Targeting is provided by a Starlight LX-1 and communication by a Hector VII.

In terms of defense, a standard Highlander is protected by 15 tons of Grumman-3 Ferro-Fibrous armor.

==Variants==
Due to being one of the older 'Mechs to still be in use, the Highlander has gained several variants over the years:
*'''HGN-641-X-2''' - A [[ComStar]] variant that was originally a prototype. It utilizes a pair of MML-7 launchers equipped with Artemis IV Fire Control Systems that have 4 tons of ammo, as well as upgrading to a pair of ER medium lasers. The Gauss Rifle is kept, with CASE II protecting its ammo alongside the missiles. Other changes are swapping the armor to be Light Ferro-Fibrous with Reinforced Structure, a C3 Slave Unit, and an XL Engine and XL Gyro. Saw a lot of use in the Jihad by the [[Word of Blake]].
*'''HGN-694''' - [[What|A later variant with a number lower than the original]]. We know it definitely isn't a prototype since it came centuries after the 732. A variant introduced during the FedCom Civil War, this Highlander [[Heresy|ditches the Burial-enabling Jump Jets]], missiles, and medium lasers in exchange for taking a Heavy Gauss Rifle and two Large Lasers. The original Gauss Rifle remains, so this is definitely a variant trading the OG's versatility and epic finisher for more long-range capability.
*'''HGN-732''' - The standard Highlander loadout as originally designed by the Star League for the SLDF.
*'''HGN-732b''' - Made for SLDF Royal units, this Highlander variant reduces the number of heat sinks to 10 and a ton of SRM ammunition, in exchange for changing the original medium lasers to ER variants as well as adding an additional regular medium laser, adding Artemis IV FCS to the launchers, and upgrading to Double Heat Sinks.
*'''HGN-733''' - The downgrade that was used after the 732 became [[LosTech]]. Switches the Gauss Rifle for a Mydron Class B Autocannon/10 with two tons of ammo with one additional ton of LRM ammo. The 'Mech's armor also is two tons heavier for more protection and communications are now handled by a Hartford Com/A-7.
*'''HGN-733C''' - A variant of the 733 that uses an Autocannon/20 as its main gun instead of the Autocannon/10 while having a ton less of LRM and SRM ammo each.
*'''HGN-733P''' - A 733 which swaps out the Autocannon for a PPC, and adds seven more single heat sinks to acommodate the new source of heat.
*'''HGN-734''' - Made to emphasize its role in urban combat by the [[Lyran Commonwealth]] during its Lyran Alliance phase in the FedCom Civil War, these Highlanders ditch the LRM-20 and use a Light Fusion Engine in exchange for a series of changes. The main gun is now a LB-X Autocannon/20 while the SRM-6 has been upgraded to two Streak SRM-6s. The Medium Lasers are now ER variants and an ER Large Laser is added on top of that.
*'''HGN-736''' - Another [[ComStar]] variant introduced in the late 3050s whose main claim to fame was integration of an improved C3 computer. It also upgraded the LRM-20 to have a Artemis IV FCS and switched out the SRM-6 for a Streak SRM-4 that only had one ton of ammo. The twelve heat sinks were reduced to ten by upgrading them to Double Heat Sinks.
*'''HGN-738''' - Another [[Lyran Commonwealth]] variant, this one made after the FedCom Civil War. Directly upgrades the main gun by making it a Heavy Gauss Rifle, and switches the LRM to a LRM-15 guided by an Artemis IV FCS. An ER Large Laser was also added to the package. Other upgrades include using ER Medium Lasers and a Streak SRM-4. Has a drawback of having its ammo concentrated in one side of the torso, meaning even with CASE there's a risk of it causing a critically damaging explosion if damaged.
*'''HGN-740''' - The Dark Age Highlander, the 740 changes out the Gauss Rifle for an ER PPC with a PPC Capacitor, and upgrades the LRM-20 to have an Artemis IV FCS. The SRM-6 is also upgraded to be Streak, and the Medium Lasers are ER variants. The armor is changed to be Light Ferro-Fibrous, and CASE II is used to protect the two tons of LRM and one ton of Streak SRM ammo. Finally, a pair of M-Pods are installed on each leg, intended to make a Highlander Burial even more deadly.

===Highlander IIC===
[[File:CIdUnQvUcAA elE.jpg|thumb|300px|Will [[Mario|Goomba stomp]] your ass for spitting on the Batchall.]]
The <s>[[The Clans|Clannerscum]]</s> {{BLAM|I declare a Trial of Grievance for your insult!}} variant of the Highlander is based off of the 732s brought with Kerensky's Exodus. However, unlike that original design, uninterrupted technological development means the IIC variants have followed a different path from their Inner Circle counterparts. Namely, the usage of lighter weapons systems as well as shaving off a half-ton of ferro-fibrous armor has allowed the Clans' engineers and scientists to effectively double its firepower. It still has the Jump Jets of the original, meaning the Warriors of the Clans have not forgotten the art of the Highlander Burial.

*'''Highlander IIC 1''' - The standard Highlander IIC, the IIC 1 brings into battle an EMRG "Captain" Series Gauss Rifle and a Type XXVI "Great Bow" LRM-20 Launcher for long-range engagement as well as a pair of MPA-14 Mod. 12a Streak SRM-6 Launchers and a trio of Series PPS-VIII Medium Pulse Lasers for close-range combat. 12 Double Heat Sinks keep everything cool and the pilot decidedly un-fried.
*'''Highlander IIC 2''' - A mod of the IIC for anti-infantry roles introduced to fight the [[Word of Blake]]'s ''Manei Domini'' during the Jihad. The LRMs are swapped out for three ATM 6 Launchers with four tons of ammunition between them, while the Medium Pulse Lasers are replaced with ER Medium Lasers. Its left arm is also now kitted out with ''six'' anti-personnel Gauss Rifles for its role, with a ton of ammunition between them. This doesn't sound like much for six 'Mech guns until you realize their anti-personnel ammo is likely the size of modern HMG ammo, meaning there's plenty of [[rip and tear]] coming out of those barrels before it runs dry. Defensive-wise, its chassis is upgraded to be endo-steel for extra internal protection.
*'''Highlander IIC 3''' - A minor alteration of the Highlander IIC which is intended to increase battlefield endurance by swapping the main Gauss Rifle for a Hyper-Assault Gauss Rifle 20 with four tons of ammo as well as adding an ECM suite. [[Anal circumference|The HAG/20 makes Battle Armor and Combat Vehicles roll critical existence failures]], so the IIC 3 sees use as anti-light armor.

==Design Quirks==
The Highlander is considered a Command Battlemech, with its construction giving it the crunch Design Quirks of being Cowled (increased side and rear protection for the cockpit) and having Reinforced Legs (for that Highlander Burial takedown) at the expense of being difficult to eject from. (You'd think the Clans would fix that last one, but nope!)

The 641-X-2 in particular has the Prototype quirk due to its origins as one.
[[Category:BattleTech]]
[[Category:BattleMech]]

War

2023-02-27T16:45:46Z

2607:FB90:6CA3:5C65:1DCD:7EB5:C0A6:5CCD: /* /tg/ relevance */

{{topquote|War, what is it good for?|Edwin Starr}}
{{topquote|Everything!|[[Team Fortress 2|Soldier]], replying to the upper question.}}

War, for some the be-all-end-all of civilizations, the harbinger of death to others. For thousands of years, perhaps even millions, us humans have gone to war for as long as we've been able to create weapons. Whether it be over matters of ideology, natural resources, or territory, men have fought for millennia on end for the betterment of mankind as a whole... or for their own interest.

War has been part of human society for a very long time. So long in fact that we can hardly even pinpoint when did the fashion of [[Orks|bashing someone else with a big pointy stick]] even started originally. Some even theorized that the practice of warfare is not something proper to humans, but perhaps to animals as well, as our cousins the apes have learned how to manipulate sticks and machetes. In any case, wars have been omnipresent for a long while. So much so, in fact, that we humans have draw a lot of inspirations for our stories and cultures. War is present in our books, our ancient texts, our games, our movies, our shows, and so on and so forth.

==/tg/ relevance==
[[Warhammer 40k|Are]] [[Warmahordes|you]] [[Wargaming|seriously]] [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|asking]] [[Horus Heresy|that?]]

Barring any horror, mystery, civilization-building, RPG, and puzzle tabletop games, you’re more likely than not to find a tabletop game focused on war. Hell, the earliest version of modern tabletop gaming came from military war games using set miniatures pieces and military unit markers for strategists to sharpen their tactics with wargaming skills. And ironically it’s still a practice that continues to this day. Both with hypothetical scenario exercises for governments and think-tanks or private service members finding some peace and quiet from painting miniatures before marching them to war.

==War in practice==
{{topquote|[[Ogre#Shrek|Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make.]]|Any ruler worth his crown in History.}}

Warfare. A profession for many, an art to some. Wars can be waged by just about anyone, but they cannot be won by everyone. At the end of the day, as long as there's still conflict to be settled, [[Team Fortress 2#Sniper|someone is gonna want someone else dead]]. To maximize the chances of winning, plenty have elaborated plans of actions to conduct war in a proper manner. Any regime that had plenty of men and who knew how to use them made some pretty drastic changes in history, plenty left their mark through sheer force of will... And lethal application of weaponry.

So, you wanna wage a war, son?

==Why do we go to war?==

{{topquote|War is merely the continuation of policy by other means. We see, therefore, that war is not merely an act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse carried on with other means. What remains peculiar to war is simply the peculiar nature of its means.|Carl von Clausewitz}}

{{topquote|All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.|Sun Tzu}}

BECOZ IT'Z A ZOGGIN' GUD TIME, DATZ WHY!

Okay, seriously, why do we go to war? You might have heard philosophers, politicians, artists, thinkers, or even people on the street saying that war is terrible and should be avoided at all cost. Even military officials highly suggest to not apprehend conflict at all. As it seems that War brings more bad than good. But if that is so obvious, then why do people '''still to this very day''' fight to the death? It has been a very frequent subject of debates and researches. Despite the disapproval of war as a concept, it is ever omnipresent in our media and culture. Even games! How many tabletop games do you know are based around the concept of war? Isn't that enough proof that despite the odds, there is an interest in the matter of conflict?

Over the years, many explanations for war were given, but none really serve as a definitive answer.

*Natural resources have been a frequent one in the early days of civilization. The Euphrates river, for example, has been the theater of a metric ton of conflicts and battles over the water the river provided. And given how it was one of the only sources around in Ancient Mesopotamia, you better believe people were going to fight over it. With the first development of agriculture and infrastructures made to circumvent problems created by the river, the disputes lasted until the establishment of the first Akkadian civilization.
**Later down the line, natural resources kept being a main motivation for war; but instead of it being based on its literal rarity, most cases were economic matters. Say a country is doing a blockade on certain trades and another needs said trades to complete certain megaprojects. In most cases, negotiations were cut short in favor of a simple cut to the throat. In desperate times, men can get very violent. Or repress with a lot of violence.
* Following the "realist" political theories, war is the result of nations trying and failing to produce stability with their neighboring nations by maintaining a balance of military power with each other. If that does not work out (say, because one nation is believed to be [[Nazi|developing nuclear weapons]] and [[USA|we'd rather be the ones holding that particular trigger]]), war happens to try and balance it out so war can be avoided in the future. This also works with other resources; if a country is in need of water, oil or other necessities, war becomes more likely as their desperation rises (see current east-European/Russian relations).
* If you're an authoritarian regime, war is one of many ways to keep your regime propped up. This serves multiple purposes; it provides the populace with jobs in the form of industry and conscription, it directs people's negative sentiments towards an external foe and away from the state itself, and if the war is successful, gains the state prestige and resources (which are intended to not only offset the cost of the war but also grow the state's overall power). The threat of an external foe also justifies an increase in the state's power, such as cracking down on civil liberties. That being said, if the state is already unstable or overextended and you fail to make any meaningful gains, people will start questioning the legitimacy of the ruling class.
* Ideology may be a major dividing line between two opposing forces; while political ambitions and desire for power usually coincide as motivating factors, a major ideological difference can make it intolerable for two different groups of people to live with each other due to the fundamental incompatibility with their ways of life.
* Civil Wars usually start with some segment of the population being upset with who's in charge of the nation, be it an interest group, a socioeconomic class, or a particular head of state. This can take a number of different forms, occasionally multiple of these at once:
** Rebellion - A group of people are unhappy with the current state of affairs and want to set something on fire about it. Rebellions are, if we're defining things for categorization here, mostly just an outlet for pent-up frustration or some unbearable conditions, not a fully formed attempt to establish a new order. You don't need a manifesto, just a brick. They tend to be the prelude to something more serious.
** Coup d'Etat - The rebel faction wants to replace the current ruler. Generally, this happens as a conspiracy by military officers, government officials, the nobility, or some outside force that's gotten the ear of any of the previous three.
** Succession Crisis - more common in a [[Monarchy]]; if it's unclear on who will be the next ruler, if the heir apparent is deemed unfit to rule, or if the next in line is someone that everyone absolutely can't stand, the different claimants will fight each other for the throne.
** Secession - The rebel faction wants to splinter away from the country to form their own country. This undermines the authority of the previously united national government, leading to high tensions even if the secession itself is peaceful, and often leads to war afterwards when the seceding party throws the emperor's diplomats out a window, finds a big strong friendly nation with a vested interest in building a canal, or starts a war in a fit of jingoistic arrogance then cries about losing for the next 160 years.
** Revolution - The rebel faction wants to change the system of government entirely. These are, generally speaking, The Big Ones. Since the concept of a revolution in the modern sense, beginning in the late 18th century, revolutions hardly ever stay in one country. Power bounces around into new and unknown hands, long-established societal norms are challenged openly, and more often than not the neighbors start to get nervous about it and decide to help, quietly or in full force, one side or the other. No matter the outcome of one single revolution, in a world that has grown ever more interconnected, it's bad news for the powerful and unpopular everywhere when the barricades and banners start showing up.
** Failed State - If the central government fails altogether, local populations will start fighting each other to reestablish a new state; usually with different warlords wanting to eventually defeat the rivals and become the new ruler of the country.

War

2023-02-27T16:40:30Z

2607:FB90:6CA3:5C65:1DCD:7EB5:C0A6:5CCD: /* Why do we go to war? */

{{topquote|War, what is it good for?|Edwin Starr}}
{{topquote|Everything!|[[Team Fortress 2|Soldier]], replying to the upper question.}}

War, for some the be-all-end-all of civilizations, the harbinger of death to others. For thousands of years, perhaps even millions, us humans have gone to war for as long as we've been able to create weapons. Whether it be over matters of ideology, natural resources, or territory, men have fought for millennia on end for the betterment of mankind as a whole... or for their own interest.

War has been part of human society for a very long time. So long in fact that we can hardly even pinpoint when did the fashion of [[Orks|bashing someone else with a big pointy stick]] even started originally. Some even theorized that the practice of warfare is not something proper to humans, but perhaps to animals as well, as our cousins the apes have learned how to manipulate sticks and machetes. In any case, wars have been omnipresent for a long while. So much so, in fact, that we humans have draw a lot of inspirations for our stories and cultures. War is present in our books, our ancient texts, our games, our movies, our shows, and so on and so forth.

==/tg/ relevance==
[[Warhammer 40k|Are]] [[Warmahordes|you]] [[Wargaming|seriously]] [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|asking]] [[Horus Heresy|that?]]

==War in practice==
{{topquote|[[Ogre#Shrek|Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make.]]|Any ruler worth his crown in History.}}

Warfare. A profession for many, an art to some. Wars can be waged by just about anyone, but they cannot be won by everyone. At the end of the day, as long as there's still conflict to be settled, [[Team Fortress 2#Sniper|someone is gonna want someone else dead]]. To maximize the chances of winning, plenty have elaborated plans of actions to conduct war in a proper manner. Any regime that had plenty of men and who knew how to use them made some pretty drastic changes in history, plenty left their mark through sheer force of will... And lethal application of weaponry.

So, you wanna wage a war, son?

==Why do we go to war?==

{{topquote|War is merely the continuation of policy by other means. We see, therefore, that war is not merely an act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse carried on with other means. What remains peculiar to war is simply the peculiar nature of its means.|Carl von Clausewitz}}

{{topquote|All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.|Sun Tzu}}

BECOZ IT'Z A ZOGGIN' GUD TIME, DATZ WHY!

Okay, seriously, why do we go to war? You might have heard philosophers, politicians, artists, thinkers, or even people on the street saying that war is terrible and should be avoided at all cost. Even military officials highly suggest to not apprehend conflict at all. As it seems that War brings more bad than good. But if that is so obvious, then why do people '''still to this very day''' fight to the death? It has been a very frequent subject of debates and researches. Despite the disapproval of war as a concept, it is ever omnipresent in our media and culture. Even games! How many tabletop games do you know are based around the concept of war? Isn't that enough proof that despite the odds, there is an interest in the matter of conflict?

Over the years, many explanations for war were given, but none really serve as a definitive answer.

*Natural resources have been a frequent one in the early days of civilization. The Euphrates river, for example, has been the theater of a metric ton of conflicts and battles over the water the river provided. And given how it was one of the only sources around in Ancient Mesopotamia, you better believe people were going to fight over it. With the first development of agriculture and infrastructures made to circumvent problems created by the river, the disputes lasted until the establishment of the first Akkadian civilization.
**Later down the line, natural resources kept being a main motivation for war; but instead of it being based on its literal rarity, most cases were economic matters. Say a country is doing a blockade on certain trades and another needs said trades to complete certain megaprojects. In most cases, negotiations were cut short in favor of a simple cut to the throat. In desperate times, men can get very violent. Or repress with a lot of violence.
* Following the "realist" political theories, war is the result of nations trying and failing to produce stability with their neighboring nations by maintaining a balance of military power with each other. If that does not work out (say, because one nation is believed to be [[Nazi|developing nuclear weapons]] and [[USA|we'd rather be the ones holding that particular trigger]]), war happens to try and balance it out so war can be avoided in the future. This also works with other resources; if a country is in need of water, oil or other necessities, war becomes more likely as their desperation rises (see current east-European/Russian relations).
* If you're an authoritarian regime, war is one of many ways to keep your regime propped up. This serves multiple purposes; it provides the populace with jobs in the form of industry and conscription, it directs people's negative sentiments towards an external foe and away from the state itself, and if the war is successful, gains the state prestige and resources (which are intended to not only offset the cost of the war but also grow the state's overall power). The threat of an external foe also justifies an increase in the state's power, such as cracking down on civil liberties. That being said, if the state is already unstable or overextended and you fail to make any meaningful gains, people will start questioning the legitimacy of the ruling class.
* Ideology may be a major dividing line between two opposing forces; while political ambitions and desire for power usually coincide as motivating factors, a major ideological difference can make it intolerable for two different groups of people to live with each other due to the fundamental incompatibility with their ways of life.
* Civil Wars usually start with some segment of the population being upset with who's in charge of the nation, be it an interest group, a socioeconomic class, or a particular head of state. This can take a number of different forms, occasionally multiple of these at once:
** Rebellion - A group of people are unhappy with the current state of affairs and want to set something on fire about it. Rebellions are, if we're defining things for categorization here, mostly just an outlet for pent-up frustration or some unbearable conditions, not a fully formed attempt to establish a new order. You don't need a manifesto, just a brick. They tend to be the prelude to something more serious.
** Coup d'Etat - The rebel faction wants to replace the current ruler. Generally, this happens as a conspiracy by military officers, government officials, the nobility, or some outside force that's gotten the ear of any of the previous three.
** Succession Crisis - more common in a [[Monarchy]]; if it's unclear on who will be the next ruler, if the heir apparent is deemed unfit to rule, or if the next in line is someone that everyone absolutely can't stand, the different claimants will fight each other for the throne.
** Secession - The rebel faction wants to splinter away from the country to form their own country. This undermines the authority of the previously united national government, leading to high tensions even if the secession itself is peaceful, and often leads to war afterwards when the seceding party throws the emperor's diplomats out a window, finds a big strong friendly nation with a vested interest in building a canal, or starts a war in a fit of jingoistic arrogance then cries about losing for the next 160 years.
** Revolution - The rebel faction wants to change the system of government entirely. These are, generally speaking, The Big Ones. Since the concept of a revolution in the modern sense, beginning in the late 18th century, revolutions hardly ever stay in one country. Power bounces around into new and unknown hands, long-established societal norms are challenged openly, and more often than not the neighbors start to get nervous about it and decide to help, quietly or in full force, one side or the other. No matter the outcome of one single revolution, in a world that has grown ever more interconnected, it's bad news for the powerful and unpopular everywhere when the barricades and banners start showing up.
** Failed State - If the central government fails altogether, local populations will start fighting each other to reestablish a new state; usually with different warlords wanting to eventually defeat the rivals and become the new ruler of the country.

War

2023-02-27T16:40:16Z

2607:FB90:6CA3:5C65:1DCD:7EB5:C0A6:5CCD:

{{topquote|War, what is it good for?|Edwin Starr}}
{{topquote|Everything!|[[Team Fortress 2|Soldier]], replying to the upper question.}}

War, for some the be-all-end-all of civilizations, the harbinger of death to others. For thousands of years, perhaps even millions, us humans have gone to war for as long as we've been able to create weapons. Whether it be over matters of ideology, natural resources, or territory, men have fought for millennia on end for the betterment of mankind as a whole... or for their own interest.

War has been part of human society for a very long time. So long in fact that we can hardly even pinpoint when did the fashion of [[Orks|bashing someone else with a big pointy stick]] even started originally. Some even theorized that the practice of warfare is not something proper to humans, but perhaps to animals as well, as our cousins the apes have learned how to manipulate sticks and machetes. In any case, wars have been omnipresent for a long while. So much so, in fact, that we humans have draw a lot of inspirations for our stories and cultures. War is present in our books, our ancient texts, our games, our movies, our shows, and so on and so forth.

==/tg/ relevance==
[[Warhammer 40k|Are]] [[Warmahordes|you]] [[Wargaming|seriously]] [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|asking]] [[Horus Heresy|that?]]

==War in practice==
{{topquote|[[Ogre#Shrek|Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make.]]|Any ruler worth his crown in History.}}

Warfare. A profession for many, an art to some. Wars can be waged by just about anyone, but they cannot be won by everyone. At the end of the day, as long as there's still conflict to be settled, [[Team Fortress 2#Sniper|someone is gonna want someone else dead]]. To maximize the chances of winning, plenty have elaborated plans of actions to conduct war in a proper manner. Any regime that had plenty of men and who knew how to use them made some pretty drastic changes in history, plenty left their mark through sheer force of will... And lethal application of weaponry.

So, you wanna wage a war, son?

==Why do we go to war?==

{{topquote| War is merely the continuation of policy by other means. We see, therefore, that war is not merely an act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse carried on with other means. What remains peculiar to war is simply the peculiar nature of its means.|Carl von Clausewitz}}

{{topquote|All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.|Sun Tzu}}

BECOZ IT'Z A ZOGGIN' GUD TIME, DATZ WHY!

Okay, seriously, why do we go to war? You might have heard philosophers, politicians, artists, thinkers, or even people on the street saying that war is terrible and should be avoided at all cost. Even military officials highly suggest to not apprehend conflict at all. As it seems that War brings more bad than good. But if that is so obvious, then why do people '''still to this very day''' fight to the death? It has been a very frequent subject of debates and researches. Despite the disapproval of war as a concept, it is ever omnipresent in our media and culture. Even games! How many tabletop games do you know are based around the concept of war? Isn't that enough proof that despite the odds, there is an interest in the matter of conflict?

Over the years, many explanations for war were given, but none really serve as a definitive answer.

*Natural resources have been a frequent one in the early days of civilization. The Euphrates river, for example, has been the theater of a metric ton of conflicts and battles over the water the river provided. And given how it was one of the only sources around in Ancient Mesopotamia, you better believe people were going to fight over it. With the first development of agriculture and infrastructures made to circumvent problems created by the river, the disputes lasted until the establishment of the first Akkadian civilization.
**Later down the line, natural resources kept being a main motivation for war; but instead of it being based on its literal rarity, most cases were economic matters. Say a country is doing a blockade on certain trades and another needs said trades to complete certain megaprojects. In most cases, negotiations were cut short in favor of a simple cut to the throat. In desperate times, men can get very violent. Or repress with a lot of violence.
* Following the "realist" political theories, war is the result of nations trying and failing to produce stability with their neighboring nations by maintaining a balance of military power with each other. If that does not work out (say, because one nation is believed to be [[Nazi|developing nuclear weapons]] and [[USA|we'd rather be the ones holding that particular trigger]]), war happens to try and balance it out so war can be avoided in the future. This also works with other resources; if a country is in need of water, oil or other necessities, war becomes more likely as their desperation rises (see current east-European/Russian relations).
* If you're an authoritarian regime, war is one of many ways to keep your regime propped up. This serves multiple purposes; it provides the populace with jobs in the form of industry and conscription, it directs people's negative sentiments towards an external foe and away from the state itself, and if the war is successful, gains the state prestige and resources (which are intended to not only offset the cost of the war but also grow the state's overall power). The threat of an external foe also justifies an increase in the state's power, such as cracking down on civil liberties. That being said, if the state is already unstable or overextended and you fail to make any meaningful gains, people will start questioning the legitimacy of the ruling class.
* Ideology may be a major dividing line between two opposing forces; while political ambitions and desire for power usually coincide as motivating factors, a major ideological difference can make it intolerable for two different groups of people to live with each other due to the fundamental incompatibility with their ways of life.
* Civil Wars usually start with some segment of the population being upset with who's in charge of the nation, be it an interest group, a socioeconomic class, or a particular head of state. This can take a number of different forms, occasionally multiple of these at once:
** Rebellion - A group of people are unhappy with the current state of affairs and want to set something on fire about it. Rebellions are, if we're defining things for categorization here, mostly just an outlet for pent-up frustration or some unbearable conditions, not a fully formed attempt to establish a new order. You don't need a manifesto, just a brick. They tend to be the prelude to something more serious.
** Coup d'Etat - The rebel faction wants to replace the current ruler. Generally, this happens as a conspiracy by military officers, government officials, the nobility, or some outside force that's gotten the ear of any of the previous three.
** Succession Crisis - more common in a [[Monarchy]]; if it's unclear on who will be the next ruler, if the heir apparent is deemed unfit to rule, or if the next in line is someone that everyone absolutely can't stand, the different claimants will fight each other for the throne.
** Secession - The rebel faction wants to splinter away from the country to form their own country. This undermines the authority of the previously united national government, leading to high tensions even if the secession itself is peaceful, and often leads to war afterwards when the seceding party throws the emperor's diplomats out a window, finds a big strong friendly nation with a vested interest in building a canal, or starts a war in a fit of jingoistic arrogance then cries about losing for the next 160 years.
** Revolution - The rebel faction wants to change the system of government entirely. These are, generally speaking, The Big Ones. Since the concept of a revolution in the modern sense, beginning in the late 18th century, revolutions hardly ever stay in one country. Power bounces around into new and unknown hands, long-established societal norms are challenged openly, and more often than not the neighbors start to get nervous about it and decide to help, quietly or in full force, one side or the other. No matter the outcome of one single revolution, in a world that has grown ever more interconnected, it's bad news for the powerful and unpopular everywhere when the barricades and banners start showing up.
** Failed State - If the central government fails altogether, local populations will start fighting each other to reestablish a new state; usually with different warlords wanting to eventually defeat the rivals and become the new ruler of the country.