Is Planetary Occupation Possible?

[Evie]

Really, planetary invasion of a unified planet is a poor way to expand your empire.

What you really need is a balanced combination of diplomacy and military, the military being used more as a threat than in the actual execution of anything.

 

[Cheetah]

I think a planetary occupation is quite possible.

And if a regular type of occupation is deemed to costly, I agree with the other posters who state that fear is a powerful weapon. Especially if there are other worlds that can be used as examples for the rest:

Over the course of the Orion's inevitable defeat, many worlds turned into elaborate fortresses hoping to hold out until a miracle could rescue them from prolonged Antaran rule. The ruthless Antarans made a graphic example out of the first handful of them by nearly destroying such worlds and leaving their now helpless populations to suffer amid the ruins.

After that the Antarans began offering terms before laying siege and assaulting an Orion world. Their terms of surrender were presented as a callous ultimatum declaring, "You must surrender unconditionally. We will collect hostages and we will draft workers and soldiers from your world to serve us. They will not be returned. Their behavior will determine the fate of those they leave behind. Monitoring Stations will be placed over your world to insure compliance. Accept this or we will begin to destroy your world in one millicycle."

Approximately twelve hours later, the matter was closed and the planet's fate sealed — one way or another.

So it of course depends a bit on what the objectives are, but an occupation, or at least a complete domination, is very possible.


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IIRC, the early Romans did use a similar strategy:
They completely obliterated Carthage, and some decades later they completely destroyed a Greek citystate (I can't recall the name).

There was also a quote about this: "They did it once. They did it twice. They never had to do it a third time." Can't remember who said that either.

 

[Cheetah]

What you really need is a balanced combination of diplomacy and military, the military being used more as a threat than in the actual execution of anything.

The Tarkin Doctrine?

 

[Leonel]

I would say it's possible but difficult to execute. I mean it was just one planet occupying another one planet, the government would either have to invest heavily in mechanical drones or have a hard time balancing an occupational army and running the planet efficiently enough as there would only be so many soldiers avaliable, not to mention the tech level of the occupied planet is a factor too. However if it's a steller collection of planets of something like 3 or more under one authority occupying one planet, it would be easy as one can just take a portion from each planet and combine it into a large occupying force. But the problems of an intersteller war between two space empires composed of several planets would be more difficult than I care to discuss.

 

[Adamb0mb]

First we have to get the aliens chemically addicted. Once the alien race is strung out we force a religous conversion on the people. We attack while the alien males are recovering from their circumsicions.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Are we talking about a homeworld or a remote colony ?
The colony would just have a few important zones worth controlling (except it was settled some centuries before the occupation)...

 

[Evie]

The Tarkin Doctrine?

Tarkin was a rank amateur at best (as was Palpatine. He was all right at corrupting an existing state into a dictatorship, but the subtelties of Imperial Diplomacy were lost on him.

The best way to describe this sort of diplomacy is the Carrot and Stick Doctrine. You are with me, you get benefits. You are against me, you get hurt. That's that.

The Romans understood this very well. The powerful Chinesse dynasties, too.

 

[Commodore]

Are we talking about a homeworld or a remote colony ?
The colony would just have a few important zones worth controlling (except it was settled some centuries before the occupation)...

Check out my answers to Perfection's questions to see what kind of situation the occupiers are dealing with.

 

[Shaihulud]

We could genetically modify the unhabitants to be extremely submissive, dumb, crippled in some ways so that they can never conceivably gain the technology eventually to repel the invaders. I would rather move on to the next uninhabited planet and terraform it myself.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

The easiest way is to kill the population with bioweapons and send your own immune colonists in...

 

[Yuri2356]

The easiest way is to kill the population with bioweapons and send your own immune colonists in...

No, the easiest way is to kill the population by blowing them up, and then sending your self-contained colonies in.

 

[EquinoxOmega]

With today's technology a country could occupy a planet in our solar system, but it would be very difficult to keep it for a long time. Other countries would be able to destroy the new outpost easily, because outside a small blub nobody can survive on other planets in our solar system. A small nuke would be enough to stop any occupation here.

 

[nc-1701]

Come to think of it I have an even better idea. How about use the population as unwilling hosts for brain sucking species of your own race?

JAFFA KREE!!

 

[Neonanocyborgasm]

Well is it? If a planet were to be invaded could it be successfully occupied? I would say it could be possible but would cost so much (both in resources and manpower) that it would not be very practical or profitable unless the entire native population were exterminated first. I mean, just look at how many men are needed to secure a small area of a planet like Iraq. Now, if we were to extrapolate that number to an entire planet, the numbers needed to occupy are just simply too large for any force to deploy.

Basically, the point of this thread is to discuss the practicality of the interstellar wars seen in various sci-fi movies, specifically the Clone Wars of the prequel triliogy of Star Wars.

Stupid question because you don't explain the level of technology available.

 

[1889]

Yes planets can be occupied. What is the population of Hoth or Dagobah anyway? Coruscant alone could muster the troops for that.

More densely populated planets could be handled by larger empires, but more densely populated planets would also provide the opportunity to recruit indigenous troops who support the invader or hate the invaded regime.

I think a large gap in technology between invader and invaded would not be a requirement and may not even be a huge advantage in most such situations.

 

[Winner]

Depends on the size of planet, its population, the form of life present and about billion other factors

Basically, if I was the invader, I'd bomb the planet back to the stone age using mass drivers, fusion warheads and other weapons of mass destruction. After the population is reduced to about 1% of its original size, the occupation itself shouldn't be much of a problem.

 

[Gladi]

Depends on the size of planet, its population, the form of life present and about billion other factors

Basically, if I was the invader, I'd bomb the planet back to the stone age using mass drivers, fusion warheads and other weapons of mass destruction. After the population is reduced to about 1% of its original size, the occupation itself shouldn't be much of a problem.

But such a planet has just lost much it value. For another several generations it will be drain on the victor. Taking an intact planet, could pay for the tens of millions troops on ground and bit extra.

 

[Winner]

But such a planet has just lost much it value. For another several generations it will be drain on the victor. Taking an intact planet, could pay for the tens of millions troops on ground and bit extra.

I wouldn't say so - alien cities would be of no use, if they were not very human-like (which is very unpropable). This means that also their infastructure, food, pretty much all the everyday-use stuff wouldn't be suitable for humans. Maybe even the biosphere itself would be unsuitable.

Then it would be logical to wipe it out and resettle with your own people, animals plants etc.

 

[nc-1701]

I wouldn't say so - alien cities would be of no use, if they were not very human-like (which is very unpropable). This means that also their infastructure, food, pretty much all the everyday-use stuff wouldn't be suitable for humans. Maybe even the biosphere itself would be unsuitable.

Then it would be logical to wipe it out and resettle with your own people, animals plants etc.

Unless of course this is a human-human war.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

No, the easiest way is to kill the population by blowing them up, and then sending your self-contained colonies in.

This would destroy the entire infrastructure and industry. Genocide with bioweapons will leave most buildings undamaged and is more cost-effective.