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Air force or Navy
Gryphos:
I do agree that there would almost definitely still be shipping and fishing through sea vessels, but I would say that they would still use airships to protect trade routes because the great thing about airships is their adaptability to different situations. For instance...
"We need to protect this sea trade route."
"Okay, lets send in a few airships."
Later...
"Well that sea trade route doesn't need protection anymore, but this land route does."
"Okay, we'll just use those same airships again to protect this trade route."
"Well, what about this air trade route?"
"After we're done with the land route, we can send the ships to patrol that route too."
etc. etc.
So you see the point, airships would make the sea navy and likely any kind of land navy (???) obsolete by being able to be used in any situation.
Pickle:
Not really. Airships are a bit like aerial tanks. They can strike, but they can't take ground without assistance with mopping up, and they can't hold ground without assistance. Over the sea, they're fair-weather sailors at best. Their armour and fire power will always be limited compared to surface based alternatives - no matter how much Handwavium is thrown at them. They'll be blown by the wind, and eventually grounded by adverse conditions long before their surface equivalent need to head for home or port.
Look at the modern day. Tanks haven't replaced infantry, helicopters haven't replaced tanks. Maritime aircraft haven't replaced naval shipping. If you look at recent convoys in hostile territory - say Iraq or Afghanistan. Has the presence of helicopters removed the requirement for ground-based escorts? If not, why not? And is this any different to what's being postulated for GOIO AM? And look at modern seagoing shipping - has the availability of long-range aircraft and satellite surveillance reduced the need to physically station warships off the coast of Sudan to protect against piracy?
What is the context difference in GOIO AM that would cause things to be different? - Handwavium has made the physics of airship flight easier and cheaper, but has it affected the overall limitations of LTA transport or the balance of the roles of air/sea/land forces?
Gryphos:
Well, you could argue that airships would become the dominant force because of the difficult terrain you have to travel through, such as deserts wastes, mountains etc.
It's this that makes airships a huge necessity for land travel, being able to move seamlessly over rocky terrain at high speeds. And the difficulty of the terrain would probably lead to every faction adopting airships as their primary military force, needing airships themselves to counter airships. However, I don't think land forces have been completely abolished and, as you said, they would most certainly be needed to conquer settlements, but I still think they would, at least a lot of the time, be transported by airships.
You could also argue that a lack of plentiful resources makes airships the go-to option over sea ships. Say, for instance, an airship costed 100 metal and a sea ship costed 80 metal. You have 800 metal to spend and both land and sea borders to protect. You could go for 10 seaships and have an impenetrable sea border, but no land forces, you could go for 4 airships and 5 sea ships and have to split your total military force, or go for 10 airships and have a highly versatile force that can be used anywhere.
Pickle:
--- Quote from: Ser Gryphos on August 11, 2013, 06:55:29 am --- go for 10 airships and have a highly versatile force that can be used anywhere.
--- End quote ---
.. to do very little.
You're directly equating the value of one airship with one of anything else. Airships are weak, poorly armed and fragile compared to surface vehicles.
What if your surface ship has a weapon loadout ten times more powerful with one hundred times the payload capacity? For less cost because you can make it from iron and steel with no need for expensive Handwavium?
Gryphos:
Okay, I'll admit my explanation could have been better.
But while I can admit that airships are fragile, I do not think they are poorly armed. If airships were your primary military force and you had a really powerful gun, you would find a way to put it on an airship, using all the handwavium you could find. I mean, obviously you won't be putting any fjords super cannons on there but you'd be able to put on it whatever you could on a land tank.
But, if a tank has the same, if not better firepower as an airship, and has heavier armour, and is cheaper, why would they ever go obsolete?
Because they're just too immobile for the GoI world. With all the difficult terrain and vast open deserts, you would either not be able to get to your destination, or get there a week later than you should have. Say you have an emergency on the other side of the country. With an airship you're there in a few days and ready for action. With a tank or foot army you're there in a few weeks and are too late to help.
So, while more expensive and, in battle, airships may not be as useful as land forces, the difference is not enough to sacrifice the versatility of an airship. And this, along with things like resource scarcity and their use as a counter to other airships, is what likely made the factions shift their militaries entirely in the direction of airships.
(Btw, I'm really enjoying the debate)
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