On 29/10/24 15:48, Jim Vassilakos - jim.vassilakos at gmail.com (via tml list) wrote: > Question #1: > > In the single-player PBEM I'm running, the player came out with this > little gem: "The Imperial Army was beholden to sector nobility for > their keep, but the Navy was the will of the Emperor directly." Do you > guys agree with this? I personally find it suspect, as it seems to me > that both Army and Navy likely pledge loyalty to the Emperor, and both > are likely financed in a similar way. So let me know what you think or > how you handle the differences in your own campaign. > Big surprise, I'm going to mention GT: Ground Forces, which is how it works in one of MTU (the other doesn't even _have_ a 3rd Imperium). Unified Armies: p 17, ibid: "The Imperial Army is more formally known as the Unified Armies of the Imperium. ... Because the Imperium is so vast, and faced with different threats on every border, day-to-day control of the Army is given to the subsectors" p 18, ibid: "One very important point often missed by the casual observer is that the units under the marshal's command actually belong to the subsector, not the Emperor. While the troops owe allegiance to His Majesty, the chain of command ends with the local nobility. This frees border areas to defend themselves without having to wait for instructions from leaders that are over a year away. It also provides the peerage with a powerful tool balancing the Emperor's influence." Imperial Marines p 34, ibid: "The chain of command for the Marines comes directly from the Emperor through the Admiralty. Unlike the Army, Marines do not answer to the local nobility under most circumstances. Units are often loaned to local authorities for specific purposes." By implication, the Imperial Navy, like the IM, has the Emperor at the top of their chain of command, unlike the Unified Armies. As such, there's no _one_ method of financing any given Unified Army. For example, UA Five Sisters (Iderati III being a technoeconomic juggernaut ITTU) equips and trains its personnel to Imperial Marine levels and maintains multiple field army _groups_, while UA Trin's Veil maintains one lift infantry field army and one grav tank corps, equipped and trained to significantly lower (GTL 10) levels. UA Core (_not_ the Imperial Guard, legally the Emperor's Own Huscarles) likely maintains even less. > Question #2: > > One thing I should add is that the local planetary sovereign (a > Countess) is teaming up with the local Imperial Army general to try to > persuade the local Imperial Navy admiral to agree to something he'd > prefer not to do. In your campaign, how much independence would the > local admiral be likely to exhibit in such a circumstance? > A fair amount would depend on the personalities, relationships and local politics involved. This assumes there's no order from the archduke, or IN command at domain or sector level, to co-operate. Is it the subsector admiral being leaned on, or a less-exalted personage? Are they a senior (admiral, fleet admiral) or junior (commodore, rear admiral, vice admiral) flag officer? If in the middle of all-out war, the local noble and general generally get told to take a flying leap. Don't they know there's a war on? Similarly in times of elevated tension. In outright _peace_time, it would be up to the individual admiral how much they co-operate (since the orders are off _their_ bat, not the locals), with the likelihood of such co-operation (ceteris paribus) increasing with the distance from the nearest Imperial frontier. Alex
