Understanding An Unkown Concept: Intergalatic Warfare of an Advance species

One of the things that strikes me is how do two opposing space factions engage in warfare. Yes, its a basic question that many would answer
" well, they'll zoom through space blasting photon torpedo's from there massive death stars"

But really, it can't possibly be that simple. Imagine advance beings with large understanding of the principles witin existance on our universal plane, With direct conflict with an equally matched species of intelligence. How does one even engage in physical combat when both are able to transcend both time and space. I can imagine warfare without distance being an issue, but Warfare through Time itself (it's probably very frustrating).

Or maybe the two factions are equally matched, because there is a universal cap On Technology due to the state of matter that can be formed (naturally/artificially) within our plane of existance. (yes, very confusing, i can barely comprehend it)

I ask this question only because i know that man-kind will progress beyond earth. How do you defend yourself against some that can resemble the shadow of the creator god? what stability is out there once we leave our homeworld craddle?

Futurists, Critical Thinkers, Imagineers, Conspirators alike i call Upon your aid!.

wow, no opinions at all? I was trying to keep the thread simple too. i guess such a question could cause headaches....

[edit on 29/12/07 by Obsurion]

I highly doubt it will look like anything from Star Trek or Star Wars. A total war between two Type II Civs would result in the annihilation of planets and probably entire systems. Think of the MAD, Mutual Assured Destruction, on earth. Now apply that to two interstellar superpowers or MAD on a galactic scale. It would be quick, horrible and collapse civilizations and cause extinctions.

So most likely we would see alot more intrigue, espionage, and subterfuge between two Type II Civs, a Cold War essentially. I doubt there will be any if much time displacement or travel, as we imagine it, being involved though.

Rebellions and revolts within Type II civs would be trickier and depend on what type of society they possess. Could be mass genocide, some kind of technological pacification, or maybe a good old guerilla war that might be reminiscent of the Terminator films.

Space combat itself, say in a skirmish, would be unlike any sci-fi film we have seen. It would probably resemble Submarine warfare more than anything else on earth. Enemies would never see each other and constantly be scanning and using sensors to pick up adversary's various signatures. Lock on signature and fire, hope enemy countermeasures fail. Battles would probably occur at or above one astronomical unit. The most important aspects would be surprise and intiative. Again I would say the best comparison would be submarine warfare.

i believe any truely advanced species would have no need for war,i mean what is the purposes/goals of a war?,resources,politics,diplomatic,religious etc?,you must have an end strategy for anything and i think advanced lifeforms would see no benefits that are worth fighting for via the process of an advanced/destructive war.

and a super advanced lifeform would be able to create any structure of matter they wanted,so they would have no need for resources,planets,genes etc.

and then we get onto godlike lifeforms

reply to post by MikeboydUS


I'm essentially in agreement with Mikeboyd.

I think the concept of "Scalar Weapons", or "Tesla Howitzers", is true.

Civilizations would not actually need to use star-battle-fleets, photon torpedoes, space marines etc; rather one planet can simply blast away at another directly with Scalar weapons.

However I think there is also a universal ban on the use of these weapons. Should one civilization suddenly blast away at another and say blow up a planet, or star system - immediately 100 others would retaliate and blow up that planet or civilization in response.

So large-scale galactic warfare is a total M.A.D. scenario and I believe it is a universal Taboo.

That said, nobody's perfect, and there probably have been smaller-scale disagreements and skirmishes from time to time....

reply to post by welivefortheson


Agree with this. IMO, beings with intergalactic traveling capabilities are probably much more evolved than war-like races like us. I think we are in a very primitive stage as a race, and with time comes advancement of the ability to coexist with peace. Afterall, a race is going to have a hard time existing for a million-plus years if it war-ing constantly with its neighbors, particularly if their weapons capabilities are advanced.

It's not clear how intertwined 'aggression' is with 'curiosity', exploration and nationalism, nor how strong other civ's xenophobia might be.

Spacecraft seem inherently fragile. Any power generation seems likely to be 'portable' compared to planet-based systems.

Ultimately it's impossible to speculate about 'behavior' and 'technology' since there's a wide range. We can't even understand our own motives, let alone ET's.

What seems likely is that there would be a great disparity, since the odds of parity between or among encountered civs would be unlikely.

So if you're talking bows and arrows vs plasma weapons, then combatants are unlikely to engage. So space battles would be rare. Blockades, sieges, and guerilla tactics might be more likely. Seems like 'small and fast' might be pitted against large, armored, slow reacting.

Fun to speculate, but hard to know.

Whilst I am loathe to comment in this thread due to the fact that there are totally no facts involved, and we are purely in the realm of fantasy sci-fi, however...

I sincerely hope that any races advanced enough to reach Earth from wherever in the universe, would have have seen the futility of war on all levels, and be totally beyond any kind of conflict.

reply to post by Fraank Fontaine


War? That implies some kind of near equality, either technology or culture.

Is it war when you step on a bug, or catch a lightning bug in a jar?

Is it 'conflict' when you fumigate the cabin in the woods before moving in for the summer?

We're not space faring. What chance would we have against interstellar ships?

They don't even have to be 'armed' - they could just use a piece of their utility equipment (say, a tractor beam) as a weapon, for which we'd have no reply?

Originally posted by Badge01
reply to post by Fraank Fontaine

 

War? That implies some kind of near equality, either technology or culture.

Is it war when you step on a bug, or catch a lightning bug in a jar?

Is it 'conflict' when you fumigate the cabin in the woods before moving in for the summer?

We're not space faring. What chance would we have against interstellar ships?

They don't even have to be 'armed' - they could just use a piece of their utility equipment (say, a tractor beam) as a weapon, for which we'd have no reply?

Ah ok, I was responding to the OP, with species of equal intelligence/technology.

An advanced space-faring race against us, is a totally different matter. However, it does raise one instance... If they 'higher race' already knew us, and was intent on wiping us out, why wait until now? Why not have done it when we were in the stone age?

All in all, there are far too many intangibles, 'what if's', and variables, as to make the scope of the discussion nothing more than a work of fiction for me, not something I want to get involved with

Peace

F