Dante Today
The State Of The War

The current position of SLA industries on Dante today is one of deadlock. Very little has changed in the overall military position on the planet for the last several hundred years with any of the significant gains made by any faction usually being offset by some form of loss. Approximately a fifth of the planet is now under solid SLA control, a fifth is held by Thresher and DarkNight forces, plus a variety of ever changing minor Soft Companies, while the remaining territory is either currently being contested or is classed as 'no mans land' such as the Deep Deserts, the Northern Arctic and the high mountains.

Contested areas such as New Hamilton City or the various battle fronts that mark the boundaries of company strong points are usually where the most intense fighting goes on. In these areas definite front lines have grown up over the years with gun emplacements, AA batteries, command posts, trench networks and fortifications. The fighting here consisting of either hit and run lightning raids again opposing strong points or massed attacks to try and extend the front lines by a kilometer or two. This 'push and shove' type of fighting has mostly resulted in a draw over the years with any side who make a major gain in territory usually either losing it to an all-out counterattack or somewhere else in the line. The cost in troops and equipment for this type of offensive is huge and it is in these areas that the heaviest losses are experienced by all sides. A vast majority of raw Militia recruits from SLA go straight to one of these numerous battle fronts. Most of the major fronts are intended by SLA to prevent rival companies from extending their territories and to bottle them up in specific areas. Occasionally these companies, especially Thresher, will mount assaults intended solely to break out of their own sectors, the main objective being so that the forces that manage to get through can then disappear into 'no mans land'. These units will then be able to mount raids on SLA's convoys and outlying bases, using the thousands of square kilometers of deserts and mountains to hide in.

Fighting in the areas of Dante known as 'no mans land' is much more sporadic and apart from several heavily fortified strong points that act as re-supply and repair centers, SLA units operating in these regions are usually highly mobile. A common tactic of rival Soft Companies is to set up temporary bases in these areas to act as either training camps, repair yards or staging areas. These usually only remain operation for a matter of months before they're moved to prevent discovery or destroyed. To counter these SLA will often send out patrols or armoured columns on Search and Destroy missions and much of their time is spent hunting out these small enclaves. All sides use these areas to move men and equipment between the various battlefronts or mount attacks on isolated bases. This results in numerous patrols being mounted with the sole aim of trying and find and destroy these supply routes. Size of patrols used by companies can vary greatly and be anything from ten man infantry teams, to entire tank squadrons comprised of vast numbers of vehicles. These units will criss-cross the vast empty stretches of Dante sometimes joining together to form larger detachments or fragment into smaller groups as the situation demands. Overall coordination of these forces is made impossible by the unreliable communications and tracking, so once in the field they are expected to fend for themselves no matter what they encounter. Most bases and larger patrols will carry a large, specially boosted radio uplink which theoretically should allow them to overcome any interference and hook into the communications net via one of SLA's many orbiting com sats, but even these have no guarantee of success and their use can be counterproductive due to the danger of enemy Companies homing in on the extremely powerful transmission that emanate from them while in operation.

'No mans land' is also the main area of operations for the wide range of looters, deserters and crazies who inhabit Dante, since fighting here is sporadic they stand less chance of discovery or encountering the heavy concentration of troops common to the front lines. Very few regions of 'no mans land' are worth devoting men and resources to defending permanently so it is uncommon for any side to attempt to open new permanent fronts in these sectors unless there is a good reason.
More seasoned troops are usually assigned to these parts of Dante, as the need for training and tactics is much greater when operating in mobile patrols or assault forces where much more fluid tactics are required than when fighting from static fronts. Militia personnel to form these units are usually drawn from those who have survived several months of front line fighting and proved they are worth expending further training on. SLA High Command also favors the use of Operative level personnel in these positions as they tend to already have more diverse skills such as driving, demolition's etc. than company grunts, making them better suited to working in patrols.

Dante's oceans could also be classed as 'no mans land' as although for the most part SLA's Dreadnought fleet has the upper hand, on one could be said to be in complete control. Non of the other companies on planet currently have the capability to take on SLA's fleet head to head, but this does not prevent them mounting small scale attacks against SLA convoys or lone ships. SLA mainly makes use of its fleet for cheap transportation of men and resources, something that is much safer than relying on aircraft in Dante's unpredictable weather. Although when coastal targets can be found Dreadnoughts are often employed as mobile artillery batteries or for the staging of amphibious assaults using their large numbers of onboard troops and vehicles. Thresher and DarkNight are known to operate fairly extensive fleets of submarines, as well as several larger ships, including numerous Destroyers and even a handful of larger Battle Cruisers, while the other Soft Companies make do with a variety of fast patrol boats and coastal craft. There have been rumors recently that one of SLA's Dreadnoughts the SNV 'Morat' which was reportedly sunk was in fact captured by a rival companies special forces. Although no proof of this has been forth coming as yet.

Current Company Tactics
A Report To SLA Head Office

From - Dr. Valerie DeWinter SCL 2D
DANTE Office Of Statistics & Resource Management
To - Head Office MORT

The following report is an assessment of the effectiveness of the tactics currently being employed by the various rival companies on Dante when compared to our own and to determine if a review of the Dante situation may be necessary. The first part of the document is a brief outline of the current situation and standing of the major factions in the war, their aims, their current tactics and their success at achieving them. More comprehensive statistics to follow. WARNING the following subject is extremely sensitive and should not be discussed with anyone below SCL - 2...!

SLA Industries

Since the beginning of the war SLA's main advantage has been in its use of its superior numbers of men, armour and vehicles to help to secure victories or at least prevent total defeat in some areas. The fact that few other companies can employ large scale foldship technology and no others have a massive orbital facility to match New Hope, means that there are sever restrictions on what SLA's enemies can ship on planet in any quantity. These attempts are of course further complicated by the elements of the SLA space fleet permanently on station in the Dante system.
The company also have the entire Worlds Of Progress to draw on as a recruiting base giving a large, steady flow of new personnel to the planet, something no other company is able to equal. Much of this success is due to the aggressive promotion of the War through various types of media resulting in numerous Operative and Militia recruits.
To compensate for Thresher's use of more technologically advanced and flight capable armour systems SLA uses superior numbers of troops employing lower cost powered armour and weapons systems. They also make extensive use of the biological enhancements developed by Karma, allowing their troops to have much greater physical strength and stamina than ordinary humans. Significant costs savings are also made by the current policy of using front-line duty as a form of training for Militia personnel with only those that survive being given more advanced courses in specialist subjects.
Much of the companies success is also due to their superiority in sea going assets, with their extensive naval fleet on Dante allowing them to dominate the oceans and exploit a cheap form of mass troop and materials transportation. SLA also hold the upper hand in the skies above the planet and at present no other rival company is able to match the number of helicopters and conventional aircraft currently in use by the company. Much of this success is a result of SLA Industries extensive research and development in this area, allowing them to manufacture aircraft suited to operation in the harsh environment of the War World. Other companies relying on more conventional designs have been unable to match the performance of SLA products and this subsequently gives the company a large tactical advantage.
Most of the main SLA assaults in the last three hundred years have been based around this concept of superior numbers/inferior weapons and although they are often successful, they usually leave the assault force severely depleted and open to counter attack. This of course has helped to contribute the advantageous deadlock on the planet and means no really significant victories have been managed for some time. Employing vast numbers of troops and equipment in a wide variety of roles also means the potential for product developments is great, this fact is further compounded by the great number of differing theaters that SLA troops are currently fighting in around the planet.
After analysis of current SLA forces on Dante we suspect that without the restraint showed by Supreme Commander Julia Van Braun and her staff that it would be possible to destroy, or at least restrict to the point of being totally ineffective, all rival company forces on the planet within twenty years. Of course though, actually winning is not the object of the war and with luck the deadlock should remain in place indefinitely if the situation is handled correctly. In this area we must trust in Mr. Slayers choice of Commander Van Braun to control the companies interests on Dante.

Thresher

The much smaller numbers of Thresher troops on Dante and the difficulty of transporting large numbers of reinforcements on planet in a short period of time has been instrumental in their adoption of a range of significantly different tactics to those used by SLA. Most popular of these are the hit and run raids commonly conducted by Thresher forces. Where SLA use massed firepower, Thresher employ surgical strikes by small highly trained squads of elite troops. Their use of highly advanced powered armour suits is a significant factory in their success while using this tactic and we can theorize that without the advantage of flight capability many of Threshers victories would not have been possible.
Thresher also make much use of their proven dropship transports to mount rapid lighting strikes against weak sectors in our front lines as well as on isolated outposts or research facilities. Threshers main problem with this type of attack is that although they may rapidly overcome localized defenses their strike squads are usually unable to hold the positions they capture for very long once SLA reinforcements arrive and will generally abandon them after inflicting maximum damage. This tactic has been most successful when employed against outlying SLA assets, often with entire isolated command posts being lost. Again this lack of the ability to take and hold significant portions of the SLA front lines works to our companies advantage as it simply perpetuates the ongoing stalemate with no clear advantage being gained.
Thresher operate a fleet of conventional aircraft in addition to their dropships although their reliance on off world Soft Company designs means that these are of limited use and highly susceptible to harsh weather conditions and mechanical failures induced by environmental factors. For the most part the company tend to favor their proven dropship designs such as the 'First Strike', often converting them for use as bombers or ground attack aircraft. Likewise in the area of naval warfare they lag behind SLA unable to devote the resources to developing designs to match those of the massive SLA Dreadnoughts. Instead their tactics mirror those of their land based units with the use of stealth submarines and amphibious armoured suits to mount quick hard hitting strikes against targets before withdrawing. Secrecy is vital to these type of operations and it is thought that Thresher were dealt a heavy blow when their Red Dusk submarine base was captured and destroyed. Thresher do have a surface fleet consisting of a mixture of conventional warships and transports, although their use is severely hindered by their inability to operate far out to sea and in hazardous weather conditions.

DarkNight

DarkNight represent the only other armed group on Dante who pose SLA's forces any kind of real threat, even though their continued success is partly due to SLA's need to divide its resources between Thresher and the host of smaller Soft Companies, as well as the contributing factors of the environment. Ironically DN. troop numbers actually exceed those of Thresher, but their effectiveness is impaired by lack of high quality equipment. Most of DarkNight's forces on planet are concentrated along two or three fronts which act to defend areas where we suspect that the bulk of its assets are concealed. The rest of their manpower is devoted to harassing actions and covert operations against SLA units and installations in the 'no mans land' sectors of the planet. These type of units range from small scale infiltration and special forces groups to large armoured battalions and have had varying degrees of success in these operations, mostly falling fowl of either superior number or better equipped troops. Due to their lack of adequate powered armour types DarkNight make much heavier use of armoured vehicles than other forces on Dante. These often include SLA examples salvaged from the many old battlefields around the planet, as well as a host of newer designs either of DN. or Soft Company origins. Although many of these are simply inferior copies of existing SLA designs. As with Thresher a lack of readily available manpower and resources has severely affected this companies success at taking and holding key positions on Dante and they have accomplished most using hit and run tactics or sabotage missions. One of DN's current key objectives appears to be to get undercover agents into the main SLA bases and disrupt them from within. The potential threats posed by these actions are currently being looked into by Archangels military investigation unit, the S.I.D.
DarkNight have various naval and aerial assets in the war on Dante, although these see limited use, mainly due to their inability to compete with more advanced SLA products. The companies naval fleet mainly consists of frigates, destroyers and coastal assault craft of different designs and origins, although a few older battle cruisers are still in use. Like Thresher most of their aircraft have been purchased off planet due to their lack of home grown designs and currently few Soft Companies are able to manufacture fighters or helicopters that can reliably operate in Dante's atmosphere for extended periods. Dropships are employed in various roles particularly in the transportation of units into the 'no mans land' areas while a small helicopter fleet composed of captured SLA designs is known to be in operation with DarkNight's covert units.
Another tactic that DarkNight have begun to employ recently is that of propaganda and physiological warfare, similar to the strategies currently used by their covert forces on Mort. Pirate broadcasts, leaflet drops and other methods have been directed at SLA troops to little avail and the attempts by DN's Commander Matthews to get SLA Industries troops to turn against the company are usually seen as more humorous than dangerous by the High Command.

Soft Companies

The tactics employed by the many minor Soft Companies operating on Dante are numerous, although most can do nothing more than attack isolated units or installations in the outlying areas as they do not have the assets to construct strong points and adequately defend them in the manner of Thresher or DarkNight. Mobility is an important factor for these companies and the ability to rapidly re-deploy themselves or hide in the planets sensor blackspots is vital. Ironically the small size of many of these companies is what prevents most of them from being wiped out totally, as they are deemed not to pose enough of a threat for SLA to devote much in the way of resources to tracking them down. Many of these Soft Companies are too small to even field a significant number of their own troops and instead rely on employing mercenaries for protection. Analysis has determined that the reason for many of these companies to put forces on Dante is that, as SLA has done, they see it as an ideal testing ground for new concepts and designs of weapons. Others though use it as a way to scrounge samples of rival company technology, more advanced than their own, for use in the research and development of similar products. Looting of fresh battlefield can be very profitable in terms of acquiring equipment and weapons and many smaller companies are more than willing to commit forces to this type of activity, despite the many dangers.
Equipment employed by these companies varies greatly, with a wide variety of designs being used from numerous sources. Vehicles, armour and aircraft of Soft Company manufacture are extremely diverse in quality and effectiveness and it is often these factors that determine their success on Dante. Some Soft Companies field units of comparable or higher quality than those seen in the hands of SLA or Thresher, while others rely on an assortment of cheap designs and salvaged battlefield wrecks. Companies who risking using such inferior items don't usually last long on Dante though and quickly succumb to either the environment or encounters with enemy units.