Why don't the aliens take out the satellite network?

[gshuford]

So, I can't help but wonder. If this is an advanced race of creatures, they must be able to tell that our satellite network is our main resource of communications. Why don't they knock out the whole thing? It's not like we have the resources to protect our satellites from advance alien fighter craft that are superior in near-zero atmosphere. This would make it very difficult to base a game around - no satellite, no gps, loss of a lot of things required to justify how we are able to combat aliens.

Maybe there's something in the story that explains this, but I'm not sure where that would be.

[StellarRat]

So, I can't help but wonder. If this is an advanced race of creatures, they must be able to tell that our satellite network is our main resource of communications. Why don't they knock out the whole thing? It's not like we have the resources to protect our satellites from advance alien fighter craft that are superior in near-zero atmosphere. This would make it very difficult to base a game around - no satellite, no gps, loss of a lot of things required to justify how we are able to combat aliens.

Maybe there's something in the story that explains this, but I'm not sure where that would be.

Remember this is set in the 70's. Much less reliance on sats.

[Commissar Pancakes]

Remember this is set in the 70's. Much less reliance on sats.

1962 actually. As for the satellites, Sputnik was first launched in 1957, so there's pretty much no such thing as satellite networks.

[thothkins]

It's the late 1970s isn't it? unless something changed recently.

[Commissar Pancakes]

If it were the late 70s, I'd be EXTREMELY peeved that the military was using EXTREMELY outdated M4A3E2 Sherman "Jumbos" to defend a TOP SECRET R&D facility.

You know. When the US had the M60A1 Patton as its mainstay MBT by the early 70s. And work had started on the M60A3.

Oh. And how the military was still using the M14 Battle Rifle, while the M16A1 was deployed in the late 60s.

[gshuford]

It's the late 1970s isn't it? unless something changed recently.

1971. I just finished the story that came in pdf. It begins in 1958 with the Iceland incident and ends in 1971 with what I'm interpreting as Xeno being fleshed out and ready for trial by fire. It would be conceivable that the game takes place some years later, but I think the equipment is closer to early 70s rather than late 70s.

As for my original question, there would still be limited satellite technology at this point. Most communications would be done by wire or relay towers. Too much effort for UFOs unless they bombed us with EMPs, but we're going to assume they cannot viably use that technology - at least not without messing up their own stuff.

[thothkins]

Any new game begins on September 1st 1979. That's just after the alien fleet appears in orbit.

ah, I see you've answered your original question

[EchoFourDelta]

Yeah, the game's set in 1979. There's a lot about the setting that doesn't make sense, but that's the one they chose to go with. That said, the late 60s and 70s saw massive implementation of satellites for recon use, the most notable being the Corona KH-X series. This capability was mimicked to a lesser extent by the Soviet Union. In addition, rudimentary global positioning capability was brought about by the US Army's SECOR series of satellites, all launched in the mid to late 60s. The thought processes that led to the furtherance of these for a unified purpose didn't come about until several years later, with their now-familiar implementation taking longer, but things were nowhere near as ill-advanced as they're being made out to be.

On the weapons deals, all of them existed in the time period we see in-game (American M16A1, Italian 92S, Belgian MAG, German H&K 33 [or some approximation of the American target rifle version], the Israeli B-300, and the American M590A1) and most had been in use for several years, with upgraded revisions existing in the game's time frame; I can't speak much on the novel, haven't read all of it (it's not much better than that Russian guy that's been posting here), but the M1 Abrams was only about a year away from the start of Xenonauts: The Game.

Edited August 24, 2013 by EchoFourDelta

[gshuford]

I actually enjoyed the read. I wouldn't put it up for a (enter name of novelist reward here), but it had almost no grammar errors, was an easy read, conveyed the author's thoughts well, and was generally interesting. Some parts were kind of cheesy or corny, but considering the particular motivation for this whole project, I think it fairly appropriate.

As for the satellite question, I'm just going to pretend that taking out the satellites was one of the first things the aliens did, but left us generally unaffected, with the exception of a few communication problems.

[Jean-Luc]

It's well known that humans would stand no chance if aliens used common sense. Their advanced yet ineffectual and impractical weapons and childish understanding of tactics are paramount to the humans' eventual victory.

[Commissar Pancakes]

Ah crap...there I go, confusing Xenonauts with The Bureau...

[PsychoLandlord]

I was wondering about that. Pretty sure there aren't any Shermans in Xenonauts, but I was kinda confused and started hunting through the sprites.

But seriously, poor Shermans.

[Xintrosi]

I believe the points about Xenonauts using out of date technology are on purpose. The Xenonauts project lost powerful political backers and most of its funding since its inception, so the inroads to some of the more advanced Earth weaponry are gone. At least not without possibly pissing off funding nations, which isn't a viable option. Once the Invasion occurs, it's more pragmatic to reverse engineer Alien tech than badger nations for weapons and materiel they need to fight. Army surplus on the other hand...

[crusherven]

It's well known that humans would stand no chance if aliens used common sense. Their advanced yet ineffectual and impractical weapons and childish understanding of tactics are paramount to the humans' eventual victory.

You mean like the way every alien attack starts with trying to destroy NY or London or Washington DC instead of, say, a military base? I'm looking at you, Avengers.

[4Aces]

Xintrosi - Not sure where you are getting that from (possibly the book)? Based on the game, Xenonauts was just formed and is considered 'fully funded'.

Cursgerven - The portal for the Avengers was based on the placement of the Stark building. The only real convenient aspect is that the Hulk did not take out a few floors when beating Loki half-to-death.

[Xintrosi]

Xintrosi - Not sure where you are getting that from (possibly the book)? Based on the game, Xenonauts was just formed and is considered 'fully funded'.

http://www.xenonauts.com/background/

And in-game under Alien Invasion research the head scientist mentions "not many of us left" (paraphrased). Indicates there once were more personnel, but got downsized.

EDIT: Nevermind about the Invasion research. Was at work and mis-remembered the text.

Edited August 30, 2013 by Xintrosi

[EchoFourDelta]

Alien invasion. Always a fun topic. It might be informative, though, if you're really kicking the idea around - to remember that travel capability is not commensurate to weapons technology, an understanding of tactics, or the tying between of the concepts as it relates to expeditionary warfare.

Even here on Earth, we could sail the seas around the entire planet long before it became practical to hold them by anything but conciliation or brute force through massive numbers of troops. To use the same example, we hadn't yet nailed down the concepts of anything even resembling modern fire and maneuver warfare, even once firearms and cannon were developed. Even after we developed the predecessors of weapons we use today - repeating rifles, early machine guns - it took literally decades to determine that we didn't have to fight wars the same way given the new weapons in our arsenals. Warfare tactics are evolved as needed.

For our theoretical aliens, they apparently have no concept of a number of things that human military forces of the time the game's set would take for granted in combat, possibly because they were never needed, they were never developed to maturity. As stated, though, they've got their own motives for not outright glassing the place, which only compounds their difficulty in taking the planet.

It's easy to look at something and assume that everything should be tied together neatly, but it isn't always like that.