Battlefleets

In the future, fleets of unimaginable scope may battle over light years, in conflicts that might last milliseconds or entire centuries.
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Credits:
Battlefleets
Episode 461; August 22, 2024
Produced, Written & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur
Editor: Thomas Owens
Graphics:
Darth Biomech
Jeremy Jozwik
Legiontech Studios
Sergio Botero
Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images
Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound epidemicsound.c...
Stellardrone, "Red Giant", "Ultra Deep Field"
Sergey Cheremisinov, "Labyrinth", "Forgotten Stars"
Taras Harkavyi, "Alpha and ..."
Miguel Johnson, "So Many Stars"

[@Celestial_Reach]

Issac, your voice is not strange. It was unique i concur, but with the work you have put into your voice, it's now smooth, and eloquent. With your writing, its perfect and many of us appreciate it

[@ChaptermasterPedroKantor-kv5yw]

I just thought he came from the South. But I'm a Euroweenie so all American accents sound the same to me, except those of the South.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Quite a lot of my mentors were from the South, and it's non-rhotic dialect, so I think it shows up in my speech patterns in spite of being mostly form Ohio.

[@graydanerasmussen4071]

Agree. Distinct, yes, but perfectly understandable, even for a second-language person like myself :)

[@chriscomp20]

@@graydanerasmussen4071 He was perfectly understandable even waaaay before his speech therapy, but like all scientists, clear unambiguous communication is important, and Isaac is putting forth every effort to make sure people aren't misunderstanding him. To me it's silly to even address it at this point, but every video is someones first video, and science communication is way too important to leave it to chance.

[@2013Arcturus]

​@@chriscomp20 Yes, I've watched since almost the beginning, and I've never had an issue understanding Issac. I'm sure it sucks having a speech impediment, but i hope he knows how little bearing it has on our enjoyment of his work.

[@SebastianKrabs]

"Join Fleet and do the flying while Mobile Infantry does the dying... mostly. Want to know more?"

[@coconutperson1985]

Damn

[@TipSheikh]

These videos help my girlfriend and I fall asleep.... except she ends up sleep, I end up watching 3 videos before I realize I am still awake. Time to grab a snack

[@kerbangol.8386]

My wife falls asleep to True Crime murder shows. I hate those.

[@Jaggerbush]

What every content creator loves to hear after all the work they put into it. 🤦

[@I.amthatrealJuan]

​@@JaggerbushNah, they appreciate it. For one, John Michael Godier (look him up if you don't know him) said it himself.

[@SHAINON117]

Your learning and she sleeping do i need say more 🤔

[@WedgeKahr]

​@@kerbangol.8386murderporn is the female equivalent to warhammer 40k

[@projectarduino2295]

I still think my favorite “first rule of warfare” is your “if brute force isn’t working, your not using enough of it”.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Yeah that's my faovrite too, I joke about it being my unit's unofficial motto or artillery in general but one of my friends from that unit recently reminded me that at one point I said 'it should be our motto' and that locally caught on with us. I'm sure it and minor variations have been used by others before, most of the 1st rules are classics even if I heard them from a sergeant of mine, but I actually grabbed it from the old Battletech CCG, its the flavor text from the 'Carpet Bombing' card. So ironically it is not one of the sayings I got from a sergeant of mine :)

[@tuhkakasa1917]

ORKS got this one

[@robomonkey1018]

100%, you'll either solve or change the problem.

[@ctakitimu]

@@robomonkey1018 I'm good at changing the problem by accelerating it

[@alyssondasilva4484]

I now use It in Jiu Jitsu ALL the time when people talk about strenght 😅

[@vi6ddarkking]

Honestly Stellaris with the gigastructural engineering mod has the best depiction of the evolution of an interstellar empire battlefleet. As we start to get bigger and bigger fleets with bigger and bigger ships. Until we reach a level that we're treating: Weaponized moons as Frigates, Mobile Weaponized Planets as Cruisers, and are utilising the mass of entire solar systems to build utterly colossal battleship Tens Of Thousands Of Kilometers Across.

[@NovaXXX7]

Glory can be measured in Yotta-watts.

[@Darkfirephoenix3010]

All fun and games till the Blokkatz come rolling by from outside the Galaxy with their GALAXY SHIP to harvest YOUR GALAXY for celestial bodies to improve their ship

[@robertalaverdov8147]

The droplet from the 3 body problem would like to have a word with your thousands of oversized ships that will make very big booms when their reactor cores are punctured.

[@classarank7youtubeherokeyb63]

@@Darkfirephoenix3010 I can't hear them over the sound of my quasarcraft taking flight.

[@GabrielHellborne]

There's always a bigger fish. If there isn't, make one.

[@minhmeo9506]

Fact: Legend of the Galactic Heroes is one of the space operas that included battles between fleets with thousand of ships on each side.

[@WolfeSaber9933]

And there are weapon concepts that can turn that entire fleet into scrap metal in a single firing.

[@albizu75]

Legend of the Galactic Heroes is very cool. Have you read the books?

[@minhmeo9506]

@@albizu75 not a chance, no one translating here in Vietnam 😅

[@subarticb5670]

I love the new Anime adaptation of Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

[@Celestial_Reach]

​@@albizu75I have the first 3. I want the to release the others in audiobook but I might just do a reading some day

[@josephd.5524]

One game that has a really good glimpse into near-future space combat is Children of a Dead Earth. It is pretty dated at this point and has its issues, but it is a starship building simulator focusing on battles in orbits around actual planets, with a big focus on orbital mechanics. The ships are basically cylinders containing mostly fuel, and crewed by a lot of people who are 100% aware that every combat mission they go on is a suicide mission; if they are entering something's gravity well, they are very likely not going to have the fuel to leave. They must have victory; if the enemy survives they are not going to waste fuel to go rescue the invaders; they can wait patiently until everyone is dead before harvesting the ship. Total control over the ship AND weapons design, right down to the materials they are made from. It is very good. and grim.

[@TheRezro]

Though I should point out that people should take "realism" in the quotation marks.

[@beskamir5977]

Children of a Dead Earth is a hidden gem of a game. It's basically KSP but with weapons, and it's an insanely complex game from both the player's and dev's perspective with the learning curve being quite difficult. I've tried to make something along those lines and failed quite miserably. Planning out how certain details would even work just broke my brain every time. Another decent example is Terra Invicta, though that's mostly for the other factors that game includes like knowing that your enemy is coming months in advance of them actually getting there. The actual battles are a lot more gamey and fun but that's probably for the best. Nebulous Fleet Command is pretty good too, but I haven't really played that much due to the learning curve being too high to really dedicate myself to it.

[@Internetzspacezshipz]

As someone who loves that game, I wish it had further development.

[@DJBRO2005]

Never heard of children of a dead earth before. Thanks for the reference.

[@troymcguffey8801]

My favorite rule of warfare that I've heard on this channel that I actively repeat and honestly even said today, was if brute force isn't working, you're not using enough of it. Ironically I was in the Navy and I was not a ground pounder.

[@ArawnOfAnnwn]

The navy is just floating artillery and missile launchers anyway, so it'd apply as much to them as it does to the artillery lol. :D

[@David-cg1lh]

Space battle is one of the only things I truly have no idea what they might be like. It really all depends on technology levels.

[@Cdre_Satori]

absolutely, as far as we know the resources for sending ships might be too large and space battles might look like planets launching their entire nuclear arsenals accelerated above lightspeed or using jump gates or miniature warp engines because its cheaper to build thousand nukes all send through a stargate than building an entire warpship.

[@ilejovcevski79]

And know-how. Just look at the decades required for people to figure out tanks and how to use them. Even during WW2 people were still arguing. Heck.... even today they are still arguing. But generally speaking, doctrines developed in isolation, don't work well for the one who established them.

[@EliasMheart]

That's impressive. I don't think I could honestly say that there's only a few things that I have no idea about...^^

[@ElGordoElGordito]

Not to introduce Politics on SFIA but look to Iran's strike on Israel as an example - hours to know what's coming, moments to deal with the action. The difference is in space the missiles will be 10x more killy and the countries can move (Spaceships), plus laser weapons, plus mass accelerated drivers, plus the whole solar system will become a 3D battle ground, aside from that it's the same

[@SoloRenegade]

real space combat is DANGEROUS. More often than not there would be very few ships per battle (too much space to protect and not enough ships to protect it), traveling at high relative speeds, and all kinds of strange detection time delays and such. but any hit by a high velocity kinetic projectile is likely devastating. so many neat factors to consider and explore. But it does depend upon what level of future technology we're talking about (engines, reactors, armor, weapons, detection, stealth, countermeasures, drones, decoys, etc.).

[@reigninoel]

One "rule of war" that was missing from the list is "never interrupt your enemy while they are making a mistake."

[@mrfluffytailthethird]

the most common thing ive heard from combat vets is "the war was boring except when it was terrifying"

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Often true, hence the other unofficial motto of the Army "Hurry up an wait", staying busy in mind and body helps as the boredom is in some ways worse than the excitement..

[@Sirithil]

2% of war is the killing time, the rest is just killing time.

[@Kzin_Kzinti]

EPISODE IDEA: What could Earth do to defend against an Alien Colonization fleet/Invasion that is about 50 or so years more advanced than us

[@SmoochyRoo]

Just 50 years? Seems like they'd be more preoccupied with making sure they and their equipment can survive an interstellar journey than ensuring the fleet has the capability to enact an invasion plan unless they're willing to expend a massive amount of funds and resources. I'd say you should notch it up by 150 years, that way it's more equivalent to having the RDA from Avatar trying to invade the earth of today.

[@DmT922ha]

They are still mostly on their homeplanet and trying to branch out in their solar system...make it 500 years to be more realistic, in which case we really dont stand much of a chance..

[@HuxleysShaggyDog]

Define 50 years first.

[@troodoniverse]

⁠What does 50 years of progress mean? If we will develop AGI (which could happen very soon), we (respectively the ASI) might discover every technology in few days. It might be a huge swarm of Won Neuman probes turning solar system into paperclips or stamps, not giving us any time to react, leaving us dead. If we will develop ASI by then, it may turn into a long battle between autonomous space probes.

[@TheRezro]

Nothing. Unlike movies, we probably would stand zero chances against real aliens. Russian movie Attraction 2 has really good example of confrontation of Earth with alien PT boat.

[@Jcewazhere]

1 year of basic military training. 2 years of intense simulator training. Another year of hands on stick training with your wingmates. 3 more years watching the stars on the Mercury Mars patrol. 3 milliseconds to not see the missile streaking in and ending it all. Being bored out of your gourd till your gourd is atomized... there're worse ways to go.

[@lexington476]

I call first dibs on being the Flag Captain for Lord Admiral Arthur.

[@Celestial_Reach]

He'll yes

[@jonathangavin7560]

Mr. Arthur, this is one of your best episodes to date. Well done and thank you for your extraordinary show.

[@terrysaunders7107]

The Imperial Navy of battle fleet Gothic is hiring gun crews to man his most glorious macro cannons. Join up now.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

That sketch up of them loading a building sized torpedo with a work gang stuck in my head the moment I saw it, which it occurs to me must be over a quarter of a century now.

[@gerryboudreaultboudreault2608]

Why do Space craft look so aerodynamic in shape? They are not atmospheric.

[@AvoidTheCadaver]

​ Closer to 30 years old. It came out around 1994.

[@felixleong61]

Fanatic Purifiers, Fanatic Mitilarists and Fanatic Xenophobes: Yes! Our favourite topic!

[@cosmictreason2242]

Fanatic Egalitarian and Fanatic Xenophobe: "sounds about Reich"

[@jhwheuer]

I really appreciate the way Iain M. Banks described space battles in the micro second ranges, involving massive ships that carry large ships that carry small ships that can launch smart munition.

[@JazzGuitarScrapbook]

Where you “ You could smash and destroy from unthinkable distances, obliterate planets from beyond their own system and provoke stars into novae from light-years off…and still have no good idea why you were really fighting”

[@jhwheuer]

@@JazzGuitarScrapbook different IP

[@JazzGuitarScrapbook]

@@jhwheuer Consider Phlebas m8

[@2013Arcturus]

I love how well Enders Game addressed the pure subjectivity of orientation in space combat and how opening your mind to it turned 0G combat into chess vs. checkers if you're stuck in a "battleship" mindset.

[@robertbruce5489]

I agree with the dark humor of thinking orbital bombardment is funny, but not when I am in the bombardment zone, lmao

[@albizu75]

Great video! It made me think of Star Trek the Wrath of Khan where Spock makes the point that Khan thinks of space as an ocean and Kirk uses that to outsmart Khan. Ironic since that movie in some ways is one of the most naval battle inspired of the Star Trek movies. That first of warfare list was quite impressive 😂. Liked the mention of arguably the best Star Trek Next Generation episode and of David Weber.

[@TipSheikh]

How do you know when the episode was posted 3 minutes ago?

[@albizu75]

Nebula. Great streaming service. Isaac and other creators have videos in there that don't appear in KZbin and most of his videos appear on Nebula first and then KZbin. It's a way of supporting Isaac and other creators in addition to KZbin.

[@ChaptermasterPedroKantor-kv5yw]

Nicholas Mayer deliberately chose to invoke a more military feel in his Trek movies, as opposed to the more post military feel of Roddenberry, in particular The Motion Picture. And I reckon it makes sense for a new military service to adopt age old traditions from different services to create a sense of esprit de corps and traditions of their own. Unless that service they borrowed from tried to usurp them of course. As service are often prone to do due to interservice rivalry.

[@johnfox2975]

0:11 I mean what will you see in the sea anyway, at least in the open

[@everyonethinksyoureadeathm5773]

Exactly most military engagements were 20+ miles away. Destroyers had to get within 5 miles to even shoot their torps but they had the speed. The only times where warships were within semi-visual range were choke points like Lyte Gulf , Guatal Canal, or the Mariana Islands, for example.

[@mjk9388]

Great episode Isaac and team. I've been looking forward to this one. Beautiful animation artwork and sound too. Fantastic job!

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@gerryboudreaultboudreault2608]

I have trouble with narrator's odd voice. Must be A.I. *This video does portray the many problems depicted in the science of space operas. One theme I dismiss is time travel; totally rediculous!

[@mjk9388]

@@gerryboudreaultboudreault2608 I can assure you that Isaac's voice is not AI-generated. He's been doing this channel since at least 2016 when I first started listening to him. Isaac did have a speech impediment called Rhotacism, but I can't hear it anymore and he does suggest people turn on captions in many of the videos if they have trouble understanding him. As for "Time Travel", you may have seen one of his Sci-Fi Sunday episodes where he delves into sci-fi stuff that is not backed by known science. He is a Physicist and knows that time travel isn't doable under known physics. I hope you enjoy this channel as much as I have. You'll find he goes way beyond the normal "Pop Sci" slant and has very well-reasoned opinions.

[@androth1502]

i think the first wars in space, if there ever are any will be like submarine warfare. two ships in the void separated by vast distances and pretending to be floating bits of rock and ice trying to find each other. and their weapons systems will likely resemble guided torpedoes.

[@marrqi7wini54]

I wonder if that would be two major colonies or even earth and a colony/two different colonies based on their country of origin having failed diplomatic relations and it's going to start a major conflict. Or will it be two groups of rock-hoppers who really just don't like each other that much.

[@TheRezro]

I'm 100% sure we would see drone combat. Also countries already work on space drones.

[@bjturon]

Damn the Torpedos! Full Thrust Ahead! 😄 ⚓ 🚀

[@Estkileoto]

Every time you make a video it's like Christmas. Regarding your comments of not knowing what you're talking about, as someone with a PhD who reads a lot of dissertations, it's my opinion that the work you're producing is of dissertation level quality.

[@BarbarosaAlexander]

I love playing these videos, often repeat viewings, while I craft TTRPG terrain for my clients. Even though I work primarily in a fantasy setting, your videos still inspire and recharge my batteries. Nerd Sunday in particular is made better because of your work. Thank you.

[@tiagotiagot]

The speed advantage gained by not overthinking it can be a vulnerability once it crosses the threshold of making you predictable. If enough of the enemy (or a observant previously uninvolved third-party) survive to study your behavior and manage to get enough time to think things thru, they can setup traps you will fall into willingly.

[@mkusanagi]

This man is a national treasure, where else can you regularly get niche content like this pretty much perpetually? Thanks, hope all is well with you and family

[@robertalaverdov8147]

Reading the three body problem and the droplet attack made me ponder the futility of gigantic fleet actions. There is so much crazy that can be thrown into a space battle by a star faring species that we may not even be able to fathom all the possibilities. From black hole mines that can swallow entire fleets to focused supernova beams that can sterilize planets.

[@greggweber9967]

37:05 If you have the time, you can swing an armored shield to face the threat when you first see it rather than being inside a thinner armored hollow sphere.

[@gregoryburgundy4857]

what a mad lad i love hearing him talk about this stuff, hard to believe its been this long.

[@brunocesarcerqueira2525]

As a player of naval and aerial games I am always interested in this subject. Generally you must be quick to detect and shoot, avoid being detected, and always hit the easiest target quickly. Never be alone, otherwise you will be mercilessly slaughtered. But if you can't eliminate your opponent, at least do as much damage as possible for your team to finish the job. If you are in an open field with no way to protect or hide (the space is a big open field) be quick, or if you can't, be unpredictable in your movements, or pretend to go one way but divert to another. Vary your speed so the enemy misses the target. But the point is still, shoot first and run later.

[@ImmortalNidhogg]

Everything you say matters to me because ET is one dragon that everybody knows the name of and nobody can make portals. This is all essential, great video. I could say it looks underrated but I think I'm aware of the voids of natural curiosity that exist in many people. Good job, good show🐘

[@RoddHarding]

The Expanse had the best spaceship battles. Intense and fairly true to real physics

[@54032Zepol]

This is gold leader standing by

[@darkorion69]

For fun here are my thought on future battle-fleets, hope you enjoy. 1) Small black-body vessels with minimal crew. 2) Baffler micro-drones launched and manned virtually to intercept slow missiles and kinetic weapon magazines. If the ship or any micro-drone detects signal interference they change modes and become computer controlled kinetic kill devices, targeting the source of the signal interference. 3) If the ship computer or crew detect hostile boarding operations, swarms of nanobots or lethal gas will flood all non critical ship areas. If a critical area is targeted to bypass this protocol, the ship will self destruct in 60 seconds likely via automated reactor containment overload. 4)All ship will pack massive WMD's which will launch just before the auto destruct detonates in a dirty old school nuclear fireball. 5)If detected via some form of carrier wave radar-like equivalent the ship will attempt to disengage and regain stealth status. 6)Attacking worlds with bio-weapons, chemical weapons, or WMD's will be forbidden most likely. This will be enforced by the open knowledge that stealth ships are posted near every inhabited world to allow instant counterstrikes against the civilian populations of colonies with only thousands of citizens at best

[@hightierplayers2454]

I still imagine space battles to be AI-powered multi-layered next-gen smart-armored balls or something similar covered in thruster and weapon ports to fire omnidirectionally as well as maneuver in any direction in a split second. No sci-fi to date has shown anything practical, as in star wars, fighters are merely air combat in space, and in star trek, ship battles are merely naval combat in space with huge design flaws that would make massive weaknesses in a ship depending on how you approach it.

[@foodomanthemagnificent2650]

If I remember correctly, The Three Body Problem describe the warships as spheres. Complete with spherical interior rooms.

[@spiffygonzales5160]

What if we just took space, and put it in the ocean? That way we can use fighters in the air like StarWars, and starships in the ocean like StarTrek! 🙂

[@miltenignis1017]

There's a german sci-fi novel series called Perry Rhodan which does have the humans and some others using mainly spherical spacecraft, especially for combat. Overall the series is.. well, it's sci fi but there's a few elements that I'd call "semi-realistic" about it (engagement distances of many 100s of thousands of kilometres, light lag for most weapons, relativity being taken into account, some types of robots being very fast but outsmartable while others are downright terrifying to fight in prolonged battles, g-force crushing you if you aren't using clarketech to compensate it, said clarketech being turned off sometimes through acts of sabotage etc.).

[@barghestblue731]

Space may not be a traditional ocean, but the ocean and Navy are the closest we have on to what would fit in the backdrop and battlegrounds of space Planets and moons are islands Stars are shallow or stormy seas The farthest you can effectively see is the horizon The farther you can hit the enemy the better, especially if they can't hit you Weapons are in an arms race with defensive measures You and your several hundred to several thousand best friends will be out there hoping nothing happens and constantly preparing for when something will If your ship is killed, chances are you are too, and if you aren't then you are close behind, unless you get lucky

[@budnrobots2968]

Thank you for always clarifying!!!!

[@funpolice4416]

Honesty, I wonder if the battlecruiser concept of speed and big guns over armor works better in space. The speed/firepower/protection triangle is probably still going to be relevant, even if the square cube law is our friend here. Just don’t let the AI that thinks it’s space Beatty near the fleet Great video, as always.

[@WolfeSaber9933]

Here's a weapon I came up for a Halo alternative timeline and a new Sci-fi series I'm working on, a weapon that uses particle accelerators to launch basically glitter to up to half the speed of light.

[@alimaeus455]

I have two questions, how much mass is in your ball of glitter and does it turn into a diffuse cloud immediately after firing?

[@WolfeSaber9933]

@@alimaeus455 It's just straight glitter, made of metal, and maybe a core of like Uranium-235. For a 19.2 ton cloud, it'll do 1,200 times more energy than the Tsar Bomba when accounting for relativity. In the main firing barrel, there could be lasers to help focus the glitter into a stream. Plus, we can have the option to have the cloud diffuse for a shotgun blast.

[@treasurehunter3744]

Ah! The Hypervelocity Macron Accelerator. Don't be discouraged that someone came up with something similar. In fact, there's a lot more to learn about it. If you're interested, do a quick Google search on it, and you'll get a nice introduction to that device.

[@mrfluffytailthethird]

that's got to be a war crime glitter is called "The Herpes of the arts and craft" in Hobbie stores for a very real reason

[@WolfeSaber9933]

@@mrfluffytailthethird Well, I see this weapon as a real world equivalent to something like Space Battleship Yamato's Wave Motion gun.

[@nicx2218]

"Decaffeinated troops may mutiny" LoL I love that

[@Bob-ep2sv]

You always upload right as i refresh

[@NicolaiVE]

As a teenager I found the comic trilogy of the hundred years war very interesting. Where time play an important factor as ships used jumps to travel at near light speeds only to come out against foes years ahead or behind them in technology and to fortify planets or to attack them as an enemy presence in a system is dangerous... Real good series, I realy should read the book.

[@evensgrey]

The late Terry Pratchett described Space in the following way in Wings, the third volume of his Nomes Trilogy: There are two kinds of space: 1: Something containing nothing. 2: Nothing containing everything.

[@user-dx8zj6zh3l]

Can you do more about Heinlein's science please? I see a few of Lazarus Longs Maxims in your list! Love your work.

[@michaelpettersson4919]

I am so used to your voice now that "strange" is not a word I would use to describe it.

[@DaFinkingOrk]

The first rule of warfare is that Isaac Arthur is extremely good.

[@mikearclight1149]

"First Rule of Warfare: Don't Lose Battles" Yeah, thanks, Chief, I'll try and keep that in mind! 😆

[@noseyparker8130]

In reference to "The First Rule Of Warfare" I would recommend another very funny list. It's had a few names over the years. Sometimes it's just "Bad Skippy", but nowadays that just finds consumer complaints about peanut butter. It's also been known as "101 Things Skippy is No Longer Allowed to Do in the U.S. Army." The list has grown over time and is now "213 Things..."

[@carminedesanto6746]

1:09 I think it’ll be closer to submarine warfare…

[@annalorree]

Agreed

[@SpannSr1970]

I also agree!

[@Dampfaeus]

This episode was fantastic! Also: omg! 10 years anniversary already!! Been here for 9 of them 😁

[@Comicsluvr]

I appreciate that you bring up scale in this episode. Imagine one light-second, 300,000km. Imagine how fast your human reflexes would have to be using light-based weapons to operate the weapons by looking at a monitor, realizing what you're seeing, formulating a thought, and then carrying out that thought. And light can travel 300,000 km in a second. Everything will have to be computerized once weapons progress beyond missiles and slug weapons.

[@nickkorkodylas5005]

Space travel is like the Navy: _In space no one can hear you asking or telling._

[@JimFinley11]

I've been adding your rules of warfare to my own list. Don't forget "Friendly fire isn't," "The side with the simplest uniforms wins," "Murphy was a grunt," and "The most dangerous thing in the world is a lieutenant with a map and a radio." Good point about the evolution of warfare constantly surprising us; the Ukrainian war of defense against the Russian invasion is a good example - cheap disposable drones are revolutionizing tactics, making it almost impossible to hide, and even taking down tanks and helicopters. I was a mortarman, and when in 81mm mortars, the hang time of our rounds was often pretty long (not so much with the smaller 60mms). Never did get to work with the 107mm/4.2" mortars, although I wanted to. One of my brothers was also a mortarman, and the other was in Marine artillery. He served with towed 105s, towed 155s, and on sea duty on the USS Iowa, where the Marine Detachment was responsible for running one of the 5"/38 gun mounts.

[@randomcast3183]

I picture space combat to be like it was from the show the expanse. It's going to be a mix of ww1 and modern naval combat but without the carriers. You will see fleet launching missles and mass drivers at each other from hundreds to even 1000s of miles for each other.

[@derrickthewhite1]

An unending parade of stunning visuals

[@jhwheuer]

All those “fleet approaching planet” shots with their engines pointing =away= from that planet are just a bit grating.

[@bitharne]

Imagine a scaled down alcubereve drive that pushes and pulls space out of a single nozzle so it has equal thrust forward and reverse 🤔

[@TheArmyKnifeNut]

One of my top five sci-fi shows of all time is The Expanse. I absolutely love how they handle space combat. It has more realism than pretty much any other on-screen big budget show or movie with space combat.

[@AvoidTheCadaver]

Especially some of the final battles in the finale

[@TheArmyKnifeNut]

@@AvoidTheCadaver I loved the idea of the stealth asteroids too.

[@cannonfodder4376]

Naval strategy is build strategy and Force Structure and Force Employment determine the kind of military one is and the wars they expect to fight. Given all I have learned over the years, those facts look to remain relevant long into the uncertain future. A superb episode, Isaac. There is so much material for inspiration and consideration for the military sci-fi writer. We need more of them to watch your videos so we can have better sci-fi.

[@ChaptermasterPedroKantor-kv5yw]

Not just naval strategy is build strategy. All strategy is build strategy. As the Ukraine war shows, if you cannot replace your losses you will be ground down by the side that can replace their losses.

[@ericschafer287]

I hadn't thought of cable based space movement. A realistic ship would look like a spider web. It would have a lot of mass in armored propulsion modules around the outside. In between it could have other modules that are free to move(2D) without using propellant. A bit of rotation would keep the web from collapsing.

[@kayakMike1000]

Well, i will corroborate that Isaac has a master's in physics. He was two years ahead of me in the Physics department at Kent State. We had quite a troop.. there was Stylish John, Furry John, myself, Josh, Kate, Violeta, Dr. Mike... We studied together. Good times.

[@DicePunk]

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY. Thanks for this!! This is a huge consideration for me right now because im writing a tabletop game. To facilitate the space battlea, i decided to handwave the problems by saying all factiona have such advanced countermeasures that all combat has to be "whites of their eyes" encounters. So while near luminal speeds can be achieved, the smaller craft dont have the power output to do it, and get ferried into battle on carriers, then dogfight in WW2 type squadron battles.

[@DeltafangEX]

The issue of planetary defenses being so strong is actually conveniently sidestepped in the two latest Macross installations, both of which involve the antagonists simply teleporting their forces straight into the local airspace of all major galactic settlements simultaneously - taking special attention to point out Earth and the fleets and planets of prior series being targeted. Cool, though I'm ready for something a little less grand in scale for the next entry.

[@lavenderlilacproductions]

20:00 Dwell time Ever wonder why you can pull the slide past the stop? Because there's some time lag required for the slide stop to be pushed up by the spring

[@timothybruce9366]

37:42 in the Traveller RPG (Chadwick), there was a cheap countermeasure against beam weapons: sand casters

[@Redmow51]

Yes, space is mostly empty but I really don't see that fleet battles would occur in open space. I see them taking place at points of interest. Planets, large asteroids etc.

[@foxhoundms9051]

That intro line should be the actual motto for the space navy in the future lmao its perfect

[@jonathanj.3695]

I honestly feel like the Expanse TV series displays the most realistic space combat seen in today's media as well as the most realistic depiction of living in war torn space. The ships don't have shields and laser weapons. They're just flying tin cans with machine guns, missiles and no artificial gravity.

[@masterdon3821]

When a video about the shape of the UFOs ,like disc or cigarette and the feasibility of such shapes.

[@dariustiapula]

If I ever send an exploration ship to an area. Anything less than an armada is unacceptable. Bringing everything and the kitchen sink. From factory ships to garbage recycler.

[@TheRezro]

And then finding a black hole...

[@AvoidTheCadaver]

Sounds like a Warhammer 40k Adeptus mechanicus Explorator fleet

[@AFMR0420]

Starfish Prime has happened and is a perfect example of how space war works. Surprised you of all people over look that.

[@michaelporzio7384]

Sometime in the future, space cadets will have the job of polishing things with space brasso!

[@HypeKillahPwnd]

Happy 10 years Running !

[@kkrolik2106]

Honorverse is very good take on space combat in SiFi books I personally recommend it.

[@RobertHoward-g9q]

Safe hold series was awesome. Off topic but awesome.

[@l3zl13]

My favorite take on space combat in a book series is The Lost fleet. It has a lot in common with what was mentioned in this episode.

[@darkhorse13golfgaming]

Bro I was a Cav Scout for 8 years and your First Rules of Warfare List had me dying lol. It really can be that contradictory 😂

[@jockeb2651]

Happy Arthursday!

[@chamatsprayart2283]

It took me a few videos to get used to your voice but now i'm hooked..... You have a great mind, Sir....

[@ghostdreamer7272]

Loved the delivery and realism checks pointed out in this video!

[@gerryboudreaultboudreault2608]

But why do robots look like humans in shape? Not very efficient. And the concept of uploading your consciousness into a super-computer? No; you would only upload a Copy, not yourself.

[@ghostdreamer7272]

@@gerryboudreaultboudreault2608 that’s not close to what I’m commenting on. Did you hear the part about the nature of the emptiness of space and how different any of warfleets would operate in comparison to how it’s shown in the movies?

[@detaildevil6544]

I'd imagine it would be primarily be laser warfare being decided far away from the the target where every second counts. Even mutual destruction might be an outcome.

[@ProfessorJayTee]

Your "first rule" on Brute Force might've come straight from my Dad. "Get a bigger hammer!" "Need a larger wrench!" "This isn't a big enough caliber!"

[@ptonpc]

The book series "The Lost Fleet" has some good ideas regards space battles. In it, war between two sides has been going on so long, and has been so destructive, that both sides have regressed to very simple manoeuvrers, even 'mob' tactics. A veteran from much earlier in the war is recovered and he is able to use his knowledge to great effect.

[@TheRezro]

That sound like a bullshit...

[@sirdart6915]

I also really enjoyed the tactics and strategy behind The Lost Fleet series. They did a really great job of actual strategic thinking around how to get the enemy to do what you want and how to survive the fleet in the long term. It is definitely my favorite for fleet engagements series,although I like The Expanse as the best science fiction series.

[@TheRezro]

@@sirdart6915 Expanse is and always was a Space Opera. It was literally confirmed by the creator.

[@zacharymossman3593]

you can tell this guy has been doubted his whole life. he rose to the top. my guy is playing life on hard mode and crushed it

[@projectarduino2295]

Near light speed defense idea: who needs a force field, when a micron thin thread net electrostaticly held taught around the ship works fine (unless you want to fire back). Could also just launch one at near liminal speeds to attack or counter attack.

[@pavelslama5543]

24:45 Yeah, I also thought about the possibility (or rather lack there of) of assimilation of dumb metal slugs, a solid few meters in diameter, going maybe 1/100 speed of light. Put such a gun in a small ship, remove all the fuel reserves, food reserves, most of the crew quarters, most of the machinery and engines, and voila, you have a cheap planetary defense space monitor, capable of getting rid of borg cubes. According to the show, the borgs tend to lose much of their potency when their ships are wrecked and their physical bodies are full of holes.

[@williams.vincent4235]

I have watched a lot of your videos Isaac and this type of video is incredibly interesting and creative - I like it!

[@springbloom5940]

Jack Sowards talked about the starship combat in Wrath of Khan having to be meticulously storied out to make it plausible, because the incredible distances and mind boggling speeds involved would leave nothing to show but a flash and a completely destroyed ship.

[@richardkenney9636]

Common conjecture on what operating a Black Water (Space) Navy is going to be like is some kind of hybrid of piloting an airplane, navigating a surface ship and navigating a submarine, but all three at the same time.

[@onetruekeeper]

If opposing fleets fought in low orbit of a gas giant the size of Jupiter it could almost seem like a sea battle of old where the losing ship will "sink" into the gas giant's atmosphere to be crushed in the depth's below.

[@brokeneyes6615]

All science fiction ships are equipped with what’s called the wormhole gas tank, thereby completely eliminating the need to carry your own fuel.

[@Wolflord-hb1fu]

Try the Expanse book series.

[@brokeneyes6615]

@@Wolflord-hb1fu I listen to the whole thing on Audible about a year or so ago, including the short stories really great series. I do think far future space travel will involve some form of external technology to transport the ship/drift colony, be it wormhole gate like in the expanse, Mass Effect or Eve Online instead of an internal drive.

[@oneaboveall1895]

thanks for your service brother -vet

[@deg12k]

Happy Thursday ❤

[@knallpistolen]

Happy Arthursday

[@OmusKnowsAll]

Awesome! I've been waiting for this. I need to know the nuances of spacefleet combat.

[@definitlynotbenlente7671]

I hope by the time hunanity is technologically advanced enough to build interstellar fleets we advanced beyond murdering each other

[@larsdahl5528]

"Man has killed man from the beginning of time, and each new frontier has brought new ways and new places to die. Why should the future be different?" - Col. Corazon Santiago "Planet: A Survivalist's Guide" (The computer game Alpha Centauri)

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

I love that game, especially the cut scenes, I wished they'd remake it with those re-rendered

[@yannbeelen1630]

Love games such of homeworld , starttrek armada series , freelancer , and The volition one with a mothership ( cant recall The name of The game ) , Sin of Solar empire

[@EksaStelmere]

Hearing about Issac's military past really makes me feel sad that I could never be a fighter pilot. Even so, much like my adoration of futurism, it hasn't stopped me from learning whatever I could about them even as a forever grounded humanoid.

[@MisterZimbabwe]

Go into biotechnology and help us invent cybernetic augmentations that are better than normal healthy anatomical parts. And since you're in the field helping invent them you get them for basically free, meaning suddenly YOU'RE more qualified than all those jerks with good eyeballs and lack of congenital birth defects!

[@lastlotus5064]

I would say for the cube example flying by mars there might be a good reason technically even though it probably didn’t need it and that’s to use a gravity of a planet to slingshot past their max speed.

[@billlowery1658]

Imagine it's 3025 and you're using a fkn TOW missile on a space shuttle

[@linesided]

Most people speak about 120 words a minute, but few of them make each one count like Isaac Arthur.