So user, you've got your own few-dozen system spanning space empire

So user, you've got your own few-dozen system spanning space empire.
What do YOU spend your military budget on?

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The Military

I hate you

Primarily dragon dildos

Advancing the FTL network for quick response

Primarily on developing new tech for void combat. If we get into a war, I want my fleets to be brimming with little surprises for the enemy.

Mostly paychecks, infrastructure, personnel health, and maintenance.

fpbp

Probably insidious bioweapons. If tangling with me is too messy to be worth doing, a lot of aggressors will probably just leave me alone or have to jump through enough hoops to be hamstrung.

Plus the inevitable outbreaks will provide fascinating data.

I'll have to have many an in depth discussion with my military advisers, generals and admirals to find out what their needs are and what new developments have occurred recently in the ever evolving beast of war to have an appropriate idea of what I should be spending it on which I will likely not be at liberty to disclose for security reasons.

spess muhreen

How many super heavy wheelie tanks is too many?

A single superweapon.

Bureaucracy.

Multiple mobile independently functional battlefleets capable of handling most conceivable tasks they would be put up to would serve as the primary force of the military.

Added to this, powerful 'static' garrisons situated around logistical/command hubs capable of holding onto key facets of my military structure until mobile support converges on the threat.

I would also specifically fund a recon corps to which the true mavericks can be posted, allowing them extended freedom in return for a wide ranging presence.

If FTL is common, then a fleet of small craft armed with powerful warheads for drivebys on quarrelsome whelps.

If FTL is uncommon, one fuckhuge ship with massive fighter bays.

If there is no FTL, a giant space cannon that I can use o get things up to around 1/4 the speed of light and just end a planets shit eventually that way. Sure it may take a thousand years, but they're dead as dogshit once that rock gets there.

Defense systems. Orbital defense networks, MAC cannons, FTL traps, that kind of shit. Whatever is left over can be used to stuff the pension funds of the staff.

Speak softly and carry a big stick, cunts.

>Pension schemes
This nigga right here knows whats up!

A lot of weapons that can easily glass planets and can hardly be stopped
Assuming my empire is a little player, it can give me safety from larger empires if I can deter them if they know that an attack on me will incur in a retaliation that kills untold amounts of civilians
The rest would go into a navy that can project force, and easily get away from larger forces

The equivalent of unstoppable space nukes for galactic MAD.

I wouldn't really focus on the military that much
I'd ensure that there would be a huge industrial base, coupled with a small professional army in peace times
As soon as a real war would threaten us, the huge industrial might of my empire would be unleashed
Logistics and economy win wars

Patterning.

Bitchin themes
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A Bad Dragon for every recruit.

Robots. You're not a proper space overlord without a robot army at your beck and call.
>Logistics: Repairs (can even repair each other), power (cheap if you've already got a star-spanning empire), raw materials (again, star-spanning empire), lube (probably the hardest part)
>No need for pay, retirement benefits, shore leave, higher education, pensions, or PTSD treatment
>Can be made for any shape and role imaginable, unlike mere bipedal meatbags
>Can be quickly mass-produced and programmed
>Will obey your every command, provided you keep their independent thought capabilities limited human armies try to do that anyway
>Chicks dig robots, giant robots in particular
What sort of tabletop games have really good systems for working with robots? I assume the Star Wars systems have a fair bit of stuff about them, but I can't think of any others off the top of my head.

Big statues apperantly

Making sure all my neighbors hate each other and need me as a neutral side and an arbitrator in their wars.

>few-dozen system

Colony ships to settle more star systems. Rapid expansion until I discover an alien empire.

>generations of economic rut until the colonies develop enough to start sending some money back
>half of them declare independence

>declare independence

Not when there is an evil alien threat around. If there is none, then I will invent one.

Some sort of robot that eats the enemy's gear and planets and shits out more robots.

Some sort of organic killing machine that eats the enemy and shits out more organic killing machines.

Some sort of aethereal being that eats the enemy's immortal soul and shits out more aethereal beings.

Solar defense systems
Something that can rapidly respond to a threat anywhere within the Solar System
Maybe some sort of superweapon orbiting each of the stars, some sort of cannon that can fire on any target within the system to devastating effect

It'd be useful as a deterrent for both potential enemies and rebellious citizens, and would allow me to remain isolationist so I don't have to deal with Xeno bullshit

Other than that a powerful fleet that can move quickly between systems, so in the event of an attack or invasion the Solar Cannons could hold the enemy back until my fleet arrives to crush them

I'd be space Switzerland

A fucking dyson sphere

With sharks

Skitarii, some kind of interplanetary doom laser, and a imperial fuck tone of propaganda.
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In short, all the GERMAN! SCIENCE! I can get my gripping appendages on.

Depends on the FTL(or STL!) meta, along with our industrial capabilities. I know what's on my wishlist, tho:

smart dust clouds from disassembled planetoids shrouding the whole system to stop GRBs
automated minefields in the asteriod belts, full of cheap inferometric sensors for total surveillance and antimatter-fused micro-fusion torpedoes
siege networks of solar mirrors, concentrating and piping near-sun light for final aiming at points all over the near system

phased array communications, surveillance, and attack satellites, each itself composed of a fractal array of sub-centimetre optical chips


Ground support is nanotech grown blast-accelerators, acting as camouflaged one-shot artillery to launch microfusion or bioweapon grenades thousands of kilometers

And of course, some grunts with swords, because you can't fire a neurally linked orbital strike if your hacked robot/clone waifu distracts you while they infiltrate inside the blast radius

Best first post I've ever seen

Conventional forces are terribly expensive. Much cheaper to just press a button.

Power suits.

On the immortal idea of
genetically engineered catgirl murderbots

Build an army of robots and replace soldiers,then exterminate the plebs and establish an elite-society

REEEEE GET OUT OF EMPYREAN REEEEEEEE

/thread

Sensor probes that would be launched to find other inhabited systems and then relay their location to the whole galaxy.

FTL kinetic weapons that would be locked on the probe's signal.

You know, considering all this kind of stuff, it would be amazing any multi-planetary empire would have enough money and resources leftover from their defense spendings alone for anything else.

All this shit sounds like it's insanely pricey and damanding, even if you had all the resources of 24-60 star systems.

Hell, especially if you had that many fronts to guard.

Gotta have factories to make that shit and enough citizens to pay for it.

That aside, FTL advances. If I have 500 crappy ships and the enemy has 500 good ships but splits them up chasing around all the juicy planetary targets I can just jump my entire crappy fleet in at once and stomp enemies with superior numbers. If the economy is good enough I can lose some strategic points without too much issue. It's not like defending in space is really a good tactic, too expensive to build millions of defense stations to protect a dozen systems which exist in three-dimensional space. Mobility is everything.

Nanomachine killbots and a few fleets to deliver them.
Fleets can double as a defensive response force.

Rapidly deployable planetary scale wmds and orbital defences mainly.

Nuclear deterent space edition

So basically, Decisive Battle Doctrine INNN SPAAACE? Actually, it would work hella well there. Fleets and planets are basically point targets on that scale so the whole "combat power is square of fleet strength" thing is pretty true, you can't really see anything coming because lightspeed problems, etcetera.
It would be like Stellaris, you'd just smack your deathball fleet into their deathball fleet and hope, or if they're stronger than you split into tiny forces and attack everywhere at once.

Mostly on infrastructure projects, epic monuments, and lavish public spaces on the worlds of my empire.

An interstellar empire in its early stages is going to be much like Rome's empire was, in that moving an army from one side of the empire would be an enormous expense in terms of time and resources. Dealing with rebellions and border incursions would be a massive problem, because retaking an insurrectionist world would probably be more costly than the value of the world itself, at least in the near-term. The goal needs to be to make the people on the periphery of the empire feel that they are privileged to be a citizen of your empire and to love your empire more than their own local cultural identity so that you don't need to keep them under military rule.

This, making a biohazardous enviornment is a great strategic advantage

social programs

blankets and fire wood.

you could dedicate a small portion of the resources produced by a single star to build a nicoll dyson beam capable of destroying solar systems.

Self replicating solar powered nanomachines.

Make it so they don't attack your stuff(daily changing radio signal) and spead them everywhere above orbit.

Missiles would just be eaten, and if you make them smart enough you could mess with lasers.

Just watch as enemy ships are eaten.

If you are really smart try these.
>nanobot batteries that hold element, harvest these for your own uses
>replicators would be infinitely useful in spreading them.
>if you can get ftl small enough have them just attack things that aren't yours.

Gunbuster.

Tarkin Pls go

Mass reactive weaponry and the guidance systems to calculate hits far out in space.

Like other star systems far.

Navy, Space is the New Air, dominate space, you dominate all wars

Black Hole nuke and means of transporting it so nobody attacks me.

>Self replicating nanobots

Yeah I don't see how that could go terribly wrong.

Military spending is always amply bloated over the rest of it though, it almost always is the well funded department.

For most nations anyways.
Goddamn i feel like playing Stellaris

do you realize just how much shit in in a single system? Nigger the astroid belt contains more iron than earth let alone other planets and planetary rings. Just because somthing cant be lived on as is dosent me habitats and fuck huge mining cant take place. even better without having to worry about the environment we could strip mars bare. A single united system could contain trillions if managed properly.

Hundreds of corvettes.

This user gets it. Do things Starshiptrooper style- make the military your focal point for society. Make serving your fellow man the greatest thing you can do in the empire. Praise the soldiers. Be critical of the government...but make it so that the citizens enjoy war so much, they won't think of rebelling on a colonized territory because they love their society so much. Nationalism will sustain them. Have the government create PSAs on military service, invest money in scientific based jobs in the military to improve fighting forces and morale and occasionally improve the citizen's lives as well. Soldiers should get really hyped up and excited at a new weapon/invention, kids should want to grow up to be just like their dad that protects them in war, citizens should rejoice in all the luxuries afforded to them full manifest destiny style.

>What do YOU spend your military budget on?

Beer and Hookers - it's the only way...

Giant mecha

Dug

You two. Your my friends now.

FOCKIN BELTA LOIVES MATTA' M8

Da fokin belt?! You've not but a right bint. Bludy spess roks floatin about with der veins fulla ore.

Anyone in thread that gave a non-military answer is a fucking retard.


A one-branch military with a focus on space combat. My ground forces are gonna pull you from the bombardment debris and jail ya.

Lots of planetary defense.

Space habitats. Its far to inefficient to try and arm up an entire world with planetary defenses so why not focus on a sort of scorched earth doctrine and allow planets to fall if attacked. Idea being with many habitats the production of ships and weapons would not falter as much and the populations could be evacuated or at least as many as can be possible. that leaves the enemy with a planet devoid of workers, likely damaged infrastructure, and damaged or ruined supplies.

Idunno, industry user had the right idea

Scientists who know what they are doing.
I am a tyrant and a warlord, but I know my limits.

TECHNHOCRATIC UPRISING OR SCIENCE THEOCRACY COUP, CALLING IT

;)

Genetically engineer citizens upon some defenseless habitats to rapidly breed.
If an enemy ends up capturing the habitats and enslaves/keeps them, your species will eventually outnumber the aliens that took over.

If we've reached a point where we can maintain multi-system star empires, we've reached a point where anyone with the desire can garner enough raw energy (in some form) to be a serious threat. The threat of terrorism from radical extremist groups, to school shooters will be everpresent, as anyone and everyone can cheaply and easily create weapons of mass destruction in a post-scarcity society.

You will have to have a very solid level of empire-wide security at even the most local levels, basically policing people 1984 style for any 'dangerous behavior'. You will have to become a dictatorship by necessity. It will be an awful place to live.

As for what you specifcally spend it on? Again, enough energy to travel the stars, enough to create a weapon which can instantly and accurately kill a man from across the globe, without collateral damage, so any military spending would be on the infrastructure necessary to sustain that system.

This is the real answer.

you aren't getting shit done without it.

GO' MEK A LIVIN M8

A fuckton of MAC Cannons. Why waste resources on battleships and infantry when Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son of a bitch in space?

You just have to brainwash your population. The very thought of it has to be seen as absurd. Everything else but government statements are conspiracy theories. Those who believe them shall be seen as wacko at best, insane at worst. Their arguments shall be used against them, while listeners shall be dumb enough not to notice that this makes no sense. In short do not police the masses, let them police themselves. Do it like the "western world".

Has the bonus that you can paint anyone who does less brainwashing and morw policing as evil empire.

ARTEK TAKLOA! GET CLEM!
>Industrial scale cloning
>Genetic-deep loyalty
>Crude and affordable technology
>Broadsides, boarding torpedos and super heavy battle fortresses.
FITE ME SKOOM

>Muh FTL
>Muh decisive battles

There's a catch about Mahan in space: the "land" forces will always be there first, with the most. One planet outmasses a fleet by many orders of magnitude. One Dyson sphere has a population larger than the full population of a galactic empire that lives atop the crusts of planets.

>but make it so that the citizens enjoy war so much, they won't think of rebelling
There's something about this statement, that's so fundamentally wrong, yet it can work out as long as there is an external enemy.

Whatever the military says it needs to deal with whatever threats exist. I'm some random retard with no information whatever bullshit I come up with on a whim is entirely likely to be completely worthless.

Truly you are a cool cat user.

Hence nanomachine killbots.
Of course when both sides use them it becomes an enormous mess of grey goo, assuming both colonies reproduce faster than the other can kill them, while eating up all local resources.

A literal death star.

A huge solar concentrator around a star, to preemptively sterilize all potentially life-bearing planets in the Galaxy with its beam.

Advanced FTL for extremely quick response times and stealth for high- and low-orbital presence; top-tier genetic, cybernetic, and neuro-psychosis programs to make hardcore super-soldiers; bad-ass arena-shooter-tier weapons to arm them with so they always have a tool for the job; matter generation and exceptionally advanced industrialization to supply them with giant robot friends that they can call down as needed.

PREPARE FOR TITANFALL.

Relativistic weapons, and tons of them.