Starting in 2048 CE, programs for the settlement and colonization of mars had begun, starting scientific bases and latter including civilian settlements for commercial purposes. By 2090 CE, more than 150,000 people had settled on the Red Planet. China, the EU, the USA, Russia, Japan, India, Canada, Turkey, Brazil and a few other countries made their claims on the Red Planet. This competition was peaceful due to a set of protocols and treaties involving national claims on extraterrestrial soil. Earth, however had a fair amount of problems due to climate change, renewed political radicalism and a few instances of economic recession led to international tensions. This eventually led to a nuclear war. Among the things which was done was a move to flood enemy coastal regions by nuking the polar ice caps to accelerate the process of flooding. The devastation was colossal and civilization collapsed.
Fortunately, Mars was spared this. By international treaty there was no nuclear weaponry on mars, though a degree of point defense systems were allowed. No warhead was set off on the red planet and the few that were sent towards it were intercepted. Bearing witness to of this nuclear exchange and it's aftermath the colonists, shocked at what happened resolved to make sure that such an event never happened again. A month after the exchange was founded the Unified Martian Federation by 75% of all martian colonies. The rest were brought into line over the next few years, either due to political pressure or in a few cases, force. Over the next year, Mars received and collected refugees and equipment from the Lunar colonies (which had faced bombardment), earth orbit, spacecraft crews and people working in the asteroid belt, more than doubling the population. Earth was left untouched due to fears of biological weaponry.
Over the next martian century and a half, the UMF continued development. There was some hardships early on due to having to make due without some higher end support from earth and dealing with a large population of refugees which prompted a cultural focus on regimentation, collectivization and thrift, but even so progress was made. The population increased steadily and colonies grew into cities. Terraforming efforts were perused. At the same time earth was monitored by probes. Life did continue on earth, including humanity, after the die off the population began to grow again. Though what emerged was pretty barbaric. As such, a long term objective was made by the Unified Martian Federation: invade and reclaim the Earth. For the last 15 years this has been on of the main objectives of Mars's industries. Now a force has been prepared for that task and is ready. You are it's supreme commander.
Your assets include the following...
- HG Wells Base: A base on the Lunar Surface serving as a global command hub and a staging ground for the Martian Army. It has a lot of warehouses, hydroponics facilities to provide food, quarters for 450,000 soldiers and support staff some industrial facilities to provide spare parts and ammunition to soldiers.
- Ten Mechanized Infantry Divisions: 13,122 soldiers and 10,000 support staff (supply corps, technicians, grease monkeys, medics, cooks, combat engineers and similar). The bulk of them are Infantry given a powered exoskeleton, giving them five times the strength of the average human and resistant to fire from 7.62x45r. The standard armed with a bullpup 6.5mm gauss assault rifle (50 round horizontal magazine), a 5.5mm pistol (25 round magazine) and a 50,000 volt electro-pistol (15 meter range, 10 shot power cell), as well as 7.5mm gauss sniper rifles, gauss machine guns, hand grenades, underslung, grenade launchers, shoulder launched surface to air rocket launchers, RPGs and mortars. For vehicle support each division has 486 Earth Rovers, 3.25 tonne fuel cell powered six wheel vehicles able to travel at speeds up to 300km on road and 100 km off road with a roof mounted 6.5mm gauss machine gun. They also have, for heavy support 200 towed howitzers and rocket artillery launchers. The support staff has 500 five-tonne automated logistical trucks and a few hundred bulldozers, construction vehicles and some prefab factory equipmet. Non combat personnel have been trained in small arms use and each have a sidearm and a few. All Earth Personnel have been given vaccinations against Earthborne diseases and have receive drug and centrifuge therapy to live in a 1G environment, though some adjustment is still deemed to be necessary. These forces are well trained, but none have any actual combat experience.
- Two Armored Divisions: Has the same manpower (both combat and non combat) as an infantry divison does. However, it has at its disposal a force of 250 T-139 Fighting Machine Main Battle Tanks. Each one weighs 44 tonnes, a 1,250kw engine, has a crew of two and has a 130mm cannon and two 7.5mm gauss machine guns. It also has 250 SPG-140 Self Propelled artillery vehicles, which have a 150mm cannon with a effective range of 25km and 100 Self Propelled anti-aircraft vehicles, each armed with a quad barreled 20mm Gauss autocannon. Each division also has 4,374 infantry for support and 200 APC-137 Armored Personnel Carriers. Each one weighs 15 tonnes, can carry 12 soldiers into battle and has a turret mounted 6.5mm gauss machine gun for defense and is amphibious. It also has 1,000 automated trucks for logistical purposes and a much more technical staff.
- One Airborne Division: The Airborne Division is designed to provide air support. Most of it's personnel are maintenance related. It has 200 VTOL transports, able to carry up to 5 tonnes of cargo or 16 or 2.5 tonnes of cargo with a top speed (unloaded) of 350 km/h as well as 200 Gunships, each armed with a 12.5mm Gauss machine gun and 36 rocket launchers. It also has 36 Ground Support Jets (1,500km/h top speed armed with twin 20mm rail cannons and up to 16 100kg ATG or ATA missiles, 2,000 km range) and 16 Heavy Air Transports (50 meter wingspan, 75 tonne lift capacity). These vehicles have had some testing in Earth's Atmosphere over Antarctica and are reliable.
- The Drop Fleet: Some 8,000 low range spacecraft, have the same basic shape of the space shuttle with some cheap modular chemical rockets strapped onto them, each is 25 meters long and has a 13 meter wingspan. Their function is simple, to carry personnel and equipment from the surface of the moon to the Earth's Surface. Once they have landed, they have served their purpose. Variants exist for tanks, aircraft, soldiers, personnel and infantry
- The Lift Fleet: A hundred Scramjet Surface to Orbit launch vehicles able to get up to 100 tonnes of cargo to earth orbit. Needs a runway to launch.
- Four prefab Torus Space Stations 150 meters in diameter in earth orbit (under construction)
- Three new divisions will arrived from mars every year, as well as colonists.
Most military conflict involves armies of soldiers armed with simple assault rifles often descending from Kalashnikovs, SMGs, bolt action and semi automatic rifles, basic RPGs and machine guns and grenades for infantry weapons. In less developed areas, breech loading weapons and muskets are also frequently used. Vehicle support also exists, at the most simple these are steam powered technicals, as well as ICE powered technicals burning bacteria produced gasoline, proper armored cars and in a few cases tanks at the level of T-56. Aircraft are rarer, but a variety of these exist ranging from steam powered biplanes to aircraft comparable to a Spitfire. Artillery ranges from civil war era cannons and home made rockets to WWII era artillery.
- North America: Industrial city states and minor countries exist around the great lakes region, the coastal regions, southern Mexico and the Appalachians and sections of the rocky mountains. Minor agricultural communities live scattered across the great plains at a pre-industrial level. Some of them are pushing inland. No single state has a population of more than five hundred thousand. The Caribbean has become home to a number of comparatively prosperous merchant/pirate countries using solar power, frequently getting into conflicts with Texas and Central American powers while colonizing Northern South America.
- South America: Similar to North America, Most activity happening on the West Coast and southern East Coast with the emergence of city states. Inland areas remain under-developed.
- Europe, North Africa and the Middle East: Big areas of re-development include Southern France, Catalonia, Scandinavia, Scotland, Baltic Russia, the Ukraine, Poland, areas of Russia, Western Turkey, Israel, Libya, Sicily and Iceland. The rest are largely preindustrial agricultural regions, though on the whole the Europeans have been more aggressive at reclaiming these areas than their American counterparts. Save for Scotland, Iceland and Scandinavia, Europe sectarian Conflicts have gotten fairly bad. Struggles exist between a fractured Christianity (there are now six popes in Europe), Islamic and a new strain of Judaism which emerged out of Israel after the war and became actively assimilative. For the most part in the Christian areas, religious minorities (Muslims, Jews, Bhuddists and Hindus) are treated in a similar manner. In Russia a secular ideology with traces it's way back to Marxism clashes with Orthodox christianity. This contrasts with the Americas (which is mostly Catholic in South America and in North America where religious communities exist side by side with marginal conflict save for a few Morman splinter groups). Some redevelopment is happening in Iran, Georgia and Azerbaijan and a number of Muslims from around the middle east had worked to rebuild Mecca, but the middle east is at best sparsely inhabited.
- East Asia: China is notable in that it is home to nine fairly substantial countries, all of which seeking to become the new Middle Kingdom. Korea has been divided among two of these powers. Surrounding each of these kingdoms however are various disputed territories of marginal development. India is divided into coastal City States with non industrial agricultural communities inland, many of which have to deal with the worst of climate change. At Sea, Japan has been re-united in recent years under the Hokkaido Empire and is engaged in Colonial Activities in Siberia, Alaska and the Philipines. Southeast Asia has become home to a number of commerce oriented city states.
- Sub Saharan Africa: Affected more by bioweapons than by nuclear devastation, Sub Saharan Africa is fairly well developed technologically but is disorganized with industrial city states and minor nations both in coastal and inland areas. African Machinery has become prized around the world. Warfare in this area is more intense, however due to conflicts between city states. The biggest exception to this rule is Madagascar, which has been unified into a single state about a hundred years ago, but has adopted a policy of strict isolationism.
- Oceana: Australia is now under the administration the Tasmania Empire, which has set up colonies around coastal Australia, but leaves the inland to Pre-industrial barbarism. It also has colonies in New Zealand, which often rebel. Hawaii is independent and comparatively peaceful.
How do you do this?
Zor