Starfleet Planetary Combat Primer

                                        
                                        The Enterprise and the Crazy Horse fire upon the Golgothos after tricking it into a crossfire of sensors and weaponry

Overview

Although War as a whole has largely dwindled in the 25th Century, events such as the Romulan, Cardassian and Klingon conflicts have forced Starfleet to continue to field units with specialized training in both land and space. These units, operating under the sub-branch of the revived MACO forces, are the proverbial tip of the spear when it comes to hostile boarding or the more rare planetary invasions. Often considered less glamourous than Starfleet proper, MACO is generally barred from most forms of active recruitment, instead relying on interested citizens asking to join, though these same restrictions are often loosened significantly during times of political turmoil. Further complicating the relationship between the branches, MACO utilizes remarkably few pieces of overlapping technology with their ship-bound Comrades, and much of that differing equipment can be viewed with some measure of distaste or disdain from Captains who bear witness to their effects. Some MACO commanders refer to this as the "Black Sheep" Badge, informing their soldiers that they can't be considered a member of the unit if the Captain hasn't wrinkled his or her nose at them

Another element of the distrust stems from the limited number of weaponry that saw service in both branches of the Federation military. While Hand-Phasers were still very common among the Marines, it was supplemented by a number of other, exceedingly deadly, pieces of equipment. Some Captains have even gone so far as to blame them for the continued existence of the Foehammer Antimatter Projection Mortar prior to the signing of the Khitomer Accords. That said, several different Captains, from the venerable Jonathan Archer and James Tiberius Kirk to the widely respected Admiral Picard, have acknowledged the legitimate need for their presence given missions they were forced to conduct on their voyages. Much of the mutual acrimony also dissolved in the midst of both the Cardassian and later Dominion Wars from 2347-2375

Despite this, however, tensions often remain high on joint vessels, which has resulted in a number of "Troop Transport Auxiliary" vessels being commissioned for the exclusive purpose of transporting their forces. Despite their title, these ships retain a reasonable defensive compliment through their significant compliment of shuttles and aerospace fighters, and frequent escorts from Escort Starships. Their primary purpose, however, was to replace the aging Continent-Class Assault Ships that proliferated during the second Klingon-Federation war. Carrying a significant compliment of Aircraft, Vehicles, Soldiers and Battlearmour, a single vessel is often more than enough to take a world by force if the need arises, which has caused no small amount of consternation among the Politicians of the Federation.

History

As the technology used to wage war has increased, so to has the lethality of that war. Indeed, one of the most significant deterrents to typical invasions is the ease by which a starship with uncontested control of the orbit of a under-developed world could destroy an entire army, particularly one unable to relocate due to the presence of an opposing force. However, the Federation quickly found that other Interstellar States did not share this perspective. Though the Romulan Wars passed without a single casualty as a result of a ground-invasions, the First and Second Klingon War would collectively see casualties in the tens of thousands, not counting the deaths caused by the judicial departments of the Klingon Occupation Forces that chose to linger on captured worlds. Terrifyingly, the casualties of these wars were actually remarkably restrained compared to the rampant bloodshed predicted, with most Historians attributing this to the Klingon distaste for the concept of spilling civilian blood.

The question remained, however, as to the exact purpose of the landed troops when the transporting ship was itself capable of establishing control of the world. Federation strategists were dismayed to find out the rational when the U.S.S. Iron Heart arrived over the world of Bastion, where covertly placed gravimetric tractor arrays had been placed in orbit by the forces on the planet. At the same time as these arrays became active, a number of ground-based Anti-Orbital Artillery -presumably having come online during the weeks after the initial Klingon Invasion- began to fire upon the ship. While this alone might not have been been enough to destroy the Constitution-Class cruiser, the sudden and devastating surprise attack of the I.K.S Kenturios sealed the fate of the the Starfleet Crew. Following this event, Starfleet and the greater Federation were forced to reexamine the nessecity of previously unthinkable ground-wars.

It only became more exigent to increase the survivability of their ground-forces, as a single failure on the part of an orbiting Captain could otherwise mean death to a Federation force, as happened on Triskellion when the Federation attempted to supplement the existing Marine forces with a rather substantial number of crew-men from the U.S.S Rasalhague and Explorer. With each ship being defeated -something that was attributed in part to their reduced crew-, the entire army was obliterated by a Klingon ground offensive augmented by a "gloriously executed series of orbital barrages", to quote then Chancellor Krong. The answer only became apparent, however, when Captain Charles Reed recalled an incident involving a stealthed Romulan mine from his days aboard the NX-Class Enterprise. His vessel, U.S.S. Clear Purpose, was subsequently able to retrieve a number of aging Spatial Torpedos, modifying them to act as an primitive ancestor of the modern Oracle-class of mines in use by the Federation today.

Their first demonstration came soon enough, over Suru IV. There, while acting as part of a diversionary screen for the make-shift landing ships

Assault Ship Classification

Though nearly all Federation vessels are equipped with the necessary systems to transport Troops, either as energy in the redundant transporter grid, or as Active Crew, only a limited number of designs have the breadth of capabilities required to classify as an Assault Ship. For instance, the Continent, Mankin, and Trojan classes.

To classify among these ships, a list of requirements have been established:

• Troop Capacity: Assault Ships require the ability to carry a significant number of soldiers and crew across large distances,