>>11992802Given the lack of atmosphere, autocannons combined with good targeting systems would be extremely dangerous and it'd be pretty dumb not to completely eliminate any and all defenses to the best of the invading force's abilities before putting humans anywhere close. stationary ground targets could probably easily be taken care of with kinetic projectiles from orbit that fragment into a cloud of super-fast death-shrapnel that spreads out just big enough to eliminate whatever target you want while leaving, say a base you want to capture, intact. There may be some hidden defenses though, so maybe some sui-drones could b8 some cannons into firing and revealing their location through thermal radiation (again, no atmosphere). For a really effective and efficient invasion, really 99% of the physical aspects of the invasion is done before "boots on the ground" by taking out defensive capabilities: whether it's destroying battery banks, reactors, radiators, solar panels storage depots, communication arrays, and defensive installations; or blockading any resupply of ammo/personnel to the base. In my opinion, the invading force (from orbit) will always have an advantage compared to the defending force if the invading force is able to play it smart and not make dumb moves. It's obvious that being on top of the well gives you a lot more options. For the defensive side, you'll most likely just have to get rid of the invading forces first, ie a first strike even at the risk kesslering the orbit or get your forces in orbit to act as a deterrent a la MAD. If the defending force goes underground, I'm not sure how much of this would change. They would certainly have less supporting infrastructure exposed to orbital death projectiles (ex. they might be able to dump waste heat directly into the moon's subsurface and thus forgo radiators on the surface). This is all just specifically on the moon, but I'd love to other ideas on realistic scenarios for these types of operations
