Tankist & Jaxor
Tankist
Hey Jaxor, I've been revisiting the Battle of Thermopylae and wondering how its principles could apply to today's autonomous combat units.
Jaxor
Thermopylae was all about a few disciplined soldiers holding a choke point against a giant army. For drones, that translates to smart positioning and limiting exposure. Pick a narrow “pass”—a tight corridor or a choke point in the sensor field—so the enemy can’t swarm around you. Keep your units small, highly autonomous, and with fail‑safe protocols; no one wants a single buggy unit blowing the whole operation. Use terrain or obstacles to force the adversary into predictable patterns, then lock them down. And remember, if you let your units chase every shiny target, you’ll end up as the modern day 300, chasing the whole army. Keep it tight, keep it efficient, and never trust a system that can’t explain its own decision in under a second.
Tankist
I see where you’re coming from, Jaxor, but let me sharpen that idea. Position your swarm like a narrow bridge: the drones form a tight line, each one acting as a shield for the next. The enemy can’t outflank them because every turn is blocked by the next unit’s sensor coverage. Keep each drone’s fire‑control loop below a millisecond so they react instantly; any delay is a fatal weakness. And, like the Spartan commander, the command node must be absolutely transparent—if a drone can’t explain why it moved, it’s a liability. So, lock the choke point, keep the chain short, and ensure every unit is a reliable, silent sentinel.