Preliator Imperial Army

Introduction
The Preliator Imperial Army is a force designed for rapid and devastatin planetary assaults.

Ethos & Training
Like the rest of the Preliator Empire the Imperial Army is focussed on victory and efficiency and cares little for 'niceties'. The Army's primary purpose is planetary assault but it is unusual for the Empire to overly care about preserving the lives of the people on the planet (as they are a logistical burden). The Army usually only makes an assault if the planet is worth capturing intact, otherwise it would just be cleansed from orbit. The Army always carefully considers what is worth keeping on planet and will never waste time preserving unnecessary parts. As the Empire rarely invades a planet with the aim of conquering it the Army uses surgical strikes to seize or destroy what needs to be and then returns to orbit. Nevertheless the Army has a variety of heavy equipment at its disposal should the Empire ever need to engage in protracted campaigns. The Amy's ethos is best summed up by their (unofficial motto) Leave one alive.

The Imperial Army trains constantly in all environments thanks to artificial training grounds onboard the HIMS Vigilant and training planets in the Mu Arae system. As the Army's personnel are Homo Sapiens Novus the training is far more harsh than a normal Terran could survive. The Army usually splits itself in two, with half defending and the other half attacking. Commanders are free to use almost any strategy they wish to confound their opponent. The sides then swap over and re-fought. Troops have frequently commented that most combat operations are easier than training missions. Although the majority of the Army are conscripts the term of service is 50 years, longer than the time a regular Terran could spend time in the military at all.

Composition
The Army categorises its forces by their battlefield role, it should be noted that each has its own dedicated HQ and air cover units.

Light Infantry
The Army's Light Infantry are foot soldiers equipped with Gauss Rifles and specialist equipment (such as anti-tank weaponry). Focussed on stealth and surprise the Light Infantry are also highly mobile in difficult terrain. As such Light Infantry forgo heavy body armour in favour of camo suits. Light Infantry are usually used as vanguard forces.

Mobile Infantry
The backbone of the Army is the Mobile Infantry. Squads of foot soldiers equipped with Gauss Rifles and specialist equipment (such as anti-tank weaponry) with an IV-IX Infantry Fighting Vehicle which significantly boosts firepower and speed. Equipped with heavy body armour. Mobile Infantry are tough and easily capable of fighting at the forefront of the action they are usually used to hold ground captured by Armoured units.

Mechanised Infantry
Mechanised infantry consist of a soldier neuro-synaptically linked into a IM-II mechanised battlesuit. Well armoured and with a lot of firepower for the size Mech Infantry (as they are usually known) are shock troops and are always at the forefront of the action, especially in terrain ill suited to vehicles.

Cavalry
The Cavalry are similarly equipped to the Mobile Infantry, however rather terrestrial vehicles the cavalry uses IH-IV fast airborne medium altitude hover transports (FAMA-HT's) and IG-III fast airborne medium altitude hover gunships (FAMA-HG's). Able to cover an entire battlefield in minutes the Cavalry are used as mobile reserves and to press break points in the enemy's line. Should the Cavalry ever get behind enemy lines they cause havoc attacking supply lines and HQ's with relish.

Armour
The Army's armoured divisions are centred around the IT-VIII main battle tank, although the enemy has always regarded the Mark VIII's bigger brother, the IT-II superheavy command tank as a bigger threat. Regardless the Army use Armour as a spearhead to smash apart enemy formations.

Artillery
The Army's ground based artillery pieces are rarely used as most fire support is delivered by the Vigilant or IB-V bombers, however they are occasionally needed and are brutal instruments designed to vaporise their targets in a single salvo.

Atmospheric Support
The Army uses the IF-X and IB-V complement of the Vigilant to provide fighter support and bomb targets that the Vigilant cannot target directly.

Special Forces
Not much is known about the Imperial Army's special forces. It is known that joining requires a lifetime commitment to the Army (most soldiers will only serve 50 years in the Army). Few outsiders have even seen a Special Forces operative.

History
The Imperial Army's most recent engagements have been in the Empire's attacks on the lawless systems of the Haptic Gate, Milos, Utrank and Ligaris in very successful attempts to eliminate pirate and smuggler activity there. The methods used by the Army were met with shock in the Galactic Senate at the sheer disregard for life shown by the Empire's forces. Most were also grateful that they never engaged the Imperial Army during the Empire's war for Independence.

Current Deployment
HIMS Vigilant, various parts of the Mu Arae system.