U.S. Military invade The Forest island. (The Forest)

[Archinist]

Okay, so let's just say that the caves are actually normal caves, separated from the oil pool. But a ROB also made the caves aerial-bombing proof, so that although it is possible to destroy them from the inside, dropping bombs or artillery on the caves will not work at all. The ROB also made sure the US military are aware of this fact.

So this would restrict the US to only sending in ground forces supported by light air forces and armoured forces. How well do they do now?

[Jub]

Okay, so let's just say that the caves are actually normal caves, separated from the oil pool. But a ROB also made the caves aerial-bombing proof, so that although it is possible to destroy them from the inside, dropping bombs or artillery on the caves will not work at all. The ROB also made sure the US military are aware of this fact.

So this would restrict the US to only sending in ground forces supported by light air forces and armoured forces. How well do they do now?

The US can still aim weapons into the cave mouths and blow them up from the inside. If that is also magically off the table, they could just go full 'Nam on the island and defoliate the whole thing before sending in AFVS. Given that, apparently, nobody else knows the island exists they should be able to keep this secret.

If we don't allow for either of those ideas, they could use AC-10s, helicopters, and drones to simply shoot at the cannibals whenever they leave the safety of the magic caves. Repeat until their numbers are thinned out enough to make sending in ground forces viable. Of course best case is that the cannibals get too afraid to leave their caves and the problem is dealt with that way.

Still, this is yet more changes because you don't understand why very strong people without guns aren't a match for people with tanks, planes, and guns.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

Or, airstrikes can block the mouths of the caves of magic bullshit. And, the US Armed Forces bring back napalm and flamethrowers. Just ask Japanese WW2 veterans how good their cave-dwelling did against gyrenes with flamethrowers.

Or the government magically teleports armies of half-naked schoolgirls on pink unicorns, who can one shot cannibals with the candy canes they wield as weapons.

[Esquire]

Okay, so let's just say that the caves are actually normal caves, separated from the oil pool. But a ROB also made the caves aerial-bombing proof, so that although it is possible to destroy them from the inside, dropping bombs or artillery on the caves will not work at all. The ROB also made sure the US military are aware of this fact.

So this would restrict the US to only sending in ground forces supported by light air forces and armoured forces. How well do they do now?

Mentally rephrasing to 'heavy bombardment weapons are not available due to logistics snafu.' Again, the existence of the machine gun makes it trivially easy to defeat arbitrarily-large numbers of melee troops, whatever their diet might be. A regiment of 1900-era foot infantry could pull this off; extrapolate to a modern unit with organic armor and heavy machine guns, as well as CAS and naval bombardments available. There is no scenario where any unit larger than an infantry company can be defeated by the cannibals, and they could probably pull it off too using basic defensive tactics.


"Whatever happens, we have got
The Maxim gun, and they have not." - Belloc

[Sea Skimmer]

Okay, so let's just say that the caves are actually normal caves, separated from the oil pool. But a ROB also made the caves aerial-bombing proof, so that although it is possible to destroy them from the inside, dropping bombs or artillery on the caves will not work at all. The ROB also made sure the US military are aware of this fact.

So this would restrict the US to only sending in ground forces supported by light air forces and armoured forces. How well do they do now?

They slaughter the useless cannibals even easier then they would in thick jungle.

The US military destroyed thousands of fortified caves in WW2-Korea-Vietnam, ones defended and occupied by troops with guns and grenades. Melee troops (or any troops really) inside of a cave are not in a strong position, they are inside of a ready made tomb the moment they are forced to abandon the surface. All the attackers have to do is either block up the exits, or pour napalm into a few of them and ignite it. The resulting smoke and fire will not only kill everyone inside, it will reveal other exits said cave system might have via the smoke wafting out of them. Making the US side aware of the cave tactic only makes this comically easier for said troops, as they'll have time to prepare napalm before they arrive.

[Simon_Jester]

Yeah. It is really hard to design an underground bunker complex that can last for any real length of time once the enemy controls the surface access points. It'd basically have to be an airtight self-contained box with its own life support, and even then the enemy can and will just bury you inside unless you have some kind of ridiculous tunneling equipment to dig out from underneath.

Okay, so let's just say that the caves are actually normal caves, separated from the oil pool. But a ROB also made the caves aerial-bombing proof, so that although it is possible to destroy them from the inside, dropping bombs or artillery on the caves will not work at all. The ROB also made sure the US military are aware of this fact.

So this would restrict the US to only sending in ground forces supported by light air forces and armoured forces. How well do they do now?

Destroy the vegetation in an area few kilometers across, with herbicide dropped from airplanes. Send in the Marines (because it's an amphibious landing, and the Marines will get all pouty if they don't get to do it). The Marines set up heavy machine gun nests and other such weapons all over the island. Shoot any monster that crawls up out of a hole. Eventually all the monsters starve down there, or eat each other and then the last survivors starve. The end.

While waiting for the monsters to starve, do what Skimmer said, and pour napalm into the caves and light matches for extra hilarity. This will make the whole stupid mess be over much faster.

[Isolder74]

If Birdyboy doesn't know what a Heavy Machine gun nest entails, let us introduce the Browning M2 .50 Cal Heavy Machine Gun which is a standard US Armed Forces equipment. No taking it off the table as there is no scenario, contrived or otherwise, were they won't have hundreds of the babies. These things have been in use by the US military since just after WWI.




BTW most HUMVEE's mount these babies!

Not to mention at least one or two SAW's and M-16's included in each heavy gun position.
Apaches armed with 20mm machine guns as well.

PS I take your Mutants and raise you an A-10 or in other words a gun that happens to have some wings attached.

[Sea Skimmer]

Yeah. It is really hard to design an underground bunker complex that can last for any real length of time once the enemy controls the surface access points. It'd basically have to be an airtight self-contained box with its own life support, and even then the enemy can and will just bury you inside unless you have some kind of ridiculous tunneling equipment to dig out from underneath.

That's the only way it would make sense, you have tunneling crews going at all times. That way the complex keeps getting bigger, with more space to put spoil in, and you always have trained tunnel crews ready to to dig you new exits. This is how one studied MX 'Deep Underground Base' plan would work, and probably what's going on at those Soviet mountain-city bunker complexes. Even then you really need nuclear power, as well as a serious supply of well water, and a deep underground system of drainage to make this work, Cheyanne mountain for example is reliant on surface drains.

Even then tunneling out requires someone remove the enemy from the surface, so really still only viable as a solution to nuclear-air attacks rather then an invasion. North Korea has some pretty serious anti invasion cave systems, but they tend to consist of large numbers of small caves or short tunnels with multiple exits, not elaborate complexes.

The Swiss fortifications were like that too, some pretty grand linked systems were built into the WW2 period, one hill I know of had two levels of tunnels with three full artillery batteries in casemate style tunnel positions, and the approaches protected by multiple other complexes, but afterwards everything was built as small as possible. They also just have extremely favorable topography for this. Jungles and dense forest are bad places for this idea, you want somewhere that gives you a very clear field of fire close to yourself, but minimal long range fields of fire to the enemy. A Swiss valley deforested by man is awesome for that purpose, southern Okinawa was well suited too but not in nearly so extreme a manner. In a jungle meanwhile it's all but certain that the enemy will be able to approach very closely.

The best place for the super whatever melee men to defend would probably be inside some kind of skyscraper world built into Swiss mountain gorges riddled with communications tunnels.

[hunter5]

Given that the only gun in the game is a flare-gun it is safe to say the cannibals would not do well to even basic firearms.