Nepleslians can rarely count on outnumbering or overpowering an opponent with brute force alone, lacking the sheer numbers or genetic enhancements of their enemies. Instead Soldiers rely on teamwork, technical skill, and technological systems to win the day.
Though mostly Nepleslian, almost anyone is welcome in Nepleslia’s Military. The average soldier, however, comes from Funky City, a massive city that has been filled with gang warfare for decades. These soldiers see the military as a way out from their impoverished lives, working hard to stay out of the slums and earn a good living.
As a result Nepleslian soldiers are very self-reliant, often leading to more discipline issues (compared to the conformist culture of Yamatai) when orders encroach on the core Nepleslian ideas of Freedom and Individualism.
Nepleslian soldiers also tend to lack the genetic enhancements of other military forces, relying heavily on cybernetics and technology to even the playing field. They also tend to lack the numbers of their opponents unless fighting on nepleslia itself.
In the few years after its creation, Nepleslia’s Military had begun modernizing itself to deal with the challenges it faced. The end result was a military force with strong, aggressive, leaders to maintain discipline in the ranks, and advanced, sturdy, technology to overcome opponents.
Man to man, street fighting is second nature to the average Nepleslian, having grown up with it all their lives. Teamwork is still key here, coordinating sensor and personal information to find targets is of up most importance. Once found, soldiers can often count on powerful weapons to take them out, using hard hitting power armor weaponry to blast targets through walls.
On the ground, Nepleslian forces have access to some of the most survivable power armors and hard hitting ground weapons. Infantry forces are backed up by tanks, attack craft, and orbital support. With a lack of numbers and advanced bioweapons (like Yamatai’s NH series) teamwork is key.
The Nepleslian soldier can always count on the Advanced Command/Combat Executive AI in battle to organize fire support with the press of a button, quickly calling in air, tank, starship, or artillery support as needed to deal with threats.
A combined arms approach to combat, ensures that if the soldier doesn’t have the right tool for the job, someone in the group does and is capable of bringing it on target rapidly.
Generally, Nepleslian forces favor a deep-battle approach to an assault. Rather than favoring a single, decisive defeat, Nepleslian ground tactics employ simultaneous maneuvers by several large formations along the length of a defender's line, to be conducted either parallel to each other or subsequently. The goal of this is to induce uncertainty in the defender as to the location of the main objective, and cause a catastrophic failure in a defensive effort.
On a smaller scale, Nepleslian ground forces either probe enemy lines to look for weaknesses, or send a massive amount of firepower on a single point to achieve a breakthrough. Once a breakthrough is achieved, fresh reserve units are sent through enemy lines to wreak havoc behind their lines, or endeavor to encircle or outflank a defender's main defensive force.
On the defense, this deep-battle approach also applies. Favoring a “bend but don't break” approach, Nepleslian ground forces rely on several flexible lines of defense that hold ground and retreat to hold again, or to set up a hedgehog defense where isolated units hold out in order to tie up forces of an enemy assault that could otherwise be used to continue an enemy assault. The goal of this approach is to suck the momentum out of an offensive, or draw an offensive force into a situation where reserve Nepleslian units can counter-attack.
Formerly, the Nepleslian Star Navy favored a doctrine of Interdiction Dominance, freezing the enemy in place with interdiction fields then destroying them with long range firepower.
In more recent years, the Nepleslian Star Navy has shifted its space doctrine towards that which favors misdirection, maneuver, and overwhelming firepower. In general, the Nepleslian Star Navy is working towards the development of sophisticated Electronic Warfare systems, the goal of which is to either mask an approach or divert the attention of an enemy force, where friendly forces can show up from unexpected vectors and rapidly bring massed firepower upon hostile forces.
However, flexibility is key. Although the Nepleslian Star Navy has several fleets that specialize in grand and large-scale battles to inflict losses through attrition, and other fleets that specialize in maneuver and precise warfare, each fleet should be able to demonstrate a baseline level of competency in either field. Experiments with Officer Exchange Programs, by which Officers are transferred from fleet to fleet, ensure that the Officers of each fleet are at least familiar with each style of warfare, with the option to specialize left up to the individual Officer, who is placed accordingly.
Command is highly decentralized in Nepleslian space doctrine, with mission-type tactics employed. Clear missions are issued from higher-ups to subordinates, and the goals of each mission and time frame are stressed. However, the execution of each mission in terms of when to take the initiative and methods to achieve the mission goals are left up to each individual Admiral in charge of each Fleet, and extends all the way down to Captains of individual ships.
As a result, officers of the Nepleslian Star Navy are increasingly being trained to show high levels of initiative and flexibility. Coupled with the characteristic of Star Military of the Democratic Imperium of Nepleslia Officers to “lead from the front,” Officers of the Nepleslian Star Navy are expected to be able to observe a changing battlefield environment and thus make needed adjustments to a campaign, while enjoying a minimum level of interference from higher-ups.