What Invasion and Occupation Plan Would the Unites States Military use to Fully Take Over Roshar?

[TheFlatScadrian]

I'm going to answer some things in a more essay style rather than a direct "Quote / Response" format to make things a little easier to read.

Here we go.

Alright, so let's start with the whole setup and everything about it:

Yes. I gave the Unites States advantages here. That's because I wanted to see what would happen if they had a fighting chance against Roshar; because I wanted to analyse a surprise invasion against the Rosharan continent, to not only see what tactics the most advanced military on Earth could do, but also how the Rosharans would defend against an unknown and foreign force. That was why I made this thread. 

So the U.S. has enough of Roshar's common knowledge to retrofit their vehicles and make plans, and one-way single-point teleportation, and... that's about it. 

In an open conflict, in which both sides have a perfect understanding of each other and access to each other's resources? Who knows? Honestly, if we give both sides full everything (Without nukes or Shards) then we could debate endlessly about anything with any outcome. But that's been gone over before.

I made this thread to specifically go over a fun idea I had for a strategic invasion, and created a series of both limitations and some liberties to make it happen. If we're going to talk about this, we talk about it my way, because I made the thread. I'm not going to add or remove restrictions at whim, so long as you agree to engage at the standard I initially placed.

Thank you.

Now then! With that out of the way, let's get on to the fun stuff.

Alright. So Highstorms are huge. They're powerful, fast, and full of debris and detritus that destroy nearly anything in them.

At least, if you're in the storm.

As has been shown countless times through the entire series, the way that most ships, caravans, towns and cities deal with High storms is just by... hiding. And building sloped structures. Roshar has countless natural buffers and windbreaks, everything from mountains to holes in the ground and even large boulders. If you want to protect a large city on Roshar, you put it behind the mountains.

What you seem to think is that while the Rosharans apparently just take the weather, the Americans can't.

But that's not true. Caravans in the Frostlands, ships on the coast, villages in the Reshi Sea --- none of them just take the weather head-on. They get in shelters and hide inside tough, short, sloped structures. 

And you say that the Americans just can't? Or won't? Remember, they know what is common knowledge of Roshar, even before the first teleport. They'll have plans in place.

They'll have portable windblades and designs for short, dugout style buildings. If soulcasted stone can withstand a Highstorm, concrete almost certainly can. Small, portable radio towers can be taken down in minutes. Machine gun nests are concrete cubes on mountain sides. Vehicles can be parked in caverns dug into cliffs. Smaller airplanes can be strapped down, ratcheted into the rock behind HESCO barriers and mountains and covered in tarps. Even the largest vehicle in the force, the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford, can be anchored in place behind a large enough rock face on the coast with the planes below deck. And on Roshar, craggy as it is, those are not that hard to find.

And all of that can be done with simple Earth tech, and already is done with simple Earth tech. It's not going to be that hard to train people. 

Now then. Lightweaving.

Let's assume that a Lightweaver is attempting to hide a small Radiant strike team on their approach to a military base. As infrared and radar scan the surrounding areas, then the Lightweavers have a problem.

Because the U.S. doesn't understand how the bonds or the spren or the Oathgates actually function. All they can see is the outcome of those things' use.

Roshar has a similar problem. They don't know that communications use radiowaves, or that RADAR uses microwaves, or that IR Imaging uses infrared. And think of the outcomes they see: instant audio communication and instant detection. They're not going to even realize that radiowaves or microwaves or infrared even exists, much less how to manipulate it.

I don't want to continue harping on about my own theories when it comes to Lightweaving, so we'll go by your standard. If a Lightweaver attempts to generate an illusion, then they will be seen by RADAR, they will be seen by LiDAR, they will be seen by Infrared, because they don't know to manipulate those forms of light around them or through them or what have you.

There's also the interesting matter that most Rosharans are taller than most Earth males (5'8" average), especially the Alethi, who are on average 6-foot-plus. Shallan, who is considered short on Roshar, is ~6-foot-even. This means that, if a U.S. soldier is suspicious of another American, they could simply fire a shot, or just throw a punch, directly over that person's head. This could potentially kill a Lightweaver instantly if they're an imposter, but would let the American live if they aren't. It's not going to work every time, but it will a lot of the time, meaning that you can hardly use Lightweavers for the one thing they're best at.

And even after all that, it's actually very hard for Lightweaver to be on the move and still remain invisible, so there's that.

And another thing. Again, Oathgates are not that hard to figure out even if they don't know how exactly they work. The U.S. might never even learn about Shadesmar and still capture them all anyway.

Alright. One more thing.

Yes, Urithiru would be cooked. You said the walls weren't going to be damaged by a blast like that, and now you're saying they can be, and that'll prevent the spread. Urithiru is so strong it'd just launch the heat down all the corridors, and although yes, there is the big window, 7/8ths of everything around the blast is corridor, so there aren't actually going to be walls for force to bounce off and out the window.

Urithiru is toast.

Edited December 12, 2025 by TheFlatScadrian

[therunner he/him]

15 hours ago, TheFlatScadrian said:

And you say that the Americans just can't? Or won't? Remember, they know what is common knowledge of Roshar, even before the first teleport. They'll have plans in place.

You know what US air force does to prepare for hurricane, as the default? They flee, they move planes elsewhere. Highstorm is much more powerful than any Hurricane on Earth.

So please, do explain how they will have plans in place, when the best plan they have here is to move away.

This page might be of interest on how US military approaches hurricanes on Earth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HURCON

As you can see, preparations start 4 days before hurricane hits, on Roshar, hurricane hits roughly every 5-6 days, alternating between CAT 3 and something like CAT 15 (if we extrapolate hurricane scale beyond CAT 5), so US forces would have only 1-2 days where they are not in preparatory stages, and during that time they also have to clean up after storm, and run necessary repairs.

15 hours ago, TheFlatScadrian said:

Now then. Lightweaving.

Let's assume that a Lightweaver is attempting to hide a small Radiant strike team on their approach to a military base. As infrared and radar scan the surrounding areas, then the Lightweavers have a problem.

Except of course infrared and radar are light, i.e. in-scope of Lightweavers to manipulate and hide from.

Quote

Roshar has a similar problem. They don't know that communications use radiowaves, or that RADAR uses microwaves, or that IR Imaging uses infrared. And think of the outcomes they see: instant audio communication and instant detection. They're not going to even realize that radiowaves or microwaves or infrared even exists, much less how to manipulate it.

If you are just going to assume US magically knows everything relevant about Roshar, and has time and resource to retrofit everything perfectly, while Roshar know nothing, even things they can easily learn via spying through Cryptics, I don't think this discussion has any point.

Quote

And even after all that, it's actually very hard for Lightweaver to be on the move and still remain invisible, so there's that.

Citation needed.

Quote

And another thing. Again, Oathgates are not that hard to figure out even if they don't know how exactly they work. The U.S. might never even learn about Shadesmar and still capture them all anyway.

Really?

One, US does not have amount of personal to capture all Oathgates, not by a long shot.

Two, Rosharan's didn't realize what Oathgates where for millenia, and just used them as plazas, so how will US know the large plazas are strategically important?

Quote

Yes, Urithiru would be cooked. You said the walls weren't going to be damaged by a blast like that, and now you're saying they can be, and that'll prevent the spread. Urithiru is so strong it'd just launch the heat down all the corridors, and although yes, there is the big window, 7/8ths of everything around the blast is corridor, so there aren't actually going to be walls for force to bounce off and out the window.

No, I was clear from begging that some walls would be damaged, those nearest to blast. To depth of 1-2 meters at best.

And no, the Window is the entire length of the tube it would provide sizable vent outside.

And no 7/8 around is not corridor, there are walls with lifts in them, and doors to get out of the lifts.

So yes, the blast will bounce of, and the window will shatter and most of the force of explosion would vent outside.

Quote

The center column of Urithiru is one solid window, also facing the Origin. This column has a footprint the size of a ballroom and is full of dozens of lifts, which look like the exterior balconies and crawl up and down vertical channels in the walls using Stormlight.

At least read up on the situation before you start making claims like this.
 

15 hours ago, TheFlatScadrian said:

I made this thread to specifically go over a fun idea I had for a strategic invasion, and created a series of both limitations and some liberties to make it happen. If we're going to talk about this, we talk about it my way, because I made the thread. I'm not going to add or remove restrictions at whim, so long as you agree to engage at the standard I initially placed.

Giving one side unattackable base, information on the opponent (with no justification how they learned that), magically updated technology to avoid any local issues, and ignoring how the magic of one side actually acts does not seem reasonable to me.

As such, I am out of the discussion, because I don't see the 'liberties' reasonable in any way shape or form.

 

Edited December 13, 2025 by therunner

[Detective Avalon]

Just wanted to ask whether we can include Unmade and Odium? I figured that it would be really interesting to see how the Unmade will act. Also, Odium and Cultivation, since this seems to be in RoW. Also, what about Nightblood?

Unmade: 

Neragoul: Causes bloodlust?

Ashertmarn: Cause excess gluttony

Chomarish (dont know how to speel the name): no clue

Moelach: Visions?

Re-Shepir: Attack

Sja-Anat: Maybe attack?

Dai-Goanrthis: Very likely attack

Yel-ignar: Attack likely

Bo Ado Mishram: No clue

Odium: Everstorm and try to deal with the US

Culitvation: Ignore? 

Edited December 21, 2025 by Detective Avalon

[Schizoposting]

I think that people overestimate the U.S. military; remember, it failed to defeat the Chinese during the Korean war, despite being vastly technologically superior, and it hasn't won any major armed conflict in the last 80 years (with the possible exception of the Gulf War). Any U.S. invasion of Roshar could quickly turn an Iraq style quagmire, except on vastly greater scale, especially once the Fused and Radiant Soulcasters reverse engineer American weaponry. Regardless, conquering an entire continent would be such a herculean task that there would be little point in doing so. Instead, the optimal strategy for the U.S. would be to instead use gunboat diplomacy to force favorable trade concessions, and to then gain economic hegemony through our world's vastly more powerful economy. Essentially, the U.S. should use the same strategy that European colonialism used to subjugate Qing China.

[Nitpicking]

5 hours ago, Detective Avalon said:

Just wanted to ask whether we can include Unmade and Odium? I figured that it would be really interesting to see how the Unmade will act. Also, Odium and Cultivation, since this seems to be in RoW. Also, what about Nightblood?

If you include the Unmade you kind of need to include the three Bondsmith spren: the Stormfather, the Nightwatcher, and (already mentioned) the Sibling. I put the Stormfather above most (all but one) of the Unmade. Only Ba-Ado-Mishram can (like the three Bondsmith spren) grant Light.

[Detective Avalon]

If the US uses nukes, do you guys think Odium or Cultivation will take that lying down, or do you think they will interfere? Like they would start personally dealing with them, like Odium parking the Everstorm over them or personally attacking them. Or can he even do that last thing? 

Also, what is the goal of the US? Do they want resources or do they just want to attack, cause the last one is kinda boring. Also, if the US takes enough losses, do you guys think they might just give up or redouble their efforts?

For the language barrier, couldn't they bargain with the Nightwatcher? Though on second thought that one might be pretty stupid to do.

 

[Schizoposting]

1 hour ago, Detective Avalon said:

If the US uses nukes, do you guys think Odium or Cultivation will take that lying down, or do you think they will interfere? Like they would start personally dealing with them, like Odium parking the Everstorm over them or personally attacking them. Or can he even do that last thing? 

They could use their shardic powers to just destroy the nukes before they detonate, so long as the other shards don't interfere.

1 hour ago, Detective Avalon said:

Also, what is the goal of the US? Do they want resources or do they just want to attack, cause the last one is kinda boring. Also, if the US takes enough losses, do you guys think they might just give up or redouble their efforts?

"War is the continuation of politics with other means", any U.S. military action would serve some political purpose; you can decide for yourself what that would be.

1 hour ago, Detective Avalon said:

For the language barrier, couldn't they bargain with the Nightwatcher? Though on second thought that one might be pretty stupid to do.

The language barrier was not a particularly big problem for European colonialism. With today's technology and knowledge of linguistics, it would be even easier to overcome. 

[Nitpicking]

I already said this, but the US forces (if in a historical period where competently led) would find a local faction to support, not just try to defeat everyone. Singers vs. Ashynians? Conquered and dominated humans vs. Alethi militarists? Militarists as useful puppets to rule everyone else?

[Detective Avalon]

So what faction would the US support?

[Nitpicking]

I gave three possibilities in the previous message?

[Frustration]

The largest problems for a US invasion are

1. the complete lack of satellites. These are used in everything from communication to missile guidance. That's all gone

2. Lower atmospheric pressure and higher oxygen content. While some highly advanced engines can moderate the amount of oxygen inside they are designed for earth-like atmospheres. On Roshar they have to worry about damaging or destroying the engine with the huge increase in power, and completely relearn how to fly as the lower gravity and air pressure make acceleration much faster.

3. Highstorms, this is probably the largest hurdle as they shape the entire planet. Now I think that the carrier support group could survive a highstorm at sea as the ghostship in Dawnshard had survived multiple. But no aircraft on the ship or in the air would make it through. And it would definitely throw the carrier group into disarray. Only any submersibles or aircraft that could get above the storm would escape untouched.

4. A single Windrunner of the fourth ideal could take out all non submersible vessels in a single day by just doing a fly by with a shardblade. At that point the war is basically over.

 

I think an aircraft carrier group could take out any other planet, Roshar is just built different.

[NameIess]

4 hours ago, Frustration said:

4. A single Windrunner of the fourth ideal could take out all non submersible vessels in a single day by just doing a fly by with a shardblade. At that point the war is basically over.

I agree with all the other points you brought up, but this one does not seem at all accurate. How exactly could the Windrunner do this? Shardplate is not going to hold up to modern anti-aircraft weapons for long, not even living Shardplate.

[Frustration]

1 hour ago, NameIess said:

I agree with all the other points you brought up, but this one does not seem at all accurate. How exactly could the Windrunner do this? Shardplate is not going to hold up to modern anti-aircraft weapons for long, not even living Shardplate.

Anti-aircraft guns can only point so low. If the windrunner can get inside that range they're untouchable.

Simply dropping into the water and having your spren guide works just fine.

[Nitpicking]

13 hours ago, Frustration said:

Simply dropping into the water and having your spren guide works just fine.

Oh, look, that Radiant was just blown to tiny fragments by a high-speed torpedo! (How fast do you think a Radiant can move underwater using Lashings?)

Note that naval vessels have survived literally being ground zero for a nuclear warhead.

[Frustration]

20 minutes ago, Nitpicking said:

Oh, look, that Radiant was just blown to tiny fragments by a high-speed torpedo! (How fast do you think a Radiant can move underwater using Lashings?)

Moving slower would be advantageous as it would make them harder to find on Radar. But if speed is needed they can get as fast as they need to, and if it really becomes an issue they can take an Edgedanncer with them.

 

Additionally torpedoes track their targets based off the wake patterns they make while moving, so unless the torpedo can somehow cross the wake the windrunner leaves while moving in a straight line towards their target, the torpedo is basically useless.

36 minutes ago, Nitpicking said:

Note that naval vessels have survived literally being ground zero for a nuclear warhead.

Yes but that doesn't help them survive when a seven foot deep hole appears along the ships entire length. And it can be repeated again as many times as necessary.

[Nitpicking]

1 hour ago, Frustration said:

Moving slower would be advantageous as it would make them harder to find on Radar. But if speed is needed they can get as fast as they need to, and if it really becomes an issue they can take an Edgedanncer with them.

No, no, I said "underwater". Radar does not work through water.

1 hour ago, Frustration said:

Additionally torpedoes track their targets based off the wake patterns they make while moving, so unless the torpedo can somehow cross the wake the windrunner leaves while moving in a straight line towards their target, the torpedo is basically useless.

That hasn't been true for decades. They use sonar, unless they're being wire-guided from the vessel that launched them.

1 hour ago, Frustration said:

Yes but that doesn't help them survive when a seven foot deep hole appears along the ships entire length. And it can be repeated again as many times as necessary.

When I talked about ground zero, I was commenting on surviving the Highstorm.

[Frustration]

1 hour ago, Nitpicking said:

No, no, I said "underwater". Radar does not work through water.

Correct, sorry.

Yes, Radar does work just fine.

1 hour ago, Nitpicking said:

That hasn't been true for decades. They use sonar, unless they're being wire-guided from the vessel that launched them.

Interesting I didn't know that.

But looking into it there are two types, passive sonar and active sonar.

Passive sonar is looking for unique sounds generated by the target itself, which will not work as the only sound will be that of the radiant moving through the water, no engine noises or anything like that, which will make them very hard to find.

Active sonar would work, but Windrunners are much more maneuverable in water than torpedoes are, able to pull 90 degree turns and other feats that torpedoes cannot match.

1 hour ago, Nitpicking said:

When I talked about ground zero, I was commenting on surviving the Highstorm.

Gotcha

[TheFlatScadrian]

I have (finally) returned.

I'd like to clarify that there are no nukes, and no shards, as of the original post, but it would be interesting to see.

As for Shardplate: Yes, shardplate is difficult to break... by Rosharan standards. To a modern firearm? Who really knows? Unless we get kinetic impact ratings, there's no way to tell. But it is believable that a series of sustained gunfire (gunfire guided with a hyper-precise radar-locking system) would shred it in seconds (Due to dead-plate breaking under Kaladin falling on it slightly faster than terminal velocity). Seeing as modern turrets can shoot down missiles moving twice the speed of sound, I don't think a Shardbearer would be able to do much (Especially as modern anti-air 20mm cartridges tend to either be explosive, or aluminum-capped).

Could a Windrunner slice and dice a tank? Yes, but only if they know where the tank is, and if it's shooting from 3 miles away beyond a hill they really don't. It's not like they can see the rounds mid-flight; they're too fast. Best shot is Shadesmar, and that's only if they can find the bead and (without Jasnah; Edgedancers do have an advantage but Jasnah can't be everywhere at once) convince it to change itself into something else. Which it probably won't, because it's perceived by Rosharans as malevolent and Americans as loyal and trusty.

As has always been my argument, as powerful and capable as Radiants and Fused are, they can't survive, say, a 10-ton thermobaric weapon. Urithiru's roof can't survive a bunker-buster. A Lightweaver won't realize Infrared even exists.

I mean, even a 5.56x45mm (M4 Carbine) could stop Lezian, so long as it's a headshot.

~~~

As for the military history side of things (Long, and tangential, and not super important, so you need not bother):

Spoiler

Not to get into the weeds too much, but the United States has won nearly every battle it has waged in the past two-hundred-and-fifty years, it just always loses the war. The problem is not that the military in-and-of-itself fails in fighting, because it almost never does; it's that the government doesn't know why it sent the military to war in the first place, and, once public opinion sours, just decides to leave.

The military pushed the ROK all the way back to the Chinese border from a single toehold in Inchon in just two weeks, only loosing ground because China, terrified, threw everyone it possibly could into the war, and only stopped because MacArthur defied Truman; the military kept the VC out of South Vietnam for over twenty years, and lost almost no battles, only leaving because Nixon ran a campaign on peace for Vietnam; the military kicked the Iraqi Republican Army out of Kuwait in six weeks, and then did it again twenty years later to the entirety of Iraq in the same time span, maintaining near total control of Iraq for a decade until people got bored of it; Afghanistan was liberated from 90% Talibani control to 0% Talibani control in less than a month and then held fast for twenty years, only ending because Biden decided to get out and get out quick.

I don't mean to post blocks of text that aren't entirely relevant, but I just figured I'd clarify for the people who keep using these wars as examples of a military failure. As a guy with a nominal interest in both Political and Military History, it's slightly frustrating when people use examples they don't fully understand to prove their views. The U.S. military never lost a war, but the politicians did. Not to say they weren't always justified in doing so, but the fact remains, that the U.S. military is still more competent and capable than really any other military on Earth (Outside of maybe UN or NATO forces combined, but that's not the question).

 

[Schizoposting]

2 hours ago, TheFlatScadrian said:

Not to get into the weeds too much, but the United States has won nearly every battle it has waged in the past two-hundred-and-fifty years, it just always loses the war. The problem is not that the military in-and-of-itself fails in fighting, because it almost never does; it's that the government doesn't know why it sent the military to war in the first place, and, once public opinion sours, just decides to leave.

The military pushed the ROK all the way back to the Chinese border from a single toehold in Inchon in just two weeks, only loosing ground because China, terrified, threw everyone it possibly could into the war, and only stopped because MacArthur defied Truman; the military kept the VC out of South Vietnam for over twenty years, and lost almost no battles, only leaving because Nixon ran a campaign on peace for Vietnam; the military kicked the Iraqi Republican Army out of Kuwait in six weeks, and then did it again twenty years later to the entirety of Iraq in the same time span, maintaining near total control of Iraq for a decade until people got bored of it; Afghanistan was liberated from 90% Talibani control to 0% Talibani control in less than a month and then held fast for twenty years, only ending because Biden decided to get out and get out quick.

I don't mean to post blocks of text that aren't entirely relevant, but I just figured I'd clarify for the people who keep using these wars as examples of a military failure. As a guy with a nominal interest in both Political and Military History, it's slightly frustrating when people use examples they don't fully understand to prove their views. The U.S. military never lost a war, but the politicians did. Not to say they weren't always justified in doing so, but the fact remains, that the U.S. military is still more competent and capable than really any other military on Earth (Outside of maybe UN or NATO forces combined, but that's not the question).

I'm sorry, but it seems like you fundamentally don't understand what war is, or why it's fought—war is the continuation of politics by other means. In other words, you cannot abstract politics from war, because war is politics. 

It's certainly true that the U.S. only lost in Vietnam or Afghanistan because it lost the will to fight on, but political will is a vital resource in war, no different from manpower or armament. The Taliban may have lost every battle until the end, but they managed to accomplish their political objectives, so they still won.

That's why only considering the relative strengths of the U.S. and Rosharan militaries is missing the point; certainly, if the U.S. were to commit all of its resources to conquering and pacifying Roshar, it would win, but this would be a complete political disaster, that would lead large scale domestic instability, a worldwide loss of influence and military power, for little to no benefit. So actually, in the grand scheme of things, the U.S. would lose.   

[Frustration]

4 hours ago, TheFlatScadrian said:

I have (finally) returned.

I'd like to clarify that there are no nukes, and no shards, as of the original post, but it would be interesting to see.

As for Shardplate: Yes, shardplate is difficult to break... by Rosharan standards. To a modern firearm? Who really knows? Unless we get kinetic impact ratings, there's no way to tell. But it is believable that a series of sustained gunfire (gunfire guided with a hyper-precise radar-locking system) would shred it in seconds (Due to dead-plate breaking under Kaladin falling on it slightly faster than terminal velocity). Seeing as modern turrets can shoot down missiles moving twice the speed of sound, I don't think a Shardbearer would be able to do much (Especially as modern anti-air 20mm cartridges tend to either be explosive, or aluminum-capped).

Could a Windrunner slice and dice a tank? Yes, but only if they know where the tank is, and if it's shooting from 3 miles away beyond a hill they really don't. It's not like they can see the rounds mid-flight; they're too fast. Best shot is Shadesmar, and that's only if they can find the bead and (without Jasnah; Edgedancers do have an advantage but Jasnah can't be everywhere at once) convince it to change itself into something else. Which it probably won't, because it's perceived by Rosharans as malevolent and Americans as loyal and trusty.

As has always been my argument, as powerful and capable as Radiants and Fused are, they can't survive, say, a 10-ton thermobaric weapon. Urithiru's roof can't survive a bunker-buster. A Lightweaver won't realize Infrared even exists.

I mean, even a 5.56x45mm (M4 Carbine) could stop Lezian, so long as it's a headshot.

~~~

As for the military history side of things (Long, and tangential, and not super important, so you need not bother):

  Hide contents

Not to get into the weeds too much, but the United States has won nearly every battle it has waged in the past two-hundred-and-fifty years, it just always loses the war. The problem is not that the military in-and-of-itself fails in fighting, because it almost never does; it's that the government doesn't know why it sent the military to war in the first place, and, once public opinion sours, just decides to leave.

The military pushed the ROK all the way back to the Chinese border from a single toehold in Inchon in just two weeks, only loosing ground because China, terrified, threw everyone it possibly could into the war, and only stopped because MacArthur defied Truman; the military kept the VC out of South Vietnam for over twenty years, and lost almost no battles, only leaving because Nixon ran a campaign on peace for Vietnam; the military kicked the Iraqi Republican Army out of Kuwait in six weeks, and then did it again twenty years later to the entirety of Iraq in the same time span, maintaining near total control of Iraq for a decade until people got bored of it; Afghanistan was liberated from 90% Talibani control to 0% Talibani control in less than a month and then held fast for twenty years, only ending because Biden decided to get out and get out quick.

I don't mean to post blocks of text that aren't entirely relevant, but I just figured I'd clarify for the people who keep using these wars as examples of a military failure. As a guy with a nominal interest in both Political and Military History, it's slightly frustrating when people use examples they don't fully understand to prove their views. The U.S. military never lost a war, but the politicians did. Not to say they weren't always justified in doing so, but the fact remains, that the U.S. military is still more competent and capable than really any other military on Earth (Outside of maybe UN or NATO forces combined, but that's not the question).

 

A fair analysis, though I have to say: forget the UN, the US Military could take on the entire world at once and still win, it's not close.

 

However we aren't talking about the entire US military as I understand it, just a single carrier group, which again undefeated but much much easier to deal with.

And actually, as I'm thinking about this I think I can come up with a few other tricks that Roshar could use, mostly involving Elsecallers.

 

1. Elsegate Radiants to right on top of strategic points, or ships and let them out inside the US battle lines.

2. Go to the CR and soulcast the ships from that side. Which is honestly a win condition that you can't match.

[Immortal Platypus]

5 hours ago, TheFlatScadrian said:

, but only if they know where the tank is,

for the record, spren (at least Honorspren, probably others too) seem to be really good at finding things, see Syl finding milkweed as an example

[TheFlatScadrian]

So in the original post, it was the entire U.S. military invading Roshar for really no reason. Politics aren't a consideration; in fact, the main point being that it's really more about tactics, logistics, and warfare than stuff like politics or public opinion. It's pretty much just a mono-maniacal invasion.

If we're taking this in a more literal, realistic scenario, like 'The Earth Discovers Roshar' I doubt that any major global power would attempt to conquer Roshar. They'd probably all just ally with major Rosharan countries like Alethkar and Jah Keved, and it'd become a political chess board with almost no real "Earth v. Roshar" conflict (Funding research and discovery, supporting allied Rosharan countries, backing preferred groups in civil wars, etc.).

But this is really more a "Is it possible" than a "Would this actually happen". And in that framework, I think the U.S. wins, because of range, power, and precision.