Orbital Bombardment

An Orbital Bombardment is a tactic which an opposing force would attack a planet with the weaponry of a Warship. Although their are different reasons for why this occurs, these actions are seen as cowardly or out of desperation. Many commanders have opted for Orbital Bombardment under various scenarios when a battle was going south or to teach the populace a lesson interference.

Bombardment of Turtle Bay

Clan Smoke Jaguar was always known for the low tolerance and brutality they have shown their captors, treating them as nothing more than a lesser beings. This attitude would backfire on them during Operation Revival. In 3050, as Jaguar forces captured the Draconis Combine planet of Turtle Bay, warriors were unaware that they captured Hohiro Kurita, heir of the Combine and son of Theodore Kurita. Upon learning this news, the Jaguars were furious and set out to recapture him after the prison break. However, the Jaguars efforts would be hampered from both the civilian population and Yakuza connections supplying the populace. Out of retribution, the Smoke Jaguar Commander would order all Jaguar warriors to evacuate from the planet to begin orbital bombardment. Jaguar warships would arrive to the planet to fire upon the world with fury, killing off the populace until there was nothing left. This action shocked both the Clans and the Inner Sphere as a whole. For the Inner Sphere, the Draconis Combine would swear vengeance upon the Jaguars for their actions, while the Clans would condemn the Jaguars with most hardlined Crusaders seeing this as cowardly and giving Ulric Kerensky an opportunity to weaken the Invading Clans by declaring that no Naval Assets will be used for the duration of the invasion. The Smoke Jaguars agreed to this term to save what little honor they had left.

The Jihad

In 3067, the Second Star League disbanded from a vote of no-confidence. Furious, the Word of Blake attempted to strong-arm the former Fed-Com nations of the Lyran Alliance and Federated Suns to rejoin the Star League or they would have their capital worlds of Tharkad and New Avalon respectively, to be fired on. When both leaders refused, the Blakists made good on their promise and bombarded both planets and their cities. The Blakists would due this to every world attacking every nation and clan starting the Jihad. The Word of Blake would continue to use this tactic within nuclear strikes on various worlds until their defeat in 3081 by the Republic of the Sphere.

Purging of Galedon

On the Draconis Combine world of Galedon V the planet was hit with a virus that was spreading among it's population. The planet and its population was quarantined so it would not spread to other world. Unfortunately Clan Snow Raven would get this plague after their war with the Combine. During a Trial of Possession against House Kurita they would defeat their opponents and gain their civilians as isorla. Unknown to them, the Ravens had also brought the virus aboard their vessels as well, spreading to Warships and even their own warrior caste. The situation got so worse, that in order to keep the virus from spreading throughout their entire Touman, the Snow Ravens had no choice but to declare a Trial of Annihilation against their own clan. This made it hard for the Snow Raven Fleet as most of their warriors were unwilling to accept an easy death. The infected warriors were destroyed as a result and the Ravens would bombard Galedon V further to prevent the infection from spreading.

Wars of Reaving

In the Wars of Reaving, Orbital Bombardments would become commonplace among Clan Space. When Steel Viper Khan Brett Andrew rose to the power of ilKhan, his first order was to reave tainted bloodlines that were associate with the Clans who made contact with the Inner Sphere. The planets of the Home Clans would also fall victim to the Bombardments as well. Civilian caste who took up arms against the clan attackers would also suffer the fate of orbital bombardment. Whether by design or inadvertently, it did destroy bloodnames that were that were not tainted. When the Wars of Reaving ended Clan Blood Spirit would share the same fate by their Star Adder enemies.