Space Combat

Weird Harold wrote:

roseandheather wrote:Kaplan was my first inkling, but Abby doesn't have to be captain to go on death rides - she just has to be in command.

Yep, if she's not careful she could find herself in charge of boarding a space station or in a pinnace tractored to an old-style LAC.

If Abigail's leading the capture of a station, then being a defender of that station just got added to the list of Worst Jobs in the Galaxy. Right up there with commanding a task force against Honor...

Festival wrote:If Abigail's leading the capture of a station, then being a defender of that station just got added to the list of Worst Jobs in the Galaxy. Right up there with commanding a task force against Honor...

Well, that would depend on whether you're the local police commander or the commander of an OFS Gendarmerie battalion holding Manticoran spacers.

Lord Skimper wrote:Are we going to get back to the excellent space combat. This is what brought me to the series, life on ship and space combat. Seems the last few books just sort of mention space ships and going places. Then everything happens on a planet or is all conversation.

It is getting to be like a melodrama, not sure if RFC is running out of ship ideas, but it seems he could be writing a story about any era in Earth history.

It's like tuning in for a ball game and only getting after the game highlights.

Not sure if serious......

SpaceManSpiff wrote:

Lord Skimper wrote:Are we going to get back to the excellent space combat. This is what brought me to the series, life on ship and space combat. Seems the last few books just sort of mention space ships and going places. Then everything happens on a planet or is all conversation.

It is getting to be like a melodrama, not sure if RFC is running out of ship ideas, but it seems he could be writing a story about any era in Earth history.

It's like tuning in for a ball game and only getting after the game highlights.

Not sure if serious......

I feel your bewilderment, Spiff.

I guess I know what he means.

Still, no matter how lopsided the match-ups, LS seems to be sort of skipping over notice of the largest space battle in galactic history, and the most devastating space infrastructure raid of all time, and about the 5th or 6th largest space battle of all time. That has all occurred in MoH or later.

dreamrider

Not sure if serious...... [/quote]

I feel your bewilderment, Spiff.

I guess I know what he means.

Still, no matter how lopsided the match-ups, LS seems to be sort of skipping over notice of the largest space battle in galactic history, and the most devastating space infrastructure raid of all time, and about the 5th or 6th largest space battle of all time. That has all occurred in MoH or later.

dreamrider[/quote]

I do agree that I wish there had been a bit more detail on the SLN-Grand Fleet battle.
Maybe in a future book? The point of view from the Republican Task force?

David doesn't actually LIKE to write about one-sided slaughter, unless it serves some plot/or reader emotive purpose. In this case, I'm sure he did not particularly WANT his readers wallowing in the details of the senseless immolation that all of their favorite characters were forced by circumstance to commit.

I think he viewed it as having about as much plot and story development value as pressing the button on a blender.

I just took it as Spindle writ large, and let it go.

dreamrider

I'm about to throw a snippy fit, so I'd like to ask forgiveness in advance for stepping on anyone's toes.

Except for the Trekkie sideshow, this entire thread has been one long string of complaints and grumps and groans because there ain't enough dramatic space battles in the later books.

Get over yourselves, people.

I'm 39 years old and I've been reading sci-fi and fantasy eversince I discovered the Belgariad when I was only 9 years old. In all that time I have NEVER read a sci-fi novel or series that is set in such a well-developed, complex and 'real' world (or rather, universe) as the Honorverse series.

Although it is classified as a space opera, I don't think it was ever Mr Weber's intention for the series to revolve around space battles - yes, when they take place, they are immensely enjoyable to read, but they've always been nothing more than a sideshow to the real story, which has ALWAYS been about the characters, their relationships with each others and their experiences.

THAT is what made this series such a huge success among its fans, and which make it so immensely enjoyable to read.

If all the series was about were the space battles, then it would long since have died a quiet death from pure boringness.

Okay, my rant is over now.

hanuman wrote:
If all the series was about were the space battles, then it would long since have died a quiet death from pure boringness.

It would have suffered that fate much faster without the space battles than with more focus on them, and personally I don't really want more space battles than the early or middle books but I definitely want the same amount of effort put into them rather than the quick fights than back to the politics. I don't mind the number of battles we are getting now but most of them are so one sided ATM that its not as much fun as when we seriously wondered if this was the battle where Honor, or which ever major characters were at the battle in question died.

cthia wrote:The reason given was that the show was too 'cerebral.' The episode of "The Cage," in particular.

Reading between the lines...they thought their audience was too dumb to get it!

Um, no, that is not the reason it was canceled--that is the reason it was not bought immediately. The Cage was the pilot episode, which was never aired as part of the series (it was later dismantled and rearranged to form parts of the two-part episode The Menagerie). At the time that NBC rejected Star Trek, The Cage was the only episode written or produced. After the first rejection, Roddenberry made a second pilot episode, Where No Man Has Gone Before, which convinced NBC to change its decision.

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

Roguevictory wrote:

hanuman wrote:
If all the series was about were the space battles, then it would long since have died a quiet death from pure boringness.

It would have suffered that fate much faster without the space battles than with more focus on them, and personally I don't really want more space battles than the early or middle books but I definitely want the same amount of effort put into them rather than the quick fights than back to the politics. I don't mind the number of battles we are getting now but most of them are so one sided ATM that its not as much fun as when we seriously wondered if this was the battle where Honor, or which ever major characters were at the battle in question died.

I suppose it's a good thing that tastes differ, right? I have no problem with action - as you say, without the action the books would be exceedingly boring. But, action can come in many forms, and to be honest, space battles are rarely informative about the subtleties involved in the relationships between individuals, whereas a good brawl such as the Neue Rostock battle really does do that. And that is what I, for one, enjoy tremendously.