stewart wrote:Zakharra wrote:
I agree with kzt. Those systems can request all they want, but the GA literally cannot afford to disperse their firepower that way. The saying of 'he who tries to protect everything, protects nothing' comes to mind. It would take the combined fleets of the SEM, RH and Grayson just to cover a fraction of the systems that would want/need protection. And at a time when those nations need their fleets to be fairly concentrated for defensive/offensive operations. To do what you suggest would be ceding the advantage to the SLN which could do significant damage (especially since there is no where -near- enough missile pods and missiles or Apollo equipped ships to be of any use. Those systems are going to be sol, especially when pirates start popping up.
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As noted elsewhere, and in accordance with the "Harrington Doctrine" of liberating Sollie sectors into independent, GA-friendly star-nations, turning over captured Sollie ships to those new independent sectors would give them a credible anti-piracy / self-defense force.
Do not mis-understand me -- the Sollie Wallers and BC's are effective scrap metal or suitable ONLY as a temporary (small) space station.
The newer Sollie CA's -- specifically their Gladiator Class are about equivalent to RMN Starknights. They pose no threat to newer RMN / GNS / RN CA's (or even Roland DD's or Avalon CL's) but will be effective against pirates or most rogue privateers, likely even older x-State Sec MARS class.
We don't have enough info on capabilities of Sollie CL's and DD's, but I suspect they would be effective pirate-killers for system security.
And those Sollie Wallers and BC's? they could lead to a very good local industry of metal / scrap reclamation.
As the liberated sectors demonstrate their worth (Meyers System), if they have reasonably modern space facilities or shipyards, they "COULD" start making older Manty designs under license.
In our world, Italy and Netherlands were building F-104's long after Lockheed stopped producing them in the USA.
Just a few thoughts to stir the pot.
-- Stewart[/quote]
That's if the systems are willing to cooperate. I am sure that many on the Verge will be willing to do so. I count much of the Verge as being lost to the SL because of abusive and outright exploitative policies by OFS and the transstellars, but I remember in one of the books when the last wormhole was discovered that it was mentioned that even though the outer systems were exploited, after about a century, they became like much of the rest of the SL systems in relative wealth and power and influence as their tech levels improve and they become productive SL citizens and get representation. So the Core, Shell and Inner/outer Protectorate systems wouldn't necessarily be willing to work with the SEM/GA as people seem to think they are.
That aside, the systems the captured SLN ships are dropped off in have to have enough people with the right skills to man and use them effectively. Otherwise they would be able to be blown out of space by probably a FF destroyer that does have a skilled crew.
So far only the Talbott Quadrant will be close to building anything close to Manty warships (unless they ones from are before the miniaturization tech started taking off) because it requires technological abilities that most of human settled space isn't capable of reproducing yet. As far as I know, only the SEM, Grayson, Beowulf and the Andermani (and real soon the RH) have the miniaturization tech, let alone the micro fusion and fission power plants, the FTL and several other goodies that require an advanced industrial base and trained workforce to manufacture. For most of the Verge, even prewar Manty ships are likely too advanced for them to make.
