MA? abreviations?

Jonathan_S wrote:It just occurred to me that, at the moment, those small MA members do have something that very well could attrack MAlign attenting (if not SLN attention).

They've got system defense installations with at least 2nd tier Manticoran technology. They probaby don't have Mycroft, Apollo equipped forts, or even Mk23E's in their pods -- but they do have LAC bases with Shrikes and Ferrets (and possibly Katanas) [all with improved compensators -- against not necessarily top of the line; but way better than anyone else is likely to have], they do have system defense pods full of Mk23 MDMs.
If the MAlign thought there was any chance of a tech raid smash and grab... Those are some damned tempting targets.

SWM wrote:You didn't answer my question. What can the smaller systems in the Manticoran Alliance CONTRIBUTE?

If they are only liabilities, places that Manticore will be forced to protect, and can't contribute anything significant to offset being liabilities, why should they join the Grand Alliance? If they are a net loss to the Alliance, the Alliance is better off without them. So, what can they contribute?

SWM wrote:

saber964 wrote:I don't think the rest of minor all and worlds really have the option of sitting it out on the sidelines. Because if in unlikely event of Manticore getting punched out by the SLN, how long do you think it would take for OFS start itching to take over those worlds for there favorite corrupt transteller. It's going to be a massive case of 'either we all hang together or we all hang separately'.

But what do you think those minor systems can actually contribute to the Grand Alliance? Sure, if the GA loses, they will probably be rolled over by the Solarian League--maybe in a century or two. But if they can't actually contribute to the Alliance, then why should they join the Alliance? The only thing that joining the Alliance would do to them is make them certain targets of the League now, instead of maybe being targets in a hundred years.

If they join the Grand Alliance, all they will do is get in the way.

"I believe so," Parnell replied more cautiously. "The problem would be timing." He touched a button and a holo map glowed to life above the table. The swollen sphere of the People's Republic crowded its northeastern quadrant, and he gestured at a rash of amber and red star systems to the south and west. "There are no multi-system powers closer than the Anderman Empire," he pointed out. "Most of the single-system governments are strictly small change; we could blow out any one of them with a single task force, despite their armament programs. What makes them dangerous is the probability that they'll get organized as a unit if we give them time."
Harris nodded thoughtfully, but reached out and touched one of the beads of light that glowed a dangerous blood-red. "And Manticore?" he asked.
"That's the joker in the deck," Parnell agreed. "They're big enough to give us a fight, assuming they've got the guts for it."
"So why not avoid them, or at least leave them for last?" Bergren asked. "Their domestic parties are badly divided over what to do about us—couldn't we chop up the other small fry first?"
"We'd be in worse shape if we did," Frankel objected. He touched a button of his own, and two-thirds of the amber lights on Parnell's map turned a sickly gray-green. "Each of those systems is almost as far in the hole economically as we are," he pointed out. "They'll actually cost us money to take over, and the others are barely break-even propositions. The systems we really need are further south, down towards the Erewhon Junction (This would probably be Maya), or over in the Silesian Confederacy to the west."
"Then why not grab them straight off?" Harris asked.
"Because Erewhon has virtual League membership, Mr. President," Dumarest replied, "and going south might convince the League we're threatening its territory. That could be, ah, a bad idea." Heads nodded around the table. The Solarian League had the wealthiest, most powerful economy in the known galaxy, but its foreign and military policies were the product of so many compromises that they virtually did not exist, and no one in this room wanted to irritate the sleeping giant into evolving ones that did.
"So we can't go south," Dumarest went on, "but going west instead brings us right back to Manticore."
"Why?" Frankel asked. "We could take Silesia without ever coming within a hundred light-years of Manticore—just cut across above them and leave them alone."
"Oh?" Parnell challenged. "And what about the Manticore Wormhole Junction? Its Basilisk terminus would be right in our path. We'd almost have to take it just to protect our flank, and even if we didn't, the Royal Manticoran Navy would see the implications once we started expanding around their northern frontier. They'd have no choice but to try to stop us."

George J. Smith wrote:

SWM wrote:But what do you think those minor systems can actually contribute to the Grand Alliance? Sure, if the GA loses, they will probably be rolled over by the Solarian League--maybe in a century or two. But if they can't actually contribute to the Alliance, then why should they join the Alliance? The only thing that joining the Alliance would do to them is make them certain targets of the League now, instead of maybe being targets in a hundred years.

If they join the Grand Alliance, all they will do is get in the way.

I think that the Talbot system has intact waller yards, they certainly could contribute something

Theemile wrote:So, 2/3rds of the smaller planets are economically less well off then Haven was in 1900, the rest just marginally so. We also see that Haven was coveting Maya (I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned that it wasn't a protectorate of the SL as well as Erewhon being a sudo-member) AND Silensia.

SWM wrote:

George J. Smith wrote:
I think that the Talbot system has intact waller yards, they certainly could contribute something

But Talbot resigned from the Manticoran Alliance during the High Ridge government, and never rejoined. They don't want to be allied with Manticore any more.

George J. Smith wrote:I think that the Talbot system has intact waller yards, they certainly could contribute something

exiledtoIA wrote:

SWM wrote:You didn't answer my question. What can the smaller systems in the Manticoran Alliance CONTRIBUTE?

If they are only liabilities, places that Manticore will be forced to protect, and can't contribute anything significant to offset being liabilities, why should they join the Grand Alliance? If they are a net loss to the Alliance, the Alliance is better off without them. So, what can they contribute?

People.
Manticore's biggest problem was always having enough people to crew the ships they were building.
The smaller alliance members maybe can't build modern cutting edge warships, but they can help crew them.
They can provide crews for repair ships, LAC's, etc.