The Misalignment of MA plans?

MIT - Malign Institute of Technology

Is there a MAlign Institute of Technology where there are baby MITs (MAligns In Training)?

So much for dry opening humor. Let me be about it. I don't understand the MAs choice of plans in regards to the League. There is so much corruption and rigor mortis in the League that I didn't see them as a potential problem to the MA. Now Beowulf is. And Beowulf, if the MA did its homework, is more in line with Manticoran thought than League's.

Why didn't the MA just pull their Houdini quietly and proceed to develop and create ships and genetic modifications? What was the need to launch Oyster Bay now? Why couldn't they waited until all of their ships were complete and all systems go? So what, if it may have taken five decades longer before their technology was complete and armada built. What would have been different in the galaxy? Other than a new King crowned?

Then the MA would have had a clearer target. They could have elected to kick off the same plan after their ships were built, then implementing their plan to force the League and Manties to fight. And if they would have abstained from playing any of their cards, even the nanites, all of that tech could have been unleashed all at once on the unsuspecting galaxy before time, and evidentiary support - gave thought that something was amiss . If all that the MA cared about was freedom to create, I'm sure they could have gotten permission to do so from the League, under the table. Bribes are understood by a corrupt League. "Can be bought and bribed" is on the face of League currency. If not, they could have manipulated the idiots to conform.

Sooner or later the League and Manticore would have ended up fighting anyways, naturally. Even though the MA's plan was centuries old, it still seems rather rushed to me. Oyster Bay seems to have jumped the gun.

It seems that the MA should have waited for everything, their ships and tech and abominable snow of men to be complete. What was the end rush of a centuries old plan?

If they were so willing to wait that long in the first place, and with such technological prowess, they could have constructed a huge armada and unleashed it on the galaxy, along with assassinations and the awakening of even deeper sleepers all over the galaxy.

cthia wrote:

MIT - Malign Institute of Technology

Is there a MAlign Institute of Technology where there are baby MITs (MAligns In Training)?

So much for dry opening humor. Let me be about it. I don't understand the MAs choice of plans in regards to the League. There is so much corruption and rigor mortis in the League that I didn't see them as a potential problem to the MA. Now Beowulf is. And Beowulf, if the MA did its homework, is more in line with Manticoran thought than League's.

Why didn't the MA just pull their Houdini quietly and proceed to develop and create ships and genetic modifications? What was the need to launch Oyster Bay now? Why couldn't they waited until all of their ships were complete and all systems go? So what, if it may have taken five decades longer before their technology was complete and armada built. What would have been different in the galaxy? Other than a new King crowned?

Then the MA would have had a clearer target. They could have elected to kick off the same plan after their ships were built, then implementing their plan to force the League and Manties to fight. And if they would have abstained from playing any of their cards, even the nanites, all of that tech could have been unleashed all at once on the unsuspecting galaxy before time, and evidentiary support - gave thought that something was amiss . If all that the MA cared about was freedom to create, I'm sure they could have gotten permission to do so from the League, under the table. Bribes are understood by a corrupt League. "Can be bought and bribed" is on the face of League currency. If not, they could have manipulated the idiots to conform.

Sooner or later the League and Manticore would have ended up fighting anyways, naturally. Even though the MA's plan was centuries old, it still seems rather rushed to me. Oyster Bay seems to have jumped the gun.

It seems that the MA should have waited for everything, their ships and tech and abominable snow of men to be complete. What was the end rush of a centuries old plan?

If they were so willing to wait that long in the first place, and with such technological prowess, they could have constructed a huge armada and unleashed it on the galaxy, along with assassinations and the awakening of even deeper sleepers all over the galaxy.

Their plan was working perfectly. They never intended to conquer the galaxy, they intended to change the political terrain so that they could slowly and stealthily implement their plans for a race of genetic supermen - "One Race to Rule Them All."

They didn't plan on Manticore. They tried a couple of things like subverting Haven and then trying to have Haven conquer Manticore, but neither worked. With Manticore and a resurgent Haven on the board, they couldn't be sure their Renaissance Faction would actually jell after the League fell apart, so they started making plans for a direct military assault on Manticore and Haven.

Then when Manticore discovered the Lynx terminus of the Manticore Wormhole Junction, things hit the fan. They tried to force Manticore out of the Talbot Sector and failed, then they tried to take Manticore off the boards with a hurried-up version of Oyster Bay. That failed because of the Dynamic Duo and an internal traitor that blew the cover off the MAlign.

In the mess, the biggest thing they did wrong was wait too long to start Operation Houdini. In mitigation, Operation Houdini was going to leave Mesa with an incompetent government.

Albrecht is simply not very good at reacting to unplanned circumstances. Nor is he very good at listening to anyone outside of his hermetically sealed echo chamber.

The MAlign pulled the trigger on Oyster Bay way earlier than planned because Manticore had just used Apollo - which they believed broke the combat paradigm and balance of power about as much as Operation Buttercup did.

Apollo meant that Haven was completely and utterly screwed, despite having MDMs and Podnoughts of their own, which meant the war with Haven was basically over - and that meant that Manticore would be free to focus on the League - and the League would be even more screwed.
Specifically, the League might be sufficiently screwed that the Mandarins and the like wouldn't go the way the MAlign wanted, but even if they did, there wouldn't be any way for Manticore to get crushed in the fighting.

JohnRoth wrote:In the mess, the biggest thing they did wrong was wait too long to start Operation Houdini. In mitigation, Operation Houdini was going to leave Mesa with an incompetent government.

I think David made a serious error from a storytelling PoV by not having the MA seize Lynx termnius. Having the tech grabbed by the SL stuff would have made the whole plot more interesting.

Ignoring that, the MA had several options they missed. First was to launch an attack on Manticore around the time they restarted the war. (note that they knew exactly when this would happen.) This would ensure the defeat of Manticore. And if it was roughly timed to correspond to Beatrice it would be an obvious Peep trick.

Second would have been to more effectively exploit their highly placed government agents. They could place people in privileged positions and gain access to technical and operational data.

Third was to not start the whole war with the SL. No OB, they just continue to wait and watch. Given that they controlled the guy running the SLN and the various admirals running the field units this shouldn't have been hard.

Ego.

Albrecht wanted the RF to happen in his life time.



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kzt wrote:

JohnRoth wrote:In the mess, the biggest thing they did wrong was wait too long to start Operation Houdini. In mitigation, Operation Houdini was going to leave Mesa with an incompetent government.

I think David made a serious error from a storytelling PoV by not having the MA seize Lynx termnius. Having the tech grabbed by the SL stuff would have made the whole plot more interesting.

To seize Lynx Terminus, the MA had to do that in the short timeframe between the discovery of the Terminus and the petition of the Talbott cluster worlds to get incorporated into the Star Kingdom. That would be impossible to do without a coming out of the Alignment itself, because any pawns in the region wouldn't be able to attack. After all, even the RMN of the High Ridge era would probably eat the Monican Navy (for example) for breakfeast.

And Frontier Security didn't have any reason to attack the terminus. At least, no reason they could sell to the solarian public and be sure to get away with it. After all, such a behavior (to attack without pretext) would contradict totally their normal "Modus Operandi."

JohnRoth wrote:They didn't plan on Manticore. They tried a couple of things like subverting Haven and then trying to have Haven conquer Manticore, but neither worked.

You've got cause and effect backwards. Manticore was never on the Alignment's radar. It was just a small, rich, irritating bug. Its importance in the grand scheme was effectively zero due to its insistence on remaining a single system polity.

The Republic of Haven was what the Alignment was concerned about, as its influence in its region of space was a lot stronger, almost like a mini-League that worked. That's the kind of successor to the League the Alignment didn't want, thus they engineered its downfall. But since the Law of Unintended Consequences has not been repealed, that action just forced Manticore to step up in its place instead.

Annachie wrote:Ego.

Albrecht wanted the RF to happen in his life time.



Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

Now this is some uncanny déjà vu. You took the words right out of my mouth.

It does seem like he simply wanted it to happen in his lifetime. Possibly because he thought that noone else had the brains to carry through with it? Or simply his ego getting in the way - par for the course for megalamaniacal, power hungry, non breast-fed Hitlerists!

Does he have an understudy per se?

cthia wrote:

Annachie wrote:Ego.

Albrecht wanted the RF to happen in his life time.



Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

Now this is some uncanny déjà vu. You took the words right out of my mouth.

It does seem like he simply wanted it to happen in his lifetime. Possibly because he thought that noone else had the brains to carry through with it? Or simply his ego getting in the way - par for the course for megalamaniacal, power hungry, non breast-fed Hitlerists!

Does he have an understudy per se?

It would seem that he has 3 (direct clones brought up as sons)

Duckk wrote:

JohnRoth wrote:They didn't plan on Manticore. They tried a couple of things like subverting Haven and then trying to have Haven conquer Manticore, but neither worked.

You've got cause and effect backwards. Manticore was never on the Alignment's radar. It was just a small, rich, irritating bug. Its importance in the grand scheme was effectively zero due to its insistence on remaining a single system polity.

The Republic of Haven was what the Alignment was concerned about, as its influence in its region of space was a lot stronger, almost like a mini-League that worked. That's the kind of successor to the League the Alignment didn't want, thus they engineered its downfall. But since the Law of Unintended Consequences has not been repealed, that action just forced Manticore to step up in its place instead.

Which all conspires to make me think that their overall plan was premature. They weren't prepared for serious contingencies. It seems to me that they only succeeded in changing the face of the enemy to one with a stronger chin. I just don't see how this is better. They could have awaited until all was set then executed their plan, therefore not requiring centuries of foresight.

If they had waited - they'd've had a clearer target. I still don't see the League as a natural target against a polity forming in the name of the Renaissance Factor. What is the difference of the MA waiting until they were ready to come out of the closet w/o prior baggage of having becoming a pain in the posterior to the galaxy at large?

We've already discussed that with the earlier generation ships, there are still polities that will be formed after new systems are staked out. The Renaissance Factor could have simply been a new polity emerging. The League would not have opposed their genetic tampering as long as they got a cut of their economy. Which that could have easily been dealt with MA style.

Then they could have forged a fake alliance with the League to conquer the Haven sector. And I would have done that all from Mesa - no Houdini. Houdini wouldn't have been needed then - until or unless attacking the Haven System backfired and came acalling. Then pull the Houdini trigger and leave Mesa to the wolves.