MA: Most Optimal Kinetic Strike Targets

SharkHunter wrote:Easy: Old Chicago, with a single false-flagged RMMN ship. Given how active Manpower was for centuries in Silesia, you wouldn't't think they might more than one old transponder from a captured ship tucked away in some corner of their closet, do you? Drop a couple tungsten rods out of a bot bay with just the right aim and acceleration and ka-boom.

Heck, they wouldn't even need to keep the ship after the "maniacal Manticorans" have attacked, just tell the SLN that they're continuing on to target two. A few nukes or laser heads will erase the evidence just fine.

Don't even need RMN since Havenite ships are around. We know the alignment has ties to ex-peeps and SS ships. Anything from a mass strike of missiles to running an unnamed ship at speed into a biosphere.

feyhunde wrote:

SharkHunter wrote:Easy: Old Chicago, with a single false-flagged RMMN ship. Given how active Manpower was for centuries in Silesia, you wouldn't't think they might more than one old transponder from a captured ship tucked away in some corner of their closet, do you? Drop a couple tungsten rods out of a bot bay with just the right aim and acceleration and ka-boom.

Heck, they wouldn't even need to keep the ship after the "maniacal Manticorans" have attacked, just tell the SLN that they're continuing on to target two. A few nukes or laser heads will erase the evidence just fine.

Don't even need RMN since Havenite ships are around. We know the alignment has ties to ex-peeps and SS ships. Anything from a mass strike of missiles to running an unnamed ship at speed into a biosphere.

Actually that would backfire and point right at the MA, because everyone knows that Haven and Manticore have scrupulously avoided any Eridani violations. But the proverbial "rogue captain dropping a kinetic warhead" plays much better for the Mandarins and the MA sleepers in the SL

kzt wrote:

cthia wrote:I can't think of a single reason to EE violate Haven or Grayson - although, if the MA would get wind of Bolthole's location, "Guess who's coming to dinner?"

Have a couple of squadrons of LDs drop out of steath within energy range of Haven or Manticore as all the orbital defenses and warships get torn apart by SD grasers.

The war is OVER.

Assuming that their stealth is good enough to get close after the RMN is done reviewing their sensor data.

If the GA cannot find a way to "see" ships with Mesan designed drives then the rest of the conversation is moot because the Grand Fleet is screwed as the MA can destroy them before they even know what's going on.

feyhunde wrote:

SharkHunter wrote:Easy: Old Chicago, with a single false-flagged RMMN ship. Given how active Manpower was for centuries in Silesia, you wouldn't't think they might more than one old transponder from a captured ship tucked away in some corner of their closet, do you? Drop a couple tungsten rods out of a bot bay with just the right aim and acceleration and ka-boom.

Heck, they wouldn't even need to keep the ship after the "maniacal Manticorans" have attacked, just tell the SLN that they're continuing on to target two. A few nukes or laser heads will erase the evidence just fine.

Don't even need RMN since Havenite ships are around. We know the alignment has ties to ex-peeps and SS ships. Anything from a mass strike of missiles to running an unnamed ship at speed into a biosphere.

Telling the League's public that the GA which can destroy the whole SLN without breaking a sweat and which could invade and occupy Earth and the SLN cannot impede it has committed an EE violation might be too much for the League's citizens.


The individual system governments will start asking all sorts of interesting questions and what's worse the MA might stop the mandarins even if they were inclined to try.

A successful EE violation against Earth works contrary to MA goals and they have the League completely penetrated.

Sigs wrote:

kzt wrote:Have a couple of squadrons of LDs drop out of steath within energy range of Haven or Manticore as all the orbital defenses and warships get torn apart by SD grasers.

The war is OVER.

Assuming that their stealth is good enough to get close after the RMN is done reviewing their sensor data.

If the GA cannot find a way to "see" ships with Mesan designed drives then the rest of the conversation is moot because the Grand Fleet is screwed as the MA can destroy them before they even know what's going on.

There simply isn't a big enough fleet yet to truly kill the fleet. The MA's spider fleet is a first strike weapon, which takes months to set up right, and so far no one has been actively looking for one. Actually finding it will be tough, but it sounds like the MA already knew there were limits to their stealth and were taking precautions to maximize it.

The OB attacks took months of slow movement into position and involved ship which if detected could not fend off equivalent GA ships. They are still building up crews and resources, and more attacks will take months of actual stealth work coming in. They cannot adjust well. Simply moving the ships between nodes in the GA to avoid prolong concentration in a single star system will make taking out the GA fleet via this method difficult enough. The Manties will be conducting patrols on anything that smells like this attack, and sharing the data with Haven et al. And Bolthole is still a secret untouchable to the MA.

The MA could try to take out the biospheres in a Case Ragnarok/ Shiva Option genocidal option, but so long as enough survivors can man bolthole made ships, there could never be any rest for any of the MA.

On second thought, a mismanaged KEW attack against the League may be suboptimal for other reasons approaching unintended consequences. What if the LTC (the League Trade Center (version of the WTC)) is destroyed along with enough of the corrupt good ole' boy network and severs the circle of corruption? In rebuilding, someone asks, "Where is all of this newly found income coming from? Where was it going before? The bleed is now stopped and the hemorrhage was found to be a main artery, now accidentally cauterized by a KEW. It's better than a tourniquet to stop the bleed and heal the need.

Oops.

Why are people thinking small?

If, and this is a big IF, the MAlign was desperate they would certainly consider EE violations. However, they wouldn't try for a surgical strike on one planet. That is child's play - something Saint Just would do. No, dear old Lenny would go for as massive a show as he can get.

Just think:

Manticore - multiple KEWs that impact on every major city.
Sphinx - multiple KEWs on every major city
Grayson - 1 KEW per skydomed city (just think of the toxic dust-up)
Haven - Atleast 10 KEWs for Neauveu Paris alone, with more for other cities
Solon, La Martine, Lovat, etc... - A couple KEWs per planet
Beowulf - multiple KEWs per city

Basically, if the MAlign is desperate enough to partake in EE violations, they are going to go for the jugular. They will target every possible major planet in the GA in the hope of ripping the heart out of their opponents. We already know they have no concern for 'mere human' life or existence.

Why stop at one city, when you can devastate 10-15 planets?

You may be thinking of a few KT scale impact, I'm thinking a few TT impact. The kind that sets the entire planet afire, knocks down every high rise in the planet and blots out the sun for a few years.

You really only need one of those.

Erls wrote:Why are people thinking small?

If, and this is a big IF, the MAlign was desperate they would certainly consider EE violations. However, they wouldn't try for a surgical strike on one planet. That is child's play - something Saint Just would do. No, dear old Lenny would go for as massive a show as he can get.

Just think:

Manticore - multiple KEWs that impact on every major city.
Sphinx - multiple KEWs on every major city
Grayson - 1 KEW per skydomed city (just think of the toxic dust-up)
Haven - Atleast 10 KEWs for Neauveu Paris alone, with more for other cities
Solon, La Martine, Lovat, etc... - A couple KEWs per planet
Beowulf - multiple KEWs per city

Basically, if the MAlign is desperate enough to partake in EE violations, they are going to go for the jugular. They will target every possible major planet in the GA in the hope of ripping the heart out of their opponents. We already know they have no concern for 'mere human' life or existence.

Why stop at one city, when you can devastate 10-15 planets?

and with EE violations on 50 or more GA planets, I can't think of anything else that would end the war between the SL and the GA, and get the SL looking for the MA.

that is just the opposite of what the MA wants to happen.

besides, KEW's won't work because the ship would have to get into planatary orbit for that to happen.

Not that I think it would happen, but: A single lenny detweiler spider drive ship, accelerated to .72C, fires a bunch of missiles. at manticore, new haven, etc. 3 minutes @ 48K G's and they will be 99% light speed. That would be an EE violation, and the spider drive ship would never enter into the hyper limit, so there would be little risk of it being destroyed.

The only reasonable target is Beowulf. Hitting Beowulf probably helps facilitate the break-up of the Solarian League and serves as an effective Oyster Bay II to cripple Grand Alliance military capabilities for a time.