SPOILERS==Shadow of Victory Comments, Queries and Opinions

Loren Pechtel wrote:

jgnfld wrote:Aside: I once wrote out a quantitative answer to the old bromide of which bullet hits the ground first a bullet shot horizontally or one dropped at the same time. It is trivial to show that an observer at the gun will measure the bullet dropped at the gun to hit the ground before the shot bullet is observed to hit because of this microsecond level light speed travel time. The teacher was not happy.

Actually, I think the important factor is if the bullet is fired east or west. Changing it's orbit by the energy of the gun should have more effect than the lightspeed lag.

With enough velocity the curvature of the planet could become an issue. The moving bullet has to fall further down to impact the ground than the dropped one.

IIRC the average curvature of the Earth equates to just a hair less than 8 inches of drop per horizontal mile. (Of course you'd have issues finding someplace on Earth flat and level enough to actually have that more of a theoretical issue)

saber964 wrote:My vote is for Sacred Honor.

From the saying,

Our Lives,
Our Fortunes,
Our Sacred Honor

I said that the only promotion left to her was to Goddess.

Henry Brown said:

I just skimmed through all 16 pages of the thread and I didn't see a single reference to the fact the book reveals the Grand Alliance has formally declared war on the Solarian League.

I found two quotes in SoV that are relevant. Chapter 51:

Gaddis was willing to concede that assuming Manticoran involvement was a natural leap, given the state of war—now a formal, declared state of war, thanks to the Manties—between the League and the Star Empire.

And Ch. 53:

"The gloves are off now,” Culbertson said flatly. “You’ve all seen the reports on Second Manticore. As Duchess Harrington told Filareta, if war’s what the Sollies want, then war is what they’re damned well going to get. By this time, Kolokoltsov and the other Mandarins have received the Grand Alliance’s formal declaration of war, and Admiral Gold Peak is already moving on the Madras Sector

Eventually, the GA does get around to making things formal. We all know the League will never do any such thing.

I really enjoyed the battle between Scotty and Admiral Tamaguchi. I liked the sneakiness of it; it was very Honor-esque in how they took ruthless advantage of the RMN's tech goodies.

We got the preposterous missile ranges, acceleration, and salvo sizes but we also got some other things that hapless FF ships hadn't seen before. We got LACs, Mk-D's (these are the 4-stage system defense missiles, correct?), Charles Ward, Lorelei, AND the Sollies finding out about the whole off-bore missile launch ability AND just how darn good Manticoran missile defense is.

I also very much liked the whole, "Hey, Firebrand, we've got a surprise for you!" I don't think he ever contemplated meeting any real Manticorans during his little jaunts. I did enjoy the hints of empathy and humanity he was given while he was fighting with the SIM even though he still planned on leaving them all in the lurch.

Overall, the story was very character-driven which is a nice thing. Although I see MWW still likes to introduce "people you start to like who then promptly die in the next paragraph."

I'm glad that al-Fanudahi and Teague got some more members for their club "The Only Sane People in the SL".

I was sad that we didn't get the epic Hemphill/Foraker meeting and any Bolthole scenes (I can hear Roseandheather sobbing from here) but I imagine we'll see them in the next book. Although he did throw in some tidbits about Tourville and Mike (he even noticed she had dimples!) so maybe that will satisfy her.

Jonathan_S wrote:

Loren Pechtel wrote:Actually, I think the important factor is if the bullet is fired east or west. Changing it's orbit by the energy of the gun should have more effect than the lightspeed lag.

With enough velocity the curvature of the planet could become an issue. The moving bullet has to fall further down to impact the ground than the dropped one.

IIRC the average curvature of the Earth equates to just a hair less than 8 inches of drop per horizontal mile. (Of course you'd have issues finding someplace on Earth flat and level enough to actually have that more of a theoretical issue)

I considered that one also. I wonder which factor is greater....