So now that we are through the manditory filler books.....

The league has been spinning everything, if the alliance can force a confrontation that is seen by everyone, then the league can't spin it. And forced to deal with reality. This may be when they try their strike on Beowulf.
How much spare active fleet assets do they still retain? The ships available near the talbot quadrant space would be depleted by their losses there, so it would take time to move resources there. The fleet sent to manticore was literally their hugest fleet deployment in The league history yet. They were also gathering a second fleet at a system I can't remember the name of.
In the center of the league they have gathered forces to deploy through the manticore junction, and now likely aimed at Beowulf. While these forces are concentrated, it means that their are regions where naval forces are depleted.
We know that the alignment was mess with the league navy, they sent those ships to be destroyed, and I bet they arranged for specific regions to have less ships to make them easier to deal with. The league has a fleet with untold numbers, but if dispersed enough, they can be dealt with in detail, as they are isolated and destroyed. And don't forget part of their plan is for places to rebel, which means ships will be co opted.

We know Visigoth is an alignment ally so, will they send their fleet to remove the manties? With all the issues with their plans, better to not allow them long time access to Mesa in case they find something not destroyed by Houdini. The Mesan navy was a joke, it was part of the plan, the Visigoth naval forces were under no such limitations. I bet most alignment world's do actually have the bettEr SDS forces available.

What forces are available near or at torch? I could see them being sent to suprise the forces station at the twins. If secured, it would force the alignment to station a large naval force to secure the junction.

SYED wrote:The league has been spinning everything, if the alliance can force a confrontation that is seen by everyone, then the league can't spin it. And forced to deal with reality. This may be when they try their strike on Beowulf.
How much spare active fleet assets do they still retain? The ships available near the talbot quadrant space would be depleted by their losses there, so it would take time to move resources there. The fleet sent to manticore was literally their hugest fleet deployment in The league history yet. They were also gathering a second fleet at a system I can't remember the name of.
In the center of the league they have gathered forces to deploy through the manticore junction, and now likely aimed at Beowulf. While these forces are concentrated, it means that their are regions where naval forces are depleted.
We know that the alignment was mess with the league navy, they sent those ships to be destroyed, and I bet they arranged for specific regions to have less ships to make them easier to deal with. The league has a fleet with untold numbers, but if dispersed enough, they can be dealt with in detail, as they are isolated and destroyed. And don't forget part of their plan is for places to rebel, which means ships will be co opted.

We know Visigoth is an alignment ally so, will they send their fleet to remove the manties? With all the issues with their plans, better to not allow them long time access to Mesa in case they find something not destroyed by Houdini. The Mesan navy was a joke, it was part of the plan, the Visigoth naval forces were under no such limitations. I bet most alignment world's do actually have the bettEr SDS forces available.

What forces are available near or at torch? I could see them being sent to suprise the forces station at the twins. If secured, it would force the alignment to station a large naval force to secure the junction.

(1) Mycroft: SEMs Apollo variant of Shannon Foraker's Moriarity System defense system is almost 100% deployed in both Manticore and Beowulf space by the end of SoV, (Aug 1922PD).
(2) Near Torch is Erewhon and Barregos' little bit of the SL he and Rozak are about to take rogue with all the ships being supplied by Erewhon with the MK 15 DD missiles. [perhaps] slightly longer ranged than the Teledyne second generation Trebuchets (~ = to MA missiles). And Mannerheims ships are not Spider drives.

(3) Torch is in the process of crewing and working up the obsolete StatSec ships Rozak captured and gave to Torch.

WeirdlyWired wrote:

SYED wrote:The league has been spinning everything, if the alliance can force a confrontation that is seen by everyone, then the league can't spin it. And forced to deal with reality. This may be when they try their strike on Beowulf.
How much spare active fleet assets do they still retain? The ships available near the talbot quadrant space would be depleted by their losses there, so it would take time to move resources there. The fleet sent to manticore was literally their hugest fleet deployment in The league history yet. They were also gathering a second fleet at a system I can't remember the name of.
In the center of the league they have gathered forces to deploy through the manticore junction, and now likely aimed at Beowulf. While these forces are concentrated, it means that their are regions where naval forces are depleted.
We know that the alignment was mess with the league navy, they sent those ships to be destroyed, and I bet they arranged for specific regions to have less ships to make them easier to deal with. The league has a fleet with untold numbers, but if dispersed enough, they can be dealt with in detail, as they are isolated and destroyed. And don't forget part of their plan is for places to rebel, which means ships will be co opted.

We know Visigoth is an alignment ally so, will they send their fleet to remove the manties? With all the issues with their plans, better to not allow them long time access to Mesa in case they find something not destroyed by Houdini. The Mesan navy was a joke, it was part of the plan, the Visigoth naval forces were under no such limitations. I bet most alignment world's do actually have the bettEr SDS forces available.

What forces are available near or at torch? I could see them being sent to suprise the forces station at the twins. If secured, it would force the alignment to station a large naval force to secure the junction.

(1) Mycroft: SEMs Apollo variant of Shannon Foraker's Moriarity System defense system is almost 100% deployed in both Manticore and Beowulf space by the end of SoV, (Aug 1922PD).
(2) Near Torch is Erewhon and Barregos' little bit of the SL he and Rozak are about to take rogue with all the ships being supplied by Erewhon with the MK 15 DD missiles. [perhaps] slightly longer ranged than the Teledyne second generation Trebuchets (~ = to MA missiles). And Mannerheims ships are not Spider drives.

(3) Torch is in the process of crewing and working up the obsolete StatSec ships Rozak captured and gave to Torch.

(4) The SL CNO has already determined that the SLN cannot face up to the GA, and has decided on commerce raiding tactics instead.

How far will the moriartry system be spread amongst the alliance? I could see the andies mass producing it for their systems. It seems tha talbot quadrant is especially vulnerable.

I can see the Beowulf installation causing untold damage to the league navy. While it is true that Beowulf were unable to build their own super fleet of carriers and missile based ships of the wall. They likely ensure thir lesser warships were as capable as possible. And I doubt the league would be examining their LACs. And they could easily purchase or borrow missile pods from the alliance to bulk up their defences. They could link it all by augementing their systems with rented FTL comm systems.

While their ships of the wall can't stand against the alliance, they could go to the systems that have limited forces due to their lesser ships are sent on raiding duties.

SYED wrote:How far will the moriartry system be spread amongst the alliance? I could see the andies mass producing it for their systems. It seems tha talbot quadrant is especially vulnerable.

Moriarty, or Mycroft?

Any system with access to FTL comms and RDs will install Mycroft systems even if they have to permit Manticoran detachments to operate and maintain them. Mk-23D missile pods enhance Mycroft's effectiveness, but aren't really necessary to the basic installation. Perhaps a "Mycroft Lite" without the FTL fire-control links for Apollo will be made available for export to former league member and verge systems.

The Talbott Quadrant is already getting full Mycroft installations complete with the system defense variant of Apollo (for drives instead of three.)

Haven already has Moriarty installations in its important systems and probably most of the rest; It's not a terribly complicated or sophisticated system. I'd expect that the Havenite Moriarty command modules have FTL Comm between modules even without FTL fire-control links.

What export versions and/or copies of Moriarty have depends on who builds them and how much they know about the system/

In short, anyone who has any clue is going to come up with a Moriarty Clone to control system defense missiles. Mycroft installations are going to remain under GA/Manticoran control, so they aren't going to be widespread outside of the Grand Alliance, but probably ubiquitous within the GA.

Such system defences would free up man power and ships. Scout ships would be looking for enemy ships and installations, so these would be unexpected. Say they send those gathered ships to mess with lesser systems like talbot, they would be messed up. I personally think a majority of the available ships in the league core will be used on the Beowulf system strike. That will be very bad for the league. It would allow the alliance near freedom of movement in the core.

abrax894 wrote:You know, I understand the reasoning behind filler chapters and, in some cases, books. But we have now reached TWO filler books that do not progress the main story at all. Now, I'm used to RFC's proclivity for exposition. I know that at some point later in the book, I'm going to say 'OOOOH, THAT's why he gave me that info', but 2 books worth of exposition and filler is a bit much even for him. Where do we stand on another mainline story book?

Harsh, but pretty much what I thought even after a reread.

I normally enjoy the 'from a different perspective' retelling of most of what's happened in the other story subplots. Plenty of "Oh, that's why X happened," or 'Now that makes more sense than it did before."

This time, however, I found myself skipping whole parts of the plot. Entire chapters at times.

Yeah, Firebrand has been all over the Verge stirring up trouble. He's a mean, nasty, immoral piece of excrement floating in the galactic gene pool of life. Accepted as a given. I don't need a detailed description of what he's been doing on every individual planet as a build up to all of the task forces being sent out of Montana to show the flag, wreak a little havoc and/or honor the false promises he made to the various revolutions. Yes, when we finally got to Scottie and the rest of the TF's coming over the alpha wall, they were fun reads. I just didn't need the few hundred pages of fluff and filler to get there.

Tourville getting sent out to Talbott promised much and just fizzled.

The two biggest cowboys (although I think that they would prefer to be thought of as 'independent minded and decisive') in the galaxy teamed up could be an epic read. Those two taking a little tour of the League while doing a Wyatt Earp style Vengeance Ride through the Sollies with the rest of their fleets along...

What progress has been made to the overall story line by this book?

The Verge brush fires have been extinguished.

Good. That was a distraction and drain of ships and manpower that the GA didn't need.

Mike has been heavily reinforced and has Lester along.

Good, again. She was too light for what she wanted to do and what she was expected to do. Offensively, that could develop into something big.

Some (maybe a bit more than 'some') of the Quadrant Guard has been moved forward to give her a landing force.

Good. One of the biggest gripes over the years on here has been the lack of Marines or landing forces in the RMN's new ships. Sometimes, it takes bodies and boots on the ground to get things done and automation removes the warm bodies.

The Alignment is on the run to Darius and Daddy Detweiler is dust that glows in the dark.

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people BUT that doesn't help the story line along much on that front. The question is, what did their snipping of 'loose ends' miss and is there enough to progress this part of the plot line along?

Maya is closer than ever to the GA, the Erewhonese are closer to being back into the fold and they are getting some serious reinforcements and tech in short order.

Good. Whole 'nother front, whole 'nother set of problems for the Mandarins to have to deal with and it's bad for the MA- since the MA gave both of them an axe to grind with the MA.

abrax894 wrote:You know, I understand the reasoning behind filler chapters and, in some cases, books. But we have now reached TWO filler books that do not progress the main story at all.

I think the misunderstanding here is that there are two plot lines.

The first is the overall, huge fleet vs huge fleet, overarching plot of what's happening in the macro sense of the conflict.

But that's not how this series began.

I think the smaller conflicts begun in the Shadow of Saganami represent an attempt to satisfy people who liked the smaller scope of the earlier books.

Honor of the queen focused heavily on world-building for Grayson. Then they did the same thing for Spindle. Finally, The "filler" episodes try to do the same thing for a whole swath of rebel planets.

The first few episodes established a bunch of characters, some of which have been killed off by now. Shadow of Saganami introduced a new set.

With the latest books, I personally feel that trying to get us to care about so many new systems and characters at once diluted the effect of the world-building and character building that DW's maintaining. Maybe getting more interaction between these rebel leaders and the established SoS crew might help, but in certain people's eyes that'd probably be more filler.

Put it this way: Was the fact that On Basilisk Station didn't focus on the Manticore Government's buildup to the war mean that this was a filler episode?

Weird Harold wrote:

SYED wrote:How far will the moriartry system be spread amongst the alliance? I could see the andies mass producing it for their systems. It seems tha talbot quadrant is especially vulnerable.

Moriarty, or Mycroft?

Any system with access to FTL comms and RDs will install Mycroft systems even if they have to permit Manticoran detachments to operate and maintain them. Mk-23D missile pods enhance Mycroft's effectiveness, but aren't really necessary to the basic installation. Perhaps a "Mycroft Lite" without the FTL fire-control links for Apollo will be made available for export to former league member and verge systems.

The Talbott Quadrant is already getting full Mycroft installations complete with the system defense variant of Apollo (for drives instead of three.)

Haven already has Moriarty installations in its important systems and probably most of the rest; It's not a terribly complicated or sophisticated system. I'd expect that the Havenite Moriarty command modules have FTL Comm between modules even without FTL fire-control links.

What export versions and/or copies of Moriarty have depends on who builds them and how much they know about the system/

In short, anyone who has any clue is going to come up with a Moriarty Clone to control system defense missiles. Mycroft installations are going to remain under GA/Manticoran control, so they aren't going to be widespread outside of the Grand Alliance, but probably ubiquitous within the GA.

IIRC [though probably not], RoH has only crude FTL, not enough bandwidth for missile control or even ship to ship communication.

Talbot has been gaining LAC squadrons as system defense, With some promise of Mycroft. For any SLN navalforces coming fat and dumb over the alpha wall into Havenite systems, will find Moriarty quite sufficiently deadly considering the SLN missile defense doctrine. gave St. Honor nightmares for weeks after, probably.

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Mycroft, with RMN tech running it has been promised to Myers, Erewhon, and Torch.

WeirdlyWired wrote:IIRC [though probably not], RoH has only crude FTL, not enough bandwidth for missile control or even ship to ship communication.

In WoH, the RHN had FTL comm to and from recon LACs probing towards the Trevor's Star terminus. They hadn't reduced it enough to put in the recon drones so they configured a LAC to manage a swarm of drones in light-speed range and relay coded updates to Giscard's TF.

I'm sure that they have reduced the size and increased the bandwidth since then, but even the rudimentary FTL comm they had then would suffice for FTL communications between Moriarity control nodes.