Sigs wrote:ywing14 wrote:
Why do you need 2-4 nodal forces in Talbot? The threat to Talbot from the SLN has been neutralized and they secured there flank when they punched out Meyers. You need one with maybe 12-18 Wallers in Spindle the current seat of government. 4-8 in Silesia? Seriously? All those worlds are protectorates. It's unknown if they'll even choose to join the SEM. Again you need one of maybe 12 Wallers to cover where Sarnow is located. Not to mention they can call on the Andies, who are allies at the moment and vice versa. Then you've got Home Fleet and a squadron at Trevor's Star but honestly probably not Basilisk since it's likely still recovering from what the Peeps did to it. There is no point in spreading out there forces anymore. All it does is make it easier to defeat them in detail.
You do need 2-4 Nodal forces in Talbott because they are PART of the SEM thus deserve to receive protection. As for Silesia, look up the definition of protectorate... the word protect is in the name so the SEM has kind of taken responsibility to protect them wether they are part of the SEM or not. What's more if the SEM took half of the Confederacy that means that they have to protect about 30 systems which is twice as many systems as Talbott, thats 30 potential targets to discredit the SEM... if the SEM is not willing to protect the Silesian protectorates properly they might as well hand them over to the IAN for protection and move on.
The GA has already postulated that the Malign has a Bolthole. They've postulated a lot of things that have in fact turned out to be accurate. Given standard construction rates it should take them 1-2 years for each SD. I'm not arguing with you that the Malign isn't a threat or that it wouldn't be great for the SEM. I'm merely stated that its quite evident from textev that they are going to go into a build down.
And it is quite evident that this would allow the next bunch of books to repeat the same pattern. The GA gets surprised by numerically superior bad guy and the determined little underdog who is greatly outnumbered fights long and hard until the numbers start coming into play. I get that if the writer decided to strengthen the GA as a whole the next part of the series would be incredibly boring when the RMN, RHN, GSN and their allies are ready and willing to tangle with anyone and everyone. It would be more interesting if the RMN is reduced to a force of less then 100 SD(P)'s and a whole bunch of Cruisers that are spread throughout the galaxy and cannot defend their home systems...
And it's not unreasonable given all the SEM has been through in the last 40 years. At some point they've got to give. It is completely unreasonable to continue building an endless number SD(P)s. At what point should they stop? You'd just have them build as many as the could until the found the Malign?
Chances are that 50%-80% of the SD(P)s are near completion, doubt it would take that much more to complete them, seeing as they are being constructed by Haven where the absolute cost of the ship should be much less than in a Manticoran yard.
Are you saying that all the information the GA has on the Malign is useless? Because that is what it sounds like your saying. That's not even remotely accurate.
What information do they have? As in what information do they have and can back up with facts and what part of their "information" is nothing more than guesses?
Do they know the important things like:
-Where the MA is located?
-Who their allies are if any?
-How advanced their technology is?
-How big their fleet is?
-How big their industry is?
-What their ultimate goal is?
-How they are planning to achieve that goal?
They know very little about the MA, most of what they "know" is just guesses from tidbits they gathered here and there.
How would convoy escorts drive the SEM in debt anymore than it already is?
1)You have to build them.
2)They are ton for ton more labor intensive then Manticoran SD(P)'s and chances are the proportions are the same for Havenite SD(P)'s. So you have to man them.
3)You have to have logistic train capable of supporting them.
4)You Have to build bases around the protectorates and core/shell systems not part of the League
5)Anything on convoy escort/counter piracy mission is not available for home defence. Should anything happen a huge % of your fleet as it is would be spread across the galaxy unable to assist in time.
6)If I wanted to mess with you I would concentrate on ripping the guts out of your convoy escorts and anti piracy missions by ambushing them when they are far away from support, make you drain your treasury building more ships and training more crews to be slaughtered.
On one hand you want them to build and crew thousands of SD(P)s but that's cheaper then building smaller vessels and patrolling systems....
Where exactly did I say I want the RMN to build and crew thousands of SD(P)s?
You've also stated that 20-30 years isn't really any debt but suddenly it isn't when you're building brand new SD(P)s that are currently worthless when it comes to defending your star systems.
The SEM might be in debt but they still quite a lot of wealth locked up in assets within the Empire and outside the empire. But more importantly, when you are fighting for your life, the last thing you should concern yourself with is the money, I would rather my nation be bankrupt post war and suffer those consequences than be annihilated with a whole lot of assets they "saved" up.
The SEM already has been doing that exact thing in Silesia for years and managed to survive.
60 systems in Silesia vs 600 or 1,000 systems across the galaxy in the middle of a war with an enemy who has shown no restrained when it comes to mass murder... yeah those are comparable.
There are plenty of worlds in the protectorates they can use as supply points. Meyers, Swallow, Chebor, Mobius...
I would venture a guess and say that all those systems would be in the same general vicinity. That would be the same as saying that you can use Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon as supply bases and it would make the war in Iraq and Afghanistan easier logistically.
So far the GA has protected their territorial integrity. The GA has not lost a single system since it has been formed.
They also have been around for less then a year... that isn't as decisive an argument as you might believe.
