George J. Smith wrote: I thinks the DB's are a bit myopic and would not have been able to see that the system defences were all operational.
cthia wrote: Thanks George.
That's why I included the part about Filareta definitely being able to see. In which case he could have alerted the DB to the fact.
"DB! Abort! Abort! I say again, abort!"
George J. Smith wrote:cthia
2 things come to mind:
I can't remember how long it was after 11th fleet arrived and the DB translated, but it could have been short enough that a regular comm message would not have reached the DB in time.
Did Filareta know about the proposed MWJ transit part of the plan?
cthia wrote:Thanks again George.
I do recall the moment Honor chose to illuminate those stealthy system defense pods now that you've mentioned it. Which reminds me of another question.* But the pods would not have even come into play against Tsang's fleet, because the fort would have ripped her heart out. No? The hidden pods were only an object of concern to Filareta, and maybe strictly by association and inference an object to Tsang. Because if she had somehow fought off the forts, whatever she had left would have been left way out on a limb if Filareta was already burnt toast.
*About the stealthy pods. Are the pods stealth normally activated? Or do they go active upon the detection of hostile forces? Wouldn't round the clock activation of system defense pods be unrealistic?
Same dilemma of the Manty Home system trying to maintain their current state of readiness, DEFCON 3.
I am not sure about system defense pods, but ordinarily pods do not need to use stealth, because they do not had a wedge. I expect that what illuminated the system defense pods was an order from Honor to turn their beacons on. Here is a quote from Honor Among Enemies, chapter 29:
In light of any missile pod's complete vulnerability to any weapon, BuWeaps was still trying to come up with a design made out of sufficiently low-signature materials to defeat enemy fire control. They hadn't quite managed that yet, but they had come up with one whose radar return was far weaker than something its size ought to have been, and their new optical coating was much more effective against both visual detection and the laser pulses of the lidar most navies favored for short-range fire control, as well. Which meant they didn't look big enough to be any particular threat . . . a fact upon which Honor had counted when she, Cardones, and Hughes planned their initial tactics.
It was after this action that a request was put in to add a beacon to help after action recovery.
Now about system pods: If they are expected to be on their own for extended times, then they need a power source and improved communications. Perhaps even some capability to move. Would it be a good idea to attach four system pods to an unmanned module that could supply that need, rather than duplicating equipment in each pod?
