What's your biggest regret in the Honorverse?

Only real regret I have about the series is that we never got to see the world's that manticore took from the people's republic after the Republic of haven retook them.

I've always thought that there are some great stories to be told there.

clancy688 wrote:So...

...what is the thing which irks you most in the whole tale. Which made you hope that it wouldn't have happened or would have happened differently?

For me it is...

Cordelia Ransom's death being off-scene. I mean, I hated that bitch with a passion. I wanted to see (read) her being killed by Honor's people. To read how realizes that she's lost.

Instead... we just get Tepes coming apart. No raging Cordelia Ransom on the bridge as the power goes out. No fearful Ransom in her cabin as the ship shudders as the fighting sparks explosion after explosion. Not a peep on her after Tremaine's "treason".

It wasn't as if this great evil overbitch had gotten justice served. Instead she'd just been... spirited away.



So what are your grievances? ^^

During my first read through, I always thought Nimitz and Ransom would meet. I just knew they'd run into her at the last minute during their escape . . .

"Help! Somebody get this 'Cat off of m—"

Jonathan_S wrote:My personal bet is that if the gambit had succeeded you'd have seem a Monica squared fight with most of the 10th fleet shpis already within the Talbott Sector consolidated to retake the wormohle long before relief forces from Manticore could make the long trek through hyper. The obsolete SD flagship fides again!

Oh, they would have gotten their ass kicked. The RMN would have steamrollered them once they decided to deploy. And they would have done it. But without the WH, its a long trip.

The odds are good Monica can stop one of the few warships from telling Manticore, so it's hours to days before they even know it's a problem. If they don't, then they can mine the lanes and pop them as they cross. How many ships are you willing to march into a meat grinder?

Assume best case - The RMN shows up to make their rather pointed inquiries at Monica just as the BCs are dropping in on the Terminus. How long does it take for them, once they realize the game is underway, to get to the terminus? Too long. And at that moment the rest of 10th fleet is in motion to Monica. So there isn't anyone to go run directly to the Terminus.

So the scratch force shows up at the terminus and 14 SL BCs blow them into dust bunnies. Several days later 10th fleet, along with an nearly obsolete SD shows up and blows the BCs to dust bunnies.

The critical element this does is turn over all the RMN combat technology to the MA (And possibly the SLN too). I suspect that the MA team would have been in hyper heading back inside 24 hours full of missile pods, FTL com gear etc. So no matter how fast the RMN responds the tech is GONE.

Doing this also creates a huge strategic distraction for Manticore. Do they assume 10h fleet will fix this? Do they rapidly dispatch a huge force to go take it back?

I'm trying to remember the timeline - when did BoM1 occur compared to the Monica incident? I think it was months before, right?

cthia wrote:

clancy688 wrote:So...

...what is the thing which irks you most in the whole tale. Which made you hope that it wouldn't have happened or would have happened differently?

For me it is...

Cordelia Ransom's death being off-scene. I mean, I hated that bitch with a passion. I wanted to see (read) her being killed by Honor's people. To read how realizes that she's lost.

Instead... we just get Tepes coming apart. No raging Cordelia Ransom on the bridge as the power goes out. No fearful Ransom in her cabin as the ship shudders as the fighting sparks explosion after explosion. Not a peep on her after Tremaine's "treason".

It wasn't as if this great evil overbitch had gotten justice served. Instead she'd just been... spirited away.



So what are your grievances? ^^

During my first read through, I always thought Nimitz and Ransom would meet. I just knew they'd run into her at the last minute during their escape . . .

"Help! Somebody get this 'Cat off of m—"

For me the biggest regret is that overblown series done for the OTHER company. Instead of more than a half dozen books that are decent but not thrilling (not to mention filled with names of people most of whom we never see again), we could have had another half dozen Honor books.

Yeah, it would have been gratuitous, but I would have enjoyed Anton taking out the Manpower hit team that came after Cathy.

kzt wrote:

Jonathan_S wrote:My personal bet is that if the gambit had succeeded you'd have seem a Monica squared fight with most of the 10th fleet shpis already within the Talbott Sector consolidated to retake the wormohle long before relief forces from Manticore could make the long trek through hyper. The obsolete SD flagship fides again!

Oh, they would have gotten their ass kicked. The RMN would have steamrollered them once they decided to deploy. And they would have done it. But without the WH, its a long trip.

The odds are good Monica can stop one of the few warships from telling Manticore, so it's hours to days before they even know it's a problem. If they don't, then they can mine the lanes and pop them as they cross. How many ships are you willing to march into a meat grinder?

Assume best case - The RMN shows up to make their rather pointed inquiries at Monica just as the BCs are dropping in on the Terminus. How long does it take for them, once they realize the game is underway, to get to the terminus? Too long. And at that moment the rest of 10th fleet is in motion to Monica. So there isn't anyone to go run directly to the Terminus.

So the scratch force shows up at the terminus and 14 SL BCs blow them into dust bunnies. Several days later 10th fleet, along with an nearly obsolete SD shows up and blows the BCs to dust bunnies.

The critical element this does is turn over all the RMN combat technology to the MA (And possibly the SLN too). I suspect that the MA team would have been in hyper heading back inside 24 hours full of missile pods, FTL com gear etc. So no matter how fast the RMN responds the tech is GONE.

Doing this also creates a huge strategic distraction for Manticore. Do they assume 10h fleet will fix this? Do they rapidly dispatch a huge force to go take it back?

I'm trying to remember the timeline - when did BoM1 occur compared to the Monica incident? I think it was months before, right?

The Monica incident took place before the Battle of Manticore A. Hexapuma returned to Manticore by way of the Junction (at the very end of The Shadow of Saganami) shortly before the Battle of Manticore A (where Hexapuma was sidelined and docked at Hephaestus for repairs when the Battle of Manticore A took place).

Vince wrote:The Monica incident took place before the Battle of Manticore A. Hexapuma returned to Manticore by way of the Junction (at the very end of The Shadow of Saganami) shortly before the Battle of Manticore A (where Hexapuma was sidelined and docked at Hephaestus for repairs when the Battle of Manticore A took place).

Oh, that would be ever so much more special...

Assume 3rd is off teaching Monica a lesson they won’t soon forget. That drops 8th fleet into the mousetrap, and they obliterate 5th with the first Apollo salvo.. Oops.

ldwechsler wrote:
For me the biggest regret is that overblown series done for the OTHER company. Instead of more than a half dozen books that are decent but not thrilling (not to mention filled with names of people most of whom we never see again), we could have had another half dozen Honor books.

My understanding is that he has lots of reasons for that. They are green and have pictures of dead presidents on them and you can use them to pay your bills. And while you might say “but royalties!”, I don’t think I can say more.

kzt wrote:

Vince wrote:The Monica incident took place before the Battle of Manticore A. Hexapuma returned to Manticore by way of the Junction (at the very end of The Shadow of Saganami) shortly before the Battle of Manticore A (where Hexapuma was sidelined and docked at Hephaestus for repairs when the Battle of Manticore A took place).

Oh, that would be ever so much more special...

Assume 3rd is off teaching Monica a lesson they won’t soon forget. That drops 8th fleet into the mousetrap, and they obliterate 5th with the first Apollo salvo.. Oops.

Without UH spoilers, suffice it to say regardless of what happens to 5th Fleet 8th Fleet would have been mauled pretty severely. Not to mention all the fire they'd have also been taking from 2nd fleet.

ldwechsler wrote:For me the biggest regret is that overblown series done for the OTHER company. Instead of more than a half dozen books that are decent but not thrilling (not to mention filled with names of people most of whom we never see again), we could have had another half dozen Honor books.

kzt wrote:My understanding is that he has lots of reasons for that. They are green and have pictures of dead presidents on them and you can use them to pay your bills. And while you might say “but royalties!”, I don’t think I can say more.

I am not sure that having other series to work on automatically limits what could be done in the Honorverse; sometimes writers need a chance to stop and think in order to keep things fresh. If he had been working full time, might he have killed Honor during the Battle of Manticore? It would be better to regret ill health and dead ends like the misadventure with the proposed movie.
Rather than regret anything, I would rather express a hope that some more books come out of the collaboration with Eric Flint and possibly some short stories to fill in things: like the Manpower attack on Cathy's townhouse.