[CT27]

Hi everyone (this is my first post on this site, glad to be here),

I just found out about this campaign a few weeks ago and looks awesome.  For some reason I can't download it right now, but the story and ships are great (I've seen a playthrough on YT).  Looking forward to part 3.


One more thing:  is it okay that I hope the GTVA wins? 

[Aardwolf]

One more thing:  is it okay that I hope the GTVA wins? 

The creators deliberately wrote it so that neither faction is "the good guys", so yes.

And you've gotta wait for the second half of chapter 2 before you get in line for chapter 3

[Dragon]

Actually, he might mean Act III. First WiH release contained the first two acts. Act III and onward will be in R2.

[CT27]

The creators deliberately wrote it so that neither faction is "the good guys", so yes.

I was kind of under the impression that the GTVA was meant to be seen in a less positive light than the UEF, considering you now play as the UEF and that the GTVA basically attacked Sol without attempting diplomacy first.

[Dragon]

Take a look at supplemental material on BP website. They did attempt diplomacy. And a GTVA-side midquel for BP has been frequently discussed.

[headdie]

The nice thing about BP is that you are only given the picture that it would be expected for an officer to have, which means there is a lot of propaganda and party line in the official stuff so you never know the full extent of what your side is capable of in terms of being bad and you receive as little information suggesting the other side are capable of being good while the bad points are exaggerated as far as possible. 

If the BP guys are as good as I think they are, no matter how it plays out we will never know the full reasoning behind any given action and it will be impossible to say who was the good guy and who was the bad guy or even if such distinctions exist in this setting

[CT27]

Take a look at supplemental material on BP website. They did attempt diplomacy. And a GTVA-side midquel for BP has been frequently discussed.

I looked but couldn't quite find something to that effect.  I did find this line though from "Reunion":
"GTVA High Command's intention had been to position the 14th Battlegroup throughout Sol and only then demand surrender as additional GTVA forces from the Fourth Fleet poured in through the node. "

It seemed that what went wrong in the initial encounter wasn't that planned diplomacy wasn't used, but rather that initial offensive operations were bungled.

[Klaustrophobia]

Take a look at supplemental material on BP website. They did attempt diplomacy. And a GTVA-side midquel for BP has been frequently discussed.

from what i remember, they didn't attempt it, they just decided against it.  they didn't want the ubuntu government to have the slightest chance of influencing the current GTVA balance of power.

[-Norbert-]

Same here.
Admiral Bei stated quite clearly that after listeing in on the communications in Sol with spydrones, the GTVA decided to invade. I don't remember a single line in any story piece or the campaign about direct contact with a UEF representative prior to Admiral Morigan (I think... the guy who took over Beis post in the 14th) sending a "surrender or die" to the Renjian.
After that the Elders tried constantly to reach the GTVA for negotiations, which to my knowledge the GTVA ignored.

[MatthTheGeek]

After that the Elders tried constantly to reach the GTVA for negotiations, which to my knowledge the GTVA ignored.

They didn't ignore it. It's just that GTVA's conditions for any peace or cease fire is the complete surrender of the UEF and their ratachment as a province of the GTVA. Conditions that the UEF is quite understandably not willing to accept.

[-Norbert-]

So they didn't ignore it, but instead refused to negotiate? For me that's the same thing.
And demanding unconditional surrender is not negotiating.

[Klaustrophobia]

there will be no negotiations, bosch UEF elders!

[CT27]

On a more general note, were negotiations even possible (or was war inevitable)?

Here's what the two factions want:
GTVA-Sol reannexed
UEF-Total independence

Would there actually be any middle ground?  The only thing I can think of would be the GTVA maybe offering Sol as a whole the same kind of agreement Earth gave Mars and Jupiter (if I'm understanding it correctly it would basically be 'fly our flag and maybe some taxes and you can basically be autonomous...plus send a fleet to help if the Shivans come back').

[headdie]

The back story in AoA and is that the GTVA sent recon probes into Sol and as a result of the returned data the GTVA decided the UEF would weaken their ability to respond to future shivan threats with their outlook which is a preference of avoiding direct conflict.

[MatthTheGeek]

Would there actually be any middle ground?  The only thing I can think of would be the GTVA maybe offering Sol as a whole the same kind of agreement Earth gave Mars and Jupiter (if I'm understanding it correctly it would basically be 'fly our flag and maybe some taxes and you can basically be autonomous...plus send a fleet to help if the Shivans come back').

Can't happen. GTVA is too scared of the Ubuntu ideology spreading throughout the GTVA (this the GTVA analysists have predicted) and turn the GTVA into a pacifist crowd helpless against the Shivans (this is highly debatable, for many reasons stated in many previous threads).

The GTVA wants their military supremacy proved through a victory, and want their hands on Sol's massive industrial resources. From their point of view, the UEF and their Ubuntu are a threat to the survival of mankind, as only the GTVA can have the power to face the Shivans again.