Hmmm. I had imagined the GTA existing in some respect for years, possibly decades before the Vasudan war, but imagination != canon. Wouldn't the GTVA's descent from the GTA's loose union make it more appealing to the federation states? Especially the ones that aren't targeted because of their "dangerous" Ubuntu philosophy?
The comparison between pre and post communist revolution Russia is very apt indeed, but I change my question to "so where's all the White Solarians?". Where's Radio Free Sol at? I -can- accept all of Earth getting caught up in this idealogical movement, but... hmm. I suppose Mars and Jupiter got flooded with the anti-Ubuntu immigrants, which is why their characters are initially abrasive towards Laporte. I find it hard to accept that the entire Solar civilization is behind this war overtly, and really want to see legitimate political figures and movements that don't support resisting the Alliance.
Who says they are? You can count on the fact that the war is a divisive issue. But given that the UEF has existed longer than the GTA ever did in Sol, that most of the human species canonically exists in Sol, and that the GTVA attacked without provocation - simple human psychology is going to make the UEF population indignant. Who are these colonial upstarts attacking the hub of human civilization without provocation or warning?
Whole asteroid habitats or moon colonies declaring their independence from the federation and signing pacts of membership in the GTVA, that sort of thing.
Again, though I'm sure some have (notice all those Gef asteroid habitats cooperating with the GTVA...?), would many people tied into the economically prosperous, massively populous UEF want to give up and defect to a small group of military-governed colonists who represent a small fraction of the human race? Especially after this humiliating surprise attack!
But the complaint seems a bit odd given that there's a subplot about a mole in the UEF feeding information to the GTVA. There are even hints!
Similarly I wonder where the UEF-sympathetic members of the GTVA are
Well there was a whole subplot with someone in the GTVA passing info to the UEF too, mind.
The UEF is so provincial and insular that Laporte, who sympathizes with the GTVA rather openly, doesn't even think that there might be something as beautiful as Luna City. Though maybe she was referring to the feeling of peace and security in Sol, somewhere else in Terran-Vasudan space, like all the parts of Vasudan space that didn't get hit by post-Capella stress. The less of that level of self-absorption, the better I say.
It may arguably be self-absorption, but again, given that the bulk of the human population and industrial/social/political base exists in Sol - by canon! - it's not unjustified. It's like Rome having a war with the Cherokee Nations, only the Cherokee have assault rifles and a good reason. Also remember that Laporte is probably intimately familiar with the GTVA's history and culture, which is at the moment characterized by fear and a need for security rather than exploration and investment.
(And if I sound pro-UEF it's for the sake of balancing the scales, I'm happy to argue the other side).
a story composed of a series of impossihard missions with lots and lots of simultaneous objectives
Hey, this **** got heavily playtested. You may just need to turn it down a bit? We got a number of complaints that the missions were too easy and players didn't have to do anything, so we suspect we managed to land in the middle of the difficulty range.
I certainly appreciate and understand that making a level to handhold the noobs through some of these features is about as interesting as counting grains of sand, but I have to point out that it could be of some practicality to do so.
Well there is the Kentauroi Race mission in the techroom which fits the bill perfectly. Maybe we should have dropped it into the campaign.
Moving some dialogue out of giant text screens and into the mission while this goes on would help bring out the secondary wingmen (if they're around) and allow for character advancement.
Eek! No more room for messages in missions, too much as it was!
As a further aside: How come the Carthage didn't launch successive trebuchet strikes on the UEF beam jammer, and then vaporize everyone with beam fire? I dunno how much tougher the UEF electronic warfare vessel is than the GTVA equivelants, but even so there were tons and tons and tons of heavy fighters that could have TAGed it or stood off at five KM salvoing trebs then subspaced back to the Carthage for rearm while the entire Carthage battlegroup opened the range and emptied its long range missile inventory into the beam jammer. I found myself imagining the scene in the credits where the Imperieuse and the Carthage withdraw involving Steele executing Carthage's CO for hilarious incompetence and her bridge crew for not mutinying at their insanely bad battle plan.
Uh-huh, and then the Wargods pull out, the Imperieuse has nothing to kill and the whole trap fails. The Carthage was playing a role, remember?
Anyway, from the UEF side - since ECM in BP uses the Power of Plot, the Hanuman could probably have just jammed the seeker heads of the incoming warheads. 'Contrived!' you may call, but in fact WiH R2 has capship-scale countermeasures which would do the trick perfectly.
That'll likely help against those sorts of Trebuchet blizzards.
Though Steele might be going after GTVA high command next for allowing the war to go this crazily. Half the GTVA fleet includes at least a dozen Hecates plus escort and fighter wings, and god knows how many Orions and Titans and Raynors and lions and tigers and bears. Why not just sit at the gate, building up an unstoppable fleet of destroyers, and subspace it into Earth orbit? Check and mate; the GTVA could send about a dozen AWACs to jam short and long range communications and torpedo lock.
They can't support that kind of force in Sol (node throughput is not adequate to supply everyone on this side, and constantly rotating the ships back through the node for logistics would strain both the ships and the Delta Serpentis logistical tail. They're basically running at maximum population cap (in RTS terms) in Sol.
Most of all is the question I ask below - can the GTVA even take a hostile Sol? How is it going to occupy these planets in any meaningful way? Destroy them, sure, but occupy them productively? I don't know. It needs to force a surrender more than it needs to force, say, massive landings.
Earth can't resist with its now-isolated military, Mars and Jupiter are too weak to break the resulting blockade, Tevs land on Earth and resupply their force from there, and start packing away the religious dictatorship.
How, though? Where is the GTVA going to dig up enough troops to occupy a system that out-populates its entire population (in canon!)?
And hey, the UEF is neither religious nor a dictatorship. It's just got a somewhat permanent steering committee!
In eighteen months time, opportunistic Martian and Jovian traders reopen ties with GTVA controlled Earth and begin legitimizing that regime. Earth's beginning to stabilize around its new government
Stabilize around a government that replaced a hugely economically successful 50-year-old juggernaught that has ruled Sol longer than the GTA ever did? I dunno, seems dicey.
Remember, people like governments that make them happy, safe, and rich. Sol has been all three, while the GTVA has had to turn itself into an anti-Shivan aegis at the cost of public support.
