Honorverse ramblings and musings

saber964 wrote:

SWM wrote:We have no information about Masada since Mercedes Brigham described her time serving in the Endicott occupation forces (text in FiE).

There is some more info in Obligated Service

Good catch! I'd forgotten that brief interlude. It doesn't give any details on Masadan life or current politics. But it does indirectly show that a lot of Masadan men still have the old attitudes toward women.

What does a Solarian uniform look like? What is the difference between Battle Fleet's uniforms and Frontier Fleet's uniforms? I vaguely recall that they may be white but I don't remember where I picked that up.

Yow wrote:What does a Solarian uniform look like? What is the difference between Battle Fleet's uniforms and Frontier Fleet's uniforms? I vaguely recall that they may be white but I don't remember where I picked that up.

I also remember somebody mentioned a white uniform, but I couldn't find it in my quick search. I suspect that House of Lies might hold the answers to your questions.

crewdude48 wrote:

Yow wrote:What does a Solarian uniform look like? What is the difference between Battle Fleet's uniforms and Frontier Fleet's uniforms? I vaguely recall that they may be white but I don't remember where I picked that up.

I also remember somebody mentioned a white uniform, but I couldn't find it in my quick search. I suspect that House of Lies might hold the answers to your questions.

It comes up immediately prior to Admiral Gold Peak speaking to Admiral Byng:

Storm From the Shadows, Chapter 23 wrote:"I've just been looking at ONI's records, Ma'am," she said. "I punched in Admiral Byng's name, and it looks like I got a direct hit."
"Really?"
Both of Michelle's eyes rose in surprise. The Office of Naval Intelligence did its best to keep track of the senior personnel of other navies, but its records on the SLN were sparser than on, say, the Republic of Haven or the Andermani Empire. Despite the Manticoran merchant marine's deep penetration of the League's carrying trade, the Solarian Navy had been assigned a far lower priority than more local—and pressing—threats over the past half-century or so. And the fact that the SLN was so damned big didn't help. The same absolute number of officers represented a far smaller percentage of the total Solly officer corps, all of which helped to explain why it was actually unusual to find any given Solarian officer in the database.
"I think so, at any rate," Lecter replied. "It's always possible they have more than one Admiral Josef Byng, I suppose."
"Given the size of their damned navy?" Michelle snorted. "I'd say the odds were pretty good, actually." She shrugged. "Well, go ahead and shoot me whatever you've found."
"Yes, Ma'am."
The entry which appeared on Michelle's display a moment later was surprisingly long. For reasons which became depressingly clear as she skimmed through it.
The file imagery showed a tall, aristocratic-looking man with chestnut hair, just starting to go gray at the temples, and sharp blue eyes. He had a strong chin and sported a bristling mustache and a neatly trimmed goatee. Indeed, he looked every centimeter the complete professional naval officer in his immaculately tailored dress whites.
The biographical synopsis which went with that sharp, taut imagery, however, was . . . less aesthetically pleasing.
"It says here he's a Battle Fleet officer," Michelle said aloud, and even to herself, her tone sounded plaintive, like someone protesting that there surely had to be some sort of mistake.

Something has come to my relief, and sparks questions. Manticore developed FTL. It was later displayed that the Andermani had also developed FTL. Haven also displayed the capability with the Tarantula platform.

I always wondered how the Andermani were able to overcome the engineering problems so quickly. I seem to vaguely recall an Andermani personnel bragging about Andermani Intel having infiltrated certain levels of the Manticoran government. When I say quickly, regarding the Andermani, my evidence is in the consideration that the Manties were so careful in keeping the ability under wraps and for the Andermani to go ahead and spend R&D time on it had to come from the fact that the Manties showed FTL to be possible. But how did the Manties show the possibility to the Andermani when they were so careful to keep it under wraps? Of course the RHN became aware because it was used against them. But how did the Andermani know? It was never used against them?

Then I found this in the wiki.

↑ Admiral Sonja Hemphill began developing the idea following a report on a tactic Captain Honor Harrington used in Silesia to signal to IANS Neue Bayern. HMS Fearless flickered her wedge causing a gravitational pulse, which effectively moved faster than light and was visible to Warshawski detectors. (HHA4.2: WOS)

Okay. The implication of this is that the Andermani was technically alerted to the possibility of FTL at the same time as Sonja Hemphill from Honor's tactic. That explains that.

What it doesn't explain is how the Andermani was able to shoehorn the tech into something the size of a recon drone. Whose likelihood was made obvious in the ability of the IANS Hellbarde while shadowing the HMS Jessica Epps in the Harston System. (HH10) Wiki confirms my perception of IAN's FTL recon drone tech.

So many questions. How was the Andermani able to...

1. So quickly beat Haven to the FTL punch?
2. How were the Andermani also able to solve the engineering problems so quickly to shoehorn it into an RD? A stealthy RD at that.
3. Am I correct that Haven still hadn't matched the RD capability? Haven was still using the huge Tarantula platform.
4. Since the Andermani has cleared the FTL miniaturization hurdles, doesn't it seem likely that the next step of developing their own counterpart to Apollo is imminent, if not a reality already?
5. Doesn't all of this suggest that Andermani R&D is on a par with the RMN, which suggests that their education system may very well be as well.
6. Since the RHN and RMN are now allies, is it likely that they've divulged each other's security leaks? "By the way, John Doe was actually working for us?" I mean, if there is indeed trust now.
7. Ditto, the Andermani?

cthia wrote:1. So quickly beat Haven to the FTL punch?

The IAN had A) the same point of epiphany as the RMN, B) Better spies -- as hinted at by Chien Lu Anderman when Wayfarer and the other Q-Ships passed through New Potsdam.

cthia wrote:2. How were the Andermani also able to solve the engineering problems so quickly to shoehorn it into an RD? A stealthy RD at that.

They A) Have better spies than the PRN/RHN, B) have a better beginning tech base, and C) aren't included in the Solarian tech embargo.

cthia wrote:3. Am I correct that Haven still hadn't matched the RD capability? Haven was still using the huge Tarantula platform.

Haven used recon LACs with FTL comms as forward processing nodes in one battle; there was an info dump about why LACs and slow transmission rates at that time.

cthia wrote:4. Since the Andermani has cleared the FTL miniaturization hurdles, doesn't it seem likely that the next step of developing their own counterpart to Apollo is imminent, if not a reality already?

The Andermani SDs assigned to Eighth Fleet had Manticoran built Keyhole II installed along with the ability to handle RMN Flatpack Pods, I would guess that the IAN has the tech data and examples of Apollo to work from.

cthia wrote:5. Doesn't all of this suggest that Andermani R&D is on a par with the RMN, which suggests that their education system may very well be as well.

As noted above, the Anderman Empire isn't under a Tech Embargo from the Solarian League. They aren't afflicted with a Dolist educational system and they have better spies than the PRN/RHN. That all adds up to a comparable tech base and general educational level, so it isn't surprising that the IAN is working hard to stay competitive with the RMN.

cthia wrote:6. Since the RHN and RMN are now allies, is it likely that they've divulged each other's security leaks? "By the way, John Doe was actually working for us?" I mean, if there is indeed trust now.

7. Ditto, the Andermani?

They may well share intelligence data but I doubt any of them share sources.

Weird Harold wrote:

cthia wrote:5. Doesn't all of this suggest that Andermani R&D is on a par with the RMN, which suggests that their education system may very well be as well.

As noted above, the Anderman Empire isn't under a Tech Embargo from the Solarian League. They aren't afflicted with a Dolist educational system and they have better spies than the PRN/RHN. That all adds up to a comparable tech base and general educational level, so it isn't surprising that the IAN is working hard to stay competitive with the RMN.

Andermani R&D is at least in the same league as Manticore's - or the League in general. It shares with Manticore and Haven what the League's does not have - a practical orientation toward working the cutting edge of useful military applications, under the assumption that they need that and other people will outpace them if they don't work at it.

As noted, unlike Haven, they aren't playing catch-up with their educational system. Unlike Manticore, they've not had their R&D establishment based on a single star system's population and (to some extent) resources.

They've been in a better position than Haven or the League to watch Manticoran developments closely and without counter-intelligence concentrated on keeping them in the dark specifically. They were there at the "birth" of FTL communications and would have been watching Manticore for developments there, and maybe what it would require practically. So they were in a unique position to use their R&D and naval intelligence assets without Solarian blinders or Haven's internal political and educational hurdles.

They haven't got Manticore's intense need for R&D - for them, it's known and accepted to be very important; for Manticore, it's the difference between life and death. They haven't got Manticore's ability to stay on top of R&D developments across human space courtesy of the merchant marine and wormhole and commercial connections - we don't think of it much, but the League's R&D ends up working much better for Manticore than for the SLN itself. But they do have an excellent establishment on their own and ability to integrate their own R&D and what they can pick up elsewhere.

Weird Harold wrote:

cthia wrote:1. So quickly beat Haven to the FTL punch?

The IAN had A) the same point of epiphany as the RMN, B) Better spies -- as hinted at by Chien Lu Anderman when Wayfarer and the other Q-Ships passed through New Potsdam.

cthia wrote:2. How were the Andermani also able to solve the engineering problems so quickly to shoehorn it into an RD? A stealthy RD at that.

They A) Have better spies than the PRN/RHN, B) have a better beginning tech base, and C) aren't included in the Solarian tech embargo.

cthia wrote:3. Am I correct that Haven still hadn't matched the RD capability? Haven was still using the huge Tarantula platform.

Haven used recon LACs with FTL comms as forward processing nodes in one battle; there was an info dump about why LACs and slow transmission rates at that time.

cthia wrote:4. Since the Andermani has cleared the FTL miniaturization hurdles, doesn't it seem likely that the next step of developing their own counterpart to Apollo is imminent, if not a reality already?

The Andermani SDs assigned to Eighth Fleet had Manticoran built Keyhole II installed along with the ability to handle RMN Flatpack Pods, I would guess that the IAN has the tech data and examples of Apollo to work from.

cthia wrote:5. Doesn't all of this suggest that Andermani R&D is on a par with the RMN, which suggests that their education system may very well be as well.

As noted above, the Anderman Empire isn't under a Tech Embargo from the Solarian League. They aren't afflicted with a Dolist educational system and they have better spies than the PRN/RHN. That all adds up to a comparable tech base and general educational level, so it isn't surprising that the IAN is working hard to stay competitive with the RMN.

cthia wrote:6. Since the RHN and RMN are now allies, is it likely that they've divulged each other's security leaks? "By the way, John Doe was actually working for us?" I mean, if there is indeed trust now.

7. Ditto, the Andermani?

They may well share intelligence data but I doubt any of them share sources.

My bad, err bold.

But that means there's really not complete trust doesn't it? If I were a government, I'd want to lock down all of my security leaks. If two governments become allies - sincere allies, then what is the need of infiltrators? To want to retain your spies mean you don't really trust me, and perhaps I shouldn't trust you.

Haven feeling the need to retain their spies seems as silly as Grayson needing Manticoran infiltrators. Unless Grayson does feel the need for Manticoran spies, as they needed during the time of the wholeass sitting atop the High Ridge - which means this whole Alliance thing is built of straw.

Among other minor details, they just got done with a series of wars that probably killed upwards of 10 million people and cost each of them at least 5 years of economic growth. You would have to be strikingly naive to think that the RoH and the SEM won't in the future have areas of disagreement, or even, over time, fundamental differences. People that naive don't usually end up in decision making positions for governments.

cthia wrote:
But that means there's really not complete trust doesn't it? If I were a government, I'd want to lock down all of my security leaks. If two governments become allies - sincere allies, then what is the need of infiltrators? To want to retain your spies mean you don't really trust me, and perhaps I shouldn't trust you.

Haven feeling the need to retain their spies seems as silly as Grayson needing Manticoran infiltrators. Unless Grayson does feel the need for Manticoran spies, as they needed during the time of the wholeass sitting atop the High Ridge - which means this whole Alliance thing is built of straw.

Allies still spy on each other, even in real life. Just read the info from Pat Givens on how Beowulf informed the RMN about the pending SLN attack on Manticore for an in universe example.