This was intended as a reply to kzt, but pappilon has done a pretty good job of covering things. there's a few points I have expanded on.
pappilon wrote:(1)Are we forgetting that the GA is the lesser of the SL's enemies? who knows what other little Operation Januses the MAlign is cooking up. They are already inside the SLN sabotaging BF from the inside. They want the SL to disintegrate as fast s the GA does.
Neither the MAlign or GA are operating in a vacuum. The MAligns plans are reliant on the GAs actions, but the GA doesn't know much about the MAligns plans in detail.
(2) Build software to do ... what, exactly? Yes they have good computers with excellent processing speed. No idea what the parameters are for their software because they have never survived a battle to get info home for analysis. Crap for battle experience, even worse crap for battle simulations. WE have the advantage of third person omniscience, BF does not. Build software to handle the shown capabilities of the GA only to find out OOPS there is another 20% they held in reserve.
More importantly, does the SLN have easy access to someone capable of a fast turn-around on this? They've never had to do this in living memory, so it's highly unlikely they have someone at the correct level.
(3) Haven could not replicate the RMN weapons with working copies and tech manuals available, couldn't crack the miniaturization. Still can't crack the FTL (?). Bing was quoting published articles speculating that even gross FTL would require the physical size of an SD.
On the other hand, Haven did take a massive tech transfer from the League towards the middle/end of the First Haven-Manticore War which boosted their capabilities tremendously. I think that, with the exception of a few pieces of reverse engineered technology and items specific to the conflict with Manticore, the SLs technology is better.
(4) Granted to know it exists and does work is half the battle. Barring any miraculous serendipity, making functional prototypes is years away. Weaponizing it takes longer. Potential is nothing until you feed it something. There several iterations of a dead horse laying around here, (A) SLN needs a brand new Doctrine, Not something easly created, especially with an enemy within to push it in ... less than optimal directions, or stall it entirely. (B) Until you have the doctrine you cannot design software for the hardware in the obsolete ship designs, much less in more survivable hulls which (C) you can't even design, much less build without (A) the doctrine. (D) Then you start developing munitions - DDMs MDMs pods more point defense fewer energy mounts.
It's no good merely knowing something can be done - it's also necessary to know a method (doesn't have to be the same one) to replicate the effect. I would draw people's attention to the 1632 short story "Canst Though Send The Lightnings?". They knew it could be done, but no-one could work out how it could be done. Someone had to read an article to find out how it was done.
(5) Now you're just getting started yet how much RMN construction was cut short because new weapons systems demanded new designs? Yeah great you mobilize your potential, tool up to produce 5,000 hulls then build half the hulls only to find they are obsolete and new designs are on the way, so finish the hulls and retool for the new designs. While you are in a shooting war with the meanest fleet with the absolutely most battle hardened crews and admirals in your universe.
And those designs will be years down the line. The RMN was evaluating (honestly) and producing new SD designs every few months. The SLN is almost certainly in the "an SD lasts a century" mindset. They may just be designing a next gen (for them!) design, but that's obsolete.
(6) Then you are not operating in this universe but in the universe of RFC. What the US did, the USSR did, Britain did is worthless in the face of what RFC will allow the SL to do.
The SLN will get it's victories. These will almost certainly be minor and pointless compared to what the GA will be doing in return.
