ThinksMarkedly wrote:cthia wrote:They are the largest system in the Galaxy with the largest Navy. I don't think the largest collection of planets having the largest Navy but yet the weakest Navy is natural. Especially in light of the SL's lone history of dominance. Mother nature will take its course.
It wasn't the weakest. It was the strongest for all of its history, except the last quarter century (and didn't realise it).
Correct, they didn't realise it. But since they are no longer ignorant, to remain so in light of their mammoth attributes (and other more human reasons) isn't natural.
ThinksMarkedly wrote:The problem is the metric you're applying. Yes, it can't dedicate as many ships per system as other polities and navies can. But in their thinking that was the wrong measurement. And I have to agree with them.
That makes two of us. Why attack someone's brother if there are a thousand of them living at home.
ThinksMarkedly wrote:They had 2000 to 2500 superdreadnoughts in service, which was more than 4x as many as the next biggest navy, the PN. And probably bigger than all the other navies combined too. The SLN Battle Fleet was a deterrent fleet: strong enough to punish anyone who would be foolish enough to attack a League system or protectorate. That meant no one in their right mind would.
I can understand that, the numbers that matter are the numbers that will come calling on your Home System.
ThinksMarkedly wrote:That's cold comfort for the poor system that did get attacked, I agree. And I don't doubt that many of them will now clamour to be better protected against this kind of attack that has never come from an enemy anyway. And I do think the SLN will rebuild itself to become again the biggest navy, attempting to compensate the GF's technological headstart (quality) with numbers (quantity). But it won't be a 50:1 disparity.
And therein lies a hint of a brewing problem that is inherent in Honor's demands.
The SL has a responsibility, indeed it has a right to protect its own space. If pirates begin to attack its freighters the SL has a right to
pursue and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. Pursuing them may lead to excursions outside of League space.
Attackers can try to capitalize on the fact that the bulldog cannot leave its playpen.
ThinksMarkedly wrote:cthia wrote:The fact that these spin off polities can each outbuild the GA also gives their previous master pause. If each spinoff polity join together to form their own Block of Successor States (BOSS) then they could challenge the League. This is essentially what the MA had in mind with the RF. There is no reason something like that can not form on its own naturally. And if they do form a BOSS, their revanchism could be directed towards their former League of oppressors.
Right. And BTW, nice acronym.
Thanks. I almost used Band of Successor States, which would not have changed the acronym. BOSS also sounds quite a bit suggestive, aggressive, and foreboding.
cthia wrote:One of the most effective deterrents against being a bully is to have a peer power. The new SLN won't be able to operate in a vacuum (metaphorically, of course, because they do operate in space) because the eyes of all the other navies will be on them. Conversely, the SLN's eyes will be on each individual navy from those splinters and the GF. If none of them can take on ALL the other ones at the same time, then none of them can get away with bullying their way around without consequence.
Which, indeed, goes against the MAlign plans.
Interesting as well.
A problem could arise if piracy in SL space rises, perhaps because the SLN has lost a little of their fear factor (or because of some nefarious master plan) and they can no longer police and protect their own legal bona fide interests because they are on probation.
It is like a convict trying to get his life together and needs to conduct legitimate business while an ankle bracelet is keeping him away from a certain area because it has a gun shop nearby, etc.
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