Anybody interested in seeing Manticore lose?

On Feb 12, 4:48 pm, Loren Pechtel <lorenpech... RemoveThis @hotmail.invalid.com>
wrote:
> On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:55:42 -0800 (PST), "rlbell.ns...@gmail.com"
>
>
>
> <rlbell.ns... RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote:
> >On Feb 7, 5:11 pm, Willowhugger <charlie_the_cat_po... RemoveThis @yahoo.com>
> >wrote:
> >> > I think Manticore could lose a war... but not against Haven. Against
> >> > the Solarians. Then there could be several exciting books tracing the
> >> > exiting and difficult adventures of Honor Harrington as she starts
> >> > over again and reverses that great a defeat!
>
> >> actually, I don't think I could take Manticore seriously if they lost
> >> to the Solarians. They've been pretty much established by David Weber
> >> as having the worst ships in the universe at this point. Personally,
> >> I also think the Havenites have a right for payback.
>
> >>
>
> >While the SLN has poorer ships, crews and weapons on a ship for ship
> >basis than the RMN, the simple fact that they have more ships than the
> >RMN has missile pods and more ship building slips than the the RMN has
> >hulls makes a sollie victory over the starkingdom a foregone
> >conclusion. The tyranny of numbers suggests that there are some
>
> How do you reach this conclusion? The Sollies have a lot but I don't
> see them having anything like this number.

There are about a thousand core worlds and every one of them will want
a portion of the naval contract pork.
A war with the League would also kill the goose that lays the golden
eggs. The Manticoran wormhole is worth much less if there is no
traffic to and from League worlds.
>
> And remember that Sollie warships vs Apollo will be one pod taking out
> one ship. The Sollies would probably have to send 50,000 ships of the
> wall to Manticore to take it out with it's current defenses (once
> Honor reloads her magazines.)

One pod is sixteen missiles, even Silly capital ships (should such
things exist) could handle that.
>
> Note another aspect of Apollo: the magazines can be virtually
> anywhere. You don't have to deploy the pods in the way of the enemy
> anymore. In fact, forget about pods, lets try a different tactic:
>
> Build a few missile bases. They are sort of like the wormhole
> fortresses but under normal operation they have no sidewalls or wedge
> up. What they do have is a huge number of missile tubes. They do
> *NOT* have fire control for them, however.

How does the RMN pay for that with drastically reduced wormhole
traffic revenue.
>
> Send a SD out to meet the enemy fleet. It has no missiles on board,
> just countermissiles. Once the SD is within Apollo control range of
> the enemy the missile base starts firing off salvoes--each salvo has
> as many missiles in it as the SD can control. The SD maneuvers to
> keep the range open, it's role is simply to guide the missiles in. The
> missiles might be drifting 100Mkm or more, so what?

Does the RMN still have SD's. Their non-Apollo units were on the
receiving end of a severe pasting.
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody interested in seeing Manticore lose? 

In article <47b231f7$0$22068$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com>,
Loren Pechtel <lorenpechtel RemoveThis @hotmail.invalid.com> wrote:

> On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:40:41 -0500, Don Sample <dsample RemoveThis @synapse.net>
> wrote:
>
> >In article <47b10ae6$0$25400$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com>,
> > Loren Pechtel <lorenpechtel RemoveThis @hotmail.invalid.com> wrote:
> >
> >> On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:15:11 -0500, Don Sample <dsample RemoveThis @synapse.net>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> >> And the Sollies will never get to deploy the new tech even if they
> >> >> develop it.
> >> >>
> >> >> One cruiser per star system. It carries only recon drones and
> >> >> Mistletoe missiles. It drops out of hyper a month out and coasts
> >> >> through the system at absolute minimum power. The first the Sollies
> >> >> will know that anything is wrong is when the missiles do their final
> >> >> sprints. The shipyards capable of producing the heavies go boom.
> >> >>
> >> >> If the Sollies have any sense they will surrender after that.
> >> >
> >> >Yeah, they "surrender" but then they start their own version of
> >> >Bolthole, only a hundred times over, and a few years later they drop
> >> >their own hammer on Manticore.
> >>
> >> And they're going to be able to pull it off? After they surrender
> >> Manticore will certainly insist on observers.
> >
> >How many observers will it take to keep a watch on thousands of worlds?
> >Manticore doesn't have that many people.
>
> How many observers per world do you need? All you need to look for is
> shipyards capable of constructing large vessels. Those are large
> spacegoing structures.

Which don't actually have to be very close to any inhabited world. You
can stick them out in the boondocks where no one ever goes. The
Solarian League has got nearly two thousand inhabited member systems,
and countless uninhabited systems inside their sphere in influence.

"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely,
mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a
long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just
peanuts to space."

-- Douglas Adams

--
Quando omni flunkus moritati
Visit the Buffy Body Count at <http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/>
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody interested in seeing Manticore lose? 

IF Manticore were to, in a broad and daring stroke, simultaneously, or
close enough to simultaneously for interstellar purposes, wipe out the
entire Solarian Navy, its adjunct support structure, AND every
shipyard, commercial or otherwise, it would still be defeated within a
few years.
As has been mentioned, the Sollies have the ability to produce _many_
Boltholes. Superboltholes. Whereas the Peeps used Bolthole as a
testbed, the Sollies could build fullscale shipyards in relative
obscurity.
For Manticore to win the war, it would have to convince the Solarian
people that any continuation of the war would be folly. Which means it
absolutely CANNOT wipe out the built up industry that would be useful
for any attempt by the Sollies to rebuild a navy. The devastation
brought upon the Solly economy (and likely humanity at large) would
leave the Sollies no choice but to seek redress against the Star
Empire.
It is in Manticore's best interests to not take any hostile action,
save defense of Imperial space. It allows Manticore to paint the naval
elements responsible for the attack as warmongerers and perhaps
convince the Sollies that they were wrong to take such action in the
first place.
It must truly be a Short Victorious War, for Manticore can't afford a
protracted one.
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody interested in seeing Manticore lose? 

On Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:48:39 -0800, Loren Pechtel
<lorenpechtel RemoveThis @hotmail.invalid.com> wrote:


>>> >
>>> >Yeah, they "surrender" but then they start their own version of
>>> >Bolthole, only a hundred times over, and a few years later they drop
>>> >their own hammer on Manticore.
>>>
>>> And they're going to be able to pull it off? After they surrender
>>> Manticore will certainly insist on observers.
>>
>>How many observers will it take to keep a watch on thousands of worlds?
>>Manticore doesn't have that many people.
>
>How many observers per world do you need? All you need to look for is
>shipyards capable of constructing large vessels. Those are large
>spacegoing structures.

even if you visited every wretched system the sollies have mapped it
would be simple enough to build a dozen boltholes in unmapped systems
or even in the empty spaces tween systems.

one thing the sollies truly have is resources to work with.
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody interested in seeing Manticore lose? 

On Feb 12, 10:03 pm, Ben H <cataphractla... RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote:
> IF Manticore were to, in a broad and daring stroke, simultaneously, or
> close enough to simultaneously for interstellar purposes, wipe out the
> entire Solarian Navy, its adjunct support structure, AND every
> shipyard, commercial or otherwise, it would still be defeated within a
> few years.
> As has been mentioned, the Sollies have the ability to produce _many_
> Boltholes. Superboltholes. Whereas the Peeps used Bolthole as a
> testbed, the Sollies could build fullscale shipyards in relative
> obscurity.
> For Manticore to win the war, it would have to convince the Solarian
> people that any continuation of the war would be folly. Which means it
> absolutely CANNOT wipe out the built up industry that would be useful
> for any attempt by the Sollies to rebuild a navy. The devastation
> brought upon the Solly economy (and likely humanity at large) would
> leave the Sollies no choice but to seek redress against the Star
> Empire.
> It is in Manticore's best interests to not take any hostile action,
> save defense of Imperial space. It allows Manticore to paint the naval
> elements responsible for the attack as warmongerers and perhaps
> convince the Sollies that they were wrong to take such action in the
> first place.
> It must truly be a Short Victorious War, for Manticore can't afford a
> protracted one.

Not that it matters, as Weber has explicitly said that unless the
ENTIRE SOLARIAN NAVY, every single ship, attacked Manticore at once
with a great leadership, they would die horribly without doing much
good.
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody interested in seeing Manticore lose? 

> Not that it matters, as Weber has explicitly said that unless the
> ENTIRE SOLARIAN NAVY, every single ship, attacked Manticore at once
> with a great leadership, they would die horribly without doing much
> good.

David Weber seems to have established several points.

1. The Frontier Fleet of the Solarian Navy is about the level of the
PRH at it's height.

2. The Solarian League has CORPORATIONS that are much higher than the
Frontier Fleet.

3. The Solarian League REGULAR FLEET is about the level of the
People's Republic in BASILISK station, which is about the level of
Zulus to the British army at this point in the story.

4. Manticore is now the Star Empire and any war will now have to take
into account whether they've started getting anything back from it's
newly acquired possessions.
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody interested in seeing Manticore lose? 

On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 01:30:53 GMT, Brian McDonald
<Brian_knowspam.McDonald RemoveThis @shaw.ca> wrote:

>On Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:48:39 -0800, Loren Pechtel
><lorenpechtel RemoveThis @hotmail.invalid.com> wrote:
>
>
>>>> >
>>>> >Yeah, they "surrender" but then they start their own version of
>>>> >Bolthole, only a hundred times over, and a few years later they drop
>>>> >their own hammer on Manticore.
>>>>
>>>> And they're going to be able to pull it off? After they surrender
>>>> Manticore will certainly insist on observers.
>>>
>>>How many observers will it take to keep a watch on thousands of worlds?
>>>Manticore doesn't have that many people.
>>
>>How many observers per world do you need? All you need to look for is
>>shipyards capable of constructing large vessels. Those are large
>>spacegoing structures.
>
>even if you visited every wretched system the sollies have mapped it
>would be simple enough to build a dozen boltholes in unmapped systems
>or even in the empty spaces tween systems.
>
>one thing the sollies truly have is resources to work with.

The only threat I think is realistic against observers is out between
systems. That could be a problem, though...
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody interested in seeing Manticore lose? 

On Tue, 12 Feb 2008 17:33:33 -0800 (PST), "rlbell.nsuid@gmail.com"
<rlbell.nsuid.TakeThisOut@gmail.com> wrote:

>> How do you reach this conclusion? The Sollies have a lot but I don't
>> see them having anything like this number.
>
>There are about a thousand core worlds and every one of them will want
>a portion of the naval contract pork.

There isn't that much pork--they don't build very many ships. Most
worlds don't have the shipyards to build any.

>A war with the League would also kill the goose that lays the golden
>eggs. The Manticoran wormhole is worth much less if there is no
>traffic to and from League worlds.

True.

>> And remember that Sollie warships vs Apollo will be one pod taking out
>> one ship. The Sollies would probably have to send 50,000 ships of the
>> wall to Manticore to take it out with it's current defenses (once
>> Honor reloads her magazines.)
>
>One pod is sixteen missiles, even Silly capital ships (should such
>things exist) could handle that.

They were getting one or two pods per ship against Haven.

>> Note another aspect of Apollo: the magazines can be virtually
>> anywhere. You don't have to deploy the pods in the way of the enemy
>> anymore. In fact, forget about pods, lets try a different tactic:
>>
>> Build a few missile bases. They are sort of like the wormhole
>> fortresses but under normal operation they have no sidewalls or wedge
>> up. What they do have is a huge number of missile tubes. They do
>> *NOT* have fire control for them, however.
>
>How does the RMN pay for that with drastically reduced wormhole
>traffic revenue.

I don't think any war with the Sollies would last.

>> Send a SD out to meet the enemy fleet. It has no missiles on board,
>> just countermissiles. Once the SD is within Apollo control range of
>> the enemy the missile base starts firing off salvoes--each salvo has
>> as many missiles in it as the SD can control. The SD maneuvers to
>> keep the range open, it's role is simply to guide the missiles in. The
>> missiles might be drifting 100Mkm or more, so what?
>
>Does the RMN still have SD's. Their non-Apollo units were on the
>receiving end of a severe pasting.

They didn't have their entire fleet at Manticore.
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody interested in seeing Manticore lose? 

On Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:09:17 -0500, Don Sample <dsample.RemoveThis@synapse.net>
wrote:

>In article <47b231f7$0$22068$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com>,
> Loren Pechtel <lorenpechtel.RemoveThis@hotmail.invalid.com> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:40:41 -0500, Don Sample <dsample.RemoveThis@synapse.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >In article <47b10ae6$0$25400$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com>,
>> > Loren Pechtel <lorenpechtel.RemoveThis@hotmail.invalid.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >> On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:15:11 -0500, Don Sample <dsample.RemoveThis@synapse.net>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> >> And the Sollies will never get to deploy the new tech even if they
>> >> >> develop it.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> One cruiser per star system. It carries only recon drones and
>> >> >> Mistletoe missiles. It drops out of hyper a month out and coasts
>> >> >> through the system at absolute minimum power. The first the Sollies
>> >> >> will know that anything is wrong is when the missiles do their final
>> >> >> sprints. The shipyards capable of producing the heavies go boom.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> If the Sollies have any sense they will surrender after that.
>> >> >
>> >> >Yeah, they "surrender" but then they start their own version of
>> >> >Bolthole, only a hundred times over, and a few years later they drop
>> >> >their own hammer on Manticore.
>> >>
>> >> And they're going to be able to pull it off? After they surrender
>> >> Manticore will certainly insist on observers.
>> >
>> >How many observers will it take to keep a watch on thousands of worlds?
>> >Manticore doesn't have that many people.
>>
>> How many observers per world do you need? All you need to look for is
>> shipyards capable of constructing large vessels. Those are large
>> spacegoing structures.
>
>Which don't actually have to be very close to any inhabited world. You
>can stick them out in the boondocks where no one ever goes. The
>Solarian League has got nearly two thousand inhabited member systems,
>and countless uninhabited systems inside their sphere in influence.
>
> "Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely,
> mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a
> long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just
> peanuts to space."
>
> -- Douglas Adams

Sure you can put the base out there but how are you going to hide the
electronic emissions?
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody interested in seeing Manticore lose? 

In article <47b3a748$0$10277$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com>,
Loren Pechtel <lorenpechtel.DeleteThis@hotmail.invalid.com> wrote:

> On Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:09:17 -0500, Don Sample <dsample.DeleteThis@synapse.net>
> wrote:
>
> >In article <47b231f7$0$22068$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com>,
> > Loren Pechtel <lorenpechtel.DeleteThis@hotmail.invalid.com> wrote:
> >
> >> On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:40:41 -0500, Don Sample <dsample.DeleteThis@synapse.net>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> >In article <47b10ae6$0$25400$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com>,
> >> > Loren Pechtel <lorenpechtel.DeleteThis@hotmail.invalid.com> wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:15:11 -0500, Don Sample <dsample.DeleteThis@synapse.net>
> >> >> wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> >> And the Sollies will never get to deploy the new tech even if they
> >> >> >> develop it.
> >> >> >>
> >> >> >> One cruiser per star system. It carries only recon drones and
> >> >> >> Mistletoe missiles. It drops out of hyper a month out and coasts
> >> >> >> through the system at absolute minimum power. The first the Sollies
> >> >> >> will know that anything is wrong is when the missiles do their final
> >> >> >> sprints. The shipyards capable of producing the heavies go boom.
> >> >> >>
> >> >> >> If the Sollies have any sense they will surrender after that.
> >> >> >
> >> >> >Yeah, they "surrender" but then they start their own version of
> >> >> >Bolthole, only a hundred times over, and a few years later they drop
> >> >> >their own hammer on Manticore.
> >> >>
> >> >> And they're going to be able to pull it off? After they surrender
> >> >> Manticore will certainly insist on observers.
> >> >
> >> >How many observers will it take to keep a watch on thousands of worlds?
> >> >Manticore doesn't have that many people.
> >>
> >> How many observers per world do you need? All you need to look for is
> >> shipyards capable of constructing large vessels. Those are large
> >> spacegoing structures.
> >
> >Which don't actually have to be very close to any inhabited world. You
> >can stick them out in the boondocks where no one ever goes. The
> >Solarian League has got nearly two thousand inhabited member systems,
> >and countless uninhabited systems inside their sphere in influence.
> >
> > "Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely,
> > mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a
> > long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just
> > peanuts to space."
> >
> > -- Douglas Adams
>
> Sure you can put the base out there but how are you going to hide the
> electronic emissions?

You put it out around some star that doesn't have any inhabited systems.
There are tens of thousands of those in Solarian space.

Or if you insist on sticking it in an inhabited one, the Sollies are
already leaders in stealth technology. And what's to distinguish the
electronic emissions of a yard making warships, from one building
commercial cargo ships, or an asteroid mining operation, or any one of a
dozen other things.

--
Quando omni flunkus moritati
Visit the Buffy Body Count at <http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/>
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody interested in seeing Manticore lose? 

In article <47b3a748$1$10277$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com>,
Loren Pechtel <lorenpechtel RemoveThis @hotmail.invalid.com> wrote:

> On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 01:30:53 GMT, Brian McDonald
> <Brian_knowspam.McDonald RemoveThis @shaw.ca> wrote:
>
> >On Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:48:39 -0800, Loren Pechtel
> ><lorenpechtel RemoveThis @hotmail.invalid.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >>>> >
> >>>> >Yeah, they "surrender" but then they start their own version of
> >>>> >Bolthole, only a hundred times over, and a few years later they drop
> >>>> >their own hammer on Manticore.
> >>>>
> >>>> And they're going to be able to pull it off? After they surrender
> >>>> Manticore will certainly insist on observers.
> >>>
> >>>How many observers will it take to keep a watch on thousands of worlds?
> >>>Manticore doesn't have that many people.
> >>
> >>How many observers per world do you need? All you need to look for is
> >>shipyards capable of constructing large vessels. Those are large
> >>spacegoing structures.
> >
> >even if you visited every wretched system the sollies have mapped it
> >would be simple enough to build a dozen boltholes in unmapped systems
> >or even in the empty spaces tween systems.
> >
> >one thing the sollies truly have is resources to work with.
>
> The only threat I think is realistic against observers is out between
> systems. That could be a problem, though...

Why? (Another thing I've never understood about Weber is his insistence
on always anchoring his fleets to star systems. Why should the
rendezvous point for any fleet be anywhere near any star?)

--
Quando omni flunkus moritati
Visit the Buffy Body Count at <http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/>
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody interested in seeing Manticore lose? 

On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 22:56:09 -0500, Don Sample <dsample RemoveThis @synapse.net>
wrote:

>In article <47b3a748$1$10277$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com>,
> Loren Pechtel <lorenpechtel RemoveThis @hotmail.invalid.com> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 01:30:53 GMT, Brian McDonald
>> <Brian_knowspam.McDonald RemoveThis @shaw.ca> wrote:
>>
>> >On Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:48:39 -0800, Loren Pechtel
>> ><lorenpechtel RemoveThis @hotmail.invalid.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> >>>> >
>> >>>> >Yeah, they "surrender" but then they start their own version of
>> >>>> >Bolthole, only a hundred times over, and a few years later they drop
>> >>>> >their own hammer on Manticore.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> And they're going to be able to pull it off? After they surrender
>> >>>> Manticore will certainly insist on observers.
>> >>>
>> >>>How many observers will it take to keep a watch on thousands of worlds?
>> >>>Manticore doesn't have that many people.
>> >>
>> >>How many observers per world do you need? All you need to look for is
>> >>shipyards capable of constructing large vessels. Those are large
>> >>spacegoing structures.
>> >
>> >even if you visited every wretched system the sollies have mapped it
>> >would be simple enough to build a dozen boltholes in unmapped systems
>> >or even in the empty spaces tween systems.
>> >
>> >one thing the sollies truly have is resources to work with.
>>
>> The only threat I think is realistic against observers is out between
>> systems. That could be a problem, though...
>
>Why? (Another thing I've never understood about Weber is his insistence
>on always anchoring his fleets to star systems. Why should the
>rendezvous point for any fleet be anywhere near any star?)

Logistics. It's the same reason there tends to be cities near naval
ports. You need a support infrastructure for supply - consumables,
repair, replacement parts, crew leave and replacements. All those
things require ready access to manufacturers, civilian contractors,
etc. Which are most conveniently in star systems. Anywhere in
between, and you can quite nicely disable a fleet by the simple
expedient of cutting off its supply chain through commerce raiding.
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody interested in seeing Manticore lose? 

In article <3eh7r39hjls3mmdhss7e8utla5p8np3onq.DeleteThis@4ax.com>,
Doug Jones <emailunknown.DeleteThis@noplace.org> wrote:

> On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 22:56:09 -0500, Don Sample <dsample.DeleteThis@synapse.net>
> wrote:
>
> >In article <47b3a748$1$10277$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com>,
> > Loren Pechtel <lorenpechtel.DeleteThis@hotmail.invalid.com> wrote:
> >
> >> On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 01:30:53 GMT, Brian McDonald
> >> <Brian_knowspam.McDonald.DeleteThis@shaw.ca> wrote:
> >>
> >> >On Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:48:39 -0800, Loren Pechtel
> >> ><lorenpechtel.DeleteThis@hotmail.invalid.com> wrote:
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >>>> >
> >> >>>> >Yeah, they "surrender" but then they start their own version of
> >> >>>> >Bolthole, only a hundred times over, and a few years later they drop
> >> >>>> >their own hammer on Manticore.
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>> And they're going to be able to pull it off? After they surrender
> >> >>>> Manticore will certainly insist on observers.
> >> >>>
> >> >>>How many observers will it take to keep a watch on thousands of worlds?
> >> >>>
> >> >>>Manticore doesn't have that many people.
> >> >>
> >> >>How many observers per world do you need? All you need to look for is
> >> >>shipyards capable of constructing large vessels. Those are large
> >> >>spacegoing structures.
> >> >
> >> >even if you visited every wretched system the sollies have mapped it
> >> >would be simple enough to build a dozen boltholes in unmapped systems
> >> >or even in the empty spaces tween systems.
> >> >
> >> >one thing the sollies truly have is resources to work with.
> >>
> >> The only threat I think is realistic against observers is out between
> >> systems. That could be a problem, though...
> >
> >Why? (Another thing I've never understood about Weber is his insistence
> >on always anchoring his fleets to star systems. Why should the
> >rendezvous point for any fleet be anywhere near any star?)
>
> Logistics. It's the same reason there tends to be cities near naval
> ports. You need a support infrastructure for supply - consumables,
> repair, replacement parts, crew leave and replacements. All those
> things require ready access to manufacturers, civilian contractors,
> etc. Which are most conveniently in star systems. Anywhere in
> between, and you can quite nicely disable a fleet by the simple
> expedient of cutting off its supply chain through commerce raiding.

But he also sets up rendezvous points in empty systems, where there is
no support infrastructure.

Tourville's rendezvous point in "War of Honor" is a star system in
Silesia. When he thinks it's been discovered he moves to a different
system. Why be in a system at all?

I think in all the books, the only time anyone makes a rendezvous
*outside* a system is Terekhov's rendezvous in "Shadow of Saganami."

--
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Visit the Buffy Body Count at <http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/>
 >> Stay informed about: Anybody interested in seeing Manticore lose?