What would you argue to be the most illogical decision made by an IS Leader?

[Minemech]

 What would you argue to be the most illogical or irrational decision made by an Inner Sphere leader, be they state or phone company? The RD is basically an Inner Sphere state so they can be included.

 A few tasters:
 Why did Takashi want to bring Maximilian into his alliance with Janos? It could only be read as him thinking that he was more than the first among equals when he was neither. Maximilian had nothing to offer the two, even from a sympathetic realist perspective and his role in the recent civil war in the League was publicly known. The Confederation was locked in its pariah position in the Inner Sphere, and all that Janos and Takashi had to do was coordinate with a desperate Maximilian while rejecting him. Takashi was neither stupid nor naive, rather all five at the time were top notch.

 Why in the world would Victor Steiner-Davion be appointed the Precentor-Martial of Comstar? The origins of Focht made sense since Comstar was that desperate to have a real military, but not only was Victor out of house, but he had a conflict of interests as the voting Comstar member of the Star League. Victor had literally nothing to offer the Comguards. All it did was make members think that Comstar was nothing more than a puppet entity, and TRO 3057's explanation of the Impavido did not help allay that concern for readers at the time. Lastly it gave the still legal First Prince access to ROM intelligence. The man could have landed on New Avalon the whole time and dismissed Katherine, which is another loopy decision.

  Why did Victor make Yvonne regent?

 

 

[Middcore]

Why did Victor make Yvonne regent?

Peter had exiled himself and Arthur was widely regarded as a hothead so that left Yvonne.

And really, it should have been fine, because the whole thing with Katherine somehow deposing Yvonne by manipulating opinion polls or some such is low-key one of the most ridiculous plot devices in the history of the IP.

Victor's really illogical decision was leaving the Inner Sphere to go lead Task Force Bulldog personally, but that's just the whole feudal-king-leading-troops-from-the-front trope BattleTech loves writ large.

[The Eagle]

What would you argue to be the most illogical or irrational decision made by an Inner Sphere leader, be they state or phone company? The RD is basically an Inner Sphere state so they can be included.

 A few tasters:
 Why did Takashi want to bring Maximilian into his alliance with Janos? It could only be read as him thinking that he was more than the first among equals when he was neither. Maximilian had nothing to offer the two, even from a sympathetic realist perspective and his role in the recent civil war in the League was publicly known. The Confederation was locked in its pariah position in the Inner Sphere, and all that Janos and Takashi had to do was coordinate with a desperate Maximilian while rejecting him. Takashi was neither stupid nor naive, rather all five at the time were top notch.

 Why in the world would Victor Steiner-Davion be appointed the Precentor-Martial of Comstar? The origins of Focht made sense since Comstar was that desperate to have a real military, but not only was Victor out of house, but he had a conflict of interests as the voting Comstar member of the Star League. Victor had literally nothing to offer the Comguards. All it did was make members think that Comstar was nothing more than a puppet entity, and TRO 3057's explanation of the Impavido did not help allay that concern for readers at the time. Lastly it gave the still legal First Prince access to ROM intelligence. The man could have landed on New Avalon the whole time and dismissed Katherine, which is another loopy decision.

  Why did Victor make Yvonne regent?

I'd argue that neither of these is illogical.

In 3025, the CCAF was not the sick man of the Inner Sphere that barely survived through the 3030s.  They were still mostly considered a first-rate House capable of fighting one of its neighbors on a relatively even footing, just as they had through the 3rd Succession War.  They might have been smaller than the AFFS, but bringing the Capellans into an alliance with the Free Worlds meant that ideally Janos Marik could move more troops off the Capellan border and stack them on the Lyran border instead.  Likewise, the CCAF could shift more regiments to the FedSuns border -- in both cases, this puts more 'Mechs on the borders of the enemies of the Dragon, lessening the force that either the Steiners or Davions could focus on the Combine.

Victor's appointment as Precenter Martial was, in my mind, a pretty smart move.  Victor and his block were all savvy enough to read the room and see that Katrina would win the next vote for First Lord.  By drawing Rasalhague to their side -- which Teddy was able to do -- they achieved a draw in the vote, in which case the tie-breaking vote goes to ComStar.  Focht was old and ready to retire anyway, so by letting Victor take his place and cast the deciding vote, Focht maintained his outward-facing "Sphere-first neutrality" while simultaneously thwarting Katrina.  It also kept Victor in a position of power.  Without the Archon-Princedom or Commanding General SLDF, he would have lived out his days as a private citizen (probably in the Combine).  So this move: 1. kept Victor (one of the "main characters" of the setting) in power, 2. kept Focht's hands politically clean, 3. aligned the FRR solidly on the White Hat Team, and 4. prevented Katrina from being in a position to seize ultimate power.  Both in- and out-of-universe, it's a good play.

[Middcore]

So this move: 1. kept Victor (one of the "main characters" of the setting) in power, 2. kept Focht's hands politically clean, 3. aligned the FRR solidly on the White Hat Team, and 4. prevented Katrina from being in a position to seize ultimate power.  Both in- and out-of-universe, it's a good play.

I think the argument Minemech is making is that none of this is particularly in ComStar's best interests, whereas fairly transparently taking a side in the Katherine-vs-Victor feud compromises their credibility.

[Sartris]

no other house leader has dared tattoo their house emblem on their forehead after janos. cowards all.

[Cannonshop]

hmmmm...

Trying to claim the First Lord of the Star League after dissolving it.

which would be...all of them.

Any one of the House Lords could have played kingmaker and maybe gotten a break during teh succession wars, by not trying to succeed to the throne.  the easiest way to get nearly everyone on your border to leave you alone?

"We'll talk rejoining to whichever of the rest of you wins.  we're staying out of this."  The Lyrans had the Rim Worlds they could've been absorbing and industrially digesting, fighting over the remains of the Terran Hegemony after Amaris and Kerensky finished taking turns annihilating it for a decade (and everyone else is trying to grab it) seems...dumb, pointless, really, especially after what the FWL went through with New Dallas.

but then, I'm an optimist.

[BrianDavion]

LOL no professing neutrality wouldn't have done anything, it would have invited attack as everyone attempted to force the neutral party to reckongize their claim. It literally would have put a target on their backs

[Retry]

No, I gotta agree with Cannonshop on this one.  At the very least, the advantage of not having an extra front on their borders (for the time being) should basically be a gift Commonwealth's main two border states, the Draconis Combine and the Free Worlds League, who would have one less front compared to their foes.  And what would the Cappies and Feds do, they've got no Lyran border and two fronts of their own to worry about.

Not that either couldn't theoretically stab the Commonwealth in the back after they declare neutrality, but opening another front against an (admittedly nominally) neutral party for no good reason would itself be a massive unforced error.

[Metallgewitter]

The Periphery leaders financing terrorists to break free from the Star League and when they manage that they have to deal with said terrorists and no one is giving them money through trade. Kind of ilogical to think the members of said League would happily buy their stuff now

For the CCAF: said army was simply exhausted before the 4th Sucession War. The elasticx defense concept had worn out their machines and soldiers. Plus the indutry could not support said military operational tempo adequately anymore

I have another one: Victor deciding to initiate Operation GEMINI despite all the risks involved. Yes the explanation was that they could not keep up their miliitary without the supplies but seriously? At that point the FedCom factories were churning out so much new Mechs that I would suspect that this would have been enough to upgrade at least the frontline units while also rebuilding and reorganizing the military. I think being honest with "Thomas Marik" would have been the better option then using a body double to keep the detente

[Minemech]

Peter had exiled himself and Arthur was widely regarded as a hothead so that left Yvonne.

And really, it should have been fine, because the whole thing with Katherine somehow deposing Yvonne by manipulating opinion polls or some such is low-key one of the most ridiculous plot devices in the history of the IP.

Victor's really illogical decision was leaving the Inner Sphere to go lead Task Force Bulldog personally, but that's just the whole feudal-king-leading-troops-from-the-front trope BattleTech loves writ large.

It is a bit of a loop because by making Yvonne regent, she could not become First Prince should he die in the field. That on its own should have caused him to reconsider. Victor's Ian tag was earned.

I'd argue that neither of these is illogical.

In 3025, the CCAF was not the sick man of the Inner Sphere that barely survived through the 3030s.  They were still mostly considered a first-rate House capable of fighting one of its neighbors on a relatively even footing, just as they had through the 3rd Succession War.  They might have been smaller than the AFFS, but bringing the Capellans into an alliance with the Free Worlds meant that ideally Janos Marik could move more troops off the Capellan border and stack them on the Lyran border instead.  Likewise, the CCAF could shift more regiments to the FedSuns border -- in both cases, this puts more 'Mechs on the borders of the enemies of the Dragon, lessening the force that either the Steiners or Davions could focus on the Combine.

The Capellan Confederation was in a compelled position and both Janos and Takashi knew it. Heck, Janos was rejoicing in epicaricasy. Furthermore, Maximilian had already unilaterally disarmed the Andurien border. Adding them to the alliance did not place them on higher alert, rather it may have played a role in their decision to drop that status. Janos really could move troops the swiftest, so keeping a few Andurien regiments on the border really was not a bother. Lastly, Maximilian was known to be the least stable of the bunch, as was the assumption with Liaos in general across the Successor States.

Victor's appointment as Precenter Martial was, in my mind, a pretty smart move.  Victor and his block were all savvy enough to read the room and see that Katrina would win the next vote for First Lord.  By drawing Rasalhague to their side -- which Teddy was able to do -- they achieved a draw in the vote, in which case the tie-breaking vote goes to ComStar.  Focht was old and ready to retire anyway, so by letting Victor take his place and cast the deciding vote, Focht maintained his outward-facing "Sphere-first neutrality" while simultaneously thwarting Katrina.  It also kept Victor in a position of power.  Without the Archon-Princedom or Commanding General SLDF, he would have lived out his days as a private citizen (probably in the Combine).  So this move: 1. kept Victor (one of the "main characters" of the setting) in power, 2. kept Focht's hands politically clean, 3. aligned the FRR solidly on the White Hat Team, and 4. prevented Katrina from being in a position to seize ultimate power.  Both in- and out-of-universe, it's a good play.

Keeping Victor was not in Comstar's interest, nor did it keep Focht's hands clean for he could have chosen from any number of excellent Comguard officers who would have been better for its interests. Rather it made him Victor camp. Victor technically had the legal right to return to New Avalon and reassume his position, all he needed to do to keep her from seizing ultimate power was order her immediate arrest, and a "swift and fair trial" for treason and sedition followed by an execution. Line politics are brutal, and not only would it have been seen as such, but the waves would have been swiftly allayed. It is likely what either his uncle or father would have done and Frederick knew it.

[The Eagle]

Keeping Victor was not in Comstar's interest, nor did it keep Focht's hands clean for he could have chosen from any number of excellent Comguard officers who would have been better for its interests. Rather it made him Victor camp. Victor technically had the legal right to return to New Avalon and reassume his position, all he needed to do to keep her from seizing ultimate power was order her immediate arrest, and a "swift and fair trial" for treason and sedition followed by an execution. Line politics are brutal, and not only would it have been seen as such, but the waves would have been swiftly allayed. It is likely what either his uncle or father would have done and Frederick knew it.

The disconnect here, as pointed out by Middcore, is that you're looking at Focht through the lens of "best thing for ComStar."  Sure, by that metric, Victor was not a good choice.  But this wasn't ComStar making the decision.  It was Focht, so you have to consider the rationale of the decision through Focht's eyes.  Focht, as we all should know by now, was actually Frederick Steiner -- a member of the Lyran ruling line, trained at the Nagelring, very military-minded, very honorable, and quite politically naive.  Sound familiar?  Focht had a lot in common with Victor and probably saw much of himself in Victor.  Katherine on the other hand was exactly the type of person that had manipulated and screwed over Focht when he was Frederick -- Lestrade, I think?  I forget -- so on the converse he'd be pre-disposed against Katherine.  He had already dealt with one such political animal by the most extreme measures back in 3052 when she'd stabbed him in the back.

So Focht isn't acting in the best interest of the ComGuards or ComStar, or even himself or Victor.  He's suffered at the hands of Katherine's type, he's seen what someone with Sphere-wide power of that type is capable of (Waterly & SCORPION), so by blocking her ascension he's acting (again, in his mind) in the best interest of the entire Inner Sphere.

As for Victor's return after the Great Refusal, he never would have made it to New Avalon without an army at his back.  He couldn't just "order her arrest."  Order who?  DMI & MIIO, who were largely just following whatever orders came from the Davion palace?  The First Davion Guards were on New Avalon, sure, but we all saw what happened to them when the shooting starting.  And order it how?  Katherine had an iron-grip on the media within her borders, so would any public call for her arrest even make it past the broadcast blackouts she would undoubtedly put in place?  He was tired of fighting & he wanted to avoid a civil war at all costs, so this little surprise that he, Teddy, and Focht cooked up was the best route to block Katherine's aspirations without violence.

[Caesar Steiner for Archon]

"Is Terra valuable?"

"No."

Focht and Victor don't know that all Focht's guns and all the engines for Victor's new navy both come from there.

[Minemech]

As for Victor's return after the Great Refusal, he never would have made it to New Avalon without an army at his back.  He couldn't just "order her arrest."  Order who?  DMI & MIIO, who were largely just following whatever orders came from the Davion palace?  The First Davion Guards were on New Avalon, sure, but we all saw what happened to them when the shooting starting.  And order it how?  Katherine had an iron-grip on the media within her borders, so would any public call for her arrest even make it past the broadcast blackouts she would undoubtedly put in place?  He was tired of fighting & he wanted to avoid a civil war at all costs, so this little surprise that he, Teddy, and Focht cooked up was the best route to block Katherine's aspirations without violence.

Simply landing at the Comstar facility would have given Victor full communication with any entity on planet he wanted to have communication with. He also would have had far higher quality communication, which would have been substantially more difficult to block out. His choice to go to war ranks among the weirdest decisions since he was legally fully First Prince. In fact, he was legally the Star League vote for the Federated Commonwealth, though he never demanded it. The truth is, he had the power to depose her anytime he wanted to from well too many locations, he simply was incompetent.

[butchbird]

On the Concord of Kapteyn

Well, to be fair, "overextended and exhausted" was pretty much the state of the whole inner sphere militaries, particularly the FWLM which was still reeling from the civil-war on top of the rest of the action. Yes, the CCAF was, as always, the worst of the lot, but things were better then they had been a few decades ago by the time the concord of kapteyn was signed.

The fact is that the concord's existence was purely a consequence of the fed-com alliance. Keeping the capellans out of it would've been pointless. And if I recall the quote correctly, as Takashi said to Janos: "The combine does not need you but you need the combine". One way or another, Takashi was going to be the senior partner in that alliance.

Janos had nothing to lose if he swallowed his pride, but if I recall correctly, the concord also included interesting economical perspectives for the league...such as the combine markets opening up somewhat for league merchandise. An interesting perspective to be sure.

And then, who expected him to be bound to help or even pretend trusting Maximillian with the treaty anyway? The supplies he sent during the 4th SW were ample enough in "upholding the alliance", considering the circumstances.

Keeping with most illogical decision around the 4th SW, not simply killing Hanse Davion on the spot during operation doppleganger, or Aran Sortek (though that was most probably a lower rung decision) for the matter. Now there was an opportunity lost, and boy, the consequences.

[Minemech]

On the Concord of Kapteyn

Well, to be fair, "overextended and exhausted" was pretty much the state of the whole inner sphere militaries, particularly the FWLM which was still reeling from the civil-war on top of the rest of the action. Yes, the CCAF was, as always, the worst of the lot, but things were better then they had been a few decades ago by the time the concord of kapteyn was signed.

The fact is that the concord's existence was purely a consequence of the fed-com alliance. Keeping the Capellans out of it would've been pointless. And if I recall the quote correctly, as Takashi said to Janos: "The combine does not need you but you need the combine". One way or another, Takashi was going to be the senior partner in that alliance.

I am going to have to disagree with you on the position of Takashi's position. While on paper his military was larger, it did not have anything resembling the strategic mobility of the Free Worlds League Militia, nor was it near as effective at or in combating combined arms. Both were excellent aerospace powers. The Takashi statement is the type of bluster a Coordinator needs for cover if he is to engage in an alliance. Takashi knew full well he was nothing but a paper tiger without Janos against a Federated Suns/Lyran Commonwealth united force. Theodore had to work overtime to give the Combine a chance of surviving another major war with the Suns, partly by making a 2 front invasion difficult (FRR). Janos had to let such statements fly because he equally needed the Combine.

[Middcore]

His choice to go to war ranks among the weirdest decisions

It's weird you think there was any scenario where deposing her doesn't lead to war.

since he was legally fully First Prince. In fact, he was legally the Star League vote for the Federated Commonwealth, though he never demanded it.

Have you ever heard the saying "Possession is nine-tenths of the law"?

Simply landing at the Comstar facility would have given Victor full communication with any entity on planet he wanted to have communication with.

What? An HPG lets you send messages across interstellar distances. It doesn't allow you to override the signal of all communications everywhere Max Headroom style to say what you want. And even if it did, there's the issue of whether he would be believed.

[Tyler Jorgensson]

Treating mercenaries like crap: Takashi’s Death to Mercs, and Liao’s constant mistreatment (less so the company store approach cause that makes ‘sense’).

Mercenaries can augment your fledgling military, shore up your own defenses, train your troops, and a myriad of other functions (including canon fodder!). WITHIN REASON why would you just give up all that?

[Metallgewitter]

The problem with Victor trying to appeal the seizure of the Federated Suns by his Sister has one problem: Katherine had already begun stuffing the important positions with her lackeyes So even if he tries to somehow appeal (legally he still was the 1st Prince as Katherine could not assume said position due to her not having served in the military) the courts coulkd simply say "Nope" because they are in her pocket.

And Focht giving his position to Victor: while it caused a stir at first (and several defections) by the end of 3062 the Com Guards had united behind him (if FM 3067 is to be believed) and the defections stopped. From a pure military sense of thinking Victor was a good choice as he had experience molding diofferent people into a cohesive army and the com Guards come from across the Inner Sphere. It was miore ilogical (as others stated) to not immediately gun for Terra once the Word had seized it. At that point the SDS was down, the Blakist fleet and army were small. Yes it might have cost Comstar dearly but the menace would have been ended here and there. Especially with Terra just waking up again when it comes to it's military production output

[Minemech]

It's weird you think there was any scenario where deposing her doesn't lead to war.

Not really, this has come up on these forums before.

Have you ever heard the saying "Possession is nine-tenths of the law"?

What possession? She was a regent. A regent is not the First Prince. He could relieve her at will, possibly in a public setting like a Star League conference. 

What? An HPG lets you send messages across interstellar distances. It doesn't allow you to override the signal of all communications everywhere Max Headroom style to say what you want. And even if it did, there's the issue of whether he would be believed.

When Victor's forces started using the Comguard facility, they were stunned by its raw capability. It was not an HPG alone to say the least, and being able to communicate across planet with perfect pitch clarity really was helpful and unheard of in the Successor States. This was a plot point in one of the novels.

[Middcore]

What possession? She was a regent. A regent is not the First Prince. He could relieve her at will, possibly in a public setting like a Star League conference.

OK, so you haven't heard the saying, I guess. The kind of possession that comes from her butt being seated on the throne.

You are thinking in terms of the letter of the law. The point of that saying is that the letter of the law is often meaningless and unenforceable in the face of people who simply don't care what the law is and have placed themselves in a practical position where they can get what they want in spite of it. She is de facto ruler of the FedCom, if not de jure, and we know that roughly half of the military of the two FedCom halves was willing to fight to keep her there for one reason or another.

[Minemech]

OK, so you haven't heard the saying, I guess. The kind of possession that comes from her butt being seated on the throne.

You are thinking in terms of the letter of the law. The point of that saying is that the letter of the law is often meaningless and unenforceable in the face of people who simply don't care what the law is and have placed themselves in a practical position where they can get what they want in spite of it. She is de facto ruler of the FedCom, if not de jure, and we know that roughly half of the military of the two FedCom halves was willing to fight to keep her there for one reason or another.

It may be my own misimpression, but it is more that House Davion tends to be the most strictly legalistic of the States. In the Combine, the Coordinator is the law regardless of what is written, in the Confederation ditto for the Chancellor. The League has more loopholes than members of Parliament (If all else fails, claim culture), and the Commonwealth is loose by nature.
Note: Lockean rights may override the law in the Suns. There tends to be a system of implied rights in the League as seen with systems having the right of self-determination.

[BrianDavion]

I tend to dismiss the entire FCCW when discussing bad/stupid decisions in universe because I don't think it's worth bogging down what about be an otherwise intreasting discussion on legitly written IC errors, by focusing on what was, to be blunt, bad writing.

[Middcore]

Minemech's actually correct in this case, had VSD upon his return to the Inner Sphere IMMEDIATELY returned to New Avalon, and landed there with the 10th Lyran guards, graciously thanks Katherine for watching the throne for him in his absence, and then politely said that he has now returned so as regent KSD would have basicly HAD to retreat, she would have had no legal standing to contest Victor and thus had no troops come to her aid. And KSD wasn't stupid eneugh to think she would have had a chance.

Victor never appointed Katherine as regent, but he can dismiss her as regent?

You guys keep using this word "legal" and I am telling you legality doesn't mean shit.

the whole "lol posession is 9 tenths of the law" argument, is just.... wrong, KSD's only claim to new avalon existed because VSD abandoned it.

"Possession is nine-tenths of the law" means that once someone has physical possession of something, it's very hard to get it back if they don't want to give it back without the threat or application of force. Even your "with the 10th Lyran Guards" stipulation is an implied threat of force.

NO ONE would support her. the vast majority of the military would back the rightful first prince

Why? Plenty of people supported her just a year later when the civil war actually kicked off.

Remember at this point Katherine has somehow manipulated public opinion to the point where her taking over from Yvonne was actually a popular move. The populace and even the military don't know what the audience knows about her and her public image is pretty good. There may be some debate about her actions in pulling the Lyran half of the FedCom out in the face of Operation Guerrero, but Guerrero happened because Victor did something morally reprehensible, and then he failed to save the Sarna March, and then he (in your words) abandoned New Avalon and the FedCom as a whole to go fight the Clans, and in a campaign that can very reasonably be argued only directly benefited the Draconis Combine at that.

After all that he swans back in and goes, "OK I'm done taking care of our ancient enemies problems for them, I'm ready to go back to the relatively unimportant work of being First Prince now, something I was arguably doing a piss-poor job at before," and you think everybody is going to be cheering? Sorry, I'm not so sure. I mean, arguably nobody should have supported Katherine pulling the Lyran half of the FedCom out several years earlier if we want to talk about legality, and it seems to have gone off without a hitch.

I agree that a lot of the setup for the FCCW was contrived, most of all the "Katherine is swept into power because Yvonne's poll numbers were bad" thing, a plot device which we can't really characterize as an act of bad decision-making on the part of any character in the universe, aside from maybe Yvonne, and Yvonne barely qualifies as a character anyway. But once Katherine holds power, there's no way things get resolved without shots fired.

Victor's huge mistake was taking his butt off the throne was giving Katherine an opportunity by taking his butt off the throne on New Avalon to go lead TF Bulldog. There was no need for him to do so and there is no reason to think the outcome would have been any different without him. (Hanse should have taught him that just because his middle name was Ian that didn't mean he needed to follow Ian's stupid example.) But after that mistake, while his choices may not be ideal to those of us in the audience with omniscient perspective and the benefit of hindsight, they are understandable.

[Minemech]

Victor never appointed Katherine as regent, but he can dismiss her as regent?

You guys keep using this word "legal" and I am telling you legality doesn't mean shit.

It is not Victor, it is his office that has authority over the office of regent.

Why? Plenty of people supported her just a year later when the civil war actually kicked off.

She was given precious time to cement herself institutionally by in part playing an image of a lawful First Princess (No such office). Victor actually compounded that, as did her presence as the representative of the FC to the Star League. That is why figures like Jackson Davion supported her because they genuinely believed her the lawful ruler.

 

[Caesar Steiner for Archon]

by the end of 3062 the Com Guards had united behind him (if FM 3067 is to be believed) and the defections stopped.

I have a hard time calling anything regarding Com Guard loyalty reliable from 3052 until Parrdeau rabbits in 3068. I bet Alessandro Steiner got a bunch of reports from the LIC saying that all the secret Heimdall cells within the government had been eliminated and they weren't stealing guns from him anymore.

Peter had exiled himself and Arthur was widely regarded as a hothead so that left Yvonne.

How was Yvonne the only option? It's a regency, not naming them Prince Imperial (the former disqualifying you from the latter). Ardan Sortek was Prince's Champion, he's your regent by default. Or you could get his cousin Bishop, head of the whole Davion Guards brigade, he's clearly got your trust. If you are dead-set on it being a Davion, you could have gotten a Victoria Davion, a Lee Davion, an Argyle Davion, a Rand-Davion, a Green-Davion, a Halder-Davion, a Sanromea-Davion or any of the other 31 flavors of Davion. You could have appointed the head of the Crucis Lancers, the commandant of the NAIS, Tancred Sandoval, Rainier Wolfgram, Ann Adelmana, Stefan Cooper, James McFarland, or the head of any of your government ministries. Making a horse the regent is a better choice than naming, as you point out, his only viable option for a successor, as regent and disinheriting her in the process.

[BrianDavion]

Victor never appointed Katherine as regent, but he can dismiss her as regent?

..... well... yeah. or do you think everytime a ruler gets incapicitated and a regent is appointed for them they can't dismiss their regent upon recovery? Like seriously....

[Middcore]

How was Yvonne the only option? It's a regency, not naming them Prince Imperial (the former disqualifying you from the latter). Ardan Sortek was Prince's Champion, he's your regent by default. Or you could get his cousin Bishop, head of the whole Davion Guards brigade, he's clearly got your trust. If you are dead-set on it being a Davion, you could have gotten a Victoria Davion, a Lee Davion, an Argyle Davion, a Rand-Davion, a Green-Davion, a Halder-Davion, a Sanromea-Davion or any of the other 31 flavors of Davion. You could have appointed the head of the Crucis Lancers, the commandant of the NAIS, Tancred Sandoval, Rainier Wolfgram, Ann Adelmana, Stefan Cooper, James McFarland, or the head of any of your government ministries. Making a horse the regent is a better choice than naming, as you point out, his only viable option for a successor, as regent and disinheriting her in the process.

I don't think the writers remembered there's any issue with someone being a regent and remaining in the line of succession, or they expected readers not to remember.

In any case, Yvonne later DID become de facto first prince, with the amusing legal figleaf that she was "regent" for a child she hadn't yet even conceived, which goes to show that once again, nobody really cares about these legalities when it's not expedient to.

[Middcore]

..... well... yeah. or do you think everytime a ruler gets incapicitated and a regent is appointed for them they can't dismiss their regent upon recovery? Like seriously....

You're still not getting it. Katherine was never legally regent to begin with, and yet she sat herself down on the throne and nobody objected, so a legal claim that her non-existent regency is concluded is meaningless.

Katherine wasn't still claiming to just be regent for Victor after Victor got back, or anything else besides Archon-Princess in her own right (or perhaps more accurately in her own might).

If you give something to somebody to hold on to you for a while, you can ask for it back and expect them to give it back. But that doesn't work when the item was stolen in the first place. At least not without your polite request being backed up by force you're prepared to use.

[Elmoth]

Anton Marik's revolt.
Unless he was REALLY left to hang by wannabe allies that never showed up when he declared his coup, his actions are quite bad.

[butchbird]

I am going to have to disagree with you on the position of Takashi's position. While on paper his military was larger, it did not have anything resembling the strategic mobility of the Free Worlds League Militia, nor was it near as effective at or in combating combined arms. Both were excellent aerospace powers. The Takashi statement is the type of bluster a Coordinator needs for cover if he is to engage in an alliance. Takashi knew full well he was nothing but a paper tiger without Janos against a Federated Suns/Lyran Commonwealth united force. Theodore had to work overtime to give the Combine a chance of surviving another major war with the Suns, partly by making a 2 front invasion difficult (FRR). Janos had to let such statements fly because he equally needed the Combine.

"On paper", with the FWLM. Lackluster laconism aside...

Yes, I'd tend to concede that there were certains aspects of warfare on which the FWLM was superior to the combine. But many of their short coming were to be mitigated in the coming years, and plans must've already been laid out when the concord was signed... or at least should've been if not for that whole affair with the 'goons. And yes, it is inevitable that any  sucessor state facing alone the might of two of their pairs would be apocalyptic.

But again, the FWL had been seriously hurt by it's civil war a decade ago and if I'm not mistaking, they would only end the pacification fallout of Anton's revolt well into the end of the 4th SW. What kind of a stello-political(?) position was the FWL holding in Takashi's eyes at that moment? What kind of perception of strength could the fractious FWL offer to the dragon in the early 3020's?

I wouldn't call it bluster, but more of a reality check. Besides, most probably, everything about the concord had already been discussed between Janos and Subash Indrahar. Only Maximillian's inclusion in the deal was a mistery to the captain-general when the 3 leaders met to iron out the evident problems in the treaty. The deal was sealed and nobody could logically do anything else but sign the darn document.