The Federated Commonwealth -- a house not-divided...

[Caesar Steiner for Archon]

Usually I retire my Hanes when I accidentally step on one leg as I'm putting them on during my escape and tear a seam out.

[Grim_Reaper]

Hanse could be said to have had a vendetta against both Takashi and Max, while Max might have kidnapped and tried to replace Hanse, The Combine did kill his brother.

true but at least his brothers death was on the Battlefield which is somewhat less personal then being kidnapped to be replaced. it was teh destruction of a man life to perform that replacement however that Hanse gave as a reason for why he felt he had to break the Cap Con

He didn't have a traitor on that March, though, or the intelligence resources in place against the Combine.  Vengeance was part of it but the simple fact is the opportunity really wasn't there for moving against the Combine in as decisive a fashion.

yes in taking the Cap Con he was managing to kill 2 birds with one stone, one to break teh Cap Con and 2 to 'clean house' in the Capellean March

there may have been an advantage against the Combine at the time but it was a development Hanse wasnt preparing to take advantage of as it came up just before, namely the switching of the Wolf Dragoons to his own service away from the Combine following the mauling the WDs gave the forces along that border.

[Arkansas Warrior]

Yeah, I've often wondered what would have happened had Hanse stationed about 10 regiments on New Earth and declared it the future capital of the Federated Commonwealth.

Probably a mini-Jihad thirty years ahead of schedule.

That's another reason taking the Dracs down first would be good.  You can make Dieron the new capital.

[MadCapellan]

I think the primary failure of the Federated Commonwealth came from a rushed integration and a failure politically to sell the changes being made on the ground.  A lot of sources from the FedCom era paint a picture of AFFS officers being assigned to Lyran units and essentially saying "it's cute that you chaps think you're a military, but I'm going to have to show you how to run things proper".  Lyran military practices, even ones that worked like lightning companies, were never adopted in the FedSuns and were washed away in the rush to mimick the AFFS as closely as possible.  The combination of this with Hanse's political domination of Melissa is what I think leads many fans to think FedCom=FedSuns. 

On the flipside, for the entirety of the true FedCom era, Suns military industry was basically sidelined in favor of the Lyran half.  Considering the Clan invasion, you would think it would have been wise to expand Davion factory production, but oh-no!  While all the Federated Suns brought to the table was the Caesar, Penetrator and a bunch of clunkers (Watchman!  Fireball!), meanwhile, the Lyrans are pounding out great 'Mech design after great 'Mech design, often one's provided by Crucians.  Hanse Davion calls for a Clan-Killer Heavy?  Lyrans make it.  Davion troops find plans for an incredible Assault 'Mech?  Lyrans build it.  There was pretty easily a lot of resentment to go around.  Toss in a milktoast leader like Victor and it was pretty easy to see how Katherine could manipulate those feelings to her own advantage.

[Moonsword]

Yeah.  GM and Achernar kind of took it in the shorts sometimes, although to be fair, Achernar wasn't really interested in innovating at the time aside from the Argus from what I've read.  And the AFFS would have benefited from a long, hard look at Lyran logistical practices.

[Traecer Revenant]

Yeah.  GM and Achernar kind of took it in the shorts sometimes, although to be fair, Achernar wasn't really interested in innovating at the time aside from the Argus from what I've read.  And the AFFS would have benefited from a long, hard look at Lyran logistical practices.

When it's planes in the sky /
For a chain of supply /
That's logistics
 ;D

[Moonsword]

*shakes head, chuckling*

Anyway, they're still sorting their logistics messes out in the AFFS.

[Lore]

I think the primary failure of the Federated Commonwealth came from a rushed integration and a failure politically to sell the changes being made on the ground.

I've always wondered how the propaganda machine worked with that. Overexposure via paid-political advertising, maybe? Or, perhaps, just a case of Hanse and/or Melissa enduring an exhausting tour-schedule presenting their case for unification across the various political capitals and sub-capitals throughout both the Suns and the Commonwealth?

Or maybe it was simply a matter of having a corps of political journalist favourable to the joining of the two realms, sent out to answer questions and spread the word... so to speak.

[Caesar Steiner for Archon]

FS, LC and especially FWL propaganda is probably a lot like the propaganda we get here in the US, due to similar media structure. While all are geographically disparate, it seems like a few major companies dominate the news landscape.

[Johnny 'NKH' Leyland]

Was INN around at the time?

[Caesar Steiner for Archon]

I believe INN was a Star League-era idea. Either way, ComStar was supposed to not interfere wit the material, so Vic couldn't just ask them to run fake stories or whatever lest they turn it in to another ComStar News Service.

[Lore]

I believe INN was a Star League-era idea. Either way, ComStar was supposed to not interfere wit the material, so Vic couldn't just ask them to run fake stories or whatever lest they turn it in to another ComStar News Service.

Especially during the Tiepolo-era, I suppose.

[Caesar Steiner for Archon]

Now I KNOW it wasn't around then, as it was a product of post-Schism C*.

[Lore]

Aye.

I just meant that ComStar would've likely had to have played a neutral line re: promotion of the coming union between the Suns and the Commonwealth, during the Tiepolo-era.

[Stormlion1]

I always wondered what kind of reaction the average citizen had when the FedCom was announced, not the Mechwarriors, Generals, politicians, Company heads, or Nobles, but the baker, carpenter, or the assassin hiding in plain sight?

[Caesar Steiner for Archon]

"Whatevs."

[Traecer Revenant]

I always wondered what kind of reaction the average citizen had when the FedCom was announced, not the Mechwarriors, Generals, politicians, Company heads, or Nobles, but the baker, carpenter, or the assassin hiding in plain sight?

Assassin [rubbing hands together gleefully]:  "Business is about to boom!"

[Stormfury]

Lyran military practices, even ones that worked like lightning companies, were never adopted in the FedSuns and were washed away in the rush to mimick the AFFS as closely as possible.

On the other hand, the Lyran innovations were to correct problems they had with their armed forces... deficiencies the AFFS did not share. The AFFS' need for Lightning Companies was minimal at best considering their focus on flexible battle lines and lighter, faster force composition.

[Caesar Steiner for Archon]

Contrary to popular belief, there is nothing inherently wrong with your force skewing in to the Heavy range that causes disaster to spontaneously manifest, especially on a modern battlefield, with XL engines and MASC. Look at units like the 3rd Lyran, who throw down with Clanners while themselves following Zell and win as much as they lose.

The problem remains in the mid-level officer corps and had for some time. The solution was to push on with Katrina Steiner's house-cleaning and get more Caesar Steiners, Paul Zardettos and Harrison Von Frischs in place before you decide the entire LCAF arsenal needs replaced.

[Moonsword]

In theory, the AFFS could've helped with the officer corps.  And no, there's not anything wrong with a heavy-leaning force, as long as appropriate supporting elements are maintained and operational.  That's somewhere the LCAF sometimes fell down, although with the Wolfhound becoming more common as well as the Savannah Master, they were getting better at it.

[Stormfury]

Not now, no. But back when only  mediums and lights were in the useful 5/8+ category, the ponderousness of the LCAF really hurt, and is what lead to the formation of those Lightning Companies in the first place. When your military is already built around swift machines, having a Lighning company is pretty redundant.

The larger issue with clearing out the officer corps is that it was not percieved as a Steiner-begun program, but something the Suns was responsible for.

[Moonsword]

The Ostol and Ostroc beg to differ, although they're rare.

The perception of the officer clean up was an issue, but do note that the actual initiatives go back to Katrina Steiner before the alliance - there's some discussion of it in the old 3025 handbook.  The AFFS were just such gits about it that they caused a lot of resentment.

[Caesar Steiner for Archon]

Well, having the guy who ran the whole AFFC be named "Davion" is going to create some dissent when he's removing officers in LCAF commands, yeah.

[Stormfury]

As would having a Steiner, the Archon's sister, in command of the AFFS.

Not to mention the fact that Morgan Hasek-Davion wasn't really a Davion in any case, and was the best candidate for the job regardless.

[Caesar Steiner for Archon]

Hence, why integrating the command structure completely so early and giving it a single guy at it's head was another bad idea, yes.

Until you hit a point where you had a single head of state who was from both families and could get someone like an Acabee Zardetto, who is from a Lyran military family and went to the Nagelring and then came up through the 3rd Crucis Lancers, you were asking for some shit to start by integrating.