Well one alternative would've been to direct the Behemoth at other planets. Start nailing unimportant planets like Loki VI, and maybe frighten the kats into signing a real truce. But then Thrakhath's armada was almost ready so the chance of success was slim. From what I gather from this board, Confed was dead man walking after they fell for the false truce and dismantled their fleet.
Do you think it was correct that Confed destroyed Kilrah?
- Thread starter Jochen
- Start date
TC
SubCrid
Penguin, that actually was the plan with the Behemoth. The government didn't want to take out Kilrah with it, that was Tolwyn planning on acting against orders. Confed figured they could take out a planet and it would scare the Kilrathi into surrendering... It wouldn't have worked, but that was their plan.
TC
TC
TC: Oh, I didn't know that 
OK more alternatives. Think brain. All right I can think of five more:
A) Straight after the BoT, Confed gathers everything its got and launches a desperate last ditch effort to take Kilrah. This has the advantage of attacking the kats as they're withdrawing and before Thrakhath can get ready that armada. The drawback is that Confed probably doesn't have the strength to pull it off.
B) Mass produce nothing but Excaliburs and REALLY REALLY BIGASS TORPEDOES that can trash Hakaga style capships. The advantage is that this can conceivably be done. The drawback is that there is only 1 Blair.
C) Unconditional surrender. Advantage: humanity might survive in some way. Disadvantage: Kats might do to humanity what Thrak did to Blair, if Blair's picks the "I don't want to die" option.
D) Sow the seeds of humanity in another distant galaxy. Longshot at best.
E) Disguise some ships like the Mantu and stage an attack on the Kilrathi-Mantu border. Advantage: Thrak might decide to re-direct the kat war effort. Disadvantage: Extremely dodgy, especially since Confed knows next to nothing about the Mantu.
OK more alternatives. Think brain. All right I can think of five more:
A) Straight after the BoT, Confed gathers everything its got and launches a desperate last ditch effort to take Kilrah. This has the advantage of attacking the kats as they're withdrawing and before Thrakhath can get ready that armada. The drawback is that Confed probably doesn't have the strength to pull it off.
B) Mass produce nothing but Excaliburs and REALLY REALLY BIGASS TORPEDOES that can trash Hakaga style capships. The advantage is that this can conceivably be done. The drawback is that there is only 1 Blair.
C) Unconditional surrender. Advantage: humanity might survive in some way. Disadvantage: Kats might do to humanity what Thrak did to Blair, if Blair's picks the "I don't want to die" option.
D) Sow the seeds of humanity in another distant galaxy. Longshot at best.
E) Disguise some ships like the Mantu and stage an attack on the Kilrathi-Mantu border. Advantage: Thrak might decide to re-direct the kat war effort. Disadvantage: Extremely dodgy, especially since Confed knows next to nothing about the Mantu.
Wedge009
Rogue Leader
Eh, I finished most of the games before becoming a regular here, so I had no idea about the conscience and morality of an action as big as blowing up a planet (seems like Grand Moff Tarkin didn't either
). As Paladin so eloquently put it (not): "Send them all to hell."Heh, heh. Unfortunate reality of Human vs computer AI.
Those aren't too bad of some quick concept theories Penguin. Although even you admit some of them had a VERY low chance of success, I hadn't even really thought about trying to lure the Kilrathi into fighting someone else. (With the Mantu idea) That is pretty inventive. (Although I do agree we don't know enough to pull that off, still, if we had studied into it, that idea may have been feasible after a while. But let's just hope the Mantu don't find out about that one later. 
)
)
Bandit LOAF
Long Live the Confederation!
The Kilrathi still have their fleet, though -- it was *ours* that was wiped out preventing them from destroying Earth. They still have all their old-style carriers and quite a few Hakagas.
That'd require that we be *able* to build Exaliburs -- Flash didn't see mass production happening for years... and you'd need time to convert factories and such (ignoring, of course, that Excaliburs don't even mount torpedoes
). This would only really work in something like C&C where one building builds every sort of weapon instantly. Best option would be that we live as slaves and food products, though -- even that's doubtful, since the Emperor decreed that mankind be wiped out entirely as an example.
The novel points out (and rightly so, I would imagine) that this plan doesn't make sense -- the Kilrathi can reach a distant galaxy just as easily as mankind.
Lucy would set the cake machine to go too fast or something.
I suppose its completely safe to say that Confed had no choice but to destroy Kilrah. And since they left us no choice I'm finding it very hard to even consider that what Confed did was immoral.
[Before someone tries to argue with the above, please refer to the rest of the thread, since any response I'd give would be repetition.]
[Before someone tries to argue with the above, please refer to the rest of the thread, since any response I'd give would be repetition.]
Lelapinmechant
Spaceman
Sometimes immoral choices have to be made; Just because confed had no alternative doesn't make it moral. The question is, which would you rather be: Moral or dead? It's that connundrum(i know, spelling...) that made the game so interesting to me.
the__phoenix
Spaceman
I think, what occured during the battle of earth, is the ultimate reason for destroying Kilrah.
Bandit LOAF
Long Live the Confederation!
What would that be? As far as the Confederation is concerned, the Kilrathi attacked only military targets -- they don't know Jukaga saved Earth at the last minute.
the__phoenix
Spaceman
I don't consider Paris and other cities, which were destroyed (by the no stonzium bombs), as military targets, as well as the armada of civilan, no-shilded vessels, which were shot down by the kilrathi pilots (I think that was the most brutal part of the book. Imagine sitting in your car, driving desperatly towards tanks)
Bandit LOAF
Long Live the Confederation!
Confed clearly would, though -- the book states that the missiles destroyed the cities that made up the worlds defense network.
The civilian ships attacked the Kilrathi -- not vice versa. It'd be like driving into a war zone, taking pot shots at a tank with your pellet gun and then whining when you get squashed <G>
The civilian ships attacked the Kilrathi -- not vice versa. It'd be like driving into a war zone, taking pot shots at a tank with your pellet gun and then whining when you get squashed <G>
the__phoenix
Spaceman
You can see it this way, too, I must admit. But I can't remember any scene, where the defense network is mentioned (or was it Jukaga, who said this, after destroying the shipyard?)
Bandit LOAF
Long Live the Confederation!
It's a scene from Doomsday's fighter, IIRC.
the__phoenix
Spaceman
Maybe of topic, but still interesting: Do you remember the scene where tolwin says, that, after the tarawa attacked the kilrah shipyard, they reached something like parity with the Kilrathi forces on the front. How many ships would such a parity be (speaking of the Confed Navy)?
I think they said in the book that they destroyed major industrial centers on Earth, although I might be wrong. And the civilian ships were volunteers, weren't they? (Which, I think I agree with LOAF, they were actually attacking first-especially because they were gathered by the military, for a military operation.)