Why wasn't Colonel Blair...

[Delance]

Battles and wars were also won because one of the generals was fighting with the troops. It give a great morale boost, and, depending on the situation, might make it a lot easier to rout the enemy.

When his legions were faltering at Munda, it is said that Julius Ceasar lead one uphill charge against the enemy himself. Not to mention Alexander, who usually charge the enemy himself. Galgamela might've ended different if he didn't.

Depending on how desperaet a battle is, it makes sense that the commander would fight in the front lines.

 

[Haesslich]

Originally posted by Delance
Battles and wars were also won because one of the generals was fighting with the troops. It give a great morale boost, and, depending on the situation, might make it a lot easier to rout the enemy.

When his legions were faltering at Munda, it is said that Julius Ceasar lead one uphill charge against the enemy himself. Not to mention Alexander, who usually charge the enemy himself. Galgamela might've ended different if he didn't.

Depending on how desperaet a battle is, it makes sense that the commander would fight in the front lines.

That was back when 'communications' consisted of trumpets, flags, or smoke signals and involved only a few thousand men in the same battlefield... versus the modern battlefield where a half-dozen actions may be going on hundreds of miles apart, with weapons that could easily take out that General if he was anywhere near the front lines as easily as that general could zip up their fly.

Different technologies, different paradigms.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

This entire 'historical proof' is inane -- Yamamoto being moved from one place to another in a bomber isn't the same thing as general officers not being allowed to fly *themselves*. Which means that Air Force General so-and-so can't take the controls -- not that he can't ride in an airplane.

 

[Aries]

Originally posted by Maniac II
Hmmm... lemme see... I know a guy who is a Captain in the Navy, and hes a Wing Commander.... i dont think they will pull you outa the cockpit just because your an admiral/general... i mean i can understand a 3 star not being able to be a combat pilot... but i'd figure they would let a 1 star....

nope. once you get your star, your combat pilot days are over

 

[Delance]

Space combat war with alien races should be very different from present-day warfare.

Think about it. Tolwyn is an admiral, but he's not always safe on HQ like on the WC3 intro. He also goes around on a single ship and go fight the enemy directly. That should be the job of a navy captain, not an admiral.

As for Blair, on WC3 he commands the fighter wing of the Victory. Does he stay behind a desk, like Halcyon or Drake? No, he goes into combat missions. In WC4, he commands the Intrepid and also flies combat missions.

Not to mention Thrakkath, who is the Heir to Kilrah, pretty much runs things on the Empire. He also commands the kilrathi fleet, and fly combat missions from time to time. He even has a personal customized fighter.

When it comes to WC, WCP makes it quite implicit there’s no specific rule against such thing. Drake certainly would’ve mentioned such rule when trying to prevent Blair from flying. Even if such rule did exist, it would not prevent a general or a commodore from flying if it was really needed.

It has a lot to do with Culture. In Brazil, there were some civil wars in the 1830's. In the “Farrapos war”, the republican rebel commanders commonly went into combat themselves. Such thing would not be feasible when the brazilian army was fighting Germans on Italy on the 1940's.

Point is, depending on factors like technology, culture, and what's at stake, it's very possible that commanders, generals and admirals go into battle themselves.

 

[Haesslich]

Originally posted by Delance
Space combat war with alien races should be very different from present-day warfare.

Think about it. Tolwyn is an admiral, but he's not always safe on HQ like on the WC3 intro. He also goes around on a single ship and go fight the enemy directly. That should be the job of a navy captain, not an admiral.

As for Blair, on WC3 he commands the fighter wing of the Victory. Does he stay behind a desk, like Halcyon or Drake? No, he goes into combat missions. In WC4, he commands the Intrepid and also flies combat missions.

Not to mention Thrakkath, who is the Heir to Kilrah, pretty much runs things on the Empire. He also commands the kilrathi fleet, and fly combat missions from time to time. He even has a personal customized fighter.

When it comes to WC, WCP makes it quite implicit there’s no specific rule against such thing. Drake certainly would’ve mentioned such rule when trying to prevent Blair from flying. Even if such rule did exist, it would not prevent a general or a commodore from flying if it was really needed.

It has a lot to do with Culture. In Brazil, there were some civil wars in the 1830's. In the “Farrapos war”, the republican rebel commanders commonly went into combat themselves. Such thing would not be feasible when the brazilian army was fighting Germans on Italy on the 1940's.

Point is, depending on factors like technology, culture, and what's at stake, it's very possible that commanders, generals and admirals go into battle themselves.

Tolwyn's ship generally ran in the middle of a battle group, except when such group was destroyed as the start of WC2 when we play. In Fleet Action, he was commanding strikes from the middle of a carrier group. In End Run, the reason he was in so much trouble was because he took off alone with his carrier to pull Tarawa out. He didn't go out there to pilot a dinky little fighter or bomber, but stayed nice and relatively safe in a well-armored capital ship in the middle of a battle group.

In WC3, Blair's a mere Wing Commander - a colonel, not a General. Paladin, who -is- a General... look where he is; not out on the front lines for the most part. He knows what he's supposed to do.

WC4, Blair was still a Colonel and Wing Commander. His 'captaincy' of the Intrepid was honorary, mostly because he was the same rank-grade as Eisen, and they needed someone to stand in for him for form's sake (the Novel admitted as much) while someone else did the actual ship-handling. Only after WC4 did he accept a promotion which took him off the front lines... only so he could act like a moron and fly again in WCP, the way he wasn't supposed to.

Pirnce Thrakath is a very special case - his grandfather runs the Empire, so if he dies... well, he can be replaced, the way he replaced his father, the failed Admiral who lost the Sivar. His peerage allows him command of most of the fleet, though in reality he's running it for his grandfather and liege-lord, the Emperor of Kilrah. Nobody has the rank to tell him to stay on the ship, and the Kilrathidon't really seem to have a major problem with losing anyone except the Emperor himself.

General Officers do not, as a rule, fly combat missions or in zones where combat is likely in something as unprotected as a fighter or bomber. They're too valuable as strategic assets to be risked in this fashion, and using past battles as an example is a poor one - when weapons were relatively inaccurate and killing the General meant actually getting past his escort... well, these days all it takes is a guy piloting an armed UAV halfway across the world and he can pick that General off, no problems. And that General has to coordinate a campaign that may be going on with four simultaneous battles several hundred miles apart, and then coordinate the rest of the war. It's complex, and trying to get someone else to fill his shoes takes time which the enemy could use to gain a decisive advantage.

There are reasons the Generals are, these days, kept somewhere relatively sfae. They're too valuable - and they're prime targets for assassination, since it puts the enemy into disarray.

 

[Maniac II]

Originally posted by Aries
nope. once you get your star, your combat pilot days are over

must suck going from a combat pilot to being a desk jockey

 

[Aries]

that's why a lot of pilots retire at col. (or captain if they're in the navy)

 

[Delance]

Originally posted by Haesslich
Tolwyn's ship generally ran in the middle of a battle group

Incorrect. He’s on his own on WC2 and WCA. In the games, the only time we see Tolwyn in the middle of a battle group is on the losing cutscene of WC4.

In WC3, Blair's a mere Wing Commander - a colonel, not a General. Paladin, who -is- a General...

Good example. Paladin says the only reason he's not going back into the cockpit is that he's too old. He doesn't say "oh, this regulations prevent me from flying".

His 'captaincy' of the Intrepid was honorary

Yeah, but you can't simple ignore the game, where Blair takes every single important tactical decision regarding the Intrepid.

Let's not forget his brilliant move on Ella that allowed the Intrepid to intercept the Vesuvius. The decision to use the Flashpak was also his alone.

Only after WC4 did he accept a promotion which took him off the front lines... only so he could act like a moron and fly again in WCP

A moron? He saved the confederation from total obliteration for the third time in a row.

Pirnce Thrakath is a very special case - his grandfather runs the Empire, so if he dies... well, he can be replaced

Nonsense. Of all people, a nobleman, the heir to the Empire, is the hardest to replace. It is even discussed on WC2 how the assassination of Thrakkath and the Emperor could disrupt the Empire. This was the worst example you could use, the Emperor didn't want Thrakkath to fight in the front lines, but he did so anyway.

Generals are very easy to replace in comparison. Basically, every colonel is made so he is fit to take the role of a general. Same thing with majors, captains, etc. Officers are trained, almost brainwashed, to act in a standard fashion. This results in less stupid generals, but you almost never get a military genious.

But anyway, there's no reason to discuss this. We know there's probably no specific rule about this on confed, and even if such rule existed, it's not enforced. Historically, generals and commanding officers fought in the front lines, depending on certain factors. We know such thing has happened both on Confed and Kilrah.

 

[Ijuin]

Originally posted by Delance
Incorrect. He’s on his own on WC2 and WCA. In the games, the only time we see Tolwyn in the middle of a battle group is on the losing cutscene of WC4.

Actually, for most of the game the Concordia does have a destroyer escort. It is only at the beginning, where the Concordia's escort has been destroyed by the Kilrathi, and later on when the escort was lost during the risky double-jump, that the Concordia is unescorted.

 

[Aries]

Originally posted by Delance
Incorrect. He’s on his own on WC2 and WCA. In the games, the only time we see Tolwyn in the middle of a battle group is on the losing cutscene of WC4.

well, in WC2 it's explained that the escorts were destroyed, and in WCA, they are in a 'secure' sector

Let's not forget his brilliant move on Ella that allowed the Intrepid to intercept the Vesuvius. The decision to use the Flashpak was also his alone.

well, his move on Ella wasn't so 'brilliant'. it was the only logical decision and anyone who could read a map would have come up with the same thing

A moron? He saved the confederation from total obliteration for the third time in a row.

yes, a moron. he couldn't let other's do their job, he had to step in and do it himself

Nonsense. Of all people, a nobleman, the heir to the Empire, is the hardest to replace. It is even discussed on WC2 how the assassination of Thrakkath and the Emperor could disrupt the Empire. This was the worst example you could use, the Emperor didn't want Thrakkath to fight in the front lines, but he did so anyway.

yes, assassinating thrakath AND the emperor would disrupt the empire, because it would take out the emperor and his designated heir. if thrakath alone died, the emperor would just designate one of thrakath's cousins as the heir. thrakath fought because if he didn't, when he became emperor, no one would respect him

Generals are very easy to replace in comparison.

if generals are so easy to replace, why don't they fight on the front lines? because they arn't easy to replace. a colonel can do the job, but he can't replace the general

 

[Haesslich]

Originally posted by Delance
Incorrect. He’s on his own on WC2 and WCA. In the games, the only time we see Tolwyn in the middle of a battle group is on the losing cutscene of WC4.

The reason he's on his own for most of the time in WC2 is because his battle group got destroyed - remember, he lost both Destroyers, and then the extra destroyer detailed to his defense was blown to hell by a screw-up during a double-jump. Concordia's also pretty heavily defended, as you recall, at least as far as WC2 capships go.

Originally posted by Delance

Good example. Paladin says the only reason he's not going back into the cockpit is that he's too old. He doesn't say "oh, this regulations prevent me from flying".

Well, he did say he was retiring as he was getting too old for it - and then promptly took the helm of a freighter and ran secret missions like a crazy spy instead. Even then, he tends to send his people out more often than he goes.

Originally posted by Delance
Yeah, but you can't simple ignore the game, where Blair takes every single important tactical decision regarding the Intrepid.

Let's not forget his brilliant move on Ella that allowed the Intrepid to intercept the Vesuvius. The decision to use the Flashpak was also his alone.

He was already given a set of orders, and the leeway to choose between which mission was more important based on his 'man on the scene' perspective - remember that Wilford had taped several orders for us, depending on which mission we felt was more important... and even then, we weren't quite choosing as a captain. He was taking HIS orders from an Admiral, who had already planned out the operations which he carried out. As a Wing Commander.

The only real decision he had to make there was with whether to sneak or blow Ella Starbase, after being chased to hell and back by the Vesuvius. But Blair did the sensible thing by letting someone else helm the capship while he did what he did best - fly and fight like a combat devil.

Originally posted by Delance
A moron? He saved the confederation from total obliteration for the third time in a row.

He was a moron for going in and doing a job that he had Marines for. You know, Dekker's detachment? If ONE man could do the job he needed to do... then send the fucking Marine and stay in your chair, Commodore. The Confederation needs his mind more than it needs his heroics.

Originally posted by Delance
Nonsense. Of all people, a nobleman, the heir to the Empire, is the hardest to replace. It is even discussed on WC2 how the assassination of Thrakkath and the Emperor could disrupt the Empire. This was the worst example you could use, the Emperor didn't want Thrakkath to fight in the front lines, but he did so anyway.

Generals are very easy to replace in comparison. Basically, every colonel is made so he is fit to take the role of a general. Same thing with majors, captains, etc. Officers are trained, almost brainwashed, to act in a standard fashion. This results in less stupid generals, but you almost never get a military genious.

But anyway, there's no reason to discuss this. We know there's probably no specific rule about this on confed, and even if such rule existed, it's not enforced. Historically, generals and commanding officers fought in the front lines, depending on certain factors. We know such thing has happened both on Confed and Kilrah.

The main problem with WC2 and the loss of Thrakath is this; he was the DESIGNATED Heir. It's stated again and again, in the novels and the game, how others could take Thrakath's place if the Emperor said so. Thrakath was the direct-line descendant and the most likely candidate, but not the only one. Khasra, for example, if Thrakath was dead, could've taken over (if designated as the Heir) with relatively little difficulty. If both of them were dead, there are any number of cousins on the distaff line of the Imperial family who would have been able to do so, had the Emperor decided that one of them was worthy. This last example is noted in Fleet Action. What the problem was, with Thrakath and the Emperor going down at the same time, was that it meant there was no designated line of succession since those two were it - the Prince was the Designated Heir, the Emperor the one who could determine who was next in line.

And Generals are a LITTLE harder to replace thank you believe - yes, the Colonel under him could step into his shoes and start doing the job right away... but probably do it poorly as he has to catch up with the General's plans as set up, make sure everyone knows to talk to him so HE gets the information he needs, and then make sure the people above him know that General Headache is now KIA. On top of this, he has to reassert command and grasp the situation from the complete perspective the General has, keeping in mind both the tactical (short term) and strategic (long term) goals. The Colonel usually only worries about the tactical situation.

Basically, the chaos this can cause often does lose battles... and if the person was important enough, can cause major setbacks or even lose a war.

 

[Delance]

Well, let me reply to all of you.

Tolwyn:

We see he fighting on his own, or with little escort. That's the job of a captain, like Eisen, not an admiral, since it's front-line duty. And about WCA, he goes almost alone to disrupt the sivar ceminony - not a 'secure' thing.

Blair:

It's amazing how you people like to rant about how Blair was too old to do what he did: save mankind. You sound like comic relief characters that complain Blair is too old to fly. The next logical step is to quote Maniac as a great military tactician.

If Blair is a moron, so are all Kilrathi, who admired him as "Heart of the Tiger"

If Blair is a moron, so are Tolwyn, Paladin, Eisein, Wilford and everyone else who put in his shoulders the responsibility of winning the war. Every other briefing it was “the most important mission you’ll ever fly”. Yeah, that moron.

If Blair is a moron, so is the Confederation who sets him as an example.

If Blair is a moron, so is the Senate, who choose to hear him out, even when he has "forsaken the confederation", and was fighting against them.

If Blair is a moron, so are all the people who spend hours talking about the universe built around his character.

He commands the Intrepid. Wilford doesn't plan the whole operation; he basically says there's a problem somewhere and order Blair to solve it.

Example of Wilford's orders.

"Well, there's something wrong in Peleus. We don’t have a clue, but if we lose Pelius, we lose the war. You must go there alone and figure out a way to solve the problem on your own. Good luck"

"Something terrible has happened on Telamon. We have no idea what it is, but it’s really bad. Help those people."

"Our intel thinks the renegade confed forces might have a base on Axius. Investigate."

After that, it's up to Blair to figure out what to do. It's not the job of a Wing Commander, it's the job of a captain, which he was.

Thrakkath

If Thrakkath was such a moron, he would not have almost won the war with Mankind.

Implicit evidence there's no such rule on WC or that it isn't enforced.

This was conveniently ignored.

Historical evidence pointing out that given certain cultural and historical factors, it makes sense for the commanders to engage in battle themselves

Ditto.

 

[BattleDog]

Originally posted by Delance
Generals are very easy to replace in comparison. Basically, every colonel is made so he is fit to take the role of a general. Same thing with majors, captains, etc. Officers are trained, almost brainwashed, to act in a standard fashion. This results in less stupid generals, but you almost never get a military genious.

Delance what have you been spoking?

Firstly only about 10% of officers are marked for training which will allow promotion beyond Battallion Ranks (Colonel). Secondly, one of the most important qualities in all officers is individual thinking. Those candidates who don't show that quality fail automatically.

 

[Phillip Tanaka]

Originally posted by Delance
It's amazing how you people like to rant about how Blair was too old to do what he did: save mankind. You sound like comic relief characters that complain Blair is too old to fly. The next logical step is to quote Maniac as a great military tactician.

Maniac's idea to use ESK-5 explosives was a beaut.

Originally posted by BattleDog
Delance what have you been spoking?

Spoking?

 

[Haesslich]

Originally posted by Delance
Well, let me reply to all of you.

Tolwyn:

We see he fighting on his own, or with little escort. That's the job of a captain, like Eisen, not an admiral, since it's front-line duty. And about WCA, he goes almost alone to disrupt the sivar ceminony - not a 'secure' thing.

Blair:

It's amazing how you people like to rant about how Blair was too old to do what he did: save mankind. You sound like comic relief characters that complain Blair is too old to fly. The next logical step is to quote Maniac as a great military tactician.

If Blair is a moron, so are all Kilrathi, who admired him as "Heart of the Tiger"

If Blair is a moron, so are Tolwyn, Paladin, Eisein, Wilford and everyone else who put in his shoulders the responsibility of winning the war. Every other briefing it was “the most important mission you’ll ever fly”. Yeah, that moron.

If Blair is a moron, so is the Confederation who sets him as an example.

If Blair is a moron, so is the Senate, who choose to hear him out, even when he has "forsaken the confederation", and was fighting against them.

If Blair is a moron, so are all the people who spend hours talking about the universe built around his character.

He commands the Intrepid. Wilford doesn't plan the whole operation; he basically says there's a problem somewhere and order Blair to solve it.

Example of Wilford's orders.

"Well, there's something wrong in Peleus. We don’t have a clue, but if we lose Pelius, we lose the war. You must go there alone and figure out a way to solve the problem on your own. Good luck"

"Something terrible has happened on Telamon. We have no idea what it is, but it’s really bad. Help those people."

"Our intel thinks the renegade confed forces might have a base on Axius. Investigate."

After that, it's up to Blair to figure out what to do. It's not the job of a Wing Commander, it's the job of a captain, which he was.

Thrakkath

If Thrakkath was such a moron, he would not have almost won the war with Mankind.

Implicit evidence there's no such rule on WC or that it isn't enforced.

This was conveniently ignored.

Historical evidence pointing out that given certain cultural and historical factors, it makes sense for the commanders to engage in battle themselves

Ditto.

Tolwyn: you've ignored all the other data we've given you for WC2 to argue in favor of your pet theory, instead of confronting it with facts.

Blair: A long diatribe on how he's a hero for getting himself offed heroically. Look at the WC4 novel; he has taped orders for Blair. Look at the game - Blair plays various tapes from Wilford depending on whether he's decided in certain things (whether he needs to get weapons from Speradon or stop Confed incursions in Circe. Blair CAN plan the fighter missions - he does so as a Wing Commander and did so back in WC3.

You've ignored again and again the statements, examples, and the like brought up for WHY you don't send the fucking General out to fight the battle. He fights the WAR. You know... the campaign that the battle's only a small part of?

For God's sake, even PATTON didn't go out every fucking time there was a battle on. And he was the most gung-ho General I know of in modern times.

Thrakath: He's replaceable. Which is the point behind him going out anyways - if he doesn't lead in battle, no Kilrathi will respect him when it comes time to become Emperor. If he dies, the Emperor picks someone else as Heir.

Implicit evidence: WHERE? We've pointed out that the Colonels do go out to fight, but the Generals and Admirals USUALLY stay at home or at least in battle groups.

WC2: Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn's battle group is destroyed, and Concordia barely escapes to where Blair's stationed. Later, they get the TCS William Tell to escort, and IT goes away when the double-jump happens.

WC2:SO1: Colonel Taggart is out in the field, flying his own freighter. Ditto SO2.

End Run: Admiral Bainbridge stays in the back unless he has a battle group to fight from, with four carriers and many smaller ships. He gets really mad at ADMIRAL Tolwyn for going out alone with Concordia like some idiot to possibly lose it in Kilrathis pace, threatens to demote him.

Fleet Action: Admirals Ching, Jorgensson, and Tolwyn are commanding from the middle of the Third Fleet, with whatever escorts they can muster. Even if the ship goes down, they're making sure that they keep their eye on the whole war, not just the immediate battle or battles.

WC3: Admiral Tolwyn has a battle group when he plants his flag on Victory. They've got escorts and a small battle group.

WC4: Admiral Wilford stays safely at home. Blair is a WING COMMANDER, not a General, not an Admiral. He carries out orders from Wilford, but has the discretion to choose how to go about them. He gets promoted sometime after the end of WC4.

Example of original instructions and taped mission brief:

Originally said by Blair, Eisen, and Wilford, The G-series missions, from the WC4 script
sosa
Captain? Trans coming in.

Eisen and Blair move to her comm terminal to see the union of border worlds' vice-admiral daniel wilford appear on the screen. he's in his 60's, easy going; there's little he hasn't seen.

Eisen
Vice-Admiral Wilford, you know who this man is. He'll be the Intrepid's acting Captain in my absence.

Blair is stunned by this announcement. Maniac groans and shakes his head. Eisen and sosa smile. wilford speaks.

wilford (comm screen)
How do you do, Colonel? I must say, I've always wanted to meet you... Colonel? You all right?

Blair finally finds his voice.

Blair
Uh, I'm fine, Admiral ... Wilford?
(beat)
Weren't you with Confed, sir?

wilford (comm screen)
Forty years of service. Came out to the Border Worlds to retire. They convinced me to come back to work.

Blair
I know the feeling, sir.

Eisen
(to Blair)
You'll be consulting with the Admiral for mission assignments. He's constantly on the move: it's our good fortune he's passing through this system.
(to Wilford)
By the way, sir, what's happened to that squad of marines you were sending?

wilford (comm screen)
Sidetracked. Operation in the Lennox System. You know how thin our resources are. They'll be there within the hour.
(beat)
Looking forward to working with you, Colonel.

Blair
Thank you, Admiral.

The screen goes dead.

Eisen
He's not much on goodbyes.
(picking up the briefcase)
Now it's time I said mine.

He leaves. Blair follows.

Briefing for Mission J-2
briefing j2: pilots/dekker/sosa/wilford-taped - chart roomÿÿ
-j2ÿÿ
sosa
Sir, we received this in the past hour...

she slots a message chip. wilford's recorded transmission appears on the wall screen.

wilford (wall screen)
Colonel, I hope this reaches you. I've had to halt all our traffic through Peleus and it's seriously hampering Border Worlds efforts. You're our last hope of regaining the system and its resources. Without it, our endeavors are doomed. Good luck.

Wilford's image disappears.

CONDITION: Interrogation success (Scene -J2 has played).

Blair nods to the wall screen where an animation of a transport roving the system appears.

Blair
Now that we know what our target is and it's navigation schedule, I think our chances are pretty good. This 'jamming' cap ship has to be destroyed. Only one way to do that.

Maniac
Yeah, but with just the dumb-fires, our aim's going to have to be perfect.

Blair
Some of us know how to aim, Maniac. We don't just rely on luck. Let's do it, people.
CONDITION: Interrogation failure (Scene -J2 has played).

Blair
All we know is that our target moves around a lot. My guess is, it's a single ship rather than several.
(points to map)
We'll cover these four nav-points within the 'dead zone.' I don't know where or when we'll find it, but when we do, we've got to take it out.

the wall screen blanks. Blair looks at his pilots.

Blair
(grim)
That's it then.


LOADOUT NOTE: Again, dumb-fires are the default missile loadout.

WCP: Admiral Wilford takes a demotion to Captain just so he can fly his carrier. Commodore Blair stays off the flight line until he bullies his way back onto it, then gets caught and interrogated. Gets recovered, and then pretty much forces the CAG to let him go out when a Marine could've gone out (remember: he flew the shuttle alone into the wormhole control system) to do the same job.

 

[Aries]

Originally posted by Delance
We see he fighting on his own, or with little escort. That's the job of a captain, like Eisen, not an admiral, since it's front-line duty. And about WCA, he goes almost alone to disrupt the sivar ceminony - not a 'secure' thing.

as was pointed out several times, in WC2, his battle group was destroyed. as for WCA, confed sent tolwyn to that sector of space to 'teach him a lesson'. it was a sector that wasn't expected to have any enemy activity. when it was found out to have said activity, confed sent in more forces (episode 6 or 7)

as for your great 'if blair is a moron' rant, if you had taken the time to actually look at what i said, you'll find i said he was a moron for not letting the other people do their jobs,

He commands the Intrepid. Wilford doesn't plan the whole operation; he basically says there's a problem somewhere and order Blair to solve it.

you're ALMOST right. wilford doesn't plan the operation, he just plans most of the missions, then sends them to blair so he can carry out the orders. as for the ones he doesn't do that (ex. peleus, axius and telemon), they're basically recon missions, which any pilot could plan on their own

If Thrakkath was such a moron, he would not have almost won the war with Mankind.

i don't recall someone saying that thrakath was a moron, just that he was replaceable

Implicit evidence there's no such rule on WC or that it isn't enforced.

where is this evidence? we've explained why tolwyn was on his own

 

[Quarto]

Originally posted by Haesslich
Blair: A long diatribe on how he's a hero for getting himself offed heroically.

In Blair's defence, he did what needed to be done. The reason why another Marine wasn't sent in was because there wasn't any left. Similarly, the fact that Commodore Tolwyn flew a fighter in WCA (I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that in this thread, actually) doesn't mean he's a moron. Sure, flag officers are difficult to come by, but so are carriers.

Besides, Blair had no command position on the Midway. His death would have been no great loss to the Confederation. Indeed, flying was the only thing he had ever been good at, so it's not surprising that he would have wanted to fly - but that doesn't make him a moron.

 

[Haesslich]

Originally posted by Quarto
In Blair's defence, he did what needed to be done. The reason why another Marine wasn't sent in was because there wasn't any left. Similarly, the fact that Commodore Tolwyn flew a fighter in WCA (I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that in this thread, actually) doesn't mean he's a moron. Sure, flag officers are difficult to come by, but so are carriers.

Besides, Blair had no command position on the Midway. His death would have been no great loss to the Confederation. Indeed, flying was the only thing he had ever been good at, so it's not surprising that he would have wanted to fly - but that doesn't make him a moron.

If it only took ONE person to shut down that station... then why did it have to be Blair and not just some other pilot, or even some ensign or rating whose only job on Midway is to scrub the deck? Why did it have to be Blair?

And actually, being a flag-rank officer means his loss is bigger than another loss, if only because he has information useful for the Bugs to plan an invasion. They're usually the types of people who might have access to information about defenses... and given that he was involved with the Midway, sending him out the FIRST time to get caught was stupid - it means the Bugs would be able to learn about possible weaknesses in the Midway's design, and concentrate their attacks there. That's just one example of the problem.

They're valuable for what they know, as much as what they do.

 

[Phillip Tanaka]

Why'd it have to be Blair? Simple, to add to the drama. It's a trend to have an important character die in all the games. Bossman, Spirit, Angel, Vagabond, Blair.