Would you let spread the bio-virus among the kilrathis?

[Haesslich]

Well as I've played through the entire series and read most of the novels, hindsight is great.

You know the Kilrathi are going to nuke and bio us in the end when we barely have anything left to hold the line. So to those out there that are saying the cats will become twice as likely to nuke Confed Worlds...THEY ARE GOING TO ANYWAY! Get the hairballs hard and fast first. It's war not diplomacy. The cats aren't going to give humanity any quarter. And during the last few years of the war, neither side held punches. Get it all out there as soon as you can if you have it. Save TERRAN lives. The Confed didn't enter the war with any notion of saving Kilrathi lives. It was retaliation for unwarrented attacks.

In conclusion: Give the cats the plague. Who knows, it might just kill of the Emperor and Thrak first. Civil War follows, BILLIONS OF CONFED LIVES SAVED!

Actually, there's a reason they didn't kill Thrakath and the Emperor when they had a chance, during the Tarawa raid - if they'd gotten the Emperor, it'd have been an even more intense war than what they'd had up till that point. Right up till the end, until the Kilrathi started getting into the genocide bit, Confed held back from complete and utter destruction for very good reasons - we were already horribly outnumbered, and having them suddenly go all-out would've finished us after the Battle of Terra and the subsequent losses.

Beyond which, if they can eat us, there's the possibility we can be affected by the same bioweapons which hurt them; remember that Pandemic was meant to be used not only on humans, as the WC3 novel notes, but on the other clans should they get out of line. By infecting them, we could not only invite similar attacks (which did happen eventually), but the plan might have backfired on Confed. They also had the 'moral high ground' to lose.

We didn't know that they'd be going into the planet-killing business, at least not beyond the False Armistice. If Confed had started first, and failed to kill the Kilrathi fleet as well as the Emperor, they'd have been wiped out in the Kilrathi's retaliatory strike. It might still have happened if the Grand Fleet had not been smashed when Kilrah blew up.

 

[Meson]

There is something fun about doing things the old fashion way. Do use bioweapons, it's like cheating.

 

[Bob McDob]

Yes, dying by the thousands in ghastly horrible ways is a lot of fun.

 

[Valkyrie]

Well, nice discussions here.

I personally think I would give the furballs the plague...for the sake of our people. The captured kilrathi was threathened very well at the base, and I think the kilrathis wouldn´t be able to trace the route of the plague back to this time. Even if they could: The kilrathi (not all, but many) would be very weak while suffering on the plague, so maybe the confederation could start a final ambush on the whole kilrathi forces in the teran sectors. Maybe then it isn´t so important to blow planet kilrah into pieces!?

Locanda is out of the topic however as Valkyrie specified the timeframe of WCATV.

Yes, you´re right. But this horrible kilrathi-attacks on Locanda and other planets wouldn´t happen if the kilrathi would take finishing-blow trough the plague before...

 

[Delance]

There should be a 4th option... "As a last resort, if it was the only way to save mankind". I also don't think confed should go around blowing up planets, but it was the only chance.

But people, remember that the terran senate has never approved the development or use of a bio-weapon.

 

[overmortal]

a "bio-tech weapon"

 

[Bob McDob]

If the 27th century is anything at all like the 21st, a significant portion of the Confed populace would angrily protest at the mere mention of the word "biotech".

 

[Haesslich]

If the 27th century is anything at all like the 21st, a significant portion of the Confed populace would angrily protest at the mere mention of the word "biotech".

I think the Senate's reaction in WC4 supports this statement, when Blair mentioned bioweapons and the GE program. Besides, the point of the war for Confed was to survive and scare off the Kilrathi, at least to start.

 

[overmortal]

And then Tolwyn got so proud of his new carriers, as if they'd have really turned the tide. "Magnificent, aren't they? I bet you wish you had one of those during the war. They would have put the fear of God into the Kilrathi."

 

[Preacher]

Two words:
Smallpox blankets.

These early bioweapons were used by the US government (and earlier, various colonies thereof) to wipe out a significant chunk of Native populations right here in these United States back in the 1700s/1800s.

AFAIK, they weren't used on my ancestors (Mohawks, in upstate NY/lower Canada), but they were used on nations residing in the south, midwest, and western US.

Bastards.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

This is the second time you've confused 'Wing Commander' with 'find any excuse to bitch about the US'. A third will earn you a permanent ban.

 

[Death]

Locanda is out of the topic however as Valkyrie specified the timeframe of WCATV.

Yes, it is, but I was answering a general question, not specifically in regards to the question in the start of this thread.

 

[Adm_maverick]

the plauge,

Well I've got a question. When you say plauge, are you refering to a Bio-con virus like that in Wing Com 4? or do you mean an out right biological virus like that dipicted in Episode 10 of Academy? Cause witch one leads me to wonder.
If it's the programable nano-machine one the Black Lance had, It's a realitivly safe weapon. One that you could deploy on a limited basis: Say killing off a major Milatary planet. Then when they all die, We call up Kilrah and say "Yeah, we just killed off the entire population of planet so and so. Would you like to negotiate a surrender?"
It's the biological kind, It's dangerous to everyone the kilrathi and the Humans alike. Chances of mutation for instance are a risk I wouldn't be willing to take.

 

[Haesslich]

Two words:
Smallpox blankets.

These early bioweapons were used by the US government (and earlier, various colonies thereof) to wipe out a significant chunk of Native populations right here in these United States back in the 1700s/1800s.

AFAIK, they weren't used on my ancestors (Mohawks, in upstate NY/lower Canada), but they were used on nations residing in the south, midwest, and western US.

Bastards.

Incidentally, what does this have to do with Wing Commander again? I think we've named several incidents which have reinforced the Confederation's stance against bioweapons - Repleetah was particularly brutal and unsuccessful, as far as the effect of such went, and the GE program was buried deep beneath a lot of layers of secrecy while the War was going on, despite the fact Confed was losing badly in the end stages.

Mind you, when they weren't losing so badly (2654-2665), the idea of deploying bioweapons that'd either get turned back on us, or whip the Kilrathi into an all-out killing frenzy was probably about as popular as making sacrificial offerings of children up to the Emperor of Kilrah.

 

[BlackJack2063]

I would generally think that unless you wiped out the entire species (genocide), using bio-weapons, massive nuclear strikes (Fleet Action), weapons of mass destruction can be counterproductive. Wiping out an entire population of a world tends to whip people into a frenzy.

Unless it is the Temblor Bomb, that is Hiroshima all over again.

 

[overmortal]

. . . was probably about as popular as making sacrificial offerings of children up to the Emperor of Kilrah.

Or to Molech.

 

[Preacher]

Indeed.

 

[Ierocis]

It's not so much the weapon that gives the impact but the people it is used on.

Had the temblor bomb been used on any other world than Kilrah, the war would go on. The war monger leaders of the Empire had to be removed.

Had the bio weapons been deployed in a strategic manner than would do more than just devistate world populations (such as military industrial centers), the war with the kilrathi would not have been playing 'playing catchup'. It may have equalized the foe or even put the Terrans in a more favorable stance.

The point I should make is to BlackJack2063 "Unless it is the Temblor Bomb, that is Hiroshima all over again."

It was more than having a devistating weapon that causes an enemy to fold. The psychological impact has to be twice as hard hitting than any physical damage or else you can see major backfires (like increased fury and desperation in attacks). One should not assume just because you have an almighty weapon, they will roll over.

SO: LAUNCH BIOWEAPONS STRATEGICLY early in the war. Even up those odds. Demoralize the cats.

 

[t.c.cgi]

Here's a bioweapon: clone the most asinine, irritating personalities and load them into torpedoes. They will drop like flies.

Some electronic warfare to go with it: transmit television shows with the same qualities over all frequencies. Actually set up jamming satelites in Kilrathi space to relay them. They will be demoralized quickly.

Maybe even toss in some super polymers for good measure, and you'd have the George Washington stamp of approval.

-cue LOAF's Washington picture-

 

[Haesslich]

Here's a bioweapon: clone the most asinine, irritating personalities and load them into torpedoes. They will drop like flies.

Some electronic warfare to go with it: transmit television shows with the same qualities over all frequencies. Actually set up jamming satelites in Kilrathi space to relay them. They will be demoralized quickly.

Maybe even toss in some super polymers for good measure, and you'd have the George Washington stamp of approval.

-cue LOAF's Washington picture-

You forgot the Attractor and Glow Missiles to lure the cats towards the torpedoes, since we can use them to urge other Kilrathi to disobey the Emperor and Sivar and surrender.