It would be also the super easy way to force Sirius to unite and face everybody and their mothers in Sirius vs. Gallia war
In the very moment you try to cut Sirius from H-fuel, the attitude of Kusari (yes, they are rebuilding navy which is still small but some force is there) and mainly Rheinland would change immediatelly. Like "hey Libertonians, let´s make a short break, ja, we are going to save our fuel supplier from Frenchies (and then maybe conquer their fields for us if there will be opportunity )".
And by the way cutting GMG from rest of Sirius would be quite difficult. Even if you can conquer whole Kusari including Honshu system, there is still way through Sigmas. And Gallia´s main power is in capital ships and we from Rheinland can tell you in detail how fightining with these goes against GMG in nebula with gas pockets...
And to your question - as far as I know, there is no relation between GMG and Gauls at the moment, hostile or any other.
Well can't Gallia just hand out their fuel and engine conversion designs to friends and allies, get revenue from increased promethane sales, and steamroll the rest?
It doesn't seem likely that a force hell-bent on conquering the known universe wouldn't go for an easy win out of fear that everyone would get mad at them?
As a Gallic, you can go by lanes from Gallia to Okinawa through neutral territory - easy for Gallics to amass and move forces fast, and no way an unprepared Okinawa could withstand one swift blow by a full Gallic fleet (unless they have some sort of Trent-like hero). Okinawa is pretty open territory, unlike the Sigma gas fields.
People make a habit out of discussing that in-rp Liberty has X amount of Battleships, and Gallia has Y etc. etc., but don't forget that strategic resources are just as vital - if not more (afterall, wars are typically waged over territories with access to resources). If you could win a war swiftly by knocking out vital resources in one easy blow or fight a prolonged war against other fleets of comparable strength, wouldn't you go for the first? At least, wouldn't someone in either fleet or parliament in a rather large population?
(10-21-2014, 08:31 AM)Mímir Wrote: Well can't Gallia just hand out their fuel and engine conversion designs to friends and allies, get revenue from increased promethane sales, and steamroll the rest?
Change of propulsion would be incredibly expensive, we are talking about whole Kusari and Rheinland fleet. Unacceptable for Rheinland, we don´t have money for it and mainly we can´t afford to stop fightining with Liberty, Hessians and Corsairs to call all ships to docks for several weeks/months to rebuild their propulsion system.
And this decision would be also very silly from from strategic point of view. Instead of using propulsion system which requires fuel from our neighbors and which is produced by our own corporation (Daumann), we will change it to propulsion which will require at least for some time spare parts and fuel from house which is far far far away?
If something have at least little chance to be acceptable, then Gallia conquering GMG territory and then continuing of mining and selling fuel by them to those which are not enemies (Kusari, Rheinland).
(10-21-2014, 08:31 AM)Mímir Wrote: As a Gallic, you can go by lanes from Gallia to Okinawa through neutral territory - easy for Gallics to amass and move forces fast, and no way an unprepared Okinawa could withstand one swift blow by a full Gallic fleet (unless they have some sort of Trent-like hero). Okinawa is pretty open territory, unlike the Sigma gas fields.
People make a habit out of discussing that in-rp Liberty has X amount of Battleships, and Gallia has Y etc. etc., but don't forget that strategic resources are just as vital - if not more (afterall, wars are typically waged over territories with access to resources). If you could win a war swiftly by knocking out vital resources in one easy blow or fight a prolonged war against other fleets of comparable strength, wouldn't you go for the first? At least, wouldn't someone in either fleet or parliament in a rather large population?
It is not that easy. First, Gallia at the moment doesn´t have much forces which they can freely send to open another front. They are still busy in Leeds where they have to be ready for counter-attacks of Bretonians and Libertonians.
Second, in fact they would be conquering Kusari territory. Despite GMG is sovereign at the moment, Kusari still somehow consider Okinawa and Sigmas as their territory (majority of GMG workers are Kusarians after all). So I doubt they would be willing to let Gauls go through their systems and lanes to occupy space which in their opinion should belong to them including resources there.
Third - conquering Okinawa is not enough. You need to conquer Sigma-13 and Sigma-19 as well because there are another mining fields and two another vital stations for gas mining industry (Ogashawa and Naha gas miner stations). I doubt this would be possible with one swift move especially when Kusari is not interested to cooperate (at least they can warn GMG, gas fields controlled by independent Kusarians are still better than controlled by Gauls). And GMG knows very well how wage bomber guerilla warfare in Sigmas against stronger enemy whose main force are capital ships...
GMG future is clearly connected with future of Kusari here.
This is why Kusari's future is a crucial and very delicate choice now. Either it would stay against Liberty with Gallia, it will open front against Liberty, saving relations with Rheinland (or even improving it, since Gallia and Rheinland have one temporal mutual enemy) or it will turn around and try to defend itself against Gallia. There's also third variant, which is lack of decision. With Kusari Exiles at the gate and VERY weakened Naval Forces, Civil War would eventually break out, not only caused by Exile-Naval relations, but also with Samura-Kishiro one (suprisingly, Samura is natural ally for Exiles, while Kishiro may either choose KNF, GMG or even Blood Dragons - because the latter one will not just watch).
Blood Dragons here may be the black horse here, alongside with GMG, because these both are not only neutral against themselves, but also the KNF is VERY weakened. I think BD-GMG alliance would be a major threat here, because Dragons can build capital ships - and GMG as well, having very good dry dock in rather remote point.
Not to mention GMG has perfect place to start conquer Honshu, having at least three points from which they could stage an assault on the whole system. Hell, they don't even need to do major damage, because they have Kishiro as their contractor (what would make very awkward situation, if Kishiro had to choose between KNF and GMG). If not Honshu, Kurile would eventually fall into GMG hands.
Yes GMG benefits from kusari although they don't like it - and I also don't think they like the fact that Kusari forces can operate in Okinawa. As for gallias capturing Okinawa - I believe there was a treaty signed back then with Kusari. However, Gallian invasion to Okinawa would severely cripple their power at the taus and elsewhere, giving ample time for colonials and rebel outcasts from taking their systems. It's how modern warfare works, You can't fight 3 fronts at the same time ( especaily when its war and not just an operation ). You need to focus all of your "umph" on one target at a time.
As I recall Rheinland is using MOX which they are producing. And there was an embargo between Kusari and Liberty which included H fuel. Dunno how it stands right now, but things you're talking about are quite possible and even been done without Gallia's influence. The only thing about it, is that developing doesn't care what factions they are "developing" are thinking or doing.
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I know that GRN| patrols usually don't take kindly to GMG transports crossing through GRN (claimed) territories to supply other houses with H-Fuel or Helium-3.
I don't think there's any official diplomacy however.