Conflict on Titan

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

I think I assumed that was a cover.

Given that they betrayed the plot on the Mars space elevator to China, that seems unlikely, but not impossible. I actually like what it implies about the TSA's strategy—either they thought the Negative Growth plot had no chance, or don't actually want to destroy the space elevator. Perhaps they'd prefer to subvert Rust China and capture the elevator. Now that would be something if they pulled it off.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

Given that they betrayed the plot on the Mars space elevator to China, that seems unlikely, but not impossible. I actually like what it implies about the TSA's strategy—either they thought the Negative Growth plot had no chance, or don't actually want to destroy the space elevator. Perhaps they'd prefer to subvert Rust China and capture the elevator. Now that would be something if they pulled it off.

They could have been supporting the Peruvian Martian deep strategy.

[sir_pudding]

Sometimes when fishing for anchovies you may glimpse the shadow of a whale.

[Michael Thayne]

On a tangentially related note, according to Deep Beyond:

Titan Air Force Base operates both transport and strike TAVs, as well as a flight of transsonic transport aircraft and various air support and reconnaissance cybershells. It also controls orbital defenses and reconnaissance satellites.

Questions: what's a "strike TAV"? I'm guessing it might represent a Chronos-class TAV, but with some sort of weapons (and/or hangar, for deploying cybershells) replacing the passenger capacity. Or are there hints it might mean something else? What are the other aircraft?

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

Questions: what's a "strike TAV"?

It probably means the same as strike aircraft, only for a TAV. I don't think we have any statistics for them.

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by Anthony

It probably means the same as strike aircraft, only for a TAV. I don't think we have any statistics for them.

That's what I figured—I suggested using the Chronos as a baseline because (1) it's similar in size to the TCAVs we do have (2) "cybershells" in THS includes missiles (3) if you were designing a combat aircraft for Titan, you'd probably be less hesitant to use fission air-ram engines than you would when designing something intended for Earth or Mars.