Firstly we'll need to see what more information comes out of this meeting. Gil and (I'm guessing) Martellus command significant forces - they could go. However Marty and Agatha really should break the chemical thrall that binds them. Most of the rest - Krosp, Tarvek, Rakethorn, etc - could follow Agatha.
I'm curious to hear if Albia has interrogated the copy of the Lucrezia that was removed from Agatha and what she's learned.
That is the key information from this meeting, I expect.
I suspect Albia will send Tarvek with Gil, unless she approves of Neena's interest in him. He's been a major advisor to Gil, who hauled all the way out here to rescue him after he was kidnapped, and she was looking earlier to separate both of them from Agatha. Trelawney probably gets sent with Gil and Rakethorn with Agatha, if the earlier seduction assignments are still active. Krosp makes his own choice, unless he's ticked Albia off and she kicks him out. I suspect Neena stays and Martellus and Seffie go -- seems early to call in that favor from Seffie, but it could happen. If Colette has asked for anyone in particular she probably gets them, though. Orotine ...?
Presumably the Lucrezia copy made it to Albia despite the dome self-destruct, though I don't recall it being explicitly handed over. Would she study it herself or hand it off to some of her sparks to review?
The people of Agatha's world do some things -- almost anything involving Mad Science, really -- better than our people do. But communications in Europa really and truly suck, and nobody seems able or inclined to do much to remedy that.
They don't have tech for it yet. Ground transit in Europa is dangerous, and maintaining telegraph lines under those conditions would be difficult. That the monks pull off maintaining a train system (most of the time) is quite feat -- and mail transit on their trains is probably one of the most reliable options in areas they serve. Air transit is lighter-than-air ships, which mostly seem to be military and expensive so far, and probably limited in speed, plus assorted sparky things of questionable reliability and/or reproducibility. Gil's little airplane may be the most promising thing there. Underground transit other than train tunnels is also all sparky specials. Sea transit so far seems to be airships and submersibles (I assume there are also surface ships), and may be less fraught than overland transit when plot isn't attacking, but that doesn't help inland. The Heliolux Air Fleet and the Queens' Mirrors are the only communication mechanisms appearing so far that don't require physically transporting the message, and neither is particularly accessible. (I lie -- Albia inhabiting Trelawney also came with information transfer, as does Higgs having Zeetha's face sigil.) Signaling systems like the Heliolux one that are ground-based would have poorer sight lines, requiring more manned stations that would need defending -- less flexible and possibly no safer than ground transport.
There's no evidence of radio. Study of vibrations and additional dimensions may be the most promising option for improved distance communications (via radio or dimensional transit or ...?).
This is part of why having the Mirrors and being able to communicate with other sparks was such a boost for the Queens, back when communication was even more limited.
They only have the tech if they can get back to Pax Europa so that they can set up and maintain the infrastructure. With radio or some interdimensional equivalent function, they wouldn't need anywhere near that level of infrastructure.
But telegraph and phone grids ran jolly well on copper, jumping even large bodies of water with underwater cables. Wireless communications only make it more convenient and allow the ships underway to talk. And relays cannot be a problem because agile clanks and local networks need much better ones.
Thus, common capabilities are more than sufficient for general-purpose networks with bandwidth from telegraph to fax spanning the whole place. They just aren't used this way, most likely for lack of demand. No faction is interested in more than internal communication lines.
So the continent is "6 kilometers away at high tide" from England, but the entire path is a thousand kilometers, and news propagate all the way at best with airships. This could be much worse. At least from Paris to England it was presumably relayed via diplomatic couriers, thanks to Colette. Rather than from port tavern to port tavern.
Ship-to-ship communication for an "official" smuggling vessel is done with hailing lights and recognition codes. Those require visual contact. (Semaphore flags would work, too.) The British navy has regular patrols -- they probably check in and convey messages at frequent fixed times & places. Still no evidence of radio.
They just aren't used this way, most likely for lack of demand. With the Empire fallen, Europa is a mess of city-states. ~Nobody has the manpower (or military power) to safely run and maintain cables across the wasteland between defensible settled areas.
Airships all the way for private messages, airships and visual signalling for ones that can be public.
But okay, sufficient tech for telegraph or even a wired phone system may well exist. Paris has a network. The Castle has extensive connectivity of some sort in and around Mechanicsburg. Physical implementation beyond a well-defended area isn't currently viable.
P.S. Mechanicsburg defense clanks to Gil may be evidence for some sort of wireless communication, but Gil controlled that area tightly enough that it might be wired or visual signalling.
But their tech level twenty-five years before this point in the narrative was pretty darned high. Yet they use heliographs for airship and ground communications! OTOH, they do know about "etheric vibrations," Agatha can literally build a ray gun in her sleep ... They put artificial intelligence into castle building stones and blackberry bushes, fer cryin' out loud! (Granted, Himalayan blackberry bushes are already malevolent and scheming in their original feral form.)
If I had to rationalize it, I'd say it's because Sparks don't share information. In fact, they seem to take it as a point of honor that any solution that they devise to a problem is original and incompatible with anyone else's solution. Even of a group of Sparks somehow came up with radio, I don't think they could ever agree to use the same frequency.
That's multi-factor authentication. It's not a message, it's a security feature. What we can infer is: other communication systems available to civilian vessels are very useful in an emergency, but users don't think of them as "reasonably secure". They are likely to be correct, what's with all those students in Paris ripping into closed protocols for fun and all the loons salivating in general direction of the Doom Bell. Considering how even in our days submarine communication cables are messed with… we may simply assume any large communication network in Sparky Europa to be under attack by multiple parties at any given time, unless: A. well guarded against physical access or B. specialized enough to be of little use to the outsiders. Guarding a subcontinent scale grid against opponents with invisibility and digging vehicles is a very expensive fool's errand. Of very specialized networks, we have seen an example: Corbettites usually live on a schedule, so would transmit mainly things of immediate interest to them, i.e. updates on problems with their railways… and no SIGINT at all is needed if their broadcast are easier to observe via legitimate recipients at any local Corbettite terminal.
Master Payne's Circus used horses for transportation. Not much of the fancy tech that Sparks create reaches mass markets or the general infrastructure.
They also have troublesome mechanical conveyances. More horses would probably be easier & more reliable (but not as good at keeping the sparks busy). :)
Ah, found it: here it is. There are dense local networks of Paris and Mechanicsburg, but those are definitely not restricted to one medium. CH apparently controlled Torchmen directly, even while boarding CW. Also, the staff at Castle Wulfenbach had to maintain contact with units beyond visual range. Which is necessary to have a mostly-real-time map of their movement.
In terms of our map, these forces have just swept through Poland and the Baltic States in a day. That's World War II bad. The "Queen of the Dawn" is undoubtedly behind it. She's evidently a Lucrezia instance and may be Zola. The question now is whether it's urgent enough to push Agatha's expedition out of the way. Probably it isn't; the prospect of inter-dimensional invasion is pretty serious too, and her trip is essential to stopping it.
Or the other one (Lunevka?). She knows the most dangerous adversaries are in England. And who knows, may be ready to raid her little helper. Queen of the Dawn expanded her influence without rocking the boat too obviously. Also, Grandmother already warned Zola about how much her life expectancy depends on whether she tries to cross a top tier Spark without sufficient subtlety.
One more possibility: New instantiations of The Other. The Geisterdamen carried off the Summoning Engine to parts unknown. Lucrezia had repaired and improved it to be able to install The Other into the brains of a wider range of other women than just a Heterodyne or Mongfish. It's been more than two years since that happened, so the Geisterdamen would have had time to create an entire army of Lucrezias if they had wanted to do that.
Lucrezia copy is not very useful without a Sparky brain. Though she may keep some just for reliability and save news now and then.
Either way, the most compelling point for suspecting Lucrezias IMHO is timing. They would prefer hidden encroachment. Such use of an overt "outside" force is likely only as a counter to the immediate threat. Right now, between the loudly failed attack on Paris and wasp eaters being dropped in "public domain" and made fashionable at the same time, weaselpillars are going to be produced in every lab that can. That's more or less game over. Of course, this applies both to real Lucrezias and to usurpers.
Actually, this invasion has covered WAY TOO MUCH ground. Even Desert Storm took several days to reach Bagdad while crossing open desert unopposed. A conquering army needs supplies plus troops to occupy territory.
Oh, in WWII, everyone advanced no faster than Napoleon. Really. Lines of communication and supply must be protected.
The probably long-running plan to take over quietly with tiny wasp engines was thwarted at Paris. Given that, the folks running that show -- Zola? Lunevka? Grandma running things through Zola? -- may've decided it was time to claim their already-effectively-captured territory and move their overt military to the places they'd need to take by force: Paris and Mechanicsburg. They're not occupying new territory, just admitting that they already own it. Supply lines may already be set up.
The probably long-running plan to take over quietly with tiny wasp engines was thwarted at Paris.
This won't stop the plan elsewhere. Wasp eaters re-created everywhere would, however.
They're not occupying new territory, just admitting that they already own it. Supply lines may already be set up.
Not "admitting", redirecting attention. But yes, if that's the plan, every controlled area will eagerly surrender and cooperate as best as it can, thus making the advance easy. Which can help with logistics indeed. Not just supply lines, they may have prepared stockpiles of supplies on the path of the advancing army. Concentrated takeover of non-combatants would help to keep this quiet. Hmm. So while back then this move probably wasn't intended, now ostensibly "wasting" wasp engines on little towns of interest only to small smuggler rings pays off: the point was to create hidden bases, and those have many uses.
This won't stop the plan elsewhere. Wasp eaters re-created everywhere would, however. Making people aware of the plan would let them try to impede it. The wasp eaters make it possible to figure out how far that plan has gotten (and try to make containment plans -- hopefully the wasped are not being slaughtered).
the point was to create hidden bases, and those have many uses Wasping everyone also preemptively wipes out potential resistance bases.
Again, logistics. "Wasping everyone" would expend their most important resource inefficiently. Hive engines are high tech product that must be made and transported in absolute secrecy. It's not ammunition that can be rolled by millions using workers with minimum of training on most stages. Thus they must "make it count". They are at war, with everyone. A valuable resource is used up when the expected result is worth it: neutralize dangerous assets or operations of an adversary, acquire valuable assets for their side, or achieve objective in a greater operation.
As such, using enslavers on random peasants is a waste. Using them to take a big city is worthwhile, because cities are important both for industry and for organized violence. And if takeover remains secret, also give access to people and transport beyond the city itself. So, taking over an isolated small town as such is a dubious achievement, unless it has strategical value. It would be a stronger move if they were taking over the existing fence/smuggler group, but that apparently wasn't the point. A hidden base in a place good for a smuggler ring can be valuable to move stuff, especially for a faction that has to hide everything. They need hidden supply lines, and have to dilute evidence like increased demand for honey as thin as possible, lest Wulfenbach's OSINT picks it up. So now that we see why they may want to transport more than just hives, materials to build them, Geister army and supplies for it. This makes Hraggel's Point incident more plot-important.
More troops to supply, then. Also, troops "procured" via enslavers would have two advantages: being absolutely obedient, and already inserted deep into the attacked territories. Otherwise mostly green recruits. The second is more significant for shaping their uses.
Oh, in WWII, everyone advanced no faster than Napoleon. Really. Lines of communication and supply must be protected.
I think that applies only if the army is supplied from the rear and intends to return home. But consider army ants ... They're advancing from Point A to Point B without any intention of returning to Point A -- they're conquering new territory, living off the land as they advance, and don't really care that they're leaving destruction and famine in their wake. There are no supply lines to worry about.
Army ants need only food to go on, and aren't very picky as to what they eat.
An army with horse and cold steel needs food for men and mounts, and some replacement horses, so usually it could forage, the question is how much.
An army with mechanized, infantry and support units (at very least, they need lots of air defense and some anti-armor, and some way to deal with fortifications… and yes, communications)? All this, and spare parts and fuel for vehicles and equipment… and lots of ammunition. And medical supplies. Hence, «Amateurs study tactics. Professionals study logistics». Now let's remember just how much fun Sparky Europa can be when standards are concerned. See also: "3/17 occipital left-leaning Heterodyne wrench". So one can't rely on local supplies even for most simple spares. Unless the army is built around dual-purpose products to begin with. Then looting toaster ovens and suchlike would cover some needs, but even that's unreliable.
Local supplies mean some stuff doesn't need to be hauled along, and supply lines are more available for things that cannot be had locally. The problems are reliability and having more than common goods like food and bandages.
Now, the Geisters have hidden bases, which allow (with preparation) supply of good reliability and quantity. But what exactly supplies they can obtain quietly? Common "revenants" can only help as workforce or cannon fodder (augmented shamblers may be shock troops grade, but would give away the "unholy alliance"). Local military units taken over wholesale can work "as is", but won't mix well on the fly. Best use for them is in operations from their own bases, on their own supply chains. Grabbing them to replace losses and move on is inefficient (if better than nothing). Local transport and communication networks as such could be merged and benefit from the economy of scale, however.
My true point concerns how fantasy works deal with the military and war. Real world military takes time and money - lots of it - to build and train a proper fighting force. Also, the armies generally are far too large for the populations they came from. Ancient Empires could raise big armies by using nearly all healthy males. Losing such a war was catastrophic, as we see from history. A case in point of a modern army was the United States' entry into WWI. It took one full year from the declaration of war on the Central Powers before American troops actually arrived in sufficient numbers in France to engage in combat campaigns. It took six months to set up the attack on Iraq in the Gulf War and that was just to get a well trained and equipped force into place. FDR ordered the modernization of the U.S military in early 1940. At the time of Pearl Harbor, Four Iowa class battleships were under construction and two more had already been ordered (the last two were never completed). Essex class carriers, Baltimore and Cleveland class cruisers were also in the stocks. The North Dakota (first of four of her class) was at sea trails, to be commissioned shortly. And Operation Sealion did not happen because Hitler's small Navy could not hope to cross the Channel while the Royal Navy and RAF still functioned. Modern warfare takes a lot of preparation and planning. But fictional works do not require this so they skip it. I enjoy the series and do try to suspend disbelief just as I did for the nearly TOTALLY inaccurate version of WWI in "Wonder Woman" (loved the movie). Just my two cents.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2021-03-17 04:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-03-17 06:59 am (UTC)Gil and (I'm guessing) Martellus command significant forces - they could go. However Marty and Agatha really should break the chemical thrall that binds them.
Most of the rest - Krosp, Tarvek, Rakethorn, etc - could follow Agatha.
I'm curious to hear if Albia has interrogated the copy of the Lucrezia that was removed from Agatha and what she's learned.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-17 07:49 am (UTC)I suspect Albia will send Tarvek with Gil, unless she approves of Neena's interest in him. He's been a major advisor to Gil, who hauled all the way out here to rescue him after he was kidnapped, and she was looking earlier to separate both of them from Agatha. Trelawney probably gets sent with Gil and Rakethorn with Agatha, if the earlier seduction assignments are still active. Krosp makes his own choice, unless he's ticked Albia off and she kicks him out. I suspect Neena stays and Martellus and Seffie go -- seems early to call in that favor from Seffie, but it could happen. If Colette has asked for anyone in particular she probably gets them, though. Orotine ...?
Presumably the Lucrezia copy made it to Albia despite the dome self-destruct, though I don't recall it being explicitly handed over. Would she study it herself or hand it off to some of her sparks to review?
no subject
Date: 2021-03-17 08:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-03-17 10:03 pm (UTC)There's no evidence of radio. Study of vibrations and additional dimensions may be the most promising option for improved distance communications (via radio or dimensional transit or ...?).
This is part of why having the Mirrors and being able to communicate with other sparks was such a boost for the Queens, back when communication was even more limited.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-17 10:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-03-17 10:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 12:42 am (UTC)Navy vessels can communicate with the base, private airships call the port about unusual circumstances.
But telegraph and phone grids ran jolly well on copper, jumping even large bodies of water with underwater cables. Wireless communications only make it more convenient and allow the ships underway to talk. And relays cannot be a problem because agile clanks and local networks need much better ones.
Thus, common capabilities are more than sufficient for general-purpose networks with bandwidth from telegraph to fax spanning the whole place. They just aren't used this way, most likely for lack of demand. No faction is interested in more than internal communication lines.
So the continent is "6 kilometers away at high tide" from England, but the entire path is a thousand kilometers, and news propagate all the way at best with airships.
This could be much worse. At least from Paris to England it was presumably relayed via diplomatic couriers, thanks to Colette. Rather than from port tavern to port tavern.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 01:53 am (UTC)They just aren't used this way, most likely for lack of demand.
With the Empire fallen, Europa is a mess of city-states. ~Nobody has the manpower (or military power) to safely run and maintain cables across the wasteland between defensible settled areas.
Airships all the way for private messages, airships and visual signalling for ones that can be public.
But okay, sufficient tech for telegraph or even a wired phone system may well exist. Paris has a network. The Castle has extensive connectivity of some sort in and around Mechanicsburg. Physical implementation beyond a well-defended area isn't currently viable.
P.S. Mechanicsburg defense clanks to Gil may be evidence for some sort of wireless communication, but Gil controlled that area tightly enough that it might be wired or visual signalling.
ETA: Another possible short-range wireless device with very limited capabilities -- the actual message is physical.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 05:49 am (UTC)But their tech level twenty-five years before this point in the narrative was pretty darned high. Yet they use heliographs for airship and ground communications! OTOH, they do know about "etheric vibrations," Agatha can literally build a ray gun in her sleep ... They put artificial intelligence into castle building stones and blackberry bushes, fer cryin' out loud! (Granted, Himalayan blackberry bushes are already malevolent and scheming in their original feral form.)
If I had to rationalize it, I'd say it's because Sparks don't share information. In fact, they seem to take it as a point of honor that any solution that they devise to a problem is original and incompatible with anyone else's solution. Even of a group of Sparks somehow came up with radio, I don't think they could ever agree to use the same frequency.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 03:13 pm (UTC)What we can infer is: other communication systems available to civilian vessels are very useful in an emergency, but users don't think of them as "reasonably secure".
They are likely to be correct, what's with all those students in Paris ripping into closed protocols for fun and all the loons salivating in general direction of the Doom Bell.
Considering how even in our days submarine communication cables are messed with… we may simply assume any large communication network in Sparky Europa to be under attack by multiple parties at any given time, unless:
A. well guarded against physical access or
B. specialized enough to be of little use to the outsiders.
Guarding a subcontinent scale grid against opponents with invisibility and digging vehicles is a very expensive fool's errand. Of very specialized networks, we have seen an example: Corbettites usually live on a schedule, so would transmit mainly things of immediate interest to them, i.e. updates on problems with their railways… and no SIGINT at all is needed if their broadcast are easier to observe via legitimate recipients at any local Corbettite terminal.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 12:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 02:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 03:39 pm (UTC)This would be not as good at keeping them hidden, of course.
Those clank-wagons may serve another purpose: advertisement.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 06:13 pm (UTC)There are dense local networks of Paris and Mechanicsburg, but those are definitely not restricted to one medium.
CH apparently controlled Torchmen directly, even while boarding CW.
Also, the staff at Castle Wulfenbach had to maintain contact with units beyond visual range. Which is necessary to have a mostly-real-time map of their movement.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-17 10:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-03-17 01:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-03-17 11:11 pm (UTC)Queen of the Dawn expanded her influence without rocking the boat too obviously. Also, Grandmother already warned Zola about how much her life expectancy depends on whether she tries to cross a top tier Spark without sufficient subtlety.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 06:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 03:50 pm (UTC)Either way, the most compelling point for suspecting Lucrezias IMHO is timing.
They would prefer hidden encroachment. Such use of an overt "outside" force is likely only as a counter to the immediate threat. Right now, between the loudly failed attack on Paris and wasp eaters being dropped in "public domain" and made fashionable at the same time, weaselpillars are going to be produced in every lab that can. That's more or less game over.
Of course, this applies both to real Lucrezias and to usurpers.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-17 11:17 pm (UTC)Oh, in WWII, everyone advanced no faster than Napoleon. Really. Lines of communication and supply must be protected.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 12:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 03:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 04:15 pm (UTC)Not "admitting", redirecting attention. But yes, if that's the plan, every controlled area will eagerly surrender and cooperate as best as it can, thus making the advance easy.
Which can help with logistics indeed. Not just supply lines, they may have prepared stockpiles of supplies on the path of the advancing army. Concentrated takeover of non-combatants would help to keep this quiet.
Hmm. So while back then this move probably wasn't intended, now ostensibly "wasting" wasp engines on little towns of interest only to small smuggler rings pays off: the point was to create hidden bases, and those have many uses.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-19 06:33 pm (UTC)Making people aware of the plan would let them try to impede it. The wasp eaters make it possible to figure out how far that plan has gotten (and try to make containment plans -- hopefully the wasped are not being slaughtered).
the point was to create hidden bases, and those have many uses
Wasping everyone also preemptively wipes out potential resistance bases.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-20 02:22 am (UTC)Hive engines are high tech product that must be made and transported in absolute secrecy. It's not ammunition that can be rolled by millions using workers with minimum of training on most stages.
Thus they must "make it count". They are at war, with everyone. A valuable resource is used up when the expected result is worth it: neutralize dangerous assets or operations of an adversary, acquire valuable assets for their side, or achieve objective in a greater operation.
As such, using enslavers on random peasants is a waste. Using them to take a big city is worthwhile, because cities are important both for industry and for organized violence. And if takeover remains secret, also give access to people and transport beyond the city itself.
So, taking over an isolated small town as such is a dubious achievement, unless it has strategical value. It would be a stronger move if they were taking over the existing fence/smuggler group, but that apparently wasn't the point. A hidden base in a place good for a smuggler ring can be valuable to move stuff, especially for a faction that has to hide everything. They need hidden supply lines, and have to dilute evidence like increased demand for honey as thin as possible, lest Wulfenbach's OSINT picks it up.
So now that we see why they may want to transport more than just hives, materials to build them, Geister army and supplies for it. This makes Hraggel's Point incident more plot-important.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 12:39 pm (UTC)Also, troops "procured" via enslavers would have two advantages: being absolutely obedient, and already inserted deep into the attacked territories. Otherwise mostly green recruits. The second is more significant for shaping their uses.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 06:05 am (UTC)I think that applies only if the army is supplied from the rear and intends to return home. But consider army ants ... They're advancing from Point A to Point B without any intention of returning to Point A -- they're conquering new territory, living off the land as they advance, and don't really care that they're leaving destruction and famine in their wake. There are no supply lines to worry about.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 10:54 pm (UTC)An army with horse and cold steel needs food for men and mounts, and some replacement horses, so usually it could forage, the question is how much.
An army with mechanized, infantry and support units (at very least, they need lots of air defense and some anti-armor, and some way to deal with fortifications… and yes, communications)? All this, and spare parts and fuel for vehicles and equipment… and lots of ammunition. And medical supplies.
Hence, «Amateurs study tactics. Professionals study logistics».
Now let's remember just how much fun Sparky Europa can be when standards are concerned. See also: "3/17 occipital left-leaning Heterodyne wrench". So one can't rely on local supplies even for most simple spares. Unless the army is built around dual-purpose products to begin with. Then looting toaster ovens and suchlike would cover some needs, but even that's unreliable.
Local supplies mean some stuff doesn't need to be hauled along, and supply lines are more available for things that cannot be had locally. The problems are reliability and having more than common goods like food and bandages.
Now, the Geisters have hidden bases, which allow (with preparation) supply of good reliability and quantity. But what exactly supplies they can obtain quietly?
Common "revenants" can only help as workforce or cannon fodder (augmented shamblers may be shock troops grade, but would give away the "unholy alliance").
Local military units taken over wholesale can work "as is", but won't mix well on the fly. Best use for them is in operations from their own bases, on their own supply chains. Grabbing them to replace losses and move on is inefficient (if better than nothing).
Local transport and communication networks as such could be merged and benefit from the economy of scale, however.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 10:15 pm (UTC)A case in point of a modern army was the United States' entry into WWI. It took one full year from the declaration of war on the Central Powers before American troops actually arrived in sufficient numbers in France to engage in combat campaigns. It took six months to set up the attack on Iraq in the Gulf War and that was just to get a well trained and equipped force into place. FDR ordered the modernization of the U.S military in early 1940. At the time of Pearl Harbor, Four Iowa class battleships were under construction and two more had already been ordered (the last two were never completed). Essex class carriers, Baltimore and Cleveland class cruisers were also in the stocks. The North Dakota (first of four of her class) was at sea trails, to be commissioned shortly. And Operation Sealion did not happen because Hitler's small Navy could not hope to cross the Channel while the Royal Navy and RAF still functioned.
Modern warfare takes a lot of preparation and planning. But fictional works do not require this so they skip it.
I enjoy the series and do try to suspend disbelief just as I did for the nearly TOTALLY inaccurate version of WWI in "Wonder Woman" (loved the movie). Just my two cents.