Talk:Tripitz Affair

Tripitz?

Is everybody 100% sure that the word ain't spelled Tirpitz? As we all know, this is the name of the Bismarck's sistership, would make sense, but it also would sound quite logical to assume a subtle namechange still hinting at that WWII-ship. Anybody has any informations on that? RagTag 17:08, 18 August 2010 (UTC)

According to the listed sources, the spelling is correct. --Scaletail 00:08, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

We've got a similar case with the name of the SLS Bismark {sic}. Apparently misspelled, but canon nonetheless. Frabby (talk) 07:25, 30 March 2017 (EDT)

This has to be Propaganda

There is no way the Tripitz Affair could have happened as described.

The Tripitz is described as being in "an empty star system near New Vandenberg" so we can assume that it's within one or two jumps of New Vandenberg, probably coreward, anti spinward, in the (Bermuda) triangle otherwise anchored by Regis Roost and Larsha.

New Vandenberg is one of the leading planets in the Taurian Concordat, "hosting at least four major manufacturing companies as well as two military academies" one of which being The Taurian Naval Institute, which is to say, "If any planet in the Periphery has Aerospace Assets, it's New Vandenberg."

New Vandenberg is 39.71 light years from the capital, Taurus, so even if they had to courier the information to the Protector, (highly unlikely considering the culture) a decision is not more than weeks away.

There is no reason for the Taurians to transmit this information via HPG, considering the distance.

Assuming, though, for the sake of argument, that agents of Maskirovka and/or ROM were aboard the entirely unremarkable, unnamed Taurian Survey Ship which discovered The Tripitz, they would have to get the information to Sian and Terra

Sian is 232.53 light years from New Vandenberg.

Terra is 437.2 light years from New Vandenberg.

If we go with the scenario that a minor functionary aboard an unremarkable survey ship relays a highly encrypted message to their handler on New Vandenberg, and said handler runs to a Comstar facility with an urgent, highly encrypted message to their sick mother, either with the secret handshake or a steamer trunk full of cash, the message still needs to get to Sian and Terra.

Precentor ROM Karl Sims runs, not walks, runs to the First Circuit, and informs them of the scenario, and Primus Takami immediately orders the 1st Division of the ComStar Guards and Militia into action.

The 1st Division of the ComStar Guards and Militia, boasting 39 Aerospace fighters, is stationed on Oriente.

Oriente is 224.76 light years from Terra

Oriente is 304.43 light years from New Vandenberg.

1st Division of the ComStar Guards and Militia, which is 46 years old at this point and never seen combat, mobilizes in 48 hours, and proceeds to Oriente's Jump Point, 191 days away.

Again, for the sake of argument, 1st Division of the ComStar Guards and Militia travels at the absolute limit of technology (six days between Jumps) and arrives 66 days later.

Assuming instant communication, from the survey ship, to New Vandenberg, to Terra, to Oriente, Com Guard Aerospace assets arrive 259 days later.

Eight months 19 days after the first recovery team left New Vandenberg.

...and proceeds to attack a token garrison protecting a gutted hulk

If there was anything there at all.

Assuming the resources of an entire planet basically dedicated to Aerospace could not restart the engines, the next best thing is to strip it to the bulkheads, and take detailed notes on the rest. It's too big to move in one piece, but that is a problem for another day, Taurians have parts, schematics, and a great deal of motivation. — The preceding unsigned comment was posted by Thauron (talk • contribs) .

The article depicts the affair as it was described in the only source that gives any details at all. Given that it's a ComStar document, it is obvious that bias, errors, or outright misinformation may be included but that goes without saying.

I can find a viable explanation for each and every point you raise. Real-time two-way HPG communication is possible, we've seen it in novels. It is plausible that ComStar would be able to pull this off, or at least transmit sphere-wide within minutes, for internal priority communication. They also likely possessed spaceborne HPGs on some of their DropShips or JumpShips. And they could easily arrange for long-range command circuit transport in a pinch. (There is ample evidence that ComStar possessed a massive civilian transport fleet on par with or surpassing any Successor State, sailing under both ComStar registry and also in the form of various shipping enterprises subsidized by ComStar.) Unless a story focusing on the Tripitz Affair is released that tells the "real story" in novel fiction style, we'll only ever know what we've been told so far, from a possibly biased in-universe source. Not very likely, but certainly possible. Frabby (talk) 07:25, 30 March 2017 (EDT)

Why wait for a Novel?

On page 85 of the original Periphery book we read, "There are several large Taurian warships guarding the approaches to Brinton." (emphasis mine)

Dated 3025, 46 years after "The Tripitz Affair," the earlier ComStar report implies that the Taurians have significant naval assets; add to that, in the Star League sourcebook, a ComStar report dated 3028, we read, on page 98, of "The Disappearing Battleship of Merope" which details a Black Lion, a vessel of the same class as the Tripitz, essentially disengaging and then reengaging a warship rated Null Signature System, on camera.

Merope is a Taurian world, occupied by the Federated Suns since the Reunification War.

Delving further into the 3025 ComStar report, we read of rumors of a major find on Celeano, a world which lacks a ComStar presence and isn't found on any published map, further we read that Ishtar, a planet named after the goddess of fertility and war, is entirely proscribed from ComStar.

Then on this Wiki, itself, we read "the [New Vandenberg Taurian] Academy had dispersed bases and training fields scattered across New Vandenberg, including in the wildlife sanctuary of South Holme."

So it's a wildlife sanctuary with a strong military presence, you know, to protect birds from poachers.

Keep in mind The Taurians were preparing to go to war, with the whole of Star League, for the second time, in 2765; that war never happened and, since then, the Taurians have essentially done nothing.

Which you may read to mean, "Enjoyed more than 250 years of relative peace and prosperity."

What Frabby's rebuttel ignores is: Maskirovka was already planning something; which means that reliable, actionable intelligence made it's way to Sian well before Precentor ROM Karl Sims informed the First Circuit of the existence of The Tripitz.

Reliable, actionable intelligence is not a few hazy pics with a spy camera, it's confirmation that The Tirpitz exists, is salvageable, and the whole thing is not a trap. The costs and risks of invading sovereign space and engaging the native military, using the greenest of green assets, are almost incalculable.

We must infer, then, that Maskirovkian agents had already completed at least one mission at the highest level.

Which means time.

More than likely, Maskirovka concluded the same thing I've concluded: It's too late.

Very possibly, they fed the information to ComStar, who took the bait.

--Thauron (talk) 17:40, 30 March 2017 (EDT)