There's not really much to argue. The supposed best intelligence agencies in the entire human sphere somehow missed the entire human sphere preparing to wage open war on them. It's kinda a big plot hole.
I *really* wish you wouldn't make such broad strong statements that are not an accurate representation of the text. Only JSA and PanO were in "open war" against YJ. PanO's Steel Wall was a limited engagement, but war nonetheless.
Haqqislam and Nomads both launched military operations against YJ as well, along with several PMCs such as Ikari and Star Company. The only faction that seemed to stay out of it was Ariadna. The Uprising happened across multiple planets, it was a widespread event. Yu Jing's intelligence services apparently missed large scale military assets being mobilised across the entire human sphere to attack them. Which is as pointed out a very big plot hole that can only be explained away by Yu Jing having a firm grasp of the idiot ball for narrative purposes. Again, pretty obvious sign of poor writing when you need to do that to move a plot point along. Like I said, it's like the last jedi. It's amusing enough while you turn your brain off, but as soon as you start asking questions it doesn't hold up to much scrutiny.
And that also ignores that the "plans" weren't fully fleshed out "H Hour is such and such, and D Day is this and that" but rather shaping opinion and have a select few points ready to go. PanO didn't have a fully fleshed out plan for the Steel Wall ready and waiting for the moment the JSA rose up, but rather PanO's populace had been primed to sympathize with the Japanese. And considering the various and sundry uprisings (even without any perfect parallels) through out history that have caught intelligence services and other government organs off guard, it's not inconceivable for the kuge to have done the same thing here.
And outside of the mercenary companies, none of those operations kicked off at the same time as the Uprising. It was a matter of sympathy having been gathered and feelers put out to see how and through what means full support could be achieved.
Maybe don't just randomly show up in a thread, dismissively insinuate that our plebian opinions are invalid because you're special and have read it and we haven't, and then actually offer an argument and some logic and evidence. That would be helpful. As it is I have no idea what you're getting at here aside from to say "No I haven't, as I stated twice already above. Please read my actual post. I have however read everything else so far. And my opinion is flanderization is a thing, it's getting worse, and it seems unlikely to have been fixed in Uprising. Especially from what information I DO have: we now have YJ continuing to be flanderized as 'the baddies' and JSA is about to get a 50/50 split of flanderization (half awesome spehss-samooray and half evil abusive WW2 country. How original.) (EVERYONE: FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY, RESPOND TO WHAT PEOPLE SAY, NOT YOUR STRAWMEN!).
The ground work for these would've been getting laid out for months in advance. Again, human sphere's best intelligence agencies should've noticed something stirring and started asking questions.
Please cite the claim that Haqq and Nomads engaged in open conflict. I remember Haqq set up rescue efforts for refugees and Nomads were maybe involved in breaking a blockade, but the rest was JSA, PanO, and mercenaries. And again, no military assets were moved prior to the Uprising. The Tatenokai just lit the fuse of insurrection. Once the revolt was in motion, then the co-conspirators started to respond. Please stop ignoring these details.
Pan-O moved enough forces (read: alot) to completely interdict YJ deploying 75000 troops well inside YJ territory. Either they were already in position to do this and should've been spotted well before hand, or we have a different plot hole where Pan-O's military forces somehow teleport all over the place much faster than YJ can move troops within their own territories. Please stop trying to ignore this massive plot hole.
If PanO had superior air power on Terra, they could do this quickly and easily. Also note that the steel wall was implemented weeks after the start of the Rebellion. Edit: what I mean to say is that PanO didn't move an equivalent military force to defeat them, they deployed forces that could stop those troops from crossing into Japan.
A nondescript man, working for a large corporation, having run of the mill meetings with people it's entirely reasonable he'd meet with normally? Yanjing would be worried about that why? Discussing a sponsorship deal for a sensaseries would pop up where, exactly, on the ISS' radar?
You'd need more than an airforce to blockade the Tsushima strait. Modern day SAMs already have a longer range than that, let alone that in a futuristic Sci Fi setting. The idea that Pan-O could freely shoot down YJ transports with aircraft without getting blasted trying to get into that airspace is highly unlikely.
Some really high level discussions going on here, and I am enjoying all the deep thought. I also appreciate that while tempers are running hot, most posters are handling this in a fairly rational manner. Way to keep it (mostly) classy! This is a nice community to be part of. A couple points I would like to offer for consideration. Implausible does not mean impossible. If the outcome was predictably boring, the story line would be predictably boring. It is those 1% long shot odds that make stories memorable. On the flipside, things have to be reasonably believable, or your risk damaging the readers suspension of disbelief. How far you need to push things to make the story exciting, and how much leeway the reader is willing to give you is a fine line that can be different for each audience member. From my perspective, the primary thing of Infinity is the figures. The rules are secondary, to give us something to do with our awesome figures, and the story is tertiary as a fun little reason for the things we do. From what I have seen, it doesn't look like this story will be some prize winning literary piece, but it is good enough for me. It is frustrating that I have two incomplete armies now instead of one, but I feel like I can see where this came from, and have an idea of where it might go. For now I am content. I hope those that are upset, can come to peace with the changes, and have fun with their collections.
Considering that PanO *does* have the greatest amount of territory and assets in the Solar system, that could be accomplished with ease. And considering that the majority of the YJ troops had to deploy to Earth from outside the Solar system, putting measures in place to either interdict them en route or to prevent resupply is, again, well within the bounds of possibility.
And now we're back to the idea of whether YJ is willing to escalate. Or maybe futuristic fighter craft have better AA countermeasures. Or whatever else you can choose to imagine. But if you would prefer to imagine how the writer is wrong instead of believing the story, that's up to you.
Or simply responding from orbit... or posturing along the border themselves... again, PanO has the largest holdings and forces in system (indeed, an entire sectorial), and putting regiments stationed on Earth and their associated air and orbital forces on alert would be straightforward.
I dunno, the part where he's meeting with PMC contacts, particularly those heavily involved in crime. That might be something they'd pay attention to. If they were doing their jobs, but according to Gutier they weren't doing their jobs at all so I guess that's a moot point. No, we can simply reasonably assume that AA counter measures haven't significantly outstripped AA weaponry, otherwise YJ wouldn't be deploying 100,000 soldiers to quell this insurrection they'd be deploying a similar figure of seemingly invincible aircraft to do the job instead because that would've been the logical progression in military technology. There's no escalation here either on YJ's behalf. They're shooting down invading forces in their own territory. Escalating would be if they also launched a strike on Pan-O territory in retaliation to Pan-O aggression, like bombing India or something.
I'm only arguing once around this circle. You want to find plot holes, go ahead. I've already explained the context of the Steel Wall.
Why wouldn't he met with PMCs, for plausible deniability, and especially when the one he met with is the respected StarCo? Additionally, it laid out not that it was a risk free endeavor, but rather that the kuge were fortunate to have the right tool for the job, and that they were lucky to keep under the radar. As with any operation, it's made clear that a large dose of fortune was combined with hard work to make things possible. And, again, with the exploits of the flashy Tatenokai and Kempeitai drawing the Eyes' gaze, the gray man was able to do his job. If you insist on stating you know better and that it doesn't work, rock on. However, CB has laid out an entirely plausible scenario with no more than the normal suspension of disbelief needed. You can repeat that you don't like it ad infinitum, but that doesn't make it unworkable.
I do not think I downplay the importance of Japan's holdings and what Yu Jing lost, it is just two entirely different levels, for Yu Jing its not as I said any serious or crippling wound, JSA was not a huge part of their army, the territories they got were not even close to be the best Yu Jing had, for Japan as a new nation they are massive and for the lobbies that pressured PanO to act they were a good deal. A few things Candi double is not an simple TV persona and the shows PanOceania watches are not simple TV shows, if you think that PanO was moved by simply watching the drama on the TV you are mistaken, Ikari hate JSA officers I think more than Yu Jing, but they definitely hate Yu Jing and I feel wit their composition they hate ISS maybe more, I do believe the only ISS agent any Ikari would like to have near him is a dead one. And please Starco. the free company of the stars has nothing to do with the Nomads nation, they are a complete separate entity not tied to the motherships Honest ()
