Federation Commander

[mojo jojo]

The backstory of the Andromedan invasion is that they attacked all over the Milky Way including Omega in an attempt to take over everything at once. If the Andros had decided to concentrate all their forces in Alpha, would they have won easily, or would it have simply accelerated X technology and the results wouldn't change much from the historical timeline? Did they even have the option of concentrating their forces, or were there logistical barriers to such a strategy?

[Nerroth]

Firstly, it hasn't been confirmed in print just what, if any, effect the Andromedans may have had on the Sigma or Sargasso Octants, or on the vast Xorkaelian Empire; we only have data so far on their operations in Alpha, Omega and the LMC. Indeed, we don't yet know if the Andros took up residence in any of the Milky Way's other satellites, either; or if the other major galaxy in the Local Group, M33, was faced with an Andro onslaught of its own. (The Triangulum timeline in SFB Module E2 only goes so far as 2523.)

For all we know, the wider Andromedan efforts against our corner of the Local Group may still be ongoing.


Secondly, it's not been confirmed just yet exactly how the overall balance of forces varied from the Alpha and Omega fronts between 2592 (the year the full-scale assault on Omega began) and 2602 (when the success of Operation Unity suddenly made the Andro bastion in Omega's Ryn Nebula a very popular place for the surviving Andromedan motherships to go).

Part of the problem is that, for at least some of this time period, the Omega Octant was also being invaded by the Souldra (a species of vampiric dark energy beings from another plane of existence, flying crystalline dark-matter warships armed with fighter-like Black Shards used to feast on the life force of their various target empires), who themselves clashed with the Andros during this era; the Souldra threat was largely brought to an end in 2598, when the Loriyill smashed the Souldra base at the Black Sun (the key logistical node for the Souldra in our dimension; located deep in the Void separating the western edge of Omega from the ISC), but they had still left some pretty deep scars by that time.

However, it is shown that unlike in Alpha (where the local empires had made major headway against the RTN by 2600) the Andromedans were still conducting major operations in Omega right up to 2602; over half a dozen capital systems had been attacked directly before the green tide finally receded.

It could be that the Andros had entirely separate fleets operating in both Alpha and Omega; or perhaps they pulled certain ships out of one part of the galaxy, brought them back up to the LMC, and then re-deployed them down another invasion route. For that matter, we don't know what kind of RTN chains lead from the LMC to any other parts of the galaxy, or to other satellites (like the Greater Magellanic Cloud, for instance). Presumably, any attack on M33 would hardly go there via the LMC; but still, resources deployed from Andromeda in that direction would, by necessity, be ones not sent to the Milky Way.

Until, or unless, we find out what kind of forces the Andros may have been sending around the place, we cannot say for certain what kind of changes they may have made to their overall strategic plan.

Plus, we don't have a good idea on just how many ships, bases or other resources the various Omega empires even had in service at this point. We do know that the first war cruisers only entered service a few years prior to the Invasion, and that new technologies (such as X-ships and gunboats) were slow to be developed, let alone spread from one Omega empire to another. Plus, the damage inflicted by Souldra attacks had its own effect; a world swarming with robot slavers was still easier to reconquer than a planet stripped bare of all life. Without that kind of information, we can't say how many ships the Andros actually needed to make the headway they did in the Omega Octant.


Thirdly, bear in mind that were it not for the return of the Darwin, the forces the Andromedans were already sending to the Alpha Octant would still have been enough to let them win out in the long run.

While the technological and logistical elements in place were no doubt factors in how well each empire managed to hold out against the invaders, the key variable was the timing of the Rapid Transit Network's discovery. In the alternate timeline splintered off from "our" reality by the temporal displacement of the Darwin , it took another five years for the Alpha empires to uncover the RTN's purpose; a gap which, for the unfortunate alternates, gave the Andromedans all too commanding a lead in the race for survival.

Over in Omega, the Iridani had figured out the importance of the RTN diring the Grand Quest of 2595-97 (in which they liberated their home Cluster, beyond the rim of the galaxy; it had been conquered in 2593). However, despite their best efforts, the Iridani were only able to fully spread this knowledge to the surviving Omega empires from 2502 onwards. This info was too late to make a difference during the full-on invasion, but did make a key difference when the time came for Operation Concerted Strike in 2604.


In short, we got lucky.
_________________
FC Omega Discussion (v3)
FC LMC Discussion