Jericho wrote:First: what makes you think that we'd share technology with the loroi?
We have two things to offer, one of them is minor and useful in the short-term, the other is major and useful in the long-term. If we withhold the major, long-term advantage then they have little reason to give us any concessions. They will probably recognize the technological advantage shortly and will push that as a major negotiating point. If we don't agree to share technology we will be agreeing to be exterminated.
Additionally the Loroi will play a major part in our science and engineering for the next several years. We will be learning most of our technology from them for a while so their STEM people will be part of our teams. Even if we try to withhold tech espionage will be trivial for some time.
Second: What makes you think we won't build secret fleets on undisclosed locations (finding these location could be a task for the scout corps post war)?
The amount of resources required to do so will be immense and largely pushed towards the war effort. When the war ends the Loroi will almost certainly have a massive fleet since production won't stop until it's over even as losses drop, we won't be able to hide a push large enough to be worthwhile, and if we do try to hide something like that and get caught we're hosed.
Trantor wrote:It will go down the sink. In the short or in the long run. There´s enough potential for friction.
Just like there was plenty of potential for friction between the US and Japan after WW2 and how that boiled over...oh wait. OK, so there was plenty of room for friction between the US and Germany after WW2 and that went south...oh, right.
Is there a
chance of a war? Absolutely. But we'd have to stand to gain more than we lose, and from where I'm standing we wouldn't. We'd be trading one master for another, unless you think the Historians would be subservient to us, in which case why would they pick us over the Loroi? We might be more pleasant to deal with, but we're not likely to leave them alone in the long-run either.
We would be stoopid to agree on terms like this.
Do you have another option? Do you think the Loroi will agree to anything else? Do you think the Umiak will? We don't have a fleet large enough or enough short-term value to set the terms of the negotiation, nor to stand alone. We will NOT be allowed to have a large fleet regardless of who we side with, and arguing that point will simply mean death.
The Historians are quite unscathed until now, whereas the Loroi are on the brink of collapse.
The Historians are in a better position for initiative.
The Historians don't have a presence, the Loroi do. Unless the Historians are going to break with the Loroi and throw in with us in the short-term (which would be retarded) we will be close with the Loroi by the time the Historians try to pull anything.
Suederwind wrote:What kind of technology should we share with them, that they don´t already have? The secret of brewing the perfect beer?
In the short-term, nothing, but from what's been described we're one of the top tech-gaining species in the setting. Give us some assistance and a decade or two and we'll be the Outsider version of Japan.