On Mon, 18 Jun 2001 19:58:37 +1000 Kathryn Andersen kat@foobox.net writes:

But to take the other appendage... another reason *I* like Blake's 7 is that they keep on fighting, even though it *is* a hopeless cause, even though they don't have any great chance of winning. Blake is fighting because it is The Right Thing To Do. It's the mixture of idealism in the midst of hopeless doom that I like. I don't think I could stand unrelieved hopeless doom, where nobody's idealistic or noble at all.

I'm never sure why I like B7 except that I do. However, I don't think I see their cause as doomed. Mismanaged, sure, but not doomed. Blake needed to sit down, make a list of goals, then make a list of how those goals could be achieved, something a little more concrete than 'Destroy Federation' by means of 'blowing up any large target that presents itself.'

Some suggested angles of attack - Make a map of areas free from Federation control, areas under partial control, and areas under complete control. Make another map identifying areas by their attitude towards the Federation (hostile, friendly, neutral, etc), another representing whether the Federation feels secure in an area and is able to expand out of it or whether they're weak in that area and concentrating on maintaining control. Also, identify what forms that control takes and how much is required (large military presence vs single bomb, drugs vs personnel, etc). Start superimposing maps and suggesting strategies based on the results (example: this area is largely free of Federation control and it might be easy to expand the Federation free zone, or this area probably can't be freed but it already ties down a large number of Federation troops and it wouldn't take much to tie down a lot more which could stop all expansion in this area).

Blake's needed to think like a matador (not that I'm into bull fighting, but the example seems to fit). Sometimes, when faced by a large, charging bull, you have to concentrate on seriously weakening it and staying alive before you can get around to the nitty gritty of finishing it off.

Ellynne ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.