Talk:Iroh (United Forces general)/@comment-5724735-20121208200220/@comment-1416077-20121209152825

1) You have to take into consideration the distances involved and the technology available; overland travel in the steam age or early gasoline era, when there are no major highways, is a daunting task. Hannibal's journey over the Alps took months; surprise was achieved because the Roman army had not guarded what they considered "impassible" routes over the mountains. It can be easily assumed that Iroh's fleet is a fast-response unit designed to quickly deploy anywhere to face other military units (equipped to face tanks, remember?). Urban uprisings must be dealt with quickly; taking several days or weeks to get there overland is not an option. 2) The second fleet was better aware of the Equalists' capabilities; they had the advantage of hindsight.

4) How do you know individual ship commanders did not show initiative? Keep in mind the command, control and communications (C3) technology of the setting; line-of-sight semaphores and open (uncoded) radio; having the commanding general micromanage the battle is not a reasonable assumption.