The Mollys + Post #109.

[Ayem]

Molly presence in Omega49 can be justified under the following reasons:

• There is a jumphole from Londonderry to Omega49, allowing backdoor access to a prime trade link in the Corsair supply network.
  
• There is a jumphole from Dublin to Omega 49 which is right next to the Molly gold field, and therefore access to that hole is worth defending.
  
• Mollies aren't friends with Zoners (as far as the infocards go).
  
• Corsairs use Omega49 as a staging point for attacks on Dublin. Pre-emptive attacks may limit the damage or scope of Corsair incursion.
  

Molly presence in Omega3 can be justified under the following reasons:

• Lisburn Rock (a Molly base) sits right on top of the jumphole, controlling Corsair entry along a prime smuggling route.
  
• Corsair capital fleets in Omega3 are there for the purpose of beginning invasion into Cambridge.
  
• Assisting Red Hessians against Corsairs in a system not too far from home.
  

Molly presence in Omega5 should only be in the form of smuggling, escort or diplomatic missions for the following reasons:

• Mollies would get in the way. It is a tight system with a whole mess of mines and asteroids, and is unfamiliar ground to the Mollies who would go there.
  
• Red Hessians know the territory, like the Corsairs, giving these two sides an extreme advantage in this theatre of war.
  
• Mollies are non-expansionist, primarily station bound people. They focus on defending their territory, not claiming whole systems (barring Dublin).
  

Molly presence in Tau-31 has alternately made sense and not made sense throughout the current version of the mod for the following reasons:

• (pro-Bretonia)Mollies set up minefields in the system in cooperation with the BAF in order to slow the Kusari war machine's advancement.
  
• (pro-Bretonia)Mollies are in conflict with Kusari because Kusari is in conflict with Bretonia.
  
• (pro-Bretonia)Mollies can use their hit and run tactics, perfected against the BAF, on Kusari patrols and capital ships enroute to the frontline.
  
• (Nationalist Mollies)Do not care if BAF are wiped out by Kusari.
  
• (Nationalist Mollies)Have fewer reasons to hate Kusari than to hate the Bretonian government and corporations.
  
• (Nationalist Mollies)Are also fighting BAF, making alliances of opportunity probable.
  

As for that last one, when 4.85 first came out I was using the KNF invasions as a distraction during which I bombed BAF capitals ships, and then ran away.

---