Fleet power is a useful headline and a poor war plan. Readiness is the relationship between the forces you can commit, the forces you can replace, the route to the objective, and what must remain behind.
Readiness checklist
- Available force: fleets that can reach the front, not fleets pinned by piracy, defense, or travel time.
- Command and composition: whether ships are grouped efficiently and suited to the expected opponent.
- Reinforcement economy: alloys, shipyards, naval capacity, and the time needed to replace losses.
- Positioning: gateways, hyperlanes, chokepoints, access agreements, and rally points.
- Intelligence: the confidence level behind enemy fleet and technology estimates.
- Objective: the systems, claims, subjects, or status change that make the risk worthwhile.
Ask the Companion:
Am I ready for a ten-year war with my selected rival? Separate known facts from estimates and include the economic cost of replacing a quarter of my fleet.
Define an abort condition
Decide in advance what would make you stop pushing: a second front, a depleted alloy reserve, a lost shipyard, or an enemy force above a threshold. A readiness assessment is most valuable when it changes a decision before the first battle.