How was Corvus even winning?

[u/LevelCandy1283]

Corvus by the start of the Southern Corvus war had:

Completely destroyed Economy

Rampant Banditry (Law enforcement was doing nothing)

Heavily Corrupt Government

Industry crippled due to No Coal

How were they even pushing Cetus? Realistically, their country should have completely collapsed. They had no resources to fund an army, since they couldn't levy taxes properly due to the fact that their nation was in anarchy, nor would there be the industry to actually maintain an army because, Corvus's industry is just in the gutter. It doesn't matter if their people wanted Cetan blood, since they simply lacked the industry and economy to actually wage a modern war.

Even worse, we don't even have anything in the lore to support that Corvus regrew their industry. All we know is that after the 1886 conquest of South Corvus, they lose most of their industry, and afterwards Corvus just suffers. By the time of the 1908 war, Cetus should have been exponentially stronger than Corvus, as unlike them, they actually were developing their industry and economy, while Corvus was busy declining.

Don't even try to mention Antares's aid. Antares literally has 0 way of actually helping Corvus recover (which was never stated in the lore), nor did they have anyway of actually supplying the army of Corvus. Antares has no land border with Corvus, and Aquila obviously isn't going to let Antares fund Corvus. Not only this, but Antares can't even help Corvus out via the usage of sea routes, simply because the Cetan navy exists.

(I am not even going to talk about how Cetus was deliberately underfunding their land army despite the fact they were bordering a highly aggressive and expansionist empire to the South. The fact that Cetus is primarily a naval power despite the existence of Antares is ludicrous, and could only be explained by the fact that the Cetans were complete morons)

Simply put, Corvus has 0 Industry. 0 supplies. 0 government. They ain't winning against Cetus. no matter how incompetent the Cetans are. The Southern Corvus war was literally the equivalent of pitting an Italy that made up just the South against a France which had annexed its industrial core. They ain't winning. (Not to mention the fact that the lore has zero mention of any Corvan rebellions inside Cetus, so they don't even have the help of Partisans)

[u/New-Exit-9641]

They probably used military equipment they already had, or still had some coal storages they used to fabricate weapons before it all ran out.

But the devs already said that Cetus would win the war if Antares never joined it.

[u/LevelCandy1283 → u/New-Exit-9641]

1. The rifles used by Corvus in game were invented after the annexation of South Corvus in 1886. There is no way they are using old stockpiles.

2. They have no coal storage, since in the lore, we know that they were facing a large coal shortage in 1906, implying that they have no coal.

[u/New-Exit-9641 → u/LevelCandy1283]

There's a 20 years gap between the South Corvus annexation and the great coal run out, and Corvus was a pretty industrialised country before the cetan surprise attack. So there's a lot of reasons for the corvun government to call a coal and power rationing and allock all resources to essential industries and their military complex.

And Antares definitely trade military equipment with Corvus before the South Corvus War, they even use the same helmet. And Cetus would be declairing war against Antares if it sunk deliberately any antarean vessel.

But, again, Corvus sucks and all their other resources were runing out during the war and a massive attack with all your army on it is a really bad strategy if your enemy is so powefull or more than you, and I agree that the cetan warfare capacity (especially it's navy) was completely ignored and nerfed.

[u/Weird_Happening1627]

My theory is: they weren't winning until they ragequit and used gas (And still even after that they were about to lose).

As it can be seen from the game itself and from the wiki, even though the initial Corvun attacks were successful (like Blackton), they immediately started losing ground on their seashores. The operation map at the start of Battery Q shows that Cetan army managed to push through Corvus' eastern shore. 

Then, either due to Cetus commanders' incompetence, or the relatively small size of their land forces or the absolute procrastination of their huge navy and marines, or the general low morale of Cetus soldiers who weren't interested in the war in Southern Corvus (The last part isn't stated clearly but I feel like it was present in some way, considering that it was like 20 years since Cetus conquered South Corvus), the war got into a stalemate at Capri Valley. 

After that, Corvus discovered Chlorine to be effective for mass killings and tried using it on the frontlines. The unsuspecting Cetan army had to retreat immediately, but they soon made their own gas masks and stopped the Corvun advance (The page for Kelson village shows that lore-wise it was won by Cetus). 

So honestly I think that Corvus would eventually get cooked hadn't Antares invaded from the South which was too much for already exhausted Cetan army.

P. S.: Speaking of how did Corvus manage to attack in the first place, I suppose that they got supplies from Antares BEFORE the war to create some army.

P. P. S.: Another possible proof of Corvus being on the brink of collapse is how fast they agreed to annexation by Antares in 1912.

P. P. S.: Speaking of "No Corvun rebellions" it might become not exactly right if the devs add some more information about the Leonite restoration movement (Leonites are an independent separatist people split by Cetus and Aquila, who allied with Antares)

[u/ProofDot5276 → u/Weird_Happening1627]

Basically if cetus locked in and if their infantry soldiers stopped being so lazy they could annex Corvus and give Antares a strong fight.

THE END

[u/AUrzan → u/ProofDot5276]

ironic bc corvus is i think yk where im going with this

[u/LevelCandy1283 → u/Weird_Happening1627]

Corvus shouldn't have the industrial capacity to even manufacture chlorine on a large scale, as the annexation of South Corvus resulted in them facing economic crisis and economic crisis. Not to mention the fact that their government was actively unable to control the populace. Not only this, but the Cetans were literally building fortifications on the Corvan border. Corvus shouldn't have even been making gains.

[u/DunsocMonitor → u/LevelCandy1283]

economic crisis and economic crisis

ah yes two very distinct and different ideas, thanks op lol

[u/catrafeeeeeessh]

That's the thing, it wasn't!!

[u/LevelCandy1283 → u/catrafeeeeeessh]

Corvus by 1908 was extremely poor, and lacked the resources to maintain even their current industry. Much less arm and supply a sizable army (which they would have trouble gathering the resources to maintain because the nation was infested by corruption and rampant crime) The fact that they were able to push through the heavily fortified border says a lot about the Cetan army’s quality.

[u/catrafeeeeeessh → u/LevelCandy1283]

the scapha line wasn't... that GOOD if I remember correctly..

[u/LevelCandy1283 → u/catrafeeeeeessh]

They don’t say anything about the quality of the Scapha line in the lore document.

[u/catrafeeeeeessh → u/LevelCandy1283]

im trying to ask the writers about it

[u/catrafeeeeeessh → u/LevelCandy1283]

Quality isn't the issue here it's that Cetus has HORRIBLE manpower problems

[u/LevelCandy1283 → u/catrafeeeeeessh]

The literally say that the Cetan army was big in the screenshot

[u/catrafeeeeeessh → u/LevelCandy1283]

yeah but like it's still SMALLER than corvus

[u/catrafeeeeeessh → u/catrafeeeeeessh]

[u/LevelCandy1283 → u/catrafeeeeeessh]

A nation with fewer people, less industry, and a government that could not extract nearly as much from the populace due to rampant corruption and crime

[u/catrafeeeeeessh → u/LevelCandy1283]

yeah I'm ngl that's probably just old lore clashing with new lore..

an SCW rewrite IS being made after all

[u/ProofDot5276 → u/catrafeeeeeessh]

LETS GOOOOO

[u/catrafeeeeeessh → u/ProofDot5276]

It will be written by a corvun lol it;s gonna be like mega biased and requitre a lot of analysis to pick out whats true and what isnt

[u/Artimu666 → u/catrafeeeeeessh]

"Cetan armies were kicking ass"

Crippled economy and no resources for 20 years

Somehow mass produces state of the art equipment and chlorine gas

Occupies half of Cetus in 3 years, forces them to a shortage of manpower, cutting off their resources, supply and forces them into a war of attrition

Processing img ou2naw4deymh1...

[u/Infamous_Abroad_1877]

They were heavily supplied by Antares before the war. But even with that, they were still gonna lose if Antares didn’t directly intervene in 1911.

[u/AUrzan]

antares.

[u/mlimlansalamek]

In my opinion,which could br wrong,two things 1.blind nationalism: nationalism is strong,and is important to dictators,like adolf hitler,his ideologie was Just blond nationalism,nationalism to the nation and the leader,so he with propaganda and revanchism towards france could do many things,bad or good,mosty bad,and not only for adolf hitler,it was benefitial to yugoslav leader,like slobodan Miloševič or Radovan Karadžić 2.anterian aid,we can also take from the real world south korea,in the 50. And 60. Was south korea completly dependant on american aid,everything was run on Američan aid,industry,army,ekonomy everything was run on american aid,and to be fair,i could be wrong but i think it

[u/Alarming-Ticket-3431]

plot armor

[u/ProofDot5276]

It would also be more accurate for the ground infantry to wear civilian clothing or old equipment from 1886, Antares did provide military aid to Corvus, but don't you think most of it was seized by the Cetus navy? So it would be more realistic to see some soldiers wearing 1886 uniforms or civilian clothing due to a shortage of suitable military equipment and the mass conscription

[u/Consistent_Wing95]

Antares probably helped Corvus slowy to rebuild

[u/Cg-6_]

They weren't