That was more or less the way it seemed to me when I put together the ancient WDF tech readout, but more recently it's occurred to me that I kind of had it backward. It strikes me that long-range, long-term activities like patrolling are more strategic than tactical, and conversely, the big ships with instantaneous spacefold drive, with their capacity for nearly instant response, are more inherently tactical. In practice, I doubt the distinction even works operationally, which is why more recent works (such as the last scene in Second Chances Are Illogical) refer to color-coded squadrons.

>Also, speaking of clouded issues, is the WDF responsible for Zeta
>Cygni's defense? (...) I know the WDF isn't
>Zeta Cygni's national military (although I suspect a number of
>in-universe political observers might view that as a flimsy legal
>fiction), but (...) it would seem only logical.

There is a separate and official Zeta Cygni Defense Force, but it's much smaller and geared mainly toward domestic tasks like patrolling the Sphere, customs enforcement, and whatnot. The WDF is under contract to do the heavy lifting, as it were.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
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