Hello, everyone. I wanted to spend a moment and address a few criticisms I have been getting since Volume 1. But first, I want to say thank you to everyone who is readying Ad Astra. I hope you have been enjoying it and it has been worth your time. You guys have been great!

This post is meant to be a conversation (meaning feel free to post in the comments), and I tried to let my story address these criticisms besides responding directly. When I do talk, I have a tendency to "text" strongly, even though I don't mean to (why I respond less). And I also explain my thought progress which can be seen as me dumping on an individual. As the author, I have learned that my response can have a heavier weight behind it than another reader responding in a comment.

Please remember, this is meant to be a conversation. I am hoping to explain my perspective, where I am going with the story, and hopefully, to show you why I am doing the way I am doing it. Throughout this, I am not targeting a single person, as many of these criticisms have been made by multiple people on multiple platforms. It became clear to me that I had failed to address these concerns within the story in a clear, meaningful way. I do believe where people are coming from with most of these criticisms (and I take them all as in good faith), all coming from a single origin which I will address.

I do not believe Ad Astra (AA) is a perfect story as I am always learning. The truth is, most of the time, when it is time to post a new chapter I am terrified (especially last few weeks XD). Even writing this has been terrifying but I want to speak with everyone. I try to be bold and creative, not taking the easy path but that does not always mean it translates well. And not all ideas are always the best idea, but discovering that is not always easy. I will also state a few examples at the very end of this post where I think I could have done better and the mistakes I made.

Last disclaimer, it is 100% okay to enjoy story elements that I am addressing and disagreeing. I believe people can enjoy what they want, I just believe it should be part of the appropriate story (I don't expect Star Trek in Lord of the Rings as example). We all have different perspectives and want different things and that is okay. Agains, this is me trying to address and clear up misunderstanding, being transparent and build dialogue as I want everyone to enjoy my story and feel like they are being rewarded by the experience, not me pulling your leg. Thank you.

- Why are you focusing so heavily on the early stage of the war and not skipping to conquer the enemy capital?

The title is a bit on the noise, but I think it clearly states what most people are thinking. Since Volume 1, I have gotten this impression by many people since the US arrived on Alagore. I was kind of surprised by this, but let ask this question first. Why not?

Let me first explain the world of Alagore. This is not a low-tech, primitive world. I think that is clear by now. So, why should the story act like they are a classical-era faction? They should act closer to us today. When I started this project, I didn't want to do another Moder vs primitive fantasy because 1) it has been done and 2) It gets boring and hard to write when the antagonist takes a month to send one text message. The people of Alagore are advanced but different than us.

The concept I am going with here is this. The bad guys are advanced and competent (at least to the best of my writing skillset). They are not weak or inferiors. They can easily pose a challenge to the United States military. They are fantasy space aliens with magical technology. That is the point of the entire concept of AA. How would the US face equal but different factions within the isekai premise?

Saying that, Why should I rush the opening? I know we have seen many stories where they basically time-skip the beginning. A (insert Earth country) goes to a new world, some time of time skip so they get all the toys now before the story begins. Nothing wrong with that, but it wouldn't work in AA. The self-respecting nation would allow a foreign power to build up forces in their territory because (need to give protagonist plot armor). In this case, Kallem would throw what he could at the Americans now to prevent them from building up, as this should be the weakest point for the Americans. And for me, that is the interesting idea.

At this stage, the US shouldn't have all of their toys. They shouldn't be able to use their doctrines like they could on Earth. That literally defeats the point of a isekai. Down the road, that makes more sense but right now, they shouldn't. I find that interesting because that is where you find the true character of a people. You have to adapt, grown, learn, be creative, pick your battles and so on. Like calling in artillery. It is easy now because we have a hundred years of infrastructure/technology working for you. Go to an alien world, and all of that is ripped from your hands. What do you do? They have to figure it out. I do not see why rush one of the most interesting moments that you can do in a isekai because, you only get it once. It is like in a video game; you are only level 1 once. No one starts at level 100, and yes, that is the end goal, but we shouldn't be ashamed to have to start somewhere, learning and growing.

That is why I have been around Salva/Bridge for so long. Because it is logical for the enemy to respond, and this is where the Americans are the weakest. But, being weak does not mean you hold back or nerfing. They only just arrived through the Bridge, they should be weak. I know some people think the US should have Satillites, airbases, barracks, GPS, Wifi, Starbucks, McDonald's, Internet, etc, before any American soldier steps foot on Alagore so they can have all the toys (FYI, this is not me being sarcastic. I had three or more separate encounters with people arguing me to me, and I mean argue). My point is, if I am just going to treat the US 100% the same as if they were on Earth, why bother setting the story on a alien world? If there should be no struggle or changes to how the Americans (or any other country), the aliens should be invading Earth.

- Using territory as a plot progression metric

This is me putting together many comments and assuming this is what people meant, as no one directly stated using territory as a plot progression. If you are someone who stated the plot is slow but meant something else, please post in the comments so we can discuss it further.

I see why people are doing this, but I don't agree with using territory captured as a metric for story progression, because the antagonists are not inferior, and I do not want to limit myself to a distant meter. I don't consider the plot being slow, that is because my goal isn't for the US to conquer the world in an afternoon. Saying this, it can be a tool to judge how the far the story has gone, but it shouldn't be the sole motivation - if you do believe this, I do think you will be frustrated with my book as I never once considered this as a key metric and I won't still. What is the main objective and main threat? While the Verliance Aristocracy has been the primary opponent because the story takes place in their backyard, the Unity is the Bigbad who is conquering the world. Capturing a vassal territory does not equal their defeat, at least not by itself.

This is why I don't see it as a valid metric. So far, the story takes place in a small, backwater region that most see as a headache rather than an assist. What if I want to cover different story elements within the world? What if I want to send Comanche to Hispana, go to Thali'ean (two of Alagore Great Powers) or how about going to Earth? None of those three options have anything to do with territory progression, so does that mean the plot is at a standstill? If this was the metric, every volume would be Comanche capturing a City, becoming very limiting.

Lets take Volume 2 for example. It is fair to say that volume didn't move the territory boundaries at all (and wasn't the focused of it anyway). I would say, if you think it was a waste of the volume because no territory was captured (or lost), I think your missing the point. A lot of character and world-building happened with learning more about the antagonist's mindset, the inner workings of their culture/government, and their relationship with the Unity. Saving both Americans and Salva captives, and a Princess. Seeing more of what Alagore was like in the wild, people they interacted with the people in the world, and most importantly, being introduced to the Unity. This volume wouldn't work

I do want to address what has been accomplished so far in the story, plotwise (at no order):

- The United States discovered a portal to an alien world and sent in troops.

- They have defeated the first counter-attack and captured the City-State of Salva. After some time, they were able to form an alliance with the native people, creating a foothold and fortress against the enemy, protecting both ends of the Bridge.

- They were able to ally with people in Salva and other travelers what have knowledge of the region, providing insight to the Americans (who are aliens to this world and shouldn't know anything).

- They also make contact with many other nearby villages and City-States, learns, and struggle to earn their trust and respect, showing a challenge the US will have to overcome. This includes Vagahm, learning the geopolitics of the Nevali region and how the US should operate going forward

- Comanche rescues many Americans and Salva/Rebel personnel, including the Princess of the formal rulers of these lands, providing a much-needed insight, creating new allies, and a symbolic victory. This also resulted in the US making contact with the Unity, discovering their true power and might, being equals.

- Because the US saved the Princess, they created a Salva/American hybrid House to represent the United States on this alien moon, to engage in geopolitics. This has resulted in preventing Vagahm from siding with the enemy and returning the Salva population. This has also bridge the cultural and alien gap between the United States and the people of Salva

- The US has deployed a sizable number of troops and equipment to Alagore, building up its presence and resources. Yes, it is a smaller detail, but important. Also important, the US has prevented the enemy from recapturing Salva and being pushed back to Earth, which effectively would end the US presence on Alagore.

I would say a lot has happened quickly that would have lasting effects going forward. In 4 volumes, I think a lot has been accomplished. Do not get me wrong, I am not saying being stuck at Salva by Volume 10 is justified. Don't get me wrong, if someone wants to say there is more I could have accomplished while keeping to the primary goal of these volumes, that is fair, and I love to hear about it.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

- Where is the Air Force

I have gotten his question a lot since Volume 1. My question is, why would the Air Force be there at this stage in the story/war?

This is my fault for not being clear early on as I didn't expect this to be a criticism. In Volume 1, the US was only on Alagore for about 12 hours in total. I was not expecting people to believe that the US would be sending jets and bombers on enemy capitals across the globe at that stage. Even now in the story, it hasn't been two months (FYI, since we are all Gate fans. It took two months for JDSF to deploy air assist and they never were under siege/attacked).

I do want to state first is that, I have no beef with the Air Force, it is just, it is to early for them. They wouldn't be able to contribute really anything that is worth noting. What is the primary goal of the antagonists right now? Recapture Salva and push the Americans back to Earth. What is the Americans primary objective? Hold Salva so they have a foothold on Alagore as a staging ground for future expansion. For both sides, all their decisions should revolve around this. Having one small airfield, especially right next to the front lines where the enemy could easily bombard it forever, wouldn't change that dynamic, or at least enough to be worth the investment.

That brings the question, would the US sacrifice resources from Salva (or other frontlines) to build an airbase and risk the enemy capturing it? If Salva falls, the Airbase would be easy to capture, making it worthless.

More importantly, it is taking the concept of going to an alien world more seriously. I know some people will say, the jets can do bombing runs. By question is, how? They do not have grid maps. They have no reference for star or terrain navigation, no GPS, etc. Yes, you can have beacons/transmitters, but that won't allow you to go far (plus, five planes won't make that big of a difference, in my opinion, especially when we know the Unity has an Air Force and this world has anti-air abilities). Without Military grid maps, calling in mortars is highly dangerous, let alone sending a $100 million dollar jet.

This is not me saying that there isn't a place for the Air Force, but there is a right way of bringing them in. For a Army-focused story, why skip the army elements of it to force air assists? In addition, I find it interesting that the US doesn't not have that traditional assist. They have had Air Dominance since WW2, but as the Iskekai fish out of water theme story, they have to fight without it. On top of that, why are helicopters being skipped? I do not want to spoil what I have planned, I would say helicopters seem more of the natural progression of tech build-up, having far more diverse usages than a jet fleet (not saying you cannot have both, but making a point).

I do want to include satilites, as people have asked that. All the same points apply. As I said, it hasn't been two months, Satilites wouldn't even be a factor. The minute the bad guys see a giant tower being built for rockets, they would just destroy it. As I said, this does not mean it couldn't be a thing later on, it is just so early.

Smaller criticisms:

- Why didn't the US declare war by Volume 1.

I don't see why they would with the direction I took for the story. Everyone does the Chapter 1 opening where "Big battle narrative, US wins. US declares war and goes through". I wanted to do something different, more mysterouse. Plus, that traditional opening wouldn't work for me because look at all the new species/races I included in the story. I wanted mystery, wanted you to guess what has happen besides feeding it to you. How shocked were you when I mentioned homo erectus was among the vampires? And they type of weapons they were using.

The other element I was going for was, how would the US actually respond to a event like this. Since Kallem's attack happened in secret, there was no urgant need for the US go public, and why would they? No sane government would ever go public under that context because they would have no idea what was going on. Are you going to tell the world "space aliens came through a portal that we found, captured and killed our people. That is all we know folks, see yu next week! Peace!"

They wouldn't. They would send a recon team through the Bridge to figure out what was going on. Gather information so they know have something to tell the public. However, lets say Kallem did beat the Americans at Indolass? If the US went public beforehand and then their expedition lost, that government would be sent to the guillotine, assuming there wouldn't be mass unrest in the streets.

This also creates an interesting dynamic, Now the US (or any country) is forced to figure out what to do next. Do they deploy more forces, and if they do (which they did), where are the red lines? How many troops do you deploy before going public; however, in what context do you go public? Do you bring it up on the verge of defeat or wait for a major victory so you tell people on a positive note? I think the latter is the correct answer, but besides that, I think it adds realistic drama and stakes to the story. It isn't feasible to maintain the secret forever at the same time, the enemy is preventing you from reaching that goal. Plus, you see a politician being politicians.

I will leave it up to you how well I have been doing that. I will admit it has proven harder to show/represent that perspective than I expected.

- The House of Ryder

I have not received criticism for this, but it has left some people scratching their heads and been a turn-off. Since I decided to make Assiaya a Princess and, more importantly, do something with it, that forced Ryder to be included in some manner. It wouldn't make sense for him to be her father, yet she is this important political figure. I do want to say before continuing if you felt a knot about the concept, I don't consider that a bad thing. It is alien for us Americans, but that also is the point.

If you are wondering if this Ryder House project will one day become King of the United States, no. Never crossed my mind nor the point I am going with. This is a project by the Americans to meet the people of Alagore halfway to rally allies, to act as an ambassador to push their interests, and to help close the divide of being from a different planet. The only reason they are doing this, the only reason this could work is because of Assiaya and who she is.

How many times has the US gone into a place with the hammer and ended up losing because they do not understand the culture on the ground? (it is probably more realistic of Ryder being King of the US than a politician learning from history but I never said I was being realistic XD). They cannot just show up with a tank and demand, "Ally with us and adapt 100% of our ways or else, because we have a tank". They can just destroy the tank and side with our enemies. So, you have to play to this world game, and that is the point.

I don't want to dive to deeply as I don't want to go into spoilers, but it opens up other opportunities, like the moral side. I think we have seen into the last two challenges that moral concept. How do you represent US values at the same time respect the people of Alagore so they would rally to you? Pointing a gun and demanding change never works, especially when you have no credibility and are new to an alien world. I can keep going, but I hope you see where I am going with this. I wanted to show how a American having to play a political game that we are not custom to. Otherwise, what is the point of having the story being set in a medieval-theme world if your not going to dive into it, at least that is my mindset.

With the Moder vs primitive fantasy, this does not normally matter just because the (insert country) is just so superior technologically, it removes any challenges of geopolitics and diplomacy pointless. You don't need to adapt, get creative, compromise, etc. With a enemy that can punch back, you do need to think smarter.

There is one last thing I want to address before going into some issues/struggles I have with Ad Astra so far. A lot of these points I said above, they seem like they are coming from a Gate-perspective and I can understand why. While they were not the first (always will simp for Stargate), Gate helped popularize this genre of modern vs primitive fantasy. In a result, a lot of people can only see Isekai as a Protagonist being One Punch Man vs antagonist being a retarted toddler - I do not that that is controversial to say.

In Ad Astra, I started this project to break away from that trend. The thing is, you cannot have your antagonist be equal in strength (in this case, having guns, jets, tanks, etc), and yet, lose every encounter. They just get their butt kicked all the time and cannot challenge your protagonists. If the US defeated Kallem when the Bridge first opened (some have said they should), it tells the reader the bad guys are no threat. If the US is conquering every village, town, and city without effort, all their advanced weapons mean they are no different than a primitive faction with bows. In one review on another site stated that he liked the idea of a more powerful fantasy world but didn't like that the US wasn't beating them easily. You cannot have it both ways.

When it comes to the people on Alagore, including the Antagonist factions, I write them with respect to their level. For example, in Volume 2 when Ryder was captured by the enemy, people were shocked that I didn't send in a Air Assault to the enemy fortress city to save him. I don't know where this came from, as I never built that up. There were no air assists at the time (being only 2 weeks into the story), and as I stated above, how would a Air Assault even reach the city that they didn't know where it was? And with how advanced the technology level the enemy has, they would just wipe out the entire assault force before they get to a city considered a Fortress.

I think if you see the antagonists as equals, you will enjoy what is going on more than just a fantasy faction to beat. If you think I am off base or got the perspective wrong, be happy to leave a comment.

Another detail I wanted to talk about but wanted to address the points first is this need to rush. I do see a tendency for people to want to go from A to Z as quickly as possible and get annoyed when there are letters in between. I look at it like starting an open-world game and rushing to the final level, ignoring everything else. Do not get me wrong; I am not saying unjustly dragging things on off quests that have nothing to do with moving the story or characters forward. As I said above, right now, in the beginning, this is the most untraditional, most vulnerable time the US should have in the story, because they are literally new to this world.

- My Perspective:

Saying all that above, when people say things have been slow, I do understand where they are coming from. I have publicly stated a key thing going forward to work on is efficiency. What I means is that do I need one eight-page scene to cover one topic, or can I cram three topics into one five-page scene? So, when people say things have been slow, I think they mean the filler chapters (mostly from V3) over territory capture.

In Volume 1, I probably could have dropped Chapter 2. I was trying to build the team up and show the friendship dynamic before going to Alagore. More importantly, Volume 3.

When I wrote Volume 3, my goal was to get Assiaya, from a rescued girl to the throne, back by the US. I didn't think people would accept (in the story and the readers) of me just installing her and Ryder (by adjacent); however, I forgot about everyone else (FYI, if you think I installed Assiaya without doing the Vagahm arc and be okay with that, please tell me). This caused me to add a lot of filler that I didn't intend, and I do recognize. I do apologize for that.

I am not trying to make you feel like you are wasting your time or that nothing is going anywhere. I was not happy with all the filler I added, but didn't know what else to do. Maybe there was a way to merge Volume 3 & 4, or split ideas from V4 into V3 to have it more impactful. If you have ideas how I could have done that, again, I am open to hear as I am still learning.

Because I am trying to be more efficient with Volume 4 I went though and cut between 5-7 chapters and multiple scenes to streamline it. Even if I loved a scene, if it didn't contribute to the overall goals of the volume, it got cut.

I know some people think Volume 2 was a waste, I don't agree, but will say, I could have cut a chapter where Ryder and Assisaya were on the run to speed it up.

- Repeating myself

I also think I catch myself repeating details throughout a volume. In one chapter I talk about a subject, but 1 or 2 chapters later I do it again only with slightly different details. This is something I have been working on, condensing information to only what the scene is meant for, besides cramming everything into it. I don't know how else to say it, it is something that I have discovered and working on.

I want to say thank you again to all of my readers. This has been an amazing project, and I hope to continue earning your guys respect and readership.