And, also, what exactly was Dalton's "rank"? Are we ever told he's a military general of some kind? Or is he just the Queen's lapdog that he appears to be?
Well, if you read the encyclopedia of the site you moderate to a ridiculous amount you would already know. But I suppose I will look it up for you.
http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Dalton.html
He was a military leader, and come on no one would actually use "WHAT'S THAT!?" to trick someone, so it was totally unexpected and a perfect example. Also Dalton is experienced in machinery. He builds the Ocean Palace and the Black Bird. But it's not like it matters he didn't need to build weaponry, he is strong enough.
Dalton did not build the Ocean Palace or the Blackbird. The Blackbird is referred to in Zeal as 'Belthasar's masterpiece'. The Ocean Palace is attributed to Belthasar as well.
Dalton may or may not have earned his position from a military standpoint, but there is no basis from the games to believe he had any mechanical skills. The only point that could be brought up is when he had his minions modify the epoch, but at least to me in game it seemed obvious he was just observing his henchmen doing the work.
Not on to my opinions. From a military basis during the time of Zeal Dalton was a marvel. His golems are bosslevel in the game, which would rip any normal Zealian citizen apart. The energy balls he cast were enough to knock the party and Melchior back, which I assume means they were quite potent. From these facts we can decide his aid, as well as knowledge of Zealian Magics, very well helped the Porre War Machine.
The issue I, as well as other people, have with Dalton that those who support him seem to be unable to fathom is his personality. He is very overconfident, self-involved, and constantly underestimates his enemies. In the end he fell through one of his own golem portals, which seemed rather dimwitted. He just honestly does not seem like a good leader. And the things his minions said about him seem to corroborate these facts.
It is canon that Dalton helped cause the downfall of Guardia, but we still have too little information as to what happened during the downfall to really do much right now other then guess. Porre in CC never seemed to show any signs of using 'true' magic, so mass desemination of Zealian magic seems unlikely. It seems more likely to me that Dalton was a powerful figurehead, more useful in 1 on 1 duals then the day to day runnings of the Porre war machine.
The fact that Grobyc was constructed in 994A.D. leads me to believe Porre was already girding itself for war long before Dalton's arrival anyway.