I'm more concerned about that new GTVA heavy bomber seen engaging the Masyaf in the ending cutscene (http://i.imgur.com/zz2sUTP.png)
I can't be the only one who is hoping that she's not a free-floating cloud of Narayana debris, right? (http://i.imgur.com/zz2sUTP.png)
I'm more concerned about that new GTVA heavy bomber seen engaging the Masyaf in the ending cutscene (http://i.imgur.com/zz2sUTP.png)
I can't be the only one who is hoping that she's not a free-floating cloud of Narayana debris, right? (http://i.imgur.com/zz2sUTP.png)
I'm pretty sure the Masyaf is dead; the ending cutscene of Tenebra shows Steele launching the all-out attack prematurely because he knows about CASSANDRA and needs to throw off its predictions. He needs it dead and he'll get it dead.
Wait, how does Steele know about CASSANDRA? Or is that just a working theory right now
Hmm. Battuta hinted at it pretty explicitly once, IDK about evidence in the text.
As far as destroyers in Act 4 go, what do you think Steele will be doing with the Atreus?
Magnificent bastardry?
And the UEF can't really do point jumps.
I'm more concerned about that new GTVA heavy bomber seen engaging the Masyaf in the ending cutscene (http://i.imgur.com/zz2sUTP.png)
I can't be the only one who is hoping that she's not a free-floating cloud of Narayana debris, right? (http://i.imgur.com/zz2sUTP.png)
I'm more concerned about that new GTVA heavy bomber seen engaging the Masyaf in the ending cutscene (http://i.imgur.com/zz2sUTP.png)
I can't be the only one who is hoping that she's not a free-floating cloud of Narayana debris, right? (http://i.imgur.com/zz2sUTP.png)
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Im extremely disappointed in the (single??) UEF fighter assigned to the Masayf. 4 mere bomber-mounted autoturrets killed a Feydayeen pilot before they even fired a shot. The bombers didn't even use any primaries or secondaries.
I'll be further disappointed if the Masayf:
Has no other fighters available.
Is unable to call in the fancy Shielded Custos for support (where would they keep this ship hidden anyway? A secret Feydayeen base? why isn't it kept in the dark next to the Masayf if not deployed on some secret mission?)
Has no contingency for being discovered - If I'd been sitting still off in a quiet corner for any length of time, I'd have my nav officers compute 3 solid escape vectors and save the results, so I could jump quickly if ambushed. Especially if I was the cloak and daggers experts. I'd also keep my jump drive at least partially charged - im not using my frigate for shooting things yet, but the ability to be wherever I'm needed quickly seems to be a top priority.
I think there are a lot of scenarios where that's not true. An ineffective or reduced Fedayeen capability is worth showing some cards.
Depends how many bases and carriers the fedayeen have to house them. The Masyaf can carry and service about eight fighters for active duty.
Also, massed bomber turrets are no joke, especially on the Gorgon. 4 Gorgons with quad balors on their turrets results in 16 balors worth of firepower. That's 1408 shield DPS and 1216 hull DPS. That will 100-0 an Ainsarii with perfect shield management in under half a second.Nah. That's two Gorgons, I think, and be aware of the turrets' layout - I don't really think that this kind of bomber can fire more than two of them at the same target simultaneously. That's 4 Balors worth of firepower...
If two or four of these Gorgons are powerful enough to blow up the Masyaf...why did the GTVA even bother building Erebus spaceframes?
But a modern Alliance admiral asks about the weapons last. The platform's truly revolutionary capability lies with her tactical systems.
Communications systems built to the Alliance's BACKBREAKER standard provide common operational capability in the face of most jamming, but the Erebus also boasts a command theater for battle group coordination in non-permissive comm environments. The Erebus' informational weapons systems are built to partner with a Titan-class destroyer, incorporating the Titan's air wing and battle group into force awareness. When multiple Erebus-class destroyers operate in the same theater, BACKBREAKER can designate a group leader or coordinate a flat, decentralized operational schedule which intelligently distributes tasks across the Erebus battle groups. Future upgrades may integrate AWACS capability directly into the destroyer.
The Erebus' primary design tradeoffs lie in her fusion drive, air wing, and logistics. As a line combatant, the Erebus carries few strike craft. She is as fast as a Sathanas, but no faster, relying on her subspace drive to keep the range. And while tactically independent, the Erebus requires more logistical tail than many next-generation warships.
But it would take something radically new to challenge an armada of more than eighty Sathanas juggernauts. And here there was room for conflict. Some factions pushed for an end to the destroyer class, moving to a doctrine of corvettes and light carriers. Others wanted supercarriers, or 'juggernaut destroyers', massive flying beam cannons with limited defensive capability.
Ultimately, a verdict was achieved. Supercarrier and Massive Mjolnir advocates would get an answer in the Titan destroyer. But something more was needed.
Run into a sathanas fleet? Bomb the forward beams & slice them up with the carrier's beams.
A bomber of this magnitude would solve every (military) problem the Tevs have. So one of the following is likely true:
1: Bomber is brand new, not in mass production, and the UEF is royally screwed the instant this changes.
2: Giant ships are sexy, so the super-bomber does not enjoy mass production for stupid political reasons.
3: Masyaf is going to be fine, the new bomber is just a modern Ursa with turrets that don't suck.
Nobody said it dies off screen, they could easily cut back to it at any point and show it exploding...
Gorgons are AWACS which is handy dandy for fighting Ainsarii.
The Masyaf will be sufficiently damaged to enhance Steele's chances of success.
Neither the Wargods ethos nor the Fedayeen ethos alone will be enough.
Neither the Wargods ethos nor the Fedayeen ethos alone will be enough.
I'm more concerned about that new GTVA heavy bomber seen engaging the Masyaf in the ending cutscene (http://i.imgur.com/zz2sUTP.png)
I can't be the only one who is hoping that she's not a free-floating cloud of Narayana debris, right? (http://i.imgur.com/zz2sUTP.png)
-----
Im extremely disappointed in the (single??) UEF fighter assigned to the Masayf. 4 mere bomber-mounted autoturrets killed a Feydayeen pilot before they even fired a shot. The bombers didn't even use any primaries or secondaries.
I'll be further disappointed if the Masayf:
Has no other fighters available.
Is unable to call in the fancy Shielded Custos for support (where would they keep this ship hidden anyway? A secret Feydayeen base? why isn't it kept in the dark next to the Masayf if not deployed on some secret mission?)
Has no contingency for being discovered - If I'd been sitting still off in a quiet corner for any length of time, I'd have my nav officers compute 3 solid escape vectors and save the results, so I could jump quickly if ambushed. Especially if I was the cloak and daggers experts. I'd also keep my jump drive at least partially charged - im not using my frigate for shooting things yet, but the ability to be wherever I'm needed quickly seems to be a top priority.
1) Are we sure that the stealth fighter was killed? Was it even a stealth fighter?
I find it hard that a Fedayeen fighter would be so easily killed by bomber turrets. Fedayeen operators are amongst the best pilots in the UEF - and perhaps even in the GTVA. Just 4 Fedayeen operators in "Her Finest Hour" slaughtered wing after wing of the Carthage's fighters.
2) If Steele really knew how important the Masyaf was, there would a dedicated hunter-killer team jumping in. The Tevs most likely saw that there was a single, isolated frigate on their scopes, and decided to send a small contingent of Gorgons for a test-run.