[Zarax]

It's the only HoL destroyer in canon that seems to survive, is there any consensus on its destiny?

[Deepstar]

The only campaign that care about its fate was Shrouding the Light: Origins.

But canon wise there were also surviving HOL destroyers in Silent Threat and Operation Templar.


Afaik it is possible to destroy the Prophecy in time and to be able to destroy the Lucifer afterwards.

[Zarax]

That's nice to canonically it's basically MIA, right?

[wardog300k]

She probably engaged Bastion/Bastion engaged Prophecy, so it can be presumed that she is Typhon debris now.

[NGTM-1R]

Or she escaped that engagement. That's possible too.

I had a whole campaign about the Hammer of Light's ghost post-Templar.

[qwadtep]

I can't imagine the Prophecy retreating from that fight, given their track record of getting themselves blown up for lesser Shivan gains.

[Mongoose]

Yeah, I always figured that the Bastion wound up scrambling additional strike craft to take it out.

[Klaustrophobia]

I killed it on more than one occasion.

[Zarax]

Well, with dwindling forces and having reached their goal of preventing the Bastion from jumping I'd guess a tactical retreat wouldn't be too far fetched though...

[0rph3u5]

That's nice to canonically it's basically MIA, right?

Yes

Yeah, I always figured that the Bastion wound up scrambling additional strike craft to take it out.

She probably engaged Bastion/Bastion engaged Prophecy, so it can be presumed that she is Typhon debris now.

While canonically it has never been verified, I highly doubt that such an engagement actually took place ...

Canonically the Bastion already made a dash to catch up with the Lucifer, leaving the rest of the fleet behind and probably expending a lot of ressources. Add to that it was canonized in FS2 that the engagement between the SD Tantalus and the GTD Bastion resulted in at least some losses in the Bastion's air group and as said before the canonical pace with which Bastion procceed onwards might have left them with little time for repairs. As result the Bastion would hardly been able to fight another engagement, esspecially with a large detachment of its (canonically unnumbered) air group chasing the Lucifer into the Delta Serpentis-Sol Node.

And remember that canonically the Typhon is superior to the Orion in a straight up fight, so at least from the perspective of the Bastion a fight would have been undesireable.

[NGTM-1R]

I have to add that the Bastion is pretty much at the do or die point; it's not going to catch the Lucifer, its aerospace group is the only chance left. The destroyer's own survival is immaterial compared to the survival of every Terran in the Sol system. There is no reason to hold any wings back.

[Damage]

I always thought the Prophecy just left once the GTA fighters and bombers got through.  They may not know the Lucifer is vulnerable in subspace and thus not consider the snub fighters to be any threat.  It is a very recent discovery--probably not common knowledge in the GTA/PVN fleet, let alone the HoL rebels.

For that matter, it's possible they can't do anything to interfere at that point--they also won't have the means to track ships through subspace.

[wardog300k]

I'm pretty sure they knew that Lucy is vulnerable in subspace, they surely wouldn't send in a destroyer to attack fighters if they didn't knew.

Bastion surely had some Medusa or Ursa bombers standing by in the hangar, and could have sortied them to disarm the Prophecy before destroyers gets into the range of the turrets.

Further, there were Shivans, which could've attack the HoL forces too. And since HoL is weaker, and would not engage Shivans without direct confrontation. Shivans would've damage or destroy Vasudan craft and pave a way for the allied bombers.

[NGTM-1R]

Bastion surely had some Medusa or Ursa bombers standing by in the hangar, and could have sortied them to disarm the Prophecy before destroyers gets into the range of the turrets.

If it had them and didn't launch them against the Lucy already, it's because they're morons. It's do or die time.

[qwadtep]

While canonically it has never been verified, I highly doubt that such an engagement actually took place ...

Canonically the Bastion already made a dash to catch up with the Lucifer, leaving the rest of the fleet behind and probably expending a lot of ressources. Add to that it was canonized in FS2 that the engagement between the SD Tantalus and the GTD Bastion resulted in at least some losses in the Bastion's air group and as said before the canonical pace with which Bastion procceed onwards might have left them with little time for repairs. As result the Bastion would hardly been able to fight another engagement, esspecially with a large detachment of its (canonically unnumbered) air group chasing the Lucifer into the Delta Serpentis-Sol Node.

And remember that canonically the Typhon is superior to the Orion in a straight up fight, so at least from the perspective of the Bastion a fight would have been undesireable.

Under which conditions the Prophecy surely would engage and destroy the Bastion, yet we know the Bastion survives. Meanwhile the Bastion has its own strategic imperative to engage: regardless of the outcome of the Lucifer's interception (which could still fail), additional Shivan forces or the exact goddamn Typhon that just appeared on Sol's doorstep could still push the attack and threaten Earth, and there are no other ships in range to reinforce the Terran homeworld in a decisive normal-space battle. Consider also that the Prophecy, deep in Terran space as it is, has likely not arrived to the battle unscathed either.

A Pyrrhic victory against the Lucifer could still result in the extinction of the human race by other means.

Bastion surely had some Medusa or Ursa bombers standing by in the hangar, and could have sortied them to disarm the Prophecy before destroyers gets into the range of the turrets.

If it had them and didn't launch them against the Lucy already, it's because they're morons. It's do or die time.

Or because flight deck space is limited and scrambling to launch everything could result in an accident preventing the launch of anything.

[NGTM-1R]

Or because flight deck space is limited and scrambling to launch everything could result in an accident preventing the launch of anything.

The Bastion is literally spotting and launching flights that whole mission; when they stop, it's far more likely because the hanger's empty then because they had all those different wings on the deck.

[rubixcube]

The appearance of the Prophecy always seemed like a last minute addition to the mission. It served no purpose and it's presence isn't even acknowledged. I'd chock its appearance up to a mission designer screw up.

[TrashMan]

Under which conditions the Prophecy surely would engage and destroy the Bastion, yet we know the Bastion survives. Meanwhile the Bastion has its own strategic imperative to engage: regardless of the outcome of the Lucifer's interception (which could still fail), additional Shivan forces or the exact goddamn Typhon that just appeared on Sol's doorstep could still push the attack and threaten Earth, and there are no other ships in range to reinforce the Terran homeworld in a decisive normal-space battle. Consider also that the Prophecy, deep in Terran space as it is, has likely not arrived to the battle unscathed either.

A Pyrrhic victory against the Lucifer could still result in the extinction of the human race by other means.

Sol has the entire 1st Fleet there and more GTA forces are following behind the Bastion.

A single vasudan destroyer - that isn't in optimal fighting condition and lost part of it's air wing - can't end the human race or Sol.

[Goober5000]

The appearance of the Prophecy always seemed like a last minute addition to the mission. It served no purpose and it's presence isn't even acknowledged. I'd chock its appearance up to a mission designer screw up.

The player is running the gauntlet to the jump node.  The PVD Prophecy is yet another obstacle for the player to avoid.

[Klaustrophobia]

Maybe it's different on higher difficulties, but even in an Ursa I could always max out engines and fly straight for 10 minutes and never be bothered.