[Deadly in a Shadow]

Or punching yourself in the face

One little thing I discovered: Why are the Thalassa (Blade Itself) and the Ania armed with STerPulses? Mission balance tweaking?

[MatthTheGeek]

Nope, some Deimoses and other Capella-era ships are getting retroffited with pulse weaponry. Expect to see more of those in the future.

[Buckshee Rounds]

AWESUM!

[LordPomposity]

Well, that clears that up. Next stupid question!

Might the UEF start mounting the oculus's beam-jamming and other EWAR equipment on its warships? It seems to me that sticking mission critical equipment responsible for thousands of lives on a fairly fragile support vessel is a very bad long-term strategy.

And its not like the warships don't have room for it:



Even if they had to sacrifice a few weapons or a little speed for the upgrades, I'd think that protecting the entire fleet from direct-fire beams would be more than worth it. We know that the Sanctus is a hybrid warship/freighter, so simply replacing part of its cargo bay with EWAR equipment would massively enhance EWAR survivability without compromising the cruiser's combat effectiveness.

[Snail]

I think it has been said before that those ships do have some electronic warfare stuff on them. The Eris (2FM flagship) apparently has lots.

[Luis Dias]

I think it has been said before that those ships do have some electronic warfare stuff on them. The Eris (2FM flagship) apparently has lots.

If you play the mission where you get to play the cruiser first hand, you do have beam jammers in your ship.

[Snail]

That was a frigate, actually, but yes.

[LordPomposity]

I assumed the Katana's capabilities in TBI were non-canon. It jams slashing beams, occurs before (what I now know is) the canonical first deployment of beam jamming technology, and makes Delenda Est not make a whole lot of sense.

[Luis Dias]

Yes, I also thought about that. And you're right, it doesn't seem canon. But quite fun otherwise!

[LordPomposity]

Certainly. Although I was quite disappointed when my cunning plan to prevent the diomedes from jumping out by parking in front of it failed.

[Mars]

I suspect that that's something that will work or not work as the plot allows. The Carthage exploited some type of weakness in beam jamming for instance. It's likely that beam and / or missile jamming will occur a lot in the next WiH

[Dragon]

The Blade Itself is, as far as I know, "canon" for BP, but this advanced EW suite isn't installed on all ships, because it's costly and somewhat fragile. AWACS ships don't have heavy weaponary to eat reactor power and armor plating to block emiters, so they're better suited for EW than larger warships.

[Flak]

The only justification why they aren't so widespread (the Ranvir apparently don't have it) is that they were still prototypes when Steele raided Artemis Station, so they haven't got the chance to equip it on every single ship. Though it is still pretty strange that the Katana have one in The Blade Itself (though it is almost useless there anyway since all the enemies have slash beams), but seemingly don't in Delenda Est. We haven't seen the Eris in action, though it probably loaded with these.

[LordPomposity]

I thought the Katana's jamming worked on the slashing beams in TBI, though. I at least don't recall getting beamed while I had jamming active.

[NGTM-1R]

For that matter there's a downward spiral in effect; the more ships the UEF loses, the less time it can devote to retrofitting the equipment on its existing ships.

[Deadly in a Shadow]

For that matter there's a downward spiral in effect; the more ships the UEF loses, the less time it can devote to retrofitting the equipment on its existing ships.

Unfortunately, they can't afford any losses in the current situation.

[Darius]

Quite so.

Unfortunately, it doesn't stop them from losing ships even so.

Speaking unofficially, it's quite possible the advanced equipment tested on the frigates was transplanted onto a destroyer (it being a more robust frame and more likely to be able to shape engagements).

[-Norbert-]

Or that it was damaged in the constant battles during the retreat from jupiter and they lacked the time, the ressources or both to repair it.

[Luis Dias]

So we agree that it is almost a plot hole

[Buckshee Rounds]

If you're clever you can complete the Blade Itself on hard without using any of the abilities, aside from hull repair, which we know is canon. In other words, believe what you want to believe. It isn't a plot hole, just a wee break from continuity.