[PsychoLandlord]

Hrm. I had always kind of assumed the TerPulses on the Atreus and Serkr were stupidly up-gunned.  Guess AoA didn't really drive home how powerful those guns really were since they were on my side.
 
Slightly more on topic, are you guys going to include some of WoD2-style Special Items, like boosters or some such. The thought of a Kent with Orky thruster attachments is kinda awesome.

[General Battuta]

Hrm. I had always kind of assumed the TerPulses on the Atreus and Serkr were stupidly up-gunned.  Guess AoA didn't really drive home how powerful those guns really were since they were on my side.
 
Slightly more on topic, are you guys going to include some of WoD2-style Special Items, like boosters or some such. The thought of a Kent with Orky thruster attachments is kinda awesome.

Those are actually light pulse cannons on Serkr, which are still bad news but not quite as bad.

And hey now, if you read the post about the special items, what did it say about who designed them?

[PsychoLandlord]

And I guess that answers my question. Sweet.

[crizza]

Some sort of pearl harbour would be nice...For Example the UEF commiting bombers, gunships and other fighter assets for a daring raid against Steeles staging area.
Blasting the way for some Durgas...

[PsychoLandlord]

I like this idea. A triumphant and explosive return to Artemis Station would be cool.

[Flak]

Not just Durgas for that I think, preferably Vajras and Iz'rails to give them the real "WTH is that" moments.

[PsychoLandlord]

I must admit I'm still having extreme difficulty imagining a scenario where the Vajra is any kind of necessary. It seems like one of those overcompensation measures the GTVA uses anytime the Shivans whip out a bigger ship to slap them with. Why the UEF would have developed it is beyond me.

[Mars]

It was manufactured by "Wartime Special Projects" so I'd assume it's a recent (during the course of the war) design.

It seems the UEF is delving into the very bomber designs the GTVA decided were obsolete.

[PsychoLandlord]

Makes sense. Might throw the GTVA for a loop if they're ever deployed. (I seem to recall the techroom stating they haven't been deployed yet, am I right?)

But by that logic, why wouldn't the UEF  start developing massive area-denial weapons and just fling them at the node? I'm sure that by this point in the war they've worked out at least some insight into the nature of Meson bombs, since those have been deployed against them before. Why not stick an engine on it and fling it towards the Delta Serpentis node? It's not as though they have any infrastructure there. Granted, I am assuming that the GTVA have some sort of defensive line or blockade set up there to prevent UEF deep strikes.

[-Norbert-]

They can't know if there are any Vasudans passing through the node at the moment of detonation for one thing.
The other thing is, would it really be worth the cost? If the blockade is ships only, they could just crash jump away and be back a few minutes later.

And even if they wiped out the whole blockade force, what would it really gain them? Losing those ships won't diminish the GTVAs offensive forces in Sol and might make them fight harder and get more public support, maybe even bring the Vasudans into the conflict full force.
Their supply lines might be a bit more vulnerable for a few days, till the GTVA can get new defences in place, but that's pretty mucht it.

I think the UEF has more to lose by such an action than they to gain.

[PsychoLandlord]

Good point on the Vasudans. Didn't think about that.  As for what they would have to gain, the way I see it, any ships they can bleed off the GTVA is a greater chance they will be forced to end the war by the public back home.  And the cost and general unwieldy nature of such a  weapon would probably be superseded by the fact that you wouldnt be losing actual ships to this endeavor. And if they got lucky, and knocked out a logistics vessel, or even more implausibly, a Destroyer...

But I digress, as this does not good gameplay make.

[Mars]

Makes sense. Might throw the GTVA for a loop if they're ever deployed. (I seem to recall the techroom stating they haven't been deployed yet, am I right?)

But by that logic, why wouldn't the UEF  start developing massive area-denial weapons and just fling them at the node? I'm sure that by this point in the war they've worked out at least some insight into the nature of Meson bombs, since those have been deployed against them before. Why not stick an engine on it and fling it towards the Delta Serpentis node? It's not as though they have any infrastructure there. Granted, I am assuming that the GTVA have some sort of defensive line or blockade set up there to prevent UEF deep strikes.

My guess is that it's the job of many, many GTVA personnel to make any such assault on the node suicidal for the UEF, any attack of that magnitude would also leave either Mars or Earth comparatively defenseless. Remember, the UEF bombers, the Solaris destroyers, and the Narayana artillery are the main deterrents of the UEF. Those would also be the most useful assets in attacking GTA defenses.

[PsychoLandlord]

The idea is that it would exist as a completely automated harrying attack, and If one missile actually did manage to get through, so much the better. UEF Fleet assets would never have to leave their posts. However, as Norbert said, if such an attack did end up working you risk catching parties you don't want in the blast radius. It's essentially subspace nukespam, with all of the imprecise nature of that concept reinforced.

[Mars]

Well, this is the game universe. A really fast missile is going 500 m /s. Even if we let that go and assumed it's workable, I'm sure meson bombs aren't that cheap, and are probably just as easy to intercept as any other bomb.

[PsychoLandlord]

Fair enough. I just enjoy rampant speculation. At this point I figure it's pretty much par for the course that WiH2 will completely blow most of the ideas in this thread out the water anyway.

[Snail]

We have seen shots of the Toutatis near Jupiter from WiH2, so I suspect Calder might be trying to get his crib back.

[NGTM-1R]

Well, this is the game universe. A really fast missile is going 500 m /s. Even if we let that go and assumed it's workable, I'm sure meson bombs aren't that cheap, and are probably just as easy to intercept as any other bomb.

He actually has a point, but the GTVA is the one with the meson bombs. Actively defending the Sol node, unless they have ships coming through, is counterproductive. The GTVA can simply dump Meson Bombs through the node to stop any UEF attempt to blockade it.

[PsychoLandlord]

Hmm... Meson Minefields/rapid response weapons would probably be right up Tev alley. Shock and Awe and all that.

As for the UEF using meson weapons, my idea operated under the assumption that they'd managed to figure out how to reproduce them, seeing as how the GTVA obviously doesn't shy away from using them on Fed targets when necessary, and one of the easiest methods of innovation is seeing someone else do it first. 

[MatthTheGeek]

If this was that easy, the GTVA would have BFReds on every ship already. Or the UEF would have successfully reverse-engineered the GTVA beam tech, for one.

[Mars]

Yeah, the GTVA has had access to meson bomb technology for at least 19 years, beam technology for 51, and they have had the Supernova torpedo and the new meson powered beam cannons only recently.