[Goober5000]

Why did the EA build it if they already had undisputed control of Sol with the Nemesis? Seems like overkill, since the Nemesis was already the largest ship ever built (as far as the EA knew).  And the fact that it's the same size as the Gigas is more than a little suspicious.

[neo_hermes]

maybe they wanted to occupy their time.

[Woomeister]

The Icanus was designed for combat against the Shivans. The Nemesis was actually started after the Icanus construction had begun.

[Knight Templar]

Combating the Shivans while the node was closed?

[Woomeister]

They knew the Shivans would return.

[DeepSpace9er]

they just "knew"....

[Antares]

Roger that, Admiral.  You've got eight billion people out here ready to kick some Shivan ass.

[Goober5000]

And the biggest Shivan ship they knew existed was merely a 2 km long destroyer with two beams.  The Nemesis alone would be enough to counter that.  Maybe throw in a fleet of Lindoses for good measure.  But how does a vague threat behind a collapsed jump node justify the construction of a 20 km behemoth?

[neo_hermes]

The shivans can appear at anytime my friend. look what happened to Ross 128 during the end of the T-V War. where the hell did the Shivans come from? the Shivans came out of no where and that's all that Sol knows. so they probably built the nemesis as a just in case measure in the hopes that IF the shivans come again they will be able to fend them off...for "good."

[Woomeister]

Originally posted by Goober5000
And the biggest Shivan ship they knew existed was merely a 2 km long destroyer with two beams.  

Yeah which nearly destroyed their home system

The Icanus was designed around its primary cannon, which requires a lot of power to be discharged. The Icanus is totally outclassed by its Shivan counterpart except for its main gun. A group of my Lucifers can do some serious damage to the Icanus too.

The Nemesis was built to serve as flagship of the EA fleet.

[SadisticSid]

They also detected the experiments performed with the GTVA's early subspace technology (Odin, Neptune etc), which prompted them to speed up on the project. By the time the GTVA-EA war ends the Icanus is about 95% complete, but still combat-incapable and so is too late to change the outcome of the war.

[Knight Templar]

But why would they see the GTVA as enemies in the first place?

[neo_hermes]

GTVA has been corrupted, The Terrans Mated with the vasudans to make a tasun...yeah a tasun.

[SadisticSid]

Originally posted by Knight Templar
But why would they see the GTVA as enemies in the first place?

Expansion. There's only so much you can do in a single solar system.

[Liberator]

The EA is a fascist, militaristic dictatorship similar to Nazi Germany or the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.  The Icanus was probably built as a "final soloution".  A ship that those in power could use to reclaim their power should they ever be deposed.

[Knight Templar]

Originally posted by SadisticSid


Expansion. There's only so much you can do in a single solar system.

Err.. yeah.. but the GTA used to be Sol's Child so to speak. It'd be like growing up with your father, and you get in a car accident one day. You wake up in the hospital and they say they never found your dad. Then, 60 years later, you find him, but he tries to murder you..

[Liberator]

Drugs 'r bad, mmmkay?

[Knight Templar]

[Woomeister]

Originally posted by Liberator
The EA is a fascist, militaristic dictatorship similar to Nazi Germany or the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Umm nope...

[Goober5000]

Then you should clarify, because based on Blaise Russel's "Sol: A History" that's what everyone thinks now.