Also do Shivan ships have active armor or those HP-regenerating nanomachines found on the UEF ships?
So far there is no instance of the Shivans using something like that.
But the thing with the Shivans is, you can never tell what they really are capable of. Every time you think you have seen the worst and have the upper hand, they bring up something new and devastating to beat you back into the dirt.
Also there would be the tech room entries on their weapons. They all seem to have some limiters installed, preventing them from using the full power they could have. Wether this is a self-imposed measure on part of the Shivans or a case were they are using conquered/gifted technology they don't fully understand is anyones guess for now.
Matt, if the GTVA was fighting at 'full might' the UEF would fall in a week, if not a day. Committing every single ship, pilot and marine in the Terran arm of the GTVA. That, is half might. If you toss in the Vasudans at total war, that is full might.
While you are correct in this, the GTVA did send battle hardened veterans and their very best ships against the UEF. While they could theoretically send a whole lot more forces into Sol (practically they can't muster much more than they already did, due to reasons discussed at length in other threads), they already got their elite in that conflic and lost many veteran pilots to the superiour UEF fighers early on untill they changed their tactics.
So while you are correct, the intent of Matts post (that the UEF is far more than just a small annoyance) is also correct, even though the wording was off.