[Luis Dias]

That is mostly correct. The Ravana was the destroyer that managed all the assets we had found and fought before in Lion's Door and Mystery, its presence was inferred by High Command and the Big Hunt was the hunt for the Ravana (and not the mere cruisers, as Orpheus pointed out). Once it is found, we destroy it. The Ravana arc is not just two missions, but four. I said "mostly" because one could have designed a mission where we would not be able to destroy the Ravana in time (it fled, etc.). I am also skeptical that the dragging of this little arc would have accomplished much. While I agree that some of these arcs are too quick, adding one, two, three missions here and there in a campaign that already has 30 missions is just too much IMHO.

[Scotty]

Interestingly, from Command's perspective, you could argue that Slaying Ravana is to the higher brass what The Great Hunt is to the flyboys - at least insofar as it's a sudden unexpected setback (the assault on the Ravana going poorly) that morphs into a net positive and springboard for confidence with the Ravana's destruction.  The Ravana is, if anything, more powerful than the Lucifer, and the fact that a single battlegroup is able to destroy it at all speaks volumes to both the maturation of GTVA weapons and equipment, and to the GTVA's agency both within and beyond their borders.

[General Battuta]

They do lose an appalling number of people trying to kill it, but sunk cost effect probably just makes the victory seem more significant.

[Scotty]

An appalling number, yes, but said appalling number is composed of the personnel of (presumably) one battlegroup (two if the Vasudans count as separate), rather than off the rosters of multiple fleets and/or planetary populations.

[Luis Dias]

Yes, "appalling" here is a bunch of pilots plus a NTF cruiser plus a Deimos*. Not quite the killcount of the Lucifer.


*wait I might be missing a lot of fiction fluff I've not quite checked

[ssmit132]

I know that there's at least the GTD Delacroix as well, according to the briefing. The debriefing for if you destroy the Ravana and lose the other allied capital ships says that a ship called the Champion was also lost, which isn't mentioned elsewhere, so we don't know what class of ship that was.

This is Lieutenant Samsa. The allied attack against the SD Ravana has deteriorated. We've lost the GTD Delacroix, and the surviving warships in the battle group are damaged. Petrarch is scrambling the 107th to assist. Command will also sortie the GVC Somtus and the GTC Yakiba. Once they cross the subspace portal, we will move them into position.

We destroyed the Ravana and secured the subspace node linking the nebula with Gamma Draconis. However, with our losses, this victory is Pyrrhic at best. The Delacroix, the Champion, the Khenmu, the Heisenberg, the Yakiba, and the Somtus all perished in this engagement. 

With the heavy casualties we have suffered, Admiral Petrarch will reorganize the Aquitaine's fighter squadrons. As captain of the 107th Ravens, it is my sad duty to report that after forty years of service, our unit will be disbanded.

Command has ordered the Aquitaine to return to the Capella system, and there we will receive our new assignments.

[Luis Dias]

Ah yes now I remember. The name Delacroix certainly rings. Yes, the Ravana costs a lot, still brutally out-magnituded by the Lucifer I think.