So gentlemen, we all know you made a masterpiece, but lately something nagged at me.
GTVA claimed Ubuntu has made the UEF weak and unable to adequatly defend against the Shivans.
And now we're at war. While the initial force of the 14th foundered, the 13th took over. A battlegroup of Capella era ships.
But while they fought a conventional war, Steele came in and the blitz happened.
Beam jamming is a thing, but as seen in one intro, one out of three beams hit and the UEF don't have nearly enough Oculus ships to do this.
So, we know that the blitz damaged UEF infrastructure, but with the jumpdrives avaiable and TEI ships designed to mimick Shivan tactis... why not use them that way?
Serk is a good example: Jump in, charge beams, fire a signle time and then jump out.
The TEVs don't need to destroy FED ships, they just need to damage them repeatedly, spread Shivan inspired terror and force the UEF to divert critical resources to repair badly damaged ships.
A destroyed ship is a blow to moral, but badly amaged ships sitting in shipyards for repair should realy wittle the Feds down.
Just my two cents thou^^
How the conflict is not an "instant" victory for the GTVA despite having a vastly, VASTLY superior military overall is that they are only sending the forces that can be spared. The GTVA is a military society, rightfully paranoid and ruthless in dealing with threats both foreign and domestic. The overwhelming majority of their heavy destroyer and top of the line warships are garrisoning other systems against local insurgents, and anti-Shivan patrols. In addition, nearly none of the Vasudans are involved, allowing the Terrans to settle an "internal dispute" over the government of the Sol system.
There is also only one way in and out of the Sol system, and the UEF defeats handed to the GTVA are primarily tactical ones, not strategic. The best they can do is bloody the nose of the invasion and hope for a negotiated peace.
As for the tactics, there is a minimum amount of time need to charge subspace jumps. That number is never specified, but not even Shivans jump their warships in, fire one salvo, and retreat. It doesn't work that way in Freespace at the current tech level.
Beam jamming is likewise a temporary stalling measure. It is not a true counter to beam artillery, and it also bears repeating that the conflict in Sol does not occur over a period of years, but months. I'm almost certain a counter to that beam jamming would be discovered quickly, because that's how military tech works. It seesaws back and forth.