Originally posted by Zeronet:
The Orions save the whole GTVA twice and you get rid of them! Arg madness i tell you!
Easy there tex, it's not that big of a deal. At the start of the "Great War" the Orion class was approaching a decade in age (I believe). At the time of the second shivan incursion the things are over four decades in age. If I remmeber correctly (can't seem to find it in the forum at the moment) the Inferno campaign takes place about ten years after that (putting them at a ripe old age of 50-55).
To put this in perspective, the last of the American Battleships were retired at an age of 45. Even then there were only two left in service when the plug was pulled.
And one last point to help support the Inferno staff's descision is that after the shock of realizing the Shivan's nearly limitless combat capabilities I'm sure it would have promted the GTVA to find newer ship designs (with the weaknesses of the Shathanas in mind I'm sure) and deploy them as quickly as possible.
The Orions served the GTA and (later) the GTVA very well, but they are now obsolete. I think it's time to move on.
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I told you that It would be done by November, well, mostly anyway...