We kow that the GTVA is very adept at reverse-engeneering alein stuff...look at shield, beam cannons, dragons and maras... that didn't take decades.
Also don't forget the GTVA has studied the ancients since their discovery (30+ years), so re-buulding the Knossos isn't nearly as big of a deal as you make it out to be.
Now if tehy have never seen alien tech before or if they knew nothing about the ancient, then I'd say - sure.
But thte GTVa has acess to tech from 4 different races and a lot of experience with tinkering.
Yeah, the Vasudan commander knows that as well, and he gives the estimate of "Decades", we have
no reason to doubt that, between A Flaming Sword and the end of FS2, that timescale would only increase with the loss of Capella and the massive casualties taken.
What do you reckon? Would the GTVA concentrate its resources into making more destroyers and corvettes, or an improved Colossus design, bearing in mind that it would take significantly less than 20 years to build another one. The Colossus was a success at what it was designed for, crushing rebellions and eliminating destroyers, and any attempt to emulate the Sathanas would fall woefully short with the GTVA's tech level.
i think this was supposed to be the topic. don't you? 
it would be better making more research into destroyers capable of standing better ground with armour to withstand a shivan juggernaught and at the same time, be able to fire back and get a bit of bite. the corvettes need more upgrading.
So why not use the better armour on Colossus II. You're going to need a monster of a ship to defeat a Sathanas, and the purpose of another Colossus would not be to defeat Sathanes.
20 years for another colossus?, if i was the head of the GTVA i would say a big 'no way'. look at the offset; the colossus requires to be maintained daily, continuous shipments of combustable explosive gases, and thousands of men, and looking at the tech level the GTVA are thousands of years behind the shivans in technology (stolen shivan shields is an example).
if the colossus would not make much of a dent in one sj, what you think 2 of these ships will do? it might destroy one sj, but what about the other 90 + sj's out there?. executing the better part of valor is the answer, give up and find another answer.
It wouldn't 20 years, all designing and prototyping is already done. The building of a second Colossus would be much faster than that of the first, and the ship would probably be superior as well due to new reactor tech.
Furthermore, the Colossus is not supposed to take down multiple Juggernauts. the Shivans are so, so far ahead of the GTVA, that the GTVA won't catch up for centuries anyway. Colossus II would ensure rebellion could never happen because it would be so easily crushed within days. The only realistic hope of stopping the Shivans if they decide to exterminate the GTVA is the destruction of Jump Nodes, and example being 2 or 3 Meson loaded destroyers in every system.
