[General Battuta]

The Minnow was not in Sol.

Since this has turned into a story discussion. I have to ask how weak the Terran contingent of the GTVA is in comparison to the Vasudan one. It seems to me to strain credibility a bit that the Terrans after losing Sol and Capella would let the Vasudans militarize to such an extent. A mere three systems run by Admiral Bosch had enough Terran firepower to keep the GTVA at bay for years. I find it hard to believe losing one system, even with the economic problems that come with it, would deplete the GTVA Terrans to such an extent.

Read 'The Rift' on the BP website. I believe 'Balance of Power' also has some information.

The gap between the two in military power probably isn't enormous, but it is significant. The economic gap is larger.

[Colonol Dekker]

BP "Alterna-verse"©colonol dekker is not tied to the canon/existing fanon as in it the Earth was rendered lifeless, so it could be any Orion at all. Could even be the Eisenhower.



I assume there is an actual GTD "Raynor" out there somewhere too?

[General Battuta]

BP "Alterna-verse"©colonol dekker is not tied to the canon/existing fanon as in it the Earth was rendered lifeless, so it could be any Orion at all. Could even be the Eisenhower.

Indeed. We did in fact have a name for this destroyer and it was supposed to go on a nameplate in 'Lucifer'.

I assume there is an actual GTD "Raynor" out there somewhere too?

Y'know, I'm not sure about that. Aside from one-off ships like the Iceni and Colossus, we've never seen 'class ships' in FreeSpace.

[The E]

Since this has turned into a story discussion. I have to ask how weak the Terran contingent of the GTVA is in comparison to the Vasudan one. It seems to me to strain credibility a bit that the Terrans after losing Sol and Capella would let the Vasudans militarize to such an extent. A mere three systems run by Admiral Bosch had enough Terran firepower to keep the GTVA at bay for years. I find it hard to believe losing one system, even with the economic problems that come with it, would deplete the GTVA Terrans to such an extent.

Read the prose on the BP site. Suffice it to say that the economic disaster that was Capella had ripple effects through a significant portion of the Terran territories.
The Terrans didn't "allow" the Vasudans to get that far ahead, it's just that only the Vasudans were able to fulfill the defensive commitments the GTVA mandated. The Terrans simply couldn't keep up anymore in terms of technology and new construction.

Look at it this way: The first few engagements of FS2 were incredibly one-sided. With the deployment of the Colossus, the Rebellion was ended in a matter of days. Then the Colossus faced the biggest threat seen so far, and although damaged, managed to beat it off. At that point, morale was at an all-time high.
Then the Shivans sent 80 greatest threats in the GTVA's general direction. What followed was an ordered execution of prepared contingency plans (from the Admiralty's POV) or a mad dash for survival from certain death by beam-ownage (from the Civvie's POV). The latter opinion gained more traction as time went by, especially after the Shivans blew up a friggin sun for no adequately explained reason.
What followed was a period of serious economic uncertainty, like the Aftermath of 9/11 times much. People were afraid to invest, causing businesses to fail, causing people to hord their assets, etc etc.

Building the Sol Gate, while an enormous investment, would fulfill several purposes. One, the technological development necessary would probably yield some other benefits. Two, the prospect of being reunited with the Homeworld gave the people something undoubtedly positive to look forward to. Three, reestablishing contact with the massive economy of Earth would give the GTVA economy a much needed shot in the arm.
With all that money going toward the gate project, military spending had to take a back seat.
The Vasudans, obviously, were not under such constraints. They could concentrate on keeping the Alliance running.

[Insomniac34]

GTD Defender of Earth

[Colonol Dekker]

GTD Defender of Earth

^:yes:

Young'uns won't get the reference.

I'd like to see a "first of it's class" in WiH.

[Jeff Vader]

I snipped it away with my Scissors of Moderation^TM.

Srsly, I think that's against forum rules.

[General Battuta]

What did you snip away?

[Jeff Vader]

What did you snip away?

If I know my internet: Tubgirl.

[Colonol Dekker]

AWwww 


Not again.................


For the record it was a picture of mandrake from Defenders of the Earth.

[manwiththemachinegun]

Well that makes more sense. One would think though the human members of GTVA high command would keep a few ace up their sleaves though. Afterall, GTI managed to build a Lucifer killer (albiet already under construction) with just black budget stuff. It wasn't constructed anywhere near Sol to boot.

[General Battuta]

Believe me, it's not like the Terrans have been idle. I'd assume there are some pretty impressive contingencies in place around the Vega node in Capella.

[Snail]

I guess there could be ongoing brush wars in places like Procyon and Adhara at the time of WiH?.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Like PI and Derelict?

[High Max]

;-)

[General Battuta]

We aren't prepared to divulge the complete OrBat at the moment, but Tev logistics limit them to about five active destroyers and their battle groups in Sol at one time - they can't physically move enough ordinance and fuel through the node to support flight operations past that point.

The UEF has three destroyers and a lot of frigates (probably about 30?).

[Spoon]

GTD Washington is the Destroyer that appear at the very end of FSPort. This mission having been added for fun I guess, it's definitely not canon.

I didn't played FS1, just the port so I kinda assumed it was canon.

[Mongoose]

No, that mission's a little Easter-egg credits sequence that the Port team created; the retail campaign ends after the Lucifer's destruction cutscene.  I think it was as much out of necessity for maintaining the Port's retail compatibility as anything else, since the retail FS2 engine has some sort of hard-coded behavior involving campaign-ending cutscenes.

[High Max]

;-)

[General Battuta]

We don't really care what other campaigns do, though I'm sure we'll play and enjoy many of them.

And no, it's not strange that it's so small. The UEF military has not exactly been in a growth phase for the past thirty years.

Our approach is to invest as much screen time, character, and gameplay as we can into as few ships as possible, thereby making them feel more meaningful and 'real', rather than like throwaway destroyers.

Destroyers should not be casually spent. Losing one should be a major blow. (To this end, all our destroyers are heavily escorted and make use of jamming, smart subspace jumps, and fighter deployment to safeguard themselves.)

Besides, the UEF has many many frigates, which serve as mini-destroyers and are far more flexible.