[Luis Dias]

@ swashmebuckle, that's fine. Not everyone has the same sensibilities for the same things, you are permitted not to feel in awe about this stuff, I hereby give you this allowance .

[JerichoDeath]

While not quite as strange as this, the conversation here reminds me of Derelict.

It took the whole of the GTVA's top minds all the way until the 11th hour to figure out what the Shivans' goal was, and even then, it was only because of the intuition of a random fighter pilot on the front lines who happened to have been at the right place at the right time to make a scan of the right thing.

Almost makes me wish they were in the same universe.

---

Putting that aside, this also reminds me of the conversation at the end of WiH Act 3. The "explanation" of why the Shivans did not just bring out their strongest forces right away and instead chose to slowly evolve their strength to stay only a few steps ahead of the GTVA until they felt there was an appropriate time to bring out the big guns, so to speak. Even then, they just blew up a star for no reason that Command could fathom.

[QuakeIV]

If you send in crappy ships and make suboptimal moves then you can generally pretty successfully avoid revealing anything about yourself, while rapidly learning about the opponent, if done correctly.

[Scotty]

That's the point, though, QuakeIV.  They're not suboptimal.  They are by the definition of the word the most optimal move for the situation - the opponent simply can't comprehend why because they lack the base, raw computing power to see that many moves ahead in perfect clarity.

It's an excellent analogue for the Shivan's combat doctrine, which often doesn't seem like a doctrine much at all.  Aeshma's suck, and Basilisks are not good, and any number of Shivan craft are not designed for a human recognized optimal solution.  But they're perfect for the Shivans, because they're playing a game on a scale that humanity simply fails to comprehend.