[Mortex]

The Colossus cut scene we see the GTVA's 'greatest' warship docked with two(?) Ganymede rings in the late stages of construction.

Does anyone know or can hazard a guess at where this is taking place? Which system, or even shipyard?

[pyro-manic]

Doesn't it say in the cutscene voiceover?

I can't remember. I use FS2_open, so I haven't watched them for ages.
If it doesn't say, then I'd guess it would probably be in one of the heavily industrialised systems with big shipyards and lots of resources. They wouldn't build a new yard just for the Colossus - they'd have to expand an existing one to fit it in.

[diamondgeezer]

But the question of whether or not the project was kept secret was never answered. The GTVA could not have used a regular shipyard for a classified project as big as Colossus, but on the other hand it seems unlikely they could have kept it secret at all given the project's immense scale.

[Solatar]

Considering all the Civilian contractors, I'd say it wasn't classified.


It says there were dozens from both species, hinting that they weren't all military.

[Knight Templar]

This was just brought up in another thread somewhere.

I think it was somewhere along the lines that the colossus wasn't really  secret, but the state of it's construction (how far done it was) and its location were kept classified. I'd Assume especially during the NTF war.

[Petrarch of the VBB]

Surely it would be hard to classify something of such proportions.

Isn't the shipyard in orbit around a planet? An inhabited planet? If you look at the official V desktop of the colossus construction, there's definitely a planet.

[CP5670]

The planet looks a little like the Cygnus Prime one, which is in Deneb, but I'm not sure if that means anything since they probably just used any planet model they had while making that cutscene.

[Mortex]

Like knight Templar says, its likely the exact specifications and progress of construction were a secret. IMHO the populace would have known something was going on even if the couldn’t get close enough to find out exactly what.

With regard to civilian corporations don't we do this now? Isn’t that what no disclosure agreements/official secrets act (UK) are for? And with so many contractors involved would they have necessarily had a complete picture? With Subach building the beam cannons and Aketon corp building the engines or what ever would an individual corporation have known exactly what the GTVA were putting together?

So no ones going to hazard a guess at where?

[StratComm]

I think CP already did, Deneb in orbit around Cygnus Prime.  The other possibility is that it was constructed over Vasuda Prime (isn't it canon that the GTVA had a large shipyard there?)  and so the planet would no longer be considered inhabited.

[beatspete]

oooO!
Just checked the cut scene: all the information about it is classified, Level Rho i think, and nice Mr Konsu II announced it to the GTVA security council - not exactly the public.

[Mortex]

StratComm,  I think me and CP cross posted. Course that means it took me nine minutes to write my post

humm, In Deneb... the NTF might have tried to sabotage the Colossus before it was finished, if they new about it.

[Goober5000]

I think he addressed the General Assembly, which would make it public.  Probably people knew about the project itself, but not the technical specs.

[Eishtmo]

Since we don't know the extent of shipyards within the GTVA, its hard to say.  As far as I can recall, there is only one mentioned, that in Altair.  I would assume that, given a lack of any other options, that is where the Colossus was built.

[diamondgeezer]

What's always bugged me is that Bosch would have known about the Big C even if it was a secret, being an Admiral and all.

[Knight Templar]

It could have been a bigger secret. They might and probably didn't go around telling all thier admirals unless they assigned to guard it.

[Alikchi]

Ein 2365 or whenever, how many people go around in space on a regular basis and check for hidden installations? Since there was no need for real secrecy (at least until the NTF war) they probably just swore the press or random passerby who found the Colossus shipyards to secrecy. If anyone talked they be labeled as a loony; "NO, SERIOUSLY! THEY'RE BUILDING A SUPER MEGA SHIP THE SIZE OF, LIKE, HALF A DOZEN LUCIFERS! I SWEAR! ..hey, where are you going?"

[Petrarch of the VBB]

Just like area 51.

[Mortex]

Just like area 51.

I'd had the same thought, Sector 51 a top secret GTVA ship yard.

Regarding Bosch knowing about the Colossus it was only classified level Rho, As an admiral he would have had that level of clearance sorely.

[J3Vr6]

Well, I personally think that Bosch probably knew.  But the Colossus and the installation were probably extremely heavily defended.  Remember, this was the flagship of the GTVA, and the biggest joint venture between terrans and vasudans, so they would have put everyone and their mother defending it who weren't committed to other parts of space.  With the size and amount of people actually working on it, it wouldn't have been a secret for too long.  It just would have been too much of a hassle to actually do anything about it.

Plus, guys, the cut scene and the game doens't say anywhere that it was never attacked or never had an attempted sabotage.  You never know, maybe there were attempts to take out the installation, and maybe even Bosch tried to impede construction.  

Would be a great campagin, actually...  You're committed to defend the Colossus and the installation while construction... Watch those transports that are coming... they could be loaded with high-yielding explosives...

[Petrarch of the VBB]

Originally posted by J3Vr6
With the size and amount of people actually working on it, it wouldn't have been a secret for too long.

But it would be so departmentalised that people at the bottom of the chain would not know what the overall project on. Think about when the Versalife workers are talking in the LuckeyMoney in DeusEx.