Amen to that, Carl. I know that the real physical reason this occurs is due to gameplay/resource considerations, but why is it that we never see more than two or three wings of bombers anywhere at one time? The most ridiculous example would definitely be in High Noon, followed closely by Bearbaiting. In either case, you've got a ship capable of destroying your entire civilization, and you send one capital ship and a few fighter wings after it? Come on! If we're looking outside the realm of actual gameplay, Command should have sent practically every fighter and bomber available, armed with the entire ordnance of their respective destroyers. I'm talking dozens of bombers, all outfitted with Helioses. As for capital ships, besides the big C, throw at least three or four Orions and a few Hecates, plus a dozen or so Deimos corvettes. And what about the Mjolnirs? Why weren't they deployed even once against the Sathanes? If you had surrounded that Gamma Draconis-Capella node with a few dozen of those babies, plus the aforementioned force, the GTVA would have had nothing to worry about.
The way I see it, if they had played their cards right, the GTVA could have handled the entire fleet of 80+ Sathanes heading from Gamma Draconis to Capella. Just put all of your fighter and bomber resources (plus some cruisers and corvettes and the odd destroyer) on the Gamma Draconis side of the node and repeat Bearbaiting ad nauseam. Then, as the Sathanes move into Capella, open up with a display of firepower that makes the Battle of Endor look puny. Just keep doing that until either the Shivans let up or you can get a destroyer loaded out with Mesons to the front lines; seal up the Capella-Gamma Draconis node, and you're home free. But no, Command's arrogance and stupidity lead to the loss of thousands of lives and an entire inhabited system. Oh wel, at least the gameplay works out better for us in the end.
