[Blue Lion]

Since when did they bloody do that?

I'm pretty sure we got our asses handed to us by the Shivans. We got a sucker punch against their big ship in the first one and the second invasion was no contest. Or do you think we could have handled 80 Sathanas?

[Androgeos Exeunt]

We probably could if we take them from behind.

Fighter and bomber wings, as well as the rear-facing LRed all have to be taken into account, though, not to mention that the Shivans might throw in a cruiser or corvette to assist.

[ssmit132]

Not the 'take the Sathanas from behind' card - I thought there were reasons that wouldn't work? You've got three, but the Shivans might just wise up and not allow that to happen.

[Whitelight]

They attacked only those who have the technology to enter subspace..

So then it would be my take it was seen as a threat and was subdued.

As for the Capella supernova, i`m at a loss to explain that corse of action, I could speculate, but that is all.

[eliex]

I found it hard to believe that the Shivans decided to leave the first Sathanas without any form of support aside from fighters and bombers carried within it's hangar. Even if there were 79 other such ships around rendering the ship itself expendable, surely they would consider the amount of lives aboard the juggernaut even for a hive.

[General Battuta]

It's possible there were a lot more than 79.

We really have no idea of the scale or extent of the Shivan entity, whatever it may be. There could be millions of Sathani. On the cosmic scale, they're not particularly large or difficult to produce, especially using more sophisticated technology (von Neumann assemblers and whatnot.)

Alternatively, that one Sathanas might have just been lost and lonely. 

[Sololop]

Maybe it was a drone, sent to soften up the defenses first. Surely the Shivans can construct enough drone fighter/bombers to occupy it. Also their AI may and probably would be much more sophisticated than ours.

[Killer Whale]

er... remember that demon destroyer in bearbaiting? Certainly there wasn't just the Sathanas

[Retsof]

Still, the use of drones would explain the difference in tactics.  Perhaps it was an entire drone fleet.

[Killer Whale]

Yay, so all we have to do is storm the sathanas or whatever other ships they have with a squad of marines and bye bye shivan armada. I'm pretty sure the armada was made of shivans, it would make the game a bit less... epic. Unless, going on the "shivans are built by another race" theme, all the shivans are drones. Also note that AI is probably not that much less expensive, only lives get saved, not mountains of money so you can make ten times more.

[Dilmah G]

Maybe it was a drone, sent to soften up the defenses first. Surely the Shivans can construct enough drone fighter/bombers to occupy it. Also their AI may and probably would be much more sophisticated than ours.

Didn't Snipes say they bagged some live Shivans capturing those maras?

[High Max]

;-)

[Dilmah G]

What it sounds like you're doing in the beginning there is thinking like maybe a troubled GTVA pilot might, ignore/block out the bigger picture so he can concentrate on the task at hand and thus not become overwhelmed. Or well, that's what it reminded me of.

[Jeff Vader]

Didn't Snipes say they bagged some live Shivans capturing those maras?

It was in the "Command Briefing" cutscene in FS1:

"In the interests of learning more about the slippery bastards we're going to attempt something bold. The capture of the Taranis. If this goes off it will give us the opportunity to examine Shivan technology up close, and bag a few live Shivans in the process."

[Androgeos Exeunt]

That was 32 years ago. Didn't research on Shivan biology stop with the unveiling of the GTD Hades in 2336?

[eliex]

Yes, after the GTI Rebellion most, if not all Shivan specimens were destroyed leaving the GTVA quite clueless about Shivan organisms themselves.

[ssmit132]

That was a waste, I mean, even if they thought that studying the captured Shivans was inhumane, they should have taken that opportunity to learn about them. Then they may not be so enigmatic (well, at least physically).

[Dilmah G]

Yeah. Why would anyone who had served in the GTA/GTVA during the Great War authorise that. I don't give a ****ing **** wether it's inhumane or not, who knows if they even feel pain?

[Blue Lion]

That was probably one of the first tests

[Mongoose]

If SOC managed to capture Shivan fighters, as we know they did, and if GTVI engineers poked through and upgraded said fighters, as we know they did, it stands to reason that the GTVI is in possession of at least four Shivans, dead or alive.