[The E]

Well, they make sense now. And even back when BP was new and shiny, they made for an awesome sequel hook.

And I honestly believe that AoA would have less of an impact for someone who read the prose on the site and then started playing. The feeling of utter WTF that last mission/cutscene provoked is something seen far too rarely in campaigns, IMHO.

[General Battuta]

Yeah, you're not supposed to read those until you've finished AoA.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Yeah, you're not supposed to read those until you've finished AoA.

Thank goodness I completed AoA thrice before those came up. I would have read the prose first before playing.

[paralaje]

Myrmidon with Prometheus S/Kayser and 3-3-5 Trebuchets (...) Played on Very Easy.

In case anyone else is having trouble with the mission (like I did), this does the trick. Fighters and bombers are very easy in very easy difficulty mode (duh) so the only real threat are the capital ships. You need 1 trebuchet to take out the Cain's front beam cannon and 2 for each cannon on the Lilith, that's 5 trebuchets. Then you need 4 more trebuchets to kill the Ravana's main guns (2 each) and the two last to kill the other two cannons that are facing the Temeraire. That adds to exactly 11.
I'm not sure if turrets have more hit points on higher difficulty modes, but I had a really hard time to replicate this tactic in medium, which is the difficulty I normally play on.
Anyway, I'm thankful to the people that contributed here. Before being pointed to this thread I kept failing horribly at this mission.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

I'm not sure if turrets have more hit points on higher difficulty modes...

I doubt it. Lower difficulties reduce the AI's capabilities and firing rate. On Insane, they can fly and shoot at a rate equal to an actual player, and Shivan beam cannons are absolute Hell.

[eliex]

That's true especially with the damage reduction factor removed, the pilot in swarm attacks is pretty vulnerable to focus fire and more annoyingly collisions in a dogfight.
I really dislike missions that have your wingmen colliding into you at the start. It's not a big deal on Easy-Medium but on Insane, it can deal a whopping 7-8% damage.