[Qent]

How can anyone explain why GTVA has a different artificial gravity technology, since it has been cut from Earth a relatively short time ago (and why are there no Orion class or Fenris class cruisers in the UEF fleet, they existed long before the subspace link was severed) ?

I remember something about "expensive grav plating" in the tech room, but now I can't find it.

[Spoon]

There are a number of new-to-the-story (though not to the community) Vasudan assets, and in general the Vasudan fleet is about half a generation ahead of its Terran counterparts, both technologically and numerically. Expect a few lovely surprises.

I look forward to this.
Kneel before Zod!

[Ypoknons]

I'm not surprised the GTVA still has Leviathans in service, as the General implied they're actually useful with beam cannons and the GTVA's many systems requires a larger fleet, both against the Shivans and internal threats. Unlike in Sol, where you could probably jump a Karuna on top of insurgents in 5 minutes.

[General Battuta]

Leviathans are not exactly front-line platforms, but make useful anchors for light tactical operations and serve decently as minelayers.

You will curse the name of minelayers when you get a chance to fly against them.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Mines, eh? Sounds pretty interesting. They're not like the Cargo Pods in Derelict, are they?

[Akalabeth Angel]

I finished it.
I liked it, if nothing else it kept me playing, but of the two I prefer Age of Aquarius by far.

Overall the production values were good of course and the important missions were punctuated by a good use of music. The writing overall was good and so forth. And most of the camera moves were fairly good. But . . .

Spoiler:

Overall I found the campaign a little too sterile. Going for hard-military realism is interesting but in some cases it just gets boring.

The escort the Agincourt through the gate mission for example. The whole mission is sort of set up to some big climatic showdown where the Solaris jumps in, but the only thing that gets destroyed in that mission is my Frame Rate. Why does the Medea stay and die while the other ships all depart? And more importantly, the Hood jumping out is very anti-climatic "yeah! you better run!". Yay. Not fun. I understand the whole idea about preserving their ships, but it's interesting that a ship can get puliverized to the brink of death and then still luckily have its jump drives intact to make good its escape. That's where sterile military bit comes in. Having nearly every ship jump out instead of being destroyed is very unsatisfying.

And later on, the end mission was not at all believable imo. Four UEF ships throw themselves at the Imperieuse to get cut down? If you're going to throw your life away then throw it away by ramming your ship into the Carthage. At least then you'll achieve your bloody mission objective. Having an entire fleet, fly right past the Carthage was beyond stupid in my opinion. Your ships are at knife fighting range to your target, and you just leave it unmolested to chase someone down in a surely futile attempt to buy time?? Makes no sense whatsoever.  If the Imperieuse jumps between them and the Carthage, then sure, throw yourselves at him. But like they say in the briefing, if they take down the Carthage they can end the war. So Imperieuse or no Imperieuse why would they pass up that opportunity?  

Also I found Laporte a bit schizophrenic, and that's not supposed to be ironic. The first half of the campaign her thoughts seemed a bit disjointed and to me didn't really fit the mood of the missions. Maybe it's just me. Having everyone depressed at getting their butt kicked is fine. But if I don't feel it too it doesn't connect.


Like I say, overall it was a well done, and there was good build up when it counted but there wasn't enough payoff in those important missions. And yeah, maybe that was supposed to be the intent. But when it stretches believability I don't buy it. Then again, that whole Lucifer vs the fleet in AoA had a lack of payoff for me too. It did after all, turn out to be dream. The first time around at least.


EDIT - Also it's interesting that everyone thinks Laporte is hot ****. The way the campaign is set up the player is much more of an everyman instead of an Alpha 1. Laporte plays an important role sometimes, but she's not always crucial to the mission, and not always in a military sense either. So having everyone rave about her when all she's done is stay alive seems a bit out of place. Only time she single handidly saves the day is when she uses her phone (that I can think of anyway)

[Jellyfish]

There are a number of new-to-the-story (though not to the community) Vasudan assets, and in general the Vasudan fleet is about half a generation ahead of its Terran counterparts, both technologically and numerically.

Is this because of the GTVA/UEF war?

[MatthTheGeek]

Probably simply because the Vasudan rocks
inb4 Hatshepsut vs Hecate

[The E]

There are a number of new-to-the-story (though not to the community) Vasudan assets, and in general the Vasudan fleet is about half a generation ahead of its Terran counterparts, both technologically and numerically.

Is this because of the GTVA/UEF war?

Not really, no. In the backstory, the Vasudan Empire simply came out of the Great War and the second Incursion rather unscathed. They weren't plagued with having to re-house 250 million refugees, they didn't have the uncertainty of having lost contact with their homeworld, and so they were able to concentrate on rebuilding and renewal.

[Akalabeth Angel]

Oh one more thing I will say, using the recommendations tab to give personal post-battle thoughts was a pretty cool idea. If I ever do another character-driven campaign I just might thief it.

[Pr011]

There are a number of new-to-the-story (though not to the community) Vasudan assets, and in general the Vasudan fleet is about half a generation ahead of its Terran counterparts, both technologically and numerically.

Is this because of the GTVA/UEF war?

Not really, no. In the backstory, the Vasudan Empire simply came out of the Great War and the second Incursion rather unscathed. They weren't plagued with having to re-house 250 million refugees, they didn't have the uncertainty of having lost contact with their homeworld, and so they were able to concentrate on rebuilding and renewal.

Forgive me for playing devil's advocate, would not the loss  of Vasuda Prime during the great war cause massive social and economic instability in the empire, much like the loss of Earth for terrans eventually led to the rise of the NTF?

The loss of a homeworld would be fundamentally disastrous for any species.

[Darius]

Vasudan culture can be interpreted to be better equipped to deal with such a severe setback, due to how they perceive history and time. For them time is something occupied by both the living and dead, and the concept of their homeplanet continues to exist in their consciousness. The loss of their homeworld could be minimised as a result.

I don't know what canon says about Aldebaran or whether there are any planets in the system that they can use to replace Vasuda Prime, but as the seat of Vasudan parliament it gave them a pretty strong platform to rebuild their government and economy.

[The E]

I would also say that having a smoking crater of a homeworld there to visit, to mourn and ultimately, to make peace with what happened is better than not knowing what happened.

[General Battuta]

Why does the Medea stay and die while the other ships all depart?

Look at what happens in the mission: it's the only ship that's jumped in recently and hasn't had a chance to recharge.

And later on, the end mission was not at all believable imo. Four UEF ships throw themselves at the Imperieuse to get cut down? If you're going to throw your life away then throw it away by ramming your ship into the Carthage. At least then you'll achieve your bloody mission objective. Having an entire fleet, fly right past the Carthage was beyond stupid in my opinion. Your ships are at knife fighting range to your target, and you just leave it unmolested to chase someone down in a surely futile attempt to buy time??

Give us some credit for sense. We tested this strategy during development and it doesn't work; the Carthage will not die in time. It's just as futile for the Wargods and they know it. If they could have taken out the Imperieuse's forward beams with railgun or torp fire, however, they could have taken out BOTH destroyers and won an overwhelming victory. Easy choice there.

EDIT - Also it's interesting that everyone thinks Laporte is hot ****. The way the campaign is set up the player is much more of an everyman instead of an Alpha 1. Laporte plays an important role sometimes, but she's not always crucial to the mission, and not always in a military sense either. So having everyone rave about her when all she's done is stay alive seems a bit out of place. Only time she single handidly saves the day is when she uses her phone (that I can think of anyway)[/spoiler]

That's exactly the point, though; staying alive and being a good component of the team that gets the job done is what qualifies for excellence here, not single-handedly winning the day.

I think this reaction is just a case of 'the campaign wasn't for you'. Most of the things you're worried about were intentional design decisions in an attempt to smarten up the FreeSpace universe and make a sustained war believable. Ships should always jump out if they can, destroyers are tough as hell and should almost never let themselves be killed, and the player should not be a totally game-changing force.

You may like R2 better though.

There are a number of new-to-the-story (though not to the community) Vasudan assets, and in general the Vasudan fleet is about half a generation ahead of its Terran counterparts, both technologically and numerically.

Is this because of the GTVA/UEF war?

Not really, no. In the backstory, the Vasudan Empire simply came out of the Great War and the second Incursion rather unscathed. They weren't plagued with having to re-house 250 million refugees, they didn't have the uncertainty of having lost contact with their homeworld, and so they were able to concentrate on rebuilding and renewal.

Forgive me for playing devil's advocate, would not the loss  of Vasuda Prime during the great war cause massive social and economic instability in the empire, much like the loss of Earth for terrans eventually led to the rise of the NTF?

The loss of a homeworld would be fundamentally disastrous for any species.

Actually, canon says the Vasudans came through reconstruction very strong, so canonically...no.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Vasudan culture can be interpreted to be better equipped to deal with such a severe setback, due to how they perceive history and time. For them time is something occupied by both the living and dead, and the concept of their homeplanet continues to exist in their consciousness. The loss of their homeworld could be minimised as a result.

Being a philosophical bunch also helps too.

[Dilmah G]

That's exactly the point, though; staying alive and being a good component of the team that gets the job done is what qualifies for excellence here, not single-handedly winning the day.

Keep in mind that in addition this, Laporte has apparently racked up a staggering killcount.

And something you'll come across when you read the biographies of pilots and in basically every field of the profession of arms is that experience is a very valuable thing, and something that's greatly respected for very good reasons. In addition to this, staying alive when everyone around you is dying is also in the league of incredible things. I once saw an interview with 'Bam' Bamberger (you may be familiar with him, depending on how into WWII aviation history you are), he said during the interview that when he was in Malta, a pilot who started out in a bomber squadron based at the same airfield as he started the week as a Sergeant Pilot and ended the week as a Wing Commander simply because he was the only one pilot of the original bunch left.

[Gorman]

I would like to pass on my observations and suggestion as a freespace fan & real life officer. Sorry for my English.  
 
When I was playing AOA for the first time I was amazed by its story, new ships, and very entertaining missions. Then came WIH - and to be honest - missions were great fun and for the first time freespace was becoming sort of Scifi-Milsim, but i was expecting something more from the story and overall shift from fun to some philosophical  thing - did not go well.  
 
I will start with the things i do not like - and finish with some suggestions regarding tactical and  
I think, from what i have read and seen for past ten years in army - Humans are predators, we rule this planet because we are at the top of the food chain - we excel at killing, and we develop so we can do it more efficient - first Sumer civilization, first city-states were created to gain upper hand in war, to create more advanced weapons,armor and logistical capability. First kings were warlords. Few centuries ahead in Egypt, second civilization was born upon people fighting for "black land" and Nile. When people find out that only way to protect themselves is to create bigger,more advanced societies. As kingdoms grow bigger(democratic states did not stand a chance with kingdoms - see Athens vs Sparta etc) they conquer and suppress neighbors so no one could become a threat to them - and if state archive total supremacy over enemies (Roman Empire, Persian Empire, Macedonian Empire, British Empire, etc) - they collapse due to internal affairs and lack of motivation to improve - if you are all powerful - why should you spend money on army or war-oriented economy?  
And then you will be surprised how fast your enemies are developing, joint with each other to attack you.  
It was the arms race that put human race in space - and it will be arms race that will keep us there.  
Our whole history of development evolve upon war.  
 
We are like shivans - we are ultimate predators and if we encounter something we do not know - we attack - better safe than sorry. As we did with the Vasudans. The only thing that keep us from next war with them were the Shivans. GTVA was created to counter that threat. And it did its purpose - during the second shivan incursion the high command did great job. I my opinion any other government would fail to accomplish so much in that situation. If High command would hesitate for a minute to use meson bombs to close the nodes to capella - ...  
 
After what happened during second incursion, when we finally have a grasp of shivan capabilities and power - And when we finally managed to open a way to Solar system - the most productive system, whose economy is equal to all human colonies - we find Ubuntu Party that  "placed emphasis on economic recovery and political stability, rather than military strength", knowing well that shivan understanding of jump nodes and Subspace is far better (They could use uncharted node to get to Sol) and they could eventually get to Sol by normal space(given 30-40 years by sublight speeds) - all they have come up with is 3 solaris-class battleships with carrier capability and some frigates - very good I admit. But as for biggest human economic power  - such small force is a sign of weak government and utter stupidity of its leaders.  For comparison - smaller GTVA managed to build dozens of Hecate/Orion/Titan/Raynor Class Carriers/Battleships  in that time. Not to mention Collossus.  
 
We have battle-harden warriors like Steele against Natreba, Calder and other bunch of soft, not prepared for combat maniacs.  
 
Now Ubuntu leaders want to play with everybody lives in a bosch-like attempt to put their fates in hands of unknown alien race, that for all we know could be in a alliance with the shivans or At least not be able to stop them like in AOA.  
So the question is - would You, put your life in hand of some crazy prophets that  have said if we are cute and sheep-like enough we will live because some  powerful aliens we do not nothing about  (but for what we have seen in AOA are no real match for Shivans) could come and "use ancient art of pantomime" on destroyers to save the day before shivans will be bored with it  and slice their keepers with BFReds.  
OR you could take your chances in combat / work as hard as you can to build up economic base - to protect those you love - in this case you At least have a fighting chance.  
 
As for laporte talking with aliens and bend on GTVA destruction - If you are a Shivan, a ultimate predator in space - you have hundreds of years of war experience - what is the easiest way to cleanse the galaxy from species like your self before they grow and become a threat to you? You disrupt its government by supporting some pacifists who will in time disarm your opponent, turn them against each other so they will be weaker when you go in directly.  
Shivans would not posses such technology if they would be mindless or dumb. They could rollover us if they really want to - but at Very high cost. Its easier to use Bei, Laporte and Elders to destroy leadership of those who managed to defeat or atleast set back your offensive.  
 
Maybe whole 14th BattleGroup incident was staged by shivans to stop GTVA from taking back earth where they secretly rule?    
 
.........
 
Ok now I will focus on some tactical issues and suggestions.
 
Freespace battlefield is asymmetric with 4 dimensional battlefield (4th is Subspace)  - I very liked the way WIH embraced that. You can attack with smaller forces draw enemy to you and then ambush him using subspace jumps. So basically it all down to numbers - who have more wins.  
I wont focus on GTVA vs UEF because it's already lost war for the UEF from the beginning. And having Steele at helm - i doubt it will take much longer - unless UEF have been building a fleet of solaris'es or Icanus somewhere ;-). So i will pass on my observations on ways to fight the shivans
 
The only choke point were you can use smaller forces to defend against larger ones, are the Jump Nodes (irrelevant in WIH becouse GTVA already taken the Node).  
All this leaves some interesting questions like:
1. You need to find a way to keep your flanks safe in order to counter those subspace jumps.
2. How to defend against superior numbers of ships
3. What are the ways to create "choke point" in 4th dimensional space.  
4. How to counter enemy massive dreadnoughts like Sathanas
 
etc.  
 
The most important ones are in my opinion 2 and 3 - We need to find a simple and efficient way to counter shivan superior numbers - and i think the answer to that are mines - mass produced, with simple IFF system. cheap, used in massive numbers to cover nodes and installations - they would create much needed tactical depth and a choke point - keeping shivans from jumping at beam range - shivans have poor point defenses - it would take them a while to clear thought a minefield. Also Pegasus stealth technology would help to improve their usefulness.  
Giving much time to stage an attack by our superior fighters and long range missiles.  
 
Apocalypse/Eos, mass drivers, Bombers armed with Helios bombs/ missiles/torpedoes shown great potential in long range battles - We need to keep those Beams at long range to stand a chance.  
 
Develop some ECM buoys/decoys to mess with they targeting computers - drag them behind your ships - like today destroyers.  
 
Use EOS/Apocalypse single-shot multi-missile pods as cheap way to add much needed long range-firepower when defending installations/nodes.  
 
Shivans most powerful units like Sathanas are defenseless against rear and flanking attack - making them easy pray for wisely deployed node defense forces.
 
I wonder if any one would care to read that much.

Sorry for my English.

For Blueplanet Crew -
Keep up with good work - if AOA & Wih were commercial games - they would still by great.

[SomeGuyWithAName]

I think, from what i have read and seen for past ten years in army - Humans are predators, we rule this planet because we are at the top of the food chain - we excel at killing, and we develop so we can do it more efficient - first Sumer civilization, first city-states were created to gain upper hand in war, to create more advanced weapons,armor and logistical capability. First kings were warlords. Few centuries ahead in Egypt, second civilization was born upon people fighting for "black land" and Nile. When people find out that only way to protect themselves is to create bigger,more advanced societies. As kingdoms grow bigger(democratic states did not stand a chance with kingdoms - see Athens vs Sparta etc) they conquer and suppress neighbors so no one could become a threat to them - and if state archive total supremacy over enemies (Roman Empire, Persian Empire, Macedonian Empire, British Empire, etc) - they collapse due to internal affairs and lack of motivation to improve - if you are all powerful - why should you spend money on army or war-oriented economy?  

I tend to disagree with statements like that. To me, the predatorial history of man is not a mean in itself, but a way to achieve the real goal: Mankinds unique characteristic to set him apart from animals - his will (or some may say lust) for power. Power meaning not necessarily military or political might, but in general the ability and freedom to influence and change the world around us (including our own life), to get the world closer to the imaginations of our mind and subdue reality.

The other big factor that is also found in some animals, but not to that extend, is of course hierarchy and social status. This is closely linked to the above - military/political leaders (changing the world, foremost the way mankind itself is structured through force), merchants (changing the world through exchange and creation of values, foremost your own life by acquisition of said values) and artists/philosophers (changing the way people think and creating ideals to live by) have (had) high status in society.

Many wars were essentially pillage hunts to gain ressources, slaves, luxuries. If you win a war, you don't have to work as much and have a lot of valuables, which leaves you more time and ressources to spend on sophistication and acquisition of power and culture. And every bit of culture is another part of nature which doesnt dictate our life and has been replaced - another freedom fought for by mankind.

In that regard it may also be a factor in explaining why many cultures have a view of destruction and creation being connected and "in balance" in an ideal society.

Also, the UEF thought two things: A - they may be isolated for as long as they themselves choose, until they perhaps discover subspace portal technology themselves and B - the only Shivan fleet they knew was the Lucifer fleet - and their force might even be enough to cope with a threat as big as that. True to say, thoughts like that crushed many empires, but it was understandable to see where they were coming from.

Now, the GTVA is going through another way to bring an empire to it's knees. Imagine North Korea. Incredible output of War machinery for it's Gross National Product, but collapsing because of inefficiency (much force is needed to subdue and control the populous which more and more lives in squalor) and lack of infrastructure. Of course NK has more problems than the GTVA, but still, it comes close in terms of their economical focus and their problems.

On another note, your tactics are actually very very good. Only two problems might arise: Shivans have been known to use subspace nodes that the GTVA didn't know about (seeminlgy appearing from nowhere), and Shivan Numbers are so enormous and their attitude is so machine-like, they might disable minefields by just sacrificig some heavily armored capital ships. They could field a fleet of Satanas juggernauts - and we can reasonably think that might have been just a fraction of their total-war capabilities. Even with genius tactics and increased military output - I fear the inevitable could only be delayed.

So, the link to the Vishnans is essentially the only thing I personally think we have. The Shivans couldn't be resoned with, but here may be some way to actually do something to that regard. Maybe not reason with them, maybe just discover some war-changing weakness, or get a war-changin ally. Maybe find out their motivation and being able to fulfill that without mankind being exterminated. Of course we must stand our ground and fight, but this war cannot be won.

Still, nice post. And your English is OK, you are perfectly comprehensible.

[Akalabeth Angel]

And later on, the end mission was not at all believable imo. Four UEF ships throw themselves at the Imperieuse to get cut down? If you're going to throw your life away then throw it away by ramming your ship into the Carthage. At least then you'll achieve your bloody mission objective. Having an entire fleet, fly right past the Carthage was beyond stupid in my opinion. Your ships are at knife fighting range to your target, and you just leave it unmolested to chase someone down in a surely futile attempt to buy time??

Give us some credit for sense. We tested this strategy during development and it doesn't work; the Carthage will not die in time. It's just as futile for the Wargods and they know it. If they could have taken out the Imperieuse's forward beams with railgun or torp fire, however, they could have taken out BOTH destroyers and won an overwhelming victory. Easy choice there.

It they thought there was any chance of taking on the Imperieuse they wouldn't have sent the Yangtze and Indus away. Not to mention that leaving a fully armed destroyer at your rear is seriously flawed tactically. Like I say, just ram the Carthage, there's no relative speed in freespace anyway. 20m/s from a starting point of 500 feet away is the same as 20m/s from 10 clicks out (ie the opening cinematic). Get four ships ramming the carthage I'm sure it'll go down. It just came across as contrived melodrama to me.

I think this reaction is just a case of 'the campaign wasn't for you'. Most of the things you're worried about were intentional design decisions in an attempt to smarten up the FreeSpace universe and make a sustained war believable. Ships should always jump out if they can, destroyers are tough as hell and should almost never let themselves be killed, and the player should not be a totally game-changing force.

No just the opposite. Some parts of the campaign were not believable. If the Carthage is crippled and has its back to the wall and no one's in the know of what Steele is doing, would all of her escorts abandon her one by one? Same thing with the Hood, her escorts jumping out and leaving her by herself. That doesn't make sense. What if the uffies launch a surprise bomber strike and crippled her engines. When you're tasked with protecting a vital ship you don't abandon them and hope they'll get out by themselves. And you certainly don't all abandon them when you KNOW they cannot get out. No matter what the Admiral tells you to do.

And having ships jump capable regardless of how damaged they are doesn't make much sense to me either. Especially when in the last mission the Yangtzee for some contrived reason can't jump out with the Indus. Why is it that one ship can't jump out at 32% hull when the previous 30 ships jumped out at 12-15% hull just fine.

Reason being of course you wanted a melodramatic ending to a realistic story. But do melodrama and realism really go together?


That and ships exploding isn't about gameplay, it isn't about campaign flavour, it's about consequence. People die in war. That's realism. Ships enter battles, and don't come out at the end. Not everyone can get out, even when they have the opportunity. Looking back at the campaign, nothing of consequence really happens throughout the whole campaign. Very few ships die. No planets change hands. The Tev war hasn't really advanced in any way. Yeah, there's supposedly some logistical problem but it has no visible consequence. Look at the Agincourt. They take it, but the Tevs just replace it. Then 1st fleet takes it, which from the previous missions sounds like it would throw a wrench in 2nd fleet's plans, but 2nd fleet keeps doing what it's doing anyway. So what was the consequence of the Agincourt? It didn't affect the Tevs. It didn't affect 2nd fleet. Supposedly it affected some secret project which we never see anyway. But really that whole arc had no consequence at all.

In the same way they try to help the Vasudans to bring them on their side. But all their efforts end in with the Vasudans still being bad guys.

And what about 2nd fleet? The Wargods get destroyed. But Laporte ends up joining the Fedayeen, some super secret elite taskforce, which wasn't doing anything anyway. So do the deaths of the Wargods matter? No, not really. Are the uffies weaker? No, because now some new ships are joining the war to replace the ones they just lost. So overall not much really happens in the whole war at all.

The highlight of the campaign for me was the opening cinematic, and that was probably due in large part to your choice of music than anything else. Music is emotion, and the star trek trailer music was a very good choice.

Anyway, a lot of this sounds like *****ing. But I would like to emphasize that overall the production quality was very good. The writing was well done, the war was obviously very thoroughly thought out and there was also obviously quite a lot of good fredding at work. Most of the cinematics and camera moves were pretty good as well and the missions took musical cues very well. Some parts of the campaign just didn't click with me, especially the last mission. I certainly have no qualms with the quality of the campaign, I'm just not fully endeared to the execution of the story.

Also I for one, dislike this notion of "rebalancing" missions in a campaign. Forced Entry from AoA was one of the most memorable from the campaign, and it was memorable in part because it was hard. A campaign should have both medium difficulty and hard missions. From what I understand, the climatic battle of this campaign was at one point harder but was later dumbed down. Personally I won it on my second attempt playing on medium. Conversely to what many people say, it is good to have challenging missions. One shouldn't always rebalance things because people are having trouble. If they're having trouble they should put it on very easy.

The mission I had the most trouble with was 2nd to last one. And that was hard because my computer kept crashing (esp antipodes) and because the Deimos kept catching me with beam fire.

[Scotty]

A campaign should have both medium difficulty and hard missions.

Or you could play on a higher difficulty for a mission or two.  Difficulty spikes tend to lead to a dramatic increase in the number of ragequits for a given mission.  For a very good example, take a look at all the soon-after-release comments for Delenda Est.  Rebalancing is sometimes very necessary.

Especially when in the last mission the Yangtzee for some contrived reason can't jump out with the Indus. Why is it that one ship can't jump out at 32% hull when the previous 30 ships jumped out at 12-15% hull just fine.

You have four ships.  If you sacrifice two of them in a delaying maneuver, the other two can escape by widening the gap between themselves and the enemy.  If you try to run with all four, the enemy catches and destroyes them all.  What do you do?

But really that whole arc had no consequence at all

In case you've forgotten, there's still more to WiH to be released.

In the same way they try to help the Vasudans to bring them on their side. But all their efforts end in with the Vasudans still being bad guys.

First off, the Vasudans have never been the bad guys.  Second, I refer you to my above statement.

So overall not much really happens in the whole war at all.

To borrow some terms from mathematics, it's about distance travelled, not about displacement.