[Snail]

No destroyers in Sol? There must have been some considering the importance of the system.

The point is, by the time that the Shivans are in Sol, it's already too late. They probably sent the destroyers out to intercept the Shivans rather than allow them to get into Sol.

On top of that, in FS1 we have reason to believe that there were few active Terran destroyers (at least compared to FS2). There were less than ten destroyers named in FS1 (I count seven - the Amadeus, Galatea, Bastion, Minnow, Intrepid, Krios and Soyakaze), and fewer still that would have been active at that point in the campaign (scratch the Galatea and Amadeus). So it's natural that the GTA would have moved ships out of the reserves (Sol) in order to prevent the Shivans from getting in.

Not to mention that ships may have entered the system for repairs because other places were too unsafe for that.

Even if that were true, those ships would have been in no position to intercept the Lucifer.

[Mobius]

So, in poor words, you think Sol was pretty much undefended? Didn't the GTA knew that the Shivans used unknown nodes (or worse, that they didn't use jump nodes at all)? Doesn't that justify the deployment of forces in Sol, regardless of how things were going on the battlefront?

About repaired ships - well, depending on the damage they sustained, they may have been rushed on the battlefield if necessary.

[Snail]

So, in poor words, you think Sol was pretty much undefended? Didn't the GTA knew that the Shivans used unknown nodes (or worse, that they didn't use jump nodes at all)? Doesn't that justify the deployment of forces in Sol, regardless of how things were going on the battlefront?

In poor words, Sol was left undefended because by the point Mr. Lucifer has his gun pointed at your forehead it's a bit too late. We know the Shivans used uncharted nodes and nodes too unstable for travel by the Terrans and Vasudans, but by that point in time the GTA still thought the Shivans didn't know where Sol was. Remember that the Lucifer was only a few jumps away from Sol at one point (in Ross 128) but decided to go after Vasuda Prime first.

The point here is basically why the Terrans didn't send something ahead of the Lucifer from the Sol side of the jump node. If you can find a better explanation then I'd be all for believing the Terrans had 500 Orions in Sol but decided not to send any of them to intercept the Lucifer. And this explanation had better not be " didn't think that far."

About repaired ships - well, depending on the damage they sustained, they may have been rushed on the battlefield if necessary.

Which would have been another monumentally pointless waste of life, unless they stood a chance against the Lucifer there wouldn't have been a point sending them in.

[Mobius]

Petrarch stated in FS2 that the Shivans relied on intersystem jumps without using nodes to start the Great War. That capability could be easily interpreted as "they used unstable nodes", but none of these conditions would have allowed the GTA to ignore the possibility of watching Sol fall ever before the Lucifer could reach it.

About the last part - desperation calls for desperate actions.

[Snail]

Like I said, this is all tangential. The discussion is about why the Terrans didn't send something from the Sol side to intercept the Lucifer. One possible explanation is that the GTA simply didn't have any destroyers in Sol. That's one explanation I hold to make a lot of sense given the circumstances.

[Mobius]

The other obvious explanation is that all GTA assets in Sol were busy protecting/evacuating the most important colonies of the system, in preparation for a counterstrike.

[Snail]

The other obvious explanation is that all GTA assets in Sol were busy protecting/evacuating the most important colonies of the system, in preparation for a counterstrike.

Protecting them from what, exactly?

[T-LoW]

The Lucifer?

[Mobius]

They knew the Lucifer (or, more in general, the Shivan fleet) was coming, so they must have reacted somehow. Unless you pretend them to sit and wait after what happened to Vasuda Prime.

[Snail]

The Lucifer?

You could have as many fighters and bombers you want running around in Sol, once the Lucifer is in-system with its shields up, all the attacks are fruitless - It's what happened in VPrime.

[Mobius]

The Lucifer itself was nearly invincible but the GTA needed assets to protect its most densely populated system. You can't leave it nearly undefended, knowing that the finest ships are fighting the enemy elsewhere (but still potentially capable of jumping directly to Sol via a weak node or intersystem jump drives).

[BengalTiger]

About repaired ships - well, depending on the damage they sustained, they may have been rushed on the battlefield if necessary.

Which would have been another monumentally pointless waste of life, unless they stood a chance against the Lucifer there wouldn't have been a point sending them in.

Cannon fodder. If the Shivans are too busy shooting the damaged ships, those that have a mission might just get through.

[Snail]

This all makes perfect sense except for the fact that it doesn't explain why none of the destroyers in Sol tried to intercept the Lucifer from the Sol side of the jump node, which really is what this discussion boils down to.

[Mobius]

Because they simply couldn't, for whatever their reasons. There was one destroyer pursuing the Lucifer, and that was the Bastion... I don't know how likely the GTA were to send a destroyer from Sol at that point. It may have been dangerous for the Bastion, or simply (and apparently) not convenient for GTA strategists who thought it made a lot of sense to let the other destroyers protect the colonies while the Bastion engaged the Lucifer.

[Snail]

Because they simply couldn't, for whatever their reasons.

I WIN


Well, okay not really. But I think my explanation still makes the most sense.

[Mobius]

Whatever their reasons can mean a lot of things. As I said the GTA were probably concerned about protecting the main colonies, or simply couldn't send another destroyer into subspace while the Lucifer and Bastion were there.

[Snail]

I don't buy that. The Bastion is repeatedly referred to as Sol's last hope. If there were other destroyers in Sol then the Bastion's mission wouldn't have been nearly so critical.

[Droid803]

It could still be Sol's last hope as I'm not sure if it is possible to intercept a ship going through the node one way with a ship going the other way.

[Mobius]

Droid said it. They'd be both travelling at many light years per minute, effectively turning any attempt to intercept into a failure.

[Snail]

Droid said it. They'd be both travelling at many light years per minute, effectively turning any attempt to intercept into a failure.

A destroyer in Sol would be in Sol (0 jumps away from Sol). A destroyer in Beta Aquilae would be in Beta Aquilae (2 jumps away from Sol). Why would you send the destroyer in Beta Aquilae to intercept the Lucifer?