[MatthTheGeek]

You're talking about cruisers and fighters here. We were talking about big ships. You never see several corvettes or destroyers come out of a node at the same time.

[Scotty]

I would be willing to bet that's more because the entry to the node is physically too small for the ships to side-by-side transition.  However, none of this is the point.

Blockade scenario (lol never gonna happen): Naras at long range to bombard.  Fighter screen at the node.

Tevs push through a meson bomb and detonate it, forcing all fighters to either GTFO or die.  Seconds later, a large strike wing arrives, and uses the window of time to either A) burn at the supporting Naras and treb the cannons off of them, before bombers unleash payloads or B) jump further in system to **** with real estate and force more UEF ships away from the node.

Either way, blockade gets borked really damn quick.

[Dragon]

Naras have their own fighters though.
Also, there would be something guarding them.
And a large fighter wing wouldn't really do much once in system, since they need a base.

[Hades]

Naras have their own fighters though.
Also, there would be something guarding them.
And a large fighter wing wouldn't really do much once in system, since they need a base.

We just had this discussion earlier, on one of the topics in this forum. Tev fighters are generally self sufficient,, meaning they can last longer by themselves (without a base) for an extended period of time.

Also, just because the Naras have an escort or fighter compliment doesn't stop the trebs from hitting them, unless its fighters take the trebs for them, which is ****ing hard to do.

[Scotty]

If the Nara's group of probably four to six ready fighters manages to fight off an entire squadron or more of Tev strikecraft, there's a serious breakdown on at least one level.  The entire complement of a Nara WILL NOT be ready for an incursion.  Keeping the entire complement of pilots ready round the clock is, in a word, dangerous.  Sure, you'd have ready-five wings, but they still won't be ready to intercept.  All it takes it knocking off the cannons or doing some other significant damage to make them rotate off the line.  There aren't near enough Naras in Sol to absorb even light casualties and keep a blockade up.

If the Tevs follow up with any capital or corvette presence at all, the blockade falls apart, and the balance resumes with the UEF in a worse position following the necessary repair and refit of perhaps as much as half of the remaining Nara presence in Sol, without even mentioning Karuna casualties.

Tevs can afford attrition.  The UEF can't, not by any stretch of the imagination.

EDIT:  And also what Hades said.

[Dragon]

Since UEF wouldn't have much to do with their ships other than keeping the blockade up, I wouldn't be suprised if "something" guarding the Naras was the Solaris.
They could also develop some kind of an artillery platform, which would be cheaper to produce and maintain than Nara, but would still have a large part of firepower (sort of UEF Mijolnir).

[-Sara-]

I'd assume that if and when the UEF decides to take the node, they'd have a large enough explosive device at the ready to send through the subspace node before the GTVA can mount a counter-offense: to either blow up the Delta Serpentis - Sol gate, or to collapse the node entirely if that is possible with the gate.

[PsychoLandlord]

They could also develop some kind of an artillery platform, which would be cheaper to produce and maintain than Nara, but would still have a large part of firepower (sort of UEF Mijolnir).

This would take a far greater amount of time than the UEF would have. If they do manage to kick the Tevs out, and the Tevs want back in, the UEF is only going to have as long as it takes the Tevs to gather a sufficient strikeforce. Which, if they're smart, will already be waiting within striking distance of the Sol Gate, just in case.

Edit: Semi-ninja'd by Sara, and that still seems to be the only tenable long term military goal the UEF can have.

[Liberator]

Economic Crisis or not, the GTVA(I refuse to call them TEVs) could and probably should have deployed undeniable force to Earth and forced the issue with pinpoint bombardment from orbit.  That said, on topic, the ships seem to be getting larger in profile.

[Droid803]

Economic Crisis or not, the GTVA(I refuse to call them TEVs) could and probably should have deployed undeniable force to Earth and forced the issue with pinpoint bombardment from orbit.

That was the plan.
Until AoA happened.

[The E]

To be more specific, the plan was to threaten pinpoint orbital bombardment.

At any rate, Orbit-to-Surface bombardment is the very, very last thing the GTVA would want to do. To reiterate, the GTVA does not have the manpower to effectively occupy Sol. They want the UEF to submit to GTVA authority willingly. Threatening death from above is definitely not the right way to do it.

(In real life terms, this would be like the US trying a hostile takeover of the European Union. It just wouldn't work.)

[Buckshee Rounds]

I would be willing to bet that's more because the entry to the node is physically too small for the ships to side-by-side transition.  However, none of this is the point.

Maybe, but consider that big ass ships like the Colossus and Sathanas are able to traverse nodes no problem. I bet you could squeeze together a few warships based on that level of space. Until FreeSpace I never would've thought of space as being too small.

[General Battuta]

Economic Crisis or not, the GTVA(I refuse to call them TEVs) could and probably should have deployed undeniable force to Earth and forced the issue with pinpoint bombardment from orbit.  That said, on topic, the ships seem to be getting larger in profile.

That was exactly what they tried to do. 

[Pred the Penguin]

To be more specific, the plan was to threaten pinpoint orbital bombardment.

At any rate, Orbit-to-Surface bombardment is the very, very last thing the GTVA would want to do. To reiterate, the GTVA does not have the manpower to effectively occupy Sol. They want the UEF to submit to GTVA authority willingly. Threatening death from above is definitely not the right way to do it.

(In real life terms, this would be like the US trying a hostile takeover of the European Union. It just wouldn't work.)

Then how in world is the current state of affairs working for the GTVA? Now they can occupy Sol?

This thread is confusing me...

[SpardaSon21]

My guess is the GTVA wants to de-legitimize the Ubuntu leadership by showing that they lack the military force and will to fight off another Shivan incursion.

[SD-Beast]

To be more specific, the plan was to threaten pinpoint orbital bombardment.

At any rate, Orbit-to-Surface bombardment is the very, very last thing the GTVA would want to do. To reiterate, the GTVA does not have the manpower to effectively occupy Sol. They want the UEF to submit to GTVA authority willingly. Threatening death from above is definitely not the right way to do it.

(In real life terms, this would be like the US trying a hostile takeover of the European Union. It just wouldn't work.)

Then how in world is the current state of affairs working for the GTVA? Now they can occupy Sol?

This thread is confusing me...

Break the populace' confidence hard enough and they'll lose faith in the UEF and, thus lose faith in the Ubuntu leadership. Which would make the GTVA's fight much easier, might even cause some UEF units to defect.

[Rodo]

I think they are more concerned about GTVA people actually liking the Ubuntu way and turn to a sol-like life, thus loosing power positions.

[SpardaSon21]

Pred was talking about the impossibility of the GTVA to forcibly occupy Sol, and I hypothesized that the GTVA planned to take it by de-legitimizing Ubuntu and the Council of Elders by proving their ineffectiveness against another Shivan incursion, thereby encouraging the Earth, Mars, and Jovian governments to submit to the will of the GTVA for security purposes.

[General Battuta]

That, and once you control the orbitals, you can dictate terms by the threat of force. You don't have to land and occupy...assuming the other party believes you're willing to do it, and that they are rational.

[-Norbert-]

But that would only contain the "threat" of ubuntu. They still can't get access to most of the infrastructure of Sol without the cooperation of the locals.
Granted, much of the ship manufacturing (and probably mining) facilities are in orbit, but it would be one hell of a job to ferry enough workers from GTVA terretory into Sol to run those orbitals, not to mention that they'd need some place to live and supplys. Ferrying all those people between Delta Serpentis and Sol twice a day is just ludicrous.