[The E]

Yeah. Narayanas are basically ambush snipers. They are most effective against an enemy that already is engaged in close combat, where they can use their range advantage to take shots at enemy ships. Remember that the main source of Narayana DPS, the Apocalypse torpedo swarms, take a very long time to reach your targets. Parking them somewhere in plain sight only makes sense if you can get the enemy to stay together for a long time. And even then, you're still susceptible to a fighter/bomber wing microjumping around you and coming in on your blind sides. Remember, Narayanas are nowhere near as good as Karunas when it comes to point defense, since most of their anti-fighter weaponry is placed on the wings. While that gives each turret an excellent field of fire, the reduced number of turrets makes them rather vulnerable to Treb/Stilleto attacks.

[MatthTheGeek]

Microjumping ? Can you really have 12k subspace jumps in BP ?

[Commander Zane]

If they allow the Nemesis Maneuver to exist in Blue Planet, then yes.

[MatthTheGeek]

If they can, then yeah, microjumps would give tev treb packs the edge to quickly defang the Naras, and the whole blockade is then a bust.

[The E]

Even if you can't jump only 12k, what's to stop you from doglegging? You can just make two jumps....

[Fury]

Meh. UEF should replace the mass and gauss cannons on Naras with sufficiently high caliber gattler rounds. Make more room for gattler ammo by using missile magazines too. Not much could survive that onslaught very long. Unless all ships are equipped with rapid jump drives or two jump drives, they get decimated before they can jump again.

[-Norbert-]

Going back a page or two:
I have another reason for a cese fire and GTVA pull out: Economy!
If I understand the backstory right, the GTVA tethers on the brink of an economic collapse due to the demands of the portal project.
With a war going on, the economy will hardly get much of a chance to recover and thus could collapse pretty much at a moments notice. That might be followed by widespread revolts forcing the GTVA to pull in every asset they have to contain the situation.
Apart from needing the Sol forces at home, they might simply be unable to sustain the war-effort in such a scenario and thus would be forced into either a treaty or a constant state of cold war.

While this isn't enough to base a strategy on either, it is far more likely than an alien invasion I think.

[SypheDMar]

Or the war effort is actually helping the economy in the short term, and there are enough public support for the war effort so that the if there needs to be cuts, it'd be on non-military discretionary spending.

I agree that it's more likely than aliens, though.

[Snail]

Meh. UEF should replace the mass and gauss cannons on Naras with sufficiently high caliber gattler rounds. Make more room for gattler ammo by using missile magazines too. Not much could survive that onslaught very long. Unless all ships are equipped with rapid jump drives or two jump drives, they get decimated before they can jump again.

Maybe this could happen late in the war with the few remaining Naras

[Commander Zane]

Skirmisher variants with Solaris-style Gattler Turrets for cannons? Sounds nasty.

[Snail]

And then in the inevitable Toutatis/Atreus duel they can have a go at Serkr team!

[Commander Zane]

Hmm...
Would the story ever introduce a UEF version of Serkr at some point?
It sounds like a Monkey-See; Monkey-Do, but it essentialy is, studying and copying the GTVA TTP (Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures).

[-Norbert-]

Basically the Nara groups are like Serkr. Jump in at optimal positioning, blast them with overwhelming firepower, get out before the enemy can retaliate.
But with the exception of the counter attack on the Atreus, that the sprint drive nullified, the UEF wasn't in any position to use the Naras that effectively.

[Snail]

Well the Nara refits (w/ artillery) have been in-theatre for longer than Serkr team.

[Commander Zane]

I don't think a group of Naryanas are quite like Serkr, shot-for-shot their Mass Drivers are powerful, but the Gattler Turret on a Solaris puts out insurmountible firepower with its RoF.
I'd imagine a weapon system like that on more agile Frigates like the Karuna or Naryana would make a more lethal ambush platform for a close range battlespace.

[The E]

Well, the problem is, Serkr is the archetypical example of a glass cannon. They have a massive alpha strike firepower, but they are quite fragile if said alpha strike doesn't annihilate their opposition. The UEF doesn't have any class in service that can operate on the same principle, since the UEF's main weaponry (Varunastra cannons and Apocalypse torpedoes) don't produce the same kind of damage throughput.
For the most part, UEF weapons seem geared towards saturation attacks, rather than pinpoint damage, while GTVA beam weapons are the exact opposite.

[Snail]

Mmmph... Serkr Team isn't that much of a glass cannon. They have excellent anti-fighter weaponry and an entire UEF assault squadron was unable to stop them in Collateral, and they didn't even have the Bloodletters with them in that one. When they got caught with their pants down in Aristeia they were still able to escape.

[Commander Zane]

Well, the problem is, Serkr is the archetypical example of a glass cannon. They have a massive alpha strike firepower, but they are quite fragile if said alpha strike doesn't annihilate their opposition. The UEF doesn't have any class in service that can operate on the same principle, since the UEF's main weaponry (Varunastra cannons and Apocalypse torpedoes) don't produce the same kind of damage throughput.
For the most part, UEF weapons seem geared towards saturation attacks, rather than pinpoint damage, while GTVA beam weapons are the exact opposite.

But the discussion as it is bases it on the concept that some ships are refitted to operate in that principle.

[Mars]

Basically the Nara groups are like Serkr. Jump in at optimal positioning, blast them with overwhelming firepower, get out before the enemy can retaliate.
But with the exception of the counter attack on the Atreus, that the sprint drive nullified, the UEF wasn't in any position to use the Naras that effectively.

Narayana = Sniper rifle - They're used to destroy high value components from long range; they don't have advanced jump drives, so they're less able to jump in - shoot - jump out. Instead they need backup or very good aim. Their standard MO is to jump in at maximum range, disarm their targets, and peck them to death. (Presumably while their fighter compliment supplements their point defenses.) EDIT: Narayana's have decent damage output, but it's not the same as being able to instantly take out a Ravana.

Serker = Humvee with ATM launcher - They're used to blow up large capital assets as quickly as possible, they're MO is to jump in, blow stuff up in seconds, and use their powerful point defenses to cover themselves from a counterattack until their jump drives recharge (apparently a minute or two (Collateral Damage). The tech description also calls them escort corvettes, which is what I suppose they're doing in Aristeia; they might seem to suck in this capacity, but remember they would have taken out one Karuna the same instant  the Indus and Yangtze entered in beam range and the other 30 seconds afterward, if ECM support hadn't arrived the second it did. 

Chimeras and Bellerophons aren't actually weak at all. They have much better anti-fighter defenses than a Narayana, and Bellerophons have the same number of hitpoints as Narayanas, Chimeras only have marginally less (80,000 compared to 90,000). The glass aspect is that their anti-capital firepower is exposed, and fairly easy to destroy.

EDIT:

The Narayana has some much better tactical positions though (anything outside of beam range)

 

[Ravenholme]

First, before I explain, while nodes are infinately long, they are also narrow. Ships have always shown in the freespace games to come out one at a time.

This is untrue. We have seen multiple cruiser-class ships emerge from a node at the same time in FS1, and a Levi and an Argos plus significant fighter escorts arrived at once during The King's Gambit.

And I'm pretty sure a node that was destructing at the time managed to take the emergence of a lucifer and several fighter wings at the same time. (Fs1 Endgame cutscene anyone?)