[MatthTheGeek]

But you could just pack a Karuna with comet crackers and crew it minimally with volunteers who claim they want to join the Tev side of things, get them through the node and have it go boom while it's coming out on the Delta Serp side as Headdie said.

And how would you get it through the heavily blockaded and highly secure node, without a frontal assault of some kind ? The first thing the Tevs did even before First Neptune was blockading the node. You just can't sneak a Karuna through that.

Not to mention that ships can be tracked through subspace. You can be sure the Delta Serpentis forces will come and nuke the Karuna into the node long before it comes anywhere close the end of the corridor.

[QuakeIV]

I was thinking something more along the lines of running some specially designed inter-system nuclear missile through the node at 400 meters per second or so.

[Qent]

It might severely damage a Tev cargo container.

[QuakeIV]

It might severely damage a Tev cargo container.

Have you been keeping up with the whole comet cracker thing?

[Luis Dias]

All these ideas clearly do not work. What we need is a Deus Ex Machina. That **** solves everything pronto.

[Qent]

Oh my apologies. I didn't realize comet-crackers were actual nukes.

Specs are consistent with a comet-cracker nuclear device.

[LordPomposity]

All these ideas clearly do not work. What we need is a Deus Ex Machina. That **** solves everything pronto.

We just need to wait for Byrne to finish building the Icanus.

[Scotty]

More food for thought: if the UEF launches an attack outside of Sol, they lose any and all chance of keeping the "reluctant defenders" image.  The GTVA will cry for war like the US did after Pearl Harbor.

[Trivial Psychic]

These thoughts of mine tie into the mysterious Byrne project.  Another means of cutting off the GTVA from Sol, would be if the UEF developed a technology to redirect a jump node to another system, say redirecting the nearside of the Sol-DS node to Wolf 359 or something.

I also like the idea (previously mentioned by someone else in this thread) of a subspace drive jammer.  It could perhaps be in the form of a torpedo that sends out some kind of energy discharge on impact that disables a ship's drive for a period of time or something that grapples onto the target ship's hull to prevent jumping (though something like that could be targeted and destroyed).  A field jammer (like from an AWACS) would allow you to rapidly immobilize an entire fleet depending on the field's dimensions.  With the UEF forces being numerically inferior to GTVA, perhaps some Rommel tactics would be in order, drawing off smaller numbers of cruisers and corvettes, then hitting them with the jamming (either weapon or field) and coming at them with heavy firepower, either super-bombers or cap-ships.  That way you could whittle down a destroyer's escort until you can more safely make a similar strike against their holdings.  If the technology uses a field system, then it could also benefit if it completely prevents jump vortexes from being created, preventing anyone from jumping either in or out of the battlefield.  That would prevent a surprise attack like the in the final mission.

[-Norbert-]

More food for thought: if the UEF launches an attack outside of Sol, they lose any and all chance of keeping the "reluctant defenders" image.  The GTVA will cry for war like the US did after Pearl Harbor.

If they attack anything other than the gate maybe, but I doubt that attacking only the gate and it's defenders would trigger such a reaction, since it would come down to "closing the door" and thus prevent losses on both sides if successfull.
You also seem to miss the real reason for the outrage after of Pearl Harbor. The Japanese attacked without warning or declaring war first. The UEF and GTVA are at war for quite some time now.

[Hellstryker]

But you could just pack a Karuna with comet crackers and crew it minimally with volunteers who claim they want to join the Tev side of things, get them through the node and have it go boom while it's coming out on the Delta Serp side as Headdie said.

And how would you get it through the heavily blockaded and highly secure node, without a frontal assault of some kind ? The first thing the Tevs did even before First Neptune was blockading the node. You just can't sneak a Karuna through that.

Not to mention that ships can be tracked through subspace. You can be sure the Delta Serpentis forces will come and nuke the Karuna into the node long before it comes anywhere close the end of the corridor.

Please go back and re-read my post.

And yeah, I've been thinking about the Byrne project and the Fedayeen after replaying BP again recently. It obviously has something to do with the defected/captured ships. And how exactly do the Fedayeen plan to "buy time"?

[MatthTheGeek]

And yeah, I've been thinking about the Byrne project and the Fedayeen after replaying BP again recently. It obviously has something to do with the defected/captured ships. And how exactly do the Fedayeen plan to "buy time"?

Now that's an easy question to answer. The Fedayeen need to delay the Tev invasion of Earth long enough for whatever that project is to finish. Which means military operations to weaken and slow them down. We know the Fedayeen have a Narayana, which given the rarity and tactical value of that ship class, heavily implies that they have access to a significant proportion of war material and technology. Revealed screenshots and other materials heavily imply that they also have access to the Ansarii stealth fighter and the Spec-Ops version of the Custos gunboat.

My own conclusion is that the Fedayeen aren't equipped to wage a war on their own, that's what First, Second and Third Fleet are for, but they can strike quietly and hard where it hurts. Whether it'll be enough to buy the needed time is WiH2's job to tell us.

[crizza]

Is it just me or is the DS-Sol gate euipped with beam cannons?

[MatthTheGeek]

4 AAA, 5 Flaks and 14 Terran Turrets here.

[Scotty]

More food for thought: if the UEF launches an attack outside of Sol, they lose any and all chance of keeping the "reluctant defenders" image.  The GTVA will cry for war like the US did after Pearl Harbor.

If they attack anything other than the gate maybe, but I doubt that attacking only the gate and it's defenders would trigger such a reaction, since it would come down to "closing the door" and thus prevent losses on both sides if successfull.
You also seem to miss the real reason for the outrage after of Pearl Harbor. The Japanese attacked without warning or declaring war first. The UEF and GTVA are at war for quite some time now.

I was using the example more as a measure of magnitude than analogy by cause.

Even if they just attack the Sol Gate, it could touch off the same reaction.  Remember that the gate is the shining beacon of fully 19 and a half years of overcoming economic hardship and the constant threat of Shivan invasion.

[-Norbert-]

Yes, but it is also the cause and symbol of a war neither side really wanted and it would show that the UEF is not "unwilling and unable to survive in a hostile universe".

Sure they won't be happy about the gates destruction, but who are they going to blame? The ones who destroyed it to protect themselfs, or the ones who forced the gate's construction onto them while ignoring the deteriorating economic situation, lied to them about the reason for the war and than were unable to protect the gate against what they claimed to be pacifistic hippies?

"If they can't even protect the gate from a bunch of pacifists, how can they hope to protect us from next Shivan incursion?" would be an argument that surely would make the rounds pretty fast following the loss of the gate, no matter if the node survived or not.

[Colonol Dekker]

Al zods must fricking burn.



Surely that would be enough to unite both terran sides?

[The E]

...

Dekker, get a new hobby. It's getting stupid.

[Luis Dias]

UEF would burn the gate if they could. Colonists' reaction is irrelevant to this strategic point, since the destruction of the node would mute them on Sol's side.

I think it might be possible that the BP team could try to go this path. First, you need to prolongue the war and create enough war dynamics in order to get an opportunity. Second, you need a plan of attack. In my perspective, it will be a battle of wits between those who defend the node and those who attack it. Diversions, stealth mechanisms, surprises, etc. will be tools for both sides.

Now, if the node is destroyed, I think that the war either escalates atrociously, with general Steele feeling suddenly very alone in Sol and deciding to conquer Earth to prepare it for the next built node; or it will wither, with many tevs defecting to Earth. It can also be a combination of both and lots of insanity from tev admirals, commanders, etc. Either way, it's an incredible achievement for the UEF forces, and therefore they should be working to get this done.

It may however prove to be impossible. With that in mind, we can also see the return of shivans... and then all hell breaks loose.

[-Norbert-]

Maybe what happens on the GTVA side of the node after a collapse doesn't matter to the UEF (in the short run anyway - they rebuild the node once, they might very well do it again), but it certainly is of interrest to me.