[NGTM-1R]

I wonder what the TEVs have planned for the GEF after Earth is secure.

Nothing. Let's be honest here: the GEF is not a security threat to either side, except for the war being a distraction.

[Gray113]

I meant more from a sociological perspective. Will GEF ideology be an alien concept to mainstream Terran society or could this actually be used to benefit the TEVs?
The Elders see the GEF mainly as a backup plan in the event of human extinction but in GTVA society where many people would live in artificial habitats could GEF expertise be useful in developing deep space colonies and outposts? The GTVA could also create their own versions of GEF societies in far flung systems to expand on the Elder's plans for survival.

Let's be honest here: the GEF is not a security threat to either side

Gigantic asteroids apart 

[MatthTheGeek]

Let's be honest here: the GEF is not a security threat to either side

Gigantic asteroids apart 

And nuclear warheads. They do have Warhammer and Ouster stocks. Those could do a lot of damage in terrorist hands.

[Mars]

Provided the Tevs can do the fancy math necessary to plot a jump out to the Kuipler belt, I imagine they'll start patrolling areas controlled by the more militant sects.

[NGTM-1R]

Gigantic asteroids apart 

If not for the war, do you honestly think we wouldn't see all the Solarii dropped at once to blow the rock? Or a GTVA battlegroup. The bottom line is that the asteroid only became a viable strategy because the war made it impossible to throw the kind of force necessary to ensure it was stopped without possibly being bushwhacked.

A peacetime fleet has no such constraint.

[Gray113]

Well the most militant GEF faction has been destroyed so I don't think it would be repeated (that example was just to show that the GEF still can cause damage to both sides) however if an asteroid that size was jumped into Earth's orbit then I don't think that there would be anything anyone could do about it. Even if they did destroy the thing the debris would still have enough mass to do severe damage to the surface - certainly enough to make the planet uninhabitable

[BritishShivans]

Gigantic asteroids apart 

If not for the war, do you honestly think we wouldn't see all the Solarii dropped at once to blow the rock? Or a GTVA battlegroup. The bottom line is that the asteroid only became a viable strategy because the war made it impossible to throw the kind of force necessary to ensure it was stopped without possibly being bushwhacked.

A peacetime fleet has no such constraint.

Actually, it's not just that. The briefing mentions that the reason why the Custos-X is the largest warship they can send is because the Solarises jump drives were not capable of making the transit before the asteroid entered subspace. Thus, the Fedayeen send the Vindicator in to do the job instead.

IIRC it also has partly to do with the Kuiper Belt being largely unnavigable by large warships as due to the weaker gravitational influence, which does something to stop big ships from using subspace as easily.

[Mars]

I think because it's too far away from the sun?

[General Battuta]

 Indeed, as per the FreeSpace canon on subspace drives.

[MatthTheGeek]

If you want the exact quote,

First, an intrasystem jump can occur between two points in a star system. Most small, space-faring vessels are equipped with motivators capable of these short jumps. The presence of an intense gravitational field is required, prohibiting travel beyond the boundaries of a star system.

Although strict FS2 canon does not specify how far away from a star's gravity well you can jump and in what fashion subspace capability gets degraded, BP took the liberty to specify those unspecified areas.

For more information, see here.

[NGTM-1R]

Actually, it's not just that.

It is just that. If you could jump directly to atmospheric entry we wouldn't be having a war because no reasonable defense of a planetary body would be possible. (See also: the Siege of Vasuda Prime, in which the Lucifer apparently spent at least a couple hours closing on target.) There will be a transit period at the far end during which you can drop all the ordnance on the asteroid you want and blow it to gravel.

You're assuming limitations on the ability to respond but not the ability to deploy. This is a universe that hasn't elaborated on the latter, but has been pretty clear some sort of them exist.

[Mars]

Actually, it's not just that.

It is just that. If you could jump directly to atmospheric entry we wouldn't be having a war because no reasonable defense of a planetary body would be possible. (See also: the Siege of Vasuda Prime, in which the Lucifer apparently spent at least a couple hours closing on target.) There will be a transit period at the far end during which you can drop all the ordnance on the asteroid you want and blow it to gravel.

You're assuming limitations on the ability to respond but not the ability to deploy. This is a universe that hasn't elaborated on the latter, but has been pretty clear some sort of them exist.

Ideally, we would strike the habitat with the full force of our Fleet. Unfortunately, subspace jumps depend on the local gravity well, and precise jumps to destinations so far from the Sun require hours to safely plot. Worse, the Gefs have seeded the area with gravity generators to hamper attackers.

It's not just that.
EDIT:
I assume the only reason that the GTVA doesn't just jump bombs into atmospheres is because they want to keep those planets.

[NGTM-1R]

Worse, the Gefs have seeded the area with gravity generators to hamper attackers.

I assume the only reason that the GTVA doesn't just jump bombs into atmospheres is because they want to keep those planets.

Self-refuting going on here, you notice that right? Jumping too close to a gravity well is directly implied to be impossible here.

[Gray113]

What would sci-fi be without a lot of grey areas and dodgy physics?

[Gray113]

Although the plot could imply that the gravity generators are designed to pull large ships in close to their positions which would mean that any warship sent would exit subspace hundreds of clicks away from the target, rendering interception impossible.

[Phantom Hoover]

There's actually a lot of potential for fun fluff with subspace, but the team are remaining sensibly vague about that.

[Mars]

Worse, the Gefs have seeded the area with gravity generators to hamper attackers.

I assume the only reason that the GTVA doesn't just jump bombs into atmospheres is because they want to keep those planets.

Self-refuting going on here, you notice that right? Jumping too close to a gravity well is directly implied to be impossible here.

Negative, it never states that - only that seeding the area with gravity generators makes a large subspace transit to an exact area impossible (with UEF technology, we do not know what the GTVAs abilities are.) This could mean a variety of things. Perhaps it just makes the jump much more difficult to calculate (too difficult to calculate in a sufficiently short amount of time) or it could be as you say, or it could be pull ships to their positions. Any of these are possibilities.

[MatthTheGeek]

Jumping in the atmosphere of a planet is impossible while keeping the integrity of the ship intact. Which you don't give two ****s about if you're sending an asteroid on a collision course, if it breaks apart it'll only do more damage on a more spread out area.

[General Battuta]

It's not clear that the asteroid broke apart (in the failure debrief) due to a jump into the atmosphere - it may simply be that the Gefs were unable to engineer a subspace drive that could safely transit such an enormous mass.

[Drogoth]

Going back to the total war issue for a second, didn't the brief (or pre brief segment) for the mission defending Rheza station state that the GTVA had activated their total war contingencies? I didn't read that as '"we're gonna kick you in the balls just this once" I read that as "going forward, all rules are now off the table". See the Carthage battlegroup's raid on asteroid civilian stations in Pawns on a Board of Bone.

 In answer to the question about what I would say if I were a political leader in the GTVA?

"We're winning"

Honestly, from the Tev perspective there's not a lot to be doubting on at the moment. keep in mind that in Act Three we see a very select set of actions by a very elite group of pilots. I felt like the GTVA was getting absolutely stomped while I was playing it, but then I took a step back. At the end of the day, I feel like Steele is in an even better position then he was in at the end of WiH.

Lopez was predictable and had thus ceased to be an asset. He traded her outdated (albeit still capable) destroyer for two more, and CO's that aren't as easily exploitable.

The Tev populace doesn't know **** about the Fedayeen, Nagari, the Vishnans, the Great Darkness, the Sekret Project, or anything else. In a cold hard fleet on fleet numbers game, Steele has the UEF by the balls. Now he's just prepping to close the vice.