[el_magnifico]

Firstly assumption you make there is that Shivan forces are on top of the node on reactivation which is not forced to be the case.  Also we don't know how much time passed between the Trinity activating the knossos and the Rakshasa entering GD and killing the Vigilant.

Since we're talking about the universal destroyers with an almost-unstoppable fleet, I'd rather not tempt luck.

Secondly evidence from the destruction of the Vigilant and the events in GD is that the Shivans send a small recon force through first, cruisers and fighters, and deploy the big stuff later on.

Same answer as above.

Thirdly the shivans are never seen attacking the Knossos, seemingly preferring to take the structure intact, I presume because it is a structure that aids subspace transit which FS1 indicates is of more importance to the shivans than planets and physical resources, though again that is speculation in FS canon and might be as a result of the FS1 fleet's roll rather than as a species preference.

Granted.

Lastly, the mission briefing for the final mission of FS1 proves it is possible to communicate with ships in transit between nodes from normal space meaning the recon force can warn the GTVA if Shivans pass the other way allowing some warning to ake steps towards sealing the node again.

Granted.

The only way it'd work is if the Knossos had some way to actively close a node.

It's not clear this isn't actually a function they're capable of. More than one person has proposed the Knossos' initial state before the Trinity turned it on was equivalent to a door that was deliberately closed.

Not canon.

Typically i'll try to avoid posting around this time (because my posts' quality is close to spam when i'm tired), but I do believe a command briefing in the FS2 main campaign mentions the Knossos being something along the lines of inactive before the Trinity unleashed some really angry Shivans.

Anyway...

Forgive me if i'm out of line for saying this, as i'm fairly new around here, but I think that we should keep this on topic, this is "Colossus what if?", not "Knossos what if?".

Which only proves the Knossos can reopen closed nodes. It doesn't necessarily proves it can close nodes that are already open (and if it can, why didn't the Alliance just closed the first Knossos instead of destroying it?)

Back on topic, I'll risk the conclusion that, since we don't know what the GTVA would have become anyway, the answer to the original question is simply "we can't know".
If I have to speculate, it would have been left active for a few months, just in case the Shivans decided to show up again. Then it would have been decommissioned and put in reserve, since there's no sense in keeping that resource-devouring monstrosity in active service when there are no wars.

[headdie]

Forgive me if i'm out of line for saying this, as i'm fairly new around here, but I think that we should keep this on topic, this is "Colossus what if?", not "Knossos what if?".

yer but that discussion hit a fairly natural end and it evolved into a wider discussion on the survival of the GTVA against future shivan encounters which is on a tangent but related to the original discussion, it happens a lot around here and so long as it's all related, sensible and kept clean its all good. 

If you have a point to make on the original theme then you are free to reference the stage of the discussion you need and make your point.

Firstly assumption you make there is that Shivan forces are on top of the node on reactivation which is not forced to be the case.  Also we don't know how much time passed between the Trinity activating the knossos and the Rakshasa entering GD and killing the Vigilant.

Since we're talking about the universal destroyers with an almost-unstoppable fleet, I'd rather not tempt luck.

while it's true that the Shivans have access to a massive fleet and you or I would steam roll the GTVA, we have to look at how the shivans act in game and they rarely do this and what we tend to see is smaller combat actions leading up to the big hammer blow.  It could be that over the millennia the shivans have been back footed often enough to settle on a cautious strategy because some times these insignificant whelps do something brilliant and it cost them dearly.

Secondly evidence from the destruction of the Vigilant and the events in GD is that the Shivans send a small recon force through first, cruisers and fighters, and deploy the big stuff later on.

Same answer as above.

ditto

Typically i'll try to avoid posting around this time (because my posts' quality is close to spam when i'm tired), but I do believe a command briefing in the FS2 main campaign mentions the Knossos being something along the lines of inactive before the Trinity unleashed some really angry Shivans.

Anyway...

Forgive me if i'm out of line for saying this, as i'm fairly new around here, but I think that we should keep this on topic, this is "Colossus what if?", not "Knossos what if?".

Which only proves the Knossos can reopen closed nodes. It doesn't necessarily proves it can close nodes that are already open (and if it can, why didn't the Alliance just closed the first Knossos instead of destroying it?)

Research into the Knossos was incomplete and the possible systems involved in a shut down were not tested due to alliance orders that the portal remained open for study

Back on topic, I'll risk the conclusion that, since we don't know what the GTVA would have become anyway, the answer to the original question is simply "we can't know".
If I have to speculate, it would have been left active for a few months, just in case the Shivans decided to show up again. Then it would have been decommissioned and put in reserve, since there's no sense in keeping that resource-devouring monstrosity in active service when there are no wars.

The GTVA would have bounced along for a little while at least, I think the most likely GTVA fall scenario would be that the vasudans withdraw from the alliance leaving the Terrans to bicker and fall apart aka post FS1 era/early reconstruction era.  after some time the terrans would probably start getting their act together and refornm a central terran power block and probably start negotiating a resurrected GTVA in some form

[Kie99]

Mass production of Meson Bombs would likely be the solution, but not as a form of conventional attack, they'd be put in mothballed destroyers in every system ready to seal off any node that Shivans were coming through as quickly as possible, or the system itself from the rest of GTVA space if it is overrun.  Of course, this idea doesn't make for very fun campaigns.

The GTVA considered sealing off systems as just a temporary measure. I mean, you just can't run from the universal bully every single time he comes looking for a fight. You will end up with no systems whatsoever. Not to talk about what the economy will look like after 3 or 4 systems are cut off.
There's also a technical impossibility: Systems may have uncharted nodes.

Sealing off your own system would be a measure of last resort, the primary tactic would be simply to find the uncharted node the Shivans have come from and destroy that, then mop up the remaining Shivan forces using conventional tactics.

[SypheDMar]

Of course if there's a canon intel intrey somewhere that specifically says 17, then my theory is bust.

I looked through the FS2 briefings, and nowhere does it say that the Nereid and the Bastion used all the Meson bombs, so there may be leftovers anyway.

[headdie]

Of course if there's a canon intel intrey somewhere that specifically says 17, then my theory is bust.

I looked through the FS2 briefings, and nowhere does it say that the Nereid and the Bastion used all the Meson bombs, so there may be leftovers anyway.

having said that they are supposed to be experimental so I wouldn't have thought there would be many left over

[Mongoose]

The only way it'd work is if the Knossos had some way to actively close a node.

It's not clear this isn't actually a function they're capable of. More than one person has proposed the Knossos' initial state before the Trinity turned it on was equivalent to a door that was deliberately closed.

That is possible, though I always had the impression that the node most likely went inactive by itself over the millennia that the Knossos was turned off.  In that scenario, the Ancients would have disabled the Knossos, but the residual node stability would have allowed the Shivan invasion to continue.  If there was a way to actively "turn off" the node, you'd think that the Ancients would have done so before the Shivans reached their core systems.

[headdie]

The only way it'd work is if the Knossos had some way to actively close a node.

It's not clear this isn't actually a function they're capable of. More than one person has proposed the Knossos' initial state before the Trinity turned it on was equivalent to a door that was deliberately closed.

That is possible, though I always had the impression that the node most likely went inactive by itself over the millennia that the Knossos was turned off.  In that scenario, the Ancients would have disabled the Knossos, but the residual node stability would have allowed the Shivan invasion to continue.  If there was a way to actively "turn off" the node, you'd think that the Ancients would have done so before the Shivans reached their core systems.

very true, i suppose best guess is that they never found out about the interation between massive explosions and nodes, perhaps they would have done if they were in a position to kill the lucy

[Mongoose]

It could also be that the Lucifer fleet entered Ancient space by some other node we don't know about.  I can't remember if that interview Battman set up said anything about that.

[NGTM-1R]

Not canon.

Not denied by canon either.

If there was a way to actively "turn off" the node, you'd think that the Ancients would have done so before the Shivans reached their core systems.

We don't know that they didn't; the Lucifer was essentially alone, and wherever it came from during the T-V War, nobody else did in the next two+ decades and nobody else fled back toward it when it was clear they were going to lose during ST. That's one of the great mysteries of FS, after all.

[Drogoth]

Hmmm... What about attaching an engine and a subspace drive into a Mjolnir RBC? About 10 to 15 of those should be enough to destroy a Sathanas in a reasonable time if they are properly escorted. They don't even need to be manned, since the GTVA already has drone technology.

I pitched the idea of a beam missile a few months ago on a thread, kinda seems like what you're talking about now.

[NeonShivan]

If the Colossus survived the Second Shivan Incursion. The UEF would be ****ed. Nuff said.

[MatthTheGeek]

Hahaha.

No.

Been discussed long ago, Colossus would just be Durga and Vajra meat. Piss-poor point defenses, outdated green beams, requires probably at least as much logistic as a whole battlegroup on his own. Just a huge mobile target you can't miss.

[General Battuta]

That is a better discussion for the BP forum than GenFS

[mjn.mixael]

Hahaha.

No.

Been discussed long ago, Colossus would just be Durga and Vajra meat. Piss-poor point defenses, outdated green beams, requires probably at least as much logistic as a whole battlegroup on his own. Just a huge mobile target you can't miss.

The GTVA should make a NEW Colossus. One that can separate into multiple craft to SURROUND the UEF and BLAST those dogs with new PINK BEAMS.

Then it redocks into one giant capship and flies home like a boss.

[BengalTiger]

Bear in mind that the Blue Planet parody is yet to be made...

[crizza]

One more reason for Sara to finally finish her BP - Helios thing

[Polpolion]

Hahaha.

No.

Been discussed long ago, Colossus would just be Durga and Vajra meat. Piss-poor point defenses, outdated green beams, requires probably at least as much logistic as a whole battlegroup on his own. Just a huge mobile target you can't miss.

I agree, because the GTVA wouldn't bother modernizing the single biggest symbol of their superiority before sending it into combat. And because the GTVA somehow has the logistical (not to mention morale) capability of supporting the military conquest of humanity's home system, it obviously follows that they simply don't have the capability to support a single additional battlegroup in that invasion. Yup, they deployed 100% of their available forces. Or they have more forces than they can actually support and they can only send the forces that don't need to buy their own ammunition.

Spoiler:

no really I have no clue because I still haven't finished BP

[NGTM-1R]

Besides, the simple truth is that the Colossus is a linebreaker and the task in Sol is a system control job. Jamming the square peg in the round hole.

[headdie]

Besides, the simple truth is that the Colossus is a linebreaker and the task in Sol is a system control job. Jamming the square peg in the round hole.

I would have to disagree there, Sath and Ravana are line breakers, their firepower is concentrated up front so they can hit the blockade hard as soon as they arrive.  Colly is more distributed and better suited as a general purpose destroyer killer

[General Battuta]

Besides, the simple truth is that the Colossus is a linebreaker and the task in Sol is a system control job. Jamming the square peg in the round hole.

I would have to disagree there, Sath and Ravana are line breakers, their firepower is concentrated up front so they can hit the blockade hard as soon as they arrive.  Colly is more distributed and better suited as a general purpose destroyer killer

Sure, but this is what you need if you're emerging from a fixed point into a prepared and distributed enemy, and moving among them as you engage.