[Aesaar]

I hope she gets shot for treason.

Medve: right, because it's impossible that GTVA supporters might actually believe the GTVA's reasons for going to war are justified.  You're free to interpret the situation as you like, but don't think those who support the GTVA only do so because they're winning/have a stronger military.

Also, the GTVA doesn't really have a much stronger presence in Sol than the UEF does.  Play BP2-massivebattle, and you'll notice the UEF is almost always the winner.

[Scotty]

Play BP2-massivebattle, and then keep in mind that massive frame-rate drops make beam weapons do less damage.  Beam damage as assigned per frame.

[Medve]

I hope she gets shot for treason.

Medve: right, because it's impossible that GTVA supporters might actually believe the GTVA's reasons for going to war are justified.  You're free to interpret the situation as you like, but don't think those who support the GTVA only do so because they're winning/have a stronger military.

Also, the GTVA doesn't really have a much stronger presence in Sol than the UEF does.  Play BP2-massivebattle, and you'll notice the UEF is almost always the winner.

Sorry if my post gave the wrong ideas. I know the GTVA has its own ideology to begin with, even though I didn't write about it. In fact, that's kind of the point of the whole story, nobody is right or wrong. However I sure as hell didn't generalize all the GTVA supporters (read: "some people"). It's just one possible reason I wrote, I know my friend sides with GTVA because they're "more competent", he simply dislikes the UEF for that.

Of course you and me can just speculatie how much power both sides truly has. It was stated in the campaign that the GTVA has at least 3x the destroyer count (+vasudans now) and that losing a frigate is a great blow to the UEF while the GTVA can afford destroyer losses. I was basing stuff off of that. Also, framerate based weapon jamming. Genius.

[Aesaar]

Scotty: That's a decent point.  Chalk it up to UEF jamming or something.

Medve: Yes, the GTVA has 5 destroyers in Sol compared to the UEF's 3.  However, only two of the Tev destroyers are a match for a Solaris (the Atreus and the Imperieuse).  The Hecate is inferior on pretty much every point, and the Vasudans are only providing logistical support (as far as we know).  The reason the GTVA can afford destroyer casualties is because they've got another 20 or so outside Sol (which can't be deployed to Sol for various reasons), and that their entire military philosophy revolves around what is or isn't acceptable losses.  Generally speaking, the GTVA is a lot more willing to sacrifice one to save two, whereas the UEF is more liable to try to save everyone.  There are exceptions, of course.

TBH, I'm still not convinced the UEF plan to kill the Carthage would have ended the war, had it worked.

[LordPomposity]

The bigger problem is that the UEF bet everything on the indirect words of ONE source in the GTVA. ONE. And everyone in the UEF knows what Steele is like and how unpredictable he is, and how he does the impossible on occasion.

And that they didn't have stealth fighters sitting a couple hundred kilometers off the node, keeping track of what went in and what came out 24/7. UEF Intelligence's failure to do that is just criminally stupid.

[headdie]

what is the state of UEF stealth tech?  they might have access to the Loki at the time of the node collapse depending on where research was based.  Also how does stealth sit with UEF philosophy?  on one hand it is useful for covertly dealing with issues, but on the other hand it is underhanded and dishonorable.

[BlasterNT]

The WiH update included a stealth fighter, so we know that they do have access to stealth tech.  And Laporte talking about how "in fighting the enemy we are becoming the enemy" or something like that suggests that the UEF will take any option it has at this point. 

[Drogoth]

I hope she gets shot for treason.

Medve: right, because it's impossible that GTVA supporters might actually believe the GTVA's reasons for going to war are justified.  You're free to interpret the situation as you like, but don't think those who support the GTVA only do so because they're winning/have a stronger military.

Also, the GTVA doesn't really have a much stronger presence in Sol than the UEF does.  Play BP2-massivebattle, and you'll notice the UEF is almost always the winner.

Agreed for that traitorous swine.

- Whatever happened to the Meridian btw? It was critically damaged. Did it withdraw downing Terran Destroyer contingent to 4? Or was it just chilling at Jupiter getting repaired? If it withdrew, was it ever replaced with something else?

[Medve]

I'm fairly sure it's just being repaired at the closest dock until it can go back and do some shooting. Admiral Carey just stood by what she thought right. That's what everyone does in this war. Her way of supporting it was underhanded at the very least, but it's not like the Tevs distance themselves from such methods.

Aessar: I didn't have that much info on how/why the GTVA distributes its forces, and I tend not to speculate. I understand your point. Steele's superior tactics and leadership plus the GTVA-s philosophy about fighting is what got them so far. That philosophy of "sacrifice one to save two" also gives way to more aggressive strategies and is more flexible.
As for the Carthage, I agree, military wise it wouldn't have been a battle that ends the war, but it could have some political effects and it would certainly buy some time for that crazy plan of the elders.

LordPomposity: If it's that easy to gather intel with stealth fighters, then why don't both sides use it everywhere? Just send one "a couple hundred kilometers" off of anything they want to observe, and there you go, 100% accurate real time intel on all ships, planets, installations etc. Whenever they see a jump, just use its vectors to follow the jumping ship.
My point is, I don't think that it's that simple. If it is, I'd seriously ask someone from BP to correct that because it's horrifyingly 'overpowered' and would make recon/intel gathering rather dull.

[MatthTheGeek]

LordPomposity: If it's that easy to gather intel with stealth fighters, then why don't both sides use it everywhere?

Now tell me... If they were doing just that, how the hell would you know ?

And that they didn't have stealth fighters sitting a couple hundred kilometers off the node, keeping track of what went in and what came out 24/7. UEF Intelligence's failure to do that is just criminally stupid.

And the GTVA would be even more criminally stupid if the whole area around the jump node wasn't stuffed with AWACSs and sensors just to prevent that from happening. Don't be so quick to judge, young padawan.

TBH, I'm still not convinced the UEF plan to kill the Carthage would have ended the war, had it worked.

Oh believe me, it would have worked pretty well. The GTVA is already on the brink of civil war as we speak. There must be hundreds of agitators waiting for this kind of opportunity to ruin every and all credibility the Tevs might ever have if they manage to get a destroyer, one commanded by one of their best admiral to boot, reduced to scrap metal by a bunch of hippies with no war experience.

The fact that the whole population had been impatiently waiting nearly two decades for the Sol gate to complete only to be said "nope, gotta clean the house first" when it was completed, with all the chances that your relatives on the other side might be killed by a loose warhead any time, didn't help their case. The civilian Tevs are currently a huge time bomb that will remained armed and threatening for a while.

- Whatever happened to the Meridian btw? It was critically damaged. Did it withdraw downing Terran Destroyer contingent to 4? Or was it just chilling at Jupiter getting repaired? If it withdrew, was it ever replaced with something else?

Most likely retreated to Delta Serpentis at least for repairs. It is likely that, after that debacle, Severanti and his battlegroup get "reassigned" at the other side of the GTVA much like the remnants of the 14th battlegroup were, and get replaced by another battlegroup at some point.

[The E]

Severanti was removed from shipboard command. As for the Meridian, she's probably still in drydock or at the last stages of repair; whether she will make a reappearance remains to be seen.

[X3N0-Life-Form]

Hmm, I thought it had been rolled out of the system. At least it isn't listed in DE's briefing, which states the status of every other GTVA destroyer :
  Atreus - Busy fighting the UEF admirals' offensive
  Hood - Still being repaired
  Imperieuse - Resupplying in Delta Serpentis
  Carthage - Stuck near Saturn
  Meridian - ?

[Darius]

The Meridian and Admiral Severanti were immediately recalled back to DS following the attack.

While we were unable to destroy the Meridian, our strike succeeded in forcing the destroyer to withdraw. Intelligence tells us that the Meridian has pulled back to Delta Serpentis. Better yet, the General Assembly is so displeased with Admiral Severanti's blunder here that they've relieved him of command and placed Steele in control of the Sol theatre.

[headdie]

If that is the case then who is holding Jupiter and the Sol-DS node?

[MatthTheGeek]

The rest of the fleet ?

The destroyers aren't the only presence the Tevs have in Sol. There's whole battlegroups with them. Also, the DS node has been heavily fortified since after First Neptune.

That, plus the fact that destroyers are probably in constant Jump Five state when they're not resupplying or in combat. You don't really need a destroyer to sit playing defense at all times, they get deployed where they're needed.

[Scotty]

Indeed.  From what I've been able to gather, each of the Battlegroups assigned to the Sol theater (minus the 2nd, simply because it's not a regular fleet formation so much as it is a field testbed for new tech) have between six and ten corvettes assigned to them and a smaller but still substantial force of cruisers.  That makes for between 18 and 30 corvettes in Sol, which is more than enough needed to defend key points even leaving aside static defenses is few assume that your average corvette can reasonably run off your average frigate without either being completely destroyed if they meet in a dark alley, and vice versa.

[MatthTheGeek]

Also take into account that all the stations and planets captured by the Tevs are probably used as fighter bases. Plus the base destroyer and diomedes fighter complement, the Tevs potentially have a substantial fighter cover to deploy.

[Aesaar]

There is probably also a decent amount of Mjolnir cannons providing static anti-cap defense to important locations, like the node and Artemis Station.

[headdie]

There is probably also a decent amount of Mjolnir cannons providing static anti-cap defense to important locations, like the node and Artemis Station.

Mjolnir is of limited application in Sol, even in FS2 they were very susceptible to fighter assault and in Sol with the addition of UEF capital cannons that exceed the range of the Mjolnir I think they would have only a minor impact on a well planned offensive.  As a defense at the DS end of the Sol-DS node on the other hand they would be lethal because the UEF would be stripped of it's range advantage.

[NGTM-1R]

Besides, any attempt at a close blockade of the Sol-DS node will simply get a Meson Bomb to the face.