[azile0]

Playing through the FS2 campaign again. I just finished the mission 'A Flaming Sword' and.. wouldn't it have been more prudent to station the 3 Meson bombs so that when the Sathanas jumped through, they would be barraged on all sides, followed by a swift capital and bomber strike? Now, I don't have the exact stats but I'm pretty sure that the combined damage of 3 meson bombs + ~20 Cyclops torpedoes + ~10 GTVA beams > Sathanas HP.

Maybe throw in some Mjolnirs. All things considered, there was a lot more that could have been done apart from 'AGH, BLOW IT UP!'

[Drogoth]

They had very little data on the capabilities of the Sathanas and the meson bomb was still experimental.

Safer to try to shut the door in their face then to trip them coming through. Is the trip doesn't knock them out, they are gonna hit back hard.

[Jeff Vader]

Plus the GTVA was probably also considering the rest of the Shivan forces right on the Sathanas' tail.

[Legate Damar]

I've never actually tested this, but can a Sathanas even fit through a Knossos? It would be funny to see one try to jump in and get stuck

[MatthTheGeek]

Yes they do. Can easily be seen in ASW2, and several other campaigns probably.

EDIT: also simply in the retail campaign, with the Sath that comes from the second Knossos and scraps the Psamtik, although the nebula doesn't make it very easy to see. Plus the system beyond the nebula, where all those Saths come out of the third Knossos, although it's not very visible either from that far away.

[Legate Damar]

Those are SJD Sathanas

[NGTM-1R]

Those are SJD Sathanas

No. They're not. At least for the Psamtik.

[azile0]

I still think it would have been far more logical to simply fortify the Knossos rather than obliterate it. Wiping out the Sathanas before it could even get through the system would show that the tactic worked, and from then on the area could have been 'mined' with high explosives, Mjolnirs and so on. And even though they didn't know it at the time, my option is the one that would have worked anyway since the node was made stable.

[MatthTheGeek]

Easy to say afterwards what would have worked and what wouldn't. That's called hindsight. With the data they had, not knowing that blowing the Knossos wasn't enough to collapse the node, GTVA command took the safest solution : it's easier and safer to try to destroy a subspace portal that won't defend itself than trying to ambush a fully-armed Sathanas with full fighter complement and escort.

Especially since using meson bombs to destroy the Sath doesn't solve problem #1 : the Shivans still having a direct jump node access to GTVA-controlled space.

[azile0]

True. They're frightened, I get that. And while it does make sense from their point of view, I'm sure there were a few tactical officers scratching their heads and saying 'wait.. maybe our knee-jerk reaction shouldn't be to destroy the thing?'

[jr2]

True. They're frightened, I get that. And while it does make sense from their point of view, I'm sure there were a few tactical officers scratching their heads and saying 'wait.. maybe our knee-jerk reaction shouldn't be to destroy the thing?'

...Which was probably followed by this response: "zomgwtfbbq! watswrongwit u, LAUNCHTEHNUKES!!!111oneoneeleventy-one!"

[NGTM-1R]

'wait.. maybe our knee-jerk reaction shouldn't be to destroy the thing?'

Got a better plan? Remember that Shivans have just proved they have the wherewithal to field juggernauts and we still know essentially nothing about their order of battle or economy.

[Jeff Vader]

Those are SJD Sathanas

No. They're not. At least for the Psamtik.

In "Into the Lion's Den"?

[NGTM-1R]

Those are SJD Sathanas

No. They're not. At least for the Psamtik.

In "Into the Lion's Den"?

also simply in the retail campaign, with the Sath that comes from the second Knossos and scraps the Psamtik,

There are multiple parts under consideration.

[Kie99]

Would have been more effective to destroy the Capella-Gamma Draconis node.

[MatthTheGeek]

Why cut yourself from a system you already control.

Plus, you need more Meson bombs to destabilize a node than to destroy a Knossos. The Tevs had only a few prototype bombs, and they believed destroying the gate would be enough. So, you do the maths.

[Polpolion]

Why cut yourself from a system you already control.

Plus, you need more Meson bombs to destabilize a node than to destroy a Knossos. The Tevs had only a few prototype bombs, and they believed destroying the gate would be enough. So, you do the maths.

Well there wasn't really anything interesting in Gamma Draconis so it's not like it would be a total loss. Destroying the Capella-Gamma Draconis node would give the GTVA a much larger margin of error. Really, they barely had minutes to spare when they destroyed the Knossos and they needed it because it didn't work the first time. I would do math to show it, but IIRC there is no canon formulae on what kind of energy you need to destroy a node so we don't know if blowing up the node was possible or not.

What puzzles me is why Command didn't find a way to lock the node. I mean the trinity was able to turn it on from an off state, so I'm imagining it's possible to turn it off without blowing it up. And what good is being able to turn the portal on and off if it doesn't enable/disable jumping from that point? My guess is that it takes energy to create the node but you only need to satisfy some condition to maintain one, the condition being whatever magic it was with gravity the tech room told you. or something. The Knossos, when going from `off' to `on' would do whatever magic required to make a node, and while `on' would use magic to maintain gravity or whatever in some state such that a portal could exist, and when going from `on' to `off' it would do whatever magic it needs to destroy the portal, presumably the inverse of whatever it does during the `on' state. When the Knossos was destroyed it didn't get a chance to be turned off so it couldn't disable the node, and the ambient conditions just happened to be able to sustain a jump node provided one had been created there.

But this probably isn't the case since the GTVA should've figured it out and turned it off, leading to my conclusion that either Ancient engineers are or Command is stupid rather than my ideas being stupid.

[jr2]

What puzzles me is why Command didn't find a way to lock the node. I mean the trinity was able to turn it on from an off state, so I'm imagining it's possible to turn it off without blowing it up. And what good is being able to turn the portal on and off if it doesn't enable/disable jumping from that point? My guess is that it takes energy to create the node but you only need to satisfy some condition to maintain one, the condition being whatever magic it was with gravity the tech room told you. or something. The Knossos, when going from `off' to `on' would do whatever magic required to make a node, and while `on' would use magic to maintain gravity or whatever in some state such that a portal could exist, and when going from `on' to `off' it would do whatever magic it needs to destroy the portal, presumably the inverse of whatever it does during the `on' state. When the Knossos was destroyed it didn't get a chance to be turned off so it couldn't disable the node, and the ambient conditions just happened to be able to sustain a jump node provided one had been created there.

This.  I've wondered that since my first playthrough.  I assumed they didn't have time to figure out the switch like Bosch did... however, Bosch's cryptic statements regarding his motives also lead me to wonder if the GTVA was involved in some massively weird situation with the Shivans.  Who knows?

[IronBeer]

however, Bosch's cryptic statements regarding his motives also lead me to wonder if the GTVA was involved in some massively weird situation with the Shivans.  Who knows?

Maybe Bosch was simply a lunatic and an unreliable narrator.

[Klaustrophobia]

I'm thinking regardless of the potential effectiveness (or lack thereof) of an ambush at the gate, there simply wasn't time to set it up.  They barely managed to tow in and detonate 3 meson bombs.  Assembling and entire fleet plus bombs and RBCs just doesn't sound plausible.