- StealthSlasher2
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- Exalted Mythic Member
Brains beats brawn get used to it
Fear the Red Comet
Variety is the spice of life.
Long live games.
Death to all fanboys.
Posted by: privet caboose
Posted by: chickenlittle
Posted by: privet caboose
Posted by: StealthSlasher2
It's quite possible. The exact quote from the book is:
"Plus, Soren thought, the planet is surrounded by Orbital Defense Platforms. This is a crazy idea."
That said, it could be in reference to anything that isn't a super mac given that the wording mentions the planet is "surrounded" by ODPs whereas the Super MACs apparently didn't have LoS all over the planet.
Thinking about it, it's much more possible that the defense grid around Reach consisted of many standard orbital macs, and only 20 "super" macs. This explains why the Mac that takes out the cruiser on Sword Base didn't create a massive crater. where Sword was. True but why were they not attacking the Covenant fleet in FoR?
Perhaps they were? We know for sure the SMAC's were. All 20 of them were on the same side of the planet. Perhaps the UNSC had them set up in different positions, like their flank.
Given the quote from Pariah about the ODPs covering the entire planet (exaggeration be damned) we do know from Reach that there at least exist other types of orbital defenses up above Reach such as the platform that reigns down missile support for anything tagged with the Target Locator. With that said, a new theory could be formed in that ODPs refer to anything and everything up in Reach's space that is used for defensive purposes both in space and on the ground. This sets up the likely possibility then that the Super MAC platforms were located elsewhere on the planet and in geosychronous (sp error no doubt) with the more militarized sections of Reach. Sections, that Noble Team were not stationed at during the duration of the Covenant's assault on Reach.
This would likely solve the discrepancy surrounding the power of the MAC round taking down the Covenant Corvette without damaging the planet, and would simultaneously present a legitimate reason for why the Supercarrier wasn't attacked by such platforms due to the futility of such a strike from a weaker gun. Not to mention would explain the absence of the Super MACs.
There are two problems however. The first of which being that we don't see anything in orbit directly above Sword Base given the cutscene where Jorge asks for its status after seeing explosions high up in orbit. Granted at the same time you don't see the platforms that shoots down missile barrages either, so this may be something chalked up to graphical limitations more than anything. Odd though considering what could be seen in Halo 2...
The second however, is why Reach has a weak defense in the first place though such a question surely existed before the game even came out. Though in regards to this theory, it's odd that for Reach, the UNSC would only invest funds in creating 20 Super MACs to guard a relatively small portion of the planet while leaving everything else vulnerable. It's just asking for the Covenant to by pass it much like the Germans did to the Maginot Line in WWII. Yet suddenly after its fall, the UNSC is able to muster up 300 active MAC platforms covering the entirety of the planet in the course of two weeks. Now of course it's quite possible that all those platforms were regular MACs, which, would explain why and how the carriers were able to get past Cairo Station unscathed despite Cortana focusing all her efforts on it. Yet, why the UNSC would not bolster their military world is a bit of an oddity to me, though there also exists the possibility that after Reach, Earth was truly a last resort stand and thus necessitated such a defense whereas Reach was considered impregnable as is...Hmmm...
Well that does it for my rant if anyone could follow along...