- anton1792
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- Noble Legendary Member
"Find where the liar hides, so that I may place my boot between his gums!" - Rtas 'Vadum
Posted by: OrderedComa
The Covenant has never been imitative in strategy, that describes their technology and nothing else! Even in TFoR they showed strategy and in countless other battles. They've never really been careful with numbers because they have a significant numerical advantage to the UNSC, however Reach was the odd one out, it was much more defended than any other Human world they had found yet (probably thought Reach was our homeworld). They'd need more intel and to soften it up before invading, hence the purpose of the LNoS and its Corvettes resorting to sneaking in and playing saboteurs. They weren't careful with numbers later because they had the ships left over from the fleet that jumped in after the LNoS was destroyed, and the Fleet of Particular Justice which arrived on the 30th of August.
Well...
They did not change their security protocols after the Ascendant Justice was taken. One month later the Bloodied Spirit was taken.
They did not use ancient radio signals from Earth's past to triangulate Earth's position.
It did not occur to them early on in the war, before the Cole Protocol came out (The actual thing, not the book) to take navigation data.
The Forerunner Fleet is an interesting example, because I think it suggests nothing but linear thinking. Take powerful warships and smash, smash, smash. They were uncomfortable with their own assets and ability to perform in a war like this, so went for bigger guns, not better tactics.
I would perhaps say that a competent commander would take care with the numbers, try to minimise loses.
Before Humanity, they had not fought a massive war since the founding of the Covenant. Since then, they had just fought species that were confined to their own solar system. For 3000 years they have fought nothing but that, and grunt rebellions and small heretic groups. There is nothing to justify them keeping their tactics honed over the millennia. The behaviour in Reach is quite "wut?" I think.
What examples are there for their innovative war tactics?
Posted by: OrderedComa
The opening paragraph to First Strike's Epilogue:
"A hundred thousand probes darted and scanned with winking electronic eyes across the void of tangled nonspaces enveloping the Covenant inner Empire. They gathered data and emerged into the cold vacuum, where they were recovered by the hundreds of Supercarriers and cruisers in station keeping positions around the massive, bulbous planetoid that dominated the heavens."
Your first two quote boxes are relying on the fact that the Supercarrier is too powerful to be destroyed by 100 vessels, thus explaining why the Home Fleet was no where to be seen and why any Nukes were not used (If they even existed. But let us just assume that Carter does not know about them for now). If this is the case, then the Covenant win the Human-Covenant war, because they have hundreds of these things.
Do you not see the illogic behind this? If this thing is powerful enough to resist all of Reach's defences, then why are they bothering with stealth in the first place?
It really all boils down to:
Supercarrier too powerful, why do the Covenant lose the war?
Supercarrier nothing special, why is Reach so pathetic in its defence?
Ok, thanks for posting the quote.
Now, let me point out that the Long Night of Solace is not your average Supercarrier. The normal Supercarrier, what would compose either the bulk or the whole of the Supercarrier numbers at High Charity are 9,842 ft. long, whereas the Long Night of Solace is 88,582 ft. long. It would have significantly more armaments, stronger shields, and lord knows what else at its disposal. It's not going to be a pushover and would be well more than a match for the Home Fleet at Reach.
And there would not be many Supercarriers of the same size as the LNoS simply because of how expensive and the amount of resources needed to make them.
Well that is fine. It is very ad hoc, but I could accept that. Or changing Supercarrier in First Strike to Assault Carriers, or just carriers.
The only thing is if it so powerful, why is there a need for stealth?
Posted by: OrderedComa
Why?
Why what? Why would it be hard to move them or why are they all located above one point?
I never said they were hard to move, I just it would be difficult to move them to another area at a moments notice. They certainly can't go anywhere on their own.
Well, in order to stay in geosynchronous orbit they must have manoeuvring thrusters, and something to counteract the firing forces. They will have to be pretty powerful. I don't see how it can't be moved quick enough.
Reach is not all that bigger than Earth, about 3000km greater diameter. SMAC's fire at "point four tenths" c, going by TFoR. That means that if just one SMAC has a line of sight on tLNoS, then in under 2 seconds the round will cross the entirety of Reach's diameter. It travels at 12'000km/s. The Supercarrier is going nowhere. I can't see how it can hide anywhere near Reach.