- 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
So the UNSC built an expensive defence system and put almost full faith in it that is, speaking in terms of probability, 50% useless?
I have seen this "explanation" from dozens of people. It answers the "what" but fails miserable in the "why" and "how". Would it really be that difficult to distribute power to different broadcasting stations worldwide?
The SMACs were arranged globally anyway before the Covenant showed up. I will dig up the quote from Caboose's thread and post it when I find it. (Can't be bothered searching the book just now.)
Edit: Something I typed on another site: (The quote I promised you is in it too.)
The problem with the SMACs.
The "Supercarrier" (Should probably be called a Hypercarrier. It is hard to believe that the Covenant possessed hundreds of those things as the First Strike epilogue says...) should have been destroyed. If not when it was in atmosphere, then certainly when it went into low orbit around Reach during the level The Long Night of Solace. Most arguments tend to be for them having all been on one side of the planet, which is the only way you could explain this problem away. Unfortunately, it is a poor explanation.
Firstly, the SMACs were arranged in a defensive net around Reach. Not only is it common sense to do this, but it was also supported by The Fall or Reach. On page 296 of the original (Not sure about the re-releases) it said:
They had one advantage: The MAC orbital guns around Reach -
So before the Covenant arrived on the 30th of August, the SMACs were arranged around Reach. That is their default position when there is no enemy nearby. However, now we know Reach was attacked on July 24th, so before July 24th the SMACs would be arranged in a net around Reach. If we hold to that quote, then the SMACs would be arranged in a net during the events of the game also.
As I said it is common sense to do this. Firstly, given how extremely large space is, there is no way that the UNSC could possibly know which angle the Covenant could approach from. If they actually clustered all of their SMACs above one location permanently, then they will be leaving the rest of the planet defenceless. And it will remain defenceless until the SMACs can all be moved to face the oncoming threat. In that time, the enemy could be deploying dropships to the planets surface, establishing a beachhead and putting the generators in danger. In The Fall of Reach, even with the SMACs there, the Covenant still managed to slip through and get to the generators. Leaving entire sections of the planet with nothing is just begging for a disaster to happen. This is also all regardless of whether the SMACs could move quickly or not. If they cannot, then you will want a defence net so that all sections of the planet can be defended with at least something for a while until the others do arrive. In TFoR, there was 40 minutes between initial detection of the Covenant fleet and the time when the fleet arrived at Reach. If the SMACs have some propulsion systems then they have time to get into the location we see in the book.
In theory, you only need 3 satellites to have full coverage of a planet. In practicality, you need a bit more to cover the poles. Reach had 20 SMACs, so global coverage should not be a problem in the slightest. The SMACs themselves fire the projectile at 12'000km/s, or 0.04c. Reach has a diameter of roughly 15'000km. So it would only take a SMAC round 1.25 seconds to cross the entire diameter of Reach. The "Supercarrier" was quite clearly not orbiting at that distance from the planet so was well within range. The "range" of the SMACs is their effective range, not the distance the round will travel before coming to rest. The projectile still has to cover a distance, so if you see it coming and are far enough away you will be able to dodge it. The projectile will continue on forever in space though, because there is nothing to stop it. A 27 km long ship will not be able to detect and move out of the path of those rounds in less than 1.25 seconds, its engines are probably incapable of the insane impulse required and the ships inertia would rip it in half. Add to this the fact that the SMAC fires every 5 seconds and will be able to lead the ships motion, and the fire from other platforms in view of the ship, there is no way the "Supercarrier" should be dominating the space above Humanity's most secure fortress world.
Reach is a poor fortress world if it clusters all of its defensive power "along one wall", to use an analogy.
I also do not understand where the 100+ ships that are supposed to be in orbit around Reach at any one given moment in time went to. All of Reach's defensive fleets just left for some reason, leaving the planet more vulnerable. If they were there then that is only more firepower to pound that Covenant ship into glittering dust.
Bungie cut corners with this aspect.
[Edited on 06.21.2011 10:31 PM PDT]