37 replies to this topic

[Adrien Victus]

In contact harvest they had to use Eva suits winch meant no artificial gravity or life support. The UNSC would have to refit majority of their merchant fleet to accommodate evacuations and such.sorry I'm at work, I would elaborate but I feel this point is a pretty good one.

Ah yeah, if they where all without life support and gravity that would make things very different. Maybe the refit of a few hundred vessels could be done but it's still a lot to do considering the covenant showing up was a surprise so unless they planned for an invasion and already refitted the ships that is ALOT of work to do.

[Zero]

Well seeing as how most evacuations were done with commercial transports such as Halo Wars luxury cargo liners and the Halo Reach luxury liners. It was stated in Contact Harvest that the actual trade and commerce ships were fully automated with dumb AI navigation.

[MrChipps]

Did not Contact harvest end with the complete evacuation of all civilians with automated cargo transports?

[SPECTRE]

Did not Contact harvest end with the complete evacuation of all civilians with automated cargo transports?

i Seem to remember al cygni and johnson whooping it off in the cockpit though.

[MrChipps]

i Seem to remember al cygni and johnson whooping it off in the cockpit though.

That they did. If memory serves the automated merchant vessels were basically a automated slip capable drive-unit with a bridge for the occasional human crew and endless rows of maglinked pressurised cargo containers.

[SPECTRE]

That they did. If memory serves the automated merchant vessels were basically a automated slip capable drive-unit with a bridge for the occasional human crew and endless rows of maglinked pressurised cargo containers.

I thought of them as small cargo vessels built around the cargo containers, similar to a skycraine helicopter wrapped around a container.

[MrChipps]

I thought of them as small cargo vessels built around the cargo containers, similar to a skycraine helicopter wrapped around a container.

Maybe, enjoying brunch too much to bother checking.

[Zero]

Did not Contact harvest end with the complete evacuation of all civilians with automated cargo transports?

That's right, duh. Disregard everything then.

[Lord Stark]

i think you forgot to account for the hundreds of colonies that the covenant did NOT find during the war...

I highly doubt there were hundreds or even a hundred colonies left.  There are 210 Inner Colonies and then roughly 590 Outer Colonies and outposts.  

 

"He had drifted from office work to low-priority assignments and finally landed here a year ago. By that

time there were no more Outer Colonies. The Covenant had destroyed them all and were pressing

inexorably inward, slowly taking the Inner Colonies."

"ONI predicts that we have months, perhaps as much as a standard year, before the Covenant locates and destroys our

 

remaining Inner Colonies . . . and then moves against Earth.”

"this—the vast network of human colonies whittled down to a handful of

 

strongholds by a merciless, implacable enemy."

 

The best estimate we have is that Reach is the colony closest to Earth and that the Covenant bypassed "a dozen worlds" to get to it.  Meaning that the UNSC had around a dozen colonies left by the time of the Fall of Reach sans Earth and Reach.  Some of the Outer Colonies were likely resettled by refugees but I doubt they number in the hundreds more likely in the dozens.  

[SPECTRE]

I highly doubt there were hundreds or even a hundred colonies left.  There are 210 Inner Colonies and then roughly 590 Outer Colonies and outposts.  

 

"He had drifted from office work to low-priority assignments and finally landed here a year ago. By that

time there were no more Outer Colonies. The Covenant had destroyed them all and were pressing

inexorably inward, slowly taking the Inner Colonies."

"ONI predicts that we have months, perhaps as much as a standard year, before the Covenant locates and destroys our

 

remaining Inner Colonies . . . and then moves against Earth.”

"this—the vast network of human colonies whittled down to a handful of

 

strongholds by a merciless, implacable enemy."

 

The best estimate we have is that Reach is the colony closest to Earth and that the Covenant bypassed "a dozen worlds" to get to it.  Meaning that the UNSC had around a dozen colonies left by the time of the Fall of Reach sans Earth and Reach.  Some of the Outer Colonies were likely resettled by refugees but I doubt they number in the hundreds more likely in the dozens.  

Worlds or systems?

[Lord Stark]

Worlds or systems?

Worlds.  And its stated the UNSC total has 800 worlds.  Inner Colonies are the first 210. 

[SPECTRE]

Worlds.  And its stated the UNSC total has 800 worlds.  Inner Colonies are the first 210. 

Ok that would either increase or decrease any estimate of merchant vessels depending on your point of view.

[KhevaKins]

I highly doubt there were hundreds or even a hundred colonies left.  There are 210 Inner Colonies and then roughly 590 Outer Colonies and outposts.  
 
"He had drifted from office work to low-priority assignments and finally landed here a year ago. By that
time there were no more Outer Colonies. The Covenant had destroyed them all and were pressing
inexorably inward, slowly taking the Inner Colonies."
"ONI predicts that we have months, perhaps as much as a standard year, before the Covenant locates and destroys our
 
remaining Inner Colonies . . . and then moves against Earth.”
"this—the vast network of human colonies whittled down to a handful of
 
strongholds by a merciless, implacable enemy."
 
The best estimate we have is that Reach is the colony closest to Earth and that the Covenant bypassed "a dozen worlds" to get to it.  Meaning that the UNSC had around a dozen colonies left by the time of the Fall of Reach sans Earth and Reach.  Some of the Outer Colonies were likely resettled by refugees but I doubt they number in the hundreds more likely in the dozens.

I think they had a lot more than your estimates. The UNSC didn't really know how many outer colonies were left. They didn't have the resources to scout each and every planet that went dark. Some planets just stopped transmitting signals in hopes of avoiding detection, and I am fairly sure some former Innie sympathizing colonies stopped transmitting in hopes of breaking away from the UNSC.

Also the Covvies ignored may Inner colonies to strike at Earth and Reach.

[Lord Stark]

Ok that would either increase or decrease any estimate of merchant vessels depending on your point of view.

I actually may redo another number based on the population of the UNSC wagering that the ship to people ratio would remain the same (which would actually make sense).  

I think they had a lot more than your estimates. The UNSC didn't really know how many outer colonies were left. They didn't have the resources to scout each and every planet that went dark. Some planets just stopped transmitting signals in hopes of avoiding detection, and I am fairly sure some former Innie sympathizing colonies stopped transmitting in hopes of breaking away from the UNSC.

Also the Covvies ignored may Inner colonies to strike at Earth and Reach.

That's true.  But given the lethality and sheer size of the Covenant Fleet, the odds of hundreds of UNSC worlds surviving the war is nearly impossible.  If less than a 10th of the most fortified planets in UNSC space were wiped out I doubt more than 50 outer colonies survived. 

[SPECTRE]

Thought, i know that if UNSC ships wish to enter a system via slipspace, they have to enter from the edge of the solar system so they don't slipspace terminate inside a planet. But what of outbound slipspace traffic? Surly they can leave without going to the edge of the system. So they could cut off loads of planets, potentially decreasing merchant vessels.

[KhevaKins]

Thought, i know that if UNSC ships wish to enter a system via slipspace, they have to enter from the edge of the solar system so they don't slipspace terminate inside a planet. But what of outbound slipspace traffic? Surly they can leave without going to the edge of the system. So they could cut off loads of planets, potentially decreasing merchant vessels.

There is probably a minimum distance they have to get to before they can jump from a planet.

So they could cut off loads of planets, potentially decreasing merchant vessels.

I don't know what this means.

[SPECTRE]

There is probably a minimum distance they have to get to before they can jump from a planet.

I don't know what this means.

Basically if you don't have to go to the edge of a system to start a slipspace transport, you won't need to pass planets that could potentially be unavoidable.

Since when has a US navy ship ever sailed from san Francisco to across the pacific ocean without stopping at Hawaii?

[KhevaKins]

I don't think they would have to stop at every single planet to go anywhere. In fact I doubt planet 'B' would ever be in the way of a ship that was going from planet 'A' to planet 'C', seeing as there are a lot of directions in space to travel.

I don't even think thing planets in 'real' space can even make a difference to things traveling in slipspace, so they wouldn't have to stop.