What was the point of keeping stuff like the Erinyes and Collossus a secret for the GTVA? In todays world, militaries keep their major projects (or, at the very least, the technical specifications of those projects) secret to gain a competetive advantage against potential enemies in other nations. But for the GTVA, there are no other nations to gain an advantage against - in fact, the only people they have to worry about are the Shivans, who don't seem like the kind of enemy who do extensive recon, nor like the kind that cares what tech you have at your back, or rebel groups like the NTF, against which it would be far and away more useful to keep all your big, dangerous weapons v isible to the public to prevent them rebelling in the first place - I mean, if the NTF had known the GTVA had the Collossus, a ship capable of destroying entire fleets of smaller ships, would they have rebelled?

They probably would have developed an effective strategy to counter it, or sent in saboteurs to destroy it while it was in production.

What was the point of keeping stuff like the Erinyes and Collossus a secret for the GTVA? In todays world, militaries keep their major projects (or, at the very least, the technical specifications of those projects) secret to gain a competetive advantage against potential enemies in other nations. But for the GTVA, there are no other nations to gain an advantage against - in fact, the only people they have to worry about are the Shivans, who don't seem like the kind of enemy who do extensive recon, nor like the kind that cares what tech you have at your back, or rebel groups like the NTF, against which it would be far and away more useful to keep all your big, dangerous weapons v isible to the public to prevent them rebelling in the first place - I mean, if the NTF had known the GTVA had the Collossus, a ship capable of destroying entire fleets of smaller ships, would they have rebelled?

There are competing military subcontractors, though. It could be simple economics; Triton dynamics will manufacture the xxx xxx, but only if they keep the tech specs secret (for any sold/civillian offshoots).

Also you don't know when the next rebellion will take place, so you don't want any would-be enemies like the NTF knowing every move or tactic you can take. Possibly also a bit of TV-War era paranoia leaking in, too.

They probably would have developed an effective strategy to counter it, or sent in saboteurs to destroy it while it was in production.

First: Impossible given NTF resources. Second: considering the sheer scale of the Colossus, extremely improbable. To even have significantly slowed construction would have required several massive screwups by security if you were going to get that much explosives to the site, nevermind planting and detonating them.

Probably in attempt to keep the taxpayers a little less unhappy

I mean, if the NTF had known the GTVA had the Collossus, a ship capable of destroying entire fleets of smaller ships, would they have rebelled?

Yes, Bocsh would have done it, no matter the cost. As even when the did unviel the Big C, it didn't make any difference.

Also, if it is so easy to slip a pilot into the NTF to spy, would it be that much harder to do it with the GTVA?

Better question; How was the colossus a secret? Khonsu spoke of making it 20 years before...

And a contract of that size, even if kept secret, would have surely been leaked by people in the various subcontracted companies. Especially with a 20 year construction period.


No?

Oh, I suspect that Bosch knew about the Colossus, and knew the GTVA would roll it out, which was why it was important for the NTF to have achieved everything it needed to before that happened.

Most stuff, like the Erinyes etc, were probably just kept secret out of habit more than anything else, being a large military organisation it sort of comes with the territory.

The colossus was common knowledge i guess, as it was in a public address oin the 10th aniversary of the ross 128 attacks... Probably the exact specs and location of construction were hidden though...

I mean, if the NTF had known the GTVA had the Collossus, a ship capable of destroying entire fleets of smaller ships, would they have rebelled?

Yes, Bocsh would have done it, no matter the cost. As even when the did unviel the Big C, it didn't make any difference.

Also, if it is so easy to slip a pilot into the NTF to spy, would it be that much harder to do it with the GTVA?

Well, they quite possibly did, given that someone shut down the Colossus' beam cannons when the Iceni ran the GD/Knossos blockade.

I'd imagine just sneaking a cargo-crate sized bomb into the Colossus construction site would have been very effective at delaying the project; especially if you damaged the Ganymedes' being used for it.

Of course, the Colossus wasn't all that much of a problem for Bosch, as he wasn't playing to win; just to get enough time and intel (dig sites) to do whatever he was planning to do.

I mean, if the NTF had known the GTVA had the Collossus, a ship capable of destroying entire fleets of smaller ships, would they have rebelled?

Yes, Bocsh would have done it, no matter the cost. As even when the did unviel the Big C, it didn't make any difference.

Also, if it is so easy to slip a pilot into the NTF to spy, would it be that much harder to do it with the GTVA?

Well, they quite possibly did, given that someone shut down the Colossus' beam cannons when the Iceni ran the GD/Knossos blockade.

I'd imagine just sneaking a cargo-crate sized bomb into the Colossus construction site would have been very effective at delaying the project; especially if you damaged the Ganymedes' being used for it.

Of course, the Colossus wasn't all that much of a problem for Bosch, as he wasn't playing to win; just to get enough time and intel (dig sites) to do whatever he was planning to do.

Also since Command let him get away several times, and that makes you wonder, was the intire NTF rebellion staged?

Brings up an interesting story no one has thought that much about.

Well, it's pretty much a given that the ETAK program was allowed to reach fruition quite deliberately, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that the GTVA had to do something unthinkable, i.e. bring back the Shivans, and the only way they could justify it was by someone apparently acting 'outside' their control.

It IS an interesting thought

On the other hand, considering what the Shivans did last time they were in the neighborhood, one might have difficulty finding folks willing to do that...

And those last-minute attacks of conscience can be real killers...

EDIT: Darnit, now you've gone and made me blow the dust off a couple of missions I made for a campaign I never completed. :/

The colossus was common knowledge i guess, as it was in a public address oin the 10th aniversary of the ross 128 attacks... Probably the exact specs and location of construction were hidden though...

Actually, that's incorrect. The cutscene says that Khonsu addressed the GTVA's General Assembly, not the GTVA as a whole. Remember, in The Sixth Wonder, no one had any idea what the thing was before Command announced it. As far as I could gather, no one knew anything about the project. As for keeping it secret during construction, it might not be as difficult as one might think. From the cutscene, it looked like a lot of the work was being done by drones, so that takes care of a lot of loose lips right there. I'd imagine that most, if not all, of the actual on-site workers were either military themselves; anyone who wasn't would be sworn to secrecy. The different corporations manufacturing the components might not have known what they were being used for themselves; I'm sure that they might have had some idea, given the scale of the components, but there's nothing to say that GTVA brass would give its subcontractors all of the juicy details. For that matter, even if they had, it's unlikely that word would have spread, especially if military contracts with the GTVA would have been anything like the current system; projects such as the F-117 or B-2 were never made public until their official unveilings.

As for the whole reason of keeping it a secret in the first place, not only would it be customary for most military business, but there's also the fact that this project was a much bigger deal than just about anything else going on. Pirates, crime syndicates, and other rogue groups might have seen the construction of something like this as an ample opportunity to deal a big blow to the GTVA, and even if there weren't external threats, I'm sure that the GTVA brass would have feared some ambitious commander getting some dangerous ideas. Come to think of it, considering Bosch, it was probably a wise decision on their part.

Also since Command let him get away several times, and that makes you wonder, was the intire NTF rebellion staged?

Brings up an interesting story no one has thought that much about.

I did. It was part of the key backstory to Reci...........the main question was whether Bosch was manipulated, manipulating or under orders.