24.09.2006, 11:11
So, ich hab hier noch was anderea. Ne Analyse der Raumschlacht am Anfang von Halo 2. Hab ich von Halo Bungie Org Forum. Ich weiß, ist ne verdannte Menge Text, aber es ist sehr lesenswert. Die Anzahl der Schiffe stimmt übrigens, man kann sie in der zweiten Zwischensequenz vom Schlachtplan ablesen. Ich freue mich schon auf die nächste kontroverse Debatte! 
[I]So, what happens during the course of the Cairo Station battle? A basic synopsis of the events:
-UNSC forces have finished bringing the MAC guns online around Earth. they are arranged in three gun battle clusters, presumably with a fleet nearby to protect the cannons. A large number of UNSC ships is present in the area, under the command of Fleet Admiral Harper. The total breakdown of the fleet consists of 67 UNSC Frigates and 8 UNSC cruisers. (cruiser designation unknown. I'm not going to assume that they are Halcyons or Marathons; they seem too small for Marathon cruisers, in my opinion, so I'm going to assume they are of a class we don't know about yet)
-Whispers (Covenant forces) have been detected in Slipspace. The most recent one, during the medal ceremony, is at Io, around Jupiter.
-Covenant forces drop out of Slipspace, just outside the killzone for the MAC clusters. Harper moves his fleet to engage but is countermanded by Fleet Admiral Lord Hood. They are ordered to move to defend the battle cluster. The Covenant force deploys boarding craft to attack the stations and destroy them so the ships can break through. Covenant fleet breakdown: Two assualt carriers, thirteen cruisers.
-Covenant craft dock with the stations and attack. The Master Chief and the Marine defenders fight back. Malta and Athens explode without explanation, until Cortana determines that the explosions must have come from bombs brought onboard the stations. The Chief moves out to find the bomb on the Cairo.
-The Chief arrives at the loading dock. For some reason the bomb on his station has yet to detonate. The Covenant fleet moves in. Harper directs his forces to engage, splitting his fleet into two "echelons" one directed to take out the cruisers one by one, and the other to eliminate the carriers.
-The Chief arrives outside the station's loading bay. The two assault carriers have broken past the fleet and are moving straight for Earth.
-The Chief defeats the Covenant and captures their bomb. He utilizes it to leap out onto space as the second carrier's shield goes down, and plants the bomb inside the ship. The bomb detonates and destroys the carrier. The first carrier, Regret's ship, lands on Earth.
Now, the next level of the analysis: why did events occur in this order? At first glance, and judging by what most of us know regarding the weapons invlved, the Covenant shoudln't have made it past the MAC guns, yet they were able to. Why is this?
Once again, the UNSC vs. Covenant breakdown of forces:
UNSC:
67 Frigates
8 Cruisers (unknown designation; assumed to neither be Marathon or Halycon)
3 MAC orbital platforms
Covenant:
13 Cruisers
2 Assault Carriers
The UNSC apparently has an overwhelmingly powerfulf orce, correct?
Not so. Once again, we have to look at both the numbers, and more than that, the composition of the two forces.
First of all, remember that the Covenant ships are, generally, superior to UNSC ships at a three to one ratio. One Covenant ship is superior to three UNSC ships of the same class, though this is not a hard and fast rule; a Covenant destroyer, for example, can defeat seven UNSC destroyers. In general, Covenant > UNSC.
Now, going by the the three to one ratio here, The Covenant fleet is as effectively powerful as 36 UNSC cruisers, plus whatever the two assault carriers are capable of. The two fleets seem a bit more evenly matched now, dont you think?
Now, add in an additional factor: the bulk of the UNSC force was frigates. Frigates are small, light ships, much weaker than a UNSC cruiser, I would say. Going by a very basic estimate that one UNSC cruiser is the equal to two UNSC destroyers, and one destroyer is the equivilant of two frigates, this means that four frigates are a match for a single cruiser. (this is all arbitrary, of course. I'm simply making a fair assumption here)
Now, going by the estimate that four frigates = one UNSC cruiser, and three cruiser = one Covenant cruiser, that means it would require a total of twelve frigates to match a single Covenant cruiser. Even if we scale that back and say that a pair of frigates could match a UNSC cruiser, then that means it would take six frigates to match a Covenant cruiser.
So, take the sixty-seven frigates. Dividng them by four, and we have a force roughly equivilant to 17 UNSC cruisers. That would be able to tackle....five, maybe six Covenant cruisers.
So, what you effectively have in fleet terms is this:
UNSC: 25 (effective) cruisers
Covenant: 36 (effective) cruisers, plus two assault carriers.
Statistically speaking, the UNSC fleet is badly outgunned here. Yes, they have 75 ships against fifteen, but the firepower of the Covenant fleet gives them a 36:25 advantage.
The UNSC fleet should have lostt he battle of Cairo Station.
What was the equalizer?
The Cairo MAC gun. That cannon was likely able to take out enough Covenant ships to allow the UNSC fleet to make up for the numerical advantage the Covenant possessed and win the battle.

[I]So, what happens during the course of the Cairo Station battle? A basic synopsis of the events:
-UNSC forces have finished bringing the MAC guns online around Earth. they are arranged in three gun battle clusters, presumably with a fleet nearby to protect the cannons. A large number of UNSC ships is present in the area, under the command of Fleet Admiral Harper. The total breakdown of the fleet consists of 67 UNSC Frigates and 8 UNSC cruisers. (cruiser designation unknown. I'm not going to assume that they are Halcyons or Marathons; they seem too small for Marathon cruisers, in my opinion, so I'm going to assume they are of a class we don't know about yet)
-Whispers (Covenant forces) have been detected in Slipspace. The most recent one, during the medal ceremony, is at Io, around Jupiter.
-Covenant forces drop out of Slipspace, just outside the killzone for the MAC clusters. Harper moves his fleet to engage but is countermanded by Fleet Admiral Lord Hood. They are ordered to move to defend the battle cluster. The Covenant force deploys boarding craft to attack the stations and destroy them so the ships can break through. Covenant fleet breakdown: Two assualt carriers, thirteen cruisers.
-Covenant craft dock with the stations and attack. The Master Chief and the Marine defenders fight back. Malta and Athens explode without explanation, until Cortana determines that the explosions must have come from bombs brought onboard the stations. The Chief moves out to find the bomb on the Cairo.
-The Chief arrives at the loading dock. For some reason the bomb on his station has yet to detonate. The Covenant fleet moves in. Harper directs his forces to engage, splitting his fleet into two "echelons" one directed to take out the cruisers one by one, and the other to eliminate the carriers.
-The Chief arrives outside the station's loading bay. The two assault carriers have broken past the fleet and are moving straight for Earth.
-The Chief defeats the Covenant and captures their bomb. He utilizes it to leap out onto space as the second carrier's shield goes down, and plants the bomb inside the ship. The bomb detonates and destroys the carrier. The first carrier, Regret's ship, lands on Earth.
Now, the next level of the analysis: why did events occur in this order? At first glance, and judging by what most of us know regarding the weapons invlved, the Covenant shoudln't have made it past the MAC guns, yet they were able to. Why is this?
Once again, the UNSC vs. Covenant breakdown of forces:
UNSC:
67 Frigates
8 Cruisers (unknown designation; assumed to neither be Marathon or Halycon)
3 MAC orbital platforms
Covenant:
13 Cruisers
2 Assault Carriers
The UNSC apparently has an overwhelmingly powerfulf orce, correct?
Not so. Once again, we have to look at both the numbers, and more than that, the composition of the two forces.
First of all, remember that the Covenant ships are, generally, superior to UNSC ships at a three to one ratio. One Covenant ship is superior to three UNSC ships of the same class, though this is not a hard and fast rule; a Covenant destroyer, for example, can defeat seven UNSC destroyers. In general, Covenant > UNSC.
Now, going by the the three to one ratio here, The Covenant fleet is as effectively powerful as 36 UNSC cruisers, plus whatever the two assault carriers are capable of. The two fleets seem a bit more evenly matched now, dont you think?
Now, add in an additional factor: the bulk of the UNSC force was frigates. Frigates are small, light ships, much weaker than a UNSC cruiser, I would say. Going by a very basic estimate that one UNSC cruiser is the equal to two UNSC destroyers, and one destroyer is the equivilant of two frigates, this means that four frigates are a match for a single cruiser. (this is all arbitrary, of course. I'm simply making a fair assumption here)
Now, going by the estimate that four frigates = one UNSC cruiser, and three cruiser = one Covenant cruiser, that means it would require a total of twelve frigates to match a single Covenant cruiser. Even if we scale that back and say that a pair of frigates could match a UNSC cruiser, then that means it would take six frigates to match a Covenant cruiser.
So, take the sixty-seven frigates. Dividng them by four, and we have a force roughly equivilant to 17 UNSC cruisers. That would be able to tackle....five, maybe six Covenant cruisers.
So, what you effectively have in fleet terms is this:
UNSC: 25 (effective) cruisers
Covenant: 36 (effective) cruisers, plus two assault carriers.
Statistically speaking, the UNSC fleet is badly outgunned here. Yes, they have 75 ships against fifteen, but the firepower of the Covenant fleet gives them a 36:25 advantage.
The UNSC fleet should have lostt he battle of Cairo Station.
What was the equalizer?
The Cairo MAC gun. That cannon was likely able to take out enough Covenant ships to allow the UNSC fleet to make up for the numerical advantage the Covenant possessed and win the battle.