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Originally Posted by Damocles
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One last thought if I may; I always estimated that the basestars had three hanger complexes that held a battlestar's equivalent of fighters in each hanger complex. So I was comfortable with the number of 225-300 Cylon Raiders per basestar. It tied in with the radially symmetric design the Cylons used in their "double stacked sanddollars".
So if we were looking at a force of 36 basestars, I would have expected about 8100-10,000 Raiders?
Jester; I will have to consider that article. I find many of its assumptions interesting and strongly at variance with conclusions I reached from watching CBG.
How much of it, the article, is "canon"?
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All,
After sleeping on this, I have to agree with Damocles.
Lurking in the back of my mind is the figure of 200-300 Raiders per Basestar(I think it's from HoG); with 3 Basestars per Colony, that means upwards of 900 Raiders per planet, plus the orbital firepower of the Basestars themselves...
...Still, I find those figures too low. As Damocles points out, just as the Cylons did at Gamoray, there is no reason for each Colony not to have had c.200-300 Vipers ready to go, in addition to at least a couple of remote-system fighter bases with a battlestar-level compliment of fighters; even allowing for a "Pearl Harbor"-style surprise attack, and the treason/sabotage of Baltar's agents, there should have been a
much stronger Colonial response to the Cylon attack. Also, if you allow for lighter combat vessels of destroyer-cruiser size as per Damocles, you have an even more lopsided battle in favor of the Colonials.
The figure that I have been working from in my head was c.1000 Basestars throughout the Cylon Empire at the time of the Cimtar ambush; commiting 25-40 Basestars to a direct attack on the Colonies would be a significant chunk of their fleet.
At the same time, I hesitate to double the number of Basestars in the main attack to c.50-80, as this then begs the question: why did't they catch the Gal/RTFF flat-footed, either over Caprica or in their assembly area? Also, if they Basetars destroyed all/most of the Colonial fleet elements in-system, why didn't at least a few stick around?
In my model of the 'jump-line' drive, the Basestars would have started a relay, ferrying Cylon troops to the Colonies as extermination forces; but I can't justify not leaving at least one to four Basestars as operational bases for Raiders to work from, scattered throughout the system. Even allowing for heavy casualties among the attacking Basestars, they would run the risk of having to make a second series of assault landings, as surviving Colonial ground units would have wiped out the relatively small forces that the first wave could deliver.
Hmmmmmm.........
Let's try this:
*The Cylons stage simultaneous attacks at both Cimtar and the Colonies, committing the bulk of their forces at the Colonies;
*We know that they used tankers to escort the Raiders to Cimtar(I'm leaving aside the implications of the jump-line drive theory for the moment), so let's make the following assumptions:
**Apollo and Zac only found two tankers; that doesn't mean that there weren't more tankers hidden, given the interference from both the natural phenomenon and the Cylon's jamming
**Since it's pretty clear that there were at least 1000 Raiders at Cimtar, and I find it difficult to believe that each tanker could refuel c.500 Raiders, let's assume a total of ten tankers - Apollo and Zac spotted two and boogied(the correct thing to do), but missed the other eight - where each tanker can escort/refuel 100 Raiders
**Given the above, what if each Basestar in the main attack(on the Colonial homeworlds), say 36 total, were each escorting 5-10 tankers, each of which is supporting 100 Raiders apiece?
**Suddenly, we have upwards of 1900-2000 Raiders
per planet, plus the Basestars main batteries; if the Cylons deployed a couple of other tanker/Raider squadrons, they would be able to deal with any out-system bases...
At the same time, assuming heavy casualties among the Basestars, you still have the requirement to ferry troops back and forth; confusion occurs, ships get missed.....and the RTFF manage to escape.
Thoughts?
