The Newbie and Short Questions thread

[RedWolf]

Also nothing says screw you more than being punched by an aircraft carrier except two aircraft carriers.

[sketchley]

1 hour ago, azrael said:

Part of it is lost in translation. It's written as 監察軍 or Inspection Army/Controlled Army/Supervised Army/Monitor Army; as in the controlled army of the Protodeviln. Over time it's just shortened to "Supervision Army".

Well I agree that some of it is 'lost in translation', some of the terms you've add are... 'added in translation'.

Here's the Japanese definition:

かんさつ【監察】《名・ス他》

情況を見届けて察知すること。特に、視察し監督すること。

DeepL: To observe and perceive the situation. In particular, to observe and supervise.

Google: Seeing and detecting the situation. In particular, inspect and supervise.

 

Eijiro, on the other hand, results in this: https://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=監察

(TLDR: things like medical examiner, personnel inspector, Justice Inspector, administrative audit/inspection/supervision, Federal Observer, etc.)

 

 

Nevertheless, I've always interpreted it as referring to the group (of soldiers) that were assigned (by the Protoculture) with 'watching over' the experiments that resulted in the Protodevilun, rather than vice-versa.

Edited December 12, 2021 by sketchley

[aurance]

5 hours ago, azrael said:

Part of it is lost in translation. It's written as 監察軍 or Inspection Army/Controlled Army/Supervised Army/Monitor Army; as in the controlled army of the Protodeviln. Over time it's just shortened to "Supervision Army".

 

Yes.

I actually answered this very question back in 2003 and 2004.

The actual reason is so the gunship can main-line from the primary reactor(s) of the mothership, thereby increasing the rate of fire or power output. In ship mode, power is devoted to the engines. Battle mode redistributes power away from the engines to other systems like the gunship. 

That doesn’t sound right. Presumably the ships could redirect power at will regardless of shape (unlike SDF-1 where the actual machinery was damaged/missing). Seto’s answers seem much more plausible.

[azrael]

4 hours ago, aurance said:

That doesn’t sound right. Presumably the ships could redirect power at will regardless of shape (unlike SDF-1 where the actual machinery was damaged/missing). Seto’s answers seem much more plausible.

The Chronicle mentions this so whether you believe it or not...

This actually lines up with how power usage in Macross is distributed between modes. For VFs, power is devoted to the engines in fighter mode, getting the best performance out of the engines and less for other systems which are less advantageous in each mode. Switching modes redistributes power to other systems like the robotics motors, defensive systems (ECA/PPB) and weapons. The same concept applies to the capital ships. Switching modes reallocates power to systems that need it more. Of course they can reallocate in other modes but switching modes does it as part of standard operating procedure. Switching to battle-mode automatically diverts power away from engines, which will need less power, to defensive systems, barrier systems, robotics, or weapons, which need it more. That surplus of power can also feed the gunship to improve recharge time (rate-of-fire) or power output/shot.

If you've ever played Star Wars: Squadrons, X-wing vs TIE Fighter, X-Wing, or TIE Fighter, the power distribution concept is the same.

[aurance]

1 hour ago, azrael said:

The Chronicle mentions this so whether you believe it or not...

This actually lines up with how power usage in Macross is distributed between modes. For VFs, power is devoted to the engines in fighter mode, getting the best performance out of the engines and less for other systems which are less advantageous in each mode. Switching modes redistributes power to other systems like the robotics motors, defensive systems (ECA/PPB) and weapons. The same concept applies to the capital ships. Switching modes reallocates power to systems that need it more. Of course they can reallocate in other modes but switching modes does it as part of standard operating procedure. Switching to battle-mode automatically diverts power away from engines, which will need less power, to defensive systems, barrier systems, robotics, or weapons, which need it more. That surplus of power can also feed the gunship to improve recharge time (rate-of-fire) or power output/shot.

If you've ever played Star Wars: Squadrons, X-wing vs TIE Fighter, X-Wing, or TIE Fighter, the power distribution concept is the same.

Yes. All I’m saying is that the transformation does not plausibly seem to be a requirement of the power rerouting (at least any longer) per se, rather that the rerouting and transformation happen as a necessity of those other advantages that Seto mentioned, for both capital ships and fighters.

Edited December 12, 2021 by aurance

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, aurance said:

Yes. All I’m saying is that the transformation does not plausibly seem to be a requirement of the power rerouting (at least any longer) per se, rather that the rerouting and transformation happen as a necessity of those other advantages that Seto mentioned, for both capital ships and fighters.

Unlike the SDF-1 Macross, which needed to transform in order to reconnect its main gun up to its power distribution network again after the disappearance of the fold system due to insufficient quantities of replacement energy conduit... the transformation of a ship like a Battle-class entails reallocation of the ship's reactor/generator output because power usage is prioritized differently for combat vs. normal cruising.  

When cruising in Fortress Ship mode, a later-generation Macross-type is using the output of its thermonuclear reactors for:

• Propulsion: the engines use plasma produced in the thermonuclear reactors as a propellant.  This unfortunately means that a fair amount of energy in the fusion plasma is lost as it's blown out of the reactor to produce thrust.
• Stealth: the later-generation Macross-type warships, like most later New UN Forces warships, uses a mixture of passive and active stealth technologies to reduce the odds of detection by a hostile power.  Active stealth is rather energy intensive, since it involves analyzing incoming radar waves and broadcasting waves of the same amplitude and frequency but opposite phase to cancel out the enemy's radar return and trick the enemy radar into thinking it didn't receive a return.
• Supplemental power for Colony Operations: when connected to a City-class, Mainland-class, Island Cluster-class, etc. emigrant ship, some of the Battle-class's reactor output can be redirected to the needs of the environment ship(s) incl. charging the larger fold system used to fold the two ships when they're docked.

When the ship switches to Storming Attack mode, power is reprioritized for:

• Weaponry: the Macross Cannon gunship invariably has its own internal thermonuclear reactors, but it can be charged much faster by allocating energy from the ship's other reactors.  There are also many defensive and offensive beam weapons scattered all over the body of the ship which draw on generator power in combat as well.  Even under normal conditions it can take upwards of five minutes to charge the Macross Cannon for a single shot, so every little bit helps.
• Defense: the technologies used to improve the defensive ability of a space warship are notoriously energy-intensive.  Later generation Macross-type warships are known to use energy conversion armor to supplement the already-impressive strength of their hypercarbon composite hull armor.  Barrier technology, even pinpoint barriers, are also known to be extremely energy-intensive to operate since they derive their defensive capability from a localized warping of spacetime.  (On VFs, the relatively small pinpoint barrier system is known to consume as much as 60% of the total generator output of the VF.)

[pengbuzz]

2 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Unlike the SDF-1 Macross, which needed to transform in order to reconnect its main gun up to its power distribution network again after the disappearance of the fold system due to insufficient quantities of replacement energy conduit... the transformation of a ship like a Battle-class entails reallocation of the ship's reactor/generator output because power usage is prioritized differently for combat vs. normal cruising.  

When cruising in Fortress Ship mode, a later-generation Macross-type is using the output of its thermonuclear reactors for:

• Propulsion: the engines use plasma produced in the thermonuclear reactors as a propellant.  This unfortunately means that a fair amount of energy in the fusion plasma is lost as it's blown out of the reactor to produce thrust.
• Stealth: the later-generation Macross-type warships, like most later New UN Forces warships, uses a mixture of passive and active stealth technologies to reduce the odds of detection by a hostile power.  Active stealth is rather energy intensive, since it involves analyzing incoming radar waves and broadcasting waves of the same amplitude and frequency but opposite phase to cancel out the enemy's radar return and trick the enemy radar into thinking it didn't receive a return.
• Supplemental power for Colony Operations: when connected to a City-class, Mainland-class, Island Cluster-class, etc. emigrant ship, some of the Battle-class's reactor output can be redirected to the needs of the environment ship(s) incl. charging the larger fold system used to fold the two ships when they're docked.

When the ship switches to Storming Attack mode, power is reprioritized for:

• Weaponry: the Macross Cannon gunship invariably has its own internal thermonuclear reactors, but it can be charged much faster by allocating energy from the ship's other reactors.  There are also many defensive and offensive beam weapons scattered all over the body of the ship which draw on generator power in combat as well.  Even under normal conditions it can take upwards of five minutes to charge the Macross Cannon for a single shot, so every little bit helps.
• Defense: the technologies used to improve the defensive ability of a space warship are notoriously energy-intensive.  Later generation Macross-type warships are known to use energy conversion armor to supplement the already-impressive strength of their hypercarbon composite hull armor.  Barrier technology, even pinpoint barriers, are also known to be extremely energy-intensive to operate since they derive their defensive capability from a localized warping of spacetime.  (On VFs, the relatively small pinpoint barrier system is known to consume as much as 60% of the total generator output of the VF.)

Okay...I'm copying all this into a word file for my own personal files! Thanks Seto! :)

[snakerbot]

2 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Propulsion: the engines use plasma produced in the thermonuclear reactors as a propellant.  This unfortunately means that a fair amount of energy in the fusion plasma is lost as it's blown out of the reactor to produce thrust.

What methods do colony fleets have to refuel? Can they pull hydrogen from stars Elite Dangerous-style?

[Seto Kaiba]

2 minutes ago, snakerbot said:

What methods do colony fleets have to refuel? Can they pull hydrogen from stars Elite Dangerous-style?

It's never really touched on, that I'm aware of...

We know emigrant fleets sometimes mine asteroids for raw materials.  I'd assume they'd go for something a bit safer than tapping a star, though.  Like extracting water ice from comets and other space debris to be decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen or mining the atmospheres of gas giants which typically contain large amounts of hydrogen and hydrogen compounds.

[RaisingCane]

Something I was always unclear about: was the Macross Frontier the de facto capital of the NUNS because President Glass was a passenger?  Does his authority encompass Earth as well?

[Seto Kaiba]

1 minute ago, RaisingCane said:

Something I was always unclear about: was the Macross Frontier the de facto capital of the NUNS because President Glass was a passenger?  Does his authority encompass Earth as well?

Ah, this one's a popular question.

Due to some syntactic ambiguity on the part of some fansubs, it was accidentally made to look like Howard Glass was president of the entire New UN Government.  He's not.  He's the (4th) president of the Macross Frontier fleet government, which is a New UN Government member "state".  The New UN Government's seat of power and general assembly is back on Earth. 

[RaisingCane]

What's the purpose behind the Zentradi variants of the new ship designs?  Is it just an aesthetic they prefer or is there some functional difference?

[Seto Kaiba]

Just now, RaisingCane said:

What's the purpose behind the Zentradi variants of the new ship designs?  Is it just an aesthetic they prefer or is there some functional difference?

They're said to have the same performance as the standard New UN Forces designs they're based on... but they adopt more Zentradi overtechnology in their construction.

It seems to be a sentimental/aesthetic touch on the part of the all-Zentradi Macross 5 fleet.

[RaisingCane]

Did I misinterpret anything, or is Macross Galaxy supposed to be composed entirely of anti-social cyberpunk weirdos?

Edited December 13, 2021 by RaisingCane

[Seto Kaiba]

10 minutes ago, RaisingCane said:

Did I misinterpret anything, or is Macross Galaxy supposed to be composed entirely of anti-social cyberpunk weirdos?

The Macross Galaxy fleet is quite a bit worse than just that.

It's a space-going, dystopian, cyberpunk company town that seems to be on a mission to collect the complete set of cyberpunk human rights violations.  Instead of having an elected civilian government, the fleet is run by - and as - a corporation.  Its parent company is the defense and technology industry megacorporation General Galaxy and it serves as a kind of massive flying R&D facility for all kinds of technology.  The corporate government is exactly as amoral as you'd expect a cyberpunk dystopian megacorp to be, so there's some pretty significant economic inequality and high unemployment due to the corporate government axing several labor-intensive industries in the name of efficiency (e.g. the farming and the aquaculture that provided natural foodstuffs were replaced by more efficient synthetic food production).  After implants were legalized (by using terrorist tactics against the implant protesters and murdering their ringleaders), implants became more or less mandatory to live and work in the fleet.  The population with implants is essentially living in a permanent augmented reality state where their senses are controlled by their implants to make them perceive the conditions as less uncomfortable.  The fleet's government and their corporate army are involved in a lot of unethical human experimentation involving mind control and cybernetics, and are invested in the plan to create a galaxy-wide fold network to unite the human race into a sort of collective consciousness under their direction.  They also support their agenda with a modest amount of corporate (and regular) espionage against their erstwhile allies.

TLDR; Cyberpunk 2077 or Ghost in the Shell's Tokyo would call Galaxy a "rough neighborhood".

[pengbuzz]

4 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

The Macross Galaxy fleet is quite a bit worse than just that.

It's a space-going, dystopian, cyberpunk company town that seems to be on a mission to collect the complete set of cyberpunk human rights violations.  Instead of having an elected civilian government, the fleet is run by - and as - a corporation.  Its parent company is the defense and technology industry megacorporation General Galaxy and it serves as a kind of massive flying R&D facility for all kinds of technology.  The corporate government is exactly as amoral as you'd expect a cyberpunk dystopian megacorp to be, so there's some pretty significant economic inequality and high unemployment due to the corporate government axing several labor-intensive industries in the name of efficiency (e.g. the farming and the aquaculture that provided natural foodstuffs were replaced by more efficient synthetic food production).  After implants were legalized (by using terrorist tactics against the implant protesters and murdering their ringleaders), implants became more or less mandatory to live and work in the fleet.  The population with implants is essentially living in a permanent augmented reality state where their senses are controlled by their implants to make them perceive the conditions as less uncomfortable.  The fleet's government and their corporate army are involved in a lot of unethical human experimentation involving mind control and cybernetics, and are invested in the plan to create a galaxy-wide fold network to unite the human race into a sort of collective consciousness under their direction.  They also support their agenda with a modest amount of corporate (and regular) espionage against their erstwhile allies.

TLDR; Cyberpunk 2077 or Ghost in the Shell's Tokyo would call Galaxy a "rough neighborhood".

And IMO, that makes them just as bad (if not worse) than the Protoculture that enslaved the Zentraedi. Instead of simply denying them feelings and lives, they are actively stealing those lives while making them think they are living them. No true say in their lives, no way to depart it (at least until an outside force ends it, a permanent enthrallment to GG), being treated as little more than expendable lab-rats and slave labor, and exposed to unconscionable cruelty.

And they want to inflict that on the entire human race!

[RedWolf]

9 hours ago, RaisingCane said:

Did I misinterpret anything, or is Macross Galaxy supposed to be composed entirely of anti-social cyberpunk weirdos?

If we go by the novelization and Sheryl manga the Cyber Nobles were rich bastards. They go by different names Macross Galaxy Fleet Executives, Cyber Nobles, or the Senate they have no qualms about enslaving other humans.

If we go by the novelizations and movies NUNS does not trust Macross Galaxy due to Human Rights violations and outright espionage and black ops.

In the TV Series Macross Galaxy is still out there. In the Movies Macross Galaxy was wiped out by the Vajra while the three Executives were killed by Brera. In the Sheryl manga Surtr the leader of the Senate murdered the Human population of Macross Galaxy once she took control of the Vajra.

 

Also if we go by the movies their Fleet is crazily armed as all their escorts are gunships. 

 

[RaisingCane]

Was Sheryl Nome exempted from all that because she was too high profile?

[Master Dex]

18 minutes ago, RaisingCane said:

Was Sheryl Nome exempted from all that because she was too high profile?

More like she was found useful by Grace for the Galaxy plans. Maybe the V type infection wouldn't work as well on a cyborg. Though they did need to sell her as an idol elsewhere where cybernetics wasn't allowed so some of it is that.

[RedWolf]

16 minutes ago, RaisingCane said:

Was Sheryl Nome exempted from all that because she was too high profile?

She was a guinea pig for the V-Type Fold Bacteria. Basically the Cyber Nobles had her parents murdered as they were the political opposition that prevented mandatory cybernetics bill from being passed. Sheryl got away living in the streets for some time till Grace picked her up. Grace's characterization depends on the medium but the it is the TV series and it's novel adaptation where.she is worst. As what she did to Sheryl is some revenge on a perceived slight she had from Mao Nome. As Mao disagreed with the whole hivemind thesis of hers.

[Seto Kaiba]

35 minutes ago, RaisingCane said:

Was Sheryl Nome exempted from all that because she was too high profile?

Initially, she didn't have implants because her parents were influential members of anti-legalization movement... and then her parents were killed and she was left a homeless orphan who was living on the streets until Grace found her and took her in.

After that, she was exempted from the borderline compulsory implant use in the fleet for several reasons.  Apparently being "all natural" was considered a selling point as an idol over in Galaxy despite the unaugmented otherwise living rather rough lives there.  That's the reason she gives Alto in the series.  (That the wealthy over there can have a fully prosthetic body that looks however they like may go a ways towards explaining why that is a selling point to Galaxy's population.)

[RaisingCane]

Can all SA gun destroyers transform or was the Macross modified in some way after it crashed on Earth to do so?

Edited December 14, 2021 by RaisingCane

[pengbuzz]

I believe they were able to for maintenance and repair reasons.

[azrael]

1 hour ago, RaisingCane said:

Can all SA gun destroyers transform or was the Macross modified in some way after it crashed on Earth to do so?

No they cannot transform. The only "transforming" section was the main cannon. The ship was designed to be modular which the SDF-1 crew later created the transformation system out to rearranging the modular sections to keep them together.

[RaisingCane]

Does the Nupetiet-Vergnitzs have a converging beam cannon in the main continuity?

[sketchley]

1 hour ago, azrael said:

No they cannot transform. The only "transforming" section was the main cannon. The ship was designed to be modular which the SDF-1 crew later created the transformation system out to rearranging the modular sections to keep them together.

Expanding on this, the ships (specifically the Battle class) are described as each being composed of "several separate ships".  However, that could also be translated as "several separate hulls".  While it makes less sense to have just a leg section zooming around space, we do see such things as the forearm Gunship and Carrier Ship operating on their own.

Nevertheless, as it was a feature adopted from the Supervision Forces, it's not too big of a stretch for humans to convert the separate and distinct airtight hulls into the system Azrael describes.

[RedWolf]

 

I am assuming this still from Satan's Doll episode is a depiction of a Supervsion Army ships in battle with Zentradi. These along with the Meltrandi Gun Destroyer I can see this type of ship having several known variants.

 

Zentradi do have their own gunships but their shape is based on the Vajra Knight class carrier. Zentradi battle pods were fashioned after Vajra. Nupetiet-Vergnitzs is different as its shape was based on another Fold capable lifeform, Galactic Whales.

 

Edit: DYRL depicts the Nupetiet-Vergnitzs as a Gunship as well. It could go either way as what they are gojngt for is SDFM TV events but DYRL aesthetics. Though we haven't seen the refits fire like a Gunship yet. Macross II on the other hand had the Macross Cannon class made up of four Nupetiet-Vergnitzs hulls added to a central body to be a fleet killer.

Edited December 14, 2021 by RedWolf

[Seto Kaiba]

3 hours ago, RaisingCane said:

Can all SA gun destroyers transform or was the Macross modified in some way after it crashed on Earth to do so?

"Yes and no"?  Presumably all ships of the same class as the Supervision Army gunship that crashed on Earth could theoretically transform the same way... but it's what you'd call an "unintended operating mode".  It's likely not something the Protoculture who designed that class of ship ever considered doing.  Without some of the additions made by human engineers, it wouldn't be particularly useful either.

 

1 hour ago, RaisingCane said:

Does the Nupetiet-Vergnitzs have a converging beam cannon in the main continuity?

Not in the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross.

However, the DYRL? designs have largely supplanted their TV series versions throughout the Macross franchise seemingly because the production staff prefer the less dated and more "alien" appearance of the movie versions... so it's highly probable that the Nupetiet Vergnitzs-class with the heavy converging beam cannon exists in the main timeline either as a replacement for the TV version or a variant of the class that coexists with it.  (They do that kind of thing A LOT with the movie designs.)

[pengbuzz]

6 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

"Yes and no"?  Presumably all ships of the same class as the Supervision Army gunship that crashed on Earth could theoretically transform the same way... but it's what you'd call an "unintended operating mode".  It's likely not something the Protoculture who designed that class of ship ever considered doing.  Without some of the additions made by human engineers, it wouldn't be particularly useful either.

I guess that would explain the Zentraedi's apparent bewilderment at the modifications done to the ASS-1/ Macross. One can only imagine what the Protoculture would have made of human ingenuity....

Spoiler

(unless that's already been covered in a series/episode/book/record/cassette/microfiche/CD/DVD/mp3/USB/streamed data/ isolinear optical chip/ brain implant/ memory engram/dusty old tome accessible only via a rough, rocky path deep in the Himalayas, situated in an ancient yet high-tech catacomb/vault/disco parlor accessible only by a triple-locked series of hypercarbon blast doors, high atop Mount Everest, the exact location known only to Seto Kaiba, Sketchley and papa Smurf. )

Spoiler

Or Macross Chronicle

 

 

Edited December 14, 2021 by pengbuzz

[Seto Kaiba]

15 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

I guess that would explain the Zentraedi's apparent bewilderment at the modifications done to the ASS-1/ Macross. One can only imagine what the Protoculture would have made of human ingenuity....

The surprise the Zentradi of the Vrlitwhai branch fleet felt when they saw what humanity had done to the Supervision Army warship that'd crashed on Earth ten years previously had a slightly more mundane origin.  One of the ways the ancient Protoculture kept their Zentradi in line and under control in addition to strict military regulations was to impose mental conditioning (brainwashing/indoctrination) to dissuade them from pursuing creative/productive thoughts and actions.  Not just in terms of artistic/cultural pursuits or reproducing, that also extended to the kind of thought processes involved in repairing or modifying technology.  This set them up to be wholly dependent on the factory satellites that were also controlled by the Protoculture.

That someone on the planet had changed the ship's design was reason enough for them to be gobsmacked.  That, combined with the way humanity's original ships and fighters subsequently opened fire on them with weapons based on lost technology, gave them a lot of pause for thought about who exactly they'd been shooting at.  The way the crew of the Macross constantly defied the rules of space warfare as the Zentradi understood them only exacerbated the Zentradi's bewilderment.

[RedWolf]

As far as First Contacts go Terrans with the Zentradi was a bad one. They didn't purge the programming through Supervision Army left behind on the ship. This affected how they deal with new races they meet. With other Protoculture derived races their reaction is to make peaceful contact and try to uplift them. Though the Windermereans do not appreciate it due to their fragile egos. With Rogue Zentradi however they expect hostilities regardless. 

[pengbuzz]

2 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

The surprise the Zentradi of the Vrlitwhai branch fleet felt when they saw what humanity had done to the Supervision Army warship that'd crashed on Earth ten years previously had a slightly more mundane origin.  One of the ways the ancient Protoculture kept their Zentradi in line and under control in addition to strict military regulations was to impose mental conditioning (brainwashing/indoctrination) to dissuade them from pursuing creative/productive thoughts and actions.  Not just in terms of artistic/cultural pursuits or reproducing, that also extended to the kind of thought processes involved in repairing or modifying technology.  This set them up to be wholly dependent on the factory satellites that were also controlled by the Protoculture.

That someone on the planet had changed the ship's design was reason enough for them to be gobsmacked.  That, combined with the way humanity's original ships and fighters subsequently opened fire on them with weapons based on lost technology, gave them a lot of pause for thought about who exactly they'd been shooting at.  The way the crew of the Macross constantly defied the rules of space warfare as the Zentradi understood them only exacerbated the Zentradi's bewilderment.

Yeah, there is that (sometimes I forget the extent to which the Zentraedi were kept socially and creatively crippled). I was also venturing that they had never encountered a ship like the post-rebuild Macross before.

[JB0]

On 12/11/2021 at 1:04 PM, Seto Kaiba said:

Prior to Macross Delta: Absolute Live!!!!!! the prevailing theory was that the SDF-2 Megaroad-01 had entered some kind of portal near the galactic core.  That was based on a mail-in promo gift that came with the PlayStation Macross: Do You Remember Love? game that purported to be Minmay's last message to Earth.

Another popular theory was that they had settled on some remote world that was isolated from the rest of the galaxy by fold faults like Uroboros or Windermere IV are, and that fold communications simply couldn't reach them because of that.

Now, the answer seems to be that...

  Hide contents

... they've just been stuck in a very intense fold fault this entire time.  Which I'm sure you'll agree is a pretty damned anticlimactic answer to one of the franchise's enduring mysteries.

 

Not just anticlimactic, but also strangely familiar. Who let Jack McKinney into the writers room?!

[Keith]

6 hours ago, JB0 said:

Not just anticlimactic, but also strangely familiar. Who let Jack McKinney into the writers room?!

Nah, we just don't know the juicy story details. Something like Misa saying "If I catch you with Minmay again I'm burying this fleet in the deepest darkest fold fault I can find." Or "Kaifun is trying to catch up with the fleet, quick, hide in that fold fault."

[RaisingCane]

Could the Megaroad have stumbled across a Protoculture world that was conquered by the Vajra king?  Perhaps Hikaru and Misa are leading a war of liberation across all the alien worlds that the Vajra have occupied.