[Phoenix-D]

"It was an unmitigated disaster for France."

Yes, but in an actual fight wasn't *inferior* to what could have been produced; given the advantage of fixed fortifications, a head-on assult against it would have been very painful. Probably moreso than the equivilent amount of mobile units. So IF you can go around a fixed defense or exploit it's immobility, it's worthless. If you can't do that, things get a little nasty.

And in SE4, it's much harder to go around a fortifiction. Sure, you can make a new WP in- but then you have to find a non-connected system to make a new WP in. Worse, a system shield makes that a non-option, so now you have to find a different warp line in.

In some cases, you end up with no choice but to attack through the defenses; I had a warp nexus in one game. It was guarded mostly by forts and sats, and anniliated over 10 times it's tonnage in attackers by the end of the game. Quite the investment, I'd say.

Phoenix-D