Talk:UFE Deucalion/@comment-80.121.86.219-20140819221735/@comment-194.166.40.139-20140824125708

I think the plan of the higher-ups from earth was:

1) Use Heaven's Fall to cover up the fact that the Deucalion was there and write off the claims of Marito as the talk of someone who has gone crazy when the moon came down. And of course build a concealed underground base under what's left of Tanegashima and research the wreckage of the mech there, attempting to comprehend its advanced technology.

2) At first they probably tried and failed to replicate the Deucalion since it was just too damaged and the Aldnoah drive was too adcanced to be replicated. So they decided to make Kataphracts without an Aldnoah drive instead using the data salvaged from the Deucalion. That's most likely why earth had tanks before Heaven's Fall but quite soon afterwards already have mechs ready for mass production.

3) Since they couldn't replicate the Aldnoah drive and have studied everything else about the Deucalion well enough, they decided to build a battleship powered by the Aldnoah drive they recovered instead to serve as a flagship in case of an invasion by mars. And since Tanegashima there is in the middle of nowhere without any apparent strategic facilities it would be very unlikely that the ship they were building would be discovered.

When Vers invaded earth, the plan was probably for the Deucalion (ship) to lead an assault against the landing castles combined with the use of the Kats they built. But, when they were done building the ship they finally figured out that not just anyone could activate Aldnoah. And so they abandoned the ship in the secret shipyard, but left it fully armed and equipped in case they found a way to activate it.

And judging from the rocket boosters on its back and them not being necessary to drive normally I would say the ship is meant to be able to reach orbit and fight the martians there. The engines on the Kataphracts were most likely originally intended for combat in low/zero gravity environments and were later repurposed and enchanced to improve mobility on normal gravity.