The Nightstar Zoo

http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-08-05
Possible spoilers:

Okay, this appears to be the UNS sending in some incompetent cannon fodder to test whether the Gavs have control of the artifact before risking a few battleplates. Presumably because none of the competent cannon fodder would touch it. Next they go all in, because the story's more interesting that way.

I can see why they'd want to test the waters, but the strategy seems flawed. Even if the Gavs had already unlocked Oisri I doubt they'd have tipped their hands when conventional weapons are enough.

The only way the UNS can know for sure they don't have the power to shred a battleplate is to send in a battleplate.

It's probable the cannon fodder didn't know the presence or scale of the VDA.

Only if you have actual fore-knowledge of what the author is doing. If it's speculation, by definition it can't be a spoiler, even if it turns out later to be correct.

_________________
This too will pass

I'm wondering how they're planning on sending battleplates anyway. Apparently something that big back during the early teraport days couldn't be teraported, which is why there were terapod escape pods. You'd probably be able to see battleplates coming from a long way away if that's the case.

Has it ever said that teraporting was size- or mass-restricted? The only related comments I can think of are that it takes longer the larger you are, and that something the size of a Superfortress takes just over 6 seconds to teraport.

_________________
After 3 long, weaponless years, I became the wielder of the Doobie/Dobie gun!

Battleplates have gotten distressingly mobile and been doing it for some time now in the comic, so I wouldn't count on one not showing up.

uh-huh. Sure. So how do you think Tunguska got to the Zoojack system in the first place? There were terapods for exactly the reason we saw them being used - disable the annie plants and/or AI, and you're going nowhere under your own power.

Ah, my mistake. The Tunguska COULD teraport, as evidenced here but the actual quote was "Nothing the size of a battleplate could port out of a losing fight". Somehow I got that conflated with "couldn't teraport".