Couldn't they just shoot down the balloons holding up the net with the ship's cannons? Also assuming they couldn't, why not shoot the generator? They knew where it was and Raz was able to take it off line by bludgeoning it with his gun. Cannon fire would have got job done.
First issue: It's unclear whether the Centurion could target the balloons using its amp cannons at the given range and angle, since the velocity and ballistic behavior of the amp cannons' projectiles is hard to guess, and it's unclear whether the turrets on the tanks hooked up to the amp cannons can elevate that high. But in any case, shooting down the balloons wouldn't necessarily get them through the barrier, since the wires would still be electrified even if they fell to the ground and the ship couldn't get past without running over them.
Second issue: Forget targeting the generator with the amp cannons. Forseti anticipated that someone would try that when he set the trap, so he hid the generator where the ship can't see it; he made it practically suicide for anyone to get close enough to spot for the ship's guns by placing lots of troops around the generator; and geographically he placed it where the artillery shells probably won't land (namely that the generator is surrounded by natural obstacles that would get in the way of the projectiles)! Give the man some credit!
The real question is why Forseti doesn't immediately get a report that his troops are under attack from Squad E, declare that Claude has thereby forfeited his opportunity to surrender, and order a full attack on the Centurion before Raz can ever get to the generator. Claude's plan involves having the rest of Squad E attack some of Forseti's troops to distract attention from Raz and his mission partner, and this decoy force also needs to take out some of the hard targets in Raz's path such as tanks and mortars. But despite the whiteout blizzard which helps to hide Squad E's movement, can't the Imperial troops being engaged by Squad E just radio to Forseti that they're under attack? Even though Forseti is in Schwartzgrad instead of on the island, he must be in radio communication with at least one command center, which in turn should be in communication with the various troop detachments through their portable radios or even just by message runners. Despite this, when Forseti radios the Centurion at the end of the one hour time limit he imposed, he asks Claude one last time if he will surrender and makes no direct reference to Squad E attacking his troops during the countdown. So is Forseti oblivious to his troops being attacked? It just defies belief that nobody managed to inform him after almost forty minutes since first contact with the enemy. Or did he knew about the attack by the decoy force, but feel like giving Claude a futile chance to "resist" before then allowing him to surrender anyway? That doesn't sound right either. He's treating this trap as an unpleasant affair he wants to get over with rather than a sadistic game he wants to prolong. Even when Claude surrenders after an hour Forseti ultimately decides to show no mercy, saying that Claude didn't cooperate quickly enough. Surely, then, he would have ended the countdown prematurely if Claude had been so brazen as to try and fight his way out.
The Final Battle
How did Belgar convince so many X-O soldiers to stay and fight next to the Centurion? Has he got enough room in his giant tank to take all those foot-soldiers inside before the Fantastic Nuke explodes? Even if he’s not planning to save them he’d better have lied and said he will, because otherwise they’re signing up for certain death even if they win. He certainly can’t hide the fact that there’s going to be a city-destroying explosion, since many soldiers must have seen the Cavalier blow up and the Centurion is displaying the same alarming light show. It’s not even the kind of mission that an imperial soldier would be willing to die for, since Belgar is trying to commit a mass murder against their own country for no other reason than his scientific obsession.
So, here's a question. We need to have a story, of course, that's a given for a game - but doesn't the game itself seem as though it makes Squad E's very presence in Northern Cross detrimental to the Cygnus Fleet? If they weren't there, then by all indications the plan would have likely gone off without a hitch. The only link to the fleet the Empire had was Leena, and the only two people in the Empire who knew (sort of) about the ships prior to the Centurion rescuing Squads E and F from certain death were Forseti and Belgar. If Squad E never got involved, or if at least Leena didn't, the Empire would have next to no way of even finding out that three snow cruisers were barrelling towards their capital until it was much too late, and the only semi-reliable testimony they'd ever have with regards to their existence would be the whispers of isolated islanders.
Let's don't assume Forseti's got only plan A and only one spy. He's got LOTS of spies all over the place, as one of the "innocent villagers" picked up by Centurion was an X-0 operative who handed Leena the transceiver. Remember, radio signal interception is a definite thing, and Forseti would have gotten another person near Centurion as soon as he could if Squad E hadn't gotten aboard (do recall that Walz's report about nearly getting ship cannons in the face might have been copied for X-0, as X-0 specializes in making secret weapons and capturing or destroying enemy secret weapons for that matter). Leena being aboard Centurion was a stroke of luck for Forseti, so he chose to plan accordingly ("Since Squad E was rescued by the snow cruisers, I can assume that Leena is aboard ONE of them"). One can assume that there were spies on Comet and Cavalier as well, perhaps blackmailed into giving their positions to Forseti.
There's also the fact that Forseti was able to get his agent onto the Centurion to give Kai the transmitter in the first place. It seems he didn't have much trouble figuring out where the Cygnus fleet was.
Then again, he was probably intercepting their communications already, so one could explain he needed to get an agent to Kai in order to have a precise location of the Cygnus ships at any time of day (otherwise he'd wind up sending his troops around in circles trying to find the snow cruisers).
No airplanes exist on the battlefield, so, why do both sides have paratroopers?
From where do the paratroops jump, a high wall?
Alright, alright, keep your pants on, there's a perfectly good explanation for this. Parachutes were probably developed alongside balloons in this universe. Observation balloons tasked with artillery spotting were at risk of getting shot down (they probably don't float high enough to evade gunfire). If the balloon went down quickly, the soldiers in the balloon's basket would likely die if they didn't bail out. Parachutists are harder to hit than stationary balloons. As for paratroopers, it is likely that someone decided to develop airships and perhaps a unit of parachuting infantry. The big drawback of the era is that rigid-frame airships are too freakishly expensive to send to the frontlines, thus restricting their deployment to special operations (and in the case of the Empire, only X-0 has paratroops at all). Claude, in contrast, merely repurposed the Centurion's artillery-spotting hot-air balloon for use as a paratrooper transport. The parachutes were meant for artillery spotters (and presumably there are at least a dozen or so sailors trained on parachutes aboard the ship), which explains why enough parachutes were available for Claude and whomever else dropped in on the fortress.
Lighter than air flight exists already. There's even a giant airship attacking Gallia in VC2. In fact, the glossary entry notes that they're dropped from either balloons or airships.
Discrepancy about who's "The Strongest"
According to Selveria and the in-game glossary, Crymaria is said to be the strongest among the Valkyur. Except there's a major discrepancy in that assertion: it completely disregards Alicia.
During the "Two Valkyur" DLC, Selvaria and Crymaria fought each other to a standstill. Yet, when she tried to fight Alicia (VC1), Alicia nearly ended the "fight" with her opening shot. Their second encounter was even worse, since Alicia's first shot not only shattered Selvaria's shield, but it also sent Selvaria rag dolling across the battlefield and left her barely able to stand - and Alicia was more unfocused than Crymaria was, due to only recently discovering her powers. Wouldn't that mean Alicia was the strongest?
Hold your horses, people! Alicia's existence as a Valkyria isn't something that Gallia shared with the Federation. The in-game glossary has knowledge of stuff pertaining to the plot as revealed by sources from the Federation and the Empire, but Alicia's powers don't fit into that script! Nobody from the Federation witnessed the fight between Selvaria and Alicia. And besides, the exercise with Crymaria happened years before the Second Europan War. So, when Selvaria concluded that Crymaria was the strongest, this was done without Alicia's lineage being revealed to anyone!
Adding to the above issue, the in-game glossary is using sources obtained mostly from people involved with Operation Northern Cross and Operation Cygnus. Sure, testimony from Imperial sources were also taken into account, but the compilation of info did not include testimony from veterans of the Gallian invasion. As such, the presumably Federation-based chronicler would have no idea that Alicia was a Valkyria in the first place.
How did Fleuret pass the Ranger Course?
Many of Squad E have backstories and quirks that make their presence in an elite military unit like the Rangers seem a little far-fetched, but Fleuret takes the cake. Before she completes her Squad Story she considers guns dishonourable to the point that she completely neglects her fire-arms training and is a notoriously terrible shot. Makes you wonder how she even was allowed to stay in the army, let alone be accepted into the Ranger Corps.
It's explained during her squad story that Fleuret excels at melee combat, specifically, with her sword because she believes guns are for cowards. Mabel takes offense to Fleuret's assertion and harshly rebukes her for it. Then adds that if Fleuret trained as diligently with her gun as she does with her sword, she might gain a deeper appreciation for it.
