Muv-Luv Alternative - Total Eclipse

[David75]

They were not able to evaluate how massive the attack was.
They probably did not have much forces available anyway.
It also seems they needed some help from other countries/forces, which takes time.

They did not want to bombard at first, because of the collateral that remains high even when you try to evacuate the region. There's also the fact you ruin such a city that Kyoto is.
But at some point, it was that or totally losing the region.

They probably could have bombarded an hour before, but many soldiers would have died with the BETAs. The city would have suffered minimal damage though.
But the choice was similar to the one presented to Yui. They were not able to do it at first, but were forced to in the end.

[Kraco]

They probably could have bombarded an hour before, but many soldiers would have died with the BETAs. The city would have suffered minimal damage though.

No. The idea is to organize the battlefield so that you bombard as much as possible before the troops mingle - which they actually never should do, but since the beta rely on melee so much, it's unavoidable. However, the fact the beta march forward single-mindedly would make it infinitely easy to bombard them continuously and without a break as long as you have ground behind you and ammo in stores. Artillery fire is quite accurate as long as you have scouts - and there were plenty here with very sophisticated equipment in the form of the mecha. They might even have been able to use some dummy, remote controlled automated observers (cameras, that is) since we don't actually know if the Beta would have cared or noticed such at all, to go out of their way to destroy them.

The other thing you said reminded me of the fact I never want to see another n00b soldier ignoring orders for her own petty satisfaction.