Orbital Bombardment and Glassing

Orbital bombardment allows a fleet to strike surface targets without fighting through every defensive position on the ground. The Covenant takes that concept to its most terrifying extreme through glassing: sustained energy-projector attacks that burn cities, military sites, and enormous regions of planetary surface until soil and rock vitrify under the heat. This episode examines the military purpose and strategic consequences of orbital fire. Precision bombardment can destroy command centers, fortifications, landing zones, or concentrations of troops. Glassing goes further, serving as both extermination and denial by making large areas difficult or impossible to inhabit. The Covenant does not always glass immediately, especially when Forerunner artifacts or other valuable objectives must first be recovered. That delay can give defenders time for evacuation or counterattack. Once bombardment begins in earnest, however, ground forces have few answers without friendly control of space. Glassing is therefore not simply a weapon. It is the final expression of orbital superiority against an enemy that can no longer prevent the fleet above from deciding the fate of the world below.