Did Nerv let Wille restore Paris?

[wiser3754]

In the operation to restore Euro Nerv Paris Ritsuko remarks that Commander Fuyutsuki "must be testing us" when the Eva 444 series arrives, positron cannon in hand, but are ultimately defeated.
Why would Ritsuko believe that Nerv is testing them? Does she speculate that Nerv is letting Wille secure a vital resource - like Eva 01- for their (Wille's) operations whilst testing a viable offensive in future?

Commander Fuyutsuki is a master of Shogi, which throughout the movies is seen moving pieces on the board during conversation with Gendo. Is he just letting a piece be captured as to follow up with a much better tactic later?

[Sgt. Griff]

With the amount of ambiguous scenarios and planning present in Eva it wouldn't surprise me at all if this were the case. Given the amount of Eva parts we saw* in 3.0, the fact that Nerv ostensibly already has a presence in France with the 4x units and the line about testing it seems there is little reason Nerv couldn't have sent a whole bunch of Evas to stop them in their tracks.

I agree with you. Nerv probably believes the restoration of Paris either A: won't stop them from fulfilling their plans, or B: is necessary in some way to whatever convoluted scenario they've concocted. In any case I imagine the "test" was to determine their defensive and offensive capabilities after N4I.

[Jibe]

As Gendo usually says, even at the end of 3.0 , everything goes "according to the scenario". If I remember correctly the exact sentense at the end of 3.0 is "Katsuragi Captain did act according to the scenario" or something like that. I see no reason why it would be different for operation 0706.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

While Wille’s rebellion against Nerv is aggressive and exciting, the real act of unpredictable betrayal will probably be one of the Reis, either Rei II inside the Unit 01, or Rei Q influenced by Rei II/Shinji/Asuka. (or both?)

[Blockio]

As Gendo usually says, even at the end of 3.0 , everything goes "according to the scenario". If I remember correctly the exact sentense at the end of 3.0 is "Katsuragi Captain did act according to the scenario" or something like that. I see no reason why it would be different for operation 0706.

From a military strategy perspective, your enemy acting within your expectations and acting in the way you want them to are two very very very different things. Despite; just because Gendo could correctly predict one action of Wille, that by no means implies that he always does. Pretty sure he didn't predict the formation of Wille, and even if so, would have never allowed them to take two Evas

[Kendrix]

^This. He probably means that she's roughly doing what he expects or hasn't done anything that would be a dealbreaker for his plans, that doesn't mean that he controls her every move, just that he still thinks he can win and handle her.

Would nerv even have the means of stopping them? Sure the de-coreification tech might turn out to be a checkovs gun that winds up being used to restore the planet for good but as of now they just raided an old outpost for spare parts not a big victory; the impressive thing is rather how WILLE struggles on against such odds.

[Tyloethius]

Watching these rebuilds it seems like no matter what happens Gendo will say it was a part of his plans