[VV] Gate Defense

Well here's my bit for the Gate Defense discussion...

   First there's the logistics. If all I have to do is worry about the
spot I'm in, then I can load up on firepower and armor/shields because
I don't have to worry about spending money on moving things around.
   If I have to worry about attacking a spot other than the one I'm in,
then I will have to worry about moving things about, which means less
resources for armor and firepower. So at this point it's already
cheaper for the defender....

   Now for the intelligence side in reference to what I'm facing. If
I'm simply defending the spot I'm in, then I'll probably have a few
pickets on the other side of my gate. Nothing much really, probably a
small station closest to the gate, and a few picket ships roaming some
distance from the station. Since I'm only worried about one spot
though, it's not like my picket line has to roam the neighboring
system, they just need to be far enough out to be able to warm the
watch station in time. This gives me an opportunity to get a snapshot
of what's going to try and get through the gate to my side.
   If I'm trying to attack a spot other than the one I'm in, I'm going
to need to send scouts out ahead of my main fleet to look for pickets,
lest the defender get a clear picture, or even a glimpse of my force
composition. Even if I know where the gate is, there's no garuntee that
the enemy picket line, if they do have a picket line, is going to be
right there, which means that my scouts are going to have a quite a bit
of space to cover before I can move in. The only way that I could
possibly be able to move in without the enemy picket line, again, if it
is indeed there, being able to warn of my approach would be to jump
in-system, litterally on top of the picket line, and wipe them out
instantly. This of course requires that my weapons were warmed up and
ready to fire, and targetting solutions were >acurately< plotted before
the jump; that the point I come in at is >exactly< where I intended to
be; and that the transition from FTL is instantaneous with the crew
suffering no effects from transittioning....

If I'm defending the gate, the first thing I'm going to do is to define
a coridor leading from the gate, and it won't be towards the heart of
the system, instead it would lead to the side somewhere. Around the
corridor I would place layered minefields in groups. First around the
gate would be a layered minefield, as some of the mines were detinated,
other mines behind would thruster into place to fill the gaps. At the
end of the first minefield would be my first set of defensive
platforms. Hollowed out asteroids, filled with gun batteries, PDS
arrays, and even some EW suites. A few of the platforms would have
sensor/comm suites to relay information about what's coming through the
gate. After that I'd have one more minefield, and my final ring of
platforms, and then the actual gate defense platform. The final
platform would be larger, containing more batteries and PDS arrays and
EW suites, everything pointed straight down the corridor.
A little further in system is where I'd place a station with a moderate
defense fleet. The majority of this fleet would probably be mainly
frigates and cruisers, system defense ships.
   If I'm attackning a system, even assuming I managed to take out any
advanced warning system, I'm still probably not going to know what's in
the system, so my first launch would be scouts and recon drones.
Assuming they actually come back with data on the defenses, I'm going
to have to finalize my attack based on that data, which of course gives
my opponent time to mobilize his defenses...

Now, let's assume my drones come back depicting the defensive setup I
mentioned. My initial milssle salvos would have to be specifically
targetted to the minefield first. The corridor would probably be
defined for starships. I doubt my missle salvos are really going to
attract the attention of the mines, so even is my salvos get through
the fire from the defense platforms and manage to disable a few of
them, my ships would still have to contend with the unmolested
minefield. So I have to attack that first. Then I have to take out the
defense platforms, which, with the minefield gone, would have truley
open fields of fine on my missle salvos, drones, etc that come through
the gate. There's also the gate defense platform at the end of the
corridor I have to worry about. Okay, somehow I manage to take out the
first minefield and the first ring of platforms. I now have an area
that I can divide my fleet and go around the remaining minefield and
defense platforms. However, I still have to worry about the gate
defense platform firing at me straight down the corridor, and going
>around< the remaining defenses means splitting up my fleet. Making the
splinter groups harder to defend, and making them easier to pick apart
by the defenders. And of course all of this means that the defenders
have had time to mobilize any other in-system units. Add to this the
fact that if I haven't expended my supply of salvo missles on the
minefields and defense platforms, I've probably ripped through a good
part of it, probably at least half or more. So at this point I'm pretty
much to my beam weapons... going up against an attacker who may very
well >still< have about as many missle salvos as I started out with.

Now if I had a fleet of system defense ships. instead of the
aforementioned gate defense system.... First off I'd have to hold off
until the attack came through the gate. If they sent salvo after salvo,
my ships would be at the mercy of the missle salvos. Then when the
fleet came through, whatever remained of my fleet would be at the mercy
of the invaders.. my defenses would have burned out rather quickly.

The other thing to consider is that >if< I do create a system defense
fleet large enough to repel the incoming invasion fleet, that's one
more fleet of ships that I don't have out there defending my shipping
lanes, other systems, or generally doing what they can to whittle down
the incoming enemy fleet.

=====
Remember, even light is shaped by the darkness that surrounds it, and
the true crafters are seldom ever seen. Welcome to the shadows kid.

		
__________________________________ 
Do you Yahoo!? 
Meet the all-new My Yahoo! - Try it today! 
http://my.yahoo.com