Prev: RE: Fleet Spacing Next: Re: FW: : here ya go....

Re: Fleet Spacing

From: Binhan Lin <Binhan.Lin@U...>
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 17:29:23 -0700 (MST)
Subject: Re: Fleet Spacing



On Tue, 9 Dec 1997, Michael Sandy wrote:

> 
> What are the tactical doctrines governing how far
> apart one should space one's ships?
> 
> If there aren't any area effect weapons, why not clump
> as close as possible?  Granted that when ships blow
> up they do damage to the ships around them, but there
> are some very good reasons for flying in a dense
> formation.
> 
> If an enemy ship has a weapon which doesn't bear on
> one ship in a dense formation he is very likely to
> not have a target at all.  If you are firing on a
> loose formation, you will at least have _some_ target.
> Also, the dense formation can concentrate its firepower
> on the closer target, doing more total damage.
> 
> ADAFs and Interceptor squadrons can more efficiently
> protect a denser formation.
> 
Part of the reason is the visual appeal.  If you are going to fly all
your
escorts in tight formations, why use anything more than 1 fig per
squadron
or per 100 for that matter.

Another reason is that often you aren't totally sure what the other
person
has.  A wavegun or nova cannon can really sweep a section of the board
clean.

Dispersion also workd against missiles and fighters.  By placing a
screen
of ADAF ships in the front the opponent has to decide to waste fighers
on
them or take the chance that some are going to get shot down as they go
by.  With endurance and morale rules this means you have to regulate
your
resources more carefully.  In the case of missiles if your forces are
dispersed enough it forces the other player to either disperse the
missiles to cover the possible end points or concentrate on a single
ship.
In either case this allows a greater number of ships to survive.

In terms of fleet dispersion it is the classic balance between
concentrartion of firepower versus concentration of vulnerability.  This
is why you often see the phase "killer Dreadnaught" being tossed around
-
it offers a lot of firepower, high thrust and enough survivability for
things that can catch it to pose a major problem without resorting to
cheese tactics.  Of course the Killer DN might be considered cheese in
the
first place.

--Binhan

Prev: RE: Fleet Spacing Next: Re: FW: : here ya go....