to make good on his pledge.
The fleet reformed into two compact spheres, one inside the other. The outer sphere was comprised mostly of Hastati class cruisers. These were excellent ships capable of both dealing out and withstanding large amounts of punishment. The inner circle was made up of Onager class vessels. These ships were slow and lightly armored, but what they lacked in those areas they more than made up for in weaponry.
Onagers were armed with a ridiculous complement of pulse concussion launchers. These weapons were not at all accurate, but they gave out a devastating amount of damage over a very large area. Hastelloy planned to use the Onagers as artillery pieces firing from a safe distance while the outer sphere of Hastati cruisers kept the enemy away from the fragile ships.
Hastelloy opened a new comm. channel to the outer layer of ships. “I’ve grouped you into teams of five vessels and designated one as lead. That ship will pick the target and the entire team will focus their fire on it. You all know concentration of fire knocks out ships, not random shooting. Be sure not to venture too far from your assigned positions, we need to protect the Onagers at all cost. Now get to it and good hunting.”
With his orders given, the fleet now organized, and the men sufficiently roused for the task at hand, Hastelloy focused his attention on the strategic battle map. He smiled as he watched the last of the Alpha ships foolish enough to follow their targets into the new formation get destroyed. The focused fire was having the desired effect.
The random dots representing Alpha ships were beginning to group together. ‘Oh no you don’t,’ Hastelloy thought, and promptly ordered the Onagers to bombard those locations exclusively.
The effect was immediate and devastating. The Alpha instantly took a more scattered formation and moved in on the sphere of Novi ships. They were concentrating their attacks but it would not be nearly as effective in a scattered pattern.
The sphere formation made Hastelloy’s job of repelling the attackers relatively easy through the use of interior reinforcement lines. If an area needed help, ships were called from a section not under attack and got there almost immediately since they could travel in a straight line from one point to another. If the Alpha tried to exploit the hole left by the missing ships, they needed to go all the way around the Novi formation and Hastelloy’s keen strategic eye could easily spot these shifts and new points of attack.
The battle was going well, but eventually the Alpha commander would wise up and send all his ships to attack all points along the sphere at once to overrun the Novi with sheer strength of numbers. It was a crude but effective tactic given the circumstance. Something profound needed to happen fast to hold off defeat.
While Hastelloy studied the map he noticed one consistent pattern. There was a group of about 100 ships that didn’t engage. They changed positions, mixed with other ships, but ultimately never took part in the attacks. The Alpha command ship must be part of that group he reasoned.
As his heart began to pound with anticipation, Hastelloy quickly set to work issuing new orders to the fleet. Nothing in combat was as exciting as discovering something your opponent did not want you to know and exploiting it to the fullest.
Hastelloy waited patiently as the Alpha came at his ships with wave after wave of complex but ultimately easy to repel attacks, thanks to the ease of interior reinforcement movement the Novi fleet enjoyed. The Alpha commander appeared determined to win the engagement with finesse rather than a barbaric bull rush, which is what the situation truly required. Finally, Hastelloy saw it: the Alpha fleet completely scattered and was preparing to assault all at once. ‘I love it when a plan comes together,’ Hastelloy thought as he located the
The fleet reformed into two compact spheres, one inside the other. The outer sphere was comprised mostly of Hastati class cruisers. These were excellent ships capable of both dealing out and withstanding large amounts of punishment. The inner circle was made up of Onager class vessels. These ships were slow and lightly armored, but what they lacked in those areas they more than made up for in weaponry.
Onagers were armed with a ridiculous complement of pulse concussion launchers. These weapons were not at all accurate, but they gave out a devastating amount of damage over a very large area. Hastelloy planned to use the Onagers as artillery pieces firing from a safe distance while the outer sphere of Hastati cruisers kept the enemy away from the fragile ships.
Hastelloy opened a new comm. channel to the outer layer of ships. “I’ve grouped you into teams of five vessels and designated one as lead. That ship will pick the target and the entire team will focus their fire on it. You all know concentration of fire knocks out ships, not random shooting. Be sure not to venture too far from your assigned positions, we need to protect the Onagers at all cost. Now get to it and good hunting.”
With his orders given, the fleet now organized, and the men sufficiently roused for the task at hand, Hastelloy focused his attention on the strategic battle map. He smiled as he watched the last of the Alpha ships foolish enough to follow their targets into the new formation get destroyed. The focused fire was having the desired effect.
The random dots representing Alpha ships were beginning to group together. ‘Oh no you don’t,’ Hastelloy thought, and promptly ordered the Onagers to bombard those locations exclusively.
The effect was immediate and devastating. The Alpha instantly took a more scattered formation and moved in on the sphere of Novi ships. They were concentrating their attacks but it would not be nearly as effective in a scattered pattern.
The sphere formation made Hastelloy’s job of repelling the attackers relatively easy through the use of interior reinforcement lines. If an area needed help, ships were called from a section not under attack and got there almost immediately since they could travel in a straight line from one point to another. If the Alpha tried to exploit the hole left by the missing ships, they needed to go all the way around the Novi formation and Hastelloy’s keen strategic eye could easily spot these shifts and new points of attack.
The battle was going well, but eventually the Alpha commander would wise up and send all his ships to attack all points along the sphere at once to overrun the Novi with sheer strength of numbers. It was a crude but effective tactic given the circumstance. Something profound needed to happen fast to hold off defeat.
While Hastelloy studied the map he noticed one consistent pattern. There was a group of about 100 ships that didn’t engage. They changed positions, mixed with other ships, but ultimately never took part in the attacks. The Alpha command ship must be part of that group he reasoned.
As his heart began to pound with anticipation, Hastelloy quickly set to work issuing new orders to the fleet. Nothing in combat was as exciting as discovering something your opponent did not want you to know and exploiting it to the fullest.
Hastelloy waited patiently as the Alpha came at his ships with wave after wave of complex but ultimately easy to repel attacks, thanks to the ease of interior reinforcement movement the Novi fleet enjoyed. The Alpha commander appeared determined to win the engagement with finesse rather than a barbaric bull rush, which is what the situation truly required. Finally, Hastelloy saw it: the Alpha fleet completely scattered and was preparing to assault all at once. ‘I love it when a plan comes together,’ Hastelloy thought as he located the
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