Fighting your way out of an Imperial ambush(Space)

[The Saint]

Hello to all you prospective readers, this is the first of a series of posts dealing with different combat stategem. Most of this should be common sense, but a lot of it is just refresher material for those who play space combat sims(some of these tactics were prefected playing Rebellion, other tactics came out of experience with Homeworld 1,2 and Cataclysm etc etc) This is going to the first in a series of 3 space combat strategies, which will be followed by another three on ground combat. All of them will be rebel orriented(sorry Imps). Now onto my little discussion, feel free to add thoughts and suggestions.

 

The prospect of jumping into a system with the Headquarters fleet(which should naturally be the largest, and the forerunner fleet. It'll double as the assault fleet and will be the rally point for the Rebel military forces) and encountering a sizeable Imperial fleet with an INT or 2 keeping you there can be the stuff of nightmares. So how does one get out of this situation intact? Why simple. The fighting retreat. There is nothing wrong with running and gunning across a planetary system. Rebel fighters themselves have hyperdrives which means you can send the fighters forward while the capital ships runs.

 

X-wings and Y-wings(or B-wings if they make the game) should focus their firepower SOLELY on the INTs. Ignore Lancers, ignore escorts, focus on the INTs, knock down the gravity wells. A-wings should be kept close to the fleet as ready interceptors for Imperial fighters and bombers attempting to attack Rebel warships. Every attempt should be made to protect the Headquarters ship. If this means sacrificing a Corvette or Gunship so be it. The HQ is far more important than any lowly warship. Once the INT is taken care of the ships should make a jump to hyperspace as fast as possible either together or in groups, or single ships, as long as the Headquarters ship is the first to go(and if not the HQ ship, then the defacto Flagship of the battlegroup). The A-wings which were guarding the fleet should be next while the X-wings and Y-wings(or B-wings) should be last, with the X-wings covering the retreat of the bombers out of the system.

 

Expect casualties to be taken. Let me stress this. It is an ambush and you will lose ships. You will lose fighter squadrons. But if you pull it off right and do it in a manner in which most of the fleet is saved then it becomes a tactical victory for the Rebellion as one or two INTs have been disabled/crippled/or destroyed outright. Those ships are more than likely going to be expensive in terms of cost and matience and you can be damn sure the Imperials will feel the loss of those warships for sometime.

 

I hope that when the game comes out you'll all keep this in mind when playing against Imperial opponents online, or even against the A.I.

[Gen.Vader]

okay my whole argument is about this,

dont the buigger ships have longer range?

if they do the fighters would have to get closer and get into the INT range and by the time they can fire a shot, alot of them wouuld be damaged not to mention the TIES to slow down the fighters. then once the fighters are gone then the TIES can just kill your HQ.

thats my 2 cents thrown up into the air

and the person who catches it might get a nickel...

[The Saint]

okay my whole argument is about this,

dont the buigger ships have longer range?

if they do the fighters would have to get closer and get into the INT range and by the time they can fire a shot, alot of them wouuld be damaged not to mention the TIES to slow down the fighters. then once the fighters are gone then the TIES can just kill your HQ.

thats my 2 cents thrown up into the air

and the person who catches it might get a nickel...

 

The bigger ships wont have dedicated weaponry to deal with fighters. Thats why the Empire developed Lancers, because the ISDs had heavy guns incapable of tracking nimble fighters. Again, this is why you send in X-wings as well to protect the Bombers against TIE Attacks. You dont need to destroy the ships just as much as you need to knock out the gravity well generators(which will more than likely be a targetable sub system) Again, having fighter squadrons damaged and destroyed is inevitable. You've been caught in an ambush what are you expecting? To come out of it smelling like roses? Not going to happen. And yet again this is why I said keep A-wings in reserve near the fleet, and be prepared to sacrifice a few smaller vessels. Anymore questions?

[Gen.Vader]

no i didnt expect you to come away scott free but i didnt know that the INTS couldnt attack fighters, my bad

[The Saint]

no i didnt expect you to come away scott free but i didnt know that the INTS couldnt attack fighters, my bad

 

Ints can attack fighters, all they have for weapons are Quad Laser Cannons for defense I believe. But they arent as effective as Lancers and how long do you think an INT will last against a dedicated attack from fighters and Bombers against the gravity well generators?

[Darkmark]

Yep, that all seems like the way I'd try to handle the situation. That is, unless I believed I had a chance of winning... but I wouldn't so, yeah, that would be that way I'd try to do it. But what if the player isn't going to be leaving his INT unguarded, what would be the plan if he doesn't start attacking the moment he gets into battle, but instead sits his other capital ships all around the INT and then works them forward together slowly to take you out? It wouldn't be anywhere near so easy to get to with so many Capital ships and fighters guarding it...

[The Saint]

At that point you need to be flexible, this strategy is pretty much a guide, its not set in stone and if you cant be flexible about it then any variation in the Imeprial battleplan will throw you off. Okay, so they're bringing the INT up with the fleet and moving slowly? Fine by me. They want to protect the INT so heavily then go after other ships. Divert the attention. Devote a few capital craft to rush the line and focus on the INT.

[Foshjedi2004]

I set up my faster ships(GSPs and Corvettes) into ther point of a Spear. The Faster ships go ahead and draw the fire getting some cheap damage through. Then in come the Behemoth ships which can take more punishment. By then the enemy will have taken moderate damage from the faster ships and will be completely taken out by the Cruisers and Battleships. The fighters take out the main fighters and Bombers first and then go straight for the enemy fast ships or the nearest capital ship.

[Gen.Vader]

what would you do if the imperials were startin to retreat with all thier cap ships starting to go hyper and thier fighters keeping you at bay?

[Foshjedi2004]

Take out the fighters and the weakest capital ships.

 

In EAW I would ignore the ISDs and take out the troop transports to ensure that they cannot cause too much of a problem dirtside.

[Darkmark]

They're unlikely to run when outnumbering you and and preventing you from running. In the case of heavy guarding of their INT, the best idea I can forsee is breaking your forces in two. True they become less powerful, but in order to guard the INT the imperials will have to remain as one group or face leaving it move vunerable. If they split from the INT and go after one group, you move in with the other. It's not ideal since that kind of player will leave some force guarding it no matter what, but as you said Saint...

It is an ambush and you will lose ships

[Vader89]

I would have 2 ints on either side of my flagship, and then some sd's infront of all that. It would be tough for the rebels to get to my ints. Not to mention how many ties would be there. I could see that plan working if the enemy had one Int and only a coulpe cap ships i could see that plan working. Otherwise youd better have a TON of X-Wings.

[The Saint]

I would have 2 ints on either side of my flagship, and then some sd's infront of all that. It would be tough for the rebels to get to my ints. Not to mention how many ties would be there. I could see that plan working if the enemy had one Int and only a coulpe cap ships i could see that plan working. Otherwise youd better have a TON of X-Wings.

 

Well this is the Headquarters fleet, of course there is going to bea ton of fighters. Rebel fighters are generally better than Imperial fighters anyway until you get real further down the line to TIE-Advanced and so on. But because of their unshielded nature most TIEs are really just cannon fodder.

[sypher_pff]

I would just focus all fire on the interdictors screening my capital ships with fighters and much faster frigates and corvets. Regardless of losses once the interdictors go boom you are free to engage hyperspace drives and jump free of the ambush. I think it has already been stated that x-wing fighters are the better air superiority fighter so simply tying up as many of the enemy fighters as possible while your frigates and corvets screen your fleet from incomming enemy assaults.

 

This will allow you to "Zerg" the enemy interdictors with bombers and any remaining capital ships bringing them down and clearing your fleet for hyperspace transit. Also with the enemy interdictors taken care of and a fairly good recon of the hostile fleet it would allow you to do hit and run tactics against the remaining imperial forces in the fleet while your main HQ fleet retreats further back into friendly space.

[CTrooper1]

If it where me and i was the rebels i would stick to the plan and use my superier fighters as a sort of shield wile my main fleet escapes into hyperspace. But of course i would kick ass if i felt confident that i would win.