Ships of the line

[suggs]

Since we are dealing with battleships i thought of a tactic i read about that battleships used in the napoleanic era. They would line up one behind the other and go passed a group of ships maximizing the effectiveness of there guns since most of there guns were on either side of the ship and less would be t the front and back. I plan on testing this tactic if its possible to control my ships that specifically. There were other variations of this tactic too i was thinking of trying.

[Dorkthehunter]

What about using the Spanish crescent moon tactic. It works if there are no fire ships, or explosive ones to move the formation!

[suggs]

I'm pretty sure alot of those strategies will work but for that crescent one dont you need fast ships with a very long fire range? also idk if you can make that specific ship movements to make those formations but we can always hope^^

[Swiftdraw]

Ahhhh, the good ol' broadside. I prefer high caliber turret guns my self, but whatever. I've no idea what a good tatic would be since I'm not sure if you can actually put your ships into a formation. I've a feeling many of these battles will turn into free for all melees, and with fleets of similar strengths it will be who can micro-manage the best wins.

[suggs]

well should be pretty easy to have them go in a line, just send them all the the same spot but wait a few seconds so the do it 1 after the other. Im sure there will be manvuers ppl use, if we are anything its creative.

[Dorkthehunter]

Human beings are best at coming up with cruel and unique ways to kill each other. It is the fact of life! Besides Jesus loves you!(even though he does)

[Samheyn]

I think it's a great difference if you fight against AI or Human... the AI will never fear you.. it will never think about the way your fleet looks or if it is impressing... I noticed this in many games.. even a less effective formation might bring dissorder in your (human) enemys line if it just looks like his units would never be able to ripp their way through the battleship-group... other way round it might be that a good formation looks so weak that he underestimates you and runs into a trap... an AI will never run into a trap of this kind (if it is well designed and does no stupid rushing).

 

but back to the actual topic :

 

There is one problem with this "1 after another" tactics: fighters. the bigger ships surely wouldn't be able to move or turn that fast that they could move behind or in front of the battleships, but a group of bombers should be able to do torpedo runs on the rear of the last ship in line even before they reached the firing distance. Also scouts could spot your formation early on and the enemy could line up so that your first ships front would be in direct firing line of the enemys broadsides.

[suggs]

well no strategy will be 100% foolproof but it will be like a chess game, ppl testing different strats out, and adjusting accordingly when it hits the fan.

 

and you forget my fighters will be tangling with their fighters so it will balance out.

[Sabu113]

simple solution. The enemy force should focus its power on one to three specific areas and use its force the blast a way through, neutralizing the max power enabled by the straight line tactic.The enemy ships will have to remanuver in order to fully deploy.

[Guest JediIgor]

I wasn't aware formations are being included in this game, or that you could move your units in a formation. If you can't, then all this talk about formations isn't much useful .

 

Also, consider Samheyn's post, including fighters means we won't be able to just use out-of-the-book naval tactics.

[Phantom_pff]

on formations were being worked on back in February, so expect to see some.

[cmd. deron]

ah the rebel crest move will be feared

[suggs]

I was just looking on the eaw site and saw a class of ship called the "Broadside Cruiser". This is the first evidence imo that there will be atleast a variation of the ships of the line formation.

[Teradyn_pff]

Um, no. That ship's main attack is frontal and with missles and torpedoes noless. The name is very wierd as is the reasons for adding the new ship.

[Cygnus X-1]

in an evenly matched conflict, there are 3 basic ways to ensure victory.

 

1-formations, a reverse bowl (similar to Bilbringi at end of Thrawns run for power) works nicely, if you can get it done early on.

 

2-reinforcements, he who has them shall hopefully win

 

3-3 to 1 odds. Yes its basically an even conflict, but get your ships in groups of 3 and concentrate fire on enemy ships. slow tactica at first, but once you get going, you will notice that your enemy seems to be running out of ships, and fast.