Fleet Tactics:Design and Organization

Designing and organizing your fleet is the first crucial step towards defeating your enemy. You can set up a fleet that is heavy in offensive phasers, disruptors, drones, electronic warfare, fighters or stormtroopers. These fleets can be devastating:for your enemy when matched up with a fleet not ready to handle your hardware or for you if your opponent's ship selection turns your hardware into software. I usually prefer to build balanced fleets so that we can dance with any enemy host.

I usually use the following formation:

Overview of Organization

A=Command Position-usually ocupied by a Command Cruiser or a Dreadnaught

B=Combat/Escort Position-usually occupied by a D5W, a D5F, a D5 or a D6F

C=Direct Support Position-usually occupied by either a combat cruiser or a support ship (with good direct firepower)

D=Electronic Warfare Support-usually occupied by a D6S and/or a D5S

E=Reserve/Firepower Support-often occupied by destroyers, frigates or maybe a previously damaged cruiser.

F=Wing positions-normally unoccupied until the appropriate moment in battle (from reserve)

Details by Position

*Note* Most fleet action scenarios that I participate in are campaigns that involve ship selection based on a fleet BPV total. That being said, the more BPV you use for one position, the less you have for others.

Command Position I usually prefer to use a D7W in this position, as it has most of the direct firepower of a C7 (7 forward P-I and 4 Disr versus 8 forward P-I and 4 Disr.) and is just 60% of the cost of a dreadnaught (161 vs. 248 (C8) with my typical drone load). The drawback is that it lacks the true staying power of a dreadnaught, and if hit hard enough can destabilize the main battle force.

Combat/Escort Position I find that the best ships for this position are the D5, D5F, D5W and the D6F. The ships in this most forward position must fulfill a variety of roles. Together (aided by the command ship) they must provide adequate drone defense for the formation as ( the 3 D5's each have 2 ADD on aegis, the D6F has 2 Type F racks and may have an ADD with a B refit). Being the closest ships to the enemy, they need to be able to deliver a good punch and be able to roll with the punches themselves. D5's, with their wide arc disruptors fit this bill perfectly, asonce their front shields are down, they can be flown in reverse, can still use their remaining disruptors to attack and their ADD's and waist P-III for drone defense. A fully refitted D6F makes for an interesting replacement. You give up the wide arc disruptors but can use your Type F racks on offense as well as on defense (see individual ship tactics for details). If you have the spare BPV's, this is a good position to beef up on by going with twin D5W's, if not the others will do.

Direct Combat Support These two positions are where I really add flavour to my main battle fleet. The ships I choose for this position determine the optional components of my battle fleet. The ships need to fill the role of direct combat support (diruptors and phasers) as well as add/improve upon another dimension for the fleet. The ships need to be able to move into a Forward Combat position if neccesary later in the battle, and as such need full disruptor suites and a decent number of phasers. For additional drone bombardment, a D7Y or D7D fits nicely in this position. I would recommend the D7D for this role over the D7Y, since it has better scatterpack posibilities with 4 shuttles. The lack of waist phasers on the D7D is often not an issue since P-II don't do a lot of damage from this position in a fleet and it has the regular D7 wing P-II's anyway (Normally a ship in this position doesn't take any internal hits, as other ships are closer, so you can fight behind your #1 shield and not have to worry about losing your few phasers with one good internal hit). For pure firepower and good Front Position replacement value either a standard D7K or a D5W work well here. The D7 may lack the wide arc disruptors of the D5W, but it won't take a lot of damage from this position, so they would only come into play in a flanking manuever, and the lack of P-I's are offset by "toggling" your ship back and forth to bring the waist P-II's to bear and by the cost of the ships (146 vs. 161). For fighter support an admiral should choose between a D6V and a D7V. The D7V provides better firepower (5 P-I's vs. 3) but the D6V can help with drone defense (2 ADD's vs. 0). While I deeply respect the creators of the game, I don't adhere to thier notions of carrier fleets (carrier plus escorts). It would be a waste of resources to build non-direct combat ships just to escort a ship which will bring 12 (count 'em, 12) fighters to combat. I believe that the best use of a carrier and fighters is to support a direct combat fleet and be close enough to use their disruptors effectively.

Electronic Warfare Support Most fleets should have an ECM support ship (and not just a puny little F5S). The best Klingon ship for this role is the D6S with 4 channels and 37 points of energy. If your fleet is big enough to warrant a second ECM support ship, a D5S or a D6Dmakes for a good partner. The D5S only has 31 points of power, and so is not as good at ECM as a D6S, but it does have 2 ADD's which can come in handy. If one feels as though dedicating 2 cruisers solely to ECM is just too much, a D6D is useful since it has 6 Type B drone racks and can help the fleet with drone bombardment. A cheaper option is to add an F5S as a companion to a D6S. While lacking power and channels, it is an economical alternative to the D5S or D6D (95 points with drones vs. roughly 130-145 for the other two).

Reserve/Firepower Support This is where extra BPV's get used, meaning that these ships are only added to a fleet if you have any left. Normally ships fitting the destroyer role are found here, but a fully refitted D7/D6 or a D5 could be useful in larger fleet engagements. Even then, I tend to go with destroyer role ships such as D6's (unrefitted), F6's, F5W's, an F5U, E6's or F5's. An unrefitted D6 has lots of power, 4 disruptors and costs no more than the best true destroyer. She can supply decent extra firepower support. The F6, which I call the "virtual" cruiser, can also supply good direct firepower support with her 4 disruptors and her 5 P-I's. If a front line ship is severely mauled, an F6 can step in and supply more than adequate firepower. An F5W also fits my description of a virtual cruiser (see ship description) and also is an excellent choice to have here. The E6, with its 3 disruptors and two drone racks can also aid in fleet fire support. If several size class 4 reserve ships are employed, an F5U would not be out of place either with 7 P-I's and 2 disruptors. For economy, an F5 can supply good direct firepower support to the main fleet, but lacks a cruiser's drone suite and is not as adept at leaving the main fleet for a flanking manuever as the aforementioned destroyers. If you are stuck with some E4's their lack of side shielding will probably not be a detriment as they still can add their 2 disruptors as long range fire support to the fleet. An F5V or an FWV can add fighter support to the main fleet, whether a strike carrier is present or not.

Wing Positions These positions I normally leave unoccupied at the start of a battle, but virtual cruisers, etc.,co uld move in here from the reserve position if the tactical situation is right.

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