Ship Engagement

5.1 Cruiser-class and Capitol-Class Ship Engagement

Why does this matter for fighters?

Its important to bring this factor of a battle up because of one important reason- how else do the fighters get there? Usually the only group of enemy fighters that's going to approach you out of hyperspace will be X-wings and that's usually a specialty group- something you're not likely to see. Instead, it’s more likely they'll be assigned to a strike cruiser or something of similar size to support them during battle. The keyword in there is 'support'- that means they'll be right in the middle of the battle if they can be. The idea here is that if you're going to be fighting fighters, you'll probably be fighting a ship as well. Chances are they'll be taking on the other cruiser-class or capitol-class ship in the area to draw away some of its fire on the strike cruiser's people as well. This presents a new problem- that cruiser can now confront your cruiser. So a quick review of the one reason why cruiser-class ships must be brought into the equations:

 1.  They can help their fighters with direct cover fire and shielding during a battle, not to
 mention provide tactical analysis for greater decision making abilities.

 2.  They can endanger the livelihood of your back-up, and thus- your group as well as yourself.

 3.  They can allow the enemy to escape.

Who can fight them?

Virtually any fighter can fight a cruiser or capitol ship, with or without weapons if you're feeling suicidal. Some ships are just better than others! This just means that you can do damage, no matter how insignificant; usually when couple with an entire of fighters this can become substantial damage and depending on the size of the overall support and the consistency of the attacks, its very possible a cruiser-class ship or capitol-ship can be destroyed.

When you're going to go out and take out a cruiser or capitol-class ship, it's probably best to be equipped with a fighter that entails greater shielding and firepower. This usually refers to gunboats or missile boats that have become rather notorious for their payload. This is an example of 'specialty fighting' where you pit a specific tactic against a specific target. Sometimes that can't occur though- perhaps you lack the supplies, the fighters even! That means your group is the first line of defense and attack. So let’s put you in a situation-

Playing with the Big Guns

Your squadron of twelve TIE Interceptors has launched from the Telepath, a modified strike cruiser with a single hanger. It has twenty standard turbolasers, ten turbolaser batteries, ten enhanced ion cannons, and ten tractor beam projectors. The Strike cruiser has a modular superstructure that allowed for quick manufacturing, repairing, upgrades, and modifications- this is why it makes it a prime support ship for the Imperial Navy.

On the other end of things, a rebel MC40a light cruiser has jumped in, equipped with fourteen turbolaser turrets, two warhead launchers, eighteen ion cannons and six heavy tractor beam projectors. This is a pretty significant difference in size and firepower, but the advantages are a little different-

The MC40a has about five hundred meters to spread its turbolaser batteries and ion cannons, where as the strike cruiser only has about 150 meters. In a ship vs. ship engagement, it’s pretty obvious the strike cruiser would get owned because of the fact it doesn't have near the destructive power of that MC40a. However, the MC40a is a capitol ship, but just barely, its purpose is primarily to attack larger vessels, not engage small craft, like, say- TIE Interceptors? This makes them vulnerable to attack- their turbolasers can't swivel fast enough to take on fighters, so they go right for the prize- the strike cruiser.

Let’s look at the weapons of these two as well- turbolasers are what exactly? Very basically, they are far bigger energy weapons used to engage in battle with capitol ships- they aren't meant to be used on fighters. Cannons, on the other hand, are more like the weapons on board fighters themselves and can track much better, allowing ships that are heavily equipped with them to take on fighters (i.e. Nebulon B's...). How about Ion Cannon's? Ion cannons are energy weapons that allow for the disable of other ships- the blast shuts down energy devices, meaning weapons, engines and sometimes important devices like life support. The blast usually won't destroy a ship, but if the magnitude and intensity of the fire is concentrated to a high degree- they can have destructive after-effects. Tractor beams, as one should well know by now is a beam that can trap a fighter, shuttle or even large ships and force them to follow a certain path, most times toward the owner's hanger bay. This can be used to capture craft that have been disabled by ion cannons- to the victor goes the spoils, basically.

Back on the battle field, all of these things are coming on-line to bear against you. Your interceptor squadron has been launched to take on what looks to be a squadron of X-wings. You say to yourself: "We can take on X-wings any day of the week... We just can't let them get close to the Telepath with those proton torpedoes!" As one may have learned already, proton torpedoes have a greater armor piercing ability than that of concussion missiles, and thus, are very effective in fighter vs. ship battle. Used in coordination against a strike cruiser- this could become a very bad day for you.

So, this is where we discuss defensive ship battle first- it doesn't matter if you're with a capitol ship or a cruiser-class carrier, you need to defend that ship from attack, primarily by taking on those fighters and dismissing them before their MC40a can close range and start some bombardments of its own. So, just like normal ACM, you use BFM to the closest and most likely threat. First, you look toward the starfighters because they'll be hitting the strike cruiser first. Its important you get to them before they reach the strike cruiser, or that strike cruiser already has them lined up in the cross hairs of those twenty turbolasers, or the Telepath is ganna get fried. Assuming you take on that squadron of X-wings first, that group is going to have to split to avoid getting hit and crashing into you, this means they are no longer a full group but a series of groups- elements and flights. As they bring themselves on to new vectors to attack that capitol ship and avoid you as you try to pursue them, they're going to be coming at the strike cruiser in a new way. Depending on where the guns are placed, this could be a problem or it could be extremely helpful-

Every weapon has what is called a 'firing-arc' and that's basically its range. So, say you're coming in from the far right of this cannon- how far to the right do you have to be in order to keep from getting nailed by that cannon? Then there are the other cannons on the ship to consider- will you follow into the arc of those? While its good to try and find a whole in the defense of a ship, its usually your best bet to fire on the run. We'll say that the X-wing you're currently going after pulls into a dive to engage the Telepath, he's going to get fairly close before those turbolasers come to life and decide he's worth attacking back. Now, those turbolasers aren't too quick, so- the X-wing quickly steps out of the line of fire and starts going in a line perpendicular to the strike cruiser. Its still in pretty okay range, but its not traveling past the Telepath a little too quickly- the turbolasers can't keep up. Its at this point the X-wing swerves in and doesn't even bother to get a targeting lock- he simply dumb fires right into the hind-side of the Telepath and takes off before those turbolasers can get a good shot at him. That proton torpedo slams into the shields of the strike cruiser and actually causes some hull damage along with weakening the shield. What just happened?

That's what's called a cross and fade- the fighter appears to be coming straight in attack, but then chooses a vector that simple crosses the path of the cruiser. Suddenly, the fighter jerks in for a shot, then fades away. This is a very, very common strategy amongst pilots of any grouping and is likely to be seen first-hand on innumerable occasions. Now- couple that event to four or five more identical incidents against the Telepath, and you could be looking at a shieldless, defenseless strike cruiser. So- its your turn to fight back.

After your group has taken the liberty of dealing with the X-wings, which is where more of the fighters’ time and energy is spent for the majority of the battle, or at least forcing them onto an escape vector back to their own ship, you head right after that MC40a. You might not have the firepower to destroyer it, but you better believe that it can be injured. The shields on a ship don't necessarily have to blink out all at once, so its possible for one area to become exposed while the rest of the ship is in perfect condition. This is another maneuver fighter pilots will use from time to time.

Seeing the opposing X-wings on the run, say three remaining, while you have about eight Interceptors, you gun it for the MC40a. The NR ship has closed into range of your strike cruiser by now and is bringing its more powerful turbolasers to bare, the Telepath doing likewise. As soon as the X-wings are safely aboard, or the crew of that MC40a deems it the best decision, the NR craft will jump into hyperspace and out of your life- you can't let that happen.

Performing a bit of a copy cat maneuver, your squadron drops below the firing arcs of the turbolasers aboard the MC40a. Instantly, the sky around you has turned into a flood of red and green as fire from the MC40a and the Strike cruiser light up the sea of stars and nebula around you. The ships will probably be focusing their shields in the direction of the greatest cannon fire-threat, meaning that if they're getting nailed from the left, they'll throw all of their shield power into the port deflectors. You take this information and use it to your advantage, dropping even lower below the horizon of the MC40a, then bringing your group, all at once, straight into the underbelly of the ship, all fighters firing concussion missiles at once. That's eight concussion missiles detonating on the surface of this ship in a very, very close area. Not to mention you've focused it in an area where concentration of that shield will not be the greatest because of the ship vs. ship battle going on above. Assuming that portion of the shield has blinked out, your group can switch to cannons and make some direct-energy attacks to see what damage they can take in the first run so that they don't get split to splinters by the cannons coming to bear on them, or they can make a quick turn around and go for the concussions once again. Let's say a combination of both-

Your group takes a few pot shots and is fairly received to see some small explosions on the hull of the MC40a. Just then, turbolasers light up the sky and you need to be turning already, or you're toast! Your group splits to make it harder on the few turbolasers that are even tracking you, leaving significant space and time for at least a couple of you fighters to run back in and throw some concussion missiles at that bastard MC40a, assuming you still have some. Though not ideal for ship battle, a concussion missile still carries quite a wallop and the three or four that manage to get in to significant damage, a portion of the ship losing power and weighing the entire MC-40a down. By this time, the X-wings have been loaded back up on the other side and the NR craft and the MC40a is ready to get the hell out of there. Two things can happen:

1. The MC40a gets enough space and time to get a good vector for a jump and the enemy escapes with some serious battle wounds by losing over half a squadron and taking significant damage to the rear quadrant of the ship.

or

2. The Strike Cruiser recognizes the exit vector and takes it upon itself to accept for turbolaser damage to keep the ship from escaping. At this point, its only a matter of time before the Telepath loses its shields, or the MC40a can no longer take structural damage from the TIE Interceptors blowing holes in its rear-end. Lets say the Telepath does lose is shields- now what? Its' going to be in for a hurting, yes, and it'll probably move out of the way so that it can either retrieve the Interceptors or just lick its wounds. That or it can continue to sit it out and possible become in operable- this is where Ion cannons on both ends become fundamental. It’s a battle between the two to disable one before the other one has an opportunity to do so on the other...

The engines suddenly blink out after the last of the concussion missiles has been used on the rear, defenseless area near the engine cavity, all the while the Telepath's Ion Cannons and Turbolaser batteries batter forward shielding of the MC40a. Now that the engines are gone, perhaps an explosion caused by the constant wave of concussion from the rear-fired missiles, its only a matter of time before the shields are unable to withstand further attack, and the weapons die due to Ion cannon bombardment...

Assuming you've survived- you've just sat through a ship battle and survived.