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[member="The Librarian"] or alt vs [member="Raze Lyter"]
The tournament simulation is extremely detailed. Every element of your starship, all the void beyond, each gesture and comment of your crew - it all seems real. Your starfleet is drawn from historical designs, the kind that still see use here and there in the Outer Rim. You command:
Your enemy has the exact same starship types. You've given all your ships their own names; naturally, they're better than the names your opponent chose for the enemy fleet.
The scenario is fairly straightforward. You have encountered each other in orbit around a small, irregular moon of an uninhabited planet.
OOC/ The battle will last one week, or until one of you concedes, or longer if both of you agree. If one of you fails to post within the first two days, a new opponent will be subbed in. You can assume that you start within long range of each other. Victory/defeat should be pretty straightforward for you to determine between yourselves; I'll pick a winner if both of you feel you've won.
"We sustained damage in that meteor shower. Crews are on their way to patch the holes but it might take a while. We've also detected and unknown Force orbiting the moon as well. They seem to be similarly constructed to us."
Seem to be didn't necessarily mean they were. Even the same hull could have differences to it, he knew. They had to play the game the way it was meant to be played: cautiously and without a sense of urgency. He lifted his patch to rub around the socket underneath, since there was no eye there. Sometimes it itched like crazy, and this was especially the case where he was in a bit of a pickle of a situation and being made to wonder what to do about it. If they were equally matched, it was going to be a game of wit more than anything, and all they had to use was the moon they were orbiting. He'd have given anything for a nice nebula cloud to hide in.
"Send the transports and landing craft down to the moon. Have them sit tight."
"You got it."
"Get me a line to that other fleet."
It only took a few moments of searching before he got the thumbs up from the communications officer that they'd found the proper frequency to transmit on. He didn't really know all of that mumbo jumbo. Knowing it was possible was all he needed as a fleet admiral. Let the other kids mess with the dials and buttons and do-hickeys.
"This Admiral Raze Lyter to unknown fleet. Please identify yourself and state your intentions."
He signaled for the transmission to be ended and then looked at the captain.
"Launch fifty of the vulture droids to perform screening around the fleet. Have the rest on standby."
Solan looked on at the fleet that seemed to appear and he smiled as he studied what looked like a similar but highly different force. He would need to approach this with care, knowing that it would not be simple to take apart this force which has presented itself to him. He did not know if they were an enemy of his but the force was simply one that was in the way of his work so he smiled and turned to his officers. "Ignore the request from the other fleet."
He turned his focus on their early movements now, watching his display detail the movement of two small forces. First there was the transport ships and landing craft moving off from the field of battle, something that made Solan curious about them and caused for a note of rememberance of their location. The other action he could get a hand on was the screening force of vulture droids that had been called on. That was a rather small force, assuming the man before him had the same ammount of craft he did. This made his own actions difficult to decide on.
Luckily there were ways to deal with the Vulture droids, ways to use them against eachother. He would need an openning through and this was a problem as it meant he might need to strike first in order to create that openning.
"Order the Hardcells to formup behind the lucrehulk, and the Munificients to form up on our flanks, launch two squadrons of vultures and have them hold position on the Munificients while launching five more squadrons hand having them hold on our hull. Prepare landing craft for when they are needed and can be safely escorted." He said to the nearby officer, hoping that the commands would be simple.
(My use of Squadrons will be 15 vultures per, thus leaving me 100 squadrons to make things simple)
The fact that they didn't respond wasn't exactly unexpected. Most people didn't when engaging in fleet battles. Granted, Raze himself didn't usually respond, but that's because he was engaging First Order ships and jumping down their throats right off the bat without a word was just his thing to do. These weren't First Order ships, however, and he'd intended to get a bearing on their intentions in this scenario before making his moves to strike at them. Now that they had ignored his hail and request for identification, it was safe to assume that they were hostile. He turned to the droids in charge of communications with the dropships.
"Make sure your ships remain at readiness. When I call for you, I will tell you what to do, but for now remain out of the way."
"Yes, Viceroy."
"I'm not a Viceroy."
"Roger roger."
Oh he did loathe battledroids. Shaking his head, he looked back at the field before him. A fifty fighter screen was enough to cause curiosity, but that was the intention. He wasn't going to give away his full numbers of available Vulture's right off the bat, just in case his opponent didn't have as many as him for some reason. He also didn't know if the opponent's Lucrehulk was damaged or not. That was something they would have to find out in the engagement.
"Move Reprimand and Reproach in front of us. When they're in position, launch one hundred vulture droids for each, and place them directly in the rear shadow of the frigates. The enemy's scanners shouldn't be able to differentiate based on our proximity. Inform them to remain in their wake until I say so. Launch three hundred more of the droids and send them to our rear."
"You got it, Boss."
Wargames. Working with so many droids was going to give him a headache. He was glad to have at least some living crew aboard. They'd keep him sane.
When it came to a battle where the numbers and equipment was equal, there was little that solan could do in decieving his enemy as to the capabilities of his own ships, which meant he would simply need to create something else in order to do so. Which is why Solan was now grinning like a mad man and looked to the nearest officer and gave a quick, simple order.
"Command all ships to follow us, and as for us, transfer all power to our forward shields and speed us up so that we can... embrace our enemies." His smile did not vanish, wanting to see what would happen should he take this course of action.
What he was asking after all was for his ship to be rammed right into the enemy vessel with no hint of hesitation. Sure the shielding was to protect them on the approached but he wanted to see how his opponent would react to the sight of someone attempting to ram a Lucrehulk into another one, as the first tactic out of the bag. Oh he was certain the fun would be more than enough and his thoughts brought him back to the fact of the vulture droids on the hull.
"Have Vulture Droid squadrons stationed on or around the Lucrehulk to take up positions within the inner ring and to guard from stray rounds from the enemy ships. Losing even one droid before the fun begins would be quick dissatisfying."
While his crew, the organic based ones atleast prepared for the worst, Solan simply smiled and waited as the ships moved into formation and created what was essentially a train of crafts heading right for the enemy force, aiming to ram into them. He would not disagree that the idea was absolutely brainless but in all honesty he has done worse, like space his hanger in order to deprive a bordering party of oxygen or purposely set his own reactor to blow with him being the one to do it and not remotely. Plus there were his suicide boarding pods which were meant to rupture the hulls of ships and the bridge specifically if he was so lucky. Solan enjoyed finding the most unnecessary ways of dealing with his enemies.
"They've begun a rapid approach with the Lucrehulk at the lead!" the Captain said.
So, that was how it was going to be, was it? Either the intent was to ram him, or they were trying to make him think that was their intent. A game of chicken, as it were. Raze, having only one eye, could not afford to flinch. Nor did he care to, anyway. Strategy had already been laid for this sort of incident. In fact, he'd made the killing move already, his opponent just wasn't aware yet. Which, realistically, was a good thing because the killing blow could be stopped, after all.
He huffed out a breath and looked at the Captain.
"Deploy all remaining Vultures and then seal the inner blast doors and the hangar doors. Once the droids are launched, put our shields at se entry five percent forward."
"You got it, boss."
That should keep them from avoiding any incidents like a vulture flying itself inside and ramming itself into their reactor or something of that nature. Plus it put the bulk of their fighting force at the ready for this charge. He had plenty of Vulture droids screened off that the enemy scanners would have trouble differentiating from the larger ships, so he was certain he could swing at least one hidden hammer at them.
"Have Reprimand and Reproach pull back in full reverse into a higher and a lower orbit around us. Make a nice little sandwich. Charge all guns and open fire as soon as the enemy is within medium effective range. Have the Vultures we just launched move around to our rear to shield them from incoming fire."
His eyes turned to the holo of the droid commander in charge of the landing ships.
Solan grinned as he came within range of the Munificent class craft, knowing they could pack a punch but that was not something he worried about. The Lucrehulk was just as it was meant to be, a beast that could soak up damage and act as a planetary occupation vessel. Offense was not the idea of the vessel and Solan knew this full well which is why he stared at the incoming craft, knowing that they would play his game of chicken now. Which meant it was time to have a bit more fun and to deal with these little pests. He would need the plan to go off correctly and his words left his mouth as he began giving out orders to the crew.
"Launch four more squadrons, have them hold positions with the others within the central ring, the Munificent are to perform a peak-boo assault once we are within range, the Hardcells are to act as the Veils and move with the Munificent, two to a craft. Keep shields on full and wait for the appearance of what I assume are vulture droids like ours. Assuming they are outfitted in the same manner expect the droids to be used as interceptors, as they should lack the physical power needed in order to pierce through the shielding of our craft. Once we are within range the Avalon is to dip and present full weapons on the enemy. Remember, we wear our guns upon our back people, do not show them your belly."
That would be the key. A battle between carrier forces was a slow one in most cases but they would challenge that idea. Without bombers hitting hardpoints would be difficult for the ships at his dispossal, but the lay out of the Lucrehulk made damaging the crafts much easier than one needed to worry about. Of course there was the internal damage that could destroy the ships, but any two bit with a history book would know how to rectify this issue which is why Solan did not bother with even entertaining the idea of boarding the enemy. No the transports could be used in a much different fashion but he would need to wait for the correct time.
For now he tapped his hand and thought about the numbers he had put into the field. There was of course the fleet proper, two frigates, four transports and his retrofitted lucrehulk. Then came the Vulture droids that he had pulled from his hangers. For now there would be one squadron crawling over each Hardcell, four on each Munificent, and twelve huddled inside the inner ring of the Lucrehulk itself. In total 24 of the 100 squadrons launched. Some strategies called for a mass deployment and such one was hard to hide, which was how he knew that something was to be expected of his enemy. It did not matter what kind of counter sensor equipment one had, 1500 fighters would not be hidden by cowering in the shadows of the ships they were meant to protect. He expected them to come out from all sides and attack like a claw closing on its pray, and that was why Solan could not be sure of who he faced. The tactic was something he expected from aedan, swarming and simply tossing fighters away with no hint of a strategy behind it. The man was famous for employing vast numbers only to really do nothing spectacular with their possible usage.
Solan could understand why, especially in situations like this. Managing the paths of a thousand and a half fighters was simply impossible for any man to do, but breaking those numbers into squadrons and using the hive nature but separating that hive nature into smaller groups helped create far more efficient numbers of enemy casualties.
They were well within range and it was the last chance for [member="Raze Lyter"] to do something before the enemy would be given a bit of a surprise. And as a hint for the enemy commander, Solan even began to slow down and see how he would react to the lumbering ship's still rapid approach, even if it began to slow.
"All hands red alert. Disregard their slowing, it could be a ploy. Maintain present formation, keep the Reprimand and Reproach in their present maneuver to sandwich us."
A game of chess. Naval warfare was a game of standardized chess, but with rules that were flimsy and sometimes unknown. The battlefield was a board that presented various obstacles to be dealt with or ignored entirely. Sometimes the obstacles could even be used to your advantage. Presently, the moon was doing that by keeping him locked in an orbital rotation that kept him in place, while his ships down near the moon's surface were not directly beneath him any longer as he rotated away from them.
With the enemy moving toward him, presenting some of its droids but not likely all if they had the same compliment, he had to be patient. In order for his plan to work, they needed to be engaged. While he expected standard tactical maneuvers from his opponent, he had no intention of exhibiting the same himself. Instead, he had a plan that was far from conventional, even when working with droid vessels.
Stepping down from his seat, he walked to the droid control stations and got the crew into a huddle.
"What I need is very precise. I'm sure the droids can handle it if we program it right. So here's what I want."
He made a swirling motion with his hand and a few other gestures so give them the exact idea. They each looked among themselves and nodded.
"We can do it."
"Get it programmed and quickly. We will be engaged in a moment."
He moved back to his chair, as the enemy drew within range, and the guns kicked into gear, firing on the Lucrehulk. He'd previously given orders to fire as soon as they were in medium effective range, so now that they had moved into range, the guns would light up the beasts shields, but he knew that was what his opponent wanted. He also knew that his opponent wasn't going to expect his forthcoming maneuvers.
"When their other ships pop out turn fire to focus on them. Landing commander?"
"Sir?"
"As soon as the enemy makes their move with their escorts begin your rise, full engine burn."
"Roger roger."
He sat back in his seat to watch the light show for the moment. In a short while it would get really crazy out there, but he was ready for it.
