Tactics

In response to a question I received about the Tong Ship, I give permission
for the Tong Ship to be included in any Spelljamming web page provided:
1)  You include an e-mail link to me in the article
2)  You let me know where you are putting it.

But back to tactics:

When a ship encounters an enemy in space, it has three basics options:
1)  Run
2)  Maneuver to fight but avoid closing or letting the other close
3)  Close
    3a)   Close to ram
    3b)   Close to shear, and perhaps then to enter a missile duel with a
    less maneuverable opponent
    3c)   Close for missiles and spells
    3d)   Close to board


If a merchant vessel were to encounter a faster, smaller vessel, it wouldn't
be able to disengage using speed alone.  It can use magic to disengage or
use the fact that its opponent wants the engagement more than it does to
maneuver the encounter into the sort of engagement that would give it
the best chance.  The easiest way to prepare a merchant vessel for such
an encounter would be to mount rear facing heavy weapons.  Only if its
attacker is _radically_ faster will its attacker be able to get a shot off
without any chance at reply.  An SR 6 versus an SR1 ship whose weapons
only fire in one direction is _not_ going to want a missile duel.

Magic can be used to help a ship to escape in several ways.  Spells
like Pyrotechnics can distract an enemy while the ship changes course.
Hopefully by the time the ship is spotted again it will have gained some
distance.  Invisibility and illusions are also useful.  An illusion of
the ship changing course, or even turning to ram might help, except that the
range of most illusions is too short to sustain the trick for long, only
the number of rounds the illusion will last after concentration ceases.

I don't believe there is anything to prevent a helmsman from reading a
scroll of Increase Rating, and such a scroll could be more useful to a
merchant that an extra heavy weapon.  Likewise, the Potion of Increase
Rating from the Astromundi Sourcebook is an excellent thing to have
supplied.  With the Spelljamming skill, it is possible to get a quick
jump of +3-4 SR!

Even if the merchant vessel is faster, that might not be enough for it to be
sure of disengaging if it is outnumbered as well.  One or two ships would
prevent it from acheiving Spelljamming speed while the third Spelljammed in
front of the merchant vessel.  In my opinion, the most interesting battles
would be between one or more target ships which have a slight speed
advantage versus three times as many ships, not all of which can keep up,
but can englobe their target and hopefully prevent them from escaping to
Spelljamming speed.

Whether you have a merchant vessel evading pirates, a blockade runner trying
to evade patrols, or a pirate vessel trying to avoid navy warships the
tactical equation is dominated by one important fact.

One side wants a battle, and the other side would prefer to avoid it.

There are a number of ways to force an engagement:
1)  Be faster than your opponent (or have at least one ship which can keep
up, grapple for the other ships to catch up)
2)  Outnumber your opponent, with each element able to hold its own against
the target until the flanking elements can join the pinners
3)  Surprise, (through better sensors, communications, invisibility, or
by jumping on them as they approach a port)
4)  Sucker your opponent into range and then grapple, while reinforcements
show up.  (Feigning surrender, looking weaker than you are, concealed
well-trained marines, maintaining a lower SR than your Max)


There is another type of space battle, one in which both sides want the
engagement, or have no choice:
1)  Beholder Civil War battles
2)  Similar Kill-On-Sight enemies
3)  One side is defending something they must defend which can't move,
like a space base or a colony
4)  One side is protecting a convoy, and the convoyed ships can't
disengage.
5)  The conflict is about establishing superiority, territorial control
over a given area.
6)  Battles in which neither side has very good intelligence on the other,
and both sides believe that they can prevail.

Even so, at some point the battle will shift over into the former type,
as one side no longer wishes to stay in the battle.  One side will realize
that it is heavily outpowered and want to leave.  There are a number of
reasons why a retreat might not be possible or ordered.  Some space powers
punish Admirals who order retreats, some fleets lack sufficiently reliable
communications, and some battles turn into extended boarding actions that
_can't_ be broken off.  Also, breaking off the battle might mean sacrificing
the slower ships in detail, resulting in less damage to the enemy compared
to the damage they inflict.

Even when both sides _want_ the battle, they may want it on different terms.
If either side has magical communications, one side may have local
superiority, but it has to get out of the area before reinforcements arrive.
You could have the unusual situation of the defender sending unarmed
Tradesmen in pursuit of Dreadnoughts in order to keep its attacker from
escaping before reinforcements arrive!  (See David Weber's Honor Harrington
Books for ideas about fleet combat)  The Dreadnoughts' commanders would
have to determine whether they could destroy their would be pursuers before
the reinforcing fleet broke out of Spelljamming speed and cut off their
escape.  And they would know that if they turned to attack these Tradesmen,
the Tradesmen would simply fall back towards their base, leading the
Dreadnoughts closer to their encounter with the 10 Armadas which were just
_waiting_ for an enemy fleet to commit to a battle to pounce.

Speed is King in Spelljamming battles.  If a fleet or convoy is at
Spelljamming speed, they must be separated by at least 25 hexes.
Imagine how much trouble a Neogi Leech with a Lifejamming Apatasaurous,
(50 HD, 18 SR) could cause, even if it weren't armed. If, on the other
hand, the fleet or convoy is bunched up, you hit somewhere else and it
takes a while for the fleet to seperate enough to acheive Spelljamming
speed and go after you.

Beholder ships are limited to 5 SR or less, Mind Flayers are limited by
the number of series helms they have, getting 1 SR per occupied helm.  While
The Corcordance of Arcane Space says they typically have 2-5 helms, there
is no reason in principle against having a ship with _20_ for a special task.

What is the importance of this?  5 SR is the speed you need to close the
distance between the maximum range of artillery that can do hull point
damage to the same hex.  At SR higher than 5, you only have pure artillery
duels for as long as both sides want it that way.  The odds of the side
which wants to maintain the distance winning inititive enough times to
keep the combat at artillery range isn't very high.

A ship with one Light Catapult, unlimited ammo, MC A and SR 8 should be able
to destroy an MC C and SR 4 Tyrant ship without suffering any casualties.

This is an exercise for the gameboard, but any time the Light Catapult
equipped ship moves last in a round, it moves to a point 5 hexes from the
Tyrant ship, preferably in the rear quarter.  Any time it goes first in
a round it pulls away to a greater distance than the Tyrant can cover
in two rounds.  It would take about 100 shots to disable the Tyrant ship,
taking a minimum of 200 rounds or 3 and 1/2 hours to do it, but unless the
Tyrant can increase its speed or somehow trick the Light Catapult ship
or bring in reinforcements it is doomed.

I used to think that the Thoric Tradesman idea was silly, 3 helms just for
one merchant ship?  The only thing it improves is the SR?  What is the
good of that?  Simple, with a high SR you can break away from combat.
Sure you effectively triple your investment and overhead to get the
same cargo delivered, but it gets delivered.  In a high combat sphere
the ability to get away from any attacker is critical to running a successful
trading operation.

Michael Sandy
mehawk@????.org