fleet was a lot larger than he had ever seen let alone taken on before. Giving him plenty of chances to take out a Battleship or two on his own. Something he had yet to do with his Destroyers, though he had helped the battleship fleet take down many over the last few months as the majority bounty recipient on many of the destroyed ships. It still amounted to only a fraction of the bounty for his little squadron after all the other ships that had managed to get a few good shots into the hull before it was declared a hulk got their share.
Jack brought his little section of ships to a halt to allow the rest of his squadron to catch up to him. Then watched the enemy fleet start firing back even though it was still far out of range and a waste of time even if they were deliberately shooting at the cruisers and destroyers. Jack continued to smile since the enemy's own gun fire would reduce their detection range to a fraction for anything as small as his Destroyers. Letting him get even closer before being detected and fired upon. Let alone tracked as he positioned his ships for that attack.
After the last of his destroyers finally joined him, he hit his comm. "Squadron, drop 3 full tank sets and mark them for retrieval." Jack did as he had ordered. Dropping the full tanks lightening his ships up considerably by almost half. Increasing their acceleration and therefor their speed for their attack run. The next ship he wanted to get was a tanker that could haul the drop tanks for the Destroyers to refueling points on both sides of the enemy fleet so they could quickly grab reaction mass between battle attack runs, allowing him to lighten his ships up even more and increase their acceleration and therefor their attack speed and survivability. Taking a deep breath, it was time to attack. "OK. Charge it guys. Pedal to the metal. Lock and load and follow me." Jack's Destroyer turned toward the enemy fleet at full acceleration.
Some 30 minutes later (game time, 5 minutes actual) the Comm officer reported. "Captain, drop tank A is empty on all ships sir." The A set of tanks on Jack’s ship and the ships that had deployed early with him had been empty for a while already.
"Very well comm. Order fleet to drop Tank A in 5, decoy pattern Bravo 3 and a full set of torpedoes and missiles on attack mod Charley 7. Then course chance 20 degrees port."
On the count of zero , two dozen external disposable Reaction Mass Tanks a hundred feet long and 16 feet in diameter dropped from the squadron along with a mass of decoys, missiles and torpedo's. All staying dead silent for the moment as they drifted on an intercept course with the enemy fleet. Then turning, the Destroyers continued to accelerate away from the mass of tanks and torpedoes, around toward a different flank of the enemy fleet. Toward a point almost 90 degrees around from the intercept point of the tanks and decoys he had just dropped.
The enemy closed with J ack's allies as Tom's Battlecruiser turned to angle away to maintain his distance just out of effective range of the enemy guns. The rest of the allied fleet now approaching within their Battleships gun range, turned to present their broadsides crossing the enemy fleet's T and their head on charge. A big tactical advantage for Jack’s side. Giving Jacks allies, the Republic fleet, who were severely outnumbered in ships to begin with, more guns on the rapidly approaching enemy fleet that had only their bow guns pointing at and able to shoot.
The enemy fleet was trying to close the distance to point blank range where their greater numbers of ships and guns would have an overwhelming advantage once they were able to present their own broadsides. A tactic Jack thought he probably would have used if he had been the Commander of the enemy fleet. Though he would have added a few wrinkles to make it easier for his fleet to cover the distance without getting their assess (or Bows to be exact), shot off. His favorite was splitting
Jack brought his little section of ships to a halt to allow the rest of his squadron to catch up to him. Then watched the enemy fleet start firing back even though it was still far out of range and a waste of time even if they were deliberately shooting at the cruisers and destroyers. Jack continued to smile since the enemy's own gun fire would reduce their detection range to a fraction for anything as small as his Destroyers. Letting him get even closer before being detected and fired upon. Let alone tracked as he positioned his ships for that attack.
After the last of his destroyers finally joined him, he hit his comm. "Squadron, drop 3 full tank sets and mark them for retrieval." Jack did as he had ordered. Dropping the full tanks lightening his ships up considerably by almost half. Increasing their acceleration and therefor their speed for their attack run. The next ship he wanted to get was a tanker that could haul the drop tanks for the Destroyers to refueling points on both sides of the enemy fleet so they could quickly grab reaction mass between battle attack runs, allowing him to lighten his ships up even more and increase their acceleration and therefor their attack speed and survivability. Taking a deep breath, it was time to attack. "OK. Charge it guys. Pedal to the metal. Lock and load and follow me." Jack's Destroyer turned toward the enemy fleet at full acceleration.
Some 30 minutes later (game time, 5 minutes actual) the Comm officer reported. "Captain, drop tank A is empty on all ships sir." The A set of tanks on Jack’s ship and the ships that had deployed early with him had been empty for a while already.
"Very well comm. Order fleet to drop Tank A in 5, decoy pattern Bravo 3 and a full set of torpedoes and missiles on attack mod Charley 7. Then course chance 20 degrees port."
On the count of zero , two dozen external disposable Reaction Mass Tanks a hundred feet long and 16 feet in diameter dropped from the squadron along with a mass of decoys, missiles and torpedo's. All staying dead silent for the moment as they drifted on an intercept course with the enemy fleet. Then turning, the Destroyers continued to accelerate away from the mass of tanks and torpedoes, around toward a different flank of the enemy fleet. Toward a point almost 90 degrees around from the intercept point of the tanks and decoys he had just dropped.
The enemy closed with J ack's allies as Tom's Battlecruiser turned to angle away to maintain his distance just out of effective range of the enemy guns. The rest of the allied fleet now approaching within their Battleships gun range, turned to present their broadsides crossing the enemy fleet's T and their head on charge. A big tactical advantage for Jack’s side. Giving Jacks allies, the Republic fleet, who were severely outnumbered in ships to begin with, more guns on the rapidly approaching enemy fleet that had only their bow guns pointing at and able to shoot.
The enemy fleet was trying to close the distance to point blank range where their greater numbers of ships and guns would have an overwhelming advantage once they were able to present their own broadsides. A tactic Jack thought he probably would have used if he had been the Commander of the enemy fleet. Though he would have added a few wrinkles to make it easier for his fleet to cover the distance without getting their assess (or Bows to be exact), shot off. His favorite was splitting
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