[ELPIRATA]

If the new flux AI is going to be different, then no guns on the Recon ship. I like what Lordo says, pure electronics platform.

[Lordopic]

Originally Posted by ELPIRATA

I like what Lordo says, pure electronics platform.

I take backwhat i just said in that post over there

[ELPIRATA]

No no no, you cant

breath in... breath out.... breath in... breath oooooout....

ELP

[Ikeprof]

Satisfied that all was well in the sector, Ikeprof, jumped back into Outpost Station sector and went full burn towards Arkans Cloud. Jumping without incident, he traversed Arkans Cloud and Primus Point sectors quickly. Tensing his thumb over the flashfire button, he quickly inquired about gate camp issues at the gate into Dark Gateway. The combat coordinator on duty informed him that no vessels were within 10K of the gate. Ikeprof tensed slightly as he always did when jumping into a known combat sector and was relieved at the lack of shield flaring that indicated incoming fire.

Pitching quickly away from the mess of red and blue dots appearing on his scope Ikeprof aimed his ship away from the battle and into deep space in the sector. At 100K from the Primus Point gate, Ikeprof pitched 90 degrees upward and continued on another 100K in case any enemy ships noticed his original vector and was patiently waiting off scope to follow him out. Thoughtlessly he flipped his ship and braked it in a practiced motion. His hands moved quickly across his control panel as he systematically shut most of his ships subsystems down. Shields, ships radar, weapons systems all went dark as he activated his cloaking modx. Satisfied he would present minimal energy emissions, he notified the combat coordinator on duty that he was in position and ready to assume control of the squads forces. The departing CC officer had little to say, most likely due to his being under qualified for the position. Ikeprof was fine with that as most of the time he found his tactics clashed with those of other CC�s and he knew the men would respond as they always did when he took control.

Activating his ships CC modx system, his entire hud exploded into one huge 3d radar scope of brilliant colors and motion. The three on duty squad scout craft with their powerful radars and electronic systems fed massive torrents of information to his ship real time, allowing him to have a perfect tactical view of the entire battlefield within the 50K radar range of each scout in addition to the information provided by the lesser radars of the other squad combat and cargo craft in the sector. Ikeprof was pleased that at least the departing CC had placed the Griffens in a nice triangle surrounding the bulk of the battle action. Having gotten used to operating with only 2 scout craft, Ikeprof was even more comfortable with the additional information provided by the third scout. Each enemy blue dot on the scope carried a pilot name, squad tags, ship type, shield and armor status, velocity, and current vector indicated by the pointy end of the arrow attached to each dot. Each friendly squad pilots red dot also showed him current number of missiles and afterburner and flashfire counters. The fact that this display filled the screen prevented him from flying at all, but he knew that his job was as important as any other pilots job in this battle.

Having proven long ago that voice communications were inefficient in the milliseconds between life and death battles of the time, the Venture class command coordinator craft were developed by Octavian engineers. Only in conjunction with a scout craft did the ship realize it�s potential. The oversized radars of the scouts were useful in their own, but having the ability to transmit that information to a command ship allowed the larger squads to truly coordinate their efforts as a team. For years the scout craft was dismissed as an ineffective and useless craft in combat, but after the Venture class ship went into production, the scout craft became an integral part of most combat encounters and allowed the newer pilots the ability to take part in some massive battles. Without the scout craft Ikeprof would not be blind, but he knew he would be lacking the important vector and velocity information that only the scouts could provide.

Ikeprof quickly scanned the action on the CC scope, rotating it dynamically while taking stock of friendly and foe forces. Apparently the typical strengths and weaknesses of the factional craft were showing through again. The bulk of the Octavian bombers and heavy fighters were concentrated mid sector in an almost perfect sphere with guns pointing outwards. 3 Condor class tows were parked in the center of the sphere loaded out with PWD100�s in order to negate missile threats. A scattering of light fighters equipped with relic gear harassed the enemy bombers and heavy fighters with minimal success at the top of the display. Watching as the vectors of 4 of the enemy bombers converged at the top, Ikeprof readied himself to counter what was obviously the preparation for some form of assualt.

Using the Mechanical Organic Unified Sensory Enhancer (Mouse), Ikeprof simply had to click on a friendly dot, drag the dot onto an enemy dot to create a target for his pilots to concentrate fire upon. Using a variety of key presses on his ships data entry keyboard, he could elevate a target�s level of urgency, create fire teams to work together on a target, create flight groups that he could communicate to directly. The huge radar scope was capable of rotating on any axis using his ships flight control hotas in order to get the best angle to view the battle.

Dragging a box around the 4 bombers, Ikeprof tagged them as a group. Dragging a box around the sphere of his main forces, he deftly tapped the key strokes signifying the primary targets and ordering them to maintain current position and attitude while awaiting the next move.

Quick acknowledgements from his pilots filled his comms screen as the enemy bombers began their run. Mentally extending their vector forwards, he could see they intended to pass tangentially to the sphere and focus on one or two of his bombers rather than attempting to pass through the middle of it and exposing themselves to the bulk of his pilots devastating firepower.

Having seen this type of run before, Ikeprof knew the lightness of the Solrain bomber made vector extrapolation deceptive. If these pilots were under the command of a competent CC, it may be a ruse to which any attempt to counter position his forces could result in more damage than simply bearing the brunt of the run as it stood. He decided that patience was the only option.

Watching the progress of the bombers, Ikeprof realized the opposing CC was not new at this. At roughly 10K distance the first enemy bomber released a single morning star. Bomber pilot Quick indicated missile lock but calmly held his position. At 1K intervals each of the other enemy bombers released a single Morning Star missile also. This type of run was very textbook in terms of forcing exhaustion of PWD100�s. With 15 PWD�s left in the Condor group, Ikeprof was not worried.

Watching the 4 enemy bombers pass by the defensive sphere Ikeprof grew frustrated at the stalemate situation that had developed as seemed par for course these days. Both sides had grown so adept at utilizing the strengths of their crafts that an almost unnatural balance had been achieved. The brutish firepower of the Octavian craft, combined with their heavy armor compensated for the lack of speed and in flight trajectory modification ability. The hard to hit Solrain bombers with their agility and speed suffered from their own deficiencies. Captain McInnus was responsible for the innovative and rather brave concept of the sphere turret defense formation with the PWD tows. Ikeprof suspected it actually evolved from an attempt at salvaging a losing battle, but regardless, it had become standard practice when outnumbered in battle as seemed to be the case the majority of the time. Prior to the development of that formation, Octavian forces had been taking a beating by the Solrain craft who could hit and fade easily at will while the Octavian craft never had that option.

Ikeprof�s continued to issue commands in an almost automatic fashion while pondering the situation. The Solrain bombers flew lazy 8 patterns to exhaust the missiles fired routinely by the fade side of his sphere group. As the missiles disappeared from his scope, the solrain bombers formed up for another pass with each side having inflicted minimal damage. A quick scan of remaining ammunition quantities showed that at least an hour or more of battle at this rate remained before replacement craft would be necessary. One of the Condor�s was almost out of PWD�s but had 4 morning stars equipped. Ikeprof tapped out a quick command instructing that pilot to maneuver to the side of the sphere opposite of the bombers and launch 2 MS�s on a single bomber after they had passed.

[ELPIRATA]

@Ike: Great reading I dont think we ever got to use the PWD ball that much, though it has changed, now is an ECM that after each usage eats fuel to recharge.

@Vomir: nope, a scout with same radar range as the enemy isnt really a scout. Many forces used Rangers instead because of the bigger radar range. This is the reason why I suggested a bigger radar for the Scout. Closest thing to a scout was the Hawk, still same radar range as fighters, but was able to use the biggest ECM available, giving it the power/chance to avoid enemy radars...

ELP

[Ambrosius]

Nice read and great way to present an idea. In fact, I've seen this concept tossed around for years. It sounds VERY cool but I always wondered a couple of things:1) Is it in the realm of possibility from a coding perspective;2) Could it possibly work at the speed with which Jumpgate dogfights tend to be resolved; and3) How would it impact the "fun" of PvP which is currently a very mano y mano thing right now. Most of the PvPers I know are "rugged individualists" (to say the least).

[Wild_Bill]

Ambro, you are undoubtably correct in your assessment but from the view point of someone who is NOT a great combat pilot, the direction of a qualified CC could be a very good thing. I was never able to take advantage of TS so this idea of having a target set for me could make better use of my minimal abilities for combat. In other words, I might actually be an asset under those circumstances!