GW - The Arrangement of Warships in Eikinada...

The Arrangement of Warships in Eikinada during the Second Great War

Strikecraft
Short-range craft that operate from capital ships or bases. Their usefulness in mass engagements is limited, but strikecraft are far more able to respond rapidly to developing situations across the battlefield than capital ships in formation. The crews of strikecraft —if they are crewed— are almost always bred for the purpose and possessed little of regard for their own lives.


Fighter
Tiny craft used in swarms to harry fleet elements and thus cause disruption to the enemy, or intercept incoming strikecraft. During the First War, they were often used to strike the weak points of large capital ships that were otherwise difficult to assail, but as tactics and technology have evolved and fleet sizes have increased, their usefulness in this endeavour has passed over to corvettes if anything. Their weapons are too small and limited in number to be effective against modern capital ships, and they are especially vulnerable to destroyers, which can often out-accelerate them. While their utility has waned, Fletcha has maintained a strong tradition of fighter use and produces many skilled pilots, but this is of little consolation to commanders as the technological limitations are quite overbearing. Second War fighters are generally capable of operating in both vacuum and atmosphere, allowing fleets in orbit to provide close support to ground forces and make precision strikes during planetary battles.

Corvette
Small craft with a high defensive capability for their size, and generally at least one 'heavy' weapon capable of crippling lesser capital ships. Much like fighters, corvettes can only survive a large-scale battle by moving in large swarms, which can operate with little regard for their fleet’s formation. Their concentrated numbers also protect them against intercepting fighters, whose own numbers mean far less in relation due to their poorer defences. The historical role of fighters has largely become the province of corvettes, and while even these superior craft are seldom decisive in fleet engagements, they make excellent skirmishers and can cause considerable damage to a disorganised enemy.




Capital Ships
There are really two kinds of what may be called ‘capital ships’ used throughout Eikinada. The lesser kind are ‘pseudo-capital’ destroyers and frigates, which ultimately rely on larger ships to sustain their crews, but still have a considerable operational range and in most respects operate in the same manner as larger ships. Civilian vessels often fall under this classification. The other kind, ‘true capitals’, are self-sustaining at a basic level and capable of traversing interstellar distances individually. Both kinds of capital ship still require support in order to remain combat-worthy, however; ammunition, for instance, is finite, requiring large numbers of tenders, and even factory ships to be present during extended engagements.


Escorts
Destroyer
Small ships intended to screen the larger capitals and protect them from strikecraft. In particularly large engagements, squadrons of destroyers may take on the role of strikecraft themselves, as their manoeuvrability is practically on par. The limited size of destroyers doesn’t allow them to sustain many capital-grade weapons, and their designs generally incorporate none capable of reliably damaging lineships, leaving them relatively defenceless against larger opponents.

Frigate
The weakest grade of lineship, i.e. a capital-class vessel capable of engaging opposing capital ships. Frigates typically formate around frontline cruisers and contribute a defensive fire role, often in conjunction with destroyers, until required to do otherwise. They are excellent at taking advantage of vulnerabilities presented by or caused upon the enemy; generally having the highest acceleration rates within the fleet alongside destroyers, they are more manoeuvrable than cruisers and indeed handier than strikecraft once the battle is joined proper (unless it devolves into a melee). Despite the advantages they can press, frigates require careful management as they can easily be picked off if caught out of position or by concentrated fire.


Lineships
Light Cruiser
Swift ships used as scouts, skirmishers, and pickets. Most military-operated light cruisers are not entirely designed for frontline combat, and often form a fleet’s rearguard and protect the logistics vessels during battle. Light cruisers that are designed for battle outright are a firm favourite of pirates and privateers, since they can generally outrun anything they can’t outfight. For similar reasons, military commanders with the freedom to choose may also opt for a light cruiser as their flagship.

Cruiser
The core of any fleet, in numerical terms; cruisers are adaptable combatants in the face of any enemy, combining equal measures of offence, defence and manoeuvrability. The cruisers of Confederation militaries usually house limited compliments of strikecraft, resulting in an even distribution of strikecraft throughout their fleets. The cruisers of all nations typically fight in somewhat close formations, contributing to all fire roles with a variety of weapons, while their onboard computers contribute (to a greater degree than ships of other classes) to a fleet-wide intelligence, which converges on local battleships, allowing commanders and AI within the fleet to make immediate tactical decisions. Indeed, toward the later stages of the Second War, some fleets were entirely AI-controlled.

Heavy Cruiser / Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers are often upgraded variants of typical line cruisers, sometimes being superior in all respects but most often only more durable. They usually form either the vanguard of the fleet or a rearguard ready to be committed later, and are the most capable all-round ships one-for-one. The main limiting factors on their numbers are typically of prohibitive expense, technology protectionism (i.e. fielding as few as necessary to reduce the chance of any being captured intact and reverse-engineered), or even reduced tactical flexibility. Up-armoured cruisers are relatively ponderous, and may actually carry fewer weapons than a standard cruiser depending on the design.

Battleship
Massive ships with many heavy weapons and an immense defensive capability. Battleships are the focal points of any fleet’s formation. Capable of engaging —and supporting— multiple other capital ships at once, battleships project vast amounts of fire into the enemy fleet at key points in an effort to force disadvantageous manoeuvres and break their formation. Engagements in space are usually decided upon fleets maintaining coherent formations, and battles where both fleets hold can remain indecisive for months.


Combat Support
Carrier
Dedicated carriers serve as bases within fleets for strikecraft but are themselves unwieldy in combat. Such ships are uncommon in the Confederation, but widely employed by Maroké. They are usually kept at the core or rear of the fleet, but their inclusion in the front line has been known to turn meeting engagements. Despite their supportive role, carriers are typically not vulnerable to attack and often possess a point defence capability that rivals battleships’. They are none the less extremely valuable and, like battleships, seldom operate without close escort.

Assault
Ranging in sizes typical of destroyers to those of modest cruisers, the role of assault ships is ultimately similar to that of battleships — to slice apart enemy formations. This end is, however, achieved far less through the careful application of firepower and defensive assets. The aim of assault squadrons is to seize the initiative through decisive manoeuvre, in many cases by literally entering and overrunning certain elements of the opposing fleet. Conventional flanking forces and fleet-wide manoeuvres are generally easily detected and countered, the former often by pickets of strikecraft and light cruisers that orbit their parent fleets at great distance. Assault ships typically wait within the mid ranks of the fleet before being committed to an attack, as it is difficult for any one fleet to pick out individual ships located sufficiently deep within another. Nigh all assault ships typically have extremely narrow profiles to facilitate their role, their hulls typically being quadri/hexa/octolaterial. In many ways, they employ principles common to corvette design and usage; they are extremely capable for their size with regards to point-defence. Armament typically consists of a mass of missile batteries and/or high-power energy weapons oriented frontward, with defensive turrets lining the sides. The powerplant is typically located toward the rear, with the engine(s) directly behind it. It is common for most classes of ships to have frontal engines, but these are rare in assault ships.

Artillery / Fire Support
Known more officially under such terms as 'long range fire support', these ships are little more than hulls built around one or a few extremely large weapons, and make for a more traditional and safer — but seldom so devastating — alternative to assault ships. The term 'long range' came about due to the way these ships fire from relatively deep within their fleet, not due there being an actual maximum range to most space-based weaponry, which there isn't, practical considerations aside. Fire missions are largely directed toward a pre-designated range of target angles in order to avoid friendly fire. Artillery ships are often variants of cruisers; most famous among these being the Shalk Ral Type 51, armed with a single heavy ion cannon that replaces the usual prow array. Historically, batteries of guided missiles were favoured, being very accurate and therefore very efficient. Advancements in defensive technology have led to high-velocity railguns and directed-energy weapons taking precedence, while the focus of low-velocity guided munitions has passed over to 'short range' applications. While capable of immense single-target damage, each one of these ships is itself extremely vulnerable to enemy fire, having far less space dedicated toward defensive capability or anti-ship weaponry that can be brought to bear on an evasive opponent.