Neo-Jovian Tactical Briefing

Overview

To fight properly, one must understand how people fight - both enemies and friends. To this end it may be wise to peruse this Solar Federation document of fundamental tactics and how they view both themselves and their enemies.

Friendly Forces

Federation Fleet

The Battleship (as exmeplified in the Norway-class) is the center of gravity in any major fleet engagement. With a trifecta of firepower, protection and mobile weapon complement a squadron of these craft can dominate any foe, and it is such that the Federation deploys when it wishes to intervene substantially. Standard tactics are to launch mobile suits outside of weapons range and advance under the cover of overlapping Scarlet Veils, with the capital ships engaging with beam weapons from long range while mobile suit strikers and escorts advance for close battle.

Cruisers serve two purposes; firstly in a battleline engagement cruisers will provide support for the battleships. In practice this can be close AA escort, scouting, CAP support and pursuit - the lattermost a role battleships are ill-suited for. However, the primary role for cruisers is long-range patrols, sovereignity patrols, antipiracy operations and the entire host of MOOTW missions. Thus, cruisers are the most 'independent' of ships. It is important though to recognize that cruisers are not simply small battleships and are not deployed as such.

The third and smallest warship in common use is the humble Destroyer, the all-important escort. Federation designs are fast and are primarily tasked to charge ahead of the main fleet body to break up enemy formations and lay down a continuous curtain of fire to disrupt or destroy enemy strike craft. To this end destroyers are normally fitted with batteries of dual-purpose guns; most also have torpedo systems.

Other warships exist, such as Assault Carriers and System Monitors. These tend to be uncommon and/or relatively specialized.

INTACT

As a rapid response organization, INTACT does not approach fleet operations the same was as the Federation Fleet. Two main warship classifications are used. The first is Cruisers; while superficially the same as their battlefleet brethren, those ships designed for INTACT are even more biased towards the MOOTW role with large volumes set aside for this purpose, to the unfortunate detriment of their relative per-tonnage effectiveness. Some sources colloquially use the term 'command cruiser' to reference both their near-capital size and their broad spectrum of onboard capabilities, though this is unofficial.

The other warship style in common INTACT use is the Frigate. Hearkening back to the pre-Federal era where frigates were the primary expeditionary warship, the main noteworthy feature of frigates is that they are designed for regular atmospheric transit. Ideal for the needs of a fledgeling INTACT, many of the war-era hulls were taken over and modernized. A number still serve, though they have been steadily replaced by newer and more capable command cruisers. A handful of 'superfrigates' have been constructed over the years but these have not found favor in the INTACT command echelons.

Neutral or Unfriendly Forces

League of Outer Stars

The primary warship used by the League is the Forward Operations Vessel (FOV), ships that under Federal classification would be considered medium carriers. Austere warships primarily meant to transport large quantities of Raptors into battle, FOVs will deploy their Raptors outside of weapons range under cover of Scarlet Veils and refuse to engage enemy warships - entirely sensible, given that the LOS ships have minimal armament barely sufficient for self-defense. General tactics see FOVs deploying partial-load waves of Raptors when operating in squadrons to ensure that damage any one ship does not cripple the formation as a whole.

The League also has a number of smaller warship designs, with all-gun destroyer-equivalents similar in design and role to Federation designs being used as screening craft. The main difference is doctrinal use, with these ships mostly used to defend the FOVs against enemy craft that break through the Raptor squadrons.

Sagittan Union

The Sagittan Union's general fleet methodology is superficially similar to that of the Solar Fleet, though with notable inversions. The main heavy warship in Sagittan service is the Aviation Cruiser, large subcapital warships host to overstrength combat frame complements and best compared not to cruisers but downsized battleships. Unlike standard Solar designs, Sagittan cruisers pack immense anti-air armament and are 'self-escorting', but outside of their missile barrage systems have limited antiship armament. It is the missile barrage systems that are their primary tools for attacking and breaking up enemy formations and the standard doctrine pairs a salvo launch with a combined strike from combat frames to disable or distract point defense systems. Smaller warships again show inversions. Sagittan Destroyers have heavy antiship armament for their size - typically advanced railcannons - but are only armed for self-defense against enemy strike craft.

One of the more concerning aspects of the Sagittan fleet is their extremely heavy use of electronic warfare. The Scarlet Veil system has allowed the Solar Fleet to deny enemies the use of advanced electronic techniques for fourty years. The likelyhood that the Sagittans have managed to develop a countermeasure (in whole or in part) can be taken as read.

Republic of Outremonde

Outremonde has a fleet doctrine conceptually similar to that of the Solar Fleet. Their primary warship is the Battlecruiser, a heavy-gun capital ship with an onboard mecha complement. Compared to Solar Fleet battleships, battlecruisers have inferior gun calibers but are substantially faster and agile. Thus even Republic capital ships can fade away from inferior tactical situations.

While not a warship, the Doppelsolder deserves a mention. These oversized mecha are flown in small numbers off battlecruisers and pack extreme firepower, making them a Class-A threat to warships even on their lonesome. With multiple redundant layers of defenses they can all but ignore most interceptor units and bull through with sheer weight of protection. Standard defensive tactics are NOT suggested against Doppels.

Neo-Jovian Rebels

In the wake of the Second Jovian war, three main Neo-Jovian exist. The first is the Gotto faction, led by Neo-Jove ace Max Gotto. This faction seems to be in eclipse, and little has been heard from it lately. It is thought to possess a secret base somewhere in the deep Rim with its own production facilities. It is responsible for many of the Neo-Jove mobile weapons such as the Marida. While its current tactics have not been closely observed, during the second Neo-Jovian war it made extensive use of long range mobile suit strikes rather than close warship engagements, apparently to preserve its limited supply of vessels. The super carrier Defiance is thought to be in the possession of the Gotto faction and to act as its flag ship.

The second Neo-Jovian faction is Richard Washington's Interstellar Army of Freedom. Also based in the deep Rim, The IAF are even more mobile suit based than the Gotto faction. They tend to deploy three mobile suit formations, with two older suits working with a newer "champion" suit (usually a second generation suit, often limited production) that carries the most experienced and skilled pilot. The champion's job is to destroy enemy craft while his or her wingmates defend him from ambushes and the like. The IAF has few warships, and often launches from converted and disguised Q-carriers rather than purpose built vessels. The most substantial vessel the IAF has is said to be the Battlestar Centauri, about equivalent to an Atlantic class assault carrier, however it is rarely used as the IAF appears not to wish to risk their fleet.

The final faction is Yoshimoto Mahoko's Combined Extra-Solar Fleet. Based around the remains of the Jovian Extra-Sol fleets, Yoshimoto's unit is now more pirate band than it is space navy. It is the only Neo-Jovian group to use warships extensively, and does so with unusual aggression, often using its warships as the centre piece of an attack while mobile weapons act as skirmishers and screening units. This should not cause the underestimation of Yoshimoto's pilots however. Many are veterans and they appear to maintain a solid pilot training establishment, along with extensive use of Jovian mobile weapons like the Tsun and Winged Knightress, the later of which Yoshimoto's fleet operates almost exclusively. While these are older designs, the Yoshimoto fleet seems to have made fairly substantial upgrades to them in the second Neo-Jovian war, possibly with technological assistance from the Gotto faction.

In general, a shortage of warships tends to make Neo-Jove tactics increasingly mobile suit based, and focused on raiding, piracy and the like. While major Neo-Jovian units do remain active, the threat level has plunged since their defeat in the second Neo-Jovian war, and they can no longer effectively give battle to more advanced and capable Solar Federation units.

Unaligned

Seraphim Organization

The Seraphim have a surprisingly competent fleet, with their warships being almost exclusively militarized versions of the common Neamah Frigate. While not specifically designed as warships, the fitting of one or more heavy pulse cannons and a half-squadron of mobile suits gives them an effective offensive punch especially in the outer reaches.

The Seraphim should not be placed in unaligned. The implications are simply not politic.--Legate Stark 10:17, 26 January 0048 NE