Stars! The Wingman Strategy

Stars!  What is Strategy? By definition it is : A plan designed to strike at an  opponent, at the very source of their military, economic, and/or political  power. Is strategy the biggest gun or the most ships? How much effort of  thought does it take to send 500 ships to attack your one planet. Yes it will  work but it is not Strategy. Strategy is a plan that takes your opponent by  surprise. Strategy will/can allow the little guy to win, the player in 24th  place can beat you if he uses the right strategy. Now to the meat of it:  If you are going to attack someone, whether it be a ship or a planet; use the  element of surprise. First set up two fleets. Fleet # 1 letís say has 10  cruisers and 5 bombers, none of them have cloaks. This fleet is the lead  element or the bait. Fleet # 2 has your best battleships with strong cloaks in  them, this fleet is the wingman. The fleets stay apart but close.   When you attack, fleet # 1 goes in first and the enemy only see them; but by  speed or angle of attack the two fleets attack at the same time(together). In  reality fleet #2 rushes in and does the killing while fleet # 1 holds back. The  enemy had expected to do battle with 10 cruisers, but instead the fight was  with 10 of your first of the line battleships. It was the surprise factor that  kills them. The "Wingman strategy works well against planets of ships(fleets).   A variation of this tactic is to have fleet # 1 be a lonely freighter venturing  out into unknown space, warp 4. You see him, with blood in your eye you send 2  or 3 cruisers out for an easy kill of this invader. You thought it would be  easy meat ... but your cruisers meet 10+ battleships. Surprise kills.   Always ... always keep your opponent guessing. You react differently based on  your "perceived threat." As you can see this can allow a small fleet to attack  a larger total enemy, a little at a time. By using surprise and strategy you  can greatly effect the outcome.  By : Bob Crosswell