"Only the paranoid survive." -Andy Grove
How much paranoia is too much?
I have led a few gangs recently into nullsec mission or anomaly hubs to kill carebears. On these jaunts my gang is frequently outnumbered in local, though I have yet to scare up a pitched battle.
When lingering in a system with many hostiles not in space, I always try to be aware of the enemy's capabilities; it is perfectly possible these two dozen hostile pilots in system are putting together the perfect counter to my fleet. They rarely do, however.
Therein lies the problem. I would like to split my forces to snag a larger number of targets. Until they show their hands by undocking a response fleet, I am loathe to peel off anything but a spare interceptor. My fleets probably could have killed a third or possibly half again as many ships as they did if I committed more forces to these side diversions.
I think if I get enough experience with one hostile force to be able to predict what they are likely to do when provoked, I would very happily split a dozen man gang into two or even three independently led gangs and reform at the first inkling of coordinated response. As long as the targets don't fight back, however, I feel as if my hands are tied. An FCs first job is to keep his fleet as a coherent fighting force. Splitting a fleet against unknown odds could certainly lead to being cut off from most of my pilots and unable to fight back. Ten lone pilots are significantly softer targets than one cohesive squad.
Posted by: |