Unconventional tactics

[Unicron]

I've been looking forward StarCraft 2 for some time now, and I'm curious about a specific unit. The Protoss have a new fighter called the Phoenix, and it has a special ability where it creates a controlled overload and shunts that energy into the weapons, causing a large burst of damaging energy. The Phoenix remains disabled for a brief period after using this attack, so the Protoss often launch them in groups or with support.

How feasible is it, under optimum conditions, to build units with this sort of built-in desperation tactic? I'm also curious about another new warship, the warp ray, which is basically a ship built around a big gun. Would it be worth building warships of this design on a regular basis, as support units?

 

[Tigger]

I could see it as something the Dominion or Klingons would employ, but not the Federation.

 

[Unicron]

It's certainly true that the Jem'Hadar were far less afraid of using kamikaze tactics than any of the other Trek powers. The Protoss military took a real beating during the first game, so this particular ability of the Phoenix is something of a tactical necessity.

 

[jolau]

Wouldn't this be similar to the Yamato Cannon used by the Terran Battlecruisers?

I think the Excalibur from B5:Crusade does something similar.

The Federation may use a weapon/ship such as this as an Anti-Borg weapon.

 

[MarianLH]

Doesn't sound too different from what the Orions did in "Journey To Babel".


Marian

 

[Harry]

Or what Pike did to turn his hand phaser into a bomb in "The Cage".

 

[aridas sofia]

I've been looking forward StarCraft 2 for some time now, and I'm curious about a specific unit. The Protoss have a new fighter called the Phoenix, and it has a special ability where it creates a controlled overload and shunts that energy into the weapons, causing a large burst of damaging energy. The Phoenix remains disabled for a brief period after using this attack, so the Protoss often launch them in groups or with support.

How feasible is it, under optimum conditions, to build units with this sort of built-in desperation tactic? I'm also curious about another new warship, the warp ray, which is basically a ship built around a big gun. Would it be worth building warships of this design on a regular basis, as support units?

This is very much the rationale behind the perimeter action ships' ability to move quickly, intercept and hold an invader at bay until reinforcements arrive. They have the ability to divert 100 percent of power to defense, weapons or speed, and even more, but in doing so, lose any ability to escape.

 

[Unicron]

Wouldn't this be similar to the Yamato Cannon used by the Terran Battlecruisers?

I think the Excalibur from B5:Crusade does something similar.

The Federation may use a weapon/ship such as this as an Anti-Borg weapon.

The battlecruisers aren't really built around the Yamato Cannon, though. It was a later upgrade that was retrofitted onto most of them. They have plasma torpedoes in SC2, which seem to be a similar system. But I think you're right about the Excalibur.

 

[Plecostomus]

The Federation does have the ability to make a last-ditch weapon... the deflector dish can channel huge amounts of directed energy. Depending on the situation (and dramatic requirements) this can range from a horrific ship-destroying blast to a crippling (to the ship) but useless energy beam (BoBW) or anything at all... depending on the writers and the situation. Hell if you wanted to go easy on the characters have everything work as intended for once!

 

[Unicron]

I did design a dreadnought for my custom Trek race, the Sinopians, which is a sort of weapon/ship. It's built around a central weapons array, as one of their heavy warships.

 

[Timo]

Tactically speaking, an "overload" weapon isn't all that different from a standard one: each will feature a certain "reloading" time after each shot. In that sense, Starfleet would need to have multiple ships covering each other during the times of reloading - or then multiple weapon emplacements on each ship. But the latter option is not necessarily available even for the largest ships: even the Galaxy class has only one (albeit hugely powerful) forward torpedo launcher, which apparently can't (or won't) spit out torpedoes in a continuous stream.

The "sacrifice" inherent in an overload-type weapon thus might not be a novel concept for Starfleet at all.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Unicron]

The Protoss have definitely employed that strategy with the Phoenix, as it quickly became obvious that one or two units wasn't ideal for heavier situations. The enemy might fly out of range, then come back and destroy the Phoenix while its systems are recovering.