The Void - Tick 492 Cycle 22

I'm launching an audacious attack.

TdT and HelloThere are in hot conflict with Corn, Beez and Major Tom out west. Their strategic reports are positive but I'm worried that we're now losing the war. The pivoting from E to W for them and back again is hard to do and I don't think myself and Dieste have made the progress required to minimize the threat from TheBorg and Tube-Pipe who are pushing in the east. It sounds like TdT and HelloThere will manage the western attack, but I believe they might lose the east in doing it. I think the coordination between the core group of enemies in the east and their affiliates in the west is poor but even uncoordinated they are combining to cause issues.

I discussed in the last post the options that the new Telescope Array gives me and now it's time to go on the front foot and act. Here's my tactical thought process.

I get weapons 6 in 10 turns and hyperspace 7 in 16 turns. I have 10 tokens and I'll have 13 by the end of this cycle when the attack lands. I want to be conservative with how I use them because I don't want this to be a hit and run. A hit and run will be psychologically shocking and cause lasting positive effects but I don't think it's game winning. It needs to be a bridgehead to do that and to do that I will need token flexibility.  That means I need to make compromises, I can go heavy on the initial attack (new smugglers/cowards etc) or I can take risks on the initial attack and have a lot of options when I land.

The attack on the Nebula Asteroid Field (Attack point A in the diagram) where I've been watching a stationary General/Explorer for a while now will be an effective W5 vs W8 (W5 vs W11 if that Explorer moves...) but I believe now that it's lightly defended. I can take those ratios for a short time as long as 2K+ ships break through. This attack is simple, just throw a smuggler down his throat timing it to land on the turn for maximum flexibility. I have a smuggler that can get into range in time so this won't cost me any tokens. If successful, I seize the black hole asteroid field and I have a healthy ship count on it. He will be under a lot of pressure to re-take it but I don't plan to keep my ships there long.

After landing, my Smuggler will run north east taking 4 ticks to hit the star at point B. I will have ALREADY launched a pathfinder with 2k ships down from the north. Infact, I'm launching it this turn. This pathfinder will be out of the scan range of the Black Hole at point A for the first 6 ticks of its journey (34 ticks remaining) and then the next turn I will seize the Black hole (28 ticks remaining) The turn after I will hit point B with my smuggler capturing it (22 ticks remaining) all of this time the Pathfinder should not be in scan visibility. Borg will think he's dealing with a single smuggler attack. I'll then throw up a warp gate on point B and the turn after my pathfinder will have just 4 ticks remaining to land, or 2 with the warp gates. At this point he will see it but it'll be too late to act.

It's a risky attack. If the Explorer moves and the Nebula is well defended I will tank a lot of ships. if I never capture the Nebula I'm sending the pathfinder fleet to its doom. I'd lose 5K ships, the element of surprise that the Telescope Array bought me and I'll leave Hello/TdT in big trouble. However, if I break through I'll do so with 12 tokens in my pocket and the potential to cause mayhem.

I'll then begin actively reinforcing point B (I'm going to re-work my supply lines to do this and the Hyper 7 will enable me to reinforce without specialists) stretching the front line and causing what I believe will be a decisive breakthrough against TheBorg (Kip) he will need to drop multiple rear warp gates in response to the threat of my smuggler when it hits point A and the logistics damage will be severe. This is also beyond their General front lines (A is defended by a General, the other stars are not)

FAQ - Why not just launch all the ships at point A.

Partly this is ship location. But also I think putting such a large force on my star there will cause ripples and might lead to conservative behaviour. The pathfinder attack is cute, and the sort of over-complicated attack I normally don't like, but in this unique circumstance I think will be nice. I also think the effect of those extra 2k ships arriving will be so harmful, Kip will be reeling from the first blow and just as he's potentially come up with plans to deal with it a second wave will arrive. His brain will immediately jump to WHERE ARE THESE SHIPS COMING FROM? And he'll be dealing with not only the two attacks that exist but ghost attacks that don't exist. 

In Solaris one of the main things you really really want to do is make your enemy lose their spirit and hope. If you can make them do that with some overwhelming sudden or emotionally charged attack that can turn a long drawn out war into a short one.