Starter Fleet Guide:Oak
TF Oak
Difficulty: Easy
Pros at a Glance - Heavy Firepower - Durable - Easy to Micromanage - Forgiving to play - Can Penetrate and Damage the majority of ships
Cons at a Glance - Slow - Easy to Ambush - Tendancy to be ineffective against light ships due to overpenetration
Community Maintainer: NotSoLoneWolf
Axford Heavy Cruisers: Value Judgement & Moral Failing
TF Oak is a frontline fleet composed of Two Axford-class Heavy Cruisers in formation armed with a primary armament of 450mm guns. with a decent compliment of both softkill and hardkill anti-missile defenses giving this fleet full protection against the majority of threats. These ships prefer a more frontal-approach to threats known as "Bowtanking", in which total area presented is minimized while allowing for armor angling to protect the majority of the ship save some flat spots.
This fleet prefers to stay at a longer range of around 9.5km in order to keep space between possible threats, this range also allows them to effectively use the ORBIT command to dodge most incoming ballistic fire in retaliation, becoming nearly invulnerable to most capital-grade guns unless the range is closed. The HEADING command is heavily encourage with this fleet in order to make full use of the dodging with a thin frontal profile, as well as allowing all weapons to bear to target.
In order to use this fleet effectively, you want to preferrably try and engage isolated targets by maintaining your sightlines as to not be engaging more than one ship group. Task all guns onto one target instead of splitting them for maximum effectiveness.
This fleet suffers from being slow to manuever, and as such is incredibly suceptible to ambush attacks if caught off guard.
In-game description (OUTDATED?)
Dual heavy cruisers with all big guns. Task Force Oak is ideal for those who struggle with multi-tasking and would like to focus more on positioning a single formation very well. Manage your range and sightlines to pound isolated enemy formations into dust with overwhelming broadside firepower, while avoiding being ambushed by closer-ranged fleets. Smart commanders will make frequent use of the HDG order to control their ships' facing. Pointing directly towards the enemy is strongly advised to shrug off incoming fire with your armored bow and protect your drive section from damage. When missiles are inbound, activate your defensive comms jammer and move at flank speed away from the threat to buy more time for PDTs to engage. Use decoys to jam and seduce enemy missile salvos.
Maintainer Notes
TF Oak was designed for minimum micro, and it does that - all you need to do is lock target and fire away. But because of that mandate, it packs no detached scouts, jammers, missiles, or any other tools which make it more survivable in open space. As such, while Oak is minimum micro it is maximum decisions. Where is your fleet, which enemies have line of sight on you, is your rear end safe from enemy fire, are your broadsides pointed towards the enemy and ready to go?
The main aspect of Oak is positioning. You can get buzzsawed if the enemy catches you in a spot where they can bring their full force to bear - don't let them do that. Manage your sightlines to be visible to the enemies you wish to engage and stay in cover relative to those you do not. Whenever possible, stick with your allies to benefit from their escorts, ewar, and point defence. Position Oak well and it will carry you far. Good luck, commander!
Value Judgement
Moral Failing
Example Gameplay
test
