Tactics have had to change in line with technological improvement. The earliest warships were rather slow and ponderous compared to today and ships tended to not move at all during the battle because as much power as possible was needed for weapons and shields. Thus the classic space battle up until the 2090s saw two lines of space warships meet up in space and then proceed to fire at each other until one side gave up or was destroyed (known colloquially as the "Blast The Crap Out Of Them Method").
These were tactics inherited from races like the Tarbotians, Bolitic and Utrek (the Dinos with their smaller faster ships have always tended to go for more hit and run tactics). The DDS decided they needed an edge so developed a refinement to the classic line battle.
The DDS came up with the "Overbalanced Line", this is where instead of spreading your forces out evenly in an orthodox manner you "overload" one side of your line. This side can then apply much more pressure on your enemy and aim to break through and then attack him in the rear (a very DDS tactic). It of course means the ships along the rest of the line have a tougher job to do but their job is not to attack but to hold. Indeed the job of smaller ships like frigates in DDS fleet battles is to hold ground and maintain pressure on the enemy.
The tactic was introduced during the Tarbotian War of the late 2090s and was a great success. The above diagram shows a typical example of the tactic. Two evenly matched fleets (3 CC, 3 DD and 9 FF) meet up. The aliens in a standard balanced line, however the DDS have heavily loaded the right flank. As the battle progresses the right flank will aim to punch through the alien flank and then attack the centre of the line. This should then cause the whole line to collapse and many alien deaths will ensue.
As said above tactics are modified as technology is improved. The introduction of super weapons like the Z Cannon was capitalised on by another modification of the line tactic.
With the "Central Focus Line" the heavy warships are collected together and use their heavy firepower in conjunction, supported on each flank by the rest of the ships whose job again is to hold and maintain the pressure. The heavy warships (which in variants of the tactics can sometimes be at either flank instead) concentrate their firepower and aim to make a breakthrough in the opposing part of the enemy line. As their line collapses then the flanks will fall in allowing the DDS to rout the enemy and kill many aliens. The tactic first appeared in the First Utrek War and also was used in the Second Utrek War a couple of years ago.
In later parts of this series we will look at alien tactics and also how DDS tactics have evolved and may evolve in future.
