The Imperial War Room

[Jaden_Ordo]

This is probably true...  

[Sol Walker]

So according to Clone Wars, the standard multipurpose Squadron Formation for the navy is three ships, centered around a Venator with the remaining two ships either two Acclamators, Two Venators, or An Acclamator and a Venator.
Interesting.

Though I suppose the real reason for this formation lies in show limitations, its an intresting set up that allows for an interesting variety of tactical options. However, the major flaw I see is striking power.  

[Jaden_Ordo]

What do you mean by striking power? So far, it seems that they have a decent amount of offensive power, at least in the way they're being used.  

[Sol Walker]

The Acclamators and Venators arent really suited to anti-ship combat.
They need a Victory to balance out their flexibility.  

[Jaden_Ordo]

That would be a nasty good battle group. A Victory with a Venator and Acclamator flying flank.  

[Sol Walker]

Agreed.
The Venator provides the fighters, the Acclamator provides the Troops, and the victory provides the guns.
Thats a well rounded swift response battlegroup.  

[stellarmagic]

Truth be told, they probably are more of a fire brigade type setup. Running to wherever the Separatists are attacking, dropping off troops and trying a hold the planet, then when the battle is done they pick em up and run to wherever else the separatists are making inroads.

I get the feeling the 3 ship formation is half the size navy they'd have preferred. Wasn't a star destroyer squadron six ships?  

[Sol Walker]

If I remember correctly, a single Star destroyer by my own estimation culled from various sources usually operated with 24 support vessels and 36 combat vessels. But thats Imperial era.
I cant find anything on Star Destroyer Squadrons but a standard squadron is 14-60 ships.

Now an Imperial Superiority Fleet operated with 6 SD's and 400 other smaller ships. That might be what you're thinking of, Stellar.  

[stellarmagic]

Yeah that sounds about right. Though I do remember a squadron being called 6 mutually supporting star destroyers in the TIE Fighter game manual. But that's of rather dubious canon.  

[Sol Walker]

Heh. I missed this sort of conversation.

Anywho, whats your opinion on the effectiveness of the Cardan-class Space Station (IE the Imperial Space Station from EaW) in maintaining an Imperial Presence on the Outer Rim? Do you think it was an effective design or a waste of money?  

[stellarmagic]

Waste...

The XQ series of platforms are so much more versatile, let alone the bigger Golan platforms...

It'd have been better to deploy a ton of XQ platforms and keep a ready garrison of rapid response craft on hand at each.  

[Sol Walker]

I dunno. I think the Cardans are a better armed, more reliable and more flexible deep space base than an XQ. The repair facilities are superior on a Cardan and they lent themselves better to being modifide to fit a need where they were deployed.
KDY could crank these things out and did, where as the Bengel Shipbuilders took longer to manufacture their stations.  

[ElladanKenet]

According to Wookieepedia, an Imperial Squadron at most had one Imperial Star Destroyer, perhaps a few smaller variants like Victories and Venators, and 14-60 support craft, depending on configuration.

As for the Vicroty-Venator-Acclamantor squadron you proposed, that's the kind of thing to be used only on minimal threats (no more than 2 CIS Destroyers). As Stellar pointed out, fire brigade duties only.

For space superiority, I'd go with 3 Vics and 3 Venators.

For troop transfer, 1 Vic, 2 Venators, and 3 Acclamantors.

Also, to note, Venators were serious lacking in ship-to-ship weaponry, especially against CIS ships of the same designation. It was Anakin Skywalker who came up with adding SPHA artilleries into the ventral hangars to protect the hangars.  

[Jaden_Ordo]

Venators had great fighter capability, they just need a few more damn guns.  

[Anna Sachae]

Heh, you guys are getting a lot more into regulations than the other SW sites I've been at.

Arright, the standard Victory-class Star Destroyer had about the same amount of guns on it as the average MC80a Cruiser did, i.e: the largest capital ships in the Rebel Fleet. Even though they had vastly weaker shields, the fact that the Victories weren't the largest thing in the Imperial arsenal meant that a bunch of them in one squadron was probably not as bad of an idea as it might've seemed. The only thing they lacked on the MC80a was starfighters, which could easily be remedied by the addition of a Lancer or Tartan anti-starfighter frigate.

Imperial-class Star Destroyers were simply bad news for anything the enemy could throw at them. Huge guns, tons of shields, full fighter compliments and brilliant leaders. Most squadrons didn't need more than one Imperial-class, since that one ship could do so much more than the other warships of the time. It came with a full 72-fighter/bomber complement and far more weaponry than any other ship around at the time. Those things were death incarnate.

For space superiority, three Victory and three Venator-class would do fine, but any number of those ships replaced with an Imperial would be a threat that most enemies simply aren't equipped to handle.