Not your father’s Hypertorp.
This was an oddball strat I thought up a week or so ago. I’m sure other people have thought of it, but I’ve never seen any skilled players try it.
The Premise:
One idea behind this strat is that most sensible people grav early on. However, gravs are usually mounted on slow ships… mobile, but not very. Now, if you’re going to try and harass with torps, you have to spend all that money on HS mods and actual hyperspacing to get… 12 km from your target. It really isn’t worth the cost by the time you’ve hypered a half-dozen torps. Another is that forces tend to do better when they support each other. Historically I’ve found it’s difficult to do HT with much real fighter support.
So, to avoid spending money on jumps far short of our target, we use Hiig torps and Vay hypergates. The setup cost is about the same (625 RU platmod + 750 RU HS research + 2x 750 RU HS gates + 1000 RU gate connect = 3875 vs. 1000 RU/HS mod + 500 RU/frig HS cost = 3000 RU for the first wave of normal HT), and obviously becomes cheaper by the time you’ve sent 4 frigates.
Not only that, but you can provide any reinforcement besides build-capable ships via the gate. Fighters, vettes, even DDs! All without endangering your build ships or spending more cash on HS. And provided you manage to keep the gate alive and free of gravs, you can always gate back to your base if the enemy goes for a rear strike.
The Setup:
You need at least 1 Hiig (TG1), 1 Vay (TG2). The 3rd team member (TG3) can be either Hiig or Vay (we’re still working on which is optimal). TG1 goes 3/3 or 4/4 collectors, straight for torps. They donate any extra cash to TG2. TG2 should be going 4/4 in to swarm while the gate research proceeds. Then they can switch to swarm research. Since you’ll have at most 2 support swarms, EMP is a must here. If TG3 is Hiig, donate them a few EMP scouts, since theirs suck vs. fighters.
TG3 will also go 3/3 or 4/4 and then swarm to support TG2’s swarm and the torps. If you’re likely to need extra RU go for the 4/4, especially as Vay. Have all ships marshall to the near gate once it’s in position, then jump in when the other gate is connected. You should have between 4 and 6 torps out by this point. Makes sure your forces cover each other. Guard the torps for as long as possible, but avoid staying around long enough to take major swarm losses. Gate back to repair/reinforce. After all, the torps are cheap, and will represent a small part of the cost of your forces at this point.
If heavier forces (DDs/HMF) begin showing up, don’t engage them unless you can kill something before your frigs die. Your torps will do better if they face such ships in a big group, instead of in small ones. Retreat and regroup with reinforcments, even if the gate is down by this point. Torps are pretty damn fast compared to other heavy ships. Your team should be pumping out more anti-cap oriented firepower by this point as well, so form up with them and go do some damage!
Opportunity Cost:
The opportunity cost of something is what you give up to get it. In this case, the opportunity cost we pay is mobility. We can deliver a lot of ships together cheaply, but we cannot easily change their point of delivery. If the far end of the gate becomes gravved, it should probably be scrapped in favour of deploying somewhere else. This means you’ll have to deploy extra gates if you want to hit multiple locations. Don’t forget to TX them to allies to expand the number you have available!
Gate Deployment:
Don’t put your gates in too close. CCs may be pretty slow, but they will be able to move up eventually unless you kill them off. The distance between your gates and the nearest buildship is your safetyzone, so don’t make it too small!
It’s probably best to put the first gate off to one side, rather than in front. This increases the distance your forces have to go to hit all their ships, but it does the same thing to them. Chances are you’ll be interested in hitting one or two sites first and the rest later anyways. The spread in their forces may also give you the opportunity to engage some of their ships with limited support, which I don’t need to tell you the advantage of.
There’s also the issue of alternate gates. Any gates in your base are unlikely to be destroyed, but the ones on the front line will be prime targets. Remember that you can hook gates up more than once! (you have to pay another 1000 RU though) Just having a few spare gates deployed somewhere inconspicuous near enemy territory, even if they aren’t hooked up to anything, can be handy. If a gate in use is lost, the base gate just hooks up to one of them and you’re back in business. This also helps restore some measure of mobility.
This strat is still under development, so comments are welcome.