Ackbar Corvettes and How to Fly Them (close!)

Ackbar Corvettes and How to Fly Them (close!)

I've taken a set of Ackbar TRC90s into the Vassal World Cup, and along with 8 YT2400s, I've done quite well in the pod stage, going 10/1 in three games (two of the opponents were squadless, the other was Bomber Heavy with only two escorts and a Dengar, so that helps).

I've been flying the TRC90s in pretty close formation, so I got to thinking - "How close can these things get?"

The joy of vassal is that you won't bump ships like on a real table, so this kind of precision driving is very possible. 

Ackbar wants overlapping side arcs, and for all the ships to be able to focus down a single enemy.

Here are some demonstrations on how to deploy ships in a line abreast, and what they can do at different maneuvering options...

Deploy the ships like this - the front of one should line up with the front of the shield dial of his forward partner, and have the far side of his base just out of range one of the forward partner. Vassal makes this easy by putting hull boxes on the base. IRL, I would definitely make it range one to the left edge of the front shield dial to buy myself some extra millimeters.
If you deploy your CRs at speed 3, they can jump up to 4, or down to 2, or stay at 3 and take a token.
In this example they make a speed 2 double double to the left, and end up in a beautiful line astern.

Same ships, turning right. Again, they fit snugly into a beautiful line.

Same formation, making a turn 4 speed to the left. DO NOT double on the last yaw, as tempted as you might be. That will result in multiple collisions.

And the same to the right.

 What if you don't want to end up facing the short edge of the board? This maneuver sets you up to flank them on the right and swing around behind them in a turn or two.

Or just a simple rapid advance to set up a forward gun line - go for it!

If you Ackbar and CF with TRCs, you can expect an average damage of 5 from every CR. Not Bad! (floor of 2, max of 8).

If you practice your formation flying, you can achieve great things!*


* Actual achievement of great things does depend partly on the action of others. While you might be a creature of freewill, so are others, and their actions will impact on your outcomes.