[Scherzo09]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

We have limited numbers of engagments to view Dommel's tactics.

In the original, he arrived at Balan with his fleet of 3,000 ships and then proceeded to attempt to catch Yamato in a single engagment, which was done entirely at long range before the vessel managed to escape. After this he seems to employ uses of other tactics that do not use his fleet elements (psychological warfare and use of traps). When these fail for one reason or another he is recalled. It is after this that he forms up his small but powerful carrier group and via the use of terrain, and technology, recreates the attack on IJN Yamato from April 7th 1945. The use of massed airpower against a single battleship, originally without the carriers coming into range of Yamato. Though like so many villains, he makes a blunder of either setting the weapon with a countdown timer (giving the crew a chance to rectify the sutuation) or decides to view the destruction personally (this getting closer to Yamato). The standard tactic of carrier combat without getting into weapons range of the battleship is generally sound, especially if one can deny they battleship the ability to locate your carriers.

I'd prefer if he tried using unconventional tactics with a relatively small number of ships. If you have 10k ships at you disposal you don't exactly have to be a tactical genius to win battles. What made Rommel great wasn't that he had the most forces or the best equipment or even the most disciplined or well-trained troops. He got the table scraps that weren't already invested into Operation Barbarossa. It was how he utilized the limited toolset he was given that made him the legendary commander he was. I want to see that reflected in Dommel.

Gamilas battlecruisers may have a small number of fightercraft, but it is clear that they have purpose built carrier forces. Though to what extent they usually deploy these forces is unclear this early into the campaign. Later series would have Gamilas and other races use massed carriers in combat. Earth would do this as well when able. Though most times they have only Yamato's fighter squadrons, even in massed fleet battles.

Gamilas has been using carriers from the beginning too as well though. I think the ones we see at first are more designed for probably point defense in orbit (or Planetary strike missions from orbit) than fleet actions though. But we see that type of carrier in both episode 2 and episode 10, as one of Goer's fleet that gets sucked into thee rift.

I think fighters might instead of being offensive tools for Garmilan fleets instead serve the role of missile intercept.

In Yamato 2199, Dommel's Fleet so far attacks by Squadrons. The only battle we've seen so far has the fleet use massed missile fire at range followed by a high speed run of a cruiser/destroyer squadron to one flank of an enemy formation. This tactic uses both beam weapons and missiles as they pass by. It seems to be standard practice to remove the escorting cruisers and destroyers before engaging an enemy flagship with intent to destroy it. Though at Pluto the Gamials Fleet did damage Kirishima early on, the did not refocus on it until near the end of the engagement.

I kinda wish we'd seen Garmilan loses before the Yukikaze's Thunderchild suicide run. Surely some of them had to have been using missiles that could penetrate Garmilan shields.

[quotepIf the Yamato 2199 Dommel uses Rommel style tactics, it means combined arms fighting. Combined highly mobile cruiser/destroyer squadrons with massed gun and missile support by the battleships and attack craft support from the carriers. (One of the translated interviews points out that Schultz use of the Reflex Gun as a anti-ship weapon is intended to reflect the use of the German 88 Flak batteries as anti-tank guns under Rommel's command.) Perhaps he would do all this with submarine aid, though it is suggested that Frakken's UX-01 is a new ship and their may not yet be all that many dimentional submarines in service.[/quote]

I would expect more Space fighter wave attacks to potentially knock out the Yamato's artillery before delivering the Coup De Graise . Also to make sure to flank Yamato when engaging it so they can't use the Wave Motion Gun effectively. Stuff like that would work really well.

If they were in service, he's likely employ Gamilas variants of the Wave Motion Gun as well.

In the older series, Earth Fleets tends to shift to all captial ships (heavy numbers of wave motion guns), as does the Galman Fleet by Yamato III, though with varying amounts of success (as the problem of Yamato being able to one shot most warships with shock cannons is not solved by most enemy powers while Yamato can still take mountains of punishment while still being combat worthy). By Yamato Resurrection, the Earth's main combat fleets seem to be nothing but battleships.

Well isn't that because most Battleships sort of have a Battlestar role of being both a Battleship and Carrier?

As for how could Yamato devistate such a huge fleet? My present guess it the destruction of the planet/brown drawf star that I think Balun might be. Or the result of whatever technology the Gamilas are using there somehow backfiring or going critical to the point were it takes out a large number of ships. Because even the Wave Motion Gun can't take out that many ships at this stage without them lining up in front of it like dummies. Later in the series when the Earth Fleets and others have Wave Motion Gun type weapons with either wide cones of fire or other "spread effects", sure they can punch massive holes in enemy fleet formations. But Yamato's gun isn't of that type at this point.

I think at some point in this series, Yamato is going to get allies, potentially siding with a faction in a Garmilan Civil War. That's the kind of feel I get at least.