Large Formation
While the Unknown Civilization waits for its deceleration to complete, humanity is also waiting for them to complete their deceleration.
Theoretically speaking, without deliberate concealment, the deceleration process upon entering a galaxy represents the maximum normal acceleration that this civilization can withstand, and this value is not significantly different from the ultimate acceleration it can withstand.
Just like human warships, it can normally accelerate and decelerate at 120G, and then reach the limit of 150G by refilling the Acceleration Buffer Fluid.
Information gaps exist between civilizations. Since humans cannot ask questions face-to-face, they can only judge others by their own standards and speculate about others based on their own circumstances.
Of course, this is based on the premise that the other party is also made of flesh and blood, and those cylindrical Residential Spaceship just prove this point.
Four hours, five hours, six hours. Time slowly passed as both sides waited, while simultaneously observing each other using their own devices.
The Unknown Civilization used its eight stopped probes to continuously observe the human warship fleet, while the humans did the same, using the Mount Wudang-Class Warship, the Mount Emei-Class Warship, and the probes they had dispatched to observe the other side without restraint.
This saves the trouble of secretly observing the Asteroid Belt with a telescope, reducing the probability of exposure.
As both sides spyed on each other, the time reached the eleventh hour after the Unknown Civilization's fleet began to slow down.
"Commander Yue, the enemy is starting to adjust their stance." A voice on the Lyra pulled Yue Yuan back to reality from his reverie.
"How much?" Yue Yuan asked.
The announcer knew what Yue Yuan was asking, so while gesturing wildly to synchronize the data, he replied, "It's divided into two phases. The first five hours are the first phase, and the next six hours are the second phase. Some time after they spotted us, we observed that their thruster nozzles were noticeably brighter, which means they must have undergone extreme deceleration."
"Taking both phases into account, the opponent's average acceleration is 100 Gs, and the maximum acceleration should be higher, but not exceeding 110 Gs. After eleven hours of deceleration, we have now closed to within 6 Astronomical Unit, and are currently about 24 Astronomical Unit away from the Mount Wudang-Class Warship."
"Good!" Yue Yuan stood up from his chair and activated his Magnetic Boots to firmly press himself against the floor. He then said leisurely, "They must have been injecting Acceleration Buffer Fluid after they realized we only reached maximum deceleration an hour later. Even if their maximum acceleration is 110 G, it's still not as fast as ours."
"So do you think it's possible that they could decipher the messages we send while they're in the Acceleration Buffer Fluid?" Yue Yuan's voice wasn't loud, but it was loud enough for every scientist on the bridge to hear.
This acceleration limit is not due to a difference in Engine Technology, but rather to a difference in the tolerance of individuals within a civilization.
"I think it's possible. Putting aside everything else, as long as I can see the signals on the instruments, I can do this kind of work," said cryptographer Taliya Sinskaia.
Following this, linguist Lu Xiaofen, who appeared on the big screen via video, also expressed her opinion. "I think so too. We are now in a paperless office. As long as the equipment is working properly, the deciphering work can be carried out. If we can do it, there is no reason why the other side, which is also Tier 1 Civilization, cannot do it."
"So, their Supercomputer isn't that great after all." Hearing the two say this, Yue Yuan also thought it made sense, and thus came to this conclusion of misjudgment.
"Chief, perhaps they started deciphering the information during the initial stages, but found that they couldn't decipher it within an hour, so they implemented extreme deceleration." Yu Nanfeng expressed a different opinion, because he felt that the infusion of the Acceleration Buffer Fluid did not need to take an hour.
Yue Yuan nodded, indicating that he reserved his opinion, and then casually asked, "Um, what's the current communication latency?"
"3.6 hours."
3.6 hours is 3 hours and 36 minutes.
Then let's wait!
"Commander Yue, the enemy fleet is still adjusting its attitude, it seems to be changing its formation!" Just then, an observer shouted.
Yue Yuan raised an eyebrow. "Dynamic display on the screen."
As he spoke, Yue Yuan put his hands behind his back and looked at the big screen.
The video shown above is not from just one angle; there are frontal views, as well as views slightly off to the top, bottom, left, and right. However, the side views are not true side views, but rather slightly off to the side than frontal views.
Clearly, these images were captured by the detectors deployed by the Mount Wudang-Class Warship and Mount Emei-Class Warship formations.
In the scene, Yue Yuan saw the massive fleet slowly adjusting its posture. At first, it seemed a bit chaotic, but after watching for a while, he figured out what was going on.
This unknown fleet is indeed changing its formation.
At the beginning, the fleet's 120 Main Battleship and the 293 cylindrical ships behind them formed a roughly rectangular array, but after the changes, the rectangular array became distorted.
Yue Yuan didn't have to wait long before the formation change of the unknown fleet was completed.
The unknown fleet was arranged in an umbrella-shaped structure, with 120 main warships at the front and 293 cylindrical spaceships forming the 'umbrella pole' at the back.
The tip of the umbrella was pointing towards the human warship formation.
"You've got something!"
Seeing this change, Yue Yuan stroked the newly grown stubble on his chin. He already understood the purpose of the other party changing to this formation.
In space, the umbrella formation is a typical long-range engagement formation, a formation that has been proposed in human Command Department simulation war games.
In the early stages of contact between the two sides, when the enemy's carrier-based aircraft are far away, the fleet generally adopts an umbrella formation. The fire support ship is positioned in an umbrella shape, facing the direction of attack. The second layer of the umbrella consists of ships with controllable weapons, such as missile ships. The Space Carrier and logistics support ships are lined up to form the handle of the umbrella, with the head reducing the area to be attacked.
When enemy suicide carrier-based aircraft are close, the fleet generally adopts a spherical formation, with heavy armored ships and heavy firepower ships such as fire support ships on the outermost layer, secondary heavy ships such as missile ships on the second layer, and the core being the Space Carrier and logistics support ships.
Correspondingly, carrier-based aircraft attack formations are generally bowl-shaped, concave in the middle and convex around the edges, with an empty center point, in order to leave a counterattack window for friendly gunboats, while also causing confusion in the enemy escort fleet formation.
The main danger of a defensive counterattack is that if the enemy's suicide carrier-based aircraft break out of the rear of the formation, it will inevitably lead to a chaotic battle within the fleet, causing huge losses to the fleet.
Equivalent to ground warfare, both sides should maintain reserves for defense or a second wave of attack. However, if the defending side is weaker, committing all forces at once could achieve a devastating effect, which depends on the commander's confidence and decision-making ability.
The combat effectiveness of large formation operations is reflected in the speed of changing formations and the determination to maintain formations. An excellent Commander must have a strong spirit of sacrifice and nerves of steel, able to watch as friendly ships around him are destroyed one by one, while still maintaining a fixed position.
In short, large-scale battles must avoid close-quarters combat. Defeat a thousand enemies while suffering eight hundred casualties on your own is not a quality that an excellent commander should possess.
These are some tactical theories derived by the Human Command Department from rehearsing a war at the Tier 1 Civilization.
The Unknown Civilization has now moved its Residential Spaceship onto umbrella poles and arranged them in long rows, a similar approach. However, it seems they had no choice but to form such a large formation, as they need to protect those Residential Spaceship.