Hundred Variations of Formations

"Forget all that useless knowledge from the textbooks!"

As soon as these words were spoken, a huge stir erupted, especially in the auditor area.

Li Fulai frowned, a little confused.

What is Lin Fan doing this hour? Can he just say things like that? That the textbook material is useless? How many people is he planning to offend?

The other instructors looked at Lin Fan with unfriendly eyes.

Got a bit arrogant after fighting twice? Come here to show off? Want to deny everything we stand for?

What a joke. We'll see how you lecture. If there's even one problem, you're not going to have an easy time.

However, all these reactions from the audience were within Lin Fan's expectations.

"Quiet! You can voice your thoughts after my lecture, but if you want to deny what I'm saying before I've even started, then I can only say you're looking at the sky from the bottom of a well and refusing to advance."

"Today, we're going to talk about fleet formations, which is also the most basic competency of a commander. However, I have to say that the formation applications in current textbooks can be thrown into the trash can."

"First, what do you all think a formation is? Who can answer? Hmm, this student!"

Lin Fan saw that more than half of the students in the audience immediately raised their hands and casually pointed to one.

"Reporting, a formation is a queue formed in a specific way to maximize the effectiveness of the same number of warships."

"Very good, sit down! In other words, formations serve tactics. However, the guiding principle of current textbooks is completely backward, with tactics serving formations!"

"Why is this? Because humanity has confined formations to ten rigid formations, namely the so-called Ten Great Formations in the textbooks. Thus, limited by these rigid formations, tactics cannot undergo many changes, and one can only design tactics according to the formations. This is the current state of humanity, where tactics revolve around formations."

"Then, you've all seen Commander Liang's battle in the Asteroid Belt six years ago, and you've seen my two previous battles. Do you think Commander Liang and I based our tactical planning on the Ten Great Formations?"

Everyone in the audience fell silent, entering a state of deep thought.

That's right, according to the textbook teachings, when everyone engages in fleet combat and formulates tactics, they will inevitably use the Ten Great Formations as a foundation before developing tactics based on that foundation.

However, neither Liang Xingchen's great battle in the Asteroid Belt six years ago, nor Lin Fan's two campaigns over a month ago, showed any trace of the Ten Great Formations.

Everyone marveled at the classic nature of these two individuals' tactics, but no one had ever considered that the reason their tactics were so brilliant was that neither of them allowed tactics to be constrained by formations. Instead, they made formations revolve around tactics.

Now, after hearing Lin Fan's words and thinking about it, it was as if these two had no fixed formations. Instead, as tactics constantly changed, the fleet's formations also constantly changed, but they never resembled the Ten Great Formations.

It wasn't so bad thinking about it before, but now that they thought about it, it was terrifying. Lin Fan and Liang Xingchen had completely abandoned the Ten Great Formations from the textbooks.

"Alright, I think most of you have understood my meaning. I will continue now. Today, I will talk about Hundred Variations of Formations!"

"What are Hundred Variations of Formations? First, you must abandon the mindset based on the Ten Great Formations and break down formations into finer details."

"For example, imagine you're playing with building blocks. I give you ten parts built with blocks, and then how many things can you combine with these ten parts? I think not many!"

"But, when you take all ten parts apart and restore them to the original blocks, how many things can you build with the blocks? I think, as long as your imagination is big enough, you can build countless things!"

"Therefore, the first thing you need to do is to stop using the Ten Great Formations as your foundation, but instead dismantle all formations and use finer details as the foundation."

"Only in this way can you, relying on this foundation, transform into countless formations at any time. And when you possess countless formations, you no longer need to use formations as a foundation when formulating tactics. Instead, you formulate tactics first, and then establish the corresponding optimal formation according to the tactics at any time."

"Above is the general outline of Hundred Variations of Formations that I will talk about today! Next, we will discuss more detailed content."

For a full six hours, everyone listened raptly. By nine o'clock in the evening, no one remembered they should be eating dinner.

But after six hours, Lin Fan had only explained over 50 variation ideas. He finally had to report to Commander Liang to stay an extra day at the academy and lecture on the remaining content tomorrow.

The students were all very excited, especially those with high talent, who benefited greatly. Although Lin Fan had only lectured halfway, for these students, it was like opening a new door.

After the first lecture, everyone gathered in the cafeteria in small groups, eating and excitedly discussing their gains.

Some of the more talented students immediately understood why Wood had lost to Lin Fan back then, and why he had lost so miserably.

They even felt that if they could grasp the basics of Lin Fan's methods, they could also defeat Wood.

What a joke, the leader of the Federation's younger generation, go to hell, the Federation's most dazzling star general. Compared to our great Lin Fan, he's just an ant.

"Lin Fan, you're really impressive. I initially thought you were going to stir up big trouble today, but after listening to what you've said, I realize our teaching materials have too many problems."

"You're too kind, Dean. There's never perfect teaching. Perhaps soon, someone else will propose even more advanced ideas than mine? The key is that we must address problems when we discover them, rather than looking at the sky from the bottom of a well and adhering to old ways, unwilling to accept more advanced ideas. Only by doing so can we continuously progress, isn't that right?"

"Yes, you're right. By the way, I want to compile what you've said about Hundred Variations of Formations into a book and make it a required course for the academy in the future. What do you think? Of course, your name will be credited!"

"As long as the Dean deems it necessary, that's fine. I have no objections. As for the credit, I really don't care."

"That won't do, attribution is a must!"

"Alright, you're the boss, old man. I have no objections!"

"Good, then you all eat slowly. This old man is going back to sleep. Alas, I'm old, I'm not as capable anymore!"

"Honey, have some meat!"

Not long after Li Fulai left, Liang Xue picked up a piece of beef and put it into Lin Fan's mouth.

What's going on? Didn't this girl just fiercely say she wouldn't let me touch her for a month? Why the sudden change of heart?

Although he felt a bit strange, Lin Fan habitually opened his mouth and bit into the beef Liang Xue offered.

Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly noticed Emma standing by their table with her meal box. His mind raced, and he immediately understood what Liang Xue was up to! He let out a soft sigh.

Alas, the plan for a primary wife and a secondary wife is still a long way off!