From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 551 Randall's Mist
At Randall's request, Selina quickly began to calculate based on the fleet's current speed, orbital altitude, enemy contact distance and other information, and this calculation could only be completed by this powerful shipborne control personality for now.

After all, the fleet led by Cliffs launched plasma torpedoes to attack from behind while being pursued by the enemy fleet.

The attacker and the attacked are basically on the same track, so there are relatively few parameters that need to be calculated and the calculation difficulty is much lower.

But the situation Randall is facing now is a little different. The enemy is still far enough away from his fleet and has not yet entered the orbit of Rubion V.

Therefore, he could not launch torpedoes directly like Cliffs did. Instead, he needed to make more precise calculations to grasp the timing of torpedo release and plan the preset route.

By the way, the tactics used by Cleves on the Pella IV have become popular in the Atlas combat fleet.

From captain to formation commander, detachment commander, and squadron commander.
Everyone who encountered a combat environment near a planet in a simulated battle, especially an orbital combat environment, would imitate Cliffs' tactics.

This directly led to the fact that in simulated battles near the planet, the fleet spent 90% of the time launching heavy anti-ship missiles and stealth plasma torpedoes at the opponent's location from all kinds of unexpected angles across the curved surface of the planet.
With both sides doing this, commanders at all levels developed extremely skilled and flexible command capabilities in maneuvering and avoiding torpedoes.

And 90% of the time, the warring parties will officially enter the shooting phase only after all the fleet's plasma torpedoes and anti-ship missiles have been used up.

Not only that, even if they encountered a simulated environment where the battle was not near a planet, many commanders also fell in love with the tactic of using massive plasma torpedoes to attack the flanks of the enemy fleet in a large arc, and then waiting for the prize.

It can be said that Cleves has done a very good job in "restoring the glory of torpedoes, which is our obligation."

Although the commander-in-chief of the Atlas combat fleet has stated many times in public that this set of tactics was actually learned from the Boss, under Amber's arrangement, this tactic was still named "Cliffs Tactics" within Atlas.

This is to commemorate the fleet commander who completed this set of tactics for the first time in actual combat.

This approach not only touched Cliffs, but also inspired the enthusiasm of the commanders in the Atlas combat fleet.

Because for them, having a tactic named after them is enough to brag to future generations.

So when Randall encountered the current situation where he needed to fight near the planet, he immediately thought of the "Cliffs Tactics".

After all, many fleet commanders, including him, have realized the power of plasma torpedoes.

As long as the step of "sending plasma torpedoes to the enemy" is done well, the effect of these "little things" will be far more than just a "lottery draw".
Soon, Selina, who had powerful computing power, calculated the location and preset trajectory for launching the plasma torpedo.

In the trajectory diagram she projected, the second batch of plasma torpedoes dropped to the rear of the fleet would orbit the planet with the help of Rubion V's gravity, draw a huge arc, and then attack the flank of the federal fleet that happened to arrive at a certain location.

According to Selina's calculations, if the attacks of these plasma torpedoes were effective, they would cause great damage to the federal fleet.

"Very good. Does anyone else have any comments?"

After watching Selina's demonstration, Randall nodded and looked at the others around him.

"If you have any opinions, please raise them quickly. Time is running out. We must complete the tactical formulation and issue it before we enter the detection range of the Federation Fleet."

"I have a question, Colonel." The officer on duty raised his hand, and the people around him looked at him at the same time.

"You said."

"I'm worried that the Federation Fleet will be prepared for this. After all, Commander Cleves's previous success on Pella IV was too great. The Federation Navy will definitely re-evaluate the threat of plasma torpedoes."

“Actually, I’ve thought about this question, too.”

Randall nodded and continued:

"But we don't have any better solutions right now. We can't just abandon the freight fleet and run away. In this case, when our fleet is far weaker than our opponent's, we can only think of this 'unconventional way'."

Randall's words caused everyone on the bridge to fall into silence, because they found that just as Randall said, they really couldn't find a better way to deal with the upcoming battle.

"Okay, if you can't think of a better way, just follow the order. We don't have time to waste."

Randall waved his hand and sat back down in the captain's seat, while the others quickly dispersed and went to their respective battle positions.

Then, Randall looked at the shipborne control personality floating in the air.

"Selina, complete the torpedo launch operation plan and send it to each ship. At the same time, supplement the follow-up enemy engagement plan - all ships gather around the Infinity to form a spherical formation, activate the Visible Light Band Jammer, and wait for the flagship's order to be ready to start at any time!"

"Roger that, Captain!"
-
As time went on, the federal fleet, which maintained an extremely high relative speed, quickly entered their maximum detection distance and immediately spotted an "enemy fleet" that had already deployed its battle formation.

At a distance of 30 kilometers, the effects of optical and infrared observations are not accurate enough. In addition, the opponent is likely to have activated optical camouflage, so the federal fleet will mainly make judgments based on the echo characteristics of the long-wave radar.

Of course, there is actually a more 'convenient' way of detection.

That is to add some radioactive elements to the heavy particle cannon of the battleship, conduct a "diffusion irradiation", and then use the superconducting quantum interference magnetic measurement system to track the radioactive particle tides covering at a speed of hundreds of kilometers per second in the "diffusion irradiation" mode.

When these radioactive particle tides cover the target surface, regardless of whether optical camouflage, radar wave cancellation or blackbody coating is activated, they will be observed by the superconducting quantum interference magnetic measurement system.

However, the fleet's current location is in a celestial structure similar to the 'Earth-Moon System', and the gravitational interference between multiple celestial bodies still has a certain impact on the measurement results.

In addition, this detection method is basically equivalent to firing a cannon, so Benelli and Stoner did not use it rashly.

What if the other party hasn't discovered the federal fleet in covert operation mode?
However, after entering the detection range for a distance, Benelli soon discovered something was wrong, because this fleet did not turn on the radar wave cancellation after being swept several times, but just let them watch.

"I feel like something is wrong, like a bait."

"It is indeed a bait, but it may not be used to ambush us, but to cover up something else."

Stoner's voice came from one side. Benelli turned his head and saw that the fleet commander generated by the holographic image was transmitting a radar image that had just been analyzed through the fleet data link.

"Look here, this is the problem discovered by our fleet intelligence processing team."

Benelli looked carefully at the radar image released by Stoner, and soon discovered the problem - there was a fleet operating in low orbit on Rubion V.

"In such a low orbit, is it an orbital attack ship? Or is it a cargo ship carrying out a drop operation?"

Stoner: "Based on the radar wave characteristics, my people are inclined to believe that a cargo fleet is operating."

"No wonder the enemy fleet didn't activate radar wave cancellation, but let us discover their presence. Their purpose is to attract our attention and cover this cargo fleet."

Benelli slapped his thigh and said with sudden realization:
"Oh my goodness, we almost got tricked by them. Shouldn't we seize this opportunity and launch an attack quickly? This way, we can also destroy the enemy's cargo fleet!"

But on the other hand, Rear Admiral Stoner, commander of the 18th Fleet, shook his head.

"In theory, we should do this, but I always feel like something is wrong."

He turned to look at Benelli and continued:

"Do you think that with the size of the fleet we have discovered now, we can annihilate the garrison fleet in one go?"

(End of this chapter)