I was thinking about my lastest tactical blunder- accidentally pressing "5 Days" instead of "Event Log" and ending up with 90 enemy FAC a mere 10k away from my fleet, rather than the 50m I was intending.
Pretty bad and (as Theokrat mentioned in the initial thread) only attributable to a massive computer failure or rogue AI RP-wise. Nevertheless, the doomed fleet managed to pull through...
As soon as the hostiles were spotted, the carrier group immediately launched all remaining fighters, who split into small wings and activated onboard sensors. The carriers and accompanying collier then began a transition through the jump gate.
Meanwhile, the destroyer group began targetting the FAC, while heading away from the jump point as quickly as possible.
It was only seconds later that the enemy, the Sian Republic- a race of hyperintelligent, meter long caterpillars- turned on their active sensors and fired on the fleet- but by then, the carriers were out of the system. Half the Sian's missiles self-destructed, lacking a target. The remainer destroyed half of the fighter wings, but with so many targets, they neglected the destroyers.
This was a big mistake- if they had been beam FAC, the Terran fleet would have been doomed. As it were, they were armed with missiles- and only had one shot before they needed to head back and reload. The destroyer group, nearly as fast as these FAC, began using the extreme close range to take all the time they needed to hunt down and destroy the enemy ships.
A salvage craft is now en-route. Recovery of the wrecks (and their crew, by the carrier group) promises to be a very rewarding endeavor.