Tips for jumping into a “hot” system

[Ekaton (OP)]

I am currently fighting against an entrenched NPR with a lot of ships waiting for me on the other side of the jump point. What are your tips for entering “hot” jump points?

Couple ideas, tell me if they’re likely to work.

1) Build a jumpgate and send a lot of ships.
2) Send ships with powerful armour and shields so the initial shock doesn’t render them incapable for too long.
3) Send a swarm of smaller ships together with 1) so there are too many targets at once.
4) Send cloaked ships.

[Barkhorn]

Bring beam weapons, and remember to use squadron jump so you have less down time.

[Droll]

1 and 4 are bad options and wont work / are bad ideas.
Jump Gates cannot be undone so if something goes wrong the enemy has unfettered access through that point. Stabilized jump points also do not reduce jump shock.
Cloaking does not work very well in these situations because all cloaks do is reduce the range that Actives can lock on to you. At the point blank ranges that this type of combat happens they won't prevent you from getting seen and shot.

2 is probably a good option, especially if they are beamy bois.

Also consider using jump tenders with upgraded squadron jump size and most importantly upgraded jump radius. The jump radius line makes it so that your squadron jumping ships do not appear right on top of the jump point and instead some distance away - at max tech this can be up to 4m km from the point. This means that you won't instantly get beamed to death and if you are faster can allow you to kite with your own missiles provided you survive theirs. Even without the radius upgrades, squadron jumps have a much shorter jump shock period compared to using a jump gates "standard transit" option.

[TheTalkingMeowth]

At relatively low tech, long range squad jumps to give you time to recover from shock and start kiting may not be an option. Something I've been considering is to treat ump assaults like siege scenarios, with dedicated assault ships that are basically siege weapons: big with tons of armor and shields to absorb the initial damage, and SLOW to save space for combat capacity. In particular, if you go with commercial engines to help with range, you can use commercial jump drives to transit the giant ships. You lose out on squadron size a bit, but the research cost for really big military jump drives is prohibitive.

As a general point, make sure to get max crew grade and full fleet training! Crew grade directly reduces jump shock duration, so invest in auxiliary commands, crew training officers, and level 5 quality for your crew pool.

[StarshipCactus]

I am not sure if this is possible, but I think you can launch missiles without needed an active sensor lock on anything, so you could send some ships with lots of box launchers and design the missiles to have active sensors so they can target whatever they need to target.
I am not sure if this is possible or how well it might work, but you could send these ships in first to weaken the enemy if you don't mind losing them.

[Garfunkel]

That worked in VB6 but I don't know if it'll still work in C#

[Iceranger]

I am not sure if this is possible, but I think you can launch missiles without needed an active sensor lock on anything, so you could send some ships with lots of box launchers and design the missiles to have active sensors so they can target whatever they need to target.
I am not sure if this is possible or how well it might work, but you could send these ships in first to weaken the enemy if you don't mind losing them.

Sensor missile retargeting doesn't work quite well in C# if at all.

[TheTalkingMeowth]

I am not sure if this is possible, but I think you can launch missiles without needed an active sensor lock on anything, so you could send some ships with lots of box launchers and design the missiles to have active sensors so they can target whatever they need to target.
I am not sure if this is possible or how well it might work, but you could send these ships in first to weaken the enemy if you don't mind losing them.

Haven't actually tried this, but I'm pretty sure you would suffer a fire delay on the missile launchers, just like you would with beam weapons. The jump shock rules post refers to "fire controls" being delayed, not specifically beam weapons.

http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8495.msg113856#msg113856

[Garfunkel]

The point is that you bypass MFC by launching missiles at a waypoint set at the location where you jumped in. Then in the next 5-sec the missiles reach the WP, turn on their sensors without delay and then attacked. This tactic worked in VB6 but I haven't heard of anyone testing it with C# and the way missile sensors work has been changed.

[TheTalkingMeowth]

True, the launch ready ordnance command is not affected by jump shock. You wouldn't be able to target a waypoint with your MFC though I think.

[Garfunkel]

Oh sorry, I mixed up two things.

Yeah they way you do it is you use the "Launch Ready Ordnance" with literally just drops your missiles in space at the same location as your ships.
5-sec pass.
Your missiles turn on their sensors and if they see any enemy ships, will target them.
5-sec pass.
JP area is hopefully clear.

[TheTalkingMeowth]

Regardless of whether it SHOULD work or not, I believe the current state of missile sensors means it WON'T work.

I do wonder if something a little jankier might work, though. Jump a carrier through, have it drop parasites that are just a MFC, an active sensor, and a pile of box launchers. Would the parasites be affected by jump shock?

If not, my next jump assault just might be executed by SD(P)s.

[non sequitur]

I haven't really found a better way than #2. Lot's of beam weapons, redundant systems, and tons of armor. Squad jump them into the system and hope for the best. The armor belt runs 10+. They don't really need range or even particular use beyond busting down the door. You're basically building a battering ram in space.

[Michael Sandy]

I haven't actually played the new Aurora, as I still have a VB6 game I am playing.  But one thing you could do in VB6 was make missile pods.  No engine, no fire control, just a box launcher.  You mass transited them in a standard transit, and they launch on transit, firing homing missiles.

That basically clears the close in defenses, and soaks a lot of enemy firepower, and then you just transit in with your regular fleet and your sensors should stabilize before the long range combatants can hurt you too much.

[Norm49]

What I done last time and it work was, to send fast fighter (15'000km/s), one fighter per fleet and about 5 fleet using jump squadron. On the other side make them run a ways form the jump point and let the ship guarding the point chase them, then send the main battle fleet.