proper fleet organization

[Mikeck (OP)]

I am trying to organize a "task force" by grouping task groups and need some help.  I have 2 frigates (pickets with strong sensors and some Anti missle capability and ASM lasers) 2 guided missle cruisers (Anti Ship), 1 escort cruiser (lots of anti missle defense), one commnad ship and one collier.  The commnade ship is loaded with superpowerful sensors and a flag bridge.  Now, some are still in construction so I want to ask if I can do this:

I want to organize a fleet where the frigates are in one TG riding out in front of the cruisers on picket.  They will "report" to or, fall under the command of the "command TG" consisting of the Command ship.  There will also be a cruiser TG that will fall under command of the command TG.  The command TG will have a flag bridge ito which I want to place a commodore to command the Task force.

Is this how it works? I want to be able to place the frigates on the threat axis as they are small, fast and have 300 anti-missles each.  I see a series of drop-downs in the f-12 window that seem to indicate this is the way to go.

Is this even a good idea?

[sloanjh]

I am trying to organize a "task force" by grouping task groups and need some help.  I have 2 frigates (pickets with strong sensors and some Anti missle capability and ASM lasers) 2 guided missle cruisers (Anti Ship), 1 escort cruiser (lots of anti missle defense), one commnad ship and one collier.  The commnade ship is loaded with superpowerful sensors and a flag bridge.  Now, some are still in construction so I want to ask if I can do this:

I want to organize a fleet where the frigates are in one TG riding out in front of the cruisers on picket.  They will "report" to or, fall under the command of the "command TG" consisting of the Command ship.  There will also be a cruiser TG that will fall under command of the command TG.  The command TG will have a flag bridge ito which I want to place a commodore to command the Task force.

Is this how it works? I want to be able to place the frigates on the threat axis as they are small, fast and have 300 anti-missles each.  I see a series of drop-downs in the f-12 window that seem to indicate this is the way to go.

Is this even a good idea?

You've got the right idea, but I'm a bit confused as to whether your frigates are primarily missile armed or beam armed.  If they're primarily beam platforms, they should probably be in tight with the escorted ships so they can provide short-range point defence.  It's good to position AMM combatants along the threat axis to lengthen their engagement time, although you have to be careful about getting them picked off (having them significantly smaller helps, because then they're harder for the enemy to pick up on active sensors if they're smaller than the enemy's active sensor resolution).

Two suggestions:

1)  Don't forget that you need to make the picket TG subordinate to the core TG in order for it to do the escort thing.
2)  I wouldn't mess around with  bunch of TG in the core group - you run the risk of the various ships being out of position due to station-keeping difficulties (associated with poor task force training).  I would just put the core stuff in a single TG.  If you followed the discussion in the Suggestions thread between Steve and me last night, then you'll see that this will probably change in 5.0 (you can add micro-structure to your TG), but for now we don't have that.

John

[Mikeck (OP)]

Thanks for the help. To clear up any confusion, my frigates are armed with anti-missle missles (about 300 size 1's) and 2 double turretted gauss cannons for air defense. In addition, each frigate has a double laser turret for close-in emergency anti-ship work. They are 15cm ultraviolet lasers and are there so that the frigate can destroy unescorted merchant ships and the like.  

Unlike my cruisers, the frigates are also meant to be used on their own.  The rest of my ships are highly specialized and grouped.