So, is there a tactical counter to SBM pod spam? Because basically 15 destroyers wiped out an entire fleet on their own - if they had a full complement of pods, it would have been a total wipe.
You are correct, but a couple of notes. Using pod ships like that requires pre-planning and the enemy sticking to your plan. The pods have to be deployed from drive-field down ships, then activated, at which time they follow their program. If the Lothari had done something unexpected, it would have resulted in wasting some or all of the pods. Also, if the Lothari had been able to send in enough fighters to overwhelm the Alliance's fighter force, they could have kept their own fleet out of range of the pods and used their fighters to pick them off, or damage or destroy the Alliance fleet.
Basically, the Alliance had the perfect setup for the use of the pod ships. The Lothari weren't expecting them and had never used them themselves, so they weren't watching for them in spite of the fact that they knew what they existed. The Lothari were coming for the Alliance fleet, allowing the Alliance to sit on the defensive, which gave the pod ships time to deploy their pods and program them. The Lothari then acted predictably, which the Alliance took advantage of.
In a more fluid situation, where the enemy is aware of the existence and use of pod-layers, it becomes much more difficult to use them effectively. If this was a meeting battle in deep space, then the enemy would have seen the pod-laying destroyers drop their drive fields and would have been able to react. The only plausible reason for this activity in deep space would have been to either arm/rearm gunboats or deploy cargo from a cargo hold. This would allow the enemy to retreat from the pod-layers, or to vector in fighters to attack the drive-field down ships.
I generally try to avoid having everything go right for one side, but in this case the Lothari are arrogant and convinced of their superiority, and desperate as well. They fell right into the trap.
Kurt
