Thesis: Fleet Tactics for Space Marines, Draft 1 of many. =)
IMO, to use a SM fleet properly, you basically have to break up the fleet into 2 portions: Anvil Group and Hammer Group. (Those who can see where I am going, please raise your hands..=)
The Anvil Group should consist of all the Battle Barges and as many escorts as you think necessary to protect the Barge. Ideally, this would be comprise mainly of Cobras and Swords, as the Cobras can compliment the Barge's boarding torpedo salvo and the Swords can supplement the Barge's firepower.
The Hammer Group will consist of all the Strike Cruisers, along with any escorts deemed necessary to accomplish it's task (more later). The escorts in this case can be Swords, Cobras and/or Firestorms; Swords to beef up the firepower, Cobras to provide torpedoes, and Firestorms to add lances. Ideally, there should be 2 to 3 Strike Cruisers in the group, in order to make individual Strike Cruiser's feeble firepower more of a threat.
This layout is necessary because the Space Marines simply have no middle-class cruisers to aid the Barges is main battles. In major fleet action, the Space Marines tend to lose out because of the lack of a workhorse cruiser: it's either the Battle Barge, which cannot be in two places at the same time, or the Stike Cruiser, which cannot take the punishment of a normal cruiser. Combining the two ship classes in a single battlegroup will make the Strike Cruisers more vulnerable,due to the increased attention paid to it by the enemy.
In essense, the Space Marine fleet is reduced to making Arkbar slash attacks by the Hammer Group from the flanks of the enemy fleet, while the Battle Barges ground into the front of the enemy formation. As the Marine fleet is equipped with the excellent Thunderhawk Gunship, every attempt should be made to launch more of these deadly assault boats to harass enemy ships. The reason why the Strike Cruisers must penetrate the enemy formation rather than slashing along the sides of the formation is in order to bring the deadly bombardment cannons into play.
Priority targets for Marines would be different from standard fleets; ideally, Marines should target enemy ships in the following sequence:
This is because Escorts and fast cruisers are the most dangerous threat to Strike Cruisers.
Comments? =P (If you lasted this long, congrats! Most pple would have zapped this by now. =)
Lim Jyue