Introduction
Are you a new fleet commander, looking to prove your worth to the Emperor and rise through the ranks of the Imperial Navy? Well, this topic is for you.
In here, we will avoid, as much as possible, the number-crunching and statistics of the game. This is, however, unavoidable to some degree, but the purpose of this thread is, primarily, to study generalized strategies, which can then be applied later to list builds and number-crunching.
As an officer of the Imperial Navy, you have several weapons currently at your disposal. To master the art of fleet command, you must understand how each of these tools works; not just individually, but as a group.
Your Tools
1. The Victory Class Star Destroyer
Until the larger Imperial Star Destroyers are available for your command, the Victory Class Star Destroyer is the heart of your fleet. Like all Star Destroyers, it is large, reliable, and has a forward firepower unmatched by any other. As your primary hitting power, the most common and important goal of your fleet will be in enabling the full firepower of your Star Destroyers to be brought to bear as often and as effectively as possible. When this is achieved, your Star Destroyer will rip into enemy vessels (offering you the sanguine satisfaction of committing your adversaries to the cold of space).
However, as great of a tool as this vessel is, it is not without limitations. Indeed, it actually suffers from several prominent limits. The greatest of these is its overall lack of maneuverability. Compounding this problem is the weakness of the Star Destroyer's rear facing; both the shields and firepower of the vessel's rear facing are severely limited. Considering that your adversaries will commonly be far smaller and more agile than yourself, this poses the first and greatest of issues for your command: how to keep your opponents in front of you, and away from your far too delicate posterior. The Star Destroyer also tends to lack sufficient capability to fight off
2. TIE-Fighters and Interceptors
Quick, cheap, and numerous. TIE-Fighters are individually less than threatening to your enemies. However, TIE-Fighters form an integral part of your fleet's structure. Their primary mission should always be the defense of your capital ships, especially your Star Destroyers. While their speed may tempt you into sending them forward to engage enemy fighters between the battle lines drawn by both sides' capital ships, the TIE-Fighter should predominantly hold to a defensive posture. Enemy fighters are are quite ineffective when attacking the fore of a Star Destroyer; as such, to be of any effect to the larger vessel, enemy fighters and bombers must reach the Star Destroyer's rear arc. From this simple deduction, we can make an assumption that is quite invaluable on the field of battle: where our opponent will be. Enemy fighters will, more often than not, attempt to go after your Star Destroyer's rear arc. Thus, you keep your fighters close, protecting that region. This provides you several benefits: protecting your Star Destroyer's weaknesses, and keeping the dog-fighting away from the support of enemy capital ships.
3. The Gladiator Class Star Destroyer
Till now, we have referenced only the Victory Class Star Destroyer. Its smaller cousin, the Gladiator, however, holds an important place in the composition of our fleet. The Gladiator is the quicker of our two available Star Destroyers, and while it does not boast the same resilience and firepower of the Victory, this ship has the advantage of greater anti-fighter firepower. Coupled with its relative maneuverability, the Gladiator fits the role of a bouncer in your fleet. The Gladiator should be used to coral the enemy, and limit their maneuvering options. This can be by providing a threat zone in which enemy fighters will be reluctant to enter, or more bullishly, by physically placing itself in potential movement paths of enemy ships.
The Gladiator does not have the firepower of its larger cousin, as we stated earlier. It should, as often as not, leave heavy hitting to the Victory. That does not mean its firepower is useless, however. The addition of a Gladiator's firepower to that of the Victory's can bring a one-two punch to enemy ships with devastating results. That being said, unless it has an advantageous position against a smaller capital ship, the Gladiator should avoid one-on-one fights with enemy capital ships.
4. TIE-Bombers
As regrettable as it is, you will not be able to keep the enemy capital ships within your front arc forever; they are smaller, faster, and more agile. Unless you destroy them on the first pass, you will often have to come around for a second in order to finish the job. In that time, however, your opponent can be left relatively free to do as he pleases. It is in this situation that we can best employ the TIE-Bomber. While not greatly threatening head-on, a TIE-Bomber can become a great deal of worry for an enemy ship when given the right moment to strike.
TIE-Bombers should be held in the rear of your Star Destroyer's arc. This allows them several advantages. First, they will be protected by the proximity of your TIE-Fighters and Interceptors, who should also be sharing that position or be nearby. Secondly, it will provide them with an opportunity to strike. When your opponent's capital ships cross paths with your Star Destroyer, your Bombers can fall out of your Star Destroyer's wake, and hopefully begin to harass the enemy ship's rear armor. This works best if your Star Destroyer and the enemy ship pass close together; considering the strength of your Star Destroyers' front arc, it is good to get close for those shots anyway. While your Bombers may not survive their encounter, they will force your opponent to deal with them, hopefully allowing your Star Destroyer to prepare for a killing blow. And, who knows? Perhaps some lucky pilot will deliver the fatal blow through good chance.
Tying Them Together
If our general strategy is not obvious by this point, then there is little hope for your capability as a commander. However, since you are in command either way, we will spell it out a bit more simply now. Your primary goal of every engagement is to control it. Your Victory-Class Star Destroyers are the anchoring point of the engagement; if left unchecked, they will wreck the enemy fleet, and thus, we know our opponent will have to deal with them. With the understanding of our Star Destroyers' weaknesses, we can know where they will attempt to strike: the rear arc of our ships. Keeping this knowledge in mind, you can guess the movements of your enemy with fair certainty. We use our Fighters to protect this area from smaller threats, while the Gladiator can bully other capital ships from moving into advantageous position. Bombers, meanwhile, give us a secondary method for dealing damage to enemy capital ships when our Star Destroyers are unable, and give us a way to harass them while our Star Destroyers move into better position.
Control. It is the key to your victory over smaller, more agile opponents. Dominate the battlefield, anchor it where you desire it, and do not allow yourself to be tempted away from your positions.
Good luck, commander.