Doctrine Notes 2/13/26

In time, we will have written so many pages upon pages of doctrine, that it shall make sense to write manuals and lecture circuits discussing our said plans and doctrines. We have not yet hit such a point. Yet now, more than ever, it makes sense for us to discuss our doctrine of today, as it has been built for tomorrow. Before we begin, a note on limitations. Anyone can point out that Star Citizen is unfinished. Of course as new features come out, the overall best course of action should change to accommodate them. But that’s not the point. Good doctrine is meant for today and tomorrow. That is what our goals are for right here and now.

To digress for a moment, it is a failing of strategy and creativity to utilize the wrong ship for the job. The correct ship may not be available for the mission at hand. In such a case, do not attempt to utilize a ship incorrectly. Recent memory recalls, a mission where a Constellation Taurus was employed for a hostile insertion at a planetary bunker. Almost immediately the constellation began to take fire and attempted to drop it’s ground team. the Constellation lacks a ramp or ladder exit, and relies on two elevators. The ground team was on the cargo elevator when ground fire caused the pilot to panic and the team was ejected from the ship to fall to their deaths. Three good options could have prevented this outcome. The first is an abort. There is never any shame in acknowledging that a mission isn’t coming together, and you need to back off and rethink the situation. All mission commanders should be comfortable calling an abort if the need arises (and indeed, we are seeing more crews survive and even operations salvaged thanks to an increase in aborts). The second course of action would have been to land a distance from the bunker. The ground team may have to walk, but they would be alive, and would waltz in below anti aircraft fire. The third option (the most ideal) would be to not take a Constellation Taurus at all, instead taking a dropship such as a Cutlass Steel, or Anvil Valkyrie. The ground team would have been able to take seats until it was safe to exit, and then could rush right out the side doors. The entire evolution would have taken seconds. Operational limitations will always exist, but good planning, and even better reasoning can stop a bad situation from devolving.

To start, We’ll discuss the simplest topic, that being the Idris. I’ll start with an misconception: “The Idris is invulnerable/ paper thin”. In an attempt to justify dramatic balance changes, community members often claim that the Idris frigate is either invulnerable to all attack, or can be annihilated by a Mirai Fury. The truth is the much less interesting fact of “It depends”. For starters, I’ll note that an Idris can be used solo, but really only as a cargo hauler, a role it will soon be forced out of as more qualified ships like the Ironclad and the Liberator come online. Yet in combat, you should expect that the Idris will become overwhelming to operate as even something as large as a Polaris can get behind it to cause a bad day. Without a crew adequately scaled for the situation, the Idris becomes a big liability.

Yet those words are chosen carefully. To step back for a moment, Let’s analyze the purpose of the Idris. In the lore, it can be described as a Sea Control Ship. A ship meant to deploy to an area, and maintain an appropriate amount of pressure to assert dominance over the region. The Idris’s primary weapon for that, is a standard complement of 2 Aegis Gladius fighters. This allows for equal parts ground attack, an Air to Air. It is also, another liability of the platform. Though a competent carrier platform, the Idris is a defective sea control ship, as it lacks any meaningful ability to operate a supply chain, or coordinate an in atmosphere operation. That’s not to say that it can’t perform those missions, however, depending on operational details, much better options exist. So the ideal mission role for the Idris, somewhat paradoxically, is as a flagship. An Idris, when being utilized properly will not have much of an opportunity to employ it’s main weapon. Instead, it’ will likely hang back, at range, and coordinate both fighters, as well as heavier support ships to engage threats. There are however exceptions. If the enemy manages to close the field of battle past 15KM, combat can quickly devolve into the Idris directly engaging it’s opponent. This is inadvisable, as turret gunners will struggle to handle lighter fighters, and depending on the ship’s loadout, you may struggle to meaningfully damage the enemy. As a flagship, the Idris will excel at missions requiring prolonged operations outside of a support network, or in a type of area denial operation. Previous missions with Missouri, an Flight 4 Idris class, have shown that it was successful in a QRH type encounter against a Polaris with a fighter escort. Missouri, has also shown herself to be a capable battle group lead, acting with two Perseus gunboats in anti Vanduul naval operations. One particular advantage to keep in mind, even in it’s current state, is that Missouri has been able to rearm Torpedo, and Missiles on fighters within it’s bay. This can potentially allow for a properly configured Gladiator bomber to engage a near infinite number of times before having to return to a station. In the future, Idris type frigates will be able to rearm all fighter ammunitions.

Limitations of the Idris frigate, have shown it to be less than ideal where a fighter complement can not be assembled, or where size of the ship can be a concern. In such cases, the Polaris class corvette, is a more suitable option. Polaris was meant to ultimately replace the Idris as a long range patrol ship. In this mission profile, Polaris excels. Her ability to operate at long ranges, for prolonged periods of time, even sometimes acting as her own support structure, makes her ideal in “Badlands” type systems, where even access to stations does not guarantee support. While lacking the hangar space of the Idris, a Polaris, can still support single fighter operations, or ignore a fighter entirely opting to act as a support ship for nearby operations. The ultimate party trick of the Polaris, is it’s Size 9 torpedoes, allowing it to pose a meaningful threat to larger ships all the way up to an Idris, although torpedoes being what they are may require the target to be weakened first. To that end, the Polaris has a size 7 ballistic turret which a competent gunner may would be able to use to great success. While certainly not agile in atmosphere, she is not incapable of atmospheric operations, as has been proven by the successes of 1st Fleet, Second Division during operations at a Planetary Alignment Facility.

Before moving on to sub capital ships, it’s worth reiterating that you should not become comfortable with the loss of a ship. Star Citizen, right now, lacks serious consequences for a loss of vehicle, on the surface. There are however claim times. For capitals, that can take at a minimum, an hour. In the middle of a battle, loss of a vehicle can be a huge hit to fleet cohesion, no matter the size. Larger capitals in particular, may be stocked with weapons or ammo, which can provide a significant financial hit to the captain, and the fleet. Even something as simple as respawning on a ship can use biogel, which can cost up to 100,000 aUEC per container. Priorities for a spacecraft operator must always fall in the order of crew, then self, then ship, then mission. To that end, we shall now discuss Abandon Ship scenarios. There are 3 common abandon ship scenarios: Space Equipment, Space Combat, and Land. In all abandon ship scenarios, an attempt must be made to secure and remove valuables from the ship, such as biomed or ammunition. To date, we have seen successful executions of all 3 scenarios, proving them a viable option for commanders with significant threat to ship. Space Equipment, occurs the most. In a situation where the vessel is stranded without reasonable method of repair, an abandon ship may be required in order to prevent loss of crew. This typically requires that crew shelter in place until a sufficient transport is available to evacuate to the nearest safe harbor. More rushed, but of higher importance is a Space combat evacuation. In a combat scenario, if a ship becomes irrecoverable, an evacuation must be called before a critical failure causes a complete loss of vessel. In such a case, consider immediate evacuation as you’re probably safer in space than on the exploding ship.

Most sub capitals, live with their flagship. They primarily maintain formation with a larger command ship in charge. They do however have a twist, if the need arises, a sub capital, can split from their flags. In an support style ship that manifests itself in the form of bringing materials and personnel to and from the fleet as operations progress. Cargo transfers for most capital ships currently require a space to space transfer, but the process is well worth it to allow ships to potentially exist without a nearby station for support, for a potentially indefinite amount of time. There’s a caveat to this. Recently during a Stormbreaker operation, the Carrack class Overture was tasked as the primary ship deployed. Overture made use of a robust ground operations equipment suite to support missions on Pyro 4 (to include but not limited to her Medical bay, and armory). Overture’s massive range combined with her limited size made her ideal for direct planetary deployment to Pyro 4 and Pyro 1. Meanwhile, Combat focused sub capitals, such as the Perseus or Hammerhead derive their strength from being the heavy guns of their fleet. They are the ships that you use to attack hostiles approaching the fleet. Likewise, they’re the ships you send forward to keep the battle at range. Sub capitals also tend to be right in the perfect size class to justify usage in atmosphere. Sub capitals lack inherent vulnerabilities that develop from the size of capitals, but unfortunately replace them with their own. Make no mistake: while I have personally seen the Carrack class Overture take down the Xenothreat Idris, it is a dangerous endeavor. Should a capital ship focus it’s ire directly on a sub capital, the sub capital will rarely survive the encounter. This is where the Airwing comes in.

The role of the bomber is highly valuable in today’s battlespace. Ships like the aged Retaliator, and the sturdy Vanguard have a new lease on life as torpedoes threaten ships too slow to meaningfully evade them. While defenses such as PDCs do provide some defense, the method of multiple launched torpedoes (especially in an squadron) has finally proven itself capable of disabling larger ships. The particular advantage comes in when the enemy capital is not following a proper doctrine and has not fully crewed. Unfortunately, the proliferation of capitals has seen more Idrises and Polarises than are can be meaningfully crewed. While a viable aircrew can partially relive that issue, appropriate planning can nullify that. It will be increasingly wise to employ bombers in a fleet formation, as the capital threat grows. Bombers however, are best supported by fighters.

There’s too many questions about what is the best fighter. While Heavy Fighters are better at duking it out in a slug fest, Light Fighters do better work by not being hit in the first place. And while the ultimate truth is that the best fighter is the one that’s best for the pilot, the rule of “right tool for the job” still applies. Missouri primarily carries a loadout of either the Aegis Gladiators or Anvil Arrows. Gladiators are preferred, as they have proven more durable in longer term engagements. They are also easier to repair than the Arrow. There have been missions where the Missouri has shifted to a “Strike” loadout. This has seen the deck replaced with Gladiator bombers, which can be rearmed on the Missouri’s deck. It should be stated that as more carriers or carrier type ships enter the AugLeg fleet, we will continue to operate on a Commander’s Prerogative basis for airwing design. Put simply, the captain’s ship, the captain’s rules in regards to airwing setup, and pilots should discuss their choice in fighter beforehand.