Talk:Ripple Formation/@comment-72.130.243.182-20140210093721

Your assessment that this is a weak formation is incorrect. I would rank formations in the following order of strength:

Front

Twin

Undulating Wave

SDF

Charge or U

Multiple wave

Cross or T

Echelon

One line.

This is based on the number of exposed fronts to the number of firing positions. Especially in larger ships (fearless and above), you want to minimize columns because they dilute the strength of your front stack. Front form is basically a tank (single stack) with 2 extra chances to process. Basically the best combination of maximum offense/defense, IMHO.

The form you use depends a lot on your battle strategy. If you send in a tank first and wait for all the pirates to lock up on the tank, it would make sense to send in large forms like SDF to clean up. Large forms have weak defense, but high offense, so if they are in no danger of taking a hit, they are the best choice for dishing out the most damamge. Another benefit of forms comes at the guns. Damage at the guns is distributed among all ship positions. So an SDF is less likely to lose a ship at the guns than a tank.

Fact is, every form has it's pros and cons.

Tengu (Regent, founder of guild SMASH) UGame Home Naviage Server S1-S2.