Something that always bothered me about Fleet Action is that the jump points weren't defended. As a strangle point, it seems like they would be highly defensible locations. At the very least you'd expect them to be mined or, if more ambitious, why not move the fleet up to defend them like in the movie?
Since this was not done (or in the case of mining at least not mentioned so not a pivotal tactic) in the battle, there must be a reason. A minefield would have had to be deployed after the 3rd Fleet jumped to Sol, and there might not have been time to deploy one. Also, a minefield that would be effective against such a large fleet might not be realistic. Shockwaves from the initial explosions and the number of ships the Kilrathi would have to throw into the mix might quickly make a hole in the field. As for bringing the fleet up, this might have been avoided since there was no chance for suprise and doing so would allow the Kilrathi to jump in their fighters and attack the fleet with no risk to their cap ships (assuming the fighters are jump capable).
Additional tactics not seen in WC but that would seem to make sense would be jumping mines in front of an incoming fleet on jump approach. The shockwave could alter the trajectory of the ships at the last moment before the jump which hopefully would have disasterous consequences. Another possibility might be deploying a debris field within the probablistic area where ships materialize from the jump. While this could also be cleared quickly by the initial explosions, it has the bonus of being effective even against the best combatants since it would bypass shields and armor of any affected ships. In fact, it would be more successful against ships with greater volume which would be more likely to hit a piece of debris. This would seem like a really cheap way to try and take out a Hakaga, but such a debris field would also have to be deployed after the Third fleet returned to Sol. Given the ammount and size of debris you would want, it would likely take a good while to deploy too (assuming such material was even available).
What do you guys think about these and other possible methods of defending a jump point? Would they have any chance of being effective? Do they fit the universe?
Since this was not done (or in the case of mining at least not mentioned so not a pivotal tactic) in the battle, there must be a reason. A minefield would have had to be deployed after the 3rd Fleet jumped to Sol, and there might not have been time to deploy one. Also, a minefield that would be effective against such a large fleet might not be realistic. Shockwaves from the initial explosions and the number of ships the Kilrathi would have to throw into the mix might quickly make a hole in the field. As for bringing the fleet up, this might have been avoided since there was no chance for suprise and doing so would allow the Kilrathi to jump in their fighters and attack the fleet with no risk to their cap ships (assuming the fighters are jump capable).
Additional tactics not seen in WC but that would seem to make sense would be jumping mines in front of an incoming fleet on jump approach. The shockwave could alter the trajectory of the ships at the last moment before the jump which hopefully would have disasterous consequences. Another possibility might be deploying a debris field within the probablistic area where ships materialize from the jump. While this could also be cleared quickly by the initial explosions, it has the bonus of being effective even against the best combatants since it would bypass shields and armor of any affected ships. In fact, it would be more successful against ships with greater volume which would be more likely to hit a piece of debris. This would seem like a really cheap way to try and take out a Hakaga, but such a debris field would also have to be deployed after the Third fleet returned to Sol. Given the ammount and size of debris you would want, it would likely take a good while to deploy too (assuming such material was even available).
What do you guys think about these and other possible methods of defending a jump point? Would they have any chance of being effective? Do they fit the universe?