NEBULOUS: Fleet Command A Thorough Guide to OSPN

Introduction To OSPN

OSPN is a hard faction to play. Much harder than ANS in many respects. Many new players can make functional ANS fleets, while only being able to make an OSPN fleet that will fireball on contact with the enemy. This is due to a dramatic leap in demand for aspects such as teamwork and design knowledge. I write this guide with the intent to introduce you, the player, to the world of OSPN. How they fight, how they win. I write this guide as an OSPN main, with hundreds of hours fighting just about everything ANS can make, and fielding just about everything OSPN can make. Hopefully, this guide will demystify OSPN, and allow you to understand the challenges that come with playing the faction.

OSPN Doctrine

OSPN as a faction is an asymmetric non-peer military power fighting the leviathan ANS navy. As such, one should completely, and utterly discard any notions of fighting ANS in a head on or equal footing.

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For instance, the ship above mounts plasma, capable of shredding enemy armour. It also has incredibly thick armor itself, nearly equivalent to enemy capitals. Naturally, it should fight enemy capitals head on then, right? Well, no. The ship is much smaller, generally quite slow, and lacks firepower compared to said capitals. In addition, that gun has a much shorter range, meaning in a straight on fight, the ship would die before it is even likely to get a shot off. Instead, the ship is best employed in a defensive/ambush role, staying in cover, and only fighting when it has closed the gap. Even then, it should regularly disengage to allow for repairs.

OSPN plays much like that in every aspect. Nothing OSPN has can stand up directly to ANS fleets very well, but when coupled with clever positioning, tactics, and special equipment, it can easily match or surpass the ANS in almost every way. In other words, OSPN lives and dies by its asymmetrical capabilities.

Teamwork Is Neccessary

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Communication is absolutely critical. OSPN often lives or dies in the lobby, when one person refuses to talk and won't bring a good fleet, or no one talks and no one is accounting for who is bringing what. This is, quite frankly, the largest contributing factor to OSPN losing matches. Talk to your teammates, will lose. When entering a lobby, look at your team's composition, and figure out what is missing. It is only when everything is together that the team will have a chance at victory.

OSPN "Roles"

OSPN needs several roles handled across their team in order to be successful. If even one of these roles are not filled, the chance for success plummets dramatically. If all of these roles are fulfilled, and in the quantities needed, OSPN will meet or succeed the capabilities of any ANS composition. The roles are as follows: A front line ocello, EWR, LRT, plasma, intel, and capping ships. Each of the abilities listed provides a critical capability to the OSPN, and lacking even one can put the team at a big disadvantage.

The ocello is the premier anti-jam, locking, tracking, and PD platform of the OSPN. It is the only OSPN ships that can access more sophisticated ANS tech for just about everything. A properly built ocello incorporating 2 auroras, a floodlight, a bullseye, and a parallax radar will enable: PD support for the rest of the fleet, the best anti-jamming capabilities in game, the best locking function in game, and high quality tracks for non-locked targets. If the team does not have at least one of these, they are in danger of being: completely rolled by enemy jamming, completely rolled by enemy hybrid missile spam, and completely rolled by lack of ranged targeting. A properly built ocello is a must.

EWR stands for early warning radar. Its is a high power, directional radar, that allows you to spot enemies from upwards of 18km away. It is the longest distance radar in game, though it is not capable of producing a radar track that can be fired upon outside of manually aimed missiles. Having EWR, even 1-2 ships worth, allows OSPN to spot enemy maneuvers while they are still preparing, allowing the team to make decisions, and plan ambushes far in advance. To many, it may seem underwhelming, but make no mistake, an OSPN fleet without EWR is a blind fleet.

LRT, like EWR is a directional radar. It is impractical to find targets with LRT, but it can be used to make a track already found with EWR high enough quality to shoot at. This helps make up for lackluster OSPN radars, and allows OSPN to engage the enemy at maximum distance with their weapons. A team without LRT cannot use their heavy weapons to their fullest.

Plasma is a close range energy weapon fielded by OSPN. It does not do a lot of damage to the internals of enemy ships, but it is an important enabler. A full salvo of 3-4 plasma turrets can strip most of a capital ship's armor, allowing the smaller caliber weapons of the OSPN fleet to damage them easily. Without plasma ANS capitals like the battleship, or heavy cruiser can roam the battlefield with impunity, as other large OSPN weapons often take hundreds of rounds to meaningfully hurt them.

Often times, capping can be overlooked in the name of bringing more firepower. However, considering the many other advantages ANS has in a stand up fight, OSPN's best bet of victory lies in their capping ability. Smaller ships allow for increased map control, letting OSPN safely prepare ambushes, or repel enemy scouts looking for vulnerable ships like the moorline. An OSPN lineup without one fleet entirely dedicated to capping and map control means that things like ambushes are nearly impossible to conceal.

Intel is also overlooked often in the rush for firepower. However, it is important to remember that OSPN relies heavily on ambushes, and advanced recon to be effective. Intelligence allows ambushes to be tailor made for the ships involved, and pairs very well with EWR, allowing the team to spot, identify, and counter whatever the enemy has. Essentially, it allows the team to seize the initiative.

OSPN Ships And How To Use Them

OSPN's ships can be very hard to build for. They often are lacking in some way compared to their ANS counterparts. Whether that be in durability, speed, firepower, utility, or armor, every OSPN ship is weaker than its ANS counterpart. As such, ships tend to require specialization, with fleets comprised of several specialized ships working together to achieve a common objective. Let us go over every OSPN ship, from smallest to largest.

The ferryman is a small shuttle. It is fast, though lacking in module space and armament. These ships are ideal cappers, able to match the ANS sprinter in terms of speed, meaning they can contest or capture points about as fast as ANS can. In terms of armament, two common load outs exist for the ferryman, though many more are viable. The most common is the 100 mm gun shuttle. This is a common capping design, able to moderately damage equivalent sized ships, while being very cheap. Another common variant is the rocket shuttle. A more expensive shuttle usually run in groups of three. This one can cap, but is more often used to finish weakened capital ships, or hunt ANS destroyers.

The draugr tug is the closest thing OSPN has to the ANS Sprinter. It can be adapted to fit numerous roles, including firing S2 and S3 missiles, mounting LRT and EWR, and capturing points. The tug is slower and more expensive compared to ANS Sprinters, but the most common designs can allow the team to fulfill much needed EWR, LRT, and capping capabilities

The flathead monitor typically serves as an escort for OSPN capitals, essentially being a platform for mounting things like plasma, missiles, and the unique 600 mm round. It is slow, heavily armored, and moderately armed. It typically allows OSPN fleets to absorb punishment their more fragile ships cannot, while countering dangerous ANS swarms. Its low price allows one to field 2-3 of these for the price of one ANS heavy cruiser. Though commonly used to fulfill the plasma requirement, it can also be used to fulfill EWR and LRT as well.

The ocello is the only capital ship for OSPN. As mentioned above, it is the primary means through which OSPN counters jamming and enemy missiles, among other capabilities. Many variants can be made of the ocello, but it is important that at least one "standard" ocello with a parallax, bullseye, floodlight, and two auroras is fielded each match. The ocello shines in those areas, and in no others. It is not fast, particularly well armored, or capable of outputting tremendous firepower. Obviously, there are some exceptions, but that is largely the case for standard ocellos.

The moorline is a dedicated missile ship capable of firing up to 244 container missiles in volleys of up to 12. Frankly, as it stands, the moorline is only good for fulfilling the intel role. It is unreliable as a missile system, and a very easy point trap. It can do great amounts of damage, but typically only if the enemy is very bad, or at the cost of other important assets. It is largely useless as of now, unless used in hybrid fleets to fill gaps in the team's roster.

Putting It All Together

After covering all gaps in a team composition, one may still lose badly if they do not work with the team. Ocellos, EWR, and LRT are all useless unless in the service of the team as a whole.

It is important to be in position to help others, and be helped. This can often be quite hard, but can be easily addressed with proper team deployment. In the planning phase talk. Figure out what ships are needed where. For instance, the team ocello may need to deploy with another front line fleet in order to protect them and give them targeting data. A player with scouts may screen for another player by placing shuttles ahead of them. It is this type of communication that determines if your preparations and organization will be all for naught.

Conclusion

OSPN is a hard faction that necessitates careful planning and coordination. Even the smallest mistake in preparation may domino into a total, humiliating defeat. Hopefully this guide will help address such deficiencies wherever they may be found.

Note: Thank you for reading my guide! Its is still somewhat rough, but I feel it is helpful in its current state for new and old players alike. I hope this helped you, or if it didn't, and something is missing, please let me know so I can fix it/add it in.

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3282950076

A Thorough Guide to OSPN