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Hidden Blade Squadron - Torpcello and Friends

Role: Ambush - Scouting - Capping | Difficulty: MODERATE

This is the classic 'Torpcello and friends' Ambush/Hunter-Killer build that excels in close quarter combat with a set of versatile escorts for different mission requirements.

The best tactics for this fleet is to evade detection until the last minute, even better during feigned retreat to draw enemy capital ships to overextend, then unleash the deadly torpedoes at the unsuspecting enemies (weapons control mode HOLD can be used to great effect here). Any remaining foes can be swiftly put down with the R-2 Piranha rockets carried by the escort tugs.

Can take out lone Solomon, Axford pair, or Vauxhall trio with ease. However, ally fire support is strongly recommended against denser concentration of enemies. Be economical when expending your torpedoes, as they are a limited resource, and an empty Torpcello cannot respond to threats other than bow tanking.

Even when not ambushing, the escort tugs' jammers and long range scout radar along with the strong point defense network between the 3 main ships are still great assets to protect allied ships, provide intel, and capping.

The detached shuttle Millennium Falcon provides additional flexibility as a capper, or to increase map awareness on exposed flanks during team pushes.

Note: The torpcello does not have enough power to run all systems simultaneously. It is important that you manage your power consumption during combat, especially when your point-defense is activated. Set your PDTRT to DEDI on the torpcello at the start of the match to avoid having the illuminator automatically firing on PD prioritized targets and unnecessarily drawing power.

Weaknesses: Vulnerable to cruise missiles, bombers, and beams spams; in addition to just being in the open in general. Keep your position and composition well concealed for best survivability.

The included SGT-315 Letter Opener torpedo is best fired at range 3.6 - 3.8 km, to a maximum of 4.0 km. It has corkscrew terminal maneuver with 3.2G of turn rate to defeat weakened/exposed point defense. Remember to burn through and lock the contact you want to shoot to defeat jamming, as this torpedo is Command (CMD) guided.


Below is the amount of SGT-315 Letter Opener torpedoes it takes to cripple ANS hulls of each class. Please note that it might take more torpedoes to take out ships capable of bow-tanking (Vauxhall light cruisers and larger), or ships that are unusually reinforced with many components and redundancies.


When shooting a small amount of torpedoes at smaller ships (less than the salvo size of 6), care must be taken to ensure that heavy enemy point defense is not present. Otherwise, more torpedoes would be needed to get through to the target without being all shot down.

A mass torpedo attack will perform best when you can catch the enemy ship off-guard on its either sides, top, or bottom. This increases the likelihood of widespread damage to vital systems such as the drive, reactor, magazine, and CIC.

In total, you have 8 full salvos (48 torpedoes).

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Made with the help from our community on Discord.

Good luck and have fun! Let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions.


I wrote a guide on my approach to playing this fleet:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3477772891

• Update v3.1: Replaced the SGM-262 Breadstick with the updated version of SDM-230 Whirlwind as of the new balance patch 0.5.3.1:251006-0019.
  
• Update v3.0: Replaced SGM-115 Retort for SGM-106 Neostaff for extra points to make the torpcello internals even more tanky. Replaced FCR on the tugs and shuttle for chaffboxes.
  
• Update v2.3: Updated SGM-115 Retort to only target hybrid missiles and optimized the torpcello internals.
  
• Update v2.2: Updated the SGT-315 to have higher turn rate of 3.2G (was 3.0G), at the cost of minor reduction in range to 4.0km maximum (was 4.2km).
  
• Update v2.1: Optimized torpcello to have triple Sundrive-Yard-Whiplash drives setup (removed the main reactor in MOD1). Replaced the ventral Sarissa PDT with a Defender PDT and compensated the lower power output with a Plant Control Center in CMP4 (was Rapid DC Locker).
  
• Update v2.0: Updated escort tugs loadout for more mission flexibility.
  
• Update v1.5: Detached escort tugs from formation with the torpcello for more deployment flexibility.
  
• Update v1.4: Added dummy missile for capping and optimized gun loadout.
  
• Update v1.3: Replaced the ES32 'Scryer' Missile ID System with Supplementary Radio Amplifiers to better counter communication jamming.
  
• Update v1.2: Ditched the E15 'Masquerade' Deception Module for an additional RF44 Pinpoint Radar on the Torpcello. This helps breaking through jamming even more and provide redundancy for the Pinpoint Radar carried on one of the escort tug. Additionally increased the amount of chaffs, flares, and AMM missiles; switched the Small Workshop for an additional Small DC Locker for more component restores; and moved the Reinforced Magazine back toward the rear.
  
• Update v1.1: Switched from VLS to CLS launchers, removed Strike Planning Center in exchange for an additional Reinforced CIC and Reinforced DC Locker. Switched from EA12 to EA14 chaff and added more AMM missiles. This is to focus more on survivability and bow tanking, at the minor cost of slower torpedo programming time (back to the default of 3 seconds), which is slightly offset by the CLS launchers.
  
• v1.0: File uploaded.