Ithekro wrote:Tactically, what options do the Terrans have in facing either of the currant combatants in a small skirmish in neutral space?
Strategically, Terrans have an advantage of being a long ways away from both major combatant's spheres of influence, and thus to mount any kind of offensive in the direction of Earth would require a large supply train or a long series of expeditions to set up supply bases as their territory expands in Earth's direction to reduce the length of the supply chain.
While Earth doesn't have much of a fleet, and they are technologically inferior. I wonder if they have the means of forming a commerce raiding group that could attack a long supply chain?
Tactical options depend heavily on the context of who they're fighting, where, and why... all of which is hypothetical at this point, as I think it's probably unlikely that a human force would attempt to engage the enemy unaided outside their own territory. In general, since human ships are likely at this point to be outclassed in numbers, speed, firepower, range and endurance by most any hypothetical opponent, I can't say there are a lot of good options. Human forces need to find some kind of way to get the enemy at very close range, and that's difficult to do out in no man's land.
Commerce raiding is difficult in Outsider because of the way jump drive makes it relatively easy to isolate the enemy's forces from your own. All you have to do is control the star systems along the front lines to prevent the enemy from having any access to your supply lines, which is why breakthroughs or flanking/bypass movements are so important. Although a hypothetical attack on human territory presents some long supply lines to maintain, humanity is at an extra disadvantage, because (as the others mention above) even its fastest warships are slower than most Loroi or Umiak supply vessels, and human ships have shorter endurance, making flanking movements or extended chases more difficult.
Given the severe near-term disadvantages that humanity has in fleet strengths and technology, I think you have to expect that the only circumstance under which human vessels will be fighting in this war would be in some kind of cooperative manner in concert with allied forces. In the hypothetical case where one side got an invasion force into human territory before the other side could get any of their own forces there to help defend, it's difficult to see a case where solo human forces wouldn't simply get walked over. One can't say for certain without knowing all the details of the situation, but I think it's most likely in such a case that the human forces would be better off to simply surrender.
I think the best use for current human ships in a mixed battle would be as part of a force defending a location, where their reduced speed and shorter weapons range will be less of a disadvantage. If the allied ships have to stay near to this location anyway, the human ships can stay near enough to provide defensive fire with their shorter-ranged weapons.