Duras method

"If we can't outnumber them, we can still outgun them."

-Lord Thakan Duras, at the Battle of the Bliss

The Duras Method was a strategy first utilized by the Theran shipmaster Lord Thakan Duras, during the Battle of the Bliss. Despite the defeat of the UCG fleet and ultimate destruction of Bliss, the UCG left deep wounds in the swarm fleet of over 2 million, knocking their numbers down to only a little less than one million within the period of three hours. Despite the loss of the battle and the suffering of heavy casualties, the deaths and casualties of the Swarm offenders dwarfed that of the UCG's own. However the battle was decided after the remaining allied vessels retreated, leaving the ground defense force to fight against a still overwhelming invasion fleet.

History and Strategy
The Duras method was used widespread across all of allied space after witnessing it's success at the Battle of the Bliss, as an effective crowd control method and equalizer strategy against the Swarm. The Duras method proved highly effective in slowing down the Swarm advance all across UCG space, and could be considered one of the minor factors that contributed to the UCG's eventual victory against the swarm and their extinction

During the Battle of Chiaras, it was noted that after Duras and Admiral Cole brought down a small Hive ship using the Wolfpack Maneuver, that the rest of the Swarm fleet lost cohesion; beginning to break apart and fire inaccurately. The Swarm fleet were caught off guard even more so when the allied defense force grouped together and pushed their entire army into a corner. Though the Swarm fleet was eventually defeated after Admiral Michael Cole sacrificed himself and destroyed a gas giant to wipe out the entire enemy invasion, Thakan Duras still saw their assault on the Hive ship as an imperative success in the mission.

The strategy from then on involved targeting Hive Ships and carriers using highly coordinated and heavy impact attacks, and after destroying or dealing heavy damage cause the other ships to lose cohesion. At that point all vessels would launch nuclear weapons and their highest-impact warheads to eliminate as many Swarm threats as possible in the smallest increments of time; before the vessels regained Hive consciousness and regrouped.

Swarm fleets would eventually combat this by splitting their forces or drawing their lead ships to the back or center of the fleet. UCG forces could only counter this by flanking the enemy positions and catching the Hive vessels unprotected, but this tactic usually left the main lines, who were usually outnumbered, more vulnerable to the breaking of their positions. This was apparent both at the Battle of the Bliss and at the Battle of Hemera, when the allied battlegroups were not only routed, but almost obliterated.

Battles

 * Battle of the Bliss, 2649
 * Battle of Sadako, 2649
 * Operation: RECLAIMER, 2645-2655
 * Battle of Hemera, 2654
 * Battle of Installation 07