Prior to the Great War the Sildathi had existed as an interstellar species for well over a millennium. This fact engendered a great deal of respect for the “Children of Sildath”, but this respect was not given solely in recognition of the many great accomplishments of the Sildathi; it was born out of a wary enviousness for the Sildath Alliance’s great power and wealth. Perhaps the most universally recognized symbol of the Alliance’s strength was the awesome spectacle of the Grand Fleet.

The Grand Fleet was as great in numbers as it was in reputation. The largest single armada prior to the Warring Sphere period, the Grand Fleet’s active arm alone consisted of more than 1400 combat and military auxiliary vessels. It was one of the greatest collections of firepower in the Known Sphere and was the last great legacy of the vast armadas of the Early Sphere period.

The traditional “armada” strategy was still the preferred mode for the Grand Fleet admirals well before and up to the Great War. The Sildathi would use aggressive scouting techniques to evaluate potential targets and to draw out any enemy forces. Upon the discovery of a proper target (most preferably the enemy fleet), the Sildathi would rapidly concentrate the bulk of their fleet on a single objective, overwhelming the sector with hundreds of heavy ships and countless smaller combatants.

During the Early Sphere™ period, this was the typical pattern of war, a quick series of decisive battles that were confined to a handful of strategic star clusters. However, as technology continued to change over the centuries, ships of smaller size became hyperspace capable. This opened vast areas of unexploited territory and allowed cheaper and more frequent travel. Militarily, this enabled ships to be supported by large supply convoys and increased their range and versatility. This transformed warfare, enabling armadas to range far from home, carrying the fight across a thousand star clusters.

The Sildathi’s reluctance to adapt to these changes greatly retarded their fighter development programs. The Sildathi preferred an emphasis on heavy firepower, using large formations of gunboats and destroyers as spearheads for heavy ship formations. What fighters the Grand Fleet did field were still reminiscent of the old “Hoppers”. The “new” warfare divided an armada’s attention as it tried to prevent its supply trains and flank elements from being dismembered by fast strike elements. Very quickly, “hit-and-run”, “ambush” and “surprise” began to reenter military lexicons.

The first real problems encountered by the Grand Fleet occurred during the Alliance’s intervention in the Sho’tahl Civil War in 2446AD. Several Sildathi operations had been effectively hamstrung by a relatively few Khyrill loyal ships that were able to generate a tremendous amount of havoc by attacking Sildathi in small groups. Not daring to engage the Grand Fleet directly, the Khyrill forces attacked forward depots and convoys and lured Sildathi reinforcements into ambushes.

The higher than expected casualties (unacceptable by the pre-war Sildathi standards) caused by these marauding carrier units led the Sildathi, in their review after the war, to focus more on the importance of fighters. They began to slowly and methodically reevaluate the structure of the Grand Fleet, building more dedicated carriers and creating a fast carrier flotilla. The Sildathi light carrier class was created specifically to patrol the fleet periphery and to escort the supply trains. This new generation of craft also saw the introduction of several fighter designs.

Despite these changes, the overall structure of the fleet remained the same as many senior admirals and officials remained adamant in their refusal to see fighters and carriers as anything other than secondary units that supported the Fleet’s BVS flotillas. As the Alliance was in no danger, this position was quickly debated and only slowly changed. It was not until the Sildathi’s involvement in the Great War that they began to truly shift the Fleet’s doctrine.

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