Intergalactic Summit

I can shed some light on this.

My education consisted of traditional dueling combat and we did, as you rightly say, spend time mastering swordsmanship. At first, I honestly believed it was simply part of our history that I was learning. In retrospect, it seems to have translated well into frigate combat. It teaches excellent decision making and the basic strategy behind cut-and-thrust, in a way, hardwires your mind for close combat.

I would say that, as I began learning when I was six, it is probably not going to be as useful to a current capsuleer who already has a background in ship to ship combat.

Still, yes, I have a traditional sword that I keep in my apartments in the Home Worlds. I do practice with it regularly. I suppose, if necessary, the vibrating blade would still be lethal if I ever did manage to cut someone with it. With all that said, however, it has mostly been a conversation piece for those who stop by my quarters.

Weapons don't kill peoples. Other peoples do.
Practically anything can be quite deadly weapon. For example, I bet, you wouldn't want to find a grenade pin inside your throat.

I typically don't. Then again, I don't have any enemies in particular. I guess I'd invite them over to settle our differences in a game of skyball and then maybe grab some drinks and talk it over when all the aggression's out of our systems, you know? Maybe go watch a holo, kick back in a bed for a few hours. That's the kind of luxury negotiations you can afford yourself when you're insignificant. Makes you think, don't it, makes you think.

Strategy? Isn't that dependant entirely on how you wish to define beating your opponent? We can't die for all intents and purposes. How do you beat that? The only way is to change the mind-set of your enemy and that is not exactly easy.

As a pirate, or at best a privateer my strategy revolves on still having my ship after I've decided someone else can't have theirs because I want it for parts, or the destruction of their ship means I get paid. I also consider it a win if I've helped a friend with an issue. Be it killing a few rogue drones to a complete campaign of destruction against a given range of targets. Whether that win means an ultimate victory for the war in which it is waged is not for me to concern myself with.

It's funny, we are all so hell bent on being correct, righteous or judged well that in the end we focus more on making our point and a lot less on understanding why others have theirs.

You get the last bit and the first bit is much easier.

Wormhole tactics are peculiar in such that you never at any given time have a clear idea if there are more people ready and waiting to pounce.

Cloaking is commonly used within anoikis and the stealthed approach to warfare opens up a whole new playing field.

"Is this person really alone and simply exploring the system?"
"Is this a potential trap"

The paranoia capusleers sometimes suffer from is enhanced in wormholes due to the disruption in local communications and the use of cloaking warfare.

Using your directional scanner is of vital importance for intelligence gathering when it comes to this. Naming conventions for ships are commonly used to identify the odd ones out.

I found that over the time the best strategy I have been able to employ is "Always be able to fend for yourself" As you are never sure when and if you are able to get backup. And also "Always know where to run". Now running might seem like the coward's way out, and I am sure some will say such here.

But being able to save your ship and crew from a situation you can not overcome is often preferred considering the difficulty you can have in coming back "home" to your system.

I don't have any enemies.

... left.

The strategies I come up with are based around knowing who would be my enemy and being able to predict what they are doing. For most of the Blood Raiders and Serpentis, they have the same strategy as other gate camping pirates: chase down the ship and destory it with overwhelming firepower making sure they can't get away if at all possible.

For those pilots, so long as they are in reasonable range, I get my transversal as high as possible, and misdirect them having my drones fly in and waste away the ship. However, every situation is different. I have been webbed and disrupted and somehow manage to survive simply by having strong defenses. Other times, the firepower against me was so massive that I lost my ship and a few men.

Studying strategy, making plans, I have not encountered an optimal system that is guaranteed to let you survive despite the odds. Rather, I listen to that feeling in my gut telling me that a Hawk flying directly towards me at 600 m/s will easily outgun my Tristan.

Bait.

Let man's own nature be his downfall.