5 Most Brilliant Battlefield Strategies in Science Fiction 

Like the majority of people, I never saw Battleship *But the sight of a full broadside is a thing of glory*

"what could be more convincing than fed ex hurling packages at their destination as hard as possible." kudos to the person that came up with that line.

Ender : Wow the graphics looks so realistic!

The Battle of Thoth Station is absolutely my favorite Sci-Fi space battle ever depicted.

I think BSG 'The Hand of God' the attack on the Cylon Tylium mining asteroid had brilliant tactics. The multiple diversions, and the hiding of Vipers in cargo containers was bold, risky, and successful!

Garek: "I'm just a simple tailor, trying to make a living in these troubled times." Audience: "Riiiiiiiight......" Garek will always be one of my favorite characters from DS9. His redemption arc is one of the best things about this show.

I think using a wormhole as a weapon is pretty badass. Like Farscape. Crighton opened a worm hole in front of the enemy ship....that connected to a Star on the other end. I miss that show !

I know this is an old video, but I’m kind of surprised that Battle Star Galactica’s fight at New Caprica wasn’t on there. I mean, Adama jumping a battlestar into atmosphere to launch fighters, jumps out at the last second, they are outgunned 3 to 1, and they still manage to pull it off.

I like the Babylon5 space battle scenes.

Ah Thrawn, if only Space Whales had art he could've studied in advance, he'd still be alive…

One of my favorites, just because the movie is so fun, is Galaxy Quest. "And what you fail to realize is my ship is dragging mines!"

I liked the raid on the concentration camp in Battlestar Galactica where they used the FTL drive in the atmosphere in order to release fighters as close to the camp as possible. It was a dangerous gamble but paid off.

What about the Siege of Atlantis from the Stargate TV series? Both sides had some decent tactics, much of which was made on-the-fly. Humans: Use an orbital defense satellite, Rig mines in space, Mount tons of AA guns on the towers, Field numerous marines on/inside the city, Use a cloaked transport to deliver a nuke, Use a transporter to deliver more nukes, Use a shield to both hold off a kamikaze wave & hide behind a self-destruct nuke, Use enemy telepathy to plant false information, Exploit enemy hyperdrive weaknesses to ambush them. Wraith: Use asteroids to blow up the mines, Use fighter-based transporters to deliver assault teams directly onto the city, Use those same transporters to remove defenders from their gun emplacements, Activating electronic countermeasures to deny enemy transporter capabilities, Orbital bombardment to deplete enemy shields, and Hacking an enemy battle cruiser to remove/subvert that asset.

“ I don’t care where you’re from, a 16 inch naval gun is still a 16 inch naval gun. Merica.” Edited by popular demand!

One of my favorites is when the Serenity Baited an armada of Rever ships to help them break through a blockade with nothing but just chaos.

Ender's game -- the point of using children was, in part, about having someone empathetic enough, and unjaded enough to really understand an enemy. However, the empathetic kids, they, knew, would not be brutal enough to crush their enemy, hence presenting it as training simulations. One thing you forgot about the MD Device - the fighter starting the chain reaction was burning up, and Ender advises the pilot to focus the beams (They have to converge where the reaction starts) on the ATMOSPHERE instead of the planet itself - the atmosphere is mass, too, after all.

Preston Cole at the Battle of Psi Serpentus: LITERALLY TURNS A GAS GIANT INTO A SUN WITH NUKES

I can't let it pass. In Ender's Game, the malleability of children was used purposefully. The entire 'Academy' was the training ground. Building their skills wasn't the most important aspect. Removing them from socialization and civilization, putting them through scenarios and allowing them to develop mentally and socially as well as their tactics and strategies without outside influence was the entire point. They didn't teach the kids at all. They just barely organized them and maintained discipline then threw them into battle over and over again until they had one that developed that won and kept winning. Then they used it without allowing him to know that he was fighting real battles. Ender figured out at the end that he was directing real human ships, giving orders to real people in the end because he was smart. Humanity did this to win regardless of anything. They did this because military, military complex, political establishments, and civilians could not do what was needed to win. The mental headspace and timing, socialization, infrastructure, bureaucracy, and specifically the depth of institutional knowledge in many areas, professions, and civilizations wouldn't allow those things to be done. An example, a bug is killing all trees. To get rid of it we need to burn everything west of the Rockies to dirt before it spreads. It might not kill all of the bugs but it might. If the bug spreads, within 20 years all trees in the world will be dead even if we come up with a bug killer that works on the bugs. What are the chances we would set fire to the entire pacific coast from Baja to Alaska, San Francisco to Salt Lake? They took some kindergartners, separated them from all outside influence, and raised them to be pyromaniacs.

I’m a fan of the imperiums tactic, the time tested “if 10 million guardsman can’t do it, here’s 15 million more. If that doesn’t work, send in the astartes. If that doesn’t work, send in a couple Titans. If that doesn’t work, exterminatus”

Picard Maneuver ! Make it so !

Never forget 'The Keyes Loop'

the scene itself could be so unrealistic but the Missouri firing it's guns it's such a beautiful image

Surprised the battle at the end of Serenity wasn't on this list. Poking at the Revers and guiding them towards the Allience fleet.

I have a special place in my heart for the "Legend of Galactic Heroes" movie; 1 gas giant + tricking your enemy to hunt you inside the hydrogen-rich atmosphere + nuclear weapons fired by both sides = localized runaway fusion reaction = extremely dead enemy fleet.

This was one of my favorite episodes you’ve ever done! I’m a US Marine, so that might explain some of it. But, you also had guests speaking on some of their favorites, too. Well done!

"Throw a hundred thousand guardsmen at that target, if that fails, throw a million, repeat until success" -Warhammer 40k

I love how I got a US navy add after the Battleship segment

One that I cherish is in Star Trek when Ryker's ship shows up to the battle but from a different plane than that of the enemies already engaged in the battle. My pet peeve on space battles is that they are typically shown as "Us vs Them" lined up Face-2-Face against each other like the British used to adopt as their strategy in the 1800's. If ships are being brought in from various quadrants of the galaxy, they would be approaching from different points of origin and from differing vectors. [Enter conversation about mustering forces here] :)

For the Firefly movie, Serenity; drawing in the reavers to fight as a distraction was excellent (if not reckless) tactics for a lopsided situation.

The perfect strategy would be to get a copy of the shooting script, so you have total Intelligence and situational awareness. And a very dirty tactic is to rewrite sections of the script and put it back on the desk.

The Emperor's plan to destroy the rebels once and for all by luring them into that trap in ROTJ was pure genius. THAT was a great strategy. It didn't rely on luck or bold maneuvers or perfect timing. The fact that the plan ultimately failed was the crazy part! Actually, the rebels had a good strategy too, to send a small force to destroy the shield generator and then launch a surprise attack on the death star before it was completed - but they had bad intelligence and the Emperor out smarted them at every turn. The only reason the rebels even won is because some filthy Ewoks got involved (makes the ROTJ plot line sound really stupid when you lay it out this way!).

No Keyes Loop? A single ship outnumbered and outgunned by just one of the three ships it's facing, and the single ship comes out the victor? That's some amazing strategy right there. Hell, the entire battle of Sigma Octanus IV was pretty brilliant. From the Keyes Loop to the Cradle Shield to obtaining a tactical victory against a superior, more advanced enemy.

Like 1 out of these 5 was an ACTUAL strategy, rest were just lucky plot devices or overpowered special weapons. No mention of all the truly well thought out battles in multiple Star Trek -series, no mention of Babylon 5, no mention of Battlestar Galactica and no mention of Legend of Galactic Heroes.

Ok honestly, I watched battleship and frickin loved it

Though a much smaller strategy in scale I love the way Naomi figured out how to deal with the battle in Babylon's Ashes, party because I managed to figure out how she was going to use the information before she did. :)

I read it years ago but I remember a space battle in The Reality Dysfunction as one of the most gripping I've ever seen or read.

For expanse, my personal favourite tactics was the rescue of avarasala scene and the creative use of torpedoes. That blew my mind when I first saw it.

No love for the Adama manoeuvre? FTL effectively a 5-mile long rust bucket 100,000km's from the surface, launch fighters and FTL jump just before it hits the ground?

What was left out on the DS9 attack.... when the Klingons arrive, they come in attacking from above.... they actually used 3D space to their advantage, a rarity in Star Trek

The "Adama Maneuver" in Battlestar Galactica.

During the French Indian wars when the Fledgling American Navy was fighting on the Great lakes; During the Battle of Lake Huron, The Americans used a Sailing Ship at full Sail but at anchor to tack back and forth to bring broadside shots at the French Fleet. 1 American Ship destroyed the entire French fleet. They Fired the Port side then tacked and fired the starboard side then tacked again. During the Tack the side that fired reloaded and gave them another broadside of a full load each time.Whereas a few shots fired a ship can survive but not broad side after broadside...

Really thought that the Keyes loop would be featured in this list. A single UNSC Destroyer against two Covenant frigates and a Destroyer, and not only surviving the encounter, but WINNING it.

Operation return had one major flaw- both sides forgot that they could fly (warp) over or sideways to each other

I was gonna be pissed if Ender wasn't featured

I wish they covered the Raid on Balan from Space Battleship Yamato 2199. Or the battle of the Rainbow Cluster. Both are very cool from a tactical standpoint.

Shout out to the movie Serenity, where Mal and the crew of the Firefly lure an entire horde of Reaver Ships to battle the Alliance Fleet. That was pretty epic.

Honorable mention goes to The Keyes Loop from Halo: The Fall of Reach. 1 UNSC destroyer against a vastly superior Covenant destroyer with its 2 escorting frigates.

"Carrying out war games with the Japanese Kaiju Defense Force." --I see what you did there...well played.

The Star Trek entry had nothing anyone could remotely call a strategy or a plan. It was throw everything we can at point A and trust to luck.

Favorite part of the Movie Battleship when the enemy threat detector kept switch from red to green because it couldn't make up it mind the the Missouri was a threat, until it fired its guns......

Fun facts about Battleship; The alien projectiles are meant to look like the pins on the board game, just as the tsunami tracker system was meant to resemble the board Taylor Kitsch (born 3hrs away from me btw) character was assigned to an Arleigh Burke class Destroyer which are all named after Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, including one named USS Micheal Murphy, after the man he portrayed in Lone Survivor, which like Battleship was also directed by Peter Berg

3 things stood out to me. 1. Probably one of the best videos on the channel. 2. I love the prerecorded footage of the Late British Ben. Although it was probably the longest segment of the video. 3. American Ben must have a hot date he hasn't looked this clean in a year. (I think this is justified by the fact he made a joke about his wrinkled shirt.)

"A 16in navel gun is still a 16in navel gun. 'Murica" 10:15 Yeah. and they hurt like hell when they hit too! A full volley of SAPHE rounds out of a 16" navel gun would really ruin anyone's day. Human or Alien.

Little disappointed we didn't see the Key's Loop from Halo, really superb battle where it was first used.

There's a fair amount of strategy and tricks going on in Peter F Hamilton's Salvation series of books. The attack on the Memento Mori in Gundam 00 was good too.

Don’t forget the Keyes Loop from Halo

No Ender wiggan spent the rest of his life trying to fix the mistake he made by genociding a species. That's mostly what the rest of the series is about.

Enders game...I read that book in middle school...was surprised as hell to learn years later that a freaking movie was made of it.

I still say Wedge Antillies in the Bacta War strategy to bluff a Super Star Destroyer into running away from a unarmed Space Station is one of the best strategies in Science Fiction. I think someone needs to make a video on the Bacta War nao!

The funny thing about Missouri's manoeuvre is it had a real-life precedent. The ship in question was a fraction of the mass and was a submarine tender, but it did 'anchor drift', once. And bent it's sea frame.

Nothing from the Honorverse?

Missing serenity. When Mal pulls about a hundred reavers ships into the space battle towards the end.

The battle of babylon 5 just after they declared independence should be on the list...delains strategy of threatening the superior force by reminding them of history of previous battles was brilliant bluster

I would have used a scene from Serenity for one of them. When Malcolm angers the Reaver fleet because he knows the Alliance is waiting for him. 1 cannon versus 2 fleets. That was genius. We're still flying.

"A 16 inch naval gun is still a 16 inch naval gun.... Merica". Hilarious love it

“That’s Garak, Sisco’s tailor”. Garak: Plain and simple

Man I love the way you guys explain these battles! And its nice to see British Ben more often again. BTW guys, can you add some Babylon 5 and some Stargate content here and there. Some cool stuff in those shows!

Despite being a semi-ridiculous show, Dr Who has one of my favorite space battles with a unique strategy. At the fall of Gallifrey seeing the many Tardises work to save the planet and destroy the Dalek fleet was amazing. The edits the fans did only made it better.

My fav sci fi ship tactics was in a book series. The Lost Fleet by Jack Campbell. If there are any readers out there who enjoy mil sci fi, give it a read. The entire series is full of fleet combat and the author was a ship driver for the Navy. So he gives an interesting perspective of fleet warfare and how it would be applied to space combat.

An excellent video with some very good examples. I’d have included the Adama manoeuvre from Battlestar Galactica but that’s probably just me.

I love the pseudo-slip with Amazon!

In defense of the United Earth of 'Ender's Game', it had been at least 1 generation since the 'Buggers' attacked, their technology was reverse engineered, and the fleet had been launched. They probably expected to find someone capable of commanding the fleet a decade or more earlier, meaning that person would have time to grow into the position, but with one candidate after another washing out (like Peter for his violence and Valentine for her compassion) by the time the fleet was in position to attack the only option was a teenager who wasn't emotionally ready to be told that his actions had real-world consequences.

my two favs: DS9 the final battle, where it's the Dominion bombing of a Cardassian city that causes the Cardassians to withdraw from the alliance and them the Dominion completely vulnerable. My other fav is in David Brin's Startide Rising where the Streaker goes into the hull of an alien ship in order to get past the blockade. Using the water of the ship to create a de facto wall behind them was just icing on the cake.

The DS9 one reminds me of why DS9 is not only my favorite Star Trek series, but one of my absolute favorite works of science fiction. That episode referenced is one of the rare occasions where I can say a deus ex machina solution is done well. It's not just a convenient happenstance like you see in say the new Star Wars movies, but something that was earned, based on an advantageous relationship that Sisco built over time, and was only able to convince the omnipotent beings as a result of his ethics, and ultimately at great personal cost to himself.

THANK YOU for giving Ender's game some love! I feel like this awesome IP gets overlooked way too often.

1 problem I had with Battleship. They REALLY underestimated the power of the guns on Mighty Mo. For one, in the war they didn't fire all the guns at once because the shockwave of one gun would knock any other round fired off course, making them highly inaccurate. They fired them one at a time. Also, those rounds didn't explode on contact. They penetrated then exploded. A single 16 in gun would have shredded the alien craft and when it exploded, lights out. No way that alien ship could stand up to even a single salvo.

Excuse me Science fiction strategy and you didn’t mention anything from Battlestar Galactica!?!? The Adams Maneuver is one of the best scenes in all of science fiction, the Cargo transport smuggling fighters to get close to the Cylon Tylium factory, flat he fracking final battle between Galactica and the Cylon Fleet???? Blasphemy, only thing this is

This was one of the best videos, especially for gamers.

mine is in the star gate Atlantis when the Asurans used a stargate against the Atlantis star ship with a Shielded weapon that was just a BIG LASER.

For some reason I'm always hopeful that Babylon 5 will get some love from this channel.

"Seems a little overkill." Do you want it gone, or to have a chance to fight back?

Another layer to Ender's victory was the mental game. The Buggers had learned that humans valued individual ships. In every battle before they reached the homeworld, Ender and his Jeesh fought to win while preserving the maximum number of troops. By this, the Buggers realized that humans would not sacrifice themselves to win battles. And then the last battle came, where the only course of action was to use the ships as a shield to defend their main weapon. In effect, the Buggers defeated themselves by learning the wrong lesson from their 3 wars with the Humans. Also, a nice little touch in the movie that wasn't mentioned in the book. Ender set his shielding ships to orbit the Little Doctor so that their wreckage would still shield the Little Doctor, even when destroyed. Honestly, Ender is likely one of the best military minds in fiction. He's somewhat like Thrawn, trying to learn everything about his enemy, to think like them, to come to know them so well that he couldn't help but love them. And then he destroyed his enemies utterly. To send him and Thrawn into battle against each other would be fascinating. Although I say Bean trumps them both, especially Shadow of the Giant Bean, lol.

I see this channel growing A LOT! Not only good content, but very well presented. Kudos!!!

Brah, did you just make Battleship sound cool? 😂

They didn't just fire five cruise missiles, but torpedoes, the deck gun, the phalanx, and the M2 Browning machine guns for some reason. In short: they fired everything.

Adama sending drones to draw the Basestars away while Galactica to jumps into New Caprica's atmosphere to launch its fighters to support the lift off of all the civilians ships.

I think an honorable mention should go to Babylon 5, Season 4, Episode 20, "Endgame". The re-taking of Earth. A scout ship draws defenders into the gravity well of Mars, invaders jump in behind them, infiltrators disable the defensive fleet, furball ensues. The planetary defensive system gets turned back towards the planet in a final act of defiance and the reserve fleet is called in to prevent the massacre.

"I don't care what part of the galaxy you are from... a 16' Naval gun is still a 16' Naval gun.... 'Merica." I giggled after that one, well played sir.

"I don't care what part of the galaxy you're from, a sixteen inch naval gun is still a sixteen inch naval gun... Murica." :) Love it.

This is a fun list, and DS9 is one of my all-time favorites, but the battler referenced here was not a victory of strategy, but a gamble that paid off. Not sure it belongs here; there are other sci-fi battles that fit better. That said, thanks for the video, I enjoyed it!

Your missing captain Sheridan at zahadoom , that was one of the very best for actually showing strategy.

Admiral Cole's last stand should have been on this list. I know it's a less known part of halo lore but the tactics are really good combining both halo lore and real world physics. The Keys loop would also be a good choice.

great list see all of these and, must admit read all the Ender and Shadow series. He got one simple message from Bean "The enemy gate is down."

Dude you need to make shirts with the 16in naval gun quote. Because so fuckin mint my dude.

For ender's game: there's a major change in the film from the original novel, that ultimately weakens the narrative considerably. In the film, Ender's training involves him being pushed, in order to make him as skillful as possible and imbue in him a focus on victory. Some discussion is made about how it is harsh, but ultimately, the position is made that the ends justify the means. Ender uses the "little doctor" device on the alien planet during the final battle, because he is driven to win. He wants to win at all costs, and sees the use of the weapon as his only path to victory. He is shocked to find that this was a real battle, and is saddened by the killing and destruction. In the novel, by contrast, Ender's training is much harsher and is deliberately abusive. Ender suffers greatly, both physically an psychologically. The adults who run his training know they are hurting him, but don't care; They want to create a tyrant. Ender, who is staggeringly brilliant, realizes he is trapped and is being abused, but sees no way out. Eventually, he decides that he will use the most destructive tactics possible, reasoning that by appearing to be a genocidal monster, the adults will see him as a threat, wash him out of the program, and find someone else. He chooses to use the "little doctor" on the alien planet itself, knowing that the "simulated" planet's population will be wiped out, along with the alien fleet and his own fleet. Ender knows that this tactic will kill simulated millions. When, in the novel, Ender is told that this was not a simulation at all, he is not just saddened, he is psychologically shattered. He realizes he has not pretended to kill millions, he has, in fact, committed genocide. A couple of final revelations are in the novel that wrap it all up. First, the "buggers" are revealed to not be a universally sentient race. Most of the aliens are mindless drones, with no consciousness of their own. If these are destroyed in droves, there is no worry at all, similar to how you aren't concerned when you cut your hair. Only their queens have individual minds of their own. Second, during the end of the first war between the humans and buggers, the queen present touched the mind of Mazer Rackham, and discovered that ALL humans are sentient, and they realize the depths of their crime. Instead of cutting down a few fingernails, easily regrown, they have cut down sentient minds by the thousands. They actually retreat from the humans, hoping that the humans would realize the mistake and forgive them. When the humans initiate the second war, the buggers understand that the humans have NOT forgiven, and realize that they will almost certainly be wiped out. When Ender comes to realize this, he makes it his mission to tell all of humanity this, and so becomes history's greatest monster, rather than humanity's savior. Ender's Game the novel is deeply tragic; Ender himself is an abused, manipulated, and betrayed boy who is made a monster without his knowledge, and even his attempts to fight back become betrayals.

Where's the Adama Manoeuver? Shame!

4:30 actually, they didn't send the fighters into deepspace. If you watch EckartsLadder's video on this, you'll see how they stopped the droids from responding, by jamming them, causing them to tear the ships apart from the inside with explosions.

Agree with The Expanse and Ender's Game, but felt like BSG episode on freeing the people of New Caprica should have been here too.

That battleship scene in Battleship was worth the rest of the movie It was so nice to watch a Battleship Be a Battleship and fire those huge guns.

There is no “s” in Enders’ last name. Wiggin.