Disclaimer: While my knowledge of the English language is abundant, it is not my mother tongue. Mistakes can be made and will probably be made. If you find any mistakes you are allowed to keep them.

Hello! I'm ambientlamp. This is my personal approach to ambushing with the Torpcello. I will be covering the gears, mindset, and specific doctrine & tactics that I use in the battlespace with this fun ship archetype. While this have worked for me, it may not work for everyone. I am by no means an expert in all things Nebulous, but this is the one of the playstyles that I enjoy the most and have the most experience with.

This guide is intended for intermediate players already familiarized with Nebulous systems, mechanics, and basic team-based tactics. For brevity, I will not be covering game mechanics that can be found in the tutorial such as radar, EWAR, weapon control, damage control, etc. I will also not be covering the basics of the Fleet Editor.

Nebulous is a game with deep and complex mechanics with lingua that might be unfamiliar to newer players. For your reference, I have included a list of terms, acronyms, and abbreviations used in this guide in Appendix A.

When I need to explain a concept in details it will be put in a quotation block like this.

Now let's get going!

Skip this section if you already have a Torpcello fleet you're happy with.

Tl;dr: This guide is intended as a companion for my personal Torpcello fleet collection, which includes a Torpcello ship template if you want to build your own fleet based on my Torpcello hull:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3423801531
Please note that only the first five fleets in this collection are actually following my advices in this guide. The others are well... just me messing around.

For the longer version: I also firmly believe that building your own boat is half the fun in Nebulous. So let's see what we need to build a Torpcello fleet:


The torpedo (SGT-300 missile body, also called S3 or S3T) is your main offensive weapon. Generally, your design will have:

An example torpedo engine tuning. The sweet spot is marked in yellow.

If you stay within the above specifications, your torpedo should cost around 10 - 15 points. Decoy launcher is generally considered as too expensive and unnecessary if you already have corkscrew terminal maneuvers with 3.0G or more of turn rate. It's important to keep the torpedoes not too expensive so you can fill the Torpcello with them and still have spare points for escort ships.

Defensively, you can bring any S1 AMM design of preference. Mathblob's Automatically Adjusting Anti-Air Armaments; A Guide to Missile-Based Hardkill Systems provides good information on how to make one.

Additionally, bring an arming (also called dummy) missile, so that even when you have spent all of your torpedoes, your Torpcello can still contest control points against armed OPFOR. This is very important because once you run out of torpedoes, your team can still use your help as a tanky capper.

An arming missile is any seekerless S1 missile with HE warhead that costs exactly 1 point. It is never meant to be fired, but instead carried as a way to qualify your ship as armed so it can contest control points against both armed and unarmed OPFOR.

This ship is the heart of your fleet, and your most important (and most expensive) asset. It carries the torpedoes and does the ambushing work. Should cost around 1800 - 2500 points.

Must-have:


Optional:


Beside the above specifications, feel free to bring anything you like. Personally I like to reinforce the bow (front) of the ship with Reinforced DC lockers.

For PD, I prefer to bring a mix of 2 Mk90 'Aurora' PDTs and 3 Mk20 'Defender' PDTs. If you want to make the Torpcello cheaper, you can go with all 'Defender' or use the cheaper P11 'Pavise' PDT available to the OSPN.

Alternatively you can bring even more torpedoes by mounting CLS/VLS in the usual PDT mounts, though I wouldn't recommend this as it leaves you very vulnerable to OPFOR missile/craft strikes.

You can certainly make one single 3000 points Torpcello or god forbids two 1500 points Torpcellos with no escorts, but then I really cannot promise that this guide would provide success for such fleet.

Now we should still have 500 to 1200 points left to spend on other escort ships for the Torpcello.

There is no consensus on what would be the best escorts for a Torpcello. Generally I see people bring as many shuttles as they can to provide scouting and capping power; or one to two utility tugs/MNs that bring extra sensors (LRT and/or EWR), firepower, and PD. Bringing a shuttle with two J15 'Bellbird' radar jammers is also a good option to help cover the Torpcello movement when it needs to get out of cover. If you really wanted to, you can even fit in a small craft carrier to launch scout crafts! The possibilities are limitless. Use your experience and imagination to surprise your enemies!

Check out these fleets of mine for some inspiration:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3419828651
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3476444472
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3476444387
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3488054820
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3491190828

This is mainly designed around the Control game mode - the de facto game mode for Nebulous. However it can also be applied to other game modes to a certain degree.

The Torpcello can be one of the most exciting way to enjoy Nebulous. It can however also bring you immense pain if not used correctly. Below are my personal mantras to maximize the fun and minimize the pain:

1. Know Your Map
   
2. Know Your Team
   
3. Stay Hidden
   
4. Stay Vigilant
   
5. Pick Your Fight
   
6. Don't Charge in the Open
   
7. Plan Your Escape
   
8. Stay Alive (or Don't Die for Free)

---

Comparing to other weapons in the game, your torpedoes are equivalent to knives in a gunfight. As such, you excel against other weapons in close-quarter combat. A big and open map is probably not going to be a good time for you. Learn your maps, and know which one works best for your playstyle. Some examples are: Tumbleweed, Tombstones, Yukon, etc.

By doing this, you can also pick up usual OPFOR strategies and routes, and can use this knowledge to set up your ambushes more effectively. Is the enemy usually going to push A or rush E? Then it's probably a good idea to deploy somewhere that you have quick and safe access to both of these points.

Tip: Knowing your torpedo's effective range is also useful. Combined with map knowledge and scouting, this helps positioning your Torpcello for better strikes and quicker retreats. No one wants to stare down a beam turret while their torpedoes are out of range, or be too close to a PD escort ship and have all their salvos hard-killed fresh out of the tube.

Even when you've found a lobby with the perfect map for your Torpcello that you have memorized every corner of, sometimes it's just not really the time for a Torpcello.

Being a team game, Nebulous naturally evolved into having distinct role for each fleet archetype. The mainline ones are: Frontline, Backline, and Capping. Us Torpcello players have to face the fact that our playstyle is not the mainline.

Our fleet is very specifically built around ambushing OPFOR capital ships, but without our team's Frontline assets to create chokepoints, Capping assets to force them to make pushes or concede points, and enough sensor assets to know where the enemy is, your Torpcello is probably not going to be very effective.

If your team is lacking Frontline or Capping, then it is more important to fill those roles first, as they are the bread and butter of Nebulous. An exception can be made for half-cap Torpcello fleets that brings extra shuttles for capping, but only do this if the team already has some capping assets and could use some extra help.


You are deadly in close range. That is a badge you should proudly wear. But it also paints a giant target on your back. Such is the duality of life of a Torpcello captain.

If the OPFOR finds out what you are and where you are, they will find every conceivable way to sink your Torpcello.

Keep yourself as well hidden as possible. Always move under cover and out of OPFOR radar line-of-sight if at all possible. Ideally the OPFOR should not know what you are and where you are, so that they have to be careful around every corner that they turn.

However, you are going to be spotted eventually. Expect to have hybrid missiles and craft strikes coming for your last known position. Move immediately. Find new covers. Establish a new hiding place.


In order to set up and execute your ambushes successfully, you need to know where the OPFOR is. This is why I don't recommend a 3000 points Torpcello without any escort ships.

Your escorts (and scouting crafts, if you bring them) are your eyes and ears. At the size of tugs and smaller, they are harder to be detected by the OPFOR, and can be in the open for longer with less risk to your most expensive asset - the Torpcello. Exploit this to your benefit and even use them as cannon fodder if it means you can gain you intel that can wipe out a fleet worth of ships.

Also talk to your team, ask them to call out and mark where the OPFOR is, either using the in-game chat, or using voice call in an external program. Your teammates are also your eyes and ears.


Not every prey is an easy prey.

On paper, your torpedoes enable you to punch above your weight. In practice the OPFOR will do everything they can to stop you from landing your shots.

For your primary targets - the ANS capital CLs, CHs, and BBs, you will have an easier time attacking more isolated targets or smaller group of targets. But for a larger concentration these ships with better PD network, your torpedoes will suffer a higher hard kill rate. In this case, you would need to wait for your team's Frontline and Backline to bait them to overextend, or whittle down their missile defense capability first, before revealing yourself and striking.

For your secondary targets - the ANS corvette frigate, it's usually not a good idea to attack if they are grouped up and protecting each others, most likely with a lot of radar jamming. You might get overwhelmed and cannot retreat in time. Sometimes even against lone corvette or frigate it still might not be a good idea to attack and reveal your Torpcello, as they might be followed by other more dangerous OPFOR assets that will try to catch and sink your beloved ship in the open.

ANS OPFOR can also field a beam DD formation of 3 - 6 ships, or a beam BB with PD escort corvettes/frigates. These are more dangerous to you as they are ambushers themselves. You can survive a knife fight against beams if you bow tank your Torpcello and take them out quickly enough with your own torpedoes, but this is more of a gamble, especially against a beam DD group with good PD.


It is a very common beginner's mistake to charge the OPFOR in the open.

Repeat after me: Don't charge in the open.

A Torpcello in the open, even when in range of a target enemy ship, is vulnerable to long-range weapons from the target ship and its friends, and will probably get sunk very quickly without effective counter while its target slip out of torpedo range.

Be patient, wait for your target to be in a position where you can attack while minimizing your vulnerability, and then spring the trap. It is a game of maneuvers and decisions. If the OPFOR happens to have spotted you and likely have figured out your intentions before you can strike, then it is okay to disengage, hide, then wait for more favorable conditions to try again.


Now that you have a good ambush set up and executed, plan your escape. Don't stay in the open. Whether you have successfully sunk target OPFOR ship or not, always plan your next move to retreat back into cover. If there is no available safe cover, you can even retreat into nearby friendly ship formation to use their protection.

Ideally your attack should happen during your transition between covers. During the attack, you should also have a backup cover or two in mind if things do go south.


You are more useful to your team alive, even when you run out of torpedoes. As they are your eyes and ears, you are theirs as well. By being alive, you can spot OPFOR ships, capture unattended control points, of exert pressure on the enemy by just being there.

In the most dire of situations, sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice your Torpcello. In this case, deal as much damage as you can before going down. You can still continue on with your escort ships.

---

Beside the mantras above, it is also a good idea to follow The Commodore Mindset or How I Learned to Stop Dying and Love the Cap by Hopeful Monster.

This is mainly designed around the Control game mode - the de facto game mode for Nebulous. However it can be applied to other game modes to a certain degree as well.

Using the above 8 mantras, below is the specific doctrine used in my Torpcello games.


You have three main goals in the early game, ordered in importance:

1. Deploy your Torpcello in a favorable hidden position.
   
2. Gain as much intel on the OPFOR as possible.
   
3. Aid your team in capturing natural control points so your team's capfleet player can focus on gaining a point lead.

Early deployment and early positioning of your Torpcello is where experience and map knowledge comes in. Knowing common OPFOR attack vectors and good concealment position, you should aim to place the Torpcello at a location from which you can quickly respond to common enemy attack directions, while keeping yourself out of reach of the OPFOR scout sensors for as long as you can.

To gain intel on the OPFOR, you can either use a LRT/EWR ship and/or disperse your scout shuttles/tugs. Try to keep the majority of them alive during the early game, so that you have more options later in the mid and late game. If you do have your own scouting crafts, launch all of them now, then disperse them along the likely OPFOR attack vectors.

Finally, if you have a spare shuttle or two, they can be used to capture your team's natural control points, making your fleet useful even in the early game. Just remember to keep them alive by using EMCON, and expense some chaffs/flares as decoys, then move out of the control point as soon as it is captured.

Occasionally, you will encounter an OPFOR team that decide to make an early push with their entire frontline or a corvette/frigate "blob" on your team's flank. Fret not, for as soon as you see this, coordinate with your team to move out of the way to try and gain maneuvering superiority and force them to split up.

You can decide to push into the enemy backline yourself by this stage of the match. But keep in mind that this is quite a risky move, especially if the OPFOR has a carrier and can spot you on your way.

Broadly speaking, there are two possible way the game can continue into the mid game:

Your team has the point lead: This is the more favorable scenario.

The OPFOR is now under pressure to make a push and be more aggressive while your team can be more defensive and entrench. This is the primary time to ambush. Keep track of the OPFOR assets position and composition to identify priority targets that can be neutralized to impede the OPFOR effort in gaining the point lead.

The OPFOR team has the point lead: This is the less favorable scenario.

The pressure to be aggressive against an entrenched enemy to regain the point lead is now on your team. This is when you would play a more supportive role and be your team's eyes and ears, calling out OPFOR contacts, and identifying isolated opportune targets. If your team proceed with an aggressive push using your frontline, your aim would be to follow closely behind them to watch their flanks and counter-ambush attempts at flanking and ambushing your team.

If the OPFOR appears to be greedy and charges out to meet your frontline, you can coordinate with your team to feign a retreat, and quickly set up an ambush to punish the OPFOR for overextending.


By this stage, you would have spent the majority or all of your torpedoes. You are now a meaty cap ship (if you do remember to bring your arming missile). Use this to your advantage, and capture undefended OPFOR control points when they are distracted, or jump in and contest critical neutral control points necessary for your team to gain or maintain a point lead. Any remaining escort that you have in your fleet should also be used for capping and counter-capping.


This is your bread and butter. Generally, this would be how you conduct an ambush:

Once you have spotted OPFOR assets and determined their ship type and rough movement (using either your own scouting assets or via other ships in the team), you can set up your ambush by moving into a nearby cover that is in range of the enemy predicted destination.

In our hypothetical scenario, the OPFOR has been determined to be two 250mm gun CLs that are presenting their broadside to you. You determined in advance that each enemy ship needs 12 torpedoes each to be neutralized.

You lay in cover, making sure that the approaching OPFOR ships are not slowing down, changing course, or otherwise having been alerted to your presence. When you enter their line-of-sight, you spring the trap by rapidly closing distance and firing your torpedoes once in range.


After neutralizing the target, you identify the possible retreat points.

In this case, you determined that there are two possible retreat points. However, you also spotted an OPFOR contact in the distance, rapidly closing into beam range (5 - 6km) without shooting at you. The closest cover would probably be a the better option, since the approaching contact is probably a beam DD or beam BB that seeks to destroy you after you have neutralized its friends.

After retreating to your chosen cover, you have now been spotted and the OPFOR knows what you are and where you are. The safest course of action now is to retreat further to other covers closer to an allied fleet, until you are certain that the OPFOR does not know where you are.

• If your fleet includes an escort jammer shuttle, you can use it to scout ahead and use jamming to hide your Torpcello transition between covers from OPFOR sensor.
  
• If there is a group of nearby gun CCs, you can place yourself inbetween them and pretend to be another gun CC on the move.
  
• If you have a cheap shuttle/tug nearby and the OPFOR isn't aware of the Torpcello presence, you can send it out as sacrificial bait to get the enemy to chase it down and follow a predictable path. This increases the chance of your ambush being successful.
  
• For targets that did not get neutralized by your torpedoes but still got damaged (either because they bow-tanked your shots, or they managed to hard/soft-kill your torpedoes), you can send in your own escort rocket shuttle/tug or call out to friendly forces to finish them off.
  
• If the opportunity arises, you can coordinate with nearby allied assets to feign a retreat to draw the OPFOR into your trap.
  
• If an OPFOR carrier is spotted, prioritize taking it out ASAP using your allied help or your own assets, as it is the most effective tool to spot your position.

Knowing how the Torpcello is played, we can derive how the OPFOR would counter our tactics and strategies. It boils down to a few things:

• Pay attention and send scouting ahead near corners and chokepoints.
  
• Keep distance above the torpedo range near potential ambush points if possible.
  
• If a Torpcello is spotted, stay out of its area of control. Send a hybrid missile strike or a craft bombing run to its last known location.
  
• If you have a light ship swarm with a lot of radar jammers, you can rush and overwhelm the Torpcello.
  
• If you have a beam DD formation and know where the Torpcello is hiding and its likely strike angle, you can make a push under radar jamming cover while pre-aiming your beam to kill it as fast as possible once it is out of cover.
  
• If a Torpcello catches you off-guard, quickly retreat behind the nearest cover to break line-of-sight with the Torpcello and bait its approaching CMD torpedoes (the most likely seeker on the Torpcello build) to hit the cover instead.

In summary, being a Torpcello captain to me is about preparation, map awareness, strategic & tactical thinking, and good team coordination.

You hit hard, but the enemy will find every way to stop you from doing it. That is in my opinion the allure of the Torpcello. It provides just the right amount of micro, while placing great importance in your decision making and experience. You won't always win, and there is an element of luck, but in the end it guarantees a rewarding match if played well.

Below is an example ambush I did with my personal Torpcello fleet that follows the tips and guidelines I have laid out above:


Good luck and have fun!

• ANS: Alliance navy ship (Shelter Alliance faction).
  
• AMM: Anti-missile missile.
  
• BB: Solomon-class battleship.
  
• CC: Ocello-class command cruiser.
  
• CH: Axford-class heavy cruiser.
  
• CL: Vauxhall-class light cruiser.
  
• CMD: Command-guided seeker.
  
• DD: Keystone-class destroyer.
  
• EWR: R550 Early Warning Radar.
  
• HOJ: Home-on-jamming seeker (Fixed Anti-Radiation seeker with signal discrimination set to JAMMING).
  
• HE Warhead: High-explosive impact warhead.
  
• LRT: R400 'Bloodhound' Long-Range Tracking Radar.
  
• MN/Brick: 'Flathead' Monitor class ship.
  
• OPFOR: Opposing force (military term) - in this case this would be enemy ships.
  
• OSP: Outlying Systems Protectorate (faction).
  
• OSPN: Outlying Systems Protectorate navy.
  
• PD: Point defense.
  
• PDT: Point defense turret.
  
• S1: SGM-100 Balestra class missile.
  
• S3/S3T: SGT-300 Pilum class torpedo missile.
  
• Shuttle: 'Ferryman' Clipper class ship.
  
• Torpcello: Torpedo-equipped Ocello-class command cruiser.
  
• Tug: 'Draugr' Clipper class ship.

More can be found in Armchair Admiral's Acronym Almanac by HEAVEN BASED.

Nebulous is an evolving game, tactics and counter-tactics are constantly being developed by the community. I wouldn't say that this is the only correct way to play Torpcello, but rather one of the effective approaches. I do my best to keep this up to date with the current game meta.

Yes. You may find it easier to ambush the AI comparing to ambushing real people. However your friendly AI won't coordinate with you as well as real people do, so it balances things out.

If it's minor, feel free to leave a comment in the Comments section below. If it's more elaborate, you can ping me @ambientlamp in the Nebulous: Fleet Command Discord server.

• The Commodore Mindset or How I Learned to Stop Dying and Love the Cap by Hopeful Monster
  
• Highscore's Better Guide to NEBULOUS: Fleet Command by Highscore (duh) and NotSoLoneWolf
  
• Hardly's Helpful Guide to: What The Heck To Do With Your Spaceships by Hardly (duh)
  
• Nebulous: Cap Fleet Commandments by Jraamus
  
• Build Boat Better - A Nebulous: FC Ship Building Crash Course (YouTube) by Vastol
  
• A General Guide to Constructing a 3,000 Point Fleet in Nebulous by vren55
  
• Matters on Messing with Modern Missiles; a Guide about Sofktill in NEBULOUS: Fleet Command by Mathblob and HEAVEN BASED

• to DisCHQ and Warmind who showed me how a Torpcello fleet is generally built;
  
• to Astronomer for discussing and exchanging ideas on the Torpcello build with me;
  
• to Hardly for making the Hardly's Terrible Tactical Toolkit that I use to make the diagrams in this guide;
  
• to NotSoLoneWolf for compiling this guide along with other helpful guides in the Nebulous Discord server;
  
• and everyone in our community on Discord for reviewing my Torpcello fleets.