This formation is a simple one but highly effective, allowing many ships to concentrate their firepower on a single target at once. Simply put, all you need to do is stack your ships on top of one another and have them move as one. I didn't invent this formation, far from it, but it isn't obvious to new players and there's no guide out there that specifically recommends it. The name "Wall of Battle" immediately came to me upon seeing it in action - the term comes from the book series Honor Harrington by David Weber (which I recommend very much for anyone who likes space combat).



ADVANTAGES:
- Firepower concentration into a small space
- Easy for PCMs and other anti-missile systems to protect
- Simple management of many ships

DISADVANTAGES:
- Little to no vertical evasion in the event of incoming torpedoes
- If a ship's engines are damaged, it will either fight without support or slow the entire formation
- Very vulnerable to mines and other area-of-effect weaponry

With these pros and cons in mind, the best time and place for deployment of the Wall is in the early-game, before the Cylons start fielding torpedoes in large numbers and your Artemis Battlestar production gets into full swing. Adamant and Berserk class cruisers are the best two units to maximize the wall's utility, but I suppose you could use Artemises, Rangers, or even Manticores in a Wall.

At first, making a Wall might seem simple. After all, you just need to stack your ships on top of one another and sail to victory, right?



That's the Stacked Wall. It works if you're facing nothing more dangerous than a Nemesis, or if your inventory of Wallers consists only of Adamants (if you have the DLC, I highly recommend mixing in Berzerks). But when you start to face massed Talons and the first Revenants start showing up, you're going to need something a little more refined. Or a lot of Berzerks are going to die - the Cylons know that they're weaker than the Adamants yet more powerful, and will focus them down accordingly.

But thanks to the Berzerk class having 500 metres of extra range over most other Colonial warships, there's a more advanced formation of Wall that you can employ to protect your Berzerks while still maintaining their good health. Behold, the Staggered Wall:



The Staggered formation is more complicated. The general position of the ships will need to be farther apart, and the whole Wall will need to be more level with the target if you want every ship to have a clear line of fire. In addition, the Adamant screen can only protect one side at once. It's not recommended to go diving in and attract fire from both sides.

As for your munitions and squadrons, it's mostly your choice. At the stage of the game where you'll be using Adamants and Berzerks the most, you'll only have access to Guided Missiles, Torpedoes, Viper MK1s, and Raptors. As for squadrons it's mostly your choice, but Vipers are more likely to get shot at than Raptors, and since the Berzerk carriers have +50 Evade on their hangars compared to Adamant frigates' +20, the Berzerks should carry nothing but Vipers. They'll have effectively 30% more health than other squadrons of the same type. Munitions wise, guided missiles are probably best - the Wall rarely closes in enough for torpedoes to be consistently effective. But if you enjoy torpedoes and know how to use them, they are definitely viable as well.

Because of the armour system in BSG:Deadlock, spreading out your firepower and flanking the enemy is not at all beneficial. Admirals should concentrate on a single portion of the enemy's hull at a time for maximum destruction. The problem with this, of course, is packing your ships into the positions they need for such firing solutions. The Wall of Battle is a way to compress many ships into a relatively small space, allowing them all to concentrate their firepower on a single section of an enemy ship's armour.

Aspiring formation crafters should keep these principles in mind when designing formations for more advanced ships. Each ship has it's own quirks, which is why the Wall of Battle is less effective with topside-cannon-heavy ships like the Artemis and Jupiter class Battlestars. Fans of the Wall of Battle, however, can find late-game satisfaction with the Minotaur class cruiser - a worthy supplement to any Wall.

Have fun ramming your massed salvos of lead into those Toasters!