Fighters of the Stardust Federation

[tryrar (OP)]

So, I've gotten back into the swing of Aurora, and I've decided to start a little differently; instead of early cruisers, since I happened to start in the Magneto-Plasma era, I've gone for early fighters, starting with this AWACs fighter command ship:

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F-58 Osprey class Scout Fighter    400 tons     5 Crew     114.6 BP      TCS 8  TH 24  EM 0
6000 km/s     Armour 2-4     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 3.8 Years     MSP 18    AFR 12%    IFR 0.2%    1YR 2    5YR 29    Max Repair 36 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.5 months    Spare Berths 1   

Stardust-48 Fighter Plasma Engine (1)    Power 48    Fuel Use 162.04%    Signature 24    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 80,000 Litres    Range 22.2 billion km   (42 days at full power)

DTR-12-100 Fighter Radar (1)     GPS 1600     Range 12.8m km    Resolution 100
ATX-.278-1 PD Radar (1)     GPS 32     Range 2.6m km    Resolution 1

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
In addition to having the sensor for independent operations, it also acts as a squadron tanker and missile spotter, as well as being slightly better armored(though not by much)



This, however, is my main fighter for anti-ship and fleet protection:

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F-60 Peregine class Fighter    400 tons     7 Crew     80.8 BP      TCS 8  TH 24  EM 0
6000 km/s     Armour 1-4     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 4
Maint Life 2.89 Years     MSP 13    AFR 12%    IFR 0.2%    1YR 2    5YR 34    Max Repair 36 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.5 months    Spare Berths 5   

Stardust-48 Fighter Plasma Engine (1)    Power 48    Fuel Use 162.04%    Signature 24    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres    Range 1.4 billion km   (64 hours at full power)

DT Defense D-3S4 Gauss Cannon (1x3)    Range 30,000km     TS: 6000 km/s     Accuracy Modifier 67%     RM 3    ROF 5        1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Altech 24-12 Fighter Beam Targeting (1)    Max Range: 48,000 km   TS: 12000 km/s     79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
That size 4 Gauss Cannon not only can sandblast enemies to death when in large groups, it also serves as decent point defense, allowing my fighters to survive that much better under fire

As always, critique is welcome(I already know of one you guys might have, pushing the speed up. I'm working on it, this is just the first generation for home defense and crew training)

[Anarade Relle]

If reducing the armor and bunkerage on the command fighter would let you increase your main-sensor even by 1 I'd advise you do that and just made a dedicated tanker-fighter. Your setup works fine as it is however- that's mostly my own doctrine. One concern with the Peregine is that with only 30K effective range unless it's faster then an intruder ship its offensive ability is going to be somewhat limited.

[Bremen]

If you replace that gauss cannon with a 10cm railgun you'll get better range, accuracy, and an additional shot for less weight. You will need a small reactor though.

Additionally, though there's probably not much room for it at low tech, I like to ignore the flow and armor my fighters. In my experience the big killer for beam fighters is AMMs, and a few layers of armor can really help them survive against 1 damage missiles.

[tryrar (OP)]

Nice tip about the railgun, that allowed me to add a layer of armor on the peregine design copies I'm using to experiment with new tech before moving it onto the main design.

[Bremen]

Yeah, in my experience railguns are great fighter weapons. Their main disadvantage as a PD weapon is they can't be turreted, which doesn't matter for fighters. Their main disadvantage as an anti-ship weapon is the lack of armor penetration, but with fighter sized weapons it's not like you're going to get a lot of armor penetration anyways.

The other standout beam weapon for fighters is mesons, which sacrifice PD ability for absolutely gutting capital ships. If I'm going for beam fighters as a primary strike force I prefer a mix of railgun "fighters" and meson "bombers".

[tryrar (OP)]

Another quick question: At what point does a res 20 sensor detect missiles? I was thinking of replacing that res 1 AND that res 100 with a res 20 for simplification and space savings

[Nightstar]

Never. You can pretty much give up on a res 20 sensor spotting missiles. Replacing all sensors with a bigger res 1 sensor is a time honored tactic though.

[tryrar (OP)]

Well, I've gotten some tech upgrades, the most important being internal confinement fusion, as well as 2.5x engine power. This allowed me to only have 2 engines while still going faster than my previous design(as well as be larger!).

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F-58 Osprey Mk-III class Scout Fighter    500 tons     2 Crew     176 BP      TCS 10  TH 50  EM 0
10000 km/s     Armour 4-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 3.26 Years     MSP 22    AFR 20%    IFR 0.3%    1YR 3    5YR 47    Max Repair 37.5 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months    Spare Berths 8    

Stardust-50 Fusion Fighter Engine (2)    Power 50    Fuel Use 489.16%    Signature 25    Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 130,000 Litres    Range 9.6 billion km   (11 days at full power)

ATX-.278-1 PD Radar (1)     GPS 32     Range 2.6m km    Resolution 1
DTR-12-100 Fighter Radar (1)     GPS 1600     Range 12.8m km    Resolution 100

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes

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F-60 Peregine Mk-III class Fighter    500 tons     3 Crew     153 BP      TCS 10  TH 50  EM 0
10000 km/s     Armour 5-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 3
Maint Life 2.66 Years     MSP 19    AFR 20%    IFR 0.3%    1YR 4    5YR 57    Max Repair 37.5 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months    Spare Berths 7    

Stardust-50 Fusion Fighter Engine (2)    Power 50    Fuel Use 489.16%    Signature 25    Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 3.7 billion km   (4 days at full power)

Galax 10cm-v2 Railgun (1x4)    Range 40,000km     TS: 10000 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 4    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Altech 20-12 Fighter Beam Targeting (1)    Max Range: 40,000 km   TS: 12000 km/s     75 50 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
T&T Power Half-Size Reactor (1)     Total Power Output 3    Armour 0    Exp 5%

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes(The mark 2s were simply me dropping the engine size to 1 and putting three plasma engines on. It let me go around 9km/s, a good improvement over the mark 1s)

The best part? Take a look at those armor ratings 

However, I've made a slight shift in doctrine, and the fighters are now just for colony defense(I was thinking also switching from a PDC basing to an orbital fighter hanger). My main combatants are these babies:

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Astral Mk-II class Corvette    2,000 tons     65 Crew     654.5 BP      TCS 40  TH 225  EM 0
11250 km/s     Armour 3-14     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 6
Maint Life 3.79 Years     MSP 205    AFR 32%    IFR 0.4%    1YR 22    5YR 335    Max Repair 112.5 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 4    

Stardust-150 Fusion Drive (3)    Power 150    Fuel Use 130.9%    Signature 75    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 140,000 Litres    Range 9.6 billion km   (9 days at full power)

Galax 15cm-v2 Railgun (1x4)    Range 120,000km     TS: 11250 km/s     Power 9-5     RM 4    ROF 10        3 3 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1
Altech 60-12 Beam Targeting (1)    Max Range: 120,000 km   TS: 12000 km/s     92 83 75 67 58 50 42 33 25 17
T&T Power Size 1 Reactor (1)     Total Power Output 6    Armour 0    Exp 5%

DTR-12-100 Fighter Radar (1)     GPS 1600     Range 12.8m km    Resolution 100

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
While these are ironically LESS armored than my fighters, they are faster and do have a much bigger railgun that hits out much further than the dinky ones on the fighter(though of course, I can only fit 5 of these compared to 20 fighters)

The next thing to do is finish boosting my sensor tech and do a generational replacement on radar suites, as well as finish expanding my shipyard in order to build my Forestall Heavy Carriers to deploy the Astrals

[Charlie Beeler]

Never. You can pretty much give up on a res 20 sensor spotting missiles. Replacing all sensors with a bigger res 1 sensor is a time honored tactic though.

Never is not a true statement.  It is dependent on the tech available, the size of the sensor, and the size of the missile.  

The formula you're looking for is =(SQRT(R)*(Ss*As)*(Es/10)*100000*(((IF(Ms<7,0.33,(Ms/20)))/R)^2))
0.33 is the default for all missiles under 7msp

R - Sensor Resolution
Ss - Sensor Size
As - ActiveGrav Sensitivity
Es - EM Sensitivity
Ms - Missile size

That being said, it is unlikely that  a Res20 sensor on a Smallcraft will have enough range to functionally detect most missiles.

[Nightstar]

A max tech, max size, res 20 sensor, can detect small missiles at... About 1.8 mkm. So while, strictly speaking, it's possible, a 0.3 HS res 1 sensor would give better range in any case. Sacrificing an equivalent res 1 sensor will give such a sad range boost to the res 20 that it's not worth considering.

On the new fighters: More engine, less armor and fuel. Effective damage soak against missiles at your tech level is armor*speed. The point defense capability is also a function of speed. You want at least one more engine anyway.

[Charlie Beeler]

A max tech, max size, res 20 sensor, can detect small missiles at... About 1.8 mkm.
<snip>

Really just a nitpick,but...  max tech 25hs(IIRC max size is 50hs) active sensor has a detection range for sz1-6 missiles of 4.1 mkm.  An equivilant tech res1 .3hs is roughly the same range (4.4 mkm).

[tryrar (OP)]

On a side note, I've generally noticed that a good carrier only has 1/3 the space dedicated to hanger bays. Of course, when we're talking about a carrier with hanger space of 10k tons, then we're talking about carriers of about 30k tons or more