Stepping away from the SM...now! Please evaluate my first strategy/designs.

[AnnihilationVortex (OP)]

Hi.   I'm brand new to the game, been learning for a week, now I think I'm ready to turn off SM and play for real! Any advice that could save me from a shattering calamity, too early, greatly appreciated!
This is a standard game, spent RP myself with 6000 left over.   This is my starting fleet that I'd like you to evaluate, along with my general strategy to expand as early as possible, albeit slowly.

Edit: Modified fleet 9 posts below.   

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Light Hauler class Freighter    21,500 tons     142 Crew     377 BP      TCS 430  TH 500  EM 0
1162 km/s     Armour 1-68     Shields 0-0     Sensors 8/8/0/0     Damage Control Rating 3     PPV 0
MSP 33    Max Repair 25 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 0    
Cargo 10000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 5    

100 EP Commercial Nuclear Thermal Engine (5)    Power 100    Fuel Use 10.61%    Signature 100    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 7.9 billion km   (78 days at full power)

Active Search Sensor MR16-R160 (1)     GPS 2560     Range 16.2m km    Resolution 160
Active Search Sensor MR9-R60 (1)     GPS 960     Range 9.9m km    Resolution 60
Thermal Sensor TH1-8 (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  8m km
EM Detection Sensor EM1-8 (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  8m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes


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Light Cryo class Colony Ship    21,500 tons     173 Crew     752 BP      TCS 430  TH 500  EM 0
1162 km/s     Armour 1-68     Shields 0-0     Sensors 8/8/0/0     Damage Control Rating 2     PPV 0
MSP 44    Max Repair 25 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 0    
Cryogenic Berths 40000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 5    

100 EP Commercial Nuclear Thermal Engine (5)    Power 100    Fuel Use 10.61%    Signature 100    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 7.9 billion km   (78 days at full power)

Active Search Sensor MR16-R160 (1)     GPS 2560     Range 16.2m km    Resolution 160
Active Search Sensor MR9-R60 (1)     GPS 960     Range 9.9m km    Resolution 60
Thermal Sensor TH1-8 (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  8m km
EM Detection Sensor EM1-8 (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  8m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes


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Light Constructor class Construction Ship    21,500 tons     170 Crew     407 BP      TCS 430  TH 500  EM 0
1162 km/s    JR 2-25(C)     Armour 1-68     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 5     PPV 0
MSP 59    Max Repair 40 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 3    
Troop Capacity: 1 Battalion    

JC22K Commercial Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 22500 tons    Distance 25k km     Squadron Size 2
100 EP Commercial Nuclear Thermal Engine (5)    Power 100    Fuel Use 10.61%    Signature 100    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres    Range 19.7 billion km   (196 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes

Underground Infrastructure is coming once a suitable scientist appears.   I'm aiming to set up a chain of colonies providing fuel production, sensors, maintainance and re-arming facilites on planets and strategic chunks that would be otherwise uninhabitable.   
The Construction ship will always be tasked with a Freighter, which will provide sensors coverage.   Operating as a combined unit with a range of 13.  8 billion km, this pair will hop backwards and forwards with Construction Battalions and cargo.   I'm guessing carrying raw materials, as opposed to infrastructure, would be the way to go.   Later, a Cryogenic Ship will replace the freighter in the task group, with the Construction Ship moving ground forces or Construction Brigades along the chain. 
Fuel is going to be an issue.   All the task groups will be moving fuel along the chain, retaining the minimum to return to a fuel-producing colony.   Hopefully this will ease enough juice through the system that I can belay producing Tankers until Sorium Harvester is researched, eventually. 
There is missile tech, and a sensor array as described on the wiki, although no actual missiles or FC as yet.   This is the military:

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Geo Explorer class Geological Survey Vessel    2,800 tons     82 Crew     306.5 BP      TCS 56  TH 100  EM 0
1785 km/s    JR 1-50     Armour 1-17     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/16/0/1     Damage Control Rating 3     PPV 0
Maint Life 6.9 Years     MSP 205    AFR 20%    IFR 0.3%    1YR 8    5YR 113    Max Repair 100 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 1    

J2800(1-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 2800 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 1
50 EP Nuclear Thermal Engine (2)    Power 50    Fuel Use 90%    Signature 50    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres    Range 17.9 billion km   (115 days at full power)

EM Detection Sensor EM2-16 (1)     Sensitivity 16     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  16m km
Geological Survey Sensors (1)   1 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


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Grav Explorer class Gravitational Survey Vessel    2,800 tons     82 Crew     306.5 BP      TCS 56  TH 100  EM 0
1785 km/s    JR 1-50     Armour 1-17     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/16/1/0     Damage Control Rating 3     PPV 0
Maint Life 7.86 Years     MSP 205    AFR 20%    IFR 0.3%    1YR 6    5YR 88    Max Repair 100 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 1    

J2800(1-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 2800 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 1
50 EP Nuclear Thermal Engine (2)    Power 50    Fuel Use 90%    Signature 50    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres    Range 17.9 billion km   (115 days at full power)

EM Detection Sensor EM2-16 (1)     Sensitivity 16     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  16m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (1)   1 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

Does my plan have a chance?
Commercial ships' sensors superfluous? (Try saying that ten times in thirty seconds, it ought to be possible but isn't.   Another mystery of the universe)
All your wisdom gratefully received. 

[MarcAFK]

Superfluous but not completely useless, though the cost of adding sensors to everything does add up over time. And while your plan woul;d work it is always much easier to just dump regular infrastructure onto suitable planets since you don't need construction brigades to build them.

[AnnihilationVortex (OP)]

I was planning to have Earth producing Automated Mines in the initial stages.  When shipping lines have developed there will be a healthy stock of them ready to go.  At that point I'm expecting to be able to arrive at colonies with all the raw materials for infrastructure in place. 
I imagine there's a limit on the number of CBs that can be used in place of Construction Factories, just seems to me it's a more economic way of moving the frontier forward, given the fuel situation.  I mean, wouldn't the raw materials be considerably less of a burden than finished infrastructure?
Also, am I right in thinking that Underground Infrastructure can only be produced in this way?
If having sensors on commercials is worthwhile I could move one over to the Construction Ship so there would be  more control over EM output.  Is that worth doing, and if so, which one?

[Black]

I think your transport is too small to transport CB.


edit: Yup CB is size 25 and battalion size transport can only transport units of size 5 that is size of various combat battalions.

[AnnihilationVortex (OP)]

Ah! Good save!

That knocks everything commercial up to around the 33,000 tonne mark but I think it's do-able.  Probably better in fact.  Could use up my final bit of RP on better engines.

[Prince of Space]

Geological survey sensors and gravitational survey sensors are affected by crew morale. Crew morale will suffer once a ship exceeds it's intended deployment time. Your survey ships have an intended deployment time of 3 months each, which isn't long enough to be all that productive. On board maintenance operations are also affected by crew morale, so they won't achieve their stated maintenance life either.

I recommend upping intended maintenance life to 36 months or so, and maybe adding some more fuel; 18 billion km seems like a long distance, but you might burn through that sooner than you think on a surveyor. I find that fuel is the most limiting factor for my early game survey efforts, especially once I start surveying beyond my home system.

[Black]

I agree about the fuel and deployment time. My survey ships usually have deployment time of 24 months. I would increase number of fuel tanks on your cargo and colony ships as well.

[NihilRex]

Make sure that your explorers use Tiny Fuel Storage instead of larger, as well.  It improves maint life AND combat survivability.

In my opinion Commercial engines should be 50hs every time, it helps fuel efficiency a LOT.

Active sensors on most of your freighters is pointless.  Stick a thermal or EM on them and walk away.

--- 
I would suggest building a Navy Yard and keeping a running update on a missile based design, but not building it until needed.

Hit Chances with missiles is heavily influenced by speed.  It is usually better to use a bigger engine than to add agility.

Try to use the estimator at http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/topic,5855.msg60061.html#msg60061

I can only figure out the missile estimator myself, but it works very well.

[Lamandier]

I would ditch the sensors on the freighter and just build a specialized sensor ship to do that job instead, letting the freighters stick to their main role of handling freight. You can design something about the size of one of your surveyors that will be cheaper, faster, quicker to build, and much more versatile than a freighter.

I also have to agree with the point about your surveyors; they're much too short-ranged and that'll hamstring you pretty badly as you expand, especially if you're trying to expand as quickly as possible. Your other ships could use more fuel too, but it's not nearly as essential. When I designed my surveyors for my current game my goal was for them to be able to operate for at least a year at full power without needing an overhaul or refueling. You'll need that once you get outside your home system.

Might not be a bad idea to design and build a few small warships right away, either in game or using the instant OB feature. If you run into anything unfriendly with guns on it close to your home system, you're gonna be pretty screwed if all you have is commercial ships. Even if you just lose a surveyor or a construction ship, that's more than you want to lose in the early game if you don't have to. FACs with box launchers are cheap, quick to build, and enough of them put together can put out a salvo of missiles that will make even a capital ship sit up and take notice.

[AnnihilationVortex (OP)]

Thanks for the response.  I took on board the advice and started afresh.

Twenty months in and the Galactic Empire fleet comprises twelve vessels, with two more currently in production.  The fleet is currently split 50-50 between military and commercial.

Of the military, there are four geosurvey ships, two of which recently entered service.  There are also two gravsurvey ships, one of which surveyed a whole system in a year. . . finding nothing.  They follow this pattern:

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Apollo class Gravitational Survey Vessel    4,000 tons     88 Crew     497.5 BP      TCS 80  TH 180  EM 0
2250 km/s    JR 1-50     Armour 1-22     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/16/2/0     Damage Control Rating 4     PPV 0
Maint Life 15.67 Years     MSP 1311    AFR 32%    IFR 0.4%    1YR 10    5YR 150    Max Repair 100 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 1   

J4000(1-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 4000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 1
90 EP Nuclear Pulse Engine (2)    Power 90    Fuel Use 37.26%    Signature 90    Exp 7%
Fuel Capacity 600,000 Litres    Range 72.5 billion km   (372 days at full power)

EM Detection Sensor EM2-16 (1)     Sensitivity 16     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  16m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (2)   2 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

Exploration has so far turned up faily disappointing results.  Hoping to strike it lucky with searches of the remaining two Sol jump points.

Commercial fleet consists of four freighters and two cyro ships.  Unfortunately the cryo ships have been relatively redundant so far, with only Venus coming up for minerals amongst the central planets.

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Hauler class Freighter    37,050 tons     155 Crew     600 BP      TCS 741  TH 800  EM 0
1079 km/s     Armour 1-98     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 5     PPV 0
MSP 51    Max Repair 40 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 0   
Cargo 25000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 10   

160 EP Commercial Nuclear Pulse Engine (5)    Power 160    Fuel Use 9.55%    Signature 160    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 700,000 Litres    Range 35.6 billion km   (381 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes

The cryo ships are practically identical with 100,000 berths.

There are two Jump Freighters under production, looking like this:

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Jump Freighter II class Freighter    39,000 tons     171 Crew     619 BP      TCS 780  TH 800  EM 0
1025 km/s    JR 3-25(C)     Armour 1-102     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 5     PPV 0
MSP 50    Max Repair 40 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 3   
Cargo 20000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 5   

JC39K Commercial Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 39000 tons    Distance 25k km     Squadron Size 3
160 EP Commercial Nuclear Pulse Engine (5)    Power 160    Fuel Use 9.55%    Signature 160    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 700,000 Litres    Range 33.8 billion km   (381 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes

These should be ready in six months time, so should be seeing boots on the ground in another system in a year or so.

There's no real spare capacity for further additions at this stage, due to the scarcity of Duranium.  As far as developments for the armed contingency go - sensor array for attack ships is being researched, missiles and fire control have yet to follow.  Will probably be a further three years before armed vessels are avaiable, so the Empire may have a quite short history.     

[Prince of Space]

Don't get too discouraged by dead ends in your jump network. If the luck of the dice is against you, then you can fix it in spacemaster mode.

Your freighters still have 12 months of intended deployment. As I said before, it's not wrong, just unnecessary.

Your gravitational survey vessel has way too much maintenance life compared to its intended deployment. You can afford to cut that down to two or three years instead of 15 if you want it to keep an intended deployment time of 1 year. I try to match the two on my ships, with a little wiggle room left over on maintenance life since that side of the equation is more up to chance.

Regarding NihilRex's suggestion to use tiny fuel storage: this works, in part, because a maintenance failure or internal hit on a ship with fewer but larger fuel storage components is more likely to take out a huge chunk of your fuel tank tonnage, thus costing more maintenance supply points per breakdown or per hit. Smaller fuel tanks effectively compartmentalize the damage. The trade off is that smaller fuel tanks cost more build points per ton than larger ones, so the ship costs more overall. It's a good suggestion to keep in mind when you need to squeeze a longer maintenance life out of a ship and you don't have room for more engineering space. However I wouldn't take it as a must have strategy in all ship design.

I suspect the remarkable increase in maintenance life is due to you using this trick, and in my opinion you could afford to do without it. You probably don't need 15 years of maintenance life, and in terms of combat survivability, if the Apollo gets hit at all, it's probably not going to survive.