I've been plodding along in my first game for a little under a century now and am thinking that I might move up to the 6. 3 patch and try a more serious game that avoids some of the more basic errors I made in this one. I tried out these designs* and they seemed to work reasonably well, but I'm wondering if I lucked out against an easy opponent, so I was hoping for a little feedback.
* I'm still not quite sure what it was, exactly, I was facing. Diplomacy went to pot really early on and quickly degenerated to a point where I couldn't salvage relations and no further attempts could be made. The enemy fleet consisted of, 1 60k ton carrier, a half dozen 6k ton corvettes, and an absolute truckload of 800 ton gunboats, all armed with meson cannons. By the by, aside from staying out of range, is there any defence against these?
County Mk II class Frigate 10,000 tons 243 Crew 2967. 7 BP TCS 200 TH 1500 EM 360
7500 km/s Armour 3-41 Shields 12-300 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 6 PPV 52. 16
Maint Life 2. 25 Years MSP 1113 AFR 133% IFR 1. 9% 1YR 297 5YR 4460 Max Repair 504 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Spare Berths 3
Rolls-Royce "Dynamic" ICFD P750/S50 (2) Power 750 Fuel Use 12. 18% Signature 750 Exp 7%
Fuel Capacity 350,000 Litres Range 51. 7 billion km (79 days at full power)
Ironmongers "Forcefields" E3/RR3/RT300 (4) Total Fuel Cost 60 Litres per hour (1,440 per day)
Triple PD "Guardsman" X-Ray Turret (4x3) Range 120,000km TS: 32000 km/s Power 9-9 RM 7 ROF 5 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2
Nordic Point Defence Fire Control S4/A60/T32/40 (2) Max Range: 120,000 km TS: 32000 km/s 92 83 75 67 58 50 42 33 25 17
Hawkins "Mini" Fusion Reactor P6. 25/S0. 5 (6) Total Power Output 37. 5 Armour 0 Exp 20%
Nordic Missile Sensor MR26/40 (1) GPS 192 Range 26. 9m km Resolution 1
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Daring Mk II class Cruiser 25,000 tons 638 Crew 6760. 65 BP TCS 500 TH 3750 EM 720
7500 km/s Armour 10-76 Shields 24-300 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 30 PPV 110. 52
Maint Life 4. 17 Years MSP 5070 AFR 166% IFR 2. 3% 1YR 468 5YR 7014 Max Repair 630 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Spare Berths 3
Rolls-Royce "Dynamic" ICFD P750/S50 (5) Power 750 Fuel Use 12. 18% Signature 750 Exp 7%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 59. 1 billion km (91 days at full power)
Ironmongers "Forcefields" E3/RR3/RT300 (8 Total Fuel Cost 120 Litres per hour (2,880 per day)
Twin "Runemaster" X-Ray Turret (4x2) Range 480,000km TS: 10000 km/s Power 48-12 RM 7 ROF 20 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 20 18 16
Rurik Electronics "Torpedo" S4/MR240k/F15 (2) Range 240,000km TS: 8000 km/s Power 15-5 ROF 15 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
Nordic Main Gun Fire Control S5/A240/T10/40 (2) Max Range: 480,000 km TS: 10000 km/s 98 96 94 92 90 88 85 83 81 79
Hawkins Fusion Reactor P25/S2 (2) Total Power Output 50 Armour 0 Exp 20%
Hawkins "Mini" Fusion Reactor P6. 25/S0. 5 (2) Total Power Output 12. 5 Armour 0 Exp 20%
Nordic Search Sensor MR268/40 (1) GPS 19200 Range 268. 8m km Resolution 100
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Orion class Fleet Support Vessel 50,000 tons 1115 Crew 8739. 1 BP TCS 1000 TH 7500 EM 720
7500 km/s JR 6-50 Armour 15-120 Shields 24-300 Sensors 28/28/0/0 Damage Control Rating 81 PPV 0
Maint Life 4. 44 Years MSP 12849 AFR 246% IFR 3. 4% 1YR 1054 5YR 15813 Max Repair 1596 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Spare Berths 1
Flag Bridge Tractor Beam
BAE "Mother of God" J50000(6-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 50000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 6
Rolls-Royce "Dynamic" ICFD P750/S50 (10) Power 750 Fuel Use 12. 18% Signature 750 Exp 7%
Fuel Capacity 5,000,000 Litres Range 147. 8 billion km (228 days at full power)
Ironmongers "Forcefields" E3/RR3/RT300 (8 Total Fuel Cost 120 Litres per hour (2,880 per day)
Nordic Search Sensor MR268/40 (1) GPS 19200 Range 268. 8m km Resolution 100
Nordic Missile Sensor MR26/40 (1) GPS 192 Range 26. 9m km Resolution 1
Thermal Array THS28/S2/40 (1) Sensitivity 28 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 28m km
EM Array EMS28/S2/40 (1) Sensitivity 28 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 28m km
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Queen Elizabeth class Carrier 50,000 tons 984 Crew 7983. 1 BP TCS 1000 TH 7500 EM 720
7500 km/s Armour 15-120 Shields 24-300 Sensors 28/28/0/0 Damage Control Rating 80 PPV 0
Maint Life 5. 45 Years MSP 8983 AFR 250% IFR 3. 5% 1YR 507 5YR 7609 Max Repair 336 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Flight Crew Berths 322
Flag Bridge Hangar Deck Capacity 10000 tons
Rolls-Royce "Dynamic" ICFD P750/S50 (10) Power 750 Fuel Use 12. 18% Signature 750 Exp 7%
Fuel Capacity 2,000,000 Litres Range 59. 1 billion km (91 days at full power)
Ironmongers "Forcefields" E3/RR3/RT300 (8 Total Fuel Cost 120 Litres per hour (2,880 per day)
Nordic Search Sensor MR268/40 (1) GPS 19200 Range 268. 8m km Resolution 100
Nordic Missile Sensor MR26/40 (1) GPS 192 Range 26. 9m km Resolution 1
Thermal Array THS28/S2/40 (1) Sensitivity 28 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 28m km
EM Array EMS28/S2/40 (1) Sensitivity 28 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 28m km
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
TSR-02 class Fighter 460 tons 4 Crew 233. 4 BP TCS 9. 2 TH 160 EM 0
17391 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 4
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 92% IFR 1. 3% 1YR 26 5YR 383 Max Repair 54 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0. 1 months Spare Berths 6
Rolls-Royce "Pepper" ICFD P40/S1 (4) Power 40 Fuel Use 280. 02% Signature 40 Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres Range 0. 7 billion km (11 hours at full power)
Fighter 10cm "Bullseye" X-Ray Laser (2) Range 60,000km TS: 17391 km/s Power 3-1. 5 RM 7 ROF 10 3 3 3 3 3 3 0 0 0 0
Nordic Fighter Fire Control (1) Max Range: 60,000 km TS: 16000 km/s 83 67 50 33 17 0 0 0 0 0
Hawkins "Mini" Fusion Reactor P6. 25/S0. 5 (1) Total Power Output 6. 25 Armour 0 Exp 20%
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
My own notes: - They were all designed with the intention that they'd operate as a fleet: 1 Queen Elizabeth Carrier with 10 TSR-02 fighters (it was only as I was writing this that I realized I could have put 20 in it), 2 Daring Cruisers, 2 County Frigates and 1 Orion FSV. The FSVs wouldn't stay with the combat group, and instead either hold position at the jump point, or withdraw to the preceding system.
- My previous attempt at making warships used an exceptional amount of fuel to get any kind of decent range (the Mk I County and Daring used 1 and 5 million litres respectively), so I may have erred too heavily on the side of fuel efficiency at the expense of speed with these designs. I've not yet quite got a feel for the approximate speed I should be aiming for at each engine tech level.
- I couldn't bring myself to save on tonnage by reducing the number/size of active sensors in the fleet. I could definitely have done so with the Daring and County classes, they weren't ever going to go on independent patrol or act as a squadron leader. I also seriously underestimated the difference between active sensor range and the range of the beams. It was one thing to read that the guns would reach X distance, and quite another to keep zooming in and realizing that, nope, they have to get
closer.
- It might just have been luck or the situation, but the main guns on the Daring, and its particle beams, were exceptionally effective despite my initial concerns about the turning speed.
- On that note, the fighters were extremely underwhelming. Too big, too slow, under-armed, and with a miserable rate of fire that I wasn't able to compensate for (shrinking the lasers down helped fit them in, but recharge times jumped. I had hoped that they'd engage the enemy at roughly the same range as the main guns started becoming accurate, and supplement damage, but they really didn't measure up. If I had actually brought the full complement, instead of half of it, it might have been a different story. At some point, lots of strength 3 shots have got to count for something, right?
- The carrier wasn't much better. It had too few fighters, and really no other saving grace. In practice I used it as a sensor platform, and a combat hospital and supply ship.
- The FSV could probably have done without its active sensors. I'd have liked it to be able to take more ships in a single jump but my tech wasn't quite there and it was already absurdly heavy. I had initially hoped that the carrier could have housed the jump drive to move the fleet, and so have 6 combat warships per fleet, but at the tonnage limitation in my shipyards and the minimum requirements I had set for the carrier (I had already stripped it of things I wanted it to have, like PD lasers), I just couldn't make it work.
I'm sure I've done a hundred and one other things wrong too, and it's probably a bit perverse to get feedback on these designs and then go toying with missiles (I've only experimented with lasers and the particle beam, and the latter not terribly much - as you might be able tell, it's at a lower tech level than the lasers), but I would appreciate any advice/tips/feedback.