I discovered this game about 3 years ago, back when I was too young to comprehend what was going on at all. Now that I made it into first year engineering, I believe I am finally smart enough to try this game again. I started a game with twice (240000) the tech points compared to default because I want to give myself a chance. Since I believe in "doing it right the first time", I restarted and restarted and restarted the game until I finally felt satisfied, which of course makes this not the first time unless I do some creative accounting. Anyway, here's the fleet I've managed to design after spending all those tech points (some of which went to non-military areas like construction and production):
Musketeer class Missile Frigate 5,000 tons 118 Crew 711 BP TCS 100 TH 312 EM 0
3120 km/s Armour 3-26 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 20
Maint Life 3.1 Years MSP 1044 AFR 400% IFR 5.6% 1YR 163 5YR 2449 Max Repair 96 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Spare Berths 2
Magazine 203
156 EP Ion Drive (2) Power 156 Fuel Use 69.6% Signature 156 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 600,000 Litres Range 31.0 billion km (115 days at full power)
Size 4 Missile Launcher (5) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 40
ASM FC 51.5Mkm (1) Range 51.5m km Resolution 45
Size 4 Anti-ship Missile (51) Speed: 27,400 km/s End: 30.5m Range: 50.1m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 146/87/43
ASM Sensor 59.5Mkm (1) GPS 5760 Range 59.5m km Resolution 60
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This is my "standard" missile boat, I had to keep it under 5000 tons due to starting shipyard size restrictions. 5 launchers is as much as I could fit onto the ship while still keeping (in my opinion) decent speed and acceptable range. I figure that at 711 BP, this class will be cheap enough to mass-produce (if there is ever such a thing), and thus the low missile volume per ship would not handicap me too much since I can have (say) 10 of them aim at the same target, hopefully getting some through. The sensor is a backup, as there is a more powerful sensor somewhere else in the fleet.
Allegiance class Escort 11,000 tons 247 Crew 1868.7 BP TCS 220 TH 336 EM 0
3054 km/s Armour 3-44 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 29.7
Maint Life 1.04 Years MSP 1133 AFR 774% IFR 10.8% 1YR 1050 5YR 15754 Max Repair 352 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Spare Berths 1
Magazine 381
336 EP Ion Drive (2) Power 336 Fuel Use 57.6% Signature 168 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,050,000 Litres Range 29.8 billion km (113 days at full power)
Quad PD VL Laser Turret (1x4) Range 48,000km TS: 10000 km/s Power 12-12 RM 2 ROF 5 3 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
PD Laser FC 9kkm/s (1) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 9000 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Power Plant 13.5 (1) Total Power Output 13.5 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Size 1 Missile Launcher (15) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
AMM FC 3.35Mkm (2) Range 30.7m km Resolution 1
Size 1 Anti-missile Missile (381) Speed: 27,400 km/s End: 1.8m Range: 3m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 164/98/49
PD Sensor 3.01Mkm (1) GPS 352 Range 28.2m km MCR 3.1m km Resolution 1
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
The escort, with zero offensive capability. The design feels. . . weird, especially the part with 15 launchers on 2 FCs. I'm not OCD enough to change it now, since three of this class is already in production. I chose to use a quad laser turret instead of a gauss cannon turret for closer-range PD, because I felt that if I use a gauss cannon for this role, there will be literally nothing in my fleet to handle something like a meson fighter squad dive-bombing my fleet. Now that I think about it, with this turret, I probably still have literally nothing in my fleet to handle something like a meson fighter squad dive-bombing my fleet. Oh well.
Orion class Carrier 20,000 tons 350 Crew 3119.2 BP TCS 400 TH 600 EM 0
3000 km/s Armour 6-65 Shields 0-0 Sensors 160/160/0/0 Damage Control Rating 3 PPV 0
Maint Life 1.15 Years MSP 2292 AFR 1066% IFR 14.8% 1YR 1761 5YR 26416 Max Repair 320 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Flight Crew Berths 40
Flag Bridge Hangar Deck Capacity 5000 tons Magazine 183
300 EP Ion Drive (4) Power 300 Fuel Use 60% Signature 150 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,810,000 Litres Range 27.2 billion km (104 days at full power)
Size 4 Anti-ship Missile (46) Speed: 27,400 km/s End: 30.5m Range: 50.1m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 146/87/43
ASM Sensor 214Mkm (1) GPS 22400 Range 214.2m km Resolution 70
Thermal Sensor 160 (1) Sensitivity 160 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 160m km
EM Sensor 160 (1) Sensitivity 160 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 160m km
Strike Group
5x Wasp Strikefighter Speed: 4800 km/s Size: 10
5x Slayer Fighter Speed: 9648 km/s Size: 9.95
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Wasp class Strikefighter 500 tons 2 Crew 99.8 BP TCS 10 TH 24 EM 0
4800 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 4.8
Maint Life 3.05 Years MSP 12 AFR 20% IFR 0.3% 1YR 2 5YR 29 Max Repair 36 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.03 months Spare Berths 14
Magazine 32
48 EP Fighter Engine (1) Power 48 Fuel Use 443.5% Signature 24 Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 15,000 Litres Range 1.2 billion km (70 hours at full power)
Size 4 Box Launcher (8) Missile Size 4 Hangar Reload 30 minutes MF Reload 5 hours
ASM FC 51.5Mkm (1) Range 51.5m km Resolution 45
Size 4 Anti-ship Missile (4) Speed: 27,400 km/s End: 30.5m Range: 50.1m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 146/87/43
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
Slayer class Fighter 498 tons 4 Crew 110.6 BP TCS 9.95 TH 48 EM 0
9648 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 3.75
Maint Life 1.86 Years MSP 14 AFR 19% IFR 0.3% 1YR 5 5YR 77 Max Repair 72 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.03 months Spare Berths 12
96 EP Fighter Engine (1) Power 96 Fuel Use 434.45% Signature 48 Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 15,000 Litres Range 1.2 billion km (35 hours at full power)
Gauss Cannon 0.75HS (1x2) Range 10,000km TS: 9648 km/s Accuracy Modifier 12.5% RM 1 ROF 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gauss Cannon 3HS (1x2) Range 10,000km TS: 9648 km/s Accuracy Modifier 50% RM 1 ROF 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fighter BFC (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
The carrier, and what it carries. They say fighters are not a good idea for early tech, now I know why. However with my skill level, I doubt my abilities to even reach non-early tech, so I decided to give it a try now. The flag bridge is there because I want it to be somewhere in my fleet, as I lack a true "one-of-a-kind" capital ship. There will probably be two identical copies of this class, one with a flag bridge and one without. If the game decides to be mean and does not let me build both at the same shipyard, I'll come up with something else.
The Wasp is slow as it is because its only defense is not its speed, but its. . . expendability. As long as it can get in the 50Mkm range (less against ECM) to unload the 8(!) ship-killer missiles it carries, there is no reason for me to actually want it back in my hangar. The carrier only carries one reload for the Wasps for a reason.
The Slayer doubles as PD, though I realize the inefficiency in their design. I know that they'll probably be unable to penetrate the enemy's PD screen to shoot ships with their gauss cannons, and the gauss cannons are mediocre at best at shooting down missiles, surely I'd do better if I just put them on the carrier instead. However I said I wanted to give fighters a try, and here's my try.
The exact number of each kind of fighter to carry may vary depending on what I need. The 5-and-5 setup shown is just something I put there as a placeholder. What will probably happen is that the carrier with the flag bridge carries the Slayers, while the non-flag-bridge carriers carry the Wasps, but only time will tell.
I plan to augment the range of the entire fleet with a civilian jump tender/tanker, carrying little other than fuel, armor, CIWS, and two jump engines, one military and one commercial. I believe it's an exploit to put military jump drives on commercial ships, but at my skill level, I need all the exploiting I can get.
Comments welcome (desperately needed in fact)!
EDIT: Realized that I can't actually use two jump engines on the same jump ship.