Author Topic: Fighter Speed Limit?  (Read 5248 times)

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Offline ChubbyPitbull (OP)

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Fighter Speed Limit?
« on: March 03, 2017, 09:02:47 AM »
I've designed a new class of fighter which shoots for the maximum speed my tech can allow in order to quickly close with enemies and dodge incoming fire and AF or AM missiles. The design is below:

Quote
Spitfire class Fighter    250 tons     7 Crew     382.5 BP      TCS 5  TH 600  EM 0
120000 km/s     Armour 1-3     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0.5
Maint Life 4.57 Years     MSP 96    AFR 5%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 7    5YR 112    Max Repair 300 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.36 months    Spare Berths 0   

Perkins-Jenkins Dynamics 600 EP Gas Core AM Drive (1)    Power 600    Fuel Use 299.3%    Signature 600    Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 5 000 Litres    Range 1.2 billion km   (2 hours at full power)

Fox-Webster Gauss Cannon 6-R5-8 (1x6)    Range 50 000km     TS: 120000 km/s     Accuracy Modifier 8%     RM 5    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Coles Research Inc Fire Control S00.1 31.25-15000 (FTR) (1)    Max Range: 62 500 km   TS: 60000 km/s     84 68 52 36 20 4 0 0 0 0

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

However, in my first field test of the fighters, the task group containing the fighters has a Maximum speed of only 100,000 km/s, 20k less than the design max. If I try to set the speed to 120000 km/s, it simply resets back to 100000 km/s as that is the listed max speed for the fleet. Is there an arbitrary limit on ship speeds?
« Last Edit: March 03, 2017, 11:49:36 AM by ChubbyPitbull »
 

Offline TheDeadlyShoe

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Re: Fighter Speed Limit?
« Reply #1 on: March 03, 2017, 09:05:58 PM »
Yes, although i thought it was half the speed of light, not 1/3.  Oh well.

Your ship doesnt really have the range for beam combat at that tech level imo. You essentially rely on having more initiative than your opponent. If you do not, it will be highly difficult for you to stay in weapons range.  There is also the issue of high level ECM reducing your already-paltry range.

I believe you'd be better off with a heavier but more capable fighter.
« Last Edit: March 03, 2017, 09:10:51 PM by TheDeadlyShoe »
 
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Offline ChubbyPitbull (OP)

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Re: Fighter Speed Limit?
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2017, 10:46:29 AM »
Roger that! My original design was 100k km/s ubtil I realizef that if I shrunk everything else i could get a 4 HS engine on and keep it at 250 tons.

I'm just worried about the effectiveness of fighters when the enemy has AMM cover. Their ASM have a speed of 120000 km/s and I haven't even seen their AMM yet. Without a high speed I figure my fighter will get pasted before they get close (I'm playing a game with a no-missile-tech theme). I'll maybe try a redsign with a 100000 km/s max speed, but with a more accurate gauss cannon and a beam fire control that can track 100000 km/s. Hopefully a large enough fighter fleet would be able to shoot down incoming AMMs instead of depending on speed to dodge them. Thanks for the info!
 

Offline iceball3

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Re: Fighter Speed Limit?
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2017, 04:11:22 PM »
Roger that! My original design was 100k km/s ubtil I realizef that if I shrunk everything else i could get a 4 HS engine on and keep it at 250 tons.

I'm just worried about the effectiveness of fighters when the enemy has AMM cover. Their ASM have a speed of 120000 km/s and I haven't even seen their AMM yet. Without a high speed I figure my fighter will get pasted before they get close (I'm playing a game with a no-missile-tech theme). I'll maybe try a redsign with a 100000 km/s max speed, but with a more accurate gauss cannon and a beam fire control that can track 100000 km/s. Hopefully a large enough fighter fleet would be able to shoot down incoming AMMs instead of depending on speed to dodge them. Thanks for the info!
How's your stealth tech? You might not be able to very well penetrate the largest of resolution 1 active sensors, but a smaller profile would allow fighters a lot less exposure to massive warheads when closing in on certain targets.
 

Offline Detros

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Re: Fighter Speed Limit?
« Reply #4 on: March 06, 2017, 12:20:08 PM »
Their ASM have a speed of 120000 km/s and I haven't even seen their AMM yet.
So missiles can move faster than this ship-cap?
Also, even though you seem to be able to fly only at 100k km/s, do you still get no speed-difference penalty when targeting  those 120k km/s missiles with unturreted beam weapons?
 

Offline ChubbyPitbull (OP)

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Re: Fighter Speed Limit?
« Reply #5 on: March 07, 2017, 04:24:33 AM »
How's your stealth tech? You might not be able to very well penetrate the largest of resolution 1 active sensors, but a smaller profile would allow fighters a lot less exposure to massive warheads when closing in on certain targets.

Stealth tech is a bit poor at the moment. My concern isn't even massive warheads. I'm depending on flying faster than the enemy can track for survivability, but Anti-Missile Missiles are already designed to hit very small, very fast targets. Even with 1 damage warheads, it only takes 3 missiles to account for all of the fighters's armor and not many more to destroy the fighter. Since AMM escort ships are already designed to handle a volume of incoming missile salvos, taking out some fighter wings is trivial.


So missiles can move faster than this ship-cap?
Also, even though you seem to be able to fly only at 100k km/s, do you still get no speed-difference penalty when targeting  those 120k km/s missiles with unturreted beam weapons?

It looks like the missile speed-cap is indeed different than the ship-cap. I'll have to test more. I haven't had a chance to test out a defense situation; I'll try it out a redesign with a better fire control that has a tracking speed that matches the fighter's 120k km/s top speed and report back!
 

Offline HighTemplar

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Re: Fighter Speed Limit?
« Reply #6 on: September 03, 2017, 09:55:12 PM »
your anti missile tracking speed is limited by your fire control (which only has 60000km/s) so weather your fighter can go 100000km/s or 120000km/s is irrelavent for AM fire (oh you ment for missile accuracy, sorry realised when I was typing).
depending on how many fighters you have you could just try and blow through the enermy missile fire (with gauss cannons on final fire and your fighters clumped up). You would need a AM sensor fighter as well.