In Aurora, carriers usually hold fighters or FACs, and I've always liked experimenting with heavy beam fighters that bordered on tiny warships of their own. However, I was thinking about the Battle Riders in Sword of the Stars, and it occurred to me that after the engine change there's no reason you couldn't build a capital ship sized "fighter" that cuts out all the non-combat support for increased performance.
Take this beam warship design from one of my current games:
Dauntless class Heavy Cruiser 32 000 tons 906 Crew 9586.2 BP TCS 640 TH 5000 EM 9000
7812 km/s Armour 12-89 Shields 300-300 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 34 PPV 126
Maint Life 4.04 Years MSP 6366 AFR 240% IFR 3.3% 1YR 623 5YR 9342 Max Repair 625 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Spare Berths 0
Military Magnetic Fusion Drive (4) Power 1250 Fuel Use 15% Signature 1250 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 3 650 000 Litres Range 136.9 billion km (202 days at full power)
Theta R300/384 Shields (75) Total Fuel Cost 1 200 Litres per hour (28 800 per day)
15cm Secondary Laser Cannon (29) Range 300 000km TS: 7812 km/s Power 6-6 RM 5 ROF 5 6 6 6 6 6 5 4 3 3 3
31cm Spinal Laser Artillery (1) Range 384 000km TS: 7812 km/s Power 25-6 RM 5 ROF 25 25 25 25 25 25 20 17 15 13 12
Laser Fire Control (4) Max Range: 384 000 km TS: 7812 km/s 97 95 92 90 87 84 82 79 77 74
Magnetic Confinement Fusion Reactor (6) Total Power Output 180 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor MR6-R1 (1) GPS 36 Range 6.5m km MCR 706k km Resolution 1
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
I'm fairly happy with it, but over 30% of the tonnage is engines, and a combined 21% is devoted to the support systems of engineering spaces, fuel storage, and crew quarters. If I aggressively rip that out, I end up with a much smaller warship that still has effectively the same combat potential:
Dauntless (BR) class Battle Rider 17 000 tons 107 Crew 7088 BP TCS 340 TH 2500 EM 9000
7352 km/s Armour 13-58 Shields 300-300 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 126
Maint Life 0.04 Years MSP 261 AFR 2312% IFR 32.1% 1YR 6095 5YR 91421 Max Repair 1250 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 0
Turbo Magnetic Fusion Drive (1) Power 2500 Fuel Use 84.85% Signature 2500 Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 700 000 Litres Range 8.7 billion km (13 days at full power)
Theta R300/384 Shields (75) Total Fuel Cost 1 200 Litres per hour (28 800 per day)
15cm Secondary Laser Cannon (29) Range 300 000km TS: 7352 km/s Power 6-6 RM 5 ROF 5 6 6 6 6 6 5 4 3 3 3
31cm Spinal Laser Artillery (1) Range 384 000km TS: 7352 km/s Power 25-6 RM 5 ROF 25 25 25 25 25 25 20 17 15 13 12
Laser Fire Control (4) Max Range: 384 000 km TS: 7812 km/s 97 95 92 90 87 84 82 79 77 74
Magnetic Confinement Fusion Reactor (6) Total Power Output 180 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor MR6-R1 (1) GPS 36 Range 6.5m km MCR 706k km Resolution 1
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Just a sliver over half the size. Of course, that also means a carrier is needed for it:
Nimitz class Carrier 33 300 tons 605 Crew 4676.8 BP TCS 666 TH 3750 EM 0
5630 km/s Armour 1-92 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 39 PPV 0
Maint Life 4.12 Years MSP 3423 AFR 227% IFR 3.2% 1YR 323 5YR 4847 Max Repair 625 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Flight Crew Berths 115
Hangar Deck Capacity 17000 tons
Military Magnetic Fusion Drive (3) Power 1250 Fuel Use 15% Signature 1250 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 4 000 000 Litres Range 144.1 billion km (296 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
I admit it's not a clear improvement. The combined cost is higher; 11,754 for the combined package vs 9586 for the standalone warship. The smaller warship has less total armor (though the armor is thicker) and is slightly slower. The carrier itself is an eggshell and extremely vulnerable to attack, though the long range of the parasite warships means it's less likely to be in a combat situation. It also sacrifices strategic speed, since the standalone warship can move around faster than the carrier can.
There are advantages, though; the battle rider is cheaper to replace, and since ships in hangars have no maintenance cost the combined carrier and battlerider have less than half the maintenance of the standalone. Additionally, the battle rider version works wonders for system defense; a planet with maintenance and recreation facilities essentially serves as a free carrier with infinite hangar space.
However, just cutting down an existing warship is probably the wrong way to go about it, since it wastes the efficiency advantages of not having to haul all the support tonnage around with you. Instead one could use the saved space for a higher performance warship of around the same tonnage:
Dauntless (BR2) class Battle Rider 30 000 tons 186 Crew 12818.6 BP TCS 600 TH 7500 EM 14640
12500 km/s Armour 15-86 Shields 488-300 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 186
Maint Life 0.04 Years MSP 534 AFR 3600% IFR 50% 1YR 14865 5YR 222982 Max Repair 1250 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 7
Turbo Magnetic Fusion Drive (3) Power 2500 Fuel Use 84.85% Signature 2500 Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 1 050 000 Litres Range 7.4 billion km (6 days at full power)
Theta R300/384 Shields (122) Total Fuel Cost 1 952 Litres per hour (46 848 per day)
15cm Secondary Laser Cannon (44) Range 300 000km TS: 12500 km/s Power 6-6 RM 5 ROF 5 6 6 6 6 6 5 4 3 3 3
31cm Spinal Laser Artillery (1) Range 384 000km TS: 12500 km/s Power 25-6 RM 5 ROF 25 25 25 25 25 25 20 17 15 13 12
High Speed Laser Fire Control (4) Max Range: 384 000 km TS: 12500 km/s 97 95 92 90 87 84 82 79 77 74
Magnetic Confinement Fusion Reactor (9) Total Power Output 270 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor MR6-R1 (1) GPS 36 Range 6.5m km MCR 706k km Resolution 1
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This monster of a ship manages to pack about 50% more defenses, firepower, speed, and tracking, all in a slightly smaller frame. I didn't run a sim, but I'd say it's probably a match for two or maybe three of the standalone version all on its own, and with far more tactical options due to its speed. It also strikes me as a great way for matching a higher tech enemy, as in all aspects except weapon range it's basically the equivalent of a ship with a large tech advantage.
The downside, of course, is that it manages to cost even more than the standalone version, and requires an absolute behemoth of a carrier to get it anywhere.
I think I might give this tactic a try in my current game, at least for my beam warships where it seems the most useful. In the meantime, anyone ever tried something similar? I'm also interested in suggestions for improvements; I'm considering switching some of the lasers for railguns, for instance, since with its high speed they would probably make decent point defense.