Heavily Armored Railgun Fleet

[JacenHan (OP)]

I have been semi-seriously messing around with a heavily armored fleet armed with railguns and gauss cannons. Here's what I've come up with:

Code: [Select]

Great Britain class Battleship    15,000 tons     331 Crew     2084.8 BP      TCS 300  TH 900  EM 0
3000 km/s     Armour 10-54     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 7     PPV 52
Maint Life 2.1 Years     MSP 608    AFR 257%    IFR 3.6%    1YR 184    5YR 2757    Max Repair 150 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months    Spare Berths 0    

M300-25 Ion Drive (3)    Power 300    Fuel Use 52.5%    Signature 300    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,280,000 Litres    Range 29.3 billion km   (112 days at full power)

10cm Railgun V3/C3 (8x4)    Range 30,000km     TS: 4000 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 3    ROF 5        1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
20cm Railgun V3/C3 (4x4)    Range 120,000km     TS: 4000 km/s     Power 12-3     RM 3    ROF 20        4 4 4 3 2 2 1 1 1 1
S1-24-3000 Beam Fire Control (2)    Max Range: 48,000 km   TS: 3000 km/s     23 17 11 5 0 0 0 0 0 0
S4-96-3000 Beam Fire Control (1)    Max Range: 192,000 km   TS: 3000 km/s     28 27 25 23 22 20 19 17 15 14
S2-9 Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (6)     Total Power Output 54    Armour 0    Exp 5%

MR42-R16 Search Sensor (1)     GPS 1536     Range 42.2m km    Resolution 16
MR74-R50 Search Sensor (1)     GPS 4800     Range 74.7m km    Resolution 50

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposesThis is the first large ship I designed, and currently has 6 units in service. No more are planned, and an updated version will not be made.

Code: [Select]

John Paul Jones III class Destroyer    2,500 tons     77 Crew     441 BP      TCS 50  TH 240  EM 0
4800 km/s     Armour 3-16     Shields 0-0     Sensors 8/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 12
Maint Life 1.76 Years     MSP 55    AFR 100%    IFR 1.4%    1YR 22    5YR 328    Max Repair 48 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 1    

M80-5 Magneto-Plasma Drive (3)    Power 80    Fuel Use 66.5%    Signature 80    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres    Range 21.7 billion km   (52 days at full power)

10cm Railgun V3/C3 (4x4)    Range 30,000km     TS: 4800 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 3    ROF 5        1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
S01 32-4000 Fire Control (1)    Max Range: 64,000 km   TS: 4000 km/s     33 27 21 14 8 2 0 0 0 0
S2-9 Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (2)     Total Power Output 18    Armour 0    Exp 5%

MR27-R50 Light Search Sensor (1)     GPS 2400     Range 27.2m km    Resolution 50
TH1-8 Civilian Thermal Sensor  (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  8m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposesThis is an updated version of the first warship I designed. No models are in service, but there are 21 of the previous version, which is the same thing with Ion Drives. It can provide additional firepower for a fleet or patrol frontier systems on it's own.

Code: [Select]

Samuel Reid class Destroyer    2,500 tons     60 Crew     440 BP      TCS 50  TH 240  EM 0
4800 km/s     Armour 1-16     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 16.5
Maint Life 2.31 Years     MSP 110    AFR 50%    IFR 0.7%    1YR 28    5YR 421    Max Repair 94 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months    Spare Berths 0    

M80-5 Magneto-Plasma Drive (3)    Power 80    Fuel Use 66.5%    Signature 80    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 270,000 Litres    Range 29.2 billion km   (70 days at full power)

Twin R2-100 Gauss Cannon Turret (1x6)    Range 20,000km     TS: 15800 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 2    ROF 5        1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
S04 32-16000 Fire Control (1)    Max Range: 64,000 km   TS: 16000 km/s     84 69 53 37 22 6 0 0 0 0

MR4-R1 Active Search Sensor (1)     GPS 42     Range 4.6m km    MCR 503k km    Resolution 1

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposesA new design, the first ships are expected in service soon. Meant to escort destroyers and, if necessary, capital ships.

Code: [Select]

Japan class Battleship    30,000 tons     721 Crew     5435 BP      TCS 600  TH 2400  EM 0
4000 km/s     Armour 15-86     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/55/0/0     Damage Control Rating 15     PPV 145.5
Maint Life 2.09 Years     MSP 1698    AFR 480%    IFR 6.7%    1YR 521    5YR 7810    Max Repair 210 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months    Spare Berths 0    
Cryogenic Berths 200    

M400-25 Magneto-plasma Drive (6)    Power 400    Fuel Use 52.5%    Signature 400    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 2,595,000 Litres    Range 29.7 billion km   (85 days at full power)

Twin R2-100 Gauss Cannon Turret (3x6)    Range 20,000km     TS: 15800 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 2    ROF 5        1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
25cm Railgun V4/C3 (12x4)    Range 200,000km     TS: 4000 km/s     Power 15-3     RM 4    ROF 25        5 5 5 5 4 3 2 2 2 2
S04 128-4000 Fire Control (3)    Max Range: 256,000 km   TS: 4000 km/s     38 36 35 33 32 30 29 27 26 24
S04 32-16000 Fire Control (3)    Max Range: 64,000 km   TS: 16000 km/s     84 69 53 37 22 6 0 0 0 0
P24-4 Stellarator Fusion Reactor (2)     Total Power Output 48    Armour 0    Exp 5%

MR163-R50 Active Search Sensor (1)     GPS 10500     Range 163.3m km    Resolution 50
MR92-R16 Active Search Sensor (1)     GPS 3360     Range 92.4m km    Resolution 16
MR11-R1 Active Search Sensor (1)     GPS 105     Range 11.6m km    MCR 1.3m km    Resolution 1
EM5-55 EM Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 55     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  55m km

ECM 20

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposesThe largest warship yet built, it has powerful primary weapons, and a small anti-missile capability, although it is meant to be escorted by other ships.

I do realize that this is a very poor design doctrine, but it looks pretty cool and is fun to design. Once they suffer crushing defeat at the hands of an enemy fleet, I will probably switch to carrier doctrine.

Now I'm just waiting to find the Swarm.

Also, just realized that to-hit values look very low, that is due to me messing around with the range and speed options on the right of the design screen. I do plan on designing additional classes, particularly an escort cruiser with gauss turrets.

[Starmantle]

I like the feel of this approach.

As you say, though, its doctrinal approach is flawed and made mostly obsolete by missiles - and really cool real-world battleships were phased out for similar reasons.

But I could see this as a very powerful gate defender or attacker, a guard against enemies that like to close to short range, and a might be a pretty fair anti-missile umbrella too.

Mostly I like it for role play reasons. 

[ardem]

Do not underestimate this fleet

I made a similar laser fleet, the biggest failure with missiles is you need a big enough swarm to counter point defence, now with the amount of point defence (based on number of ships group) you can plod along, and if engaging a fleet that throws missile you can counter they retreat back to there home you plod along till eventually you get to their home and blow them up point blank. However coming up against fast laser craft you will be in trouble with this fleet as they will stay outside combat range.

[Iranon]

Two mains points of criticism. First: I'm not sure you're getting your money's worth out of your weapons research.

Railsguns are
1) great point defence, especially at low tech levels: compact, excellent volume of fire from the start, no need for fancy fire control.
2) good medium artillery at high tech levels: more compact than equivalent lasers, but needing more research and throttled harder by capacitors.
 
1) means your research on Gauss tech doesn't bring much to the table. 2) needs very advanced capacitor tech to apply, so I rarely bother and definitely not at your tech level. Small lasers at a higher rate of fire can give you the same firepower at lower research investment and less hull space.

*

Second: The ships look like you try too hard to make them well-rounded, and duplicate effort building ships of different sizes that fulfil a similar role. I think you can make bigger design concessions to do a job well, as an example heavy on railguns:

A staple of my fleets is a hommage to admiral Jackie Fisher, typically designated Small Large Light Cruisers and bearing the names Curious, Outrageous and Spurious.
They carry a big (spinal if available) laser and 10cm railguns, but armament is fairly light for their size because a lot of space is given to highly stressed engines: speed is armour AND firepower. Their speed and the most efficient point defence for speedy vessels make them difficult targets for missiles and adequate in close-range fights. Their speed combined with the longest-ranged beam weapon lets them prey on some targets without retaliation or missile expenditure. If fast enough, the spoiler you mentioned comes to mind.

If they don't possess an unfair advantage against a current enemy, they are still adequate and flexible (if expensive to run) escorts. They can also be turned into well-rounded craft by attaching big weapon pods that reduce them to general fleet speed... which is fairly low as missile- or turret-armed ships don't need speed to do their job.