Companion Designs Query

[Tarnak (OP)]

I've just started a game and I'm not sure how well a pair of designs I've set up will work together and I have questions on the fire control mechanics, so.      .      .     

Design 1 - Sensor/Laser ship

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Mil - Molitor class Cruiser    7,000 tons     851 Crew     1154.5 BP      TCS 140  TH 200  EM 0
1428 km/s     Armour 1-32     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 12     PPV 44
Annual Failure Rate: 32%    IFR: 0.5%    Maint Capacity 1237 MSP    Max Repair 256 MSP    Est Time: 4.96 Years

Nuclear Pulse Engine E8 (5)    Power 40    Fuel Use 80%    Signature 40    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 350,000 Litres    Range 112.5 billion km   (911 days at full power)

10cm C3 Visible Light Laser (4)    Range 60,000km     TS: 3000 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 2    ROF 5        3 3 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
Twin 10cm C3 Visible Light Laser Turret (4x2)    Range 60,000km     TS: 12000 km/s     Power 6-6     RM 2    ROF 5        3 3 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
!Main FC64-4500 (1)    Max Range: 128,000 km   TS: 4500 km/s     92 84 77 69 61 53 45 37 30 22
Flak FC64-12000 (1)    Max Range: 128,000 km   TS: 12000 km/s     92 84 77 69 61 53 45 37 30 22
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Technology PB-1 AR-0 (4)     Total Power Output 36    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Anti-Missile Sensor MR20-R1 (1)     GPS 256     Range 20.5m km    Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR64-R100 (1)     GPS 8000     Range 64.0m km    Resolution 100

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Design 2 - Missile Ship

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Mil - Swarm class Cruiser    3,000 tons     272 Crew     414.5 BP      TCS 60  TH 80  EM 0
1333 km/s     Armour 1-18     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 4     PPV 10
Annual Failure Rate: 18%    IFR: 0.2%    Maint Capacity 345 MSP    Max Repair 96 MSP    Est Time: 5.83 Years
Magazine 325    

Nuclear Pulse Engine E8 (2)    Power 40    Fuel Use 80%    Signature 40    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres    Range 112.5 billion km   (976 days at full power)

Size 1 RoF10 Missile Launcher (10)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 10
Anti-Missile FC23-R1 (1)     Range 23.0m km    Resolution 1
S1 2.2Mkm AM Missile (325)  Speed: 20,000 km/s   End: 1.9m    Range: 2.2m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 146 / 88 / 44

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

It's meant to have multiple Molitor class ships function for missile defense with the Swarm as a backup in case that is being overwhelmed.    The combat settings are:

• Main FC - Standard Lasers (Used in case of close ranged engagements or when the enemy fleet is out of missiles)
• Flak FC - Turret lasers set to area defense at 60k km/Used in close range engagements when PD isn't necessary
• Missile FC - All racks set to PD 220 (If I understand correctly that's the missiles' max range of 2. 2M km) 2 missiles per/Targeted when I want to use them offensively

The questions I have are:

• The Anti-Missile FC23-R1 has a max range of ~2. 5M km for a size 6 missile and under, is this necessary for it to be able to fire at my missile's max range or would I be able to create a higher resolution and much smaller fire control once the missiles are already being tracked by the Molitor?
• Aside from the armor (which I forgot about when building these), are there any obvious problems I'm missing?

[mckamx]

1. It has been my experience that I don't spot incoming missiles until they are about 1.5m km out, so long range -R1 fire controls are not needed.  Instead I use 2 fire controls: a short range -R1, and a long range R20 to R50.

2. Your missles are quite slow.  It may be the best you can do at the tech level: I wouldn't want to make them shorter range, and they are already WH1, but you need to upgrade your missile and drive tech to make them more effective.

3. No long range offensive missiles?   My experience is that engagements start at about 60m km.  Your Molitor's will have difficulty surviving to 60K range when they can attack.

[dooots]

The questions I have are:

• The Anti-Missile FC23-R1 has a max range of ~2. 5M km for a size 6 missile and under, is this necessary for it to be able to fire at my missile's max range or would I be able to create a higher resolution and much smaller fire control once the missiles are already being tracked by the Molitor?
• Aside from the armor (which I forgot about when building these), are there any obvious problems I'm missing?

Yes you need a resolution 1 fc to fire the AMMs.

I would drop the main fc and keep the flac fc for now.  After you get the next level of beam fc range you can go back to two and only double the range of the flac fc instead of 4x and save 4 HS.  I would also drop the normal lasers and add more engines, 1 engine per 1000 tons is a minimum imo.

For your AMMs drop the max range to 1 mkm and that is even pushing it a bit for the tech you have.

[Karlito]

Flak FC - Turret lasers set to area defense at 60k km/Used in close range engagements when PD isn't necessary

Set your turrets for point blank final fire mode.  That way they'll be guaranteed to get a shot in before the enemy missiles explode.  60k km isn't nearly enough range for area defense to be effective.