Hello! I'm a new player just starting his first game on 5. 52 (trans-newtonian start). I read through the wiki pages, the forum tutorial, and a few forum threads on the Academy, Tips, and Ship Design boards, so I feel that I have a basic understanding of armaments and ship design. Unfortunately, while I now know what a lot of things do I'm not so sure about how to use them together to make a functioning ship, so I was hoping that the community could help me out.
1. How exactly does turret turning speed function and how does it effect the firing capabilities of the turret?
2. What does "gear" mean in turret turning speed?
3. What is a reasonable maintenance life and range for a ship? (trying not to overdo engineering sections and fuel stores)
4. When should shields and armor (when is armor better than shields and vice versa) be used and how much of each for different types of ships?
5. What range should be aimed for with AMMs? I developed a starting AMM with the following stats
Missile Size: 1 MSP (0. 05 HS) Warhead: 1 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 27
Speed: 24000 km/s Endurance: 8 minutes Range: 11. 3m km
Cost Per Missile: 1. 075
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 648% 3k km/s 216% 5k km/s 129. 6% 10k km/s 64. 8%
Materials Required: 0. 25x Tritanium 0. 57x Gallicite Fuel x125
but noticed that the Fire Control needed to get the same max range (against missiles size 6 and below) is quite large.
Active Sensor Strength: 448 Sensitivity Modifier: 80%
Sensor Size: 28 HS Sensor HTK: 1
Resolution: 1 Maximum Range vs 50 ton object (or larger): 107,520,000 km
Range vs Size 6 Missile (or smaller): 11,708,928 km
Range vs Size 8 Missile: 17,203,200 km
Range vs Size 12 Missile: 38,707,200 km
Chance of destruction by electronic damage: 100%
Cost: 448 Crew: 140
Materials Required: 112x Duranium 336x Uridium
Is this how things are supposed to work or am I designing my AMMs or Fire Controls incorrectly? Maybe I'm just not understanding anti-missile defense? I made a fire-control with range matching my current ASM and it was pretty small (much worse resolution obviously).
6. What are some reasonable stats for fighters as far as payload, size, speed, armor, etc. ? What general ballpark should I aim for? Here's my attempt at a design:
Condor class Fighter-bomber 500 tons 8 Crew 100. 6 BP TCS 10 TH 36 EM 0
3600 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 4. 5
Maint Life 7. 92 Years MSP 25 AFR 10% IFR 0. 1% 1YR 1 5YR 11 Max Repair 32 MSP
Magazine 30
FTR Ion Engine E800 (1) Power 36 Fuel Use 8000% Signature 36 Armour 0 Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 20,000 Litres Range 0. 9 billion km (69 hours at full power)
Size 5 Box Launcher (6) Missile Size 5 Hangar Reload 37. 5 minutes MF Reload 6. 2 hours
Missile Fire Control FC76-R100 (1) Range 76. 8m km Resolution 100
Judgement-1 (6) Speed: 18,000 km/s End: 62. 5m Range: 67. 5m km WH: 5 Size: 5 TH: 120 / 72 / 36
Active Search Sensor MR12-R100 (1) GPS 1600 Range 12. 8m km Resolution 100
7. What is the typical speed for a freighter/tanker/colony ship/jump gate construction ship?
8. What general level of armaments, speed, defenses, sensors, etc. should I be looking for in first-generation escort cruisers, main line cruisers, and fleet carriers? (sorry to ask such a broad question)
9. Are combined gravitational/geological survey ships better than separate classes?
10. How do turrets compare to AMMs for anti-missile defense duty? What's a good turret AM setup? A good AMM setup? (How many turrets, how many FCs, how many AMM launchers, how many FCs, what types of each)
Sorry to bombard you guys with so many questions.
I'm really excited about designing some ships but I'm kind of stumbling about in the dark at this point. Any advice you can spare for a n00b would be appreciated. Also, I'd like to warn you that I will probably think up a bunch more questions if I receive some help.
Thanks in advance!