Those fighters are definitely meant to be just close range support of the fleet, taking care of missiles and small enemy craft that close within range.   My main offense will be a mix of beam cruisers and missile frigates, and I'm throwing around the idea of some small and fast fighters armed with microwaves and/or mesons to disable enemy systems on larger ships.

As for the cruisers, I've revisited my Cruiser design (again) and changed my plans for it (again) to be my basic medium-range offensive support.

Ironsides class Cruiser    22,950 tons     607 Crew     4139. 2 BP      TCS 459  TH 2800  EM 0
6100 km/s     Armour 10-71     Shields 0-0     Sensors 16/10/0/0     Damage Control Rating 11     PPV 74
Maint Life 2. 06 Years     MSP 1240    AFR 383%    IFR 5. 3%    1YR 390    5YR 5852    Max Repair 200 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months    Spare Berths 1   

Sauter Aeronautical 400 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (7)    Power 400    Fuel Use 69. 88%    Signature 400    Exp 12%
Fuel Capacity 3,000,000 Litres    Range 33. 7 billion km   (63 days at full power)

Polosky Ordnance 15cm C2 Near Ultraviolet Laser (    Range 180,000km     TS: 6100 km/s     Power 6-2     RM 3    ROF 15        6 6 6 4 3 3 2 2 2 1
Kapoi & Medley 10cm Railgun V3/C2 (10x4)    Range 30,000km     TS: 6100 km/s     Power 3-2     RM 3    ROF 10        1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Waybright-Skates 15cm Railgun V3/C2 (2x4)    Range 90,000km     TS: 6100 km/s     Power 9-2     RM 3    ROF 25        3 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 0
Bull-Fowler Fire Control S02 48-6000 H50 (1)    Max Range: 96,000 km   TS: 6000 km/s     90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
Yu Techsystems Fire Control S04 96-6000 H70 (2)    Max Range: 192,000 km   TS: 6000 km/s     95 90 84 79 74 69 64 58 53 48
Kulju & Hoag Point Defense Fire Control S03 48-9000 H70 (5)    Max Range: 96,000 km   TS: 9000 km/s     90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
Chien-Xia 39. 6 Stellarator Reactor (1)     Total Power Output 39. 6    Armour 0    Exp 10%

Hall Electronics Active Search Sensor MR51-R100 (70%) (1)     GPS 6400     Range 51. 2m km    Resolution 100
Hall Electronics Missile Detection System (1)     GPS 48     Range 3. 8m km    MCR 418k km    Resolution 1
Hall Electronics Small Craft Sensor (1)     GPS 960     Range 17. 2m km    Resolution 20
Lu-Chang Thermal Sensor TH2-16 (1)     Sensitivity 16     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  16m km
Borns Techsystems EM Detection Sensor EM2-10 (1)     Sensitivity 10     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  10m km

ECM 10

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

Salvaging some ancient alien wrecks gave me a huge boost to ECM research, so decided to slap that on to the design.   It may be a tad bit slow, so I'm considering making a new and smaller design that accompanies these cruisers with faster FC and either smaller or completely removed active sensors.

...

_{(Using the hell out of SM mode to create racial techs, and now my list of obsolete techs is utterly massive)}

FYI, you can use SM mode to delete racial tech if you don't like the clutter of unused tech.

This can be done in research tab of population and production window by first selecting the "Completed (ex start)" radio button on the bottom in the middle of the window so that the past researched techs are shown and then select the racial tech that you want to delete and pressing the remove button.


Of course be careful that the tech isn't in use in a design otherwise weird things could potentially happen.

Fair point on the speed, decided to adjust it a little.   And given that this fleet will be PD-heavy, went ahead with the idea to swap my PD railguns out with some sizable replacements for little HS change (plus the overall speed and range of the guns seems to work well with one of my older fire control systems)

The crew berths is something I am constantly failing to remember to check, thanks for mentioning it!

I do certainly plan on including a tanker or two with the fleet (and completely planning on including one to perform TF training), though I see no harm in increasing the fuel a tad as it barely impacts HS in comparison with other systems.

Passives are more of a backup in the event my smaller sensor-focused ships (that have yet to be designed) get taken out, and with my tech being so low I'm going to go ahead and add more engineering spaces instead.

Here's V2:

New York class Carrier    46,950 tons     1015 Crew     7077. 2 BP      TCS 939  TH 5600  EM 2400
5963 km/s     Armour 6-115     Shields 80-400     Sensors 16/10/0/0     Damage Control Rating 55     PPV 54
Maint Life 2. 6 Years     MSP 4298    AFR 503%    IFR 7%    1YR 895    5YR 13422    Max Repair 400 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months    Flight Crew Berths 163   
Flag Bridge    Hangar Deck Capacity 10000 tons     

Gielen Aerospace 800 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (7)    Power 800    Fuel Use 25%    Signature 800    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 2,350,000 Litres    Range 36. 0 billion km   (69 days at full power)
Dayan-Zuelke Gamma R400/240 Shields (40)   Total Fuel Cost  400 Litres per hour  (9,600 per day)

Waybright-Skates 15cm Railgun V3/C2 (9x4)    Range 90,000km     TS: 5963 km/s     Power 9-2     RM 3    ROF 25        3 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 0
Yu Techsystems Fire Control S04 96-6000 H70 (3)    Max Range: 192,000 km   TS: 6000 km/s     95 90 84 79 74 69 64 58 53 48
Tickle-Schnoke 6. 3 Power Reactor (5)     Total Power Output 31. 5    Armour 0    Exp 7%

Hall Electronics Small Craft Sensor (1)     GPS 960     Range 17. 2m km    Resolution 20
Hall Electronics Active Search Sensor MR51-R100 (70%) (1)     GPS 6400     Range 51. 2m km    Resolution 100
Hall Electronics Missile Detection System (1)     GPS 48     Range 3. 8m km    MCR 418k km    Resolution 1
Lu-Chang Thermal Sensor TH2-16 (1)     Sensitivity 16     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  16m km
Borns Techsystems EM Detection Sensor EM2-10 (1)     Sensitivity 10     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  10m km

Strike Group
20x Yugoslavia Strikefighter   Speed: 13417 km/s    Size: 9. 54
1x Greece Scout Fighter   Speed: 13129 km/s    Size: 9. 14

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

And the Greece class scout fighter:

Greece class Scout Fighter    457 tons     2 Crew     126. 4 BP      TCS 9. 14  TH 120  EM 0
13129 km/s     Armour 3-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 0 Years     MSP 0    AFR 91%    IFR 1. 3%    1YR 40    5YR 603    Max Repair 60 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0. 1 months    Spare Berths 2   

Shi-Wei 120 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (1)    Power 120    Fuel Use 130. 9%    Signature 120    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres    Range 1. 5 billion km   (31 hours at full power)

Deng Systems SF Greece Active Sensor (1)     GPS 32     Range 2. 6m km    MCR 279k km    Resolution 1

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

(armor is just to give it some defensive capability, though I could easily reduce it and fit another scout fighter on board)

_{(Using the hell out of SM mode to create racial techs, and now my list of obsolete techs is utterly massive)}

So what I'm getting from all of this on shields is that larger ships and ships receiving less rapid damage is a far more effective use of them than smaller ships and ships that are in the front?

I think I'm starting to understand what all of you mean about the railguns, I assume my personal problem was thinking that tracking speed made a hard limit on how fast an object the weapon can effectively fire at (IE a tracking speed of 3000km/s would be incapable of firing at an 8000km/s missile), but what it seems like is that is an inaccurate method of thinking?  In that case, I've got some more work cut out to create an effective cruiser.

Oh, and the fire control tracking speed is a goof on my part, that was an older and obsolete fire control that I accidentally used in place of a 9000km/s fire control (which would take advantage of all the other systems).   Though seeing as both of those 9000km/s turrets are a bit of a nuisance themselves, I'll have to completely redesign that system.

In other events, I've put off the cruiser debacle to try and create the flagship of my early fleets, hopefully there's less critique to be had with it (though I certainly welcome any advice!)

New York class Carrier    36,450 tons     746 Crew     5451. 6 BP      TCS 729  TH 3200  EM 600
4389 km/s     Armour 10-97     Shields 20-400     Sensors 16/10/0/0     Damage Control Rating 45     PPV 45
Maint Life 2. 37 Years     MSP 3337    AFR 425%    IFR 5. 9%    1YR 814    5YR 12207    Max Repair 400 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months    Flight Crew Berths 22   
Flag Bridge    Hangar Deck Capacity 10000 tons     

Gielen Aerospace 800 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (4)    Power 800    Fuel Use 25%    Signature 800    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,350,000 Litres    Range 26. 7 billion km   (70 days at full power)
Dayan-Zuelke Gamma R400/240 Shields (10)   Total Fuel Cost  100 Litres per hour  (2,400 per day)

Kapoi & Medley 10cm Railgun V3/C2 (15x4)    Range 30,000km     TS: 4389 km/s     Power 3-2     RM 3    ROF 10        1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kulju & Hoag Point Defense Fire Control S03 48-9000 H70 (3)    Max Range: 96,000 km   TS: 9000 km/s     90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
Tickle-Schnoke 6. 3 Power Reactor (5)     Total Power Output 31. 5    Armour 0    Exp 7%

Hall Electronics Small Craft Sensor (1)     GPS 960     Range 17. 2m km    Resolution 20
Hall Electronics Active Search Sensor MR51-R100 (70%) (1)     GPS 6400     Range 51. 2m km    Resolution 100
Hall Electronics Missile Detection System (1)     GPS 48     Range 3. 8m km    MCR 418k km    Resolution 1
Lu-Chang Thermal Sensor TH2-16 (1)     Sensitivity 16     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  16m km
Borns Techsystems EM Detection Sensor EM2-10 (1)     Sensitivity 10     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  10m km

Strike Group
21x Yugoslavia Strikefighter   Speed: 13417 km/s    Size: 9. 54

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

And the fighter attached:

Yugoslavia class Strikefighter    477 tons     4 Crew     106 BP      TCS 9. 54  TH 128  EM 0
13417 km/s     Armour 1-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 3
Maint Life 0 Years     MSP 0    AFR 95%    IFR 1. 3%    1YR 23    5YR 338    Max Repair 64 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0. 1 months    Spare Berths 0   

Yu-Luo 128 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (1)    Power 128    Fuel Use 271. 53%    Signature 128    Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres    Range 0. 7 billion km   (14 hours at full power)

Kapoi & Medley 10cm Railgun V3/C2 (1x4)    Range 24,000km     TS: 13417 km/s     Power 3-2     RM 3    ROF 10        1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Thibaudeau-Ruppert Fighter Beam Control (1)    Max Range: 24,000 km   TS: 12000 km/s     58 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Wei Engineering 2. 4 Power Reactor (1)     Total Power Output 2. 4    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Xiao & Wú FTR Sensor (1)     GPS 2     Range 120k km    MCR 13k km    Resolution 1

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

I know the engine power/ship size ratio on the carrier is a tad low, but given that the sole purpose of the ship is to command the fleet and stay clear away from the fighting, I don't assume it needs to be much faster (I could be horribly, horribly wrong on that though).   Also, my active sensors might be a little low (or maybe they're not?), but since my whole fleet setup is to operate in close proximity to PDC/Orbital habitat systems as a defense force I am attempting to make the force more of a reactionary system to close in to already discovered enemies from my massive planetary sensors and engage before they can close on inhabited systems.

The Yugoslavia fighter is my second fighter (I've got a Kiev that's basically just an experiment in box launchers and added PPV for some of my PDC's) and certainly isn't great (fire control speed and fighter speed was a constant issue of mine, and still isn't really where I'd want it) but hopefully it'll serve some basic point defence/small craft deterrence purpose.

In that case though, what does that mean for my shields?  It seems in this instance that it would mean I have 1600 shields, but that seems ridiculously high and as you say my shields are really too low to serve a purpose.

Shields are displayed as maximum strength - time to charge to full strength in seconds. Your current design would have a maximum defense of 4 points of damage every 400 seconds. Shields on smaller ships are pretty much useless until end levels tech, but they are magnificent on larger designs.

Guess I could drop the laser turrets and slap some more shields on it since the ship is basically designed to be support?  The 15cm laser is a spinal laser, so only one can go on the ship.

My stance is the opposite. I like redundancy and multi-purpose designs.

As for my Gauss cannons, I can see and understand how the railgun at similar tracking speeds would be superior with my current tech, but wouldn't I need to turret it to get a decent tracking speed against enemy missiles?  My new ship with better engines (as it stands) only operates at ~4000 kms, don't missiles tend to range much higher than that?

You can't turret railguns in the game at the moment. Steve, if I remember correctly, was on the fence about it. On one hand, all weapons should be turret-able for various reasons. The other, some of the weapons would make others obsolete if they were all able to be turreted. The line of thought was that there isn't much bonus to gauss rof 2 turrets tracking at 9,000km/s than there is to railguns that could track at ~3,500km/s.

My thoughts on the new design;
It seems a bit slow. Your engines should be between 30% and 40% of the mass of the ship, not 15%. 20 to 25% at the very least for specialized ships. Also, you should have matched your FC and turrets better. You should have restricted the laser turret to 6,000km/s, because it seems a lot of tonnage is wasted in turret gear for that single turret to be 23HS itself. Deployment time should be between 1 year and 18 months for military ships as I find you rarely surpass that when on campaign. Also, your fuel levels seem quite low as ships should be reaching 12b km as a very minimum, with 20+ as ideal.

Reduce deploy time. It should basically never be longer than maintenance life. 

2 units of shields isn't worth the effort of turning them on. Think of it this way: you've got 160 points of armor, and only 4 points of shielding.  If you really want shields,

The two laser weapons are somewhat redundant. Suggest picking one or the other; either just removing teh 15cm laser or removing the 12cm turret+replace it with some 15cms.

Your Gauss Cannon fire rate tech doesn't really seem high enough to be useful.   For >4 HS space per turret you get 2 shots with a .  33 hit chance modifier (= .  66 hits average) tracking at ~ double the speed of your ship.   One baseline railgun would take <4 HS including the reactor would give 4 shots using the ship's speed as tracking speed (=2 hits average at the same tracking speed as your gauss turret) and as bonus it would be ok with a slower fire control. 

If there's a range difference between the weapons then it'll give you problems unless you fire at a range they can all hit at. 

But then you can just unassign those weapons which won't reach the target.   That is not much more clicking work than assigning a target to an additional fire control. 

The autofire option has problems with multiple weapon types on a single ship though and would only use the one type it thinks is best.  But since using autofire isn't of much use anyway I wouldn't care about that.

You do not need 1 FC per type of weapon. I regularly tie multiple different energy weapons to the same FC . You need 1 FC per target you may wish to engage, you may also want

Are you sure? I've tried that before and the design was completely broken (didn't want to fire all of its weapons and other strange occurrences). Especially when I tried to mix HPMs, particle beams, and plasma to the same one. Ever since I made sure to never share a fire control with 2 different types of weapons.