In essence I would like to point out (as I did in that post with the test) that both fleets were suboptimal by design and that I intentionally avoided gauss cannon spam.
It is more than doable to counter missile fire-controls with gauss pd fire-controls they are roughly equal in cost but the gauss cannon are practically free in comparison with all the missiles that you need to produce to support the missile weapon system.
In a normal fleet I usually attach frigate escorts based on my intel on the enemy and what type of ordnance I know that they use. If I'm unsure I go with one AMM frigate, one laser frigate and one gauss frigate. There might sometimes be a few more beam armed frigates for every AMM. Gauss frigattes are between 4500-4800tons and have two 67% quad turrets each with a fire-control. They are specifically designed to combat fighter launched salvoes.
Even trying to compare is rather futile because any fleet composition anyone make here can be countered somehow. My balanced fleet composition can probably be beaten by any other composition but not easily by anyone in equal size at least. By providing a large compliment of beam PD I make sure that I free up my industry and naval yards for producing more ships or infrastructure instead of expensive missiles. When beams fire their ammunition is free. They are also complimented by AMM that can be used if I feel there is a need for them. It is possible to target AMM by hand. That way I can destroy entire salvoes instead of saturating every salvo with a few missiles. I just need to make sure I have a high fleet training level on my ships.
You must agree that in the engagement between the Freedom and Iron Fist fleet the Freedom fleet came out on top in terms of industrial capacity in replacing their respective losses after the engagement?
Below are some comparison in cost of different systems using approximately the same technology levels.
70mm Phalanx PD System (67% miniaturized quad turret), size 20.61, Cost 119
Point-defence Fire-control, size 4, cost 77
This turret will on average shoot down about 4-5 equal technology fast missiles per turn.
Total space: 25 HS, 1250 tons
Total cost: 196 BP3 size 4 missile launchers, size 12, cost 84
Missile Fire-control, size 3, cost 63
Magazine space for 21 salvoes missiles, size 15, cost 90
63 size 4 missiles, cost about 220
Total space: 30 HS, 1500 tons
Total cost: 457 BPSo, in general it is very hard to out perform a PD turret in terms of both combat and industrial efficiency when you use full size launchers. In my opinion this is a good thing because it is generally easier to attack then defend so defence should in general be slightly cheaper in comparison.
The above turret is the most common point defence system on my ships in general. My laser PD frigate only has one fire control but their role is engaging larger salvoes of heavy missiles. They generally come in waves of 10-20 in each salvo so one fire control is more than enough in one battery with two quad turrets.
All in all I feel that there are no direct point in saying you can't counter full sized launchers. Its only when you go below size four you will have a chance to beat them in combat efficiency but not in industrial efficiency. Size two beat them without question. But in my games I don't use ASM with size less than four anyway.
My suggestion could be to increase the number of launchers to five per fire control and include two armoured dud or yield 1-2 missiles and three high yield missiles. That would certainly make my defence much more dicier if countered with a great number of gauss PD systems. There would be allot more leaks from every salvo.
Weasel missiles help with AMM saturations as well. Lets say that your first three salvoes have three weasels and two regular missiles. The next three has three regular and two weasels while the next three are only regular. You then start with weasels again of you have to to make sure your regular missile hits home. Weasel missiles are also incredibly cheap to produce.
Something like this could work perhaps...
Missile Size: 4 MSP (0.2 HS) Warhead: 6 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 40000 km/s Engine Endurance: 61 minutes Range: 146.0m km
Cost Per Missile: 3.5
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 400% 3k km/s 130% 5k km/s 80% 10k km/s 40%
Materials Required: 1.5x Tritanium 2x Gallicite Fuel x1250Missile Size: 4 MSP (0.2 HS) Warhead: 0 Armour: 1 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 40000 km/s Engine Endurance: 61 minutes Range: 146.0m km
Cost Per Missile: 2.25
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 400% 3k km/s 130% 5k km/s 80% 10k km/s 40%
Materials Required: 0.25x Tritanium 2x Gallicite Fuel x1250When this method is used relying on AMM alone will be a very expensive proposition indeed. You will probably be force to start using a serious part of your PD duty to beam weapons.
And... lets not argue this as if it was a competition... (my fleet is bigger and tougher than yours) neither will win.
