Now I'm curious what these tank "companies" look like

Just 250-ton things for transport and I'm merging ten of them together to form a tank unit. Probably will add another ten later.

R.I.P. good ol' P-for-pursuit designation

I was seriously thinking of going with the older designations, including Pursuit but decided against it as it would have been anachronistic at that point.

I'm curious about why? Usually I find it's easier to keep a fixed ratio between cargo and colony ships

Ah but these are fighters. So the amount they can carry is quite small in any case and I'm not really using convoys, there's no need for math. Any large movement will take weeks or months anyway so I'm mostly winging it.

R.I.P. lucky number 13.

Space Age America is still superstitious!

---

1960

Soviet surveyors had now found gaseous Sorium in the atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. Neptune had not been surveyed. If this gaseous Sorium could somehow be harvested and refined, the USSR would never run out of fuel for starships. In January, they built another research lab, for a total of 18. Commonwealth had 10 and the United States had 18. In February, the US improved the efficiency of their maintenance facilities to such an extent that their capability reached 62,500 tons without adding any new facilities - though this would not be enough to cover all the new shuttles that the Pentagon wanted to build.

On 15th July, the Joint Space Command officially marks its first spaceborne combat squadrons operationally ready:




Kremlin has monitored the growing American space power with concern - there are, after all, only 30 Krivaks in space and the Americans now have 48 combat shuttles. However, as there currently are no crises between the two superpowers, the Soviets are content to wait until advances in armour, sensors and powerplants allow them to commit to a technological leap ahead. Meanwhile, Washington is struggling with the maintenance issue. There are barely enough facilities to keep everything running smoothly but there is no room for expansion. The situation could be improved if the obsolete shuttles could be dismantled and Pentagon issues requests to industry partners to that effect. Perhaps some sort of salvage craft could be built to safely dismantle the shuttles in orbit?

In August, the Commonwealth first Spaceport is opened. In the same month, Soviet scientists demonstrate High-Density Duranium Armour and the competing design bureaus get to work. Their work results in four competing models based on the older Krivak designs:

Krivak-M2-10B1 class Gunship      240 tons       3 Crew       17.9 BP       TCS 5    TH 18    EM 0
3647 km/s      Armour 1-3       Shields 0-0       HTK 1      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 0-0      PPV 0.98
Maint Life 28.06 Years     MSP 34    AFR 5%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 0    5YR 1    Max Repair 8.8 MSP
Kapitan tret'yego ranga    Control Rating 1   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 days    Morale Check Required   

Glushko RD-107 (1)    Power 17.5    Fuel Use 724.72%    Signature 17.5    Explosion 17%
Fuel Capacity 23,500 Litres    Range 2.4 billion km (7 days at full power)

Yurga MBP 100mm T-10 Gun 1A10 (1)    Range 10,000km     TS: 3,647 km/s     Power 0.75-0.5     RM 10,000 km    ROF 10       
Sapphire Gun Sight N001 (1)     Max Range: 30,000 km   TS: 625 km/s    ECCM-0     10 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
NPO Energomash  PWR-Generator/052 (1)     Total Power Output 0.5    Exp 10%

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and planetary interaction
This design is classed as a Fighter for auto-assignment purposes
Extremely fast but with a weak gun and limited range, the 10B1 version would be suitable for interceptor duty.

Krivak-M2-10B2 class Gunship      260 tons       3 Crew       19 BP       TCS 5    TH 18    EM 0
3366 km/s      Armour 1-3       Shields 0-0       HTK 1      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 0-0      PPV 1.65
Maint Life 14.77 Years     MSP 14    AFR 5%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 0    5YR 2    Max Repair 8.8 MSP
Kapitan tret'yego ranga    Control Rating 1   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 days    Morale Check Required   

Glushko RD-107 (1)    Power 17.5    Fuel Use 724.72%    Signature 17.5    Explosion 17%
Fuel Capacity 1,700 Litres    Range 0.16 billion km (13 hours at full power)

Yurga MBP 100mm T-10 Gun 2A10 (1x2)    Range 10,000km     TS: 3,366 km/s     Power 1.5-1     RM 10,000 km    ROF 10       
Sapphire Gun Sight N001 (1)     Max Range: 30,000 km   TS: 625 km/s    ECCM-0     10 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
NPO Energomash  PWR-Generator/100 (1)     Total Power Output 1    Exp 10%

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and planetary interaction
This design is classed as a Fighter for auto-assignment purposesAlmost as fast but with an extremely limited range, the 10B2 version would only be suitable for combat inside the Cis-Lunar space.

Krivak-M2-10B3 class Gunship      350 tons       4 Crew       25.2 BP       TCS 7    TH 18    EM 0
2500 km/s      Armour 1-4       Shields 0-0       HTK 2      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 0-0      PPV 2.33
Maint Life 17.62 Years     MSP 34    AFR 10%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 0    5YR 3    Max Repair 8.8 MSP
Kapitan tret'yego ranga    Control Rating 1   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 days    Morale Check Required   

Glushko RD-107 (1)    Power 17.5    Fuel Use 724.72%    Signature 17.5    Explosion 17%
Fuel Capacity 37,800 Litres    Range 2.7 billion km (12 days at full power)

Yurga MBP 100mm T-10 Gun 3A10 (1x3)    Range 10,000km     TS: 2,500 km/s     Power 2.25-1.5     RM 10,000 km    ROF 10       
Sapphire Gun Sight N001 (1)     Max Range: 30,000 km   TS: 625 km/s    ECCM-0     10 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
NPO Energomash  PWR-Generator/150 (1)     Total Power Output 1.5    Exp 10%

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and planetary interaction
This design is classed as a Fighter for auto-assignment purposesClearly slower but still impressively fast in comparison to old shuttles, the 10B3 version could at least strike at American craft in the inner system and they would be hard pressed to escape its three guns.

Krivak-M2-10B4 class Gunship      400 tons       5 Crew       28.9 BP       TCS 8    TH 18    EM 0
2187 km/s      Armour 1-4       Shields 0-0       HTK 2      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 0-0      PPV 3
Maint Life 24.04 Years     MSP 104    AFR 13%    IFR 0.2%    1YR 0    5YR 5    Max Repair 8.8 MSP
Kapitan tret'yego ranga    Control Rating 1   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 days    Morale Check Required   

Glushko RD-107 (1)    Power 17.5    Fuel Use 724.72%    Signature 17.5    Explosion 17%
Fuel Capacity 36,700 Litres    Range 2.3 billion km (12 days at full power)

Yurga MBP 100mm T-10 Gun 4A10 (1x4)    Range 10,000km     TS: 2,187 km/s     Power 3-2     RM 10,000 km    ROF 10       
Sapphire Gun Sight N001 (1)     Max Range: 30,000 km   TS: 625 km/s    ECCM-0     10 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
NPO Energomash  PWR-Generator/203 (1)     Total Power Output 2    Exp 10%

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and planetary interaction
This design is classed as a Fighter for auto-assignment purposesFinally, the 10B4 version has the most firepower with its quad cannon and while its range is just as limited and it is somewhat slower, it can maintain a steady rate of fire long enough to outlast even the most grueling combat scenarios. Kremlin decides to take no action yet and urges the design bureaus to refine their designs a bit more.

In November, Earth runs out of Tritanium. USA has been moving mines to Luna but the Soviet colony is far too small to support mines, a fact that Kremlin wants to change as soon as possible. The year ends with the third American wave of Lunar colonization - the first wave hit 5 million inhabitants, second wave reached 10 million and the goal of the third wave is to reach 15 million - half of whom will work in the mining industry and the other half keeping them alive, healthy and happy as only Capitalism can achieve!

I'm hesitant to call it a bug, but it sounds like one, at least. I drop 200,000 colonists on a new colony, but then realize there is a tiny bit of insufficient infrastructure for them (by a factor of 10), so I order to load back 180,000 and... nothing happens, even after 10 days. I move back and forth to another moon, save and restart the game, redo the order, but still nothing happens. My colony ships definitely have transport shuttles.

Any explanation other than a bug?

I also might consider that missile armed fighters under the new missile system can also be "more" effective against enemy fighters. You can possibly engage enemy fighters with laser warhead missiles so they can't use their shorter ranged PD weapons to defend themselves... the lower damage of these missiles is less of an issue against enemy fighters with no real armour to speak of.

I have not tried this yet to be honest so this is only theoretical from my side.

I think you have to add to the above the PD benefits of beam fighters. While missile fighters can be better in the right circumstances on attack, they have no defensive benefit at all, while at least half the overall value of beam fighters is on defence.

Yes... that is true... but the issue are that you can't rely on them for PD as you use them for both offence and defence. If they leave the carrier then the carrier are very vulnerable. From a resource perspective fighters are relatively expensive PD rather than using a turreted gauss. A clever opponent can wait for the fighters to leave the carrier. Having dual purpose laser cannons in turrets means you can use them for both at the same time. Improved PD, attack fighters and enemy ships. There is very little loss in efficiency.

As for missile fighters being useless that depend on how they are designed. My heavy bombers tend to get some additional 5t fire-controls of either resolution 1 or 5 sometimes both. That means they can be used against enemy fighters or missiles in last ditch efforts. So they can be to somewhat dual purpose even if not very effective. I also could potentially use bombers to intercept enemy missile fighters if I'm desperate.

I have used some dedicated beam fighter concepts in my campaigns with multiple factions and they do work if used, especially if the other side have not taken measures to combat them. Like deploying anti-fighter corvettes. One faction had 2500t anti fighter corvettes attached to their escorts with tractor beams. These where just a few thousand km/s slower than the enemy fighters but their long range weapons and heavy armour where formidable. For some reason I like to put tractor beams on larger main combat ships, they double as tugs for damaged ships or they often can bring along stations and other equipment that is needed. Perhaps not super efficient, but can be quite useful as it make the ships more useful outside their designated role.

Another development in most campaigns are anti-fighter fighters/FAC.... like really fast fighters with a miniaturized long range laser cannon or just a long range cannon. These would rush out and attack the fighters with lower ranged weapons. The side with the best engines would often be able to neutralize the other side using beam fighters but not always. It also created a race to who had the best anti-fighter escort for the beam fighters, which was an interesting development too. If I remember correctly these anti-fighter assets just tended to get bigger and bigger... the reasons for this is quite clear. Bigger ships are just better at beam combat.

In my campaigns fighters with beam weapons have mainly always eventually been relegated to interceptor duty, that is intercept enemy scouts, fighters and other lone ships or smaller groups of ships that have little or no defences against fast beam armed fighters or FAC. They also double as PD of course. These interceptors usually are well armoured and big, mostly 500t with a big long range gun and/or really fast, depends on the faction and technology at hand. But they usually are big so they can have some armour. They have to be able to take some hits. In addition to those I also have PD fighters, their role is to protect the bombers carrying missiles from enemy missiles.... these are railgun armed fighters.

So yes I deploy a large numbers of beam fighters in my campaigns too and they can be very effective in the right circumstances.

But when you come down to the nitty gritty, the fact is that the larger the ship the better and more efficient it is at beam fighting. A fighter sized craft completely waste its main purpose of stealth when used as a beam fighter. The smaller the ship the easier they are to neutralize in beam combat.

I don't know if it's a bug, it's certainly a curious thing: one of my GEVs was attacked by an unknown unit, the first broadside was absorbed and damage control repairs the faults... but MSPs grow to 147%?!

Aurora 2.5.1, vanilla, W10, conventional start, real stars