Slow, Cheap, Stealthy

[Gabethebaldandbold (OP)]

Do you have economical problems with your large expensive warships wasting all your fuel to protect civilians?
Are you tired of expending large quantities of any sort of mineral at all?
Are you pissed that the enemy ships seem to find every one of your ships every time they enter the system?
ME NEITHER but I designed these ships anyway! meet the inexpensive, light combat oriented, stealthy af, slow af, and most importantly, cheap af Ghost Team:
First and foremost, our spotter, the Ghost

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Ghost class Surveillance Frigate    7 200 tons     193 Crew     1484.75 BP      TCS 21.6  TH 175  EM 0
3472 km/s     Armour 2-33     Shields 0-0     Sensors 612/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 16     PPV 0
Maint Life 4.17 Years     MSP 1773    AFR 69%    IFR 1%    1YR 163    5YR 2449    Max Repair 612 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Flight Crew Berths 3   
Hangar Deck Capacity 500 tons     

250 EP Magnetic Fusion Drive (2)    Power 250    Fuel Use 4.24%    Signature 87.5    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 200 000 Litres    Range 117.9 billion km   (393 days at full power)

Thermal Sensor TH34-612 (1)     Sensitivity 612     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  612m km
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
and with the active sensors, the ever so cute

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Sightseer MKIII class Fighter-Scout    315 tons     9 Crew     182 BP      TCS 6.3  TH 130  EM 0
20634 km/s     Armour 1-4     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 0 Years     MSP 0    AFR 63%    IFR 0.9%    1YR 8    5YR 126    Max Repair 72 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 1   

65 EP Magnetic Fusion Drive (2)    Power 65    Fuel Use 323.74%    Signature 65    Exp 26%
Fuel Capacity 50 000 Litres    Range 8.8 billion km   (4 days at full power)

Active Search Sensor MR135-R110 (1)     GPS 7920     Range 135.9m km    Resolution 110
Active Search Sensor MR3-R1 (1)     GPS 18     Range 3.2m km    MCR 353k km    Resolution 1

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposesSecond, our "mighty" destroyer, the Specter

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Specter class Destroyer    7 200 tons     208 Crew     1359.15 BP      TCS 21.6  TH 175  EM 0
3472 km/s     Armour 1-33     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 18     PPV 27.3
Maint Life 5.85 Years     MSP 944    AFR 51%    IFR 0.7%    1YR 47    5YR 704    Max Repair 288 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 1   
Magazine 322   

250 EP Magnetic Fusion Drive (2)    Power 250    Fuel Use 4.24%    Signature 87.5    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 200 000 Litres    Range 117.9 billion km   (393 days at full power)

Single 12cm C4 Soft X-ray Laser Turret (1x1)    Range 192 000km     TS: 10000 km/s     Power 4-4     RM 6    ROF 5        4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2 2
Single R1.5/C3 Meson Cannon Turret (1x1)    Range 15 000km     TS: 20000 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 1.5    ROF 5        1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S02 96-10000 (1)    Max Range: 192 000 km   TS: 10000 km/s     95 90 84 79 74 69 64 58 53 48
Magnetic Confinement Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (2)     Total Power Output 8    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Size 6 Missile Launcher (25% Reduction) (12)    Missile Size 6    Rate of Fire 4500
Missile Fire Control FC583-R100 (1)     Range 583.2m km    Resolution 100
ASM - S6 (53)  Speed: 42 500 km/s   End: 127.7m    Range: 325.7m km   WH: 9    Size: 6    TH: 212/127/63

Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
ECCM-2 (1)         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
Third, our fairly decent PD, the Patronum

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Patronum class Destroyer Escort    7 200 tons     183 Crew     1481.35 BP      TCS 21.6  TH 175  EM 0
3472 km/s     Armour 2-33     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 16     PPV 10
Maint Life 3.1 Years     MSP 772    AFR 69%    IFR 1%    1YR 121    5YR 1813    Max Repair 324 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 0   
Magazine 510   

250 EP Magnetic Fusion Drive (2)    Power 250    Fuel Use 4.24%    Signature 87.5    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 200 000 Litres    Range 117.9 billion km   (393 days at full power)

Size 1 Missile Launcher (10)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 5
Missile Fire Control FC58-R1 (1)     Range 58.3m km    Resolution 1
AMM S-1 II (510)  Speed: 60 000 km/s   End: 3.9m    Range: 14.1m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 560/336/168

Active Search Sensor MR58-R1 (1)     GPS 324     Range 58.3m km    MCR 6.4m km    Resolution 1
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal

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
And fourth, our collier and jump tender, the Aparition

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Aparition class Ammunition Transport    7 200 tons     156 Crew     1010.75 BP      TCS 21.6  TH 175  EM 0
3472 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1-33     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 15     PPV 0
Maint Life 2.99 Years     MSP 439    AFR 82%    IFR 1.2%    1YR 74    5YR 1105    Max Repair 288 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 1   
Magazine 750   

J7200(3-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 7200 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
250 EP Magnetic Fusion Drive (2)    Power 250    Fuel Use 4.24%    Signature 87.5    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 200 000 Litres    Range 117.9 billion km   (393 days at full power)

AMM S-1 II (198)  Speed: 60 000 km/s   End: 3.9m    Range: 14.1m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 560/336/168
ASM - S6 (92)  Speed: 42 500 km/s   End: 127.7m    Range: 325.7m km   WH: 9    Size: 6    TH: 212/127/63

Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
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
The team is usually comprised of 2xPatronum 3xSpecter 1xAparition and 1xGhost
and for the cheap cheap price of:
1560XDuranium
150XNeutronium
2060XCorbomite
1533XGalicite
18XSorium
2280XUridium
60XVendarite
90XCorundium
222XBoronide
465XMercassium
978XTritanium
and with our friendship powered engines we achieve ALMOST 0 OPERATIONAL COSTS
Ghost Team, soon patroling a technicaly important sistem near YOU!

[Michael Sandy]

It is a nice fleet concept.  I would split the active sensors on the fighters, have one with res 1 and another with the res 110.  The reason is that you generally want the res 1 sensor ALWAYS on, but you only have the option of switching all actives on or all actives off per ship.  So splitting them means you can switch off the noisy res 110 sensor if you want your scout to be able to disengage.

I am a big fan of scouts.  All my fleets have a carrier element that carries some sacrificial scouts that can be used to determine enemy weapon range, or assess whether they have indeed shot all their missiles.

I am not a fan of slow beam ships.  Slow stealthy carriers that carry boosted engine beam ships, yes, but not slow beam ships.  Magnetic Fusion is about when cloaking tech starts being a practical option.  It isn't worth it until you can get a warship with a cross-section significantly lower than enemy anti-ship sensors.  In my opinion, cloaking becomes viable when you can build a warship with a cross-section equal to a 1000 ton ship.  It may or may not need reduced thermal engines, it gets its edge from being able to pack ECCM, ECM and a LARGE missile fire control, allowing it to outrange its enemies.

Unfortunately, you are very heavily invested in penetrating enemy missile defenses, and if they have a crap ton of AMMs that can be uneconomical.

[Gabethebaldandbold (OP)]

you dont nescessarily need the R1 sensor, in fact the only reason I still have it on this ship is because its going to serve as sensors for my beam fighters too (I know horrible idea, but its very fun and a bit less micro than missile fighter/bombers). its not like it can do anything about threats that close to it anyway. the idea is to capture the enemy thermal radiation, sneak into range (or run away if the enemy fleet looks a bit too scary) and only pop sensors on when ready to fire missiles (the beams are just a little backup in case them pesky spoilers manage to spot us). If the enemy already has the sensors to smell us from more than 300 mK away, there is a fair chance they might escape, or destroy this patrol fleet, but thats why we have proper combat fleets. not that spoting them is a particularly easy job, that is.

[Gabethebaldandbold (OP)]

Unfortunately, you are very heavily invested in penetrating enemy missile defenses, and if they have a crap ton of AMMs that can be uneconomical.

Hasn't been a problem yet, but thats what fancy armoured missiles are for, and I intend to design some soon...
But even so, after I "accidentaly" nuked all #### theocratic xenos into a more pacific way of living, most of the harassment to my civilian shiping is coming from stray invader ships, some of which aren't even military in design, so I just need more presence in my neighbouring systems to take care of ammounts to very angry jump gate builders. I do intend to use these ships against precusors though, not that they are famous for their point defense.