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VB6 Aurora > Bureau of Ship Design
Beam Cruisers
Felius:
So, in my current game finally decided to go for heavier usage of beam weapons, and got this pair of designs for my basic fleet block:
The Jump Tender
--- Code: ---Amazon Mk3 class Jump Cruiser 18 000 tons 508 Crew 4876.7 BP TCS 360 TH 2400 EM 2700
6666 km/s JR 6-50 Armour 9-61 Shields 90-300 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 10 PPV 106.5
Maint Life 1.61 Years MSP 1693 AFR 259% IFR 3.6% 1YR 761 5YR 11416 Max Repair 1200 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Spare Berths 0
Cryogenic Berths 1000
Jarvis Aeronautical J18000(6-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 18000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 6
Brooks & Heath Research Inc 2400 EP Inertial Fusion Drive (1) Power 2400 Fuel Use 41.34% Signature 2400 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 3 000 000 Litres Range 72.6 billion km (125 days at full power)
D'Aoust-Villon Omicron R300/432 Shields (15) Total Fuel Cost 270 Litres per hour (6 480 per day)
Quad Bellemare-Astruc R21/C6 Meson Cannon Turret (2x4) Range 210 000km TS: 32000 km/s Power 24-24 RM 21 ROF 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Quad Carrier -Balzac Gauss Cannon R5-100 Turret (2x20) Range 50 000km TS: 32000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 5 ROF 5 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
van Dijck Ordnance CIWS-320 (1x10) Range 1000 km TS: 32000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Fouqué-Silvestre Electronics Fire Control S01 30-32000 (2) Max Range: 60 000 km TS: 32000 km/s 83 67 50 33 17 0 0 0 0 0
Cardigan -Goodge Fire Control S03 120-24000 (1) Max Range: 240 000 km TS: 24000 km/s 96 92 88 83 79 75 71 67 62 58
Boyer-Rivard Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (2) Total Power Output 48 Armour 0 Exp 5%
de Witt & van Dijk Active Search Sensor MR11-R1 (1) GPS 48 Range 11.5m km MCR 1.3m km Resolution 1
Compact ECCM-4 (3) ECM 50
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
--- End code ---
And the actual cruiser:
--- Code: ---Illustrious Mk3 class Cruiser 18 000 tons 548 Crew 7041.8 BP TCS 360 TH 2400 EM 2160
6666 km/s Armour 8-61 Shields 72-300 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 10 PPV 142.89
Maint Life 1.61 Years MSP 2445 AFR 259% IFR 3.6% 1YR 1103 5YR 16543 Max Repair 1200 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Spare Berths 0
Cryogenic Berths 400
Brooks & Heath Research Inc 2400 EP Inertial Fusion Drive (1) Power 2400 Fuel Use 41.34% Signature 2400 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 3 000 000 Litres Range 72.6 billion km (125 days at full power)
D'Aoust-Villon Omicron R300/432 Shields (12) Total Fuel Cost 216 Litres per hour (5 184 per day)
Cameron & Franklin 75cm C10 Far X-Ray Laser (1) Range 480 000km TS: 8000 km/s Power 147-10 RM 8 ROF 75 147 147 147 147 147 147 147 147 130 117
Cameron & Franklin 35cm C8 Far X-Ray Laser (3) Range 480 000km TS: 8000 km/s Power 32-8 RM 8 ROF 20 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 28 25
Quad Bellemare-Astruc R21/C6 Meson Cannon Turret (1x4) Range 210 000km TS: 32000 km/s Power 24-24 RM 21 ROF 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Quad Carrier -Balzac Gauss Cannon R5-100 Turret (2x20) Range 50 000km TS: 32000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 5 ROF 5 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
van Dijck Ordnance CIWS-320 (1x10) Range 1000 km TS: 32000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Bonnaire-Delorit Fire Control S02 240-8000 (1) Max Range: 480 000 km TS: 8000 km/s 98 96 94 92 90 88 85 83 81 79
Cardigan -Goodge Fire Control S03 120-24000 (1) Max Range: 240 000 km TS: 24000 km/s 96 92 88 83 79 75 71 67 62 58
Fouqué-Silvestre Electronics Fire Control S01 30-32000 (2) Max Range: 60 000 km TS: 32000 km/s 83 67 50 33 17 0 0 0 0 0
Levengood Marine Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (1) Total Power Output 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
de Witt & van Dijk Active Search Sensor MR57-R1 (1) GPS 240 Range 57.6m km MCR 6.3m km Resolution 1
ECCM-5 (1) Compact ECCM-4 (1) Small Craft ECCM-2 (2) ECM 50
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
--- End code ---
The idea is to have them operating in Task Groups of 6, one tender and 5 cruisers, that could be combined if needs be. I've only faced Precursors with them so far, and my experience with them is that, aside from some annoyance to actually close in to the target (lots and lots of small time increments while the enemy launch and while the PD deals with the missiles), they are much more effective than I'd have expected before.
For the specific of the ships:
Two quad gauss cannon turrent each firing 20 shots and controlled by a different fire control, for both the tender and the cruisers, meaning 40 final defense PD shots per ship, 240 per fleet, with a capability to fire up against 12 different Salvos.
One quad meson turret for each cruiser, and two for the tender, giving some area PD capability, better ability to handle armored missiles and some medium range damage capability specially against heavily hardened targets, as well as giving good capabilities to handle fighters and other faster ships.
And finally, for the main damage dealer, one 70cm spinal laser and 3 35cm lasers, giving a more than decent damage output at any range where I can conceivably *hit* the enemy ship, with a rather large alpha damage capability, but a ROF slower than I'd normally prefer.
For purely defensive aspects, all of the ships are decently armored and have enough shields that to minimize armor damage against other beam enemies that manage to close in and/or against AMM spam that might manage to get through the PD. And every ship has some CIWS, for the missile I don't see (launched too close for example) and for a little bit of of jump assault hardening. It's hardly a dedicated gate assault ship, but it's shouldn't be completely useless against more lightly defended jump points.
Main vulnerabilities I feel it has so far are against fast enough meson ships in enough numbers, since each ship is rather expensive, but that's a rather big vulnerability of any large beam ship. Theoretically enough missiles should also be able to hit it, but we are talking about "macross have nothing on me" levels of missile spam here. And even then, frakking huge amounts of missile spam could also be handled by fusing multiple TGs together, increasing their already rather large missile capability. Alternatively, ultra close range missiles might be able to bypass most PD capability of the ships, only having to handle the CIWS before going for shield and armor, but that would mean massed lighter ships being used in a rather expendable manner to actually pull off. And of course, there's always the possibility of enemy ships that simply outclass and/or outweigh mine, even for cheaper. A dedicated beam ship that lacks the extensive PD capabilities mine have for example, might be able to be better armored/shielded while being faster than mine while still having similar damage capabilities against other capital ships.
Personally, if I had to face this, my first guess would likely be massed meson fighters, the cheapest I manage to design. They will die in droves to the meson canons, but enough should get close enough to damage the ship. Alternatively, massed ultra close cheap bombers could work, lacking the (more expensive than I'm comfortable for an expendable ship) beam fire control. The missile fire control in question could be the worst possible one, since they'd be expected to launch the missiles at point blank range. Still rather expensive, even if only because of the engine requirements, but might be able to work. And if that didn't work, the idea of a anti-capital ship ironclad might work. With how armor depth works, enough layers of it should make the ship capable of handling an equal exchange of fire for much longer, and so long it's fast enough to keep out of meson range, only internal damage would be due to whatever impact manages to shake the ship by impacting armor.
So, thoughts?
Erik L:
I'd double up on the fire controls to provide some shielding against combat damage and to engage more than one target per ship.
I'd probably add another power plant or so, again for combat damage. And another sensor.
Anything you have only 1 of that is a mission-critical item, is a point of failure. :)
Felius:
--- Quote from: Erik Luken on July 16, 2018, 10:50:09 AM ---I'd double up on the fire controls to provide some shielding against combat damage and to engage more than one target per ship.
I'd probably add another power plant or so, again for combat damage. And another sensor.
Anything you have only 1 of that is a mission-critical item, is a point of failure. :)
--- End quote ---
Doubling power plants is probably a good idea, but the beams fire controls are rather a bit too expensive already, doubling them is not really an easy choice.
Erik L:
--- Quote from: Felius on July 16, 2018, 10:55:57 AM ---
--- Quote from: Erik Luken on July 16, 2018, 10:50:09 AM ---I'd double up on the fire controls to provide some shielding against combat damage and to engage more than one target per ship.
I'd probably add another power plant or so, again for combat damage. And another sensor.
Anything you have only 1 of that is a mission-critical item, is a point of failure. :)
--- End quote ---
Doubling power plants is probably a good idea, but the beams fire controls are rather a bit too expensive already, doubling them is not really an easy choice.
--- End quote ---
But if you lose the FC, you are sitting on 18k tons of target. :)
misanthropope:
fighters are the most dangerous form of attack the AI employs, and you seem uniquely vulnerable, since you engage so few salvos.
6666 kkps isnt fast for the tech level. there are magneto-plasma fleets to be found on this site where your plan would have to be "absorb every missile in his entire empire and then hope his yards are in the contact system".
extravagant uridium and gallicite costs, and a fast ugly slide from state-of-the-art to total obsolescence are AFAIK unavoidable problems with beam fleet concepts in aurora. i know of no build trick that helps much; on the strategic side your main advantage is maximizing your odds of fuel-cost-only victories, so you play to that by expanding in a fashion that lets you bring 100% of your fleet to the attack at the instant of first contact. its all i got, sorry.
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