Basic Scout Ship

[Waffles (OP)]

So I'm trying to make a small scout ship that will still have some sort of defence.  HEre's what I ahve currently slapped together.  I haven't locked the design yet.

Scoot class Scout    2,750 tons     157 Crew     606. 5 BP      TCS 55  TH 250  EM 30
4545 km/s    JR 1-50     Armour 1-17     Shields 1-300     Sensors 48/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
Annual Failure Rate: 60%    IFR: 0. 8%    Maint Capacity 138 MSP    Max Repair 288 MSP    Est Time: 0. 79 Years

J600 Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 6000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 1
Internal Confinement Fusion Drive E0. 6 (1)    Power 250    Fuel Use 6%    Signature 250    Armour 0    Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres    Range 109. 1 billion km   (277 days at full power)
Alpha R300/10 Shields (1)   Total Fuel Cost  10 Litres per day

Fire Control S04 240-8000 (1)    Max Range: 480,000 km   TS: 8000 km/s     98 96 94 92 90 88 85 83 81 79
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor (2)     Total Power Output 24    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Small AF Tracking System (1)     Range 34. 6m km    Resolution 4

Active Search Sensor MR5-R80 (1)     GPS 960     Range 5. 4m km    Resolution 80
Thermal Sensor TH2-48 (1)     Sensitivity 48     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  48m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

Here's basically the ralgun I will be attaching to it.

Damage Per Shot (4): 7     Rate of Fire: 55 seconds     Range Modifier: 4
Max Range 280,000 km     Railgun Size: 9 HS    Railgun HTK: 4
Power Requirement: 21    Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 2
Cost: 36    Crew: 90
Materials Required: 7. 2x Duranium  7. 2x Boronide  21. 6x Neutronium

Development Cost for Project: 1500RP

Any advice for what type of fire control I should use and any suggestions for adding parts/removing useless parts?

[welchbloke]

Are you planning on making the scout 6 000tonnes?  if not there is wasted mass in the jump drive.  I can't see why you have 2 search sensors, the longer ranged of which can see smaller objects?

[Waffles (OP)]

Ah yes, that would from when I thought it would be nice to have five railguns on it.

[UnLimiTeD]

Yeah, you need only sensor, and you have a too big jump drive.
Also, at your current tech level, throw away the shields, it's literally worthless.
Get an additional point of armor if you can, but not a single point of shield.
Currently, your ship will last on average 9 months before some irreparable maintenance Issue, as seen by "Est Time: 0. 79 Years".
I'd recommend getting at least two more engineering spaces.
Also helps with eventual combat repairs.
I have to admit your engines are really fuel-efficient, not really fitting the low shield technology.

[Hawkeye]

This seems to be a pretty big railgun for a small scout 25 or 30cm?
Because of this, and your pretty basic capacitor tech (level 2 as it seems), the rate of fire sucks.
Personally, I would go for a 10 or 12cm one with a much better ROF. Sure, you loose range and damage per hit, but a gun that doesn´t shoot for ages after the first shot doesn´t deal a lot of damage either

[Waffles (OP)]

Hmm, I see.  But yeah, I'm gonna make a smaller jump engine at some point but I would consider that the finishing touch.

[Deutschbag]

For a scout, I'd want to seriously increase the maintenance capacity and engineering spaces. You want scouts to be able to operate for years on end between overhauls, as well as having large fuel capacities to support these long-term independent missions. So! Increase fuel capacity, engineering spaces, and maintenance storages. Drop the shields. Get a smaller jump drive. And maybe replace the commercial engine with a military one?

[Waffles (OP)]

Yeah, I've been thinking of replacing the engine for a military one, but the commercial one is so much more powerful, a bit big, but more powerful nonetheless.

[Deutschbag]

But for the space of one commercial engine you can put on 5 military, the combined output of which would be greater than the commercial. More fuel-eating, true, but you look like you've plenty of space for more fuel.

[Brian Neumann]

You can actually make a decent scout that is a commercial design.  1 space sensors are considered commercial, military jump engines are actually commercial systems currently.  Put this together with a commercial engine and you get a fairly cheap ship that does not need engineering supplies to stay out for a long time.  The drawbacks are that the sensors are going to be somewhat short ranged, and no offensive weapons/shields.  You can however mount a ciws system for missile defense and make the armor as thick as you want.

Here is a sample design.

Code: [Select]

Agincourt class Scout/Courier    3,000 tons     150 Crew     390.8 BP      TCS 60  TH 200  EM 0
3333 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 10-18     Shields 0-0     Sensors 8/11/0/0     Damage Control Rating 2     PPV 0
Maint Capacity 212 MSP    Max Repair 50 MSP

J3000(3-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 3000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Magneto-plasma Drive E0.6 (1)    Power 200    Fuel Use 6%    Signature 200    Armour 0    Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 80,000 Litres    Range 799.9 billion km   (2777 days at full power)

Active Search Sensor MR23-R100 (1)     GPS 2100     Range 23.1m km    Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH1-8 (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  8m km
EM Detection Sensor EM1-11 (1)     Sensitivity 11     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  11m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Use this guy to scout a system out before you send in the survey ships, or leave it near a jump point to keep an eye on who comes through it.

Brian

[Narmio]

Wait, military jump engines are commercial systems?  Whoa.  That changes a lot of things.  Is that deliberate or a bug?

Also, realistically, for a single scout operating a long way from anything friendly, the best defence is probably A) sensors and B) speed.  A single railgun isn't going to deter anything that really wants your small scout dead.  Better to run.

[Deutschbag]

Wait, military jump engines are commercial systems?  Whoa.  That changes a lot of things.  Is that deliberate or a bug?

I think it's deliberate, allowing "commercial" support ships to escort military vessels through jump points.

Also, realistically, for a single scout operating a long way from anything friendly, the best defence is probably A) sensors and B) speed.  A single railgun isn't going to deter anything that really wants your small scout dead.  Better to run.

Yeah, I agree. Put a powerful sensor suite in the place of weapons. Either way, your scout is dead if it's caught within railgun range.

[Brian Neumann]

One other thing that will keep your scout alive is to keep it small.  Small means a low thermal signature as it doesn't have big engines, and small in size so most long range sensors are going to have a resolution significantly greater than the scout.  This will quickly drop the range it can be spotter/targeted.  All that being said however these guys are toast if they come far insystem against a NPR homeworld.  They will however have a decent chance of slipping away from scout ships.

Brian

[Erik L]

Also, once you get the tech small and effective enough is to mount a cloak on it. Degrade their detecting you even more.

[voknaar]

Also, once you get the tech small and effective enough is to mount a cloak on it. Degrade their detecting you even more.

Is that for actives only or passives as well? TO THE WIKI-MOBILE!