United Earth Confederation Navy

[krummja (OP)]

Alright, after my last post on the Perses-class and a ton of helpful advice, I have put together an entire fleet design.    I would love some more pointers on how to optimize this fleet, or whether or not I am making any basic oversights or mistakes in my design.   

The fleet is meant to cruise at about 6000 km/s and send out corvettes to sweep a system for EM/thermal signatures.    Meanwhile, the collier and supply ships stage at a major sorium supply where possible.    Once contacts are found, the warships engage at their maximum 8,000 km/s.   

A full battlegroup is meant to have the following:

2x Sioux class Corvette
2x St.  Johns class Frigate
2x Mauna Kea class Missile Cruiser
3x Yerevan class Missile Defense Cruiser
1x Chile class Heavy Cruiser
1x Hephaestus class Collier
1x Bacchus class Support Vessel

And possibly a small hospital ship for clean-up and capturing survivors, yet to be designed.   

With this in mind, here are my ship designs.   

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Sioux class Corvette    1 500 tons     35 Crew     255 BP      TCS 30  TH 300  EM 0
10000 km/s     Armour 1-11     Shields 0-0     Sensors 16/16/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
Maint Life 3.   32 Years     MSP 106    AFR 18%    IFR 0.   2%    1YR 15    5YR 218    Max Repair 150 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 3   

300 EP Internal Fusion Drive (1)    Power 300    Fuel Use 76.   5%    Signature 300    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 250 000 Litres    Range 39.   2 billion km   (45 days at full power)

Thermal Sensor TH3.   25-16 (1)     Sensitivity 16     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  16m km
EM Detection Sensor EM2-16 (1)     Sensitivity 16     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  16m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

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St.  Johns class Frigate    3 750 tons     114 Crew     896.  6 BP      TCS 75  TH 600  EM 0
8000 km/s     Armour 1-21     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 11     PPV 8
Maint Life 1.  43 Years     MSP 149    AFR 112%    IFR 1.  6%    1YR 80    5YR 1201    Max Repair 192 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 1   

200 EP Internal Fusion Drive (3)    Power 200    Fuel Use 81%    Signature 200    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 600 000 Litres    Range 35.  6 billion km   (51 days at full power)

15cm C3 Far Ultraviolet Laser (2)    Range 300 000km     TS: 8000 km/s     Power 6-3     RM 5    ROF 10        6 6 6 6 6 5 4 3 3 3
Laser Fire Control S08 160-8000 (1)    Max Range: 320 000 km   TS: 8000 km/s     97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Magnetic Confinement Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (1)     Total Power Output 10    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Ship 5000T Active Search Sensor MR50-R100 (1)     GPS 6300     Range 50.  4m km    Resolution 100

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

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Mauna Kea class Missile Cruiser    12 500 tons     340 Crew     2292.   2 BP      TCS 250  TH 2000  EM 0
8000 km/s     Armour 3-47     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 37     PPV 30
Maint Life 1.   36 Years     MSP 802    AFR 178%    IFR 2.   5%    1YR 464    5YR 6966    Max Repair 500 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 0   
Magazine 222   

1000 EP Internal Fusion Drive (2)    Power 1000    Fuel Use 45%    Signature 1000    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1 000 000 Litres    Range 32.   0 billion km   (46 days at full power)

Iron Hammer ASM Launcher (5)    Missile Size 6    Rate of Fire 45
Iron Hammer ASM Fire Control (2)     Range 108.   0m km    Resolution 100

Missile Cruiser Active Search Sensor MR150 (1)     GPS 30000     Range 150.   0m km    Resolution 100

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

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Yerevan class Missile Defense Cruiser    6 250 tons     146 Crew     1349.   6 BP      TCS 125  TH 1000  EM 0
8000 km/s     Armour 3-30     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 13     PPV 6
Maint Life 1.   31 Years     MSP 405    AFR 104%    IFR 1.   4%    1YR 250    5YR 3752    Max Repair 500 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 0   
Magazine 200   

1000 EP Internal Fusion Drive (1)    Power 1000    Fuel Use 45%    Signature 1000    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 500 000 Litres    Range 32.   0 billion km   (46 days at full power)

Iron Curtain AMM Launcher (    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 15
Iron Curtain Missile Fire Control FC15-R1 (4)     Range 15.   1m km    Resolution 1
Iron Curtain AMM (200)  Speed: 35 200 km/s   End: 0.   6m    Range: 1.   4m km   WH: 0    Size: 1    TH: 258/154/77

AMM Active Search Sensor MR16-R1 (1)     GPS 210     Range 16.   8m km    MCR 1.   8m km    Resolution 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

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Chile class Heavy Cruiser    12 500 tons     368 Crew     2618 BP      TCS 250  TH 2000  EM 0
8000 km/s     Armour 3-47     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/64/0/0     Damage Control Rating 38     PPV 32
Maint Life 1.   79 Years     MSP 1047    AFR 156%    IFR 2.   2%    1YR 405    5YR 6071    Max Repair 500 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 3   

1000 EP Internal Fusion Drive (2)    Power 1000    Fuel Use 45%    Signature 1000    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1 000 000 Litres    Range 32.   0 billion km   (46 days at full power)

Battlecruiser Spinal Mount 25cm C4 Far Ultraviolet Laser (1)    Range 320 000km     TS: 8000 km/s     Power 16-4     RM 5    ROF 20        16 16 16 16 16 13 11 10 8 8
15cm C3 Far Ultraviolet Laser (6)    Range 300 000km     TS: 8000 km/s     Power 6-3     RM 5    ROF 10        6 6 6 6 6 5 4 3 3 3
Laser Fire Control S08 160-8000 (2)    Max Range: 320 000 km   TS: 8000 km/s     97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Magnetic Confinement Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (6)     Total Power Output 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Battlecruiser Active Search Sensor MR84-R100 (1)     GPS 10500     Range 84.   0m km    Resolution 100
EM Detection Sensor EM8-64 (1)     Sensitivity 64     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  64m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

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Hephaestus class Collier    24 650 tons     363 Crew     3595.   64 BP      TCS 493  TH 3000  EM 0
6085 km/s     Armour 6-75     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 34     PPV 0
Maint Life 1.   49 Years     MSP 1276    AFR 347%    IFR 4.   8%    1YR 647    5YR 9701    Max Repair 500 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 1   
Magazine 3000   

1000 EP Internal Fusion Drive (3)    Power 1000    Fuel Use 45%    Signature 1000    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 2 000 000 Litres    Range 32.   5 billion km   (61 days at full power)

Phalanx CIWS-80 (4x6)    Range 1000 km     TS: 8000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

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Bacchus class Support Vessel    15 900 tons     195 Crew     1898.   8 BP      TCS 318  TH 2000  EM 0
6289 km/s     Armour 3-56     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 30     PPV 0
Maint Life 1.   49 Years     MSP 746    AFR 202%    IFR 2.   8%    1YR 375    5YR 5626    Max Repair 500 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 1   
Fuel Harvester: 2 modules producing 80000 litres per annum

1000 EP Internal Fusion Drive (2)    Power 1000    Fuel Use 45%    Signature 1000    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 3 500 000 Litres    Range 88.   0 billion km   (162 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

[Prince of Space]

Why does the Sioux have 3 years worth of maintenance life but only 3 months of intended deployment? It's also pretty thin skinned, but maybe small, fast, and unnoticeable is what you're going for here. It ought to have more MSP, though. It currently doesn't have enough to cover its most expensive component breaking.

The St. Johns looks like an anti-ship beam combatant. If the ships you have in mind can fight back in any way, the St. Johns will get blown to smithereens with that thin armor it has. It has to get to the fight before it can fire. It also has the same problem as the Sioux does: Max Repair is less than MSP, so an unlucky maintenance failure can take it out of commission.

The Mauna Kea looks like it can launch 37 salvos of size 6 missiles, 45 seconds apart. That seems like a slow trickle to my eyes. When I tried that it was like being on the wrong end of a tower defense game. My parade of itty bitty salvos got chewed up easily. I would recommend more launchers, even at the expense of shallower magazines.

It was mentioned elsewhere that your AMMs need their warheads fixed. The Yerevan has the same Max Repair vs. MSP problem as the Sioux and St. Johns.

The Chile probably needs more armor, for the same reasons as the St. Johns.

I don't recommend putting Fuel Harvester modules on a fleet's tanker. Whenever the harvester isn't in orbit of a Sorium gas giant that tonnage is dead weight. And on a military ship that's just more expensive stuff to keep maintained. Turn the fuel harvester into its own design and top off the Bacchus' tanks from that one as needed. I like the idea of a semi-permanent staging ground, but without maintenance bases to keep the warships from breaking down and recreational facilities for shore leave, you won't be in orbit long enough to make the sorium harvesting worth it.

Not a single jump capable design in the whole lot, so it looks like you'll be hopping the fleet through jump gates to get to the battle. Keep in mind that you'll be limited to standard transits, which have a jump blindness time frame of 5 to 30 minutes, rather than 5 to 30 seconds. And you'll need a jump gate on the return side to get back.

[krummja (OP)]

Some fair points.

The Sioux should have a 12 month intended deployment - that was just a mistake on my part.  Frigates are meant to be fast attack craft, yes. 

Fair point on the Mauna Kea class.  I'll see if I can't tweak it. 

As for the AMM issue - as I mentioned elsewhere I believe that is a bug, since on the missile creation window it definitely gives a readout of WH1.  I copied the design directly from Ser Beardian, so I'm not sure what the deal is there.

I'll try to tweak the Chile.

The point about the harvesters is well received.  I'll reconfigure the ship to include more fuel rather than rely on replenishing from a sorium supply.

As far as the jump-capable concern, I would agree here from a metagame standpoint but that decision was actually completely RP.  In my current game, I've only just started colonizing another system with a jump gate connecting it to Sol, and so my fleet is not anticipating alien contact.  Therefore it doesn't make sense RP-wise for me to have warships with jump capability.  My navy has never come up against an alien force, so naturally they are going by a fleet doctrine that is anyone's best guess when it comes to alien technology.