1-2 small ship(s) or several fighters as missile protection?

[CharonJr (OP)]

Hi,

I want to give the following beam FAC (essentially just a flying laser cannon) missle protection/defense while it is moving towards its target (speed matched to that of the slower craft, most likely going to full speed once all enemy missiles are gone - sensors are on additional fighters):

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Torch Mk2.1 class Fast Attack Craft    2 300 tons     15 Crew     794.5 BP      TCS 46  TH 576  EM 0
12521 km/s     Armour 6-15     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 8
Maint Life 0.27 Years     MSP 54    AFR 169%    IFR 2.4%    1YR 198    5YR 2969    Max Repair 300 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months    Spare Berths 6   

192 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (3)    Power 192    Fuel Use 265.87%    Signature 192    Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 20 000 Litres    Range 0.6 billion km   (13 hours at full power)

25cm C4 Far Ultraviolet Laser (1)    Range 320 000km     TS: 12521 km/s     Power 16-4     RM 5    ROF 20        16 16 16 16 16 13 11 10 8 8
Fire Control S08 160-12500 (1)    Max Range: 320 000 km   TS: 12500 km/s     97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Stellarator Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (1)     Total Power Output 1.2    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Stellarator Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (1)     Total Power Output 3    Armour 0    Exp 5%

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

Considering production capability I dont really care if I use fighters or small ships as missile defense, but I dislike having to retrain my fighter crews once a new generation of weapons/sensors is around (and I tend to care more about my ship crews than the more anonymous fighter crews). On the other hand it DOES take me longer to build small ships than an equal tonnage of fighters and the fighters would be able to target more salvos than a ship due to their additional fire controls.

8 fighters (8x500t)

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I2 class Interceptor    500 tons     8 Crew     117 BP      TCS 10  TH 96  EM 0
9600 km/s     Armour 1-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 5.6
Maint Life 0 Years     MSP 0    AFR 100%    IFR 1.4%    1YR 34    5YR 504    Max Repair 48 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.24 months    Spare Berths 0   

96 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (1)    Power 96    Fuel Use 274.36%    Signature 96    Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 10 000 Litres    Range 1.3 billion km   (37 hours at full power)

Single Gauss Cannon R4-67 Turret (1x4)    Range 40 000km     TS: 25000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 4    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S00.5 20-6250 (FTR) (1)    Max Range: 40 000 km   TS: 25000 km/s     75 50 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes

2 small ships (2x2kt)

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HI2 class Interceptor    2 000 tons     32 Crew     466.5 BP      TCS 40  TH 384  EM 0
9600 km/s     Armour 1-14     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 21.76
Maint Life 0.25 Years     MSP 36    AFR 128%    IFR 1.8%    1YR 145    5YR 2174    Max Repair 157 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.24 months    Spare Berths 0   

192 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (2)    Power 192    Fuel Use 265.87%    Signature 192    Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 55 000 Litres    Range 1.9 billion km   (53 hours at full power)

Quad Gauss Cannon R4-67 Turret (1x16)    Range 40 000km     TS: 25000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 4    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S02 20-25000 (1)    Max Range: 40 000 km   TS: 25000 km/s     75 50 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

1 small ship (4kt)

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Resolution class Corvette    4 000 tons     21 Crew     936.5 BP      TCS 80  TH 768  EM 0
9600 km/s     Armour 1-22     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 43.52
Maint Life 0.06 Years     MSP 37    AFR 512%    IFR 7.1%    1YR 587    5YR 8802    Max Repair 157 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months    Spare Berths 0   

192 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (4)    Power 192    Fuel Use 265.87%    Signature 192    Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 240 000 Litres    Range 4.1 billion km   (4 days at full power)

Quad Gauss Cannon R4-67 Turret (2x16)    Range 40 000km     TS: 25000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 4    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S02 20-25000 (2)    Max Range: 40 000 km   TS: 25000 km/s     75 50 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

Basically the only difference is the number of fire controls/range and deployment/Maint time (all would be carrier based - most likely 2-4 of those groups would be working together).

Which option would you prefer (and I would love to know why )?

Thx.

[sublight]

I would use either the Fighters or the Small Ships as escorts depending on version.

If you are using 6.3 and have the officers to spare then the officer fighter combat bonus seals the deal on using I2 Fighter Interceptors.

Otherwise it is a toss up between fighters and small ships. Fighters are smaller, less likely to be targeted, and have redundancy in numbers. The small ships have enough internal redundancy that a freak maintenance failure or unlucky missile leaker won't automatically doom a ship, which is good if you don't like the idea of declaring fighters expendable.

The corvette scares my sensibilities. It manages to combine the principles of "all your eggs in one basket" with "the biggest target" with "glass cannon." While beam point defenses are economical in running battles, they do let the odd missile occasionally leak through. The Torch has the armor to take a leaker, but the 4 kTon corvette doesn't. Plus I personally try to avoid fielding any ship with an IFR greater than 5%, even when they are carrier based.

[MarcAFK]

I would go with the HI2, But as mentioned use some armour, why the HI2?
Well, for the sake of consistancy I would use a 2,300 ton ship to defend a 2,300 ton ship, In fact I would use only one HI2 and use the extra build points to make extra Torches, as it seems rather odd to me to use a 940 BP class ship (or the equivalent)  to defend an 800 BP class.

Or alternatively, put the quad turret from a HI2 into your torch and end up with a 4,000 ton corvette with it's own defence.

[CharonJr (OP)]

Very good point about the fighter combat bonus, thx, and I think you are right that (at least for a forward deployed force) hoping that all missiles will be intercepted is a tad optimistic, especially since those will be mostly likely AAMs used in a ASM role  

Concerning the seemingly excessive use of tonage to protect the beam ship, maybe I should have written a bit more about my naval doctrine before.

Basically I use a carrier based navy with 2 fleets consisting of 1 flag carrier with 2 3k missile ships, 2 strike carriers with 1 3k missile ship and 4 escort carriers with 8 gauss interceptors each (still the older version to be replaced by the I2 it seems), in additon 4 gauss destroyers, 2 AAM destroyers, 2 ASM destroyers, 1 sensor carrier with 6 500t sensor fighters (1/18/120 res) and 1 armored active and 1 armored passive sensor scout/SAR, and now I want to add 1-2 carriers for 2-4 Torch beam ships to each fleet. Basically all the carriers are unarmored, so I can't let any missles leak through (in total 92 gauss and 100 AAMs in each fleet).

At first my complete fleet stays at long range and exchanges missiles with the enemy while putting as much gauss fire as possible in the air  - including the I2s - to get any missiles - larger packs will be softened up by the AAMs. Once the enemy starts to retreat/has run out of missiles I want to bring in the Torch, escorted by some gauss interceptors while the bulk of the fleet follows more slowly. Essentially the interceptors are already there anyway and just used for an additional job.

BTW, I gave the idea about adding 1 gauss quad turret to the Torch itself a shot, but once the speed was back up at 12.5k the tonnage was at 4.7k, with 2 quad turrets 7k.