Early game attack craft?

[Shaitan (OP)]

Toying around with some early FAC/Tender designs, currently purely as a theoretical exercise and to see if there's any components I could design to improve them. (eg. the FAC's could use a dedicated size 3 engine to improve fuel efficiency)

Curious to see the thoughts and comments of others.

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Guderian class FAC Tender    12,000 tons     275 Crew     1309.44 BP      TCS 240  TH 640  EM 0
2666 km/s    JR 4-50     Armour 1-46     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 6     PPV 0
Maint Life 1.36 Years     MSP 409    AFR 192%    IFR 2.7%    1YR 238    5YR 3567    Max Repair 317 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months    Flight Crew Berths 77    
Hangar Deck Capacity 2500 tons     Magazine 90    

J12000(4-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 12000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 4
S40 320 EP Nuclear Pulse Engine (2)    Power 320    Fuel Use 42%    Signature 320    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 770,000 Litres    Range 27.5 billion km   (119 days at full power)

ASM-1-2 (23)  Speed: 16,800 km/s   End: 19.9m    Range: 20m km   WH: 5    Size: 4    TH: 67/40/20

Strike Group
3x PT-1 Attack Craft   Speed: 4216 km/s    Size: 9.96
2x P-1 Attack Craft   Speed: 4200 km/s    Size: 10

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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P-1 class Attack Craft    500 tons     18 Crew     85.6 BP      TCS 10  TH 42  EM 0
4200 km/s     Armour 1-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 2
Maint Life 0 Years     MSP 0    AFR 100%    IFR 1.4%    1YR 4    5YR 63    Max Repair 11 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months    Spare Berths 2    

S1 14 EP Nuclear Pulse Engine (3)    Power 14    Fuel Use 280.76%    Signature 14    Exp 17%
Fuel Capacity 45,000 Litres    Range 5.8 billion km   (15 days at full power)

10cm C0.75 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1)    Range 48,000km     TS: 4200 km/s     Power 3-0.75     RM 3    ROF 20        3 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S01 24-3000 (FTR) (1)    Max Range: 48,000 km   TS: 12000 km/s     79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pebble Bed Reactor Technology PB-1 (1)     Total Power Output 3    Armour 0    Exp 5%

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

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PT-1 class Attack Craft    498 tons     12 Crew     75.4 BP      TCS 9.96  TH 42  EM 0
4216 km/s     Armour 1-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 3.96
Maint Life 0 Years     MSP 0    AFR 99%    IFR 1.4%    1YR 5    5YR 80    Max Repair 10 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months    Spare Berths 3    
Magazine 12    

S1 14 EP Nuclear Pulse Engine (3)    Power 14    Fuel Use 280.76%    Signature 14    Exp 17%
Fuel Capacity 20,000 Litres    Range 2.6 billion km   (7 days at full power)

Crossbow ASM Rack (3)    Missile Size 4    Rate of Fire 1200
ASM-FC23-R5000 (1)     Range 23.0m km    Resolution 100
ASM-1-2 (3)  Speed: 16,800 km/s   End: 19.9m    Range: 20m km   WH: 5    Size: 4    TH: 67/40/20

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 Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes

My own initial thoughts on the designs, for the tonnage invested, the Tender has a woefull capacity of actual attack craft, and obviously they'd need to operate with a dedicated sensor platform. Some tonnage could be freed designing a Squad 3 jump drive, alternatively the jump drive could be stripped entirely, because as it stands the vessel isn't capable of independent operations anyway.

I only have 6000 ton naval yards at the moment, so there's no rush to get this to production, but I've not really played around much with fighters/carriers before so I thought I'd throw some stuff together to get a feel for what they could do. Those idle fighter factories are staring at me every time I review my construction. Lazy bums, getting paid for nix.  

[strych90]

The only thing that I see that could be glaringly problematic is that the FAC/Fighters are so slow. 4km/s is a turtle for something so small to be involved in combat ,especially for the laser craft. Those will get toasted by any sort of PD/AMMs if they move in to attack . Its less problematic for the missile one since it looks like they've got 20mkm range. I would remake the engines with a higher thrust multiplier if you can, and try to get them to at least double that speed if possible. Otherwise I would hold off on production until they can be made faster so as to avoid PD. I suppose the missile ones could be used now as a stop-gap.

But that's just my oppinion

[sublight]

For the early-game Nuclear Pulse erra 4200 km/s is a perfectly acceptable speed suitable for fighting opponents of similar or lower tech. Don't try using them against spoiler races though.

The P-1 laser fighter will be useful for mopping up crippled enemies and enemy civilian vessels without wasting expensive missiles, but will only be useful offensively against an NPR fleet that relies on short-range messon or railgun fire. I've seen small squadrons of similar designs kite NPR meson-armadas into junk, and then turn to vaporware themselves when their next target proved missile-armed.

One improvement: Give the Fire-Control the 50% fire speed, 50% size modifier in return for a larger range multiplier. Their best tactic will be long (beam) ranged snipping, and the laser is only firing at 4200 km/s anyway.

The missile fighters look solid, for the tech level. You may consider replacing one of the launchers with a magazine for self-reloading while deployed, but that's just personal preference.

Stripping out the Jump-Drive is a good idea. That will drop the size down to 9,000 or less, cutting the required shipyard expansion in half. Then design a new, smaller, cheaper, jump drive to put on the dedicated sensor ship you need anyway. A squadron of three carriers plus the jump/sensor ship might be enough for offensive action.

Alternatively, replace the P-1s with dedicated sensor-fighters and design an escort carrier to accompany the Guardian that replaces the jump drive with extra hangers/passive sensors.

[Shaitan (OP)]

Taking the previous replies on board, and a little research and revision later leaves me with these designs :

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Chihuahua class Destroyer Leader    9,000 tons     230 Crew     1161.02 BP      TCS 180  TH 480  EM 0
2666 km/s    JR 4-50     Armour 3-38     Shields 0-0     Sensors 8/8/0/0     Damage Control Rating 5     PPV 4
Maint Life 1.74 Years     MSP 403    AFR 129%    IFR 1.8%    1YR 163    5YR 2438    Max Repair 191 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months    Spare Berths 1    
Magazine 49    

J9000(4-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 9000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 4
S30 240 EP Nuclear Pulse Engine (2)    Power 240    Fuel Use 49%    Signature 240    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,055,000 Litres    Range 43.1 billion km   (186 days at full power)

Aegis AMM Tube (4)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 15
AM-FC11-R50 (1)     Range 11.5m km    Resolution 1
AMM-3 (49)  Speed: 19,600 km/s   End: 9m    Range: 10.5m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 72/43/21

Goal Post Fleet Defense Radar MR10-R1-S8 (1)     GPS 128     Range 10.2m km    Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR181-R200 (1)     GPS 32000     Range 181.0m km    Resolution 200
Thermal Sensor TH1-8 (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  8m km
EM Detection Sensor EM1-8 (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  8m km

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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Guderian class FAC Tender    9,000 tons     145 Crew     895.62 BP      TCS 180  TH 480  EM 0
2666 km/s     Armour 1-38     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 3     PPV 0
Maint Life 1.59 Years     MSP 187    AFR 216%    IFR 3%    1YR 86    5YR 1289    Max Repair 120 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months    Flight Crew Berths 94    
Hangar Deck Capacity 3000 tons     Magazine 154    

S30 240 EP Nuclear Pulse Engine (2)    Power 240    Fuel Use 49%    Signature 240    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,025,000 Litres    Range 41.8 billion km   (181 days at full power)

ASM-1-2 (38)  Speed: 16,800 km/s   End: 19.9m    Range: 20m km   WH: 5    Size: 4    TH: 67/40/20

Strike Group
4x PT-1 Attack Craft   Speed: 4216 km/s    Size: 9.96
2x P-1 Attack Craft   Speed: 5600 km/s    Size: 10

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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P-1 class Attack Craft    500 tons     18 Crew     78.6 BP      TCS 10  TH 56  EM 0
5600 km/s     Armour 1-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 2
Maint Life 0 Years     MSP 0    AFR 100%    IFR 1.4%    1YR 6    5YR 94    Max Repair 11 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months    Spare Berths 2    

S1 14 EP Nuclear Pulse Engine (4)    Power 14    Fuel Use 280.76%    Signature 14    Exp 17%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres    Range 1.3 billion km   (63 hours at full power)

10cm C0.75 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1)    Range 72,000km     TS: 5600 km/s     Power 3-0.75     RM 3    ROF 20        3 3 3 2 1 1 1 0 0 0
Fire Control S00.7 36-1500 (FTR) (1)    Max Range: 72,000 km   TS: 6000 km/s     86 72 58 44 31 17 3 0 0 0
Pebble Bed Reactor Technology PB-1 (1)     Total Power Output 3    Armour 0    Exp 5%

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

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PT-1 class Attack Craft    498 tons     14 Crew     75.4 BP      TCS 9.96  TH 42  EM 0
4216 km/s     Armour 1-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 3.96
Maint Life 0 Years     MSP 0    AFR 99%    IFR 1.4%    1YR 8    5YR 122    Max Repair 21 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months    Spare Berths 1    
Magazine 12    

S3 42 EP Nuclear Pulse Engine (1)    Power 42    Fuel Use 275.08%    Signature 42    Exp 17%
Fuel Capacity 20,000 Litres    Range 2.6 billion km   (7 days at full power)

Crossbow ASM Rack (3)    Missile Size 4    Rate of Fire 1200
ASM-FC23-R5000 (1)     Range 23.0m km    Resolution 100
ASM-1-2 (3)  Speed: 16,800 km/s   End: 19.9m    Range: 20m km   WH: 5    Size: 4    TH: 67/40/20

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 Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
As can probably be inferred from the hull designation, the Chihuahua class will be intended to serve as a squadron leader for regular destroyers as well as the FAC tenders. I think I've over ranged the AMM's a bit, however reducing range to 1m Km only nets a single extra agility point at current tech levels, and well, that fleet defence missile warning radar was to juicy not to match the range. Magazine is worryingly shallow, but I'm trying to squeeze a lot of capability into a small platform. Possibly going to suffer the generalists curse, only managing to be poor at everything it tries to do.

Dropping the Jump drive on the Guderian however, has made the design look much more pleasant on paper, room for a 6th boat, expanded magazines to support the Missile boats, and improved range, all in a smaller package.

The PT-1 only saw a minor revision, trading out the Triple S1 engines for a single S3. A major revamp on the P-1 significantly alters its role, placing it firmly in the fleet defence interceptor camp I think. Interestingly, crew requirements left it with quad S1 engines, the S4 requiring almost twice the crew, for which there just isn't enough room.

So guys, Chihuahua jump tending and spotting for 3 Guderians, with a small 12 PT-1 strike package, leaving 6 P-1s flying CAP. Workable light strike solution alongside dedicated destroyer squadrons?

edit because I forgot to modify the flight crew quarters on the guderian for the FAC's new crew requirements.

Note : The 10m km AM fire control will only pickup size 6 and under missiles at 1m km apparently. Thoughts on trading down range on the AMM's to get the extra point of agility? Manouver 12 would cut maximum range to 1.8m Km

[strych90]

Looks good to me.

The magazine, though, probably will be a problem (as you admit) if you do "run into"(See: get into range of) someone who likes to throw ASMs while operating one of these squadrons independently. You'll blow through the magazine pretty quickly w/only 12 salvos at 15 seconds each; 3 minutes worth of missiles. Hopefully, though, the fact that you're using fighters to deploy your ASMs will keep the enemy out of range of your base ships (which, I suppose, is the whole point of fighters/bombers anyway).
Though if that is supporting standard DesRons, as you say, then I'd say its good to go as the DesRons' AMM and PD fire can cover the squadron from ASMs.

[Jorgen_CAB]

Sorry to be late to the party here but I would like to give one suggestion that I think would enhance this squadrons performance.

If the active sensor was dropped in favor of some stronger passive sensors or magazines you could use one or two 500 ton scout crafts with active sensors instead. The major benefit here is that you don't want your rather defensively weak squadron anywhere near an enemy. And since your strike crafts has such long strike range you can't really make good use of their strongest ability as it is.

All in all, scouting in force usually need either more or bigger ships. In the early game I rather just use scouting squadrons with defensive weaponry and equipped with some beam ASM if they are caught by a faster enemy. My earliest scouting in recon force usually is about 20k in size, but this generally need some investment in jump engine size efficiency to be economically sound. It is totally viable at Ion tech depending on your other priorities of course. That would be one command/light cruiser and two light carriers. They would in general be about 2/3 defense and 1/3 offense.