Hibrid Frigate

[telegraph (OP)]

I am designing the light jump-capable frigate for convoy raiding and hunting singular enemy ships(reinforcements, patrols, ... ). So my priorities were speed, range and enough firepower to actually kill or cripple a ship. Here is the design I came to:

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Aggressor Mk2 class Frigate    5,000 tons     156 Crew     1174.85 BP      TCS 100  TH 453.75  EM 480
6050 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 2-26     Shields 16-240     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 21.4
Maint Life 1.08 Years     MSP 147    AFR 200%    IFR 2.8%    1YR 128    5YR 1916    Max Repair 135 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.75 months    Spare Berths 9   
Magazine 36   

J5200(3-50) Ef:8 Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 5200 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
201.6 EP 75% Px1.8 Fx0.4 Magneto-plasma Drive (3)    Power 201.6    Fuel Use 161.7%    Signature 151.2    Exp 18%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres    Range 11.1 billion km   (21 days at full power)
Gamma R240/240 Fx0.5 Shields (8)   Total Fuel Cost  80 Litres per hour  (1,920 per day)

CIWS-200 (1x8)    Range 1000 km     TS: 20000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
25cm Railgun V7/C5 (2x4)    Range 320,000km     TS: 6050 km/s     Power 15-5     RM 7    ROF 15        5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 3 3
Fire Control S04 160-5000 (1)    Max Range: 320,000 km   TS: 5000 km/s     97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Tokamak Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1.25 (1)     Total Power Output 10    Armour 0    Exp 20%

Size 12 Box Launcher (3)    Missile Size 12    Hangar Reload 90 minutes    MF Reload 15 hours
Missile Fire Control FC1-R1 (1)     Range 1.5m km    Resolution 1
Size 12 Anti-ship Missile (3)  Speed: 26,000 km/s   End: 0.2m    Range: 0.3m km   WH: 36    Size: 12    TH: 208/124/62

"Visor - 1" Active Search Sensor MR1-R20 (1)     GPS 56     Range 1.4m km    Resolution 20

ECM 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

statistics analysis:
Speed of 6050 km/s should allow it to catch anything that is worth catching. FACs and fighters will still outrun it, but capital ships and civilians would fall an easy pray.
Range 11.1 billion km should allow it to fight several systems away from base/mothership.
3 Engines and MSP capacity should allow it to promptly retreat should things go south.
maintenance life should be enough for rescue tanker to reach it if it rans out of fuel.
a pair of 25cm Railgun should be enough to handle non-combat or lesser combat vessels.
3x Size 12 Anti-ship Missile is designed to crush any resistance with immediate power-36 warhead to the enemy hull.
Double-layered armour, power-16 shield, ECM and CIWS should allow it to survive engagement more often then not.

Every ship is fully autonomous for jumps and active sensor, but it lacks passive sensors to locate enemy in the first place.

What do you guys think? Will this work?

[Conscript Gary]

11b km is about enough range to go to pluto and back... and that's ignoring the fuel usage of your shields.

[kks]

You could add some more fueltanks(2-3), as you have additional 200 tons on your jumpdrive capacity. 

[telegraph (OP)]

I was thinking more in line of removing jumpdrive and making engines bigger too.
I will design a frigate leader with jumpdrive, big passive sensors, flag bridge and a bit of extra fuel.

This will change tactics a bit - from current lone hunters to wolfpacks of 3-5 ships + leader, but overal such fleet should be more effective.

I will post an update once needed research is completed. Any thoughts about combat part of the design?

[Gyrfalcon]

I'd remove the CIWS and go with another railgun if it operates as part of a pack, the group defensive fire is stronger then the individual CIWS.

[Nightstar]

I'm curious. That railgun is ridiculously beyond the rest of your tech. Did you loot it from precursors?

[telegraph (OP)]

That railgun is of my own research and design. Actually I can create a 40cm Railgun V7/C6, but FC technology will not allow me to use it effectively, so I tuned it down a bit to save on space.

As it happens my scientists are pretty one sided. Right now I have 65% Biology(R12), Logistics(R7) and Kinetic(R9) researchers, so I am also pretty advanced in ground combat and cloning/terraforming.
I am trying to put in some effort in other tech fields, but it just feels wrong to assign any labs to a 10% EW, when 65% MK is not using his full capacity

[Nightstar]

Huh. Well, in other comments, your missiles don't actually have any range on your railguns. I'd swap them out for something.

[telegraph (OP)]

Those missiles are not supposed to be used further then railguns. The intent is to close in (utilizing speed, PD, ECM, Shields) and then to shoot the enemy vessel with railguns. If the victim is likely to be a tough one - deliver a payload from the close range, allowing no time for AMM and Area Defence.

So here are my updated blueprints:

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Aggressor Mk2 class Frigate    5,000 tons     136 Crew     1330.4 BP      TCS 100  TH 307  EM 600
6140 km/s     Armour 2-26     Shields 20-300     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 2     PPV 24.77
Maint Life 1.86 Years     MSP 249    AFR 133%    IFR 1.9%    1YR 92    5YR 1377    Max Repair 135 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 2   
Magazine 36   

153.6 EP 50% Px1.2 Fx0.4 Magneto-plasma Drive (4)    Power 153.6    Fuel Use 58.05%    Signature 76.8    Exp 12%
Fuel Capacity 595,000 Litres    Range 36.9 billion km   (69 days at full power)
Delta R300/240 Shields (8)   Total Fuel Cost  80 Litres per hour  (1,920 per day)

Single Gauss Cannon R4-50 Turret (1x4)    Range 40,000km     TS: 10000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 4    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
25cm Railgun V7/C5 (2x4)    Range 320,000km     TS: 6140 km/s     Power 15-5     RM 7    ROF 15        5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 3 3
Fire Control S04 160-5000 (1)    Max Range: 320,000 km   TS: 5000 km/s     97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Fire Control S02 40-10000 (1)    Max Range: 80,000 km   TS: 10000 km/s     88 75 62 50 38 25 12 0 0 0
Tokamak Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1.25 (1)     Total Power Output 10    Armour 0    Exp 20%

Size 12 Box Launcher (3)    Missile Size 12    Hangar Reload 90 minutes    MF Reload 15 hours
Missile Fire Control FC1-R1 (1)     Range 1.5m km    Resolution 1
Size 12 Anti-ship Missile (3)  Speed: 26,000 km/s   End: 0.2m    Range: 0.3m km   WH: 36    Size: 12    TH: 208/124/62

Active Search Sensor MR1-R1 (1)     GPS 8     Range 1,000k km    Resolution 1

ECM 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
I removed jump drive because of the updated tactics.
I used a half-sized gauss cannon to allow for crew grade and tracking bonus.
I removed Visor ASS in favor of a more fine anti-missile scanner. It is still enough for railguns and missiles.
Engines are now divided into four sections. allowing some security and allowing crew to carry out emergency repairs if needed.

The frigate leader is a purely administrative ship with improved surveillance and a lifepod:

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Condor class Frigate Leader    5,000 tons     139 Crew     1180.2 BP      TCS 100  TH 307  EM 0
6140 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1-26     Shields 0-0     Sensors 77/98/0/0     Damage Control Rating 2     PPV 0
Maint Life 3.06 Years     MSP 295    AFR 100%    IFR 1.4%    1YR 47    5YR 707    Max Repair 150 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 2 months    Flight Crew Berths 3   
Flag Bridge    Hangar Deck Capacity 250 tons     Cryogenic Berths 1000   

J5200(3-50) Ef:8 Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 5200 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
153.6 EP 50% Px1.2 Fx0.4 Magneto-plasma Drive (4)    Power 153.6    Fuel Use 58.05%    Signature 76.8    Exp 12%
Fuel Capacity 755,000 Litres    Range 46.8 billion km   (88 days at full power)

Thermal Sensor TH7-77 (1)     Sensitivity 77     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  77m km
EM Detection Sensor EM7-98 (1)     Sensitivity 98     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  98m km

Strike Group
1x Venator Life Pod   Speed: 16000 km/s    Size: 5

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

Having no defences whatsoever it will have to lag behind, with his speed greatly reduced. His main intent is to add TF boni, highlght places of interest with passive sensors, provide jump capability and resque survivors.

Life Pod is a small piloted safety "fighter" intended to take TF officers out of the frey quickly:

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Venator class Life Pod    250 tons     4 Crew     63.6 BP      TCS 5  TH 80  EM 0
16000 km/s    JR 1-50     Armour 1-3     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 6.2 Years     MSP 16    AFR 5%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 1    5YR 11    Max Repair 40 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.5 months    Spare Berths 2   
Cryogenic Berths 200   

J400(1-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 400 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 1
80 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (1)    Power 80    Fuel Use 484.22%    Signature 80    Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres    Range 1.5 billion km   (25 hours at full power)

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

it's Maint Life and jumpdrive allows it to float almost indefinetely in a supposedly safe location.

[Garfunkel]

Interesting idea!

Not sure if something like this is actually necessary against the AI but definitely sweet for RP-purposes.