Mankind has finally achieved travel among the stars. though Earth remains factionalized among the nations of the world, most grievances have faded and all but the very few most stubborn and backwards countries have signed and ratified the First Solar Constitution. this constitution gives the Confederation the sole rights to colonization and space born affairs, in return the confederation supplies the nations of the world with the latest technologies and supplies of cheap Trans-Newtonian minerals.
Unfortunately today a new reveal has brought a twist to the lives of the Terran people. 30 years of almost exuberant almost golden age of development and expansion into the solar system has met with a terrifying new reality. Earths only jump exploration vessel the Carl Sagan entered the Ross 248 system and instantly detected a 18500 ton wreck. In one fell swoop there was proof of alien life, hostile life, and life that was a single jump point away from earth. making a quick retreat in case the attack was in system the Sagan proceeded to explore the jump point from sol to Bernard's Star, only to find two wrecks, one at 69900 tons and the other 9250. now Two jump points connected directly to the Solar system has the proof that aliens exist, and indeed someone out there is hostile. suddenly space feels dangerous, deadly, and the People want the confederation to do something.
It is April 14th 2065 and a new era is to begin. a military fleet must be built, the people protected.
This game is a practice at using a different design doctrine than most. instead of using a few launchers with magazines I intend to try to use something closer to the Vertical Launch System that are basically just a collection of box launchers. naturally ill have to trade the ability to basically insta-reload from a collier into a magazine for longer reloads and maintenance facilities but in return I do have the potential for a far larger salvo, which can be tailored to help overcome potentially heavy anti missile systems, not to mention damage resistance, damage to a launcher wont prevent me from launching other missiles, though am I risking a chain explosion of missiles and launchers going off? also I have a few other rules I like to put in on my ships
* Jumpdrives for every ship that's ment to travel through jump points, basically a warp drive for every ship unless a gate has been built. "Towing" will be allowed for a ship if their jumpdrive was destroyed in battle
* CIWS for every non frigate. im not sure if I really need to post this one but just in case every ship thats not a frigate will be required to have between 1-5 CIWS systems. frigates being the AMM systems of the fleet they'll sacrifice their own personal defense for more overall fleet defense. destroyers will have one Cruisers 3 and battleships and possibly carriers 5, exact numbers are sorta flexible
* Sensors for all! every ship must carry some sensor system, most will probably just be tiny active with maybe somewhat sizeable passive sensors, while there will be an "Ageis" type ship, maybe a cruiser or maybe a battleship, with the massive sensor for Fleet CNC control.
My fleet idea currently consists of
Frigate- AMM ship, ment to bring down incoming missiles with a small ability to return fire of its all.
Destroyers- A small combat capable ship, ment to share size similarity with the frigate though trading its defensive weaponry with greater offensive capability. together the frigate and destroyers can make a squadron led by a cruiser. these groups will be great for patrols and generally good will in systems, while supplying some if limited firepower to offensive fleets
Cruiser- Cruisers combine a fair amount of AMM capability with greater offensive capability and sensor support. Cruisers will serve as leaders for Destroyer/Frigate squadrons and escorts for the larger ships
Battle cruiser- Heavy offense cruiser. sacrificing armor and some AMM capability for greater speed and weaponry. like traditional battle cruisers the idea is to be able to destroyer smaller ships and flee from larger ships, maybe in a fleet role provide a battleship for times when a battleship is overkill. maybe an unnecessary ship?
Battleship- Mammoth warship, to live up to its name it will be swathed in armor and shields, and carry some heavy weaponry. these may carry the ultimate fleet sensors since the ships will be designed to absorb the hits anyways it might be better than leaving them on smaller cruisers.
Naturally there will be some colliers and tankers. colliers probably consisting of just as many maintenance modules as cargo spaces, to at least allow reloading of the frigates and destroyers, unless I build simply gigantic colliers im not sure if cruisers on up will be able to use them and thus will probably be limited to returning to planets with facilities capable of handling them.
now I have one ship designed, mostly for system protection, to keep the planets from getting uppity. its a poor design, and likely to fail in any military combat, but its great for keeping plants happy and pirates laying low.
Hydra class Frigate 15,000 tons 140 Crew 1542 BP TCS 300 TH 900 EM 0
3000 km/s Armour 5-54 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 12 PPV 45
Maint Life 4.17 Years MSP 5128 AFR 900% IFR 12.5% 1YR 472 5YR 7086 Max Repair 150 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months Spare Berths 0
Magazine 300
USN Ion 300 (3) Power 300 Fuel Use 45% Signature 300 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 3,550,000 Litres Range 94.7 billion km (365 days at full power)
Class 1 VLS (75) Missile Size 1 Hangar Reload 7.5 minutes MF Reload 1.2 hours
Class 5 VLS (25) Missile Size 5 Hangar Reload 37.5 minutes MF Reload 6.2 hours
Class 10 VLS (10) Missile Size 10 Hangar Reload 75 minutes MF Reload 12.5 hours
ASMFC136-R130 (1) Range 136.8m km Resolution 130
AMMFC12-R1 (1) Range 12.0m km Resolution 1
Gauntlet AMM Mark I (75) Speed: 7,200 km/s End: 359.4m Range: 155.3m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 38/23/11
Dagger Mark I (25) Speed: 9,600 km/s End: 245.4m Range: 141.3m km WH: 6 Size: 5 TH: 48/28/14
Longbow ASM MK I (10) Speed: 18,000 km/s End: 99.1m Range: 107.1m km WH: 10 Size: 10 TH: 96/57/28
ASMR40-R100 (1) GPS 5000 Range 40.0m km Resolution 100
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
as you can tell too much maintenance, 4 years when I was thinking 2 year deployment, AMM fire control sensor is way short for the AMM but it kept everyone feeling safe. now I am doing a bit of a crash research into sensors to try and expand range before building my next class, which by some practice builds is ballooning up to about 25,000 tons. I remove a number of the size 5 and 10 launchers, updated armor and new propulsion, up the fuel tanks though maybe instead of trying to push up to 2 year deplyments I should aim for closer to 1, 1.5? new ships will have shields as well, and ill probly try to fit on at least one single or dual railgun turret, or maybe cut down on the total number of AMM launchers and go for more railgun defense. has anyone tried the VLS style ship, any suggestions on way to go with launcher numbers, also should I focus on shorter deployments for naval ships, maybe lave berths for 2 year deployment but only about a years worth of supply in fuel and maintenance?