Home System Patrol Vessel

[AncientSion (OP)]

So i wanted to design a small and quick Vessel to patrol my Home System and to provide Unrest-reduction for the colonies that demand it.
I think this ship sucks. I dont even know if the Single Reactor is enough for my 3 Rail Guns ( i think it is). Can someone take a look and explain to me what i could do better and especially why ?
I think i probably want more Thrust and probably Sensor that are actually calibrated for what im looking for. I guess ?


thank you

Code: [Select]

King George V class Frigate    1,800 tons     56 Crew     157 BP      TCS 36  TH 50  EM 0
1388 km/s     Armour 1-13     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 9
Maint Life 7.59 Years     MSP 55    AFR 25%    IFR 0.4%    1YR 2    5YR 25    Max Repair 20 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months    Spare Berths 1   

Butler-Palmer Aeronautical 25 EP Nuclear Thermal Engine (2)    Power 25    Fuel Use 95%    Signature 25    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres    Range 26.3 billion km   (219 days at full power)

Palmer Cybernetics 10cm Railgun V1/C1 (3x4)    Range 10,000km     TS: 2000 km/s     Power 3-1     RM 1    ROF 15        1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Phillips-Peacock Space & Security Fire Control S00.7 10-3000 (1)    Max Range: 20,000 km   TS: 3000 km/s     50 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Atkins-Griffin Marine Pebble Bed Reactor Technology PB-1 (1)     Total Power Output 3    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Nolan Engineering Active Search Sensor MR5-R30 (1)     GPS 600     Range 5.5m km    Resolution 30

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

[Ostia]

For a Home System craft Maint Life and Deployment time are a bit much. You should go for a smaller engineering space and cut the the deployment time down to 3 months or less. The amount of fuel is also pretty high.
Right now your reactor is enough to power all 3 railguns, but ultimately (with improved Capacitor rates) you would need 3 of these reactors (or a single larger one) to power all three.

The short comings of your ship are due to the low tech level.

General research directions:
Fuel efficiency (to reduce the amount of fuel you need/use)
Capacitor Recharge Rate (for 10cm railguns CRR 3 is enough. CRR should ideally match the Power Requirement of the weapon)
Railgun Launch Velocity (better range)
Smaller Engineering Spaces (Less space used)

In the long run you might want to go for a regular FAC (1k tons weight), but that needs extended research to become viable.

[Garfunkel]

Don't worry about it too much, if it's just to give you security points in your home system. Remember, at low tech levels, specialization is the key - and that you can also use PDC's to calm the population. Yes, colonists on Europa will feel safe as long as Earth has plenty of missile bases even if they are completely useless. 

For RP purposes, I like to defend Sol at each "stage" or generation of tech, even if I don't have any active enemies. This is how I do it:

(1) Planetary Defence - uses PDC's. I have two PDC's that house big active sensors rated for 5,000 tons and see beyond Mars orbit. Thus the Inner System is always under surveillance. Then there's a bunch of missile silos equipped with anti-shipping missiles that have a range to that same Mars orbit. Don't worry if it seems too short. At Gen1 and Gen2, you are pretty much crippled anyway. These guys will stop any ships from getting to beam weapon range.

(2) Orbital Defence - uses OWP's. I have two types of Orbital Weapon Platforms (satellites). Keep them small in size so your N-SY can crank them out fairly quickly (and also upgrades them!). One has four railguns and a Beam Fire Control, other has two lasers and a Beam Fire Control. Third type is surveillance satellite, that houses active sensors rated for 50 tons. Don't make it too big or you'll waste a lot of research points on it. A range of million klicks is fine at this level. No need for engines or fuel or engineering spaces since they will never leave Earth orbit. These guys will intercept any missiles lobbed at Earth.

(3) JP Defence - uses Monitors. These are 10k ships that move very slowly (under 1000 m/s) but have a decent amount of armour and carry a spinal laser and particle beams. If you want to save on research points, replace the particle beams with lasers. I keep a group of these at every JP plus one extra at Earth going through rehaul. These guys need to have active sensors, as in case an enemy does come through a JP, you don't want to lose your sensor ship first, leaving the others helpless.

Depending on your population sizes, you can ignore (3) totally and still have harmonious populations.

[DuraniumCowboy]

A few other things to consider, you may want to back off on FC tracking speed and add some range.  You will probably see some weight reduction there.  Remember, that even if your FC outranges the guns, the increased to hit bonus at the range the guns can fire might be beneficial.  You may also want to add some armor, as if you ever do have to fight with these, getting close enough to use your rails guns will be pretty hard without any protection.

[alex_brunius]

(2) Orbital Defence - uses OWP's. I have two types of Orbital Weapon Platforms (satellites). Keep them small in size so your N-SY can crank them out fairly quickly (and also upgrades them!). One has four railguns and a Beam Fire Control, other has two lasers and a Beam Fire Control. Third type is surveillance satellite, that houses active sensors rated for 50 tons. Don't make it too big or you'll waste a lot of research points on it. A range of million klicks is fine at this level. No need for engines or fuel or engineering spaces since they will never leave Earth orbit. These guys will intercept any missiles lobbed at Earth.

How do you make a railgun satellite without engines work?

As far as I know railguns can't be turreted so they would use the ship (satellites) speed of 0km/s to determine the weapons tracking speed...

[Brian Neumann]

How do you make a railgun satellite without engines work?

As far as I know railguns can't be turreted so they would use the ship (satellites) speed of 0km/s to determine the weapons tracking speed...

There is a default tracking speed of the tracking speed researched when the fire control was designed.  For example if my tech gave me a tracking speed of 4000 km/s then even if my ship or pdc was slower than 4000 km/s I would still have that as my tracking speed.  If a weapon is in a turret this is usually superseded, but with railguns, particle beams, etc.  it will work

Brian

ps. I should note that even when you have researched a higher tracking speed that the tracking speed used is based on when the fire control was designed.

[alex_brunius]

Your right, there is the minimum TS. But it would be quite ineffective as an actual anti-missile system.

So mostly for show to reduce unrest I guess.

[Brian Neumann]

Your right, there is the minimum TS. But it would be quite ineffective as an actual anti-missile system.

So mostly for show to reduce unrest I guess.

Actually railguns make decent early point defense.  Their x4 shots make up for the low tracking speed, and you can generally get more of them in because their isn't the mass of the turret machinery needed.  If you are making them small then the only thing that needs to be upgraded over time is the fire control.  That tends to make them fairly cost effective as well.  Even several generation old units with upgraded fire control will work for point defense.  They will also tend to shred any ship that gets to close.

Brian