I was playing around with beam fighter designs and found myself somewhat indecisive on which to use. The doctrine I'm looking at is to use beam fighters as missile defence and, when opportunity allows, in the strike role. This both worked out better and worse than I expected.
My first two designs:
Warrior class Striker 320 tons 3 Crew 82 BP TCS 6.4 TH 24 EM 0
7500 km/s Armour 2-4 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 2
Maint Life 7.03 Years MSP 16 AFR 8% IFR 0.1% 1YR 1 5YR 9 Max Repair 18 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 7
Type 11 Thruster (2) Power 24 Fuel Use 392.02% Signature 12 Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 1.4 billion km (53 hours at full power)
Gladius UV Pulse (1) Range 72,000km TS: 7500 km/s Power 3-0.75 RM 4 ROF 20 3 3 3 3 2 2 1 0 0 0
Type 57 Strike Targeter (1) Max Range: 72,000 km TS: 8000 km/s 86 72 58 44 31 17 3 0 0 0
Micro GCF (2) Total Power Output 1.03 Armour 0 Exp 12%
Q-Slave Targeter (1) GPS 8 Range 280k km Resolution 5
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
Grendel class Striker 480 tons 3 Crew 101.2 BP TCS 9.6 TH 24 EM 0
5000 km/s Armour 2-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 4.3
Maint Life 3.63 Years MSP 13 AFR 18% IFR 0.3% 1YR 2 5YR 23 Max Repair 19 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 7
Magazine 10
Type 11 Thruster (2) Power 24 Fuel Use 392.02% Signature 12 Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres Range 0.5 billion km (26 hours at full power)
Gladius UV Pulse Turret (1x1) Range 48,000km TS: 16000 km/s Power 3-1 RM 4 ROF 15 3 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Type 59 Defense Targeter (1) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 16000 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Micro GCF (2) Total Power Output 1.03 Armour 0 Exp 12%
Torpedo Rail (2) Missile Size 5 Hangar Reload 37.5 minutes MF Reload 6.2 hours
Type 65 Torpedo Guidance (1) Range 10.3m km Resolution 80
T-25 (2) Speed: 28,800 km/s End: 6.1m Range: 10.6m km WH: 9 Size: 5 TH: 105/63/31
Q-Slave Targeter (1) GPS 8 Range 280k km Resolution 5
The combat environment is expected to be relatively short ranged, perhaps even as short as between the Earth and Luna. But I was always unhappy with the Warrior, it doesn't really do anything well. About its only upside is fitting two layers of armor. The Grendel does both missile defence AND strike better.
So I came up with two alternates - the 'Tie Fighter', going for bang for the buck, and the 'Tie Interceptor', attempting to leverage the fighter's speed advantage.
Warrior - Defence Fighter class Striker 300 tons 3 Crew 67 BP TCS 6 TH 12 EM 0
4000 km/s Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 2.8
Maint Life 6.51 Years MSP 14 AFR 7% IFR 0.1% 1YR 1 5YR 9 Max Repair 19 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 7
Type 11 Thruster (1) Power 24 Fuel Use 392.02% Signature 12 Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 1.5 billion km (4 days at full power)
Gladius UV Pulse Turret (1x1) Range 48,000km TS: 16000 km/s Power 3-1 RM 4 ROF 15 3 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Type 59 Defense Targeter (1) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 16000 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Micro GCF (2) Total Power Output 1.03 Armour 0 Exp 12%
Q-Slave Targeter (1) GPS 8 Range 280k km Resolution 5
Warrior Interceptor class Striker 400 tons 3 Crew 112.8 BP TCS 8 TH 48 EM 0
12000 km/s Armour 1-4 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 2
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 80% IFR 1.1% 1YR 9 5YR 131 Max Repair 18 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 7
Type 11 Thruster (4) Power 24 Fuel Use 392.02% Signature 12 Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres Range 0.6 billion km (13 hours at full power)
Gladius UV Pulse (1) Range 48,000km TS: 12000 km/s Power 3-0.75 RM 4 ROF 20 3 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Type 59 Defense Targeter (1) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 16000 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Micro GCF (2) Total Power Output 1.03 Armour 0 Exp 12%
I want to use the 'Interceptor' variant, but I'm leery of its lack of bells & whistles such as engineering or a sensor. Love the speed though, for Ion tech it's fantastic.
I also noted a quirk when designing these, the Turret bumps the capacitor recharge of the miniaturized 10cm laser from 0.75 to 1, lowering its ROF to 15. Useful, especially considering I have to mount 2 power generators anyway.
After designing those I tried my hand at a Grendel more purely focused on the strike role.
Grendel - Bomber class Striker 480 tons 3 Crew 99.2 BP TCS 9.6 TH 24 EM 0
5000 km/s Armour 2-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 4.5
Maint Life 3.93 Years MSP 13 AFR 18% IFR 0.3% 1YR 1 5YR 20 Max Repair 18 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 7
Magazine 10
Type 11 Thruster (2) Power 24 Fuel Use 392.02% Signature 12 Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 15,000 Litres Range 1.4 billion km (3 days at full power)
Hastae UV Micro-Pulse (1) Range 72,000km TS: 5000 km/s Power 10-0.15 RM 4 ROF 335 10 10 10 10 8 6 5 0 0 0
Type 57 Strike Targeter (1) Max Range: 72,000 km TS: 8000 km/s 86 72 58 44 31 17 3 0 0 0
Micro GCF (1) Total Power Output 0.52 Armour 0 Exp 12%
Torpedo Rail (2) Missile Size 5 Hangar Reload 37.5 minutes MF Reload 6.2 hours
Type 65 Torpedo Guidance (1) Range 10.3m km Resolution 80
T-25 (2) Speed: 28,800 km/s End: 6.1m Range: 10.6m km WH: 9 Size: 5 TH: 105/63/31
Q-Slave Targeter (1) GPS 8 Range 280k km Resolution 5
Impressive damage potential, but the single-purpose nature of the design bothers me.