I have to add a couple of my observations as well.
1. 1 layer of armor for 2kt is NOT enough. I prefer a minimum of 6 layers on anything above 4kt , with 8-10 layers on all command ships or 15kt+ ships. Especially on medium sized ships you need a deeper armor to account for the number of rows- a 6-8KT destroyer can be easily mission killed with just two lucky laser shots - or 4 to 5 missile hits.
2. Shields are good for long range - 20 shield strength can keep all your missiles ships intact against either leaks or massive PD missile swarms. But what they are even better at is close range combat. On an escort/rail/laser destroyer those 30 strength shields can be enough to shrug off the first volley and allow you to get into point blank range and eliminate the enemy before it reloads.
3. Speed and engine tonnage. I do keep my classes balanced - for example I use one engine per KT at ICF tech or above BUT I always add extra for my close range combatants and escorts. If you use the same speed throughout the fleet you might not be able to maneuver the ships in your subformations.
4. I go with a different strategy for my sensor/command ships. While heavy armored , they only have CIWS and a cloaking device . Also I keep them below 8kt . Coupled with the cloaking device and low-sig engines most of the time the enemy will engage my 9kt ( light cruiser) and above ships first. I usually aim for 500+ m km for the main 120 res sensor , with a 150 m 20 res sensor and a 4-7m range against missiles .
5. Jump drives . I usually have my fleet support vessels (tanker+jump drives + magazine ) as tugs . Heavy armor , 100 tone bigger than any other ship and VERY heavily armored (up to 12 layers)
6. Combat ships . Never go with a single type of combat ships. Missiles are nice but you can run out of ammo or find yourself against a swarm of fighters and lacs. Beam ships will terminate anything point blank but they will die against a pure missile fleet or something faster than they are. Here are two examples - one is a missile cruiser , the other a heavy escort. Maintenance size is overengineered since I tend to park them on jump points for years at a time.
Achilles - Copy - Copy class Cruiser 12,000 tons 873 Crew 3092.8 BP TCS 240 TH 337.44 EM 810
5858 km/s Armour 8-46 Shields 27-360 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 23 PPV 95
Maint Life 8.33 Years MSP 2094 AFR 88% IFR 1.2% 1YR 54 5YR 807 Max Repair 156 MSP
Magazine 814
Lockhead E6 HiT MCF Military Drive (9) Power 156.25 Fuel Use 60% Signature 37.5 Armour 0 Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 62.5 billion km (123 days at full power)
Northrop Grumman Epsilon R360/12 Shields (9) Total Fuel Cost 108 Litres per day
Size 4 Missile Launcher (4) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 25
S4 Assault Missile XO Rack (25) Missile Size 4 Hangar Reload 30 minutes MF Reload 5 hours
S16 Capital Missile XO Rack (10) Missile Size 16 Hangar Reload 120 minutes MF Reload 20 hours
S8 Heavy Missile EXR Rack (20) Missile Size 8 Rate of Fire 24000
Gravitic Long Range Scanner FC851-R120 (2) Range 851.8m km Resolution 120
GunBoat Control AI FC86-R20 (1) Range 86.9m km Resolution 20
S8 LHM 50k/495m/165min 25% (20) Speed: 50,000 km/s End: 165m Range: 495m km WH: 4 Size: 8 TH: 83 / 50 / 25
S8 MHM 50k/225m/75min 25% (20) Speed: 50,000 km/s End: 75m Range: 225m km WH: 4 Size: 8 TH: 83 / 50 / 25
S16 CT 28.3k /254.7m/150 min 14.1% (10) Speed: 28,300 km/s End: 150m Range: 254.7m km WH: 16 Size: 14.15 TH: 47 / 28 / 14
S4 LFAM2 41.7k-85m-34mi 50% (40) Speed: 41,700 km/s End: 34.1m Range: 85.4m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 166 / 100 / 50
S4 SFAM2 58k-9m-3min 93% (20) Speed: 58,000 km/s End: 2.6m Range: 9m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 309 / 185 / 92
ECCM-2 (1) ECM 30
Candice - Copy class Light Cruiser 10,000 tons 985 Crew 4212 BP TCS 200 TH 300 EM 1350
6250 km/s Armour 9-41 Shields 45-360 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 21 PPV 62.9
Maint Life 6.1 Years MSP 2896 AFR 72% IFR 1% 1YR 134 5YR 2005 Max Repair 1125 MSP
Lockhead E6 HiT MCF Military Drive (8) Power 156.25 Fuel Use 60% Signature 37.5 Armour 0 Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 60.0 billion km (111 days at full power)
Northrop Grumman Epsilon R360/12 Shields (15) Total Fuel Cost 180 Litres per day
Twin PD R9/C5 Meson Cannon Turret (1x2) Range 90,000km TS: 45000 km/s Power 12-10 RM 9 ROF 10 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0
Quad Gauss Rapid Fire R5-17 Turret (3x12) Range 50,000km TS: 35000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 5 ROF 5 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
35cm Railgun V6/C5 (3x4) Range 540,000km TS: 6250 km/s Power 27-5 RM 6 ROF 30 9 9 9 9 9 9 7 6 6 5
Escort AI S16 300-25000 (1) Max Range: 600,000 km TS: 25000 km/s 98 97 95 93 92 90 88 87 85 83
Point Defence Control AI S04 75-25000 (1) Max Range: 150,000 km TS: 25000 km/s 93 87 80 73 67 60 53 47 40 33
General Electrics Superheated MagCon (1) Total Power Output 25 Armour 0 Exp 20%
ECCM-2 (1) ECM 40
7. Don't go multipurpose on your ships - most of the time it won't work. The only dual purpose ships are my close range combatants who usually pack an extra fire control and PD turret for escort duties.
8. Adding AAM launchers on your missile ships . . . doesn't work that well. You are cutting from the mag space and tonnage. For AAM duty I use very cheap ships like this one in groups of 6 (you can build them in less than 6 months ). I don't worry about armor for them - even if they are detected and destroyed I can build 24 more in a couple of months.
Agamemnon class Missile Corvette 1,750 tons 195 Crew 573.14 BP TCS 35 TH 74.88 EM 0
8914 km/s Armour 1-12 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 9
Maint Life 5.95 Years MSP 256 AFR 19% IFR 0.3% 1YR 12 5YR 185 Max Repair 156 MSP
Magazine 102
Lockhead E6 HiT MCF Military Drive (2) Power 156.25 Fuel Use 60% Signature 37.5 Armour 0 Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 342.8 billion km (445 days at full power)
Size 1 Missile Launcher (9) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Interceptor Control AI FC38-R1 (1) Range 38.9m km Resolution 1
S1 C Interceptor 69.4k-4.5m-208.2% (102) Speed: 69,400 km/s End: 1.1m Range: 4.5m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 694 / 416 / 208
9. Formations . Most of the time I split my escort 'vettes in a circle 250k km to allow them one extra launch against missiles. I also keep my support and command ships about 200k to the back of the fleet , with two or three close range/heavy escorts 100km to the front . Once I close to beam range I will send my escort vettes 500k behind the main body to keep them safe , with all heavy escorts some distance ahead.
If I have to kite some really heavy missile salvoes I will send my vettes at least 500k towards the threat to allow them to engage the salvoes over more time.
10. Out-of-the-box designs. One thing I experimented with but was a b*tch to micromanage was having 1kt parasites with no engines , a tractor beam and a box of missiles . You attach them to your carriers and drag them along - and when you need them you can launch a MASSIVE ( 300 size 4 missiles / carrier ) salvo and then reload them in your hangars one or two at a time.
11. Jump point defences - use either stations or mines. Either way it's hard for me at least to keep track of them.
12. PDC . I usually go the massive route - and here you can use multipurpose designs since you are not limited by shipyard size. Here's one of my old designs that take about half a year to build for me :
Covington class Planetary Defence Centre 192,950 tons 9497 Crew 20698.2 BP TCS 3859 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 10-297 Sensors 1/360 Damage Control Rating 100 PPV 789.74
Hangar Deck Capacity 95000 tons Troop Capacity: 15 Battalions Magazine 2284
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range N/A
Quad R9/C5 Meson Cannon Turret (6x4) Range 90,000km TS: 12000 km/s Power 24-20 RM 9 ROF 10 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0
PDC Fire Control S16 450-25000 (1) Max Range: 900,000 km TS: 25000 km/s 99 98 97 96 94 93 92 91 90 89
Tokamak Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1.25 (2) Total Power Output 100 Armour 0 Exp 20%
S8 Heavy Missile EXR Rack (20) Missile Size 8 Rate of Fire 24000
Size 16 Missile Launcher (20) Missile Size 16 Rate of Fire 100
Size 4 Missile Launcher (40) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 25
S16 Capital Missile EXR Rack (10) Missile Size 16 Rate of Fire 48000
S16 Capital Missile XO Rack (10) Missile Size 16 Hangar Reload 120 minutes MF Reload 20 hours
S8 Heavy Missile XO Rack (20) Missile Size 8 Hangar Reload 60 minutes MF Reload 10 hours
Size 1 Missile Launcher (30) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Interceptor Control AI FC38-R1 (1) Range 38.9m km Resolution 1
Gravitic Long Range Scanner FC851-R120 (1) Range 851.8m km Resolution 120
Gravitic Active Scanner M708-R120 (1) GPS 43200 Range 709.8m km Resolution 120
This design is classed as a Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 78 sections
Yes , you can build em in sections and transport them.