Aurora 4x
VB6 Aurora => Bureau of Ship Design => Topic started by: dgibso29 on September 29, 2011, 10:11:02 PM
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First of all, Hi! I'm Admiral. . . though just about everyone on the internet tends to call me Dan. I picked up Aurora about a week ago and realized immediately that I found that game I had been looking for - I grew up on Homeworld, bounced over to Sins of a Solar Empire and, recently, Sword of the Stars(Excellent game), and ended up here. Now I can't go an hour without planning out my new fleet or my next expansion.
Anyway. I decided that I would start off with missile-armed gunboats, supported by dedicated gunboat tenders. I'm still very new to ship design in Aurora, and I would love for you guys to tear mine apart (don't be nice here!)
Here goes.
Long Beach class Support Vessel 9,600 tons 558 Crew 978.4 BP TCS 192 TH 125 EM 0
651 km/s Armour 1-40 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
Maint Life 3.95 Years MSP 1064 AFR 737% IFR 10.2% 1YR 108 5YR 1625 Max Repair 20.5 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 2500 tons Magazine 786
Nuclear Thermal Engine E10 (5) Power 25 Fuel Use 100% Signature 25 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres Range 93.7 billion km (1666 days at full power)
CIWS-50 (2x2) Range 1000 km TS: 5000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Sparrow Anti-ship Mk. 1 (196) Speed: 9,400 km/s End: 88.9m Range: 50.1m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 31 / 18 / 9
Active Search Sensor MR10-R100 (1) GPS 2000 Range 10.0m 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
Condor class Missile Boat 750 tons 54 Crew 92 BP TCS 15 TH 50 EM 0
3333 km/s Armour 1-7 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 3
Maint Life 9.78 Years MSP 38 AFR 9% IFR 0.1% 1YR 1 5YR 11 Max Repair 20 MSP
Magazine 20
GB Nuclear Thermal Engine E90 (1) Power 50 Fuel Use 900% Signature 50 Armour 0 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 2.7 billion km (9 days at full power)
Size 4 Box Launcher (5) Missile Size 4 Hangar Reload 30 minutes MF Reload 5 hours
Missile Fire Control FC30-R100 (1) Range 30.0m km Resolution 100
Sparrow Anti-ship Mk. 1 (5) Speed: 9,400 km/s End: 88.9m Range: 50.1m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 31 / 18 / 9
Active Search Sensor MR10-R100 (1) GPS 2000 Range 10.0m 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
In addition, they are to be supported by:
Pegasus class Tanker 7,300 tons 418 Crew 1193.5 BP TCS 146 TH 50 EM 0
342 km/s Armour 1-33 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 0
Maint Life 15.89 Years MSP 1204 AFR 213% IFR 3% 1YR 9 5YR 135 Max Repair 20.5 MSP
Nuclear Thermal Engine E10 (2) Power 25 Fuel Use 100% Signature 25 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 5,000,000 Litres Range 1231.2 billion km (41666 days at full power)
CIWS-50 (2x2) Range 1000 km TS: 5000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Active Search Sensor MR10-R100 (1) GPS 2000 Range 10.0m km Resolution 100
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
However, I am not too sure how to correctly design a collier. This is absolutely huge, and I just realized that is HUGE magazine, but, nonetheless.
Kingston class Collier 33,650 tons 1073 Crew 3756.9999 BP TCS 673 TH 50 EM 0
74 km/s Armour 1-92 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 4 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.7 Years MSP 2279 AFR 2264% IFR 31.5% 1YR 448 5YR 6716 Max Repair 20.5 MSP
Magazine 7860
Nuclear Thermal Engine E10 (2) Power 25 Fuel Use 100% Signature 25 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 13.3 billion km (2083 days at full power)
CIWS-50 (2x2) Range 1000 km TS: 5000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Sparrow Anti-ship Mk. 1 (1965) Speed: 9,400 km/s End: 88.9m Range: 50.1m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 31 / 18 / 9
Active Search Sensor MR10-R100 (1) GPS 2000 Range 10.0m 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
Any tips here would be excellent!
Thanks!
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Well, first off your speeds are painfully low. Most people don't make GB sized ships until they can get better speeds. You want them to be able to zip in, drop their load, zip out.
You've got a big difference in scanner range/missile range. You won't be able to see anything past 10 million km. Your missiles have an effective range of 30 million km (from the fire control).
The tender can only carry 3, and you end up with 250 tons wasted hangar space. Either build up to 3000 tons and drop in a 4th GB or redesign the GB. The collier is probably best left behind. You've got enough missiles on the tender for 13 reloads (and change). At a 30 minute recycle, you probably won't get more than 1, maybe 2 salvos off.
At the tech you are showing, your best bet is to skip the GB and go with a missile ship. Either way, more engines.
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The things the person above me said are all very true, especially the more engines bit. Even with the Nuclear Pulse Engines you probably want a speed of at least 2000 km/s, or else you'll spend years getting anywhere. Remember, space is BIG.
The missile gunboats could also use being split into two types. A 'leader' class with a reduced number of launchers and a better sensor, and the remainder with no sensor but a large number of launchers. Remember to match your fire control range to your sensor range. Also, your missiles have a huge endurance/range, but are very slow. I'd keep the WH strength of 4, but swap the missile fuel for more engine power until you've balanced it to have roughly the same range as your missile fire control (slightly over the fire control range in fact, just for situations where you're running an enemy down). Remember that a missile's accuracy is largely dependent on its speed.
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Okay, so, I need a tender that can make at least 2500 km/s flank speed, if not more. I need a Command gunboat, of sorts. Is the tanker a decent design?
Secondly, if I were to design a missile ship, what kind of armament should I be talking? My thought would be (I have NO idea the tonnage this would entail, just a thought) 40-80 XO mounted missiles (box launchers) and maybe. . . 20? Internal? More, less? What kind of speed? How do I set up an AMM system? Is such a system automated? (Not been in combat yet. ) How many CIWS? Any other tips?
Another question - Should I arm my survey ships? CIWS only? Or maybe a few missile launchers?
Thank you guys for the feedback so far. When I get home I will work on my designs and reply a bit more in-depth.
On unrelated question: Aurora crashes when I go to System Information (F9). It gives me several "Error 76" "Path not found planetjpeg\ha3. jpg. " Just a slight issue. Thanks!
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The tanker also needs a lot more speed. You should also consider switching it to commercial engines, that way it will be classed as a commercial vessel and require no maintenance (no point not having it as commercial, since it's not carrying guns or large sensors anyway). Also it doesn't need as much speed as the military vessels, but it does need enough that it can come meet them to refuel them without you waiting an unreasonable amount of time. That's a subjective thing of course, but there's no 'right' answer for that one imo.
For a missile ship you will generally want it to be able to use your jump tenders, so that provides a limit to how large you can let them get. Box launchers vs internal is down to design philosophy; personally I use all internal launchers on anything larger than a FAC so that I don't have to go home to reload, but there's a good argument for using a mix as well. Your ideal speed is "slightly faster than the other guy" and so is largely dependent on who/what you're fighting, but I would make sure it's at least as fast as anything else you have outside of FACs and fighters.
A typical AMM ship design will have 10-20 size 1 launchers, a speed to keep up with the rest of your fleet (maybe a little faster so it can move out in front), a sensor and MFC pair that can hit enemy missiles from at least 1 million km away, and a large enough magazine space to fire continually for 3-5 minutes. You can configure the AMM defense in the combat assignment window (it's fairly intuitive, you'll see), and once set up they automatically target and fire at incoming ordinance with no need to manually open fire. For your AMM you'll want a WH strength of 1, very small amount of fuel (it won't need to travel more than 2 million km generally), a whole lot of speed, and any agility you can spare. Play around with the agility/engine balance until you find what you feel is a good mix.
CIWS are usually used only on commercial (since they don't cause it to be labeled a military ship) and high-value military vessels like fleet sensor/command ships and carriers. For the main combatants you'll generally be better off saving the space, or else making a non-CIWS beam turret system to use in final defensive fire mode so that it can protect the entire task group, not just the mounting ship.
I don't personally arm my survey ships, as I find it makes them more expensive but doesn't actually increase their survivability. Others may feel differently.
As for the crashing issue, I don't think I've ever seen that one before, so I can't offer any advice.
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On unrelated question: Aurora crashes when I go to System Information (F9). It gives me several "Error 76" "Path not found planetjpeg\ha3. jpg. " Just a slight issue. Thanks!
Uhm, I believe I had this error earlier. Somewhere in your files are a few folders with various graphics, and they did not make it into the Aurora program folder. You just have to copy them over.
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You guys are giving me an awesome amount of feedback. Thank you!
I actually am starting a new game, now that I've spent a week figuring out what I am doing. I'm going to post my first military design in a bit, to see what you guys think.
What are your thoughts of Civie ships? I had a 25k capacity freighter, as well as a 75k capacity. I couldn't tell you the speeds, but they were sufficient for Earth/Mars and Earth/Titan runs. Also had a passenger design but it was not used by any of my lines.
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You guys are giving me an awesome amount of feedback. Thank you!
:)
What are your thoughts of Civie ships?
Could you be more specific?
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Well for one I meant to say 'on' not 'of,' for what difference it makes.
I just mean what do you guys feel is a good design for, say, a regular civilian freighter, or a colony ship. Just to hear what you have to say.
ALSO. Asteroid Miners: How should I design them? My design was just 1 module and that was essentially the entire ship.
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Well, for freighters there's not really much to them. I typically make sure their number of cargo holds is a multiple of 5 so that they can transport whole numbers of installations rather than pieces, and give them at least a 1:5 ratio of cargo handling systems so they don't spend all their time loading/unloading. I typically try to keep their speeds at around 1000 km/s per level of engine tech. But the thing is, all that is really dependent on what you want it to do. If you're going for moving installations long distances you'll want to put more emphasis on speed than on cargo handling, compared to moving installations between earth and mars where cargo handling will often give a larger benefit than increased speed. Or if you're using it to haul minerals it won't matter if your cargo holds are a multiple of 5, so you may end up with a speedy, fast-loading ship with less cargo space.
For asteroid miners I can't offer you any advice, I've never used them.
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Good, then I've been doing it right. Hard to go wrong though, I suppose, with freighters.
Anyway. . . I let it auto assign tech in my new game, and I was given Ion engines! Here's my missile ship. What's wrong with it? (Speed didn't want to go up without broaching 11 tons (my largest yard at the moment. ))
Mamba class Missile Destroyer 10,900 tons 936 Crew 1717.8 BP TCS 218 TH 540 EM 0
3302 km/s Armour 1-43 Shields 0-0 Sensors 18/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 30
Maint Life 2.32 Years MSP 1197 AFR 475% IFR 6.6% 1YR 303 5YR 4545 Max Repair 160 MSP
Magazine 486
Ion Engine E9 - EMCOM 75 (12) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 45 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 183.4 billion km (643 days at full power)
CIWS-120 (2x4) Range 1000 km TS: 12000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Size 4 ASM Missile Launcher (5) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
Size 1 AMM Missile Launcher (10) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 15
Missile Fire Control FC86-R100 (1) Range 86.4m km Resolution 100
Anti-Missile Fire Control FC9-R1 (1) Range 9.4m km Resolution 1
Lance Anti-missile Missile Mk. 1 (240) Speed: 20,000 km/s End: 10m Range: 12m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 100 / 60 / 30
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 2 (60) Speed: 18,000 km/s End: 81m Range: 87.5m km WH: 1 Size: 4 TH: 60 / 36 / 18
Anti-Missile Active Search Sensor MR9-R1 (1) GPS 160 Range 9.6m km Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR96-R100 (1) GPS 16000 Range 96.0m km Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH3-18 (1) Sensitivity 18 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 18m km
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
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Good, then I've been doing it right. Hard to go wrong though, I suppose, with freighters.
Anyway. . . I let it auto assign tech in my new game, and I was given Ion engines! Here's my missile ship. What's wrong with it? (Speed didn't want to go up without broaching 11 tons (my largest yard at the moment. ))
Mamba class Missile Destroyer 10,900 tons 936 Crew 1717.8 BP TCS 218 TH 540 EM 0
3302 km/s Armour 1-43 Shields 0-0 Sensors 18/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 30
Maint Life 2.32 Years MSP 1197 AFR 475% IFR 6.6% 1YR 303 5YR 4545 Max Repair 160 MSP
Magazine 486
Ion Engine E9 - EMCOM 75 (12) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 45 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 183.4 billion km (643 days at full power)
CIWS-120 (2x4) Range 1000 km TS: 12000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Size 4 ASM Missile Launcher (5) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
Size 1 AMM Missile Launcher (10) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 15
Missile Fire Control FC86-R100 (1) Range 86.4m km Resolution 100
Anti-Missile Fire Control FC9-R1 (1) Range 9.4m km Resolution 1
Lance Anti-missile Missile Mk. 1 (240) Speed: 20,000 km/s End: 10m Range: 12m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 100 / 60 / 30
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 2 (60) Speed: 18,000 km/s End: 81m Range: 87.5m km WH: 1 Size: 4 TH: 60 / 36 / 18
Anti-Missile Active Search Sensor MR9-R1 (1) GPS 160 Range 9.6m km Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR96-R100 (1) GPS 16000 Range 96.0m km Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH3-18 (1) Sensitivity 18 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 18m km
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
You are probably better off splitting this design into 2 ships. An offensive ship with the size 4 missiles, and escort with the size 1. Mixed role ships tend to not be as good as they sound.
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Fair enough. Done.
Mamba class Missile Destroyer 7,950 tons 619 Crew 1223.9 BP TCS 159 TH 540 EM 0
4528 km/s Armour 1-35 Shields 0-0 Sensors 18/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 10
Maint Life 2.37 Years MSP 1096 AFR 505% IFR 7% 1YR 266 5YR 3988 Max Repair 160 MSP
Magazine 238
Ion Engine E9 - EMCOM 75 (12) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 45 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 900,000 Litres Range 226.4 billion km (578 days at full power)
CIWS-120 (2x4) Range 1000 km TS: 12000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Size 1 AMM Missile Launcher (10) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 15
Missile Fire Control FC86-R100 (1) Range 86.4m km Resolution 100
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 2 (59) Speed: 18,000 km/s End: 81m Range: 87.5m km WH: 1 Size: 4 TH: 60 / 36 / 18
Active Search Sensor MR96-R100 (1) GPS 16000 Range 96.0m km Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH3-18 (1) Sensitivity 18 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 18m km
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
Cottonmouth class Destroyer Escort 7,350 tons 595 Crew 1174.1 BP TCS 147 TH 540 EM 0
4897 km/s Armour 1-33 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 10
Maint Life 2.52 Years MSP 1100 AFR 432% IFR 6% 1YR 242 5YR 3624 Max Repair 160 MSP
Magazine 238
Ion Engine E9 - EMCOM 75 (12) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 45 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 900,000 Litres Range 244.9 billion km (578 days at full power)
CIWS-120 (1x4) Range 1000 km TS: 12000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Size 1 AMM Missile Launcher (10) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 15
Anti-Missile Fire Control FC9-R1 (1) Range 9.4m km Resolution 1
Lance Anti-missile Missile Mk. 1 (238) Speed: 20,000 km/s End: 10m Range: 12m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 100 / 60 / 30
Anti-Missile Active Search Sensor MR9-R1 (1) GPS 160 Range 9.6m km Resolution 1
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
My next though is to have a Command ship of sorts, in addition to a Collier/Tanker. I assume a Collier must have Magazine space, not just have missiles in its' cargo? Also, can a single command ship house the sensors for all of the Mamba's?
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Missile design.
Your Sparrow ASM while fast and having long range... is nothing more than a big AMM.
Cut the range down to 50m km or so and put the space into warhead.
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Okay, I wasn't sure on that - I was trying to make sure the missile could hit as far as the fire control could see. Easy fix.
Any other issues?
Edit: Missile Size: 4 MSP (0.2 HS) Warhead: 3 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 18000 km/s Endurance: 46 minutes Range: 50.0m km
Cost Per Missile: 1.95
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 180% 3k km/s 60% 5k km/s 36% 10k km/s 18%
More along those lines? Or should I reduce speed in favor of warhead?
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Ok, let's see... Oh, mandatory disclaimer: these are my opinions on your design, others may feel differently.
Maintenance is good (2-2.5 years is usually tons) but you have way more fuel than you need. One year of fuel should be enough since a lot of the time you won't actually be moving. The speed is decent for ion engines. Your armor is very weak, but as long as you never get hit it should be fine. Just be aware that the moment you start taking any damage you're going to be in trouble.
The magazine space is good as well; not too much, not too little.
Ditch the CIWS. It can only defend a ship it's mounted on and not the rest of the fleet, so you're better off using the space for more AMM launchers if you want increased defense since those will help cover every nearby ship.
Split the ship into 2 classes unless you're planning to run them on solo missions. Make one a dedicated AMM ship and the other a dedicated ASM ship. Right now you're devoting a huge portion of your hull space to sensors and fire controls in order to do both jobs. A dedicated ASM ship and a dedicated AMM ship will almost certainly get better results than a pair of hybrids.
In the same vein, you've got a decent number of AMM launchers, but a very low throw weight for anti-ship duty. Five ASM launchers isn't very many, especially on a 10k ton vessel. If you really want a hybrid ship you can probably manage it if you convert the CIWS tonnage to ASM launchers.
The AMMs have more range than they can use, are a bit slow, and have a poor hit rate against high speed targets (like other missiles). I'd consider dropping their fuel to 1/3 or 1/4 of what it currently is, and using the extra space for more agility and speed.
The ASMs have huge range which is nice, but the middling speed and low accuracy hurts. Then again you're at low tech levels so there's not a whole lot you can do about it if you want that kind of range. The big problem with them is the warhead; strength 1 just doesn't cut it. For a size 4 missile you should try to have at least a strength 4 warhead. That will let you penetrate through a single layer of armour, so weakly armoured enemies will take internal damage right away. As a side note, missiles deal damage in a triangle template. The depth of armour they reach is equal to the square root of the warhead strength (so 1-3 only damages the first layer of armor, 4-8 will damage into the second layer, 9-15 third, 16-24 fourth, etc).
That's all the stuff that jumps out at me right away.
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What range should I be shooting for in a AMM?
This is my Mk. 2 Design
Missile Size: 1 MSP (0.05 HS) Warhead: 1 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 16
Speed: 20000 km/s Endurance: 7 minutes Range: 8.0m km
Cost Per Missile: 0.7333
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 320% 3k km/s 96% 5k km/s 64% 10k km/s 32%
Materials Required: 0.25x Tritanium 0.2273x Gallicite Fuel x100
Another quick question: Is it possible to refit ships? Ie - Take my first Mamba and update it to the Mamba Mod 1 design? (Improved weapons, etc. )
ANOTHER question. . . Hyper engines or no? They drop the Mamba's speed a full 1000 km/s. . . Why should I use Hyper engines if they decrease speed? Tactical advantage?
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For AMMs I would try for a range of 1 million km tops at your tech level. Consider:
You have an active sensor with a range of 9 million km and a resolution of 1. That means that a size 4 missile like your ASM won't be detected until well within 1 million km, and then after you launch your AMM it doesn't even need to travel that distance since the ASM is heading towards it at high speed as well.
I've never used hyper engines, but my from what I understand they let you move at hyperspeed outside of stellar gravity wells. Not sure how useful they are for anything other than getting around in large solar systems.
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Ohyeah. I forgot what the resolution represented. So much to learn, so many mistakes to make!
Mk. 3
Missile Size: 1 MSP (0.05 HS) Warhead: 1 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 14
Speed: 22600 km/s Endurance: 1 minutes Range: 1.0m km
Cost Per Missile: 0.7267
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 316.4% 3k km/s 98% 5k km/s 63.3% 10k km/s 31.6%
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Looks okay, the chance to hit a high speed target still sucks, but not a whole lot you can do about that at a starting tech level.
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Excellent. Thank you guys very much! I am probably going to continue to annoy you through the next weeks as I try to design gunboats (again) and carriers and more advanced warships. Always nice to have some feedback to set you straight.
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What range should I be shooting for in a AMM?
This is my Mk. 2 Design
Missile Size: 1 MSP (0.05 HS) Warhead: 1 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 16
Speed: 20000 km/s Endurance: 7 minutes Range: 8.0m km
Cost Per Missile: 0.7333
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 320% 3k km/s 96% 5k km/s 64% 10k km/s 32%
Materials Required: 0.25x Tritanium 0.2273x Gallicite Fuel x100
Another quick question: Is it possible to refit ships? Ie - Take my first Mamba and update it to the Mamba Mod 1 design? (Improved weapons, etc. )
ANOTHER question. . . Hyper engines or no? They drop the Mamba's speed a full 1000 km/s. . . Why should I use Hyper engines if they decrease speed? Tactical advantage?
It is possible to refit ships. You need to assign the Mamba M1 design to the shipyard first, then order it to refit any Mambas in orbit.
Hype engines allow you to get to distant binaries in a faster than "forever" time. However, unless there is something really good over there (0.0 world) I tend to ignore distant binaries without LP.
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For AMMs I would try for a range of 1 million km tops at your tech level. Consider:
You have an active sensor with a range of 9 million km and a resolution of 1. That means that a size 4 missile like your ASM won't be detected until well within 1 million km, and then after you launch your AMM it doesn't even need to travel that distance since the ASM is heading towards it at high speed as well.
I've never used hyper engines, but my from what I understand they let you move at hyperspeed outside of stellar gravity wells. Not sure how useful they are for anything other than getting around in large solar systems.
Realize that AMMs can be used offensively also. High rate of fire and high salvo counts tend to overwhelm defenses and sandblast armor off. Very useful when you've expended your ASM and the OpFor isn't shooting back.
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Realize that AMMs can be used offensively also. High rate of fire and high salvo counts tend to overwhelm defenses and sandblast armor off. Very useful when you've expended your ASM and the OpFor isn't shooting back.
True, but at the starting tech level an AMM with 1 million km range is still fine for this since it'll still out-range any opposing beam weapons. And any extra agility/speed he can get from shortening the range should pay dividends.
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Okay, my first production runs of Mambas and Cottonmouths has begun.
Next question: What does a Command ship consist of in Aurora? Will my King Cobra class Destroyer Leader be a specialized sensor vessel? Or will it merely be a Mamba with an larger sensor and maybe an additional launcher or two, plus a flag bridge? I was thinking ideally of running squadrons of 2 DDG/2 DE/1 DDL (Do not know the Destroyer Leader designation), plus a tanker and possible a collier.
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A typical command ship will have a Flag Bridge and some giant sensors. My current fleet flag ship in my game for example has no guns, but carries 12 layers of armour with a pair of CIWS (as it's big and the sensors are a giant shoot-me sign), with four sensors. One 160 resolution sensor for detecting ships at up to a 2.5 billion km, another 20 resolution sensor for detecting FACs at up to 500 million km, and a pair of large passive sensors.
The idea is that the command ship carries sensors and a flag bridge so you get the benefit of your task force commanders no matter where you go, and your hitters don't need to carry their own sensors so they have more space for weapons and armour.
Heimdallr II Mod A class Command Ship 26,850 tons 2317 Crew 8655.5 BP TCS 537 TH 1330 EM 0
7076 km/s Armour 12-79 Shields 0-0 Sensors 560/560/0/0 Damage Control Rating 40 PPV 0
Annual Failure Rate: 144% IFR: 2% Maint Capacity 8059 MSP Max Repair 1400 MSP Est Time: 2.33 Years
Flag Bridge
Internal Confinement Fusion Drive E5 (38) Power 100 Fuel Use 50% Signature 35 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 850,000 Litres Range 114.0 billion km (186 days at full power)
CIWS-250 (2x8) Range 1000 km TS: 25000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Wide Field Active Search Sensor MR2479-R160 (1) GPS 224000 Range 2,479.2m km Resolution 160
Small Craft Area Search Sensor MR525-R20 (1) GPS 16800 Range 525.9m km Resolution 20
High-Grade Thermal Sensor TH40-560 (1) Sensitivity 560 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 560m km
High-Grade EM Detection Sensor EM40-560 (1) Sensitivity 560 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 560m km
ECM 20
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
That's a bit of an extreme example since it's designed to run around with carrier groups, but for a destroyer leader I'd apply the same principles on a smaller scale. I'd probably not bother with a Flag Bridge for a small squad of destroyers like that, but I'd try to include a jump drive so the squadron isn't limited by jump gates.
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King Cobra class Destroyer Leader 11,250 tons 891 Crew 1914.3 BP TCS 225 TH 540 EM 0
3200 km/s Armour 4-44 Shields 0-0 Sensors 90/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 20
Maint Life 1.23 Years MSP 1106 AFR 1012% IFR 14.1% 1YR 759 5YR 11391 Max Repair 240 MSP
Flag Bridge Magazine 248
Ion Engine E9 - EMCOM 75 (12) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 45 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 600,000 Litres Range 106.7 billion km (385 days at full power)
CIWS-120 (2x4) Range 1000 km TS: 12000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Size 4 ASM Missile Launcher (5) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
Missile Fire Control FC86-R100 (1) Range 86.4m km Resolution 100
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 3 (67) Speed: 18,000 km/s End: 46.3m Range: 50m km WH: 3 Size: 4 TH: 60 / 36 / 18
Active Area Search Sensor MR170-R140 (1) GPS 33600 Range 170.4m km Resolution 140
Active Broad Fighter Search Sensor MR64-R20 (1) GPS 4800 Range 64.4m km Resolution 20
Passive Area Search Sensor TH15-90 (1) Sensitivity 90 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 90m km
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
Thoughts?
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Looks good, just make sure it's fast enough to keep up with your other destroyers. If you need to you could ditch the res 20 sensor, it's not quite as important for a destroyer group to detect FACs at long range as it is for a carrier group.
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Armor is very important. Speed is very important. If you play with maintenance on, maintenance is very important.
Try to build your freighters with as high a speed as you can manage. You'll thank yourself decades later when civilian fleets are still running around with those old designs (the civies never upgrade, they only buy new ships), since the freighter companies only make money by trips where they can haul things (and the more money the freighters make the more you can tax them).
When designing missiles and sensors, try to make the range for one match the other, or better yet have a greater sensor range than the missile. I haven't yet mastered this trick. Doesn't do you much good to have a missile with twice the range of the sensor, since you can't fire until your fire control sees the enemy. Use the space instead for speed and agility, the combination makes it harder to swat the missile out of the sky.
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Darn, most of what I had to say has already been said, but I have typed it in notepad, so I might as well post it anyway.
I´d like to put in my two cent too :)
In general:
No armor/no shields. Your ships will go down when the enemy is looking angry at them. This is not an ideal way to build a warship ;)
Your fuel tanks are quite large, I guess, you could get away with half as much (maybe even less)
CIWS: Assuming those ships work in squadrons, you´d be better off with a PD-turret, as every turret in the squadron/fleet will shoot at any enemy missile, while the CIWS will only shoot on those missiles attacking the ship carrying it.
The Mamba:
The ship is carrying size-4 ASMs, but mounts size-1 AMM launchers. This ships first engagement will not go well ;) <-- I think no-one mentioned this one
Your ASMs have ok speed and good range, but hit the enemy like a ball of wet tissue paper. A somewhat stronger warhead might be in order.
Cottonmouth:
You´ve got 10 AMM launchers, but only a single AMM-MFC. This means, you can only engage one hostile missile salvo every 5-second increment. Personally, I go for 1 MFC per 4 to 5 launchers.
Your AMMs will have a very, veeeery hard time, hitting your own ASMs (15% to-hit chance). This is not good. I am not sure, you can improve this by a lot with your current tech. If this is the case, it might be wise to research a bit further, before investing heavily into AMMs that can´t hit a thing.
King Cobra:
Looks good, even if armor is on the light side for a command ship/fleet scout.
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I actually caught the incorrect launcher size a while back, Hawkeye, but, good catch!
At the moment I am limited by tech and yard size - I can't get significantly faster without getting significantly bigger. I am going to sacrifice some fuel space and design a tanker, and then post the updated designs.
Same with the missiles - I'm researching upgrades on them right now, but at the moment they are about the best I can do. However, on that grain, could someone explain their understanding of what the hit chance statistics mean? Just so I can be sure I am clear on them.
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Mamba class Missile Destroyer 9,350 tons 903 Crew 1381.9 BP TCS 187 TH 630 EM 0
4491 km/s Armour 4-39 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 40
Maint Life 1.97 Years MSP 1092 AFR 699% IFR 9.7% 1YR 372 5YR 5576 Max Repair 160 MSP
Magazine 268
Ion Engine E9 - EMCOM 75 (14) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 45 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 300,000 Litres Range 64.2 billion km (165 days at full power)
Size 4 ASM Missile Launcher (10) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
Missile Fire Control FC86-R100 (1) Range 86.4m km Resolution 100
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 3 (67) Speed: 18,000 km/s End: 46.3m Range: 50m km WH: 3 Size: 4 TH: 60 / 36 / 18
Active Search Sensor MR96-R100 (1) GPS 16000 Range 96.0m 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
Cottonmouth class Destroyer Escort 7,800 tons 615 Crew 1254.9 BP TCS 156 TH 630 EM 0
5384 km/s Armour 4-35 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 10
Maint Life 2.23 Years MSP 1101 AFR 486% IFR 6.8% 1YR 297 5YR 4460 Max Repair 160 MSP
Magazine 238
Ion Engine E9 - EMCOM 75 (14) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 45 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 300,000 Litres Range 76.9 billion km (165 days at full power)
Size 1 AMM Missile Launcher (10) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 15
Anti-Missile Fire Control FC9-R1 (2) Range 9.4m km Resolution 1
Lance Anti-missile Missile Mk. 3 (238) Speed: 22,600 km/s End: 0.7m Range: 1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 105 / 63 / 31
Anti-Missile Active Search Sensor MR9-R1 (1) GPS 160 Range 9.6m km Resolution 1
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
King Cobra class Destroyer Leader 11,400 tons 954 Crew 1840.1 BP TCS 228 TH 810 EM 0
4736 km/s Armour 4-45 Shields 0-0 Sensors 90/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 20
Maint Life 2.22 Years MSP 1202 AFR 519% IFR 7.2% 1YR 330 5YR 4945 Max Repair 240 MSP
Flag Bridge Magazine 248
Ion Engine E9 - EMCOM 75 (18) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 45 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 400,000 Litres Range 70.2 billion km (171 days at full power)
CIWS-120 (1x4) Range 1000 km TS: 12000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Size 4 ASM Missile Launcher (5) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
Missile Fire Control FC86-R100 (1) Range 86.4m km Resolution 100
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 3 (62) Speed: 18,000 km/s End: 46.3m Range: 50m km WH: 3 Size: 4 TH: 60 / 36 / 18
Active Area Search Sensor MR170-R140 (1) GPS 33600 Range 170.4m km Resolution 140
Passive Area Search Sensor TH15-90 (1) Sensitivity 90 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 90m km
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
Alaska class Tanker 21,850 tons 645 Crew 2006 BP TCS 437 TH 1125 EM 0
3432 km/s Armour 5-69 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 5 PPV 0
MSP 287 Max Repair 47 MSP
Ion Engine CE0.9 - EMCOM 75 (10) Power 150 Fuel Use 9% Signature 112.5 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 5,000,000 Litres Range 4576.0 billion km (15432 days at full power)
CIWS-120 (2x4) Range 1000 km TS: 12000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Okay, other than the limitations in my missile design, thoughts?
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Your DDL is going to be the first target due to size for any AI ships. Might take that into consideration too.
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Your ships are actually darn fast, given you are using ion engines. Personally, I would sacrifice quite some speed for more armor/weapons/magazines.
My own doctrin asks for 1 engine per 1.000t or 25% of mass used for engines. Your ships have dedicated between 37 and 45% to engines. Now, being able to close with the enemy or evade the enemy is all good and well, personally, I prefere to crush them with superior firepower :)
Another thing is the quite different speeds, your ships can reach. If they are supposed to work together, having similar speeds makes sense. If you want to put your DEs between your main group and the enemy by detatching them, they should be a bit faster but not by a whole lot.
There is actually a command to do that.
F12 screen, 2nd tab (Special Orders/Organistation). Select the ship you want to detatch, hit "Escort". The ship will form its own TG. Now, on the left, there is the "Protect Threat Axis" menue. Here you can set how far out and to which direction the escort will try to stay from the main fleet. If you want a DE to be 100.000km forward and somewhat to the right, you select "Distance:" 100.000 km and "Offset:" to 20° clockwise.
Be sure to hit "Save escorts" once you are done. After you have finished with all escorts, hit "Recall escorts." Now all your escorts will join the main fleet again. Whenever you need the escorts detatched again, just hit "Deploy Escorts" an all the escorts you saved, will automaticaly deploy and try to get into their assigned position.
Note: Fleet training is vitaly important for the escorts to perform well or they will be scattered all over the place.
Magazine space seems a bit low.
Less than 7 salvos for your DDG is unlikely to be enough. My own rule of thumb: 15 to 20 salvos are a target, 10 salvos an absolute minimum.
Your DE is a bit better, but belive me, you will go through your AMMs stock like there is no tomorrow. Raising mag-space to 35+ salvos might be a good idea.
The tanker looks fine, well armored, but what the heck. Personally, I allways put a ton of maintenance supplies on my tankers, so they double as supply ships.
To make a collier, just put a crapload of magazines on the ship. Be aware, however, that magazines are considered military components, so the collier will be a military ship and require maintenance.
Make sure to tick the "Tanker" "Supply Ship" and "Collier" checkboxes, so they can actualle reload/refuel your combat ships.
As Erik says, your DL is the biggest ship with the biggest active sensor, making it _THE_ missile magnet of your fleet. upping the armor might not be such a bad idea ;)
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Well, I will play with it a bit more.
Should I replace the King Cobra's ASMs with AMMs? Do you feel that 2 Mambas/2 Cottonmouths/1 King Cobra is an effective early game squadron?
Separate question: I am considering creating a class of "Heavy" Survey Cruisers - As in, I build a Flotilla of 3-5 of these, send them in a system, and can expect them to, if nothing else, make a fighting withdraw if any hostile contact is made. IE, Has a few AMM and ASM launchers, speed, armour, etc.
Another question: Is it feasible to have a "survey fighter" of sorts? I am considering giving these Cruisers (Or maybe a Command variant) a 3k ton hangar bay to house a squadron of 9 250t fighters and 1 750t gunboat (Sensor platform?).
Am I an idiot, or is that an awesome idea?
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The survey GB idea pops up every once and a while. I think most people opt out of it because they have "full ship" designs from early game by the time they get to building decent GB.
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Redesigned ships. Increased mag space, reduced armor a bit but I rely on my AMM systems to survive.
Cottonmouth class Destroyer Escort 8,000 tons 620 Crew 1276.4 BP TCS 160 TH 585 EM 0
4875 km/s Armour 2-35 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 10
Maint Life 1.93 Years MSP 1100 AFR 512% IFR 7.1% 1YR 385 5YR 5771 Max Repair 160 MSP
Magazine 466
Ion Engine E9 - EMCOM 75 (13) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 45 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 300,000 Litres Range 75.0 billion km (178 days at full power)
Size 1 AMM Missile Launcher (10) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 15
Anti-Missile Fire Control FC9-R1 (2) Range 9.4m km Resolution 1
Lance Anti-missile Missile Mk. 3 (466) Speed: 22,600 km/s End: 0.7m Range: 1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 105 / 63 / 31
Anti-Missile Active Search Sensor MR9-R1 (1) GPS 160 Range 9.6m km Resolution 1
King Cobra class Destroyer Leader 11,400 tons 954 Crew 1840.1 BP TCS 228 TH 810 EM 0
4736 km/s Armour 4-45 Shields 0-0 Sensors 90/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 20
Maint Life 2.22 Years MSP 1202 AFR 519% IFR 7.2% 1YR 330 5YR 4945 Max Repair 240 MSP
Flag Bridge Magazine 248
Ion Engine E9 - EMCOM 75 (18) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 45 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 400,000 Litres Range 70.2 billion km (171 days at full power)
CIWS-120 (1x4) Range 1000 km TS: 12000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Size 4 ASM Missile Launcher (5) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
Missile Fire Control FC86-R100 (1) Range 86.4m km Resolution 100
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 3 (62) Speed: 18,000 km/s End: 46.3m Range: 50m km WH: 3 Size: 4 TH: 60 / 36 / 18
Active Area Search Sensor MR170-R140 (1) GPS 33600 Range 170.4m km Resolution 140
Passive Area Search Sensor TH15-90 (1) Sensitivity 90 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 90m km
Mamba class Missile Destroyer 10,200 tons 983 Crew 1512 BP TCS 204 TH 720 EM 0
4705 km/s Armour 2-41 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 40
Maint Life 1.53 Years MSP 1093 AFR 832% IFR 11.6% 1YR 529 5YR 7941 Max Repair 160 MSP
Magazine 496
Ion Engine E9 - EMCOM 75 (16) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 45 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 300,000 Litres Range 58.8 billion km (144 days at full power)
Size 4 ASM Missile Launcher (10) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
Missile Fire Control FC86-R100 (1) Range 86.4m km Resolution 100
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 3 (124) Speed: 18,000 km/s End: 46.3m Range: 50m km WH: 3 Size: 4 TH: 60 / 36 / 18
Active Search Sensor MR96-R100 (1) GPS 16000 Range 96.0m km Resolution 100
What about the fighters? I don't have the tech yet to experiment. And the battle-group itself - Is it worth it to build a survey flotilla consisting of 3-5 of those ships + a supply vessel (or two)?
How does cloaking work? It would be beneficial to have a tanker that can cloak (For the above survey flotilla).
Collier:
Gibraltar class Collier 14,850 tons 655 Crew 1935 BP TCS 297 TH 450 EM 0
2020 km/s Armour 1-53 Shields 0-0 Sensors 18/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 4 PPV 0
Maint Life 3.76 Years MSP 1326 AFR 441% IFR 6.1% 1YR 147 5YR 2203 Max Repair 38 MSP
Magazine 2280
Ion Engine E9 - EMCOM 75 (10) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 45 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 33.7 billion km (192 days at full power)
CIWS-120 (2x4) Range 1000 km TS: 12000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 3 (320) Speed: 18,000 km/s End: 46.3m Range: 50m km WH: 3 Size: 4 TH: 60 / 36 / 18
Lance Anti-missile Missile Mk. 3 (1000) Speed: 22,600 km/s End: 0.7m Range: 1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 105 / 63 / 31
Thermal Sensor TH3-18 (1) Sensitivity 18 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 18m km
Thoughts?
Edit: Is this a bit TOO ridiculous for an OWP? I envision just one of these commanding the skies of Earth.
Guardian class Orbital Weapon Platform 90,700 tons 5010 Crew 11235 BP TCS 1814 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 5-179 Sensors 90/240 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 250
Flag Bridge Hangar Deck Capacity 10000 tons Troop Capacity: 3 Battalions Magazine 11650
Fuel Capacity 3,000,000 Litres Range N/A
Size 4 ASM Missile Launcher (50) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
Size 1 AMM Missile Launcher (50) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 15
Missile Fire Control FC86-R100 (5) Range 86.4m km Resolution 100
Anti-Missile Fire Control FC9-R1 (5) Range 9.4m km Resolution 1
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 3 (2162) Speed: 18,000 km/s End: 46.3m Range: 50m km WH: 3 Size: 4 TH: 60 / 36 / 18
Lance Anti-missile Missile Mk. 3 (3002) Speed: 22,600 km/s End: 0.7m Range: 1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 105 / 63 / 31
Anti-Missile Active Search Sensor MR9-R1 (1) GPS 160 Range 9.6m km Resolution 1
Active Area Search Sensor MR170-R140 (1) GPS 33600 Range 170.4m km Resolution 140
Active Broad Fighter Search Sensor MR64-R20 (1) GPS 4800 Range 64.4m km Resolution 20
Passive Area Search Sensor TH15-90 (1) Sensitivity 90 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 90m km
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 Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 37 sections
Was just experimenting.
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I'd drop the weapons, magazines, and fire control from the King Cobra for more armor (as the largest ship with the most powerful sensors it's going to be a fire magnet).
I'd also drop the active sensors from the Mambas since the point of a command/sensor ship is that your other combatants can rely on its sensors for targeting with their fire controls, and thus fit more guns/ammo in the saved space. I'd leave the active sensors on the escorts like you've got though, as they'll need to handle their own missile spotting if you want to put them out in front of the fleet in an interdiction formation.
The collier looks decent. Just a thought, but you may want to give it a large fuel capacity so it can pull double-duty as a tanker/collier for your fleet.
The OWP is a bit wonky. It doesn't have shields so doesn't need any fuel (anything landing on it can just refuel from the planet). The passive sensors are a bit pointless, as planetary sensors are more powerful. It's also huge and will eat a lot of minerals in upkeep (not to mention having to build a lot of maintenance facilities to be able to service it). You'd likely be better off building it as a land-based PDC so that you can avoid the maintenance issues and the need for a giant shipyard.
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I like using survey GBs, but they do have their limitations. Especially when you encounter a very large system with planets and survey points spread out a lot. When the survey GB runs out of fuel, it's usually annoying to fix it because more often than not the GB is out beyond a point that you can go out with another GB and transfer enough fuel to get it back - your refuel run GB has to make several trips.
However survey GBs are a lot faster and usually get small systems done quickly.
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Separate question: I am considering creating a class of "Heavy" Survey Cruisers - As in, I build a Flotilla of 3-5 of these, send them in a system, and can expect them to, if nothing else, make a fighting withdraw if any hostile contact is made. IE, Has a few AMM and ASM launchers, speed, armour, etc.
Another question: Is it feasible to have a "survey fighter" of sorts? I am considering giving these Cruisers (Or maybe a Command variant) a 3k ton hangar bay to house a squadron of 9 250t fighters and 1 750t gunboat (Sensor platform?).
I don't do the "heavy survey cruisers" for one simple reason: Losing a single fleet of heavy survey vessels would amount to the same resource cost as losing nearly a dozen of my small disposable vessels. This is especially true early on when you're still using low level engines and will be unable to escape most enemies.
Not sure how useful "survey fighters" would be due to the high fuel cost associated with fighter engines.
My personal preference is to go for smaller (3k tons with initial tech, 2k once you get better sensors/jump engines) combined vessels that are left to survey systems alone. This minimizes my potential loses and, even when I do lose a vessel, it's no big loss.
I wouldn't worry about cloaking early on as the RP would be better spent elsewhere.
Not really a big fan of giant OWPs as they require a significant investment in a military shipyard, maintenance facilities, and require constant upkeep. I'd just stick with PDCs, especially if you're only using weapons that don't suffer from atmosphere interference.
As I have limited experience with missiles, I can't comment on your general ship design besides this: You're definitely on the heavy side re:engines and light re:armor. As Hawkeye mentioned, earmarking 25% (one per 1000tons) of your total HS to engines is a good baseline for missile based fleets. Beams would do well with a bit more as they don't have the range of missiles, but that's not the situation here. That's not to say that you can't use more, but you'll be making significant sacrifices to get that speed.
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Dumb question: How do I designate it as Land-based?
I am wary of dropping the sensors from my Mamba's. If the Cobra goes down, they are in the dark. But, hey, why not?
The Collier is to work in conjunction with a Tanker/Supply ship combo. I don't have the yard space to build the Collier as is, much less with extra fuel.
As for Speed vs. Armour... If I can outrun him, I don't need to armour. Granted, I have no experience with NPRs. I have no clue what to expect. But I like it that way. What better way to learn how to better design my vessels than a nice cluster of nuclear detonations?
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I like using survey GBs, but they do have their limitations. Especially when you encounter a very large system with planets and survey points spread out a lot. When the survey GB runs out of fuel, it's usually annoying to fix it because more often than not the GB is out beyond a point that you can go out with another GB and transfer enough fuel to get it back - your refuel run GB has to make several trips.
However survey GBs are a lot faster and usually get small systems done quickly.
Have you considered using regular military engines on the survey FACs instead of the GB engines to make them more fuel efficient? I mean, since you don't really need the space for a bunch of guns or anything. Maybe something like -
New Class class Survey Corvette 900 tons 87 Crew 318 BP TCS 18 TH 70 EM 0
11111 km/s Armour 1-8 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/1/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Annual Failure Rate: 12% IFR: 0.2% Maint Capacity 110 MSP Max Repair 100 MSP Est Time: 3.62 Years
Internal Confinement Fusion Drive E5 (2) Power 100 Fuel Use 50% Signature 35 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 75,000 Litres Range 300.0 billion km (312 days at full power)
Gravitational Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
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Am I an idiot, or is that an awesome idea?
I have used gravitational survey fighters in the past. It worked but it also involved a lot of micromanagement because of the high fuel cost.
Steve
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In the class design window there's a drop down menu at the top labeled "Type", click on that and set it to PDC. PDCs are built by construction factories rather than shipyards, but are land based. You can prefab sections of them though and then ship those to other worlds and assemble them with engineering brigades for the cost of a few minerals. Also, you can create PDC-only missile launchers that fire twice as fast.
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In the class design window there's a drop down menu at the top labeled "Type", click on that and set it to PDC. PDCs are built by construction factories rather than shipyards, but are land based. You can prefab sections of them though and then ship those to other worlds and assemble them with engineering brigades for the cost of a few minerals. Also, you can create PDC-only missile launchers that fire twice as fast.
Ahh. I already did that, actually. It was my understanding that a PDC designated an orbital station. (Although I wasn't too sure.) Excellent.
I am going to design a heavier survey class. Although it IS more expensive... I would rather have some power in a system if I need it.
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The thing about heavy survey ships is that they're still almost always flying solo, like tiny survey ships. And that means if you run into something nasty, you're probably going to lose the ship either way. At least that's been my experience.
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I plan to operate them as 3-5 ship flotillas. 1 Command cruiser, 3 Missile Cruisers, one Support. So 3 classes total, all the same tonnage (theoretically). I will still send out single ships of my basic class, but the theory is that one of these Flotillas will be the one to make contact.
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Oh, gotcha. Should be interesting.
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I will post the designs once I get them all figured out and the right techs acquired.
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Command ship (Note hangar space - 9 fighters, 1 gunboat)
Apollo class Survey Command Cruiser 17,000 tons 1312 Crew 2912.3 BP TCS 340 TH 1350 EM 0
5294 km/s Armour 1-58 Shields 0-0 Sensors 90/1/1/1 Damage Control Rating 6 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.95 Years MSP 1642 AFR 385% IFR 5.4% 1YR 280 5YR 4200 Max Repair 240 MSP
Flag Bridge Hangar Deck Capacity 3000 tons Magazine 228
Ion Engine E9 - EMCOM 75 (30) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 45 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 950,000 Litres Range 111.8 billion km (244 days at full power)
Active Broad Fighter Search Sensor MR64-R20 (1) GPS 4800 Range 64.4m km Resolution 20
Active Area Search Sensor MR170-R140 (1) GPS 33600 Range 170.4m km Resolution 140
Passive Area Search Sensor TH15-90 (1) Sensitivity 90 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 90m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour
Geological Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Heavies
Artemis class Heavy Survey Cruiser 17,000 tons 1248 Crew 2623.9 BP TCS 340 TH 1350 EM 0
5294 km/s Armour 6-58 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/1/1 Damage Control Rating 5 PPV 18
Maint Life 3.7 Years MSP 1482 AFR 462% IFR 6.4% 1YR 169 5YR 2532 Max Repair 100 MSP
Magazine 702
Ion Engine E9 - EMCOM 75 (30) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 45 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 950,000 Litres Range 111.8 billion km (244 days at full power)
Size 1 AMM Missile Launcher (2) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 15
Size 4 ASM Missile Launcher (4) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
Missile Fire Control FC86-R100 (1) Range 86.4m km Resolution 100
Anti-Missile Fire Control FC9-R1 (1) Range 9.4m km Resolution 1
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 3 (95) Speed: 18,000 km/s End: 46.3m Range: 50m km WH: 3 Size: 4 TH: 60 / 36 / 18
Lance Anti-missile Missile Mk. 3 (320) Speed: 22,600 km/s End: 0.7m Range: 1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 105 / 63 / 31
Gravitational Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour
Geological Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour
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
Support
Athens class Survey Support Cruiser 17,000 tons 1230 Crew 2707.8 BP TCS 340 TH 1350 EM 0
5294 km/s Armour 1-58 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 8 PPV 0
Maint Life 6.35 Years MSP 1796 AFR 289% IFR 4% 1YR 77 5YR 1148 Max Repair 38 MSP
Magazine 912
Ion Engine E9 - EMCOM 75 (30) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 45 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 4,000,000 Litres Range 470.6 billion km (1028 days at full power)
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 3 (128) Speed: 18,000 km/s End: 46.3m Range: 50m km WH: 3 Size: 4 TH: 60 / 36 / 18
Lance Anti-missile Missile Mk. 3 (400) Speed: 22,600 km/s End: 0.7m Range: 1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 105 / 63 / 31
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
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Gunboat
Condor class Missile Boat 750 tons 36 Crew 96 BP TCS 15 TH 90 EM 0
8000 km/s Armour 1-7 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 7.2
Maint Life 9.06 Years MSP 40 AFR 9% IFR 0.1% 1YR 1 5YR 13 Max Repair 38 MSP
Magazine 48
GB Ion Engine E90 - EMCOM 75 (1) Power 120 Fuel Use 900% Signature 90 Armour 0 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 30,000 Litres Range 8.0 billion km (11 days at full power)
Size 4 Box Launcher (12) Missile Size 4 Hangar Reload 30 minutes MF Reload 5 hours
Missile Fire Control FC5-R100 (1) Range 5.8m km Resolution 100
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 3 (12) Speed: 18,000 km/s End: 46.3m Range: 50m km WH: 3 Size: 4 TH: 60 / 36 / 18
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
Command Fighter
Flashlight class Command Fighter 220 tons 3 Crew 36.7 BP TCS 4.4 TH 27 EM 0
8181 km/s Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 1.8
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 44% IFR 0.6% 1YR 2 5YR 23 Max Repair 10 MSP
Magazine 12
FTR Ion Engine E900 (1) Power 36 Fuel Use 9000% Signature 27 Armour 0 Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 0.9 billion km (30 hours at full power)
Size 4 Box Launcher (3) Missile Size 4 Hangar Reload 30 minutes MF Reload 5 hours
Missile Fire Control FC5-R100 (1) Range 5.8m km Resolution 100
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 3 (3) Speed: 18,000 km/s End: 46.3m Range: 50m km WH: 3 Size: 4 TH: 60 / 36 / 18
Active Search Sensor MR5-R100 (1) GPS 960 Range 5.8m 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 Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
Fighter
Flashpoint class Fighter 220 tons 2 Crew 29.1 BP TCS 4.4 TH 27 EM 0
8181 km/s Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 2.4
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 44% IFR 0.6% 1YR 1 5YR 19 Max Repair 8 MSP
Magazine 16
FTR Ion Engine E900 (1) Power 36 Fuel Use 9000% Signature 27 Armour 0 Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 0.9 billion km (30 hours at full power)
Size 4 Box Launcher (4) Missile Size 4 Hangar Reload 30 minutes MF Reload 5 hours
Missile Fire Control FC5-R100 (1) Range 5.8m km Resolution 100
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
I know, not super fast. Tech problem. Best I can do right now.
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Have you considered using regular military engines on the survey FACs instead of the GB engines to make them more fuel efficient? I mean, since you don't really need the space for a bunch of guns or anything.
Full-sized military engines don't make sense unless you have 3 or more engines. However when I do the survey GB idea, I use carriers (with their own jump engines) to carry them to the system to explore.
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Full-sized military engines don't make sense unless you have 3 or more engines. However when I do the survey GB idea, I use carriers (with their own jump engines) to carry them to the system to explore.
Why is that? A pair of full-sized engines gives you the same thrust as a gunboat engine, but with only 20% the fuel usage. It'd be a terrible idea if you wanted a FAC that carried weapons, but if you're just packing a grav or geo sensor it should be fine?
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Updated Apollo with its' strike group:
Apollo class Survey Command Cruiser 17,000 tons 1312 Crew 2912.3 BP TCS 340 TH 1350 EM 0
5294 km/s Armour 1-58 Shields 0-0 Sensors 90/1/1/1 Damage Control Rating 6 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.95 Years MSP 1642 AFR 385% IFR 5.4% 1YR 280 5YR 4200 Max Repair 240 MSP
Flag Bridge Hangar Deck Capacity 3000 tons Magazine 228
Ion Engine E9 - EMCOM 75 (30) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 45 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 950,000 Litres Range 111.8 billion km (244 days at full power)
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 3 (57) Speed: 18,000 km/s End: 46.3m Range: 50m km WH: 3 Size: 4 TH: 60 / 36 / 18
Active Broad Fighter Search Sensor MR64-R20 (1) GPS 4800 Range 64.4m km Resolution 20
Active Area Search Sensor MR170-R140 (1) GPS 33600 Range 170.4m km Resolution 140
Passive Area Search Sensor TH15-90 (1) Sensitivity 90 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 90m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour
Geological Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour
Strike Group
1x Flashlight Command Fighter Speed: 8181 km/s Size: 4.4
9x Flashpoint Fighter Speed: 8181 km/s Size: 4.4
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Why is that? A pair of full-sized engines gives you the same thrust as a gunboat engine, but with only 20% the fuel usage. It'd be a terrible idea if you wanted a FAC that carried weapons, but if you're just packing a grav or geo sensor it should be fine?
This is in fact my standard "corvette" design for my survey ships - 2 military engines, a single grav or geo sensor, plus miscellaneous stuff like fuel and engineering, coming in at 20 HS (to avoid the need for a bridge).
John
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Why is that? A pair of full-sized engines gives you the same thrust as a gunboat engine, but with only 20% the fuel usage. It'd be a terrible idea if you wanted a FAC that carried weapons, but if you're just packing a grav or geo sensor it should be fine?
We may be talking apples and oranges. If I want a survey ship that fits in a carrier, then I need the GB engine. It's true that 2 full-sized engines give the same thrust, but then the ship is larger than 1000 tons, which limits what I can fit in the carrier (and I don't build massive ships of any sort). The smallest I've been able to get a ship with regular engines is around 1400 tons, but I can get a 700-ish ton survey GB (or twice the survey craft).
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We may be talking apples and oranges. If I want a survey ship that fits in a carrier, then I need the GB engine. It's true that 2 full-sized engines give the same thrust, but then the ship is larger than 1000 tons, which limits what I can fit in the carrier (and I don't build massive ships of any sort). The smallest I've been able to get a ship with regular engines is around 1400 tons, but I can get a 700-ish ton survey GB (or twice the survey craft).
The survey corvette build I posted was 900 tons with 2 military engines... so it's definitely possible. Just can't have all the bells and whistles.
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The survey corvette build I posted was 900 tons with 2 military engines... so it's definitely possible. Just can't have all the bells and whistles.
Exactly. And at that point there's no* reason to try to fit it on a carrier, since the engines are just as fuel-efficient as the carrier's will be.
John
* Modulo secondary effects like using the carrier as a mobile maintenance base for ships that fit inside.
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Now, being able to close with the enemy or evade the enemy is all good and well, personally, I prefere to crush them with superior firepower :)
Basically i like this strategy, but its painful when they begin running away ;D
As Erik says, your DL is the biggest ship with the biggest active sensor, making it _THE_ missile magnet of your fleet. upping the armor might not be such a bad idea ;)
During my first game the Sxxxx for some reason target my smallest ships in the fleet - cruisers deployed as escort. They were smallest ~20k tones and have sensors 5 times shorter ranged then command ship. Strange?
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Question: Say I want to create a Fleet Tug. How exactly do tractors work? The more, the better? Do I need more engines, etc?
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Only one tractor beam needed/used.
You establish the tracktor link on the "Individual Unit Display" (F6), Misc tab
Any "tracktored" ship joins the tugs TG automaticly (you can have several tugs in one TG, but each tug can only tracktor one other ship/base)
Maximum speed is recalculated by adding the mass of the tug and the tuged ship, so lots of engines make sense (and don´t forget a lot of fuel too)
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Question: Say I want to create a Fleet Tug. How exactly do tractors work? The more, the better? Do I need more engines, etc?
You only need 1, there can only be 1 tow per tug, and you can't chain. speed is (total power)/(total mass).
John
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Waller class Fleet Tug 29,000 tons 770 Crew 1719 BP TCS 580 TH 4000 EM 0
6896 km/s Armour 1-84 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 11 PPV 0
MSP 408 Max Repair 100 MSP
Tractor Beam
Magneto-plasma Drive E0.8 (20) Power 200 Fuel Use 8% Signature 200 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 2,000,000 Litres Range 1551.6 billion km (2604 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Thoughts?
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It really boils down to what you're planning on using the tug for. Although, if you're only planning on using it just for moving orbital habitats and the like, you could easily halve the fuel capacity and take out the extra engineering spaces.
Also, if you are planning on using orbital habitats, your tug is definitely on the light side. Mine is slightly larger (34250 tons, 26 engines) and it takes me a full year to move my small terraforming orbital habitats (50k capacity, 12 terraforming modules) to my main colony outside Sol.
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Well, I can always build a bigger one later if I need to.
Also, I started a new game ( I spent a lot of time in the previous one just learning how to design, what techs did what and linked to where, etc, etc.) , and I went with the FAC Survey ship approach.
Darwin class Survey Corvette 1,000 tons 94 Crew 291 BP TCS 20 TH 160 EM 0
8000 km/s Armour 1-8 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/1/1 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
Maint Life 9.05 Years MSP 182 AFR 8% IFR 0.1% 1YR 4 5YR 60 Max Repair 100 MSP
GB Magneto-plasma Drive E80 (1) Power 160 Fuel Use 800% Signature 160 Armour 0 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 90,000 Litres Range 20.3 billion km (29 days at full power)
Gravitational Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour
Geological Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Supported by
Kingston class Support Corvette 1,000 tons 66 Crew 154.5 BP TCS 20 TH 160 EM 0
8000 km/s Armour 1-8 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 17.35 Years MSP 1019 AFR 40% IFR 0.6% 1YR 6 5YR 96 Max Repair 40 MSP
GB Magneto-plasma Drive E80 (1) Power 160 Fuel Use 800% Signature 160 Armour 0 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 385,000 Litres Range 86.6 billion km (125 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
In addition, for a basic weapon platform, I designed
Scorpion class Missile Corvette 1,000 tons 115 Crew 156.5 BP TCS 20 TH 160 EM 0
8000 km/s Armour 1-8 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 6
Maint Life 4.89 Years MSP 49 AFR 16% IFR 0.2% 1YR 3 5YR 51 Max Repair 40 MSP
Magazine 40
GB Magneto-plasma Drive E80 (1) Power 160 Fuel Use 800% Signature 160 Armour 0 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 2.3 billion km (3 days at full power)
Size 4 Missile Launcher (75% Reduction) (2) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
Missile Fire Control FC52-R100 (1) Range 52.5m km Resolution 100
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 1 (10) Speed: 25,500 km/s End: 33.1m Range: 50.6m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 110 / 66 / 33
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
With sensors provided by
Zunzi class Command Corvette 1,000 tons 93 Crew 177 BP TCS 20 TH 160 EM 0
8000 km/s Armour 1-8 Shields 0-0 Sensors 10/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.97 Years MSP 55 AFR 16% IFR 0.2% 1YR 9 5YR 139 Max Repair 100 MSP
GB Magneto-plasma Drive E80 (1) Power 160 Fuel Use 800% Signature 160 Armour 0 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 2.3 billion km (3 days at full power)
Active Search Sensor MR50-R100 (1) GPS 10000 Range 50.0m km Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH2-10 (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 10m km
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Based out of
Hawk class Corvette Support Station 10,000 tons 584 Crew 1193 BP TCS 200 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s Armour 4-41 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 7.5
Maint Life 2.7 Years MSP 1149 AFR 400% IFR 5.6% 1YR 226 5YR 3383 Max Repair 100 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 2500 tons Magazine 970
Fuel Capacity 600,000 Litres Range N/A
Anti-Missile Missile Launcher (75% Reduction) (10) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 15
Anti-Missile Fire Control FC5-R1 (2) Range 5.3m km Resolution 1
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 1 (150) Speed: 25,500 km/s End: 33.1m Range: 50.6m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 110 / 66 / 33
Long Lance Anti-missile Missile Mk. 1 (370) Speed: 30,300 km/s End: 5.6m Range: 10.1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 161 / 97 / 48
Anti-Missile Search Sensor MR5-R1 (1) GPS 100 Range 5.0m km Resolution 1
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 also designed
Broadsword class Missile Frigate 5,000 tons 536 Crew 721.55 BP TCS 100 TH 400 EM 0
4000 km/s Armour 1-26 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 30
Maint Life 5.59 Years MSP 1090 AFR 200% IFR 2.8% 1YR 59 5YR 882 Max Repair 40 MSP
Magazine 348
Magneto-plasma Drive E8 (5) Power 80 Fuel Use 80% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 140,000 Litres Range 63.0 billion km (182 days at full power)
Size 4 Missile Launcher (75% Reduction) (10) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
Missile Fire Control FC52-R100 (2) Range 52.5m km Resolution 100
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 1 (87) Speed: 25,500 km/s End: 33.1m Range: 50.6m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 110 / 66 / 33
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
With targeting provided by
Essex class Command Frigate 5,000 tons 278 Crew 649 BP TCS 100 TH 400 EM 0
4000 km/s Armour 5-26 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
Maint Life 4.31 Years MSP 1081 AFR 200% IFR 2.8% 1YR 94 5YR 1407 Max Repair 100 MSP
Magneto-plasma Drive E8 (5) Power 80 Fuel Use 80% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 110,000 Litres Range 49.5 billion km (143 days at full power)
CIWS-50 (2x2) Range 1000 km TS: 5000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Anti-Missile Search Sensor MR5-R1 (1) GPS 100 Range 5.0m km Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR50-R100 (1) GPS 10000 Range 50.0m km Resolution 100
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Haven't designed an escort frigate yet.
I also designed a troop ship
Rodger Young class Troop Transport 20,000 tons 590 Crew 1277 BP TCS 400 TH 800 EM 0
2000 km/s Armour 2-65 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 7.5
Maint Life 1.19 Years MSP 1072 AFR 1777% IFR 24.7% 1YR 773 5YR 11589 Max Repair 100 MSP
Troop Capacity: 5 Battalions Magazine 490
Magneto-plasma Drive E8 (10) Power 80 Fuel Use 80% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 450,000 Litres Range 50.6 billion km (292 days at full power)
Anti-Missile Missile Launcher (75% Reduction) (10) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 15
Anti-Missile Fire Control FC5-R1 (2) Range 5.3m km Resolution 1
Long Lance Anti-missile Missile Mk. 1 (490) Speed: 30,300 km/s End: 5.6m Range: 10.1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 161 / 97 / 48
Anti-Missile Search Sensor MR5-R1 (1) GPS 100 Range 5.0m km Resolution 1
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
Okay, text wall over.
Thoughts?
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The Darwin should be split into 2 ships. 1 with a Grav sensor, the other with a Geo sensor. That way, you don't need the Kingston, and you have more flexibility.
The scorpion doesn't fire enough missiles. Even the most basic missile defense can stop the salvos. Research box launchers. They will allow you to fire a lot larger salvos but require lots a research.
The Hawk needs 500 more/less hangar space. right now, you will have 500 space unused.
Unless you are going to design a ship with hangar space instead of just a station, your survey ships have very limited range, they also have way to many maintenance supplies.
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Some general comments based on my personal opinions.
My approach to survey operations is probably more aggressive that the average player. Grav-survey ships have a single military engine, grav-survey sensor, and a jumpdrive for self jump. Keep it to 1000t and they are fairly cheap. Support with a larger jump-tender that is mostly a tanker and supplyship with some self defense. The jump-tender stays at the entry point and acts as a messenger if things go bad. I try to keep a combat task group within a couple of jumps of the grav-surveys.
Geo-surveys don't have the jump-drive but otherwise try to follow the same pattern.
Gunboat engines burn through too much fuel for use in survey ships. My preference is a single commercial engine for geo-survey and a single military engine for grav-survey.
Yes, this means that I tend to loose survey ships. Their job is to find alien threats as far from my population centers as practical.
It doesn't take much reading around here it figure out that I'm not a fan of reduced size missile launchers on warships. With the exception of box-launchers, my opinion is that the salvo density increase is not enough for the cost in cyclic rate of fire. Cyclic rate and extended AMM/CM intercept ranges go a long way to nullifying the self reloadable reduced size launchers salvo density.
I'm also not a fan of either CIWS or reduced size gauss cannon point defense turrets. If each ship in a task group was a single full size GC turret they can mutually support each other to handle missiles that leak through the AMM's. If that's not enough your outclassed and need more ships in the fight anyway.
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General observations:
Maybe I´m blind, but I don´t see a jumpdrive in any of your ships. How are they supposed to get to another system?
Your ASMs look fine
What is the manouverability of your AMMs, as their ability to intercept your own ASMs seems to be lacking (about 20% chance)
Survey corvettes:
Those will burn your fuel like there is no tomorrow. Yes, they are fast, but you´ll be constantly either ferrying fuel to the them, or they´ll be more flying back home/to a new system to survey than actually surveying.
Fuel for 29/125 days, but mainenance parts for 9/17 YEARS, this doesn´t exactely match.
Also, while they are fast enough to escape most threats, aside from the survey sensors, they don´t have any, which means, they will notice an enemy battleship only, when they can see it through the windows (or, more likely, when the first laser-beams/missiles blow the ship apart)
Hawk Support Station:
Hm, 2.500t Hangar Deck, but only 1.000t Corvettes. Either remove 500t or add another 500t. Or do you also have fighters in service, that profit from the additional hangar space?
Reduced size AMM-launchers are a VERY BAD idea, as it increases your relaod time. This is something your absolutely, never ever want to happen.
I am with Charlie on the reduced launcher thing, except that I like the 25% ones. Everything with less reduction is not worth it, IMO. Especially the 75% and 50% ones combine the worst of both worlds, not enough size reduction to give you a single, overwhealming salvo, but too long reload time to overwhealm enemy PD with lots of salvos in a short amount of time (all IMO, of course).
Broadsword:
A combat ship without armor --> not a good idea
Maintenance life could be cut in half and the saved space/mass invested in some armor.
See above re. missile launchers
Essex:
The CIWS is absolutely horrible 5.000 km/s tracking speed and 1 shot per gun. You won´t hit anything!
Maintenance life could be reduced a bit.
Missile launchers: See above
Roger Young:
Hm, either this one is supposed to make opposed landings, then the armor is way too thin, or it is supposed to go in after a system is secured, then you don´t need missile launchers.
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Words of experience, etc, etc, etc
First off, right now I am using jump gate construction vessels while I research better tech for jumpdrives. That's why I use survey corvettes - They are disposable. I jump in and hope it's not hostile. If not, I bring in the JCS.
Missiles: I just redesigned the AMM based on Fire control ranges.
Long Lance Anti-Missile Missile Mk. 2
Missile Size: 1 MSP (0.05 HS) Warhead: 1 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 17
Speed: 30300 km/s Endurance: 3 minutes Range: 5.4m km
Cost Per Missile: 0.93
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 515.1% 3k km/s 170% 5k km/s 103% 10k km/s 51.5%
Materials Required: 0.25x Tritanium 0.4318x Gallicite Fuel x60
Survey Corvettes: I actually had not noticed the discrepancy between Fuel and MSP. I dropped it down and increased fuel capacity.
HOWEVER. I used a group of 5 Darwins/2 Kingstons to survey my first jump point, and I had no issues with fuel - It was getting low just as I brought in a tanker to refuel the entire group.
Your point about sensors is entirely valid: I most definitely missed that.
Cook class Survey Command Corvette 1,000 tons 90 Crew 200 BP TCS 20 TH 160 EM 0
8000 km/s Armour 1-8 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 0.41 Years MSP 12 AFR 80% IFR 1.1% 1YR 29 5YR 436 Max Repair 100 MSP
GB Magneto-plasma Drive E80 (1) Power 160 Fuel Use 800% Signature 160 Armour 0 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 135,000 Litres Range 30.4 billion km (43 days at full power)
Active Search Sensor MR50-R100 (1) GPS 10000 Range 50.0m km Resolution 100Solution?
Support station: I had originally planned to have 750t gunboats. And I still had that number in my mind when I designed the station. Fixed.
On the missile launchers... I use 75% launchers...that have enough reload ability that they reload at the same speed as full sized launchers. It is the best I can do with the tech at hand.
Broadsword: How much armour should I have? I build my ships to a certain sized based on their designation of Frigate/Destroyer/Cruiser/etc.
However, I redesigned and pushed it up to 7000t.
Broadsword class Missile Frigate 7,000 tons 519 Crew 897.55 BP TCS 140 TH 400 EM 0
2857 km/s Armour 7-32 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 30
Maint Life 3.96 Years MSP 1080 AFR 392% IFR 5.4% 1YR 110 5YR 1645 Max Repair 40 MSP
Magazine 412
Magneto-plasma Drive E8 (5) Power 80 Fuel Use 80% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 135,000 Litres Range 43.4 billion km (175 days at full power)
Size 4 Missile Launcher (75% Reduction) (10) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
Missile Fire Control FC52-R100 (1) Range 52.5m km Resolution 100
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 1 (87) Speed: 25,500 km/s End: 33.1m Range: 50.6m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 110 / 66 / 33
Note: It will be grouped with a dedicated command/sensor vessel and a dedicated escort vessel.
Essex: CIWS-50 is the best I can do with my starting tech. What do I need to research for a better one? Or how would I go about a Gauss point defense weapon?
Maint. life is due to a Maint. Storage bay.
Redesigned to match 7000t Frigate designation:
Essex class Command Frigate 7,000 tons 383 Crew 900.5 BP TCS 140 TH 400 EM 0
2857 km/s Armour 8-32 Shields 0-0 Sensors 100/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.81 Years MSP 1088 AFR 356% IFR 4.9% 1YR 201 5YR 3010 Max Repair 100 MSP
Magneto-plasma Drive E8 (5) Power 80 Fuel Use 80% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 240,000 Litres Range 77.1 billion km (312 days at full power)
CIWS-50 (1x2) Range 1000 km TS: 5000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Anti-Missile Search Sensor MR5-R1 (1) GPS 100 Range 5.0m km Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR50-R100 (1) GPS 10000 Range 50.0m km Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH20-100 (1) Sensitivity 100 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 100m km
Question: How exactly do passive sensors work, what specifically to EM sensors do, how large should I make passive sensors, etc.
Roger Young: Redesigned.
Rodger Young class Troop Transport 25,000 tons 604 Crew 1803 BP TCS 500 TH 800 EM 0
1600 km/s Armour 8-76 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 7.5
Maint Life 0.91 Years MSP 1081 AFR 2777% IFR 38.6% 1YR 1190 5YR 17850 Max Repair 100 MSP
Troop Capacity: 5 Battalions Magazine 490
Magneto-plasma Drive E8 (10) Power 80 Fuel Use 80% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 660,000 Litres Range 59.4 billion km (429 days at full power)
Anti-Missile Missile Launcher (75% Reduction) (10) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 15
Anti-Missile Fire Control FC5-R1 (2) Range 5.3m km Resolution 1
Long Lance Anti-missile Missile Mk. 1 (490) Speed: 30,300 km/s End: 5.6m Range: 10.1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 161 / 97 / 48
Anti-Missile Search Sensor MR5-R1 (1) GPS 100 Range 5.0m km Resolution 1
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Roger Young: Redesigned.
Rodger Young class Troop Transport 25,000 tons 604 Crew 1803 BP TCS 500 TH 800 EM 0
1600 km/s Armour 8-76 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 7.5
Maint Life 0.91 Years MSP 1081 AFR 2777% IFR 38.6% 1YR 1190 5YR 17850 Max Repair 100 MSP
Troop Capacity: 5 Battalions Magazine 490
Magneto-plasma Drive E8 (10) Power 80 Fuel Use 80% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 660,000 Litres Range 59.4 billion km (429 days at full power)
Anti-Missile Missile Launcher (75% Reduction) (10) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 15
Anti-Missile Fire Control FC5-R1 (2) Range 5.3m km Resolution 1
Long Lance Anti-missile Missile Mk. 1 (490) Speed: 30,300 km/s End: 5.6m Range: 10.1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 161 / 97 / 48
Anti-Missile Search Sensor MR5-R1 (1) GPS 100 Range 5.0m km Resolution 1
Ok - this is going to have some issues. First, range for resolution 1 sensors is shown for detection of a 1 HS ship (i.e. 50 tons). If we take a size 4 missile, that is 4MS, which i think is 4/20 HS, ie 20% of the size. 5 million km res 1 range will probably only give you somewhere around 200k (IIRC) missile detection range, which means with reduced size point defense launchers you will be lucky to get 1 counter missile launch off before the enemy salvo hits.
You also have a ridiculously short maintenance life - maintenance storage bays only add supply points, they don't decrease the chance of failure. You may have better results replacing the space for storage bays with an equivalent size of engineering spaces. You will have less supply points but they will probably last longer.
IMHO, while it looks cool, I wouldn't combine a missile escort with a troop transport. In my game, my missile escort frigate is 6000 tons, and by numbers makes up about half of my fleet! Troop transports are normally commercial ships and follow the fleet in after the system is secure due to the potential for losing the entire invasion force otherwise.
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Redesigned. Should an effective anti-missile sensor suite really be 3000t combined? (Control + sensors)
Also, this isn't a missile escort. Missiles are for self-defense. Can't hurt. Plus, what happens if the fleet train is attacked? Helps to have some extra point defense.
Rodger Young class Troop Transport 35,000 tons 1082 Crew 2812.75 BP TCS 700 TH 800 EM 0
1142 km/s Armour 10-95 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 48 PPV 3.75
Maint Life 5.53 Years MSP 2448 AFR 201% IFR 2.8% 1YR 135 5YR 2022 Max Repair 300 MSP
Troop Capacity: 5 Battalions Magazine 485
Magneto-plasma Drive E0.8 (4) Power 200 Fuel Use 8% Signature 200 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 540,000 Litres Range 346.9 billion km (3515 days at full power)
Anti-Missile Missile Launcher (75% Reduction) (5) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 15
Anti-Missile Fire Control FC45-R1 (1) Range 45.0m km Resolution 1
Long Lance Anti-Missile Missile Mk. 2 (485) Speed: 30,300 km/s End: 3m Range: 5.4m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 171 / 103 / 51
Anti-Missile Search Sensor MR15-R1 (1) GPS 300 Range 15.0m km Resolution 1
Essex redesigned to include updated Anti-Missile sensors.
Essex class Command Frigate 7,000 tons 517 Crew 1032 BP TCS 140 TH 400 EM 0
2857 km/s Armour 5-32 Shields 0-0 Sensors 100/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 5 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.69 Years MSP 461 AFR 78% IFR 1.1% 1YR 91 5YR 1362 Max Repair 300 MSP
Magneto-plasma Drive E8 (5) Power 80 Fuel Use 80% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 80.4 billion km (325 days at full power)
CIWS-50 (1x2) Range 1000 km TS: 5000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Anti-Missile Search Sensor MR15-R1 (1) GPS 300 Range 15.0m km Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR50-R100 (1) GPS 10000 Range 50.0m km Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH20-100 (1) Sensitivity 100 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 100m km
New Fire Control: Active Sensor Strength: 300 Sensitivity Modifier: 50%
Sensor Size: 1500 Tons Sensor HTK: 1
Resolution: 1 Maximum Range vs 50 ton object (or larger): 45,000,000 km
Range vs Size 6 Missile (or smaller): 4,900,500 km
Range vs Size 8 Missile: 7,200,000 km
Range vs Size 12 Missile: 16,200,000 km
Chance of destruction by electronic damage: 100%
Cost: 300 Crew: 150
Just seems ridiculously large.
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First off, right now I am using jump gate construction vessels while I research better tech for jumpdrives. That's why I use survey corvettes - They are disposable. I jump in and hope it's not hostile. If not, I bring in the JCS.
Missiles: I just redesigned the AMM based on Fire control ranges.
Long Lance Anti-Missile Missile Mk. 2
Missile Size: 1 MSP (0.05 HS) Warhead: 1 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 17
Speed: 30300 km/s Endurance: 3 minutes Range: 5.4m km
Cost Per Missile: 0.93
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 515.1% 3k km/s 170% 5k km/s 103% 10k km/s 51.5%
Materials Required: 0.25x Tritanium 0.4318x Gallicite Fuel x60
Only a little better, but you are probably limited by tech atm, so something better is not in the offing.
Survey Corvettes: I actually had not noticed the discrepancy between Fuel and MSP. I dropped it down and increased fuel capacity.
HOWEVER. I used a group of 5 Darwins/2 Kingstons to survey my first jump point, and I had no issues with fuel - It was getting low just as I brought in a tanker to refuel the entire group.
Your point about sensors is entirely valid: I most definitely missed that.
I not only meant the covettes running out of fuel, but also how they will drain your fuel stockpile. Each corvette uses as much fuel as a destroyer or light cruiser and with a bunch of them running around, well, you better make sure you have enough sorium and refineries around.
Cook class Survey Command Corvette 1,000 tons 90 Crew 200 BP TCS 20 TH 160 EM 0
8000 km/s Armour 1-8 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 0.41 Years MSP 12 AFR 80% IFR 1.1% 1YR 29 5YR 436 Max Repair 100 MSP
GB Magneto-plasma Drive E80 (1) Power 160 Fuel Use 800% Signature 160 Armour 0 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 135,000 Litres Range 30.4 billion km (43 days at full power)
Active Search Sensor MR50-R100 (1) GPS 10000 Range 50.0m km Resolution 100Solution?
Running around with your active sensor, well, active is like putting a "Here I am, please shoot me!" sign on your ships.
I´d replace it by a good sized thermal sensor.
Support station: I had originally planned to have 750t gunboats. And I still had that number in my mind when I designed the station. Fixed.
On the missile launchers... I use 75% launchers...that have enough reload ability that they reload at the same speed as full sized launchers. It is the best I can do with the tech at hand.
That´s the point. Lauchers with the same reload tech but without size reduction would fire twice as fast. 8 missiles every 30 seconds will be a lot more able to penetrate enemy PD than 10 missiles every 60 seconds.
Broadsword: How much armour should I have? I build my ships to a certain sized based on their designation of Frigate/Destroyer/Cruiser/etc.
However, I redesigned and pushed it up to 7000t.
Broadsword class Missile Frigate 7,000 tons 519 Crew 897.55 BP TCS 140 TH 400 EM 0
2857 km/s Armour 7-32 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 30
Maint Life 3.96 Years MSP 1080 AFR 392% IFR 5.4% 1YR 110 5YR 1645 Max Repair 40 MSP
Magazine 412
Magneto-plasma Drive E8 (5) Power 80 Fuel Use 80% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 135,000 Litres Range 43.4 billion km (175 days at full power)
Size 4 Missile Launcher (75% Reduction) (10) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
Missile Fire Control FC52-R100 (1) Range 52.5m km Resolution 100
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 1 (87) Speed: 25,500 km/s End: 33.1m Range: 50.6m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 110 / 66 / 33
Note: It will be grouped with a dedicated command/sensor vessel and a dedicated escort vessel.
For missile combatants (if grouped with some dedicated escorts) I tend to go for armor 4 to 6. If they have to operate without escorts, there is no such thing as "enough armor"
Essex: CIWS-50 is the best I can do with my starting tech. What do I need to research for a better one? Or how would I go about a Gauss point defense weapon?
Maint. life is due to a Maint. Storage bay.
Redesigned to match 7000t Frigate designation:
Essex class Command Frigate 7,000 tons 383 Crew 900.5 BP TCS 140 TH 400 EM 0
2857 km/s Armour 8-32 Shields 0-0 Sensors 100/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.81 Years MSP 1088 AFR 356% IFR 4.9% 1YR 201 5YR 3010 Max Repair 100 MSP
Magneto-plasma Drive E8 (5) Power 80 Fuel Use 80% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 240,000 Litres Range 77.1 billion km (312 days at full power)
CIWS-50 (1x2) Range 1000 km TS: 5000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Anti-Missile Search Sensor MR5-R1 (1) GPS 100 Range 5.0m km Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR50-R100 (1) GPS 10000 Range 50.0m km Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH20-100 (1) Sensitivity 100 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 100m km
Question: How exactly do passive sensors work, what specifically to EM sensors do, how large should I make passive sensors, etc.
CIWS: Most important are: Gauss Cannon Rate of Fire and Fire Control Speed Rating. Smaller impact have Beam Fire Control Range, Active Grav Sensor Strength and Turret Tracking Speed (10% Gear)
Thermal Sensor pick up thermal emissions (who would have guessed :) ). Primary emitants of heat are ships engines and colonies.
EM Sensors pick up the emissions from sensors and shields and, again, colonies.
Because Shields and Sensors can be deactivated, while a ship simply has to use its engines, if it wants to get anywhere, every ship that moves can be picked up by thermals but only sometimes with EMs. On the other hand, strong sensors can be seen from much longer range than the heat from a couple of engines.
Roger Young: Redesigned.
Rodger Young class Troop Transport 25,000 tons 604 Crew 1803 BP TCS 500 TH 800 EM 0
1600 km/s Armour 8-76 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 7.5
Maint Life 0.91 Years MSP 1081 AFR 2777% IFR 38.6% 1YR 1190 5YR 17850 Max Repair 100 MSP
Troop Capacity: 5 Battalions Magazine 490
Magneto-plasma Drive E8 (10) Power 80 Fuel Use 80% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 660,000 Litres Range 59.4 billion km (429 days at full power)
Anti-Missile Missile Launcher (75% Reduction) (10) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 15
Anti-Missile Fire Control FC5-R1 (2) Range 5.3m km Resolution 1
Long Lance Anti-missile Missile Mk. 1 (490) Speed: 30,300 km/s End: 5.6m Range: 10.1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 161 / 97 / 48
Anti-Missile Search Sensor MR5-R1 (1) GPS 100 Range 5.0m km Resolution 1
Good armor.
Still, personally, I only use TTs after a system is secured. Considering, taking an alien homeworld usually reqires several divisions, the prospect of loosing so many troops (in addition to the offensive fleet that simply has to accompany the TTs to secure orbital control) is just too frightening.
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At lower tech, an anti-missile sensor with a range of 5 mkm against size-6 and smaller missiles is ridiculously large. Persomally, I limit myself to a range of 2 to 2.5 mkm until my sensor tech increases a lot. Except for when I field a dedicated fleet scout (about 10.000 tons). This will mount 1000 t actives of res-1, 20 and 120. All escorts will still mount the smaller actives as backups, in case the scout buys it.
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PDC (Just a basic class)
Warrior class Planetary Defence Centre 11,850 tons 710 Crew 1477.55 BP TCS 237 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 7-46 Sensors 1/300 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 15
Troop Capacity: 1 Battalion Magazine 808
PDC Anti-Missile Launcher (75% Reduction) (20) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Anti-Missile Fire Control FC45-R1 (2) Range 45.0m km Resolution 1
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 1 (100) Speed: 25,500 km/s End: 33.1m Range: 50.6m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 110 / 66 / 33
Long Lance Anti-missile Missile Mk. 1 (590) Speed: 30,300 km/s End: 5.6m Range: 10.1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 161 / 97 / 48
Anti-Missile Search Sensor MR15-R1 (1) GPS 300 Range 15.0m km Resolution 1
Sorium Harv Base
Laksamana class Fuel Harvester Base 12,000 tons 267 Crew 484 BP TCS 240 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s Armour 1-46 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 10 PPV 0
MSP 252 Max Repair 60 MSP
Fuel Harvester: 2 modules producing 40000 litres per annum
Fuel Capacity 930,000 Litres Range N/A
Redesigned Cook
Cook class Survey Command Corvette 1,000 tons 90 Crew 150 BP TCS 20 TH 160 EM 0
8000 km/s Armour 1-8 Shields 0-0 Sensors 50/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 0.53 Years MSP 9 AFR 80% IFR 1.1% 1YR 17 5YR 255 Max Repair 50 MSP
GB Magneto-plasma Drive E80 (1) Power 160 Fuel Use 800% Signature 160 Armour 0 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 135,000 Litres Range 30.4 billion km (43 days at full power)
Thermal Sensor TH10-50 (1) Sensitivity 50 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 50m km
Essex with up to date sensors
Essex class Command Frigate 8,000 tons 605 Crew 1258 BP TCS 160 TH 400 EM 0
2500 km/s Armour 6-35 Shields 0-0 Sensors 100/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 5 PPV 0
Maint Life 1.51 Years MSP 491 AFR 102% IFR 1.4% 1YR 243 5YR 3651 Max Repair 500 MSP
Magneto-plasma Drive E8 (5) Power 80 Fuel Use 80% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 180,000 Litres Range 50.6 billion km (234 days at full power)
Anti-Missile Area Search Sensor MR25-R1 (1) GPS 500 Range 25.0m km Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR50-R100 (1) GPS 10000 Range 50.0m km Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH20-100 (1) Sensitivity 100 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 100m km
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Broadsword, updated to include latest (and hopefully the most correct) fire control.
Broadsword class Missile Frigate 8,000 tons 626 Crew 1054.05 BP TCS 160 TH 400 EM 0
2500 km/s Armour 7-35 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 5 PPV 30
Maint Life 2.92 Years MSP 354 AFR 119% IFR 1.7% 1YR 61 5YR 920 Max Repair 100 MSP
Magazine 604
Magneto-plasma Drive E8 (5) Power 80 Fuel Use 80% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 60,000 Litres Range 16.9 billion km (78 days at full power)
Size 4 Missile Launcher (75% Reduction) (10) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
Missile Fire Control FC164-R120 (1) Range 164.3m km Resolution 120
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 1 (103) Speed: 25,500 km/s End: 33.1m Range: 50.6m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 110 / 66 / 33
Other than the launchers (I'm leaving them), thoughts? Is everything finally where it needs to be assuming low tech?
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This is my long-term system survey cruiser. Toss is in a system and let it do it's thing for a couple of years.
Centauri class Survey Cruiser 20,000 tons 1582 Crew 3552 BP TCS 400 TH 1600 EM 0
4000 km/s Armour 8-65 Shields 0-0 Sensors 100/100/3/3 Damage Control Rating 36 PPV 0
Maint Life 6.99 Years MSP 3886 AFR 123% IFR 1.7% 1YR 139 5YR 2088 Max Repair 500 MSP
Magneto-plasma Drive E8 (20) Power 80 Fuel Use 80% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 2,555,000 Litres Range 287.4 billion km (831 days at full power)
Broad Range Area Search Sensor MR250-R100 (1) GPS 50000 Range 250.0m km Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH20-100 (1) Sensitivity 100 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 100m km
EM Detection Sensor EM20-100 (1) Sensitivity 100 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 100m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (3) 3 Survey Points Per Hour
Geological Survey Sensors (3) 3 Survey Points Per Hour
Best tech avaliable to me at the moment.
Thoughts?
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This is my long-term system survey cruiser. Toss is in a system and let it do it's thing for a couple of years.
Centauri class Survey Cruiser 20,000 tons 1582 Crew 3552 BP TCS 400 TH 1600 EM 0
4000 km/s Armour 8-65 Shields 0-0 Sensors 100/100/3/3 Damage Control Rating 36 PPV 0
Maint Life 6.99 Years MSP 3886 AFR 123% IFR 1.7% 1YR 139 5YR 2088 Max Repair 500 MSP
Magneto-plasma Drive E8 (20) Power 80 Fuel Use 80% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 2,555,000 Litres Range 287.4 billion km (831 days at full power)
Broad Range Area Search Sensor MR250-R100 (1) GPS 50000 Range 250.0m km Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH20-100 (1) Sensitivity 100 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 100m km
EM Detection Sensor EM20-100 (1) Sensitivity 100 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 100m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (3) 3 Survey Points Per Hour
Geological Survey Sensors (3) 3 Survey Points Per Hour
Best tech avaliable to me at the moment.
Thoughts?
That is HUGE for a survey ship. Especially with only 3 sensors. Drop engines big time, and fuel down to about a year/year and a half, and you will get a lot better performance I think.
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The Active sensor is 2500t, Thermal and EM are 1000t each. And.. I dunno. I'd rather it not be slow. It's worked wonders thus far. The fuel capacity is to allow it to go off on its own for an extended period. Once I have good enough levels each tech, It's going to be redesigned with Cloaking and a Jump Drive (But by that point my sensors will be far more advanced and smaller), to become my main survey vessel.
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I recommend getting rid of 2 sensors. Probably the active and EM. Having that much space dedicated to sensors on a survey ship is excessive in my opinion. I have worse tech than you, yet my survey ships have the same maintenance and fuel life, more speed, more survey sensors, and it's only 5000 tons. it only has a small sensor, and it doesn't really need more than that.
EDIT: I would also make the ships more specialized. 1 geo survey ship and 1 grav survey ship instead of 1 that has both.
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I'm of the philosophy that smaller is better for survey ships. 3k tons to 5k tons. With magneto-plasma you should be able to hit a speed of 5000km/s easy.
Active sensors aren't needed on survey ships, as their function is to be unobtrusive. Give them passives, and when they find something, they run. Actives are for getting information and targeting.
Corelian class Gravitational Survey Vessel 4,100 tons 410 Crew 927.2 BP TCS 82 TH 320 EM 0
3902 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1-22 Shields 0-0 Sensors 24/24/5/0 Damage Control Rating 5 PPV 0
Maint Life 9.35 Years MSP 707 AFR 26% IFR 0.4% 1YR 15 5YR 219 Max Repair 100 MSP
J4500(3-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 4500 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Magneto-plasma Drive E8 (4) Power 80 Fuel Use 80% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 137.2 billion km (406 days at full power)
Thermal Sensor TH3-24 (1) Sensitivity 24 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 24m km
EM Detection Sensor EM3-24 (1) Sensitivity 24 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 24m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (5) 5 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Slightly slower than yours, but I can build ~4 for the price of one of yours. The Geo survey is identical, except for the scanners.
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Dropped the armor, some engines, active sensors, etc. I want one ship for this, not two. Just so that I don't have to dedicate 2 of my 3 military shipyards to them.
Centauri class Survey Cruiser 8,000 tons 792 Crew 1527.4 BP TCS 160 TH 960 EM 0
6000 km/s Armour 1-35 Shields 0-0 Sensors 100/100/3/2 Damage Control Rating 10 PPV 0
Maint Life 8.51 Years MSP 1193 AFR 51% IFR 0.7% 1YR 29 5YR 441 Max Repair 100 MSP
Magneto-plasma Drive E8 (12) Power 80 Fuel Use 80% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 705,000 Litres Range 198.3 billion km (382 days at full power)
Thermal Sensor TH20-100 (1) Sensitivity 100 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 100m km
EM Detection Sensor EM20-100 (1) Sensitivity 100 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 100m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (3) 3 Survey Points Per Hour
Geological Survey Sensors (2) 2 Survey Points Per Hour
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You probably should have more geo survey scanners. Geo survey usually take longer than grav surveys.
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I build two different classes of ships for survey work. The first is strictly civilian and has geological sensors on board. It usually comes out at around 100-120 hs and may even have a jump drive on it (military jump drive can be put on civilian ships without them becoming military). The second is a really small ship at 20hs that has a standard military drive (NOT gunboat engine) and a single gravitational sensor. With 1 fuel and maintenance bay they will last a couple of years before there is a problem with them and they are fairly cheap to build. In total this ties up 1 civilian and 1 military shipyard each being the minimum size you can build. I find that this makes a lot of economic sense as you don't have a lot of waste space on the ship that is expensive to build and only is used part of the time. Also geo surveys tend to take a lot longer than the grav survey due to the possibly massive number of asteroids to survey. As geo survey can be done by civilian ships it takes the pressure off of the military's maintenance problems for long range survey work.
Brian
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I went with the idea of a commercial geo vessel.
Centauri class Survey Cruiser 8,000 tons 792 Crew 1527.4 BP TCS 160 TH 960 EM 0
6000 km/s Armour 1-35 Shields 0-0 Sensors 100/100/5/0 Damage Control Rating 10 PPV 0
Maint Life 8.51 Years MSP 1193 AFR 51% IFR 0.7% 1YR 29 5YR 441 Max Repair 100 MSP
Magneto-plasma Drive E8 (12) Power 80 Fuel Use 80% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 705,000 Litres Range 198.3 billion km (382 days at full power)
Thermal Sensor TH20-100 (1) Sensitivity 100 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 100m km
EM Detection Sensor EM20-100 (1) Sensitivity 100 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 100m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (5) 5 Survey Points Per Hour
Prospector class Geological Survey Vessel 5,000 tons 390 Crew 1397.8 BP TCS 100 TH 200 EM 0
2000 km/s Armour 1-26 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/12 Damage Control Rating 4 PPV 0
MSP 699 Max Repair 100 MSP
Magneto-plasma Drive E0.8 (1) Power 200 Fuel Use 8% Signature 200 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 205,000 Litres Range 922.5 billion km (5338 days at full power)
Geological Survey Sensors (12) 12 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Important question: Do Active sensors function as passive when switched off? The research EM tech description leads me to believe this.
Electromagnetic sensor strength per hull space of the sensor component.
EM sensors detect alien active sensor emissions and the shield output of alien ships.
They provide the 'listening' portion of active sensors
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No they do not
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Dropped the armor, some engines, active sensors, etc. I want one ship for this, not two. Just so that I don't have to dedicate 2 of my 3 military shipyards to them.
Geo sensors and Grav sensors are the same size and cost. This means you can design two ships that are identical except for the survey sensors and get the refit cost (from one to the other) down below the magic threshhold for building both designs in the same shipyard.
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Geo sensors and Grav sensors are the same size and cost. This means you can design two ships that are identical except for the survey sensors and get the refit cost (from one to the other) down below the magic threshhold for building both designs in the same shipyard.
Actually, the drop-down bar for Refit/Build/Scrap/Repair eluded me until yesterday. I am constantly learning that there is ALWAYS another level of complexity.
I am a few short years from a breakthrough in engine tech; Once I attain the next generation of engines I will post more up-to-date designs for scrutiny (Namely, fighters.)
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Woah, woah, hold on.
Does a ship with missiles require the fire control onboard? Or can my fighter squadrons, for example, have all their missiles slaved to the fire control of the command fighter? If so, how?
Can I have 5 Missile stations and 1 command station in orbit of earth, with primary fire control onboard the command station only? Etc, etc.
Thanks!
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I asked the question recently as well.
Every missile tube needs to be slaved to a fire control to work, OR the missile can have its own sensors. However, being tiny and packed atop a warhead, missile sensors are useless for distant fire, mostly used to launch a huge volley at someone, and then the extra missiles can re-target a nearby ship once you've killed the primary target. You can "blind fire" a missile, but it doesn't work very well.
Passive and active sensors can be shared amongst ships (in fact, it's your empire-wide field of view there, so everything shares sensor coverage) but fire control is specific to a ship - in fact it's specific to your weapon. One or more weapon can be slaved to a fire control, treating each fire control as a different volley of fire, so to speak.
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Does a ship with missiles require the fire control onboard? Or can my fighter squadrons, for example, have all their missiles slaved to the fire control of the command fighter? If so, how?
Can I have 5 Missile stations and 1 command station in orbit of earth, with primary fire control onboard the command station only? Etc, etc.
Fire control must be on board, i.e. these ideas don't work for fire control. An on-board active sensor is not required - contact data can be obtained from other platforms, so these ideas are applicable to active sensors.
John
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Right, that was my understanding.
My idea for my next stage in fleet designs is to have a a core of light carriers - 25000t in their current state, but pending updated engine and armour designs - supported by fast escort cruisers.
I am still deciding between a fast and light or slow and heavy battle line. I may look in to shield tech as a third option.
Internal Confinement Fusion is about 5 years away, pending assignment of more labs in a couple of months.
Question: My galactic map looks rather weird. It's compacted. http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/1638/screenshot4dm.png (http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/1638/screenshot4dm.png) Any ideas? Changing the value in system position merely separated one system from the rest, and would not modify any others.
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Question: My galactic map looks rather weird. It's compacted. http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/1638/screenshot4dm.png (http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/1638/screenshot4dm.png) Any ideas? Changing the value in system position merely separated one system from the rest, and would not modify any others.
You need to drag all of the systems into the position you want them in/ Left click on the system whilst holding down the shift button than drag to another spot. Then, before you exit the screen click on the position tab at the top and then in the menu on the left hand side click on save positions. Your new layout will now be saved. You will see in that menu a sort fo snap to grid auto alignmentg feature as well.
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Took me a while to figure that out as well. I was set to give up because navigation was going to prove impossible. Shift+drag, and then the Map Position from the dropdown to snap to grid and save positions. Getting everything squared away and clean helps so much!
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Bearing in mind that this ship is the pinnacle of my technology, is this a good(ish) design for a scout? I intend to send it in unexplored systems ahead of survey ships to check for hostiles.
Chimera class Scout Frigate 4,500 tons 438 Crew 979 BP TCS 22.5 TH 100 EM 0
2222 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1-24 Shields 0-0 Sensors 30/30/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 0
Maint Life 1.18 Years MSP 272 AFR 81% IFR 1.1% 1YR 201 5YR 3009 Max Repair 450 MSP
J4500(3-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 4500 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Internal Confinement Fusion Drive E8 EMCOM 50 (2) Power 100 Fuel Use 80% Signature 50 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 25.0 billion km (130 days at full power)
Thermal Sensor TH5-30 (1) Sensitivity 30 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 30m km
EM Detection Sensor EM5-30 (1) Sensitivity 30 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 30m km
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 25% of normal
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Bearing in mind that this ship is the pinnacle of my technology, is this a good(ish) design for a scout? I intend to send it in unexplored systems ahead of survey ships to check for hostiles.
Chimera class Scout Frigate 4,500 tons 438 Crew 979 BP TCS 22.5 TH 100 EM 0
2222 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1-24 Shields 0-0 Sensors 30/30/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 0
Maint Life 1.18 Years MSP 272 AFR 81% IFR 1.1% 1YR 201 5YR 3009 Max Repair 450 MSP
J4500(3-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 4500 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Internal Confinement Fusion Drive E8 EMCOM 50 (2) Power 100 Fuel Use 80% Signature 50 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 25.0 billion km (130 days at full power)
Thermal Sensor TH5-30 (1) Sensitivity 30 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 30m km
EM Detection Sensor EM5-30 (1) Sensitivity 30 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 30m km
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 25% of normal
If it's meant to operate solo, you can design a self-jump only jump drive and put the extra into fuel...
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I didn't have that option, I thought...
Yeah, I don't have that option, just checked. Is there a tech for that?
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I thought Jump drives under a certain sizes are solo drives.
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As I had very low jump efficiency, I Instant'd a couple of levels using some of my remaining starting RP.
I kept the squadron size, as I may need it at some point.
Chimera II class Scout Frigate 4,500 tons 428 Crew 1010 BP TCS 22.5 TH 200 EM 0
4444 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1-24 Shields 0-0 Sensors 30/30/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 0
Maint Life 1.42 Years MSP 281 AFR 81% IFR 1.1% 1YR 152 5YR 2280 Max Repair 450 MSP
J4500(3-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 4500 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Internal Confinement Fusion Drive E8 EMCOM 50 (4) Power 100 Fuel Use 80% Signature 50 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 300,000 Litres Range 150.0 billion km (390 days at full power)
Thermal Sensor TH5-30 (1) Sensitivity 30 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 30m km
EM Detection Sensor EM5-30 (1) Sensitivity 30 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 30m km
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 25% of normal
Okay, thoughts?
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Carrier Battle Group
Command ship:
Hellena class Command Ship 22,000 tons 1871 Crew 5516.6 BP TCS 440 TH 1000 EM 0
4545 km/s Armour 7-69 Shields 0-0 Sensors 120/120/0/0 Damage Control Rating 55 PPV 5
Maint Life 6.26 Years MSP 5485 AFR 110% IFR 1.5% 1YR 240 5YR 3602 Max Repair 630 MSP
Flag Bridge Magazine 485
Internal Confinement Fusion Drive E8 EMCOM 50 (20) Power 100 Fuel Use 80% Signature 50 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,020,000 Litres Range 104.3 billion km (265 days at full power)
Size 1 Anti-Missile Launcher (5) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Anti-Missile Fire Control FC56-R1 (1) Range 56.7m km Resolution 1
Long Lance Anti-Missile Missile Mk. 2 (490) Speed: 30,300 km/s End: 3m Range: 5.4m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 171 / 103 / 51
Broad Range Area Search Sensor MR378-R100 (1) GPS 63000 Range 378.0m km Resolution 100
Broad Range Fighter Search Sensor MR84-R5 (1) GPS 3150 Range 84.5m km Resolution 5
Anti-Missile Search Sensor MR37-R1 (1) GPS 630 Range 37.8m km Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH20-120 (1) Sensitivity 120 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 120m km
EM Detection Sensor EM20-120 (1) Sensitivity 120 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 120m km
ECM 10
Carrier(durp):
Daring II class Light Carrier 22,000 tons 1290 Crew 3704.8 BP TCS 440 TH 1000 EM 0
4545 km/s Armour 5-69 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 42 PPV 0
Maint Life 9.42 Years MSP 3368 AFR 121% IFR 1.7% 1YR 68 5YR 1027 Max Repair 75 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 6000 tons Magazine 960
Internal Confinement Fusion Drive E8 EMCOM 50 (20) Power 100 Fuel Use 80% Signature 50 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 2,500,000 Litres Range 255.7 billion km (651 days at full power)
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 2 (240) Speed: 30,000 km/s End: 28.1m Range: 50.6m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 150 / 90 / 45
ECM 10
Strike Group
2x Fox Command Fighter Speed: 10909 km/s Size: 5.5
20x Sabre Fighter Speed: 11538 km/s Size: 5.2
Fox class Command Fighter 275 tons 8 Crew 100.1 BP TCS 5.5 TH 30 EM 0
10909 km/s Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 4.2 Years MSP 23 AFR 6% IFR 0.1% 1YR 2 5YR 31 Max Repair 74 MSP
FTR Internal Confinement Fusion Drive E800 EMCOM 50 (1) Power 60 Fuel Use 8000% Signature 30 Armour 0 Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 0.8 billion km (20 hours at full power)
Active Search Sensor MR52-R140 (1) GPS 10290 Range 52.2m km Resolution 140
Sabre class Fighter 260 tons 5 Crew 62.3 BP TCS 5.2 TH 30 EM 0
11538 km/s Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 1.8
Maint Life 7.82 Years MSP 15 AFR 5% IFR 0.1% 1YR 0 5YR 7 Max Repair 29 MSP
Magazine 12
FTR Internal Confinement Fusion Drive E800 EMCOM 50 (1) Power 60 Fuel Use 8000% Signature 30 Armour 0 Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 0.9 billion km (20 hours at full power)
Size 4 Box Launcher (3) Missile Size 4 Hangar Reload 30 minutes MF Reload 5 hours
Missile Fire Control FC52-R100 (1) Range 52.9m km Resolution 100
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 2 (3) Speed: 30,000 km/s End: 28.1m Range: 50.6m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 150 / 90 / 45
Escorts:
Sentinel class Escort Cruiser 21,000 tons 1919 Crew 4816.2 BP TCS 420 TH 1000 EM 0
4761 km/s Armour 4-67 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 48 PPV 40
Maint Life 8.12 Years MSP 5447 AFR 92% IFR 1.3% 1YR 147 5YR 2204 Max Repair 315 MSP
Magazine 1480
Internal Confinement Fusion Drive E8 EMCOM 50 (20) Power 100 Fuel Use 80% Signature 50 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 107.1 billion km (260 days at full power)
Size 1 Anti-Missile Launcher (40) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Anti-Missile Fire Control FC56-R1 (4) Range 56.7m km Resolution 1
Long Lance Anti-Missile Missile Mk. 2 (1480) Speed: 30,300 km/s End: 3m Range: 5.4m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 171 / 103 / 51
Anti-Missile Search Sensor MR18-R1 (1) GPS 315 Range 18.9m km Resolution 1
Blade class Battlecruiser 22,000 tons 2082 Crew 4362.6 BP TCS 440 TH 1500 EM 0
6818 km/s Armour 7-69 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 26 PPV 80
Maint Life 8.75 Years MSP 3222 AFR 148% IFR 2.1% 1YR 75 5YR 1130 Max Repair 75 MSP
Magazine 1040
Internal Confinement Fusion Drive E8 EMCOM 50 (30) Power 100 Fuel Use 80% Signature 50 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,035,000 Litres Range 105.8 billion km (179 days at full power)
Size 4 Standard Missile Launcher (20) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 30
Missile Fire Control FC52-R100 (2) Range 52.9m km Resolution 100
Sparrow Anti-ship Missile Mk. 2 (260) Speed: 30,000 km/s End: 28.1m Range: 50.6m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 150 / 90 / 45
Active Search Sensor MR52-R140 (1) GPS 10290 Range 52.2m km Resolution 140
ECCM-1 (1) ECM 10
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2 things. Remove the engineering from the fighters. Unless they manage to survive a lot of battles or are staying away from the carrier for long periods of time, they won't need it. Also, get rid of the sensors on the ships that aren't dedicated sensor ships. It will give more space for missiles.
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2 things. Remove the engineering from the fighters. Unless they manage to survive a lot of battles or are staying away from the carrier for long periods of time, they won't need it. Also, get rid of the sensors on the ships that aren't dedicated sensor ships. It will give more space for missiles.
I would actually disagree with the second item. I find it a good idea to have at least minimal sensors on all combat ships. The only requirment that I put on them is that they should be able to detect a non stealthy enemy at combat ranges. This gives you combat redundency, if you do not have that then when your sensor ship is killed you are totally blind. You should not however put big sensors on the combat ships as this is going to be a waste of space. On fighters and to some extent gunboats you do not have the space to put even a minimal sensor setup untill you reach a fairly high tech level.
Brian
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A fleet consisting of 2 Daring II CVLs(3 squadrons of 10 Sabres/1 Fox split between the 2), 1 Hellena, 9 Swiftsure FFEs, 2 Essex command frigates, and 7 Broadsword DDGs (Plus 3 Amsterdam FSVs) just survived a warp point assault against 4 7350t precursor warships. Unfortunately, I lost one FSV and one DDG - I was unaware the precursors were on top of the warp point, as I sent a Chimera in a month beforehand to scout out the system and found no trace of them.
However, the moment my Sensors & FC came back online, I pummeled them into oblivion. Ranges were ridiculous - I operate with one main TG (carriers, command ship, modern escorts) escorted by 2 TGs (escorts and missile frigates) 100km out at 45 degrees counter-clockwise and 45 degrees clockwise.... And the enemy was between the carriers and of the escort task groups.
However, I just discovered that my designs work. 3 minutes in game, 1 1/2 hours real time. Incredibly satisfying and tense - I really had no clue if I was going to scratch the enemy.
Additionally, I created a design for a heavier combatant:
Archer class Missile Cruiser 28,000 tons 2940 Crew 5138.32 BP TCS 560 TH 1350 EM 0
4821 km/s Armour 5-82 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 30 PPV 160
Maint Life 6.79 Years MSP 4498 AFR 205% IFR 2.9% 1YR 169 5YR 2541 Max Repair 168 MSP
Magazine 1928
Internal Confinement Fusion Drive E8 EMCOM 50 (27) Power 100 Fuel Use 80% Signature 50 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 825,000 Litres Range 66.3 billion km (159 days at full power)
Heavy Missile Launcher (20) Missile Size 8 Rate of Fire 60
Heavy Missile Fire Control FC74-R120 (2) Range 74.5m km Resolution 120
Thumper Heavy Anti-ship Missile Mk. 1 (246) Speed: 25,000 km/s End: 46.9m Range: 70.3m km WH: 8 Size: 8 TH: 116 / 70 / 35
Broad Range Area Search Sensor MR110-R120 (1) GPS 20160 Range 110.4m km Resolution 120
There would only be a couple of these in a fleet, at my current resource base, but I think they will provide the heavier hit I may need.
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Armed Survey Cruiser:
Centauri II class Survey Cruiser 15,000 tons 1331 Crew 3914 BP TCS 300 TH 812.5 EM 0
5416 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 2-54 Shields 0-0 Sensors 120/120/5/2 Damage Control Rating 17 PPV 13.2
Maint Life 6.27 Years MSP 3854 AFR 102% IFR 1.4% 1YR 168 5YR 2525 Max Repair 625 MSP
Magazine 88
Nielsen J15000(3-50) MJD Max Ship Size 15000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Strauss & Lieber MCFD E8-EMCOM50-M (13) Power 125 Fuel Use 80% Signature 62.5 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 2,020,000 Litres Range 303.0 billion km (647 days at full power)
Size 4 Box Launcher (10) Missile Size 4 Hangar Reload 30 minutes MF Reload 5 hours
Size 8 Box Launcher (6) Missile Size 8 Hangar Reload 60 minutes MF Reload 10 hours
Missile Fire Control FC52-R100 (1) Range 52.9m km Resolution 100
Thumper Heavy Anti-Ship Missile Mk. 2 (6) Speed: 31,200 km/s End: 37.5m Range: 70.2m km WH: 8 Size: 8 TH: 145 / 87 / 43
Sparrow Anti-Ship Missile Mk. 3 (10) Speed: 37,500 km/s End: 22.5m Range: 50.6m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 187 / 112 / 56
General Electric Broad Range Area Search Sensor MR147-R120 (1) GPS 26880 Range 147.2m km Resolution 120
Thermal Sensor TH20-120 (1) Sensitivity 120 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 120m km
EM Detection Sensor EM20-120 (1) Sensitivity 120 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 120m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (5) 5 Survey Points Per Hour
Geological Survey Sensors (2) 2 Survey Points Per Hour
The Size 8 launchers are for recon drones whenever I tech up to better drone engines. I may find I need to replace BOTH sets of launchers with a small number of larger size launchers. Geo sensors are included to give the ship a little more versatility - If I find a 0.0 planet, I always take a closer look.
The next two designs are my first foray into beam-armed vessels.
Watchdog class Heavy Cruiser 30,000 tons 2437 Crew 5991.8 BP TCS 600 TH 1250 EM 0
4166 km/s Armour 10-86 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 40 PPV 212
Maint Life 9.85 Years MSP 6993 AFR 180% IFR 2.5% 1YR 131 5YR 1962 Max Repair 315 MSP
Strauss & Lieber MCFD E8-EMCOM50-M (20) Power 125 Fuel Use 80% Signature 62.5 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,235,000 Litres Range 92.6 billion km (257 days at full power)
Twin 15cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser Turret (10x2) Range 180,000km TS: 15800 km/s Power 12-6 RM 3 ROF 10 6 6 6 4 3 3 2 2 2 1
Twin 10cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser Turret (6x2) Range 90,000km TS: 21050 km/s Power 6-6 RM 3 ROF 5 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 0
Beam Fire Control S04 96-3000 (2) Max Range: 192,000 km TS: 3000 km/s 95 90 84 79 74 69 64 58 53 48
Anti-Missile Beam Fire Control S04 24-12000 (2) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 12000 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Willingham MCFR PB-1-O20 (10) Total Power Output 200 Armour 0 Exp 5%
General Electric Broad Range Area Search Sensor MR147-R120 (1) GPS 26880 Range 147.2m km Resolution 120
Anti-Missile Search Sensor MR18-R1 (1) GPS 315 Range 18.9m km Resolution 1
Note: I purposely designed in redundancy in the reactors. I may drop a few layers of armor in favor of increasing speed to my current fleet speed of 6250 km/s.
Sentinel II class Escort Cruiser 28,000 tons 2380 Crew 7177.8 BP TCS 560 TH 1875 EM 0
6696 km/s Armour 4-82 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 54 PPV 68
Maint Life 6.64 Years MSP 7049 AFR 142% IFR 2% 1YR 276 5YR 4145 Max Repair 420 MSP
Magazine 1940
Strauss & Lieber MCFD E8-EMCOM50-M (30) Power 125 Fuel Use 80% Signature 62.5 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,110,000 Litres Range 89.2 billion km (154 days at full power)
Twin 10cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser Turret (4x2) Range 48,000km TS: 21050 km/s Power 6-6 RM 3 ROF 5 3 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Anti-Missile Beam Fire Control S04 24-12000 (2) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 12000 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Willingham MCFR PB-1-O20 (2) Total Power Output 40 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Size 1 Anti-Missile Launcher (20) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Anti-Missile Fire Control FC75-R1 (4) Range 75.6m km Resolution 1
Long Lance Anti-Missile Missile Mk. 3 (1940) Speed: 50,500 km/s End: 1.8m Range: 5.4m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 286 / 171 / 85
Anti-Missile Search Sensor MR18-R1 (1) GPS 315 Range 18.9m km Resolution 1
Finally, an escort carrier that I envision as being the core of task forces based on modernized versions of my Broadsword, Essex, and Swiftsure class frigates.
Beehive class Escort Carrier 13,000 tons 710 Crew 2415.08 BP TCS 260 TH 812.5 EM 0
6250 km/s Armour 3-49 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 13 PPV 0
Maint Life 9.93 Years MSP 2509 AFR 104% IFR 1.4% 1YR 46 5YR 693 Max Repair 94 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 4000 tons Magazine 442
Strauss & Lieber MCFD E8-EMCOM50-M (13) Power 125 Fuel Use 80% Signature 62.5 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,250,000 Litres Range 216.3 billion km (400 days at full power)
CIWS-120 (1x2) Range 1000 km TS: 12000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Sparrow Anti-Ship Missile Mk. 3 (110) Speed: 37,500 km/s End: 22.5m Range: 50.6m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 187 / 112 / 56
Strike Group
9x F-32B Sabre Fighter Speed: 14705 km/s Size: 5.1
1x F-136B Fox Command Fighter Speed: 13888 km/s Size: 5.4
2x K-48B Albatross Fighter Tanker Speed: 15000 km/s Size: 5
1x E-116B Warbler Early Warning Craft Speed: 7500 km/s Size: 10
1x J-13B Pogo Jump Scout Speed: 12500 km/s Size: 6