Note: The 0.5 maintenance lifetime on the Sol destroyers will be crippling for anything other than purely insystem defensive purposes.

As a general rule, I prefer to have a minimum of 2x the minimum repair and/or 3 years. 

Apparently, there is a error with the Swarm guys, every 30 day or 5 day increment (The only reasonably 'fast' increments... Any, increment really) there is a Error 3265 on Swarm Colony Production which creates about a thousand error boxes, and will sadly cause me to discontinue this game.

That error is fixed in v5.60

Steve

Save a copy of the game, Steve may be able to fix the problem for you, or one of the other db guru's on the list might be able to do so.

As for the sensor range, the resolution is a minimum size to get full use of your sensors range.  Any target larger than the resolution will be detected at that range.  The only time you have a drop off is when the target is smaller than the resolution.

Brian

So, following what you said, depending on the range of the sensor or firecon, I only need the R16 ones since they would detect anything that is larger than the selected resolution? Cool!

I'll save it, but how do I submit it for someone to fix?

So, I got Steamrolled, not by the New Aliens or by the Swarm (actually it was by the Swarm... sorta) but by the game itself. I think they grew up so much that the game could'nt count their ships anymore. Or atleast the ones in production. After all they got holed up in there for more than 14 years!

Apparently, there is a error with the Swarm guys, every 30 day or 5 day increment (The only reasonably 'fast' increments... Any, increment really) there is a Error 3265 on Swarm Colony Production which creates about a thousand error boxes, and will sadly cause me to discontinue this game.

Atleast I made to 17 years (2042), had about 12 civilian ships, and 8 ships of my own, and is the fartest I made in any Aurora game! Yay me! I could'nt even test the damm ships... sigh.

I thank you all who gave me such helpful tips and explanations, and wish you luck in this incredbly addicting, but equaly buggy game.

Oh yeah, one more thing; won't the Range of the sensors go down if a ship is larger than the previously selected resolution?

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Sol class Missile Destroyer    9.000 tons     886 Crew     1747,4 BP      TCS 180  TH 1000  EM 0
5555 km/s     Armour 1-38     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 48
Maint Life 0,52 Years     MSP 121    AFR 648%    IFR 9%    1YR 234    5YR 3517    Max Repair 72 MSP
Magazine 1068   

Magnetic Confinement Fusion Drive E7 (M) (8)    Power 125    Fuel Use 70%    Signature 125    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 600.000 Litres    Range 171,4 billion km   (357 days at full power)

Size 4 Missile Launcher (12)    Missile Size 4    Rate of Fire 25
Missile Fire Control FC51-R16 (AFAC) (3)     Range 51,8m km    Resolution 16
Missile Fire Control FC57-R80 (3)     Range 57,9m km    Resolution 80
ASM-22 Kharak (267)  Speed: 27.500 km/s   End: 26,5m    Range: 43,7m km   WH: 16    Size: 4    TH: 146 / 88 / 44

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


Code: [Select]

Starton Eridani class Escort Frigate    6.000 tons     462 Crew     1281,6 BP      TCS 120  TH 625  EM 0
5208 km/s     Armour 1-29     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 15
Maint Life 0,86 Years     MSP 134    AFR 288%    IFR 4%    1YR 156    5YR 2338    Max Repair 72 MSP
Magazine 899   

Magnetic Confinement Fusion Drive E7 (M) (5)    Power 125    Fuel Use 70%    Signature 125    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 400.000 Litres    Range 171,4 billion km   (380 days at full power)

Size 1 Missile Launcher (15)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 10
Missile Fire Control FC12-R1 (AMM) (3)     Range 13,0m km    Resolution 1
Missile Fire Control FC51-R16 (AFAC) (3)     Range 51,8m km    Resolution 16
AMM-67 Tanis (899)  Speed: 30.000 km/s   End: 3m    Range: 5,4m km   WH: 4    Size: 1    TH: 280 / 168 / 84

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

So... better?

Yes, but a few points still:
The R80 firecons on your destroyer are all but useless. The R16 fire controls have nearly as much range.
Your escort only needs one AFAC firecon. When you're shooting at an FAC, you'll want to launch with every tube.

I don't know it helps but the Meson Cannons of the Soldiers only reach like 60000 km. I guess that if I had ECM level 3 it would be down to 15-30k right?

It's 100000km, IIRC. And the range is limited not by the fire control, but the beam itself. ECM reduces the effective range of the fire control, but the beam's range is unaffected. ECM will, however, reduce the hit chance.
Keep in mind, though, if the guy shooting you has ECCM equal to or better than your ECM, your ECM will be totally negated. IIRC, soldiers have ECM 3 but no ECCM, but it may be the other way around. Or they may have both.

On a quick scan I caught a couple of possible problems.  On your main combatant the fire control resolution is 80.  Your anticipated target is 16.  This is going to severly reduce your ability to lock on to them and fire at them.  The same rules for seeing a ship apply to the missile fire control so your actual range is going to be around 4% of normal or 2-3 million km.  If the resolution was reduced down to 16 and you upped the size by 1 hull space you would probably get about the same max range as your current fire control but have it be effective against much smaller ships.  If you need to reduce your launchers to 12 and put in an extra fire control as well.  One thing I like to do for all missile combatants is to give them 1 fire control at resolution 1 so they can be loaded with counter missiles if needed.  This is definately under the my preference rule however and is not a problem.

The second item that caught my attention is your escort.  You left 5 size 4 launchers on it, but you have a really tiny magazine.  You are going to need a bigger magazine so I would recommend removing the size 4 launchers and replacing them with magazines and maybe with doubling the size of your antimissile fire control.  Currently your res 1 fire control will only be able to see a size 6 or smaller missile when it gets to around .7m km.  This is a little close for my tastes and at a minimum only allows for 1 counter fire from your launchers.

Brian

Ah, moar flaws... Thanks for the Input. I redesigned the ships according to what you said, I hope it can kill.

But, I got good news (of a sort) and bad news. The good one is that I found new aliens. They are friendly, thought they are little more than cannon fodder, and their gigantic (22000 tons) ships will certainly be a good Mineral injection to the Swarm's... navy, if we can call it that.

I don't know how I did it, but I managed to put everything you said was needed; (right?) only took out one Missile Launcher, put more ammo, and the right resolution to take out the bastards.

I made the Sol Destroyer, thinking more about the Queen, I would let the frigates take out the Soldiers with the AMMs but even I had my doubts that it would work:

Sol class Missile Destroyer    9.000 tons     886 Crew     1747,4 BP      TCS 180  TH 1000  EM 0
5555 km/s     Armour 1-38     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 48
Maint Life 0,52 Years     MSP 121    AFR 648%    IFR 9%    1YR 234    5YR 3517    Max Repair 72 MSP
Magazine 1068   

Magnetic Confinement Fusion Drive E7 (M) (8)    Power 125    Fuel Use 70%    Signature 125    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 600.000 Litres    Range 171,4 billion km   (357 days at full power)

Size 4 Missile Launcher (12)    Missile Size 4    Rate of Fire 25
Missile Fire Control FC51-R16 (AFAC) (3)     Range 51,8m km    Resolution 16
Missile Fire Control FC57-R80 (3)     Range 57,9m km    Resolution 80
ASM-22 Kharak (267)  Speed: 27.500 km/s   End: 26,5m    Range: 43,7m km   WH: 16    Size: 4    TH: 146 / 88 / 44

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

Starton Eridani class Escort Frigate    6.000 tons     462 Crew     1281,6 BP      TCS 120  TH 625  EM 0
5208 km/s     Armour 1-29     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 15
Maint Life 0,86 Years     MSP 134    AFR 288%    IFR 4%    1YR 156    5YR 2338    Max Repair 72 MSP
Magazine 899   

Magnetic Confinement Fusion Drive E7 (M) (5)    Power 125    Fuel Use 70%    Signature 125    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 400.000 Litres    Range 171,4 billion km   (380 days at full power)

Size 1 Missile Launcher (15)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 10
Missile Fire Control FC12-R1 (AMM) (3)     Range 13,0m km    Resolution 1
Missile Fire Control FC51-R16 (AFAC) (3)     Range 51,8m km    Resolution 16
AMM-67 Tanis (899)  Speed: 30.000 km/s   End: 3m    Range: 5,4m km   WH: 4    Size: 1    TH: 280 / 168 / 84

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

So... better?

Yeah, you need to rework the fire controls. And keep in mind, two hits with those missiles will knock off a soldier every time, so launching more than four in a salvo is a waste of ammo. (I think there's even a slight chance of destroying one in a single hit if it knocks out the engines and they explode, but you certainly shouldn't count on that.) Consider dropping two launchers and adding a third firecon.
That R80 sensor on your command ship is pretty useless. There's little if anything it'll spot before the R100 sensor does.
Do you have any EW techs? At your current tech level you really should. ECM is not that effective against missiles, since it only reduces the maximum range of missile fire controls and is easily compensated for by making larger firecons, but it's very useful against beam weapons, since it applies a flat reduction to their hit chance (which results in an effective range loss, as well).
Your escorts actually do need to go in the same TF as your destroyers. Point defense is much more effective if the PD launcher is on top of the ship being defended, and sensors are likewise more useful there. This means, of course, that they'll need more armor. (Armor is actually useless against Star Swarm, of course, but you'll want them to be able to fight other threats effectively, as well.)
I like to add a small backup sensor to all my warships so that they're not left helpless if the sensor ship dies, but that's just personal preference.

Really? Two missiles? Just that? But, well, I have to take out the queen too, and I'm pretty sure that she will get me some pretty hefty research bonuses. No EW tech, I rushed everything I could in Missile, Research Improvement, Sensor and Propulsion techs so I don't really have it now.

The Escorts wouldn't go with the Destroyers because of the Speed differences, but now that I took care of it (sorta) they will be on the same TG. And I can't really put more Armor on my ships without further research, one singe level of armor on the Destroyer added like 300 tons to the ship's mass; When I got it back to level 1, I saved like, 900-1000 tons of mass.

I don't know it helps but the Meson Cannons of the Soldiers only reach like 60000 km. I guess that if I had ECM level 3 it would be down to 15-30k right?

On a quick scan I caught a couple of possible problems.  On your main combatant the fire control resolution is 80.  Your anticipated target is 16.  This is going to severly reduce your ability to lock on to them and fire at them.  The same rules for seeing a ship apply to the missile fire control so your actual range is going to be around 4% of normal or 2-3 million km.  If the resolution was reduced down to 16 and you upped the size by 1 hull space you would probably get about the same max range as your current fire control but have it be effective against much smaller ships.  If you need to reduce your launchers to 12 and put in an extra fire control as well.  One thing I like to do for all missile combatants is to give them 1 fire control at resolution 1 so they can be loaded with counter missiles if needed.  This is definately under the my preference rule however and is not a problem.

The second item that caught my attention is your escort.  You left 5 size 4 launchers on it, but you have a really tiny magazine.  You are going to need a bigger magazine so I would recommend removing the size 4 launchers and replacing them with magazines and maybe with doubling the size of your antimissile fire control.  Currently your res 1 fire control will only be able to see a size 6 or smaller missile when it gets to around .7m km.  This is a little close for my tastes and at a minimum only allows for 1 counter fire from your launchers.

Brian

Much better things to spend the RP on, like getting better engines sooner.

... or even fuel efficiency, a very cheap tech which translates directly to larger warheads or better accuracy.

No? Higher fuel efficiency means that your missiles need to carry less fuel to reach the designated range, which allows you to devote some of that displacement to Agility, Engine or Warhead instead.