Terran Federation Meson turrets vs Gauss turrets

[ExChairman (OP)]

A vicious debate i Fleet HQ which ship is the better one. Any thoughts ?

Leander class Jump Command Battlecruiser    29 950 tons     1025 Crew     6710.5 BP      TCS 599  TH 3000  EM 0
5008 km/s    JR 5-250     Armour 6-85     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 35     PPV 146.2
Maint Life 4.31 Years     MSP 4901    AFR 205%    IFR 2.8%    1YR 424    5YR 6354    Max Repair 1100 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months    Flight Crew Berths 1   
Flag Bridge    Hangar Deck Capacity 125 tons     Troop Capacity: 1 Company    Cargo Handling Multiplier 35   

J30000(5-250) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 30000 tons    Distance 250k km     Squadron Size 5
200 EP Internal Fusion Drive (15)    Power 200    Fuel Use 54%    Signature 200    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1 900 000 Litres    Range 21.1 billion km   (48 days at full power)

Twin R40/C5 Meson Cannon Turret (5x2)    Range 320 000km     TS: 20000 km/s     Power 32-10     RM 40    ROF 20        1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
CIWS-200 (1x10)    Range 1000 km     TS: 20000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Fire Control S02 160-5000 (2)    Max Range: 320 000 km   TS: 5000 km/s     97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Tokamak Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (7)     Total Power Output 56    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor MR72-R82 (1)     GPS 8200     Range 72.4m km    Resolution 82
Active Search Sensor MR796-R82 (1)     GPS 90200     Range 796.9m km    Resolution 82

ECCM-1 (1)         ECM 10

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

Leander Mk II "Firefly" - Copy class Jump Command Battlecruiser    30 000 tons     780 Crew     7098 BP      TCS 600  TH 3000  EM 0
5000 km/s    JR 5-250     Armour 5-86     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 28     PPV 181.12
Maint Life 3.29 Years     MSP 4141    AFR 257%    IFR 3.6%    1YR 577    5YR 8661    Max Repair 1100 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months    Flight Crew Berths 0   
Flag Bridge    Hangar Deck Capacity 125 tons     Troop Capacity: 1 Company    Cargo Handling Multiplier 35   

J30000(5-250) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 30000 tons    Distance 250k km     Squadron Size 5
200 EP Internal Fusion Drive (15)    Power 200    Fuel Use 54%    Signature 200    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1 900 000 Litres    Range 21.1 billion km   (48 days at full power)

Twin Gallagher-Austin Gauss Cannon R5-100 Turret (8x10)    Range 50 000km     TS: 20000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 5    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
CIWS-200 (1x10)    Range 1000 km     TS: 20000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Fire Control S02 40-20000 (2)    Max Range: 80 000 km   TS: 20000 km/s     88 75 62 50 38 25 12 0 0 0

Active Search Sensor MR72-R82 (1)     GPS 8200     Range 72.4m km    Resolution 82
Active Search Sensor MR796-R82 (1)     GPS 90200     Range 796.9m km    Resolution 82

ECCM-1 (1)         ECM 10

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

[Andrew]

Well the Meson gun ship can shoot down at most 10 missiles , while the gauss gun equipped ship can shoot down at most 80

[83athom]

Well the Meson gun ship can shoot down at most 10 missiles , while the gauss gun equipped ship can shoot down at most 80

You also have to factor in range, rate of fire, speed of enemy missiles, and chance to hit.

[Tree]

You also have to factor in range, rate of fire, speed of enemy missiles, and chance to hit.

Considering he has internal fusion drives and that NPRs he'd meet would likely be generated with it too, I doubt his mesons would have the time to fire a second time. And he can't even target missiles.
Also the 29950 tons ship won't be able to take 30000 tons ships through jump points.
Both ships are way too slow, and they have two sensors of differing ranges for the same resolution, I think you forgot to set one to resolution 1 for missiles. And how the hell do you even end up with a resolution of 82?
Why do they have a 125 tons hangar deck? A troop capacity of 1? Cargo handlers? One ECCM but two fire controls?
Loads of weirdass choices, man. You should specialize your ships.

[lennson]

The second seems better since it will be much better at fending off missiles (higher tracking speed, higher rate of fire, more shots per volley).

The range that the first has probably isn't enough to make a difference considering that an enemy with beam weapons that are designed for range (lasers or particle beams) will still out range it.

At close range combat (assuming either can get in range of their target) the second has so much higher damage per second that the penetration advantage of the mesons wont matter.

[ExChairman (OP)]

Cargo handling I totally forgot, from the beginning this one was a missile battle cruiser, but when I went up against the Enemy and found out that they use missiles heavily I wanted something more than AMMs to have a chance to hit their many small missiles so I will go with the modified Firefly and that has also been given the right AMM search sensor.  This ship also has the small hangarbay as a roleplaying element, totally unnecessary of course and the small courier is totally unarmed.

Leander Mk II "Firefly"  class Jump Command Battlecruiser    30 000 tons     686 Crew     7808 BP      TCS 600  TH 3000  EM 0
5000 km/s    JR 5-250     Armour 5-86     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 18     PPV 181.12
Maint Life 1.99 Years     MSP 2928    AFR 399%    IFR 5.6%    1YR 981    5YR 14722    Max Repair 1100 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months    Flight Crew Berths 94   
Flag Bridge    Hangar Deck Capacity 125 tons     Troop Capacity: 1 Company   

J30000(5-250) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 30000 tons    Distance 250k km     Squadron Size 5
200 EP Internal Fusion Drive (15)    Power 200    Fuel Use 54%    Signature 200    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 2 550 000 Litres    Range 28.3 billion km   (65 days at full power)

Twin Gallagher-Austin Gauss Cannon R5-100 Turret (8x10)    Range 50 000km     TS: 20000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 5    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
CIWS-200 (1x10)    Range 1000 km     TS: 20000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Fire Control S02 40-20000 (2)    Max Range: 80 000 km   TS: 20000 km/s     88 75 62 50 38 25 12 0 0 0

Active Search Sensor MR72-R1 (1)     GPS 900     Range 72.0m km    MCR 7.8m km    Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR796-R82 (1)     GPS 90200     Range 796.9m km    Resolution 82

ECCM-1 (2)         ECM 10

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

[Rich.h]

Generally go for gauss all the way if you ware using something non AMM based for PD. Unless you have actually observed a species using heavily armoured missiles then the mesons are being totally wasted in this role, if you want to use a longer range beam defence then go for laser based turrets. Small caliber turrets with high lens factors will see you hitting that similar range with either reduced power needs or the ability to add in a possible extra beam to the turret for the tonnage. In addition you can at a pinch use them at close ranges against other ships with the obvious increased damage amount depending on distance. Mesons while great with their penetrate everything ability only really work in large numbers to factor in the chance to hit/miss against the instant internal damage.

[Iranon]

Agreed, as far as slow but respectable warships go.
I favour railguns for point defence myself, but that's because my beam ships are either fast or deliberately low-tech and cheap.