Ok, my fleet is going through a major refit.
New engines, new sensors, new firecontrols, new launchers, new armour; the works.
Also, since the previous and only engagement of my fleet resulted in me demolishing the precursors without taking a single point of damage, using only the most trained half of my fleet, I feel I can afford to specialize my ships a bit more.
Therefore, new fleet composition will be:
2 command ships (R16 and R100 sensors, flag bridge)
Jumpships as necessary (3 in service, 3 more planned)
6 FAC carriers for additional reach
4 dedicated sensor frigates (R1 sensors, this sensor is humongous, it's max range is 40mkm beyond the range of my Gawain AS missile)
- Policy is to only ever have one online at any time; during a fleet action, if one starts taking damage, two will go active
- they have 6 layers of armour, which will hopefully provide some defence
2 spy frigates (large passive sensors, thermal reduced engines, cloaking device 95%)
12 missile destroyers
24 missile frigates
10 AMM escort frigates
10 dual role laser frigates
assigned as necessary from assessment of the threat.
In particular, the new design and fleet doctrine is to use 33% reduction missile launchers. This has a reload time of 500 seconds.
Since the previous fleet action, the single salvo of less than half the fleet totally overwhelmed precursor PD, I have decided that large salvoes are the way to go.
Another major decision factor was that 33% launchers take much less than 33% crew (3 vs 50). Currently, I am suffering from a lack of trained crew.
The decision not to use 25% reduction launchers was the 2500 second reload time, which would mean I have only 1 salvo during fleet actions (missile travel time is ~600 seconds)
Partially factoring into decision was that 25% launchers take more crew per launcher than 33% (5 vs 3). And having more launchers means the crew requirement for 25% is much higher than the 33% launcher.
So here's the new ChimeraB Frigate:
Note the massively reduced crew requirement and the higher speed from unstable engines.
Also of note is the 3x larger salvo size. The ChimeraB's salvo size is more than three times larger than the Chimera and is 50% higher than the 1st generation Ettin class Destroyer!
ECCM 4 is awaiting the return of salvagers who have enough points to give me ECCM 4.
Magazine size was not correspondingly increased as 3x launcher number with 10x reload time means my depletion time is actually longer than before.
ChimeraB class Frigate 6,000 tons 385 Crew 1202.78 BP TCS 120 TH 750 EM 0
6250 km/s Armour 4-29 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 14 PPV 42.9
Annual Failure Rate: 72% IFR: 1% Maint Capacity 501 MSP Max Repair 63 MSP Est Time: 4.21 Years
Magazine 370
Internal Confinement Fusion Drive E7.5 (6) Power 125 Fuel Use 75% Signature 125 Armour 0 Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 185,000 Litres Range 74.0 billion km (137 days at full power)
Size 5 Missile Launcher (33% Reduction) (26) Missile Size 5 Rate of Fire 500
Missile Fire Control FC83-R16 (1) Range 83.2m km Resolution 16
'Gawain' Size 5 Anti-ship Missile (74) Speed: 55,200 km/s End: 18.2m Range: 60.4m km WH: 6 Size: 5 TH: 202 / 121 / 60
ECCM-3 (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
The EttinB class destroyer is much the same, only with 46 launchers.
Barring further hiccups, another 24 frigates are planned after the current construction base expansion eats up my available workers, with a proportional increase in other classes, essentially doubling the fleet size. I need an internal battlegroup as I have a wormhole in one of my border systems.
With 24 frigates and 10 destroyers traveling in a pack, a full salvo of missiles will number 1084 which will hopefully demolish any opposition.