Third generation high-tech fleet designs. (tl;dr advisory)

[bitbucket (OP)]

It is the 80s—the 2080s—and the old mag-fusion drive battlefleet just doesn't feel like it's going to stack up to the next alien menace lurking in unknown space that will need to be shoved aside for the ever-growing Terran sphere.  I'm running tech levels well above what most campaigns get to play with, from the looks of it, since I went with a large population game—initially 6 billion people on a 2025 conventional start, that's grown to 11 billion across dozens of worlds.  Since my R&D teams have just finished prototyping a suite of antimatter drives, here's what I had in mind to do with them.

I imagine these designs could be tweaked for better combat performance, and I invite you who's reading this to do so.

Starting with the small fry and working our way up, first we have two frigates that will almost exclusively be deployed as point defense escorts for capital ships, at least one of each working in tandem.

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Saratoga class Kinetic Frigate    8,000 tons     213 Crew     7470.6 BP      TCS 160  TH 2500  EM 0
15625 km/s     Armour 5-35     Shields 0-0     Sensors 18/18/0/0     Damage Control Rating 34     PPV 43.27
Maint Life 2.96 Years     MSP 2656    AFR 112%    IFR 1.6%    1YR 451    5YR 6769    Max Repair 2531 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 13   

Blackstone Aeromarine 25×125% 1250 EP Solid Core AM Drive (2)    Power 1250    Fuel Use 26.2%    Signature 1250    Exp 12%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres    Range 85.9 billion km   (63 days at full power)

Quad 50k Gauss Cannon R5-100/A2 Turret (1x24)    Range 50,000km     TS: 50000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 5    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Hilton Precision Arms CIWS-500 (1x12)    Range 1000 km     TS: 50000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Reeves Weapon Systems 25cm Advanced Railgun V9/C16 (1x5)    Range 450,000km     TS: 15625 km/s     Power 15-16     RM 9    ROF 5        5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4
Chadwick Electronics Fire Control S03 400-18750 H25 (1)    Max Range: 800,000 km   TS: 18750 km/s     99 98 96 95 94 92 91 90 89 88
Shizuma-Maehata Gauss Fire Control S02 100-50000 H25 (1)    Max Range: 200,000 km   TS: 50000 km/s     95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50
Godfrey Gravitonics 8GW Solid-core Antimatter Reactor (2)     Total Power Output 16    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Nautilus Systems Active Search Sensor MR12-R1 (30%) (1)     GPS 72     Range 13.0m km    MCR 1.4m km    Resolution 1
Nautilus Systems Thermal Sensor TH1-18 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 18     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  18m km
Nautilus Systems EM Detection Sensor EM1-18 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 18     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  18m km

Compact ECCM-3 (1)         ECM 20

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


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Concord class Beam Frigate    8,000 tons     236 Crew     10282.7 BP      TCS 160  TH 2500  EM 0
15625 km/s     Armour 5-35     Shields 0-0     Sensors 18/18/0/0     Damage Control Rating 35     PPV 36.86
Maint Life 3.43 Years     MSP 4660    AFR 88%    IFR 1.2%    1YR 605    5YR 9073    Max Repair 6750 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 5   

Blackstone Aeromarine 25×125% 1250 EP Solid Core AM Drive (2)    Power 1250    Fuel Use 26.2%    Signature 1250    Exp 12%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres    Range 85.9 billion km   (63 days at full power)

Twin 50k 20cm C10/A2 Far X-Ray Laser Turret (2x2)    Range 800,000km     TS: 50000 km/s     Power 20-20     RM 8    ROF 5        10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 8 8
Hilton Precision Arms CIWS-500 (1x12)    Range 1000 km     TS: 50000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Sun Electronic Systems Fire Control S08 400-50000 H25 (1)    Max Range: 800,000 km   TS: 50000 km/s     99 98 96 95 94 92 91 90 89 88
Godfrey Gravitonics 8GW Solid-core Antimatter Reactor (5)     Total Power Output 40    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Nautilus Systems Active Search Sensor MR12-R1 (30%) (1)     GPS 72     Range 13.0m km    MCR 1.4m km    Resolution 1
Nautilus Systems Thermal Sensor TH1-18 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 18     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  18m km
Nautilus Systems EM Detection Sensor EM1-18 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 18     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  18m km

Compact ECCM-3 (1)         ECM 30

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

The Concord will be on area defense with its beam weaponry, the Saratoga on final fire.  On top of the standard 24-shot quad gauss turret, the Saratoga also has some of the best railguns that science can science.  If they can't be put to good use then maybe we should just write off that whole weapon category as rubbish.  I'm aware they lack MSP space, but if anything other than the beam fire control breaks down they can handle it—it's only that one component with such a high cost.  Maybe I'll just have to upsize them a bit and throw in maintenance storage bays. . .

Anyway, next sizes up.

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Vanguard class Destroyer Escort    11,000 tons     298 Crew     5838.37 BP      TCS 220  TH 3000  EM 1200
13636 km/s     Armour 5-44     Shields 40-300     Sensors 9/9/0/0     Damage Control Rating 39     PPV 45.27
Maint Life 3.78 Years     MSP 3068    AFR 104%    IFR 1.5%    1YR 336    5YR 5036    Max Repair 1688 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 55   
Magazine 310   

Blackstone Aeromarine 30×125% 1500 EP Solid Core AM Drive (2)    Power 1500    Fuel Use 24.46%    Signature 1500    Exp 12%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres    Range 66.9 billion km   (56 days at full power)
Slater Defence Industries Sigma-R300/384 Shields (5)   Total Fuel Cost  80 Litres per hour  (1,920 per day)

Quad 50k Gauss Cannon R5-100/A2 Turret (1x24)    Range 50,000km     TS: 50000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 5    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Hilton Precision Arms CIWS-500 (1x12)    Range 1000 km     TS: 50000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Shizuma-Maehata Gauss Fire Control S02 100-50000 H25 (1)    Max Range: 200,000 km   TS: 50000 km/s     95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50

Bentley Armaments Size 1 Missile Launcher (10)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 5
Taylor Engineering AMM Fire Control FC68-R1 (25%) (1)     Range 68.0m km    Resolution 1
Blowback AMM V4 (320)  Speed: 92,200 km/s   End: 1.3m    Range: 7.2m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 2919/1751/875

Nautilus Systems Active Search Sensor MR16-R1 (30%) (1)     GPS 90     Range 16.2m km    MCR 1.8m km    Resolution 1
Nautilus Systems Active Search Sensor MR130-R20 (30%) (1)     GPS 3240     Range 130.4m km    Resolution 20
Nautilus Systems Thermal Sensor TH0.5-9 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 9     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  9m km
Nautilus Systems EM Detection Sensor EM0.5-9 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 9     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  9m km

ECCM-4 (3)         ECM 40

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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Defiant class Missile Destroyer    10,000 tons     275 Crew     4103.71 BP      TCS 200  TH 3000  EM 1200
15000 km/s     Armour 5-41     Shields 40-300     Sensors 9/9/0/0     Damage Control Rating 38     PPV 20
Maint Life 3.59 Years     MSP 2180    AFR 94%    IFR 1.3%    1YR 261    5YR 3918    Max Repair 750 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 17   
Magazine 520   

Blackstone Aeromarine 30×125% 1500 EP Solid Core AM Drive (2)    Power 1500    Fuel Use 24.46%    Signature 1500    Exp 12%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres    Range 73.6 billion km   (56 days at full power)
Slater Defence Industries Sigma-R300/384 Shields (5)   Total Fuel Cost  80 Litres per hour  (1,920 per day)

Hilton Precision Arms CIWS-500 (1x12)    Range 1000 km     TS: 50000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Bentley Armaments Size 1 Missile Launcher (20)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 5
Taylor Engineering AMM Fire Control FC68-R1 (25%) (2)     Range 68.0m km    Resolution 1
Blowback AMM V4 (520)  Speed: 92,200 km/s   End: 1.3m    Range: 7.2m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 2919/1751/875

Nautilus Systems Active Search Sensor MR130-R20 (30%) (1)     GPS 3240     Range 130.4m km    Resolution 20
Nautilus Systems Active Search Sensor MR16-R1 (30%) (1)     GPS 90     Range 16.2m km    MCR 1.8m km    Resolution 1
Nautilus Systems Thermal Sensor TH0.5-9 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 9     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  9m km
Nautilus Systems EM Detection Sensor EM0.5-9 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 9     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  9m km

ECCM-4 (2)         ECM 40

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
Conveniently both can be built at the same shipyard.  These also serve escort roles but have a bit of fight in them with light shielding and anti-missile capacity.  Yes, the fire controls are over-engineered.  I'm going to be cooking up a size-1 longer-range bigger-boom antiship missile once the next level of warhead tech gets researched, so it's a bit of future-proofing.  (As an aside, I miss my first-generation scientists who're all dead and/or retired now; their replacements don't measure up. )

Next up, the lightest ships with jump capacity:

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Belfast class Missile Cruiser    16,000 tons     434 Crew     7930.34 BP      TCS 320  TH 6000  EM 720
18750 km/s    JR 5-50     Armour 5-56     Shields 24-300     Sensors 36/36/0/0     Damage Control Rating 46     PPV 45.27
Maint Life 3.34 Years     MSP 5127    AFR 123%    IFR 1.7%    1YR 696    5YR 10442    Max Repair 1688 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 18 months    Spare Berths 8   
Magazine 620   

DriveCorp G8-J16K(5-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 16200 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 5
Blackstone Aeromarine 50×150% 3000 EP Solid Core AM Drive (2)    Power 3000    Fuel Use 27.56%    Signature 3000    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 1,750,000 Litres    Range 71.4 billion km   (44 days at full power)
Slater Defence Industries Sigma-R300/384 Shields (3)   Total Fuel Cost  48 Litres per hour  (1,152 per day)

Quad 50k Gauss Cannon R5-100/A2 Turret (1x24)    Range 50,000km     TS: 50000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 5    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Shizuma-Maehata Gauss Fire Control S02 100-50000 H25 (1)    Max Range: 200,000 km   TS: 50000 km/s     95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50

Bentley Armaments Size 1 Missile Launcher (50% Size) (20)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 20
Taylor Engineering AMM Fire Control FC68-R1 (25%) (2)     Range 68.0m km    Resolution 1
Blowback AMM V4 (620)  Speed: 92,200 km/s   End: 1.3m    Range: 7.2m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 2919/1751/875

Nautilus Systems Active Search Sensor MR12-R1 (30%) (1)     GPS 72     Range 13.0m km    MCR 1.4m km    Resolution 1
Nautilus Systems Active Search Sensor MR72-R20 (30%) (1)     GPS 1800     Range 72.4m km    Resolution 20
Nautilus Systems Thermal Sensor TH2-36 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 36     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  36m km
Nautilus Systems EM Detection Sensor EM2-36 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 36     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  36m km

Compact ECCM-3 (3)         ECM 30

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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Ticonderoga class Light Cruiser    16,000 tons     498 Crew     18177.5 BP      TCS 320  TH 6000  EM 720
18750 km/s    JR 5-50     Armour 5-56     Shields 24-300     Sensors 36/36/0/0     Damage Control Rating 41     PPV 72.7
Maint Life 3.06 Years     MSP 8733    AFR 166%    IFR 2.3%    1YR 1399    5YR 20986    Max Repair 6750 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 18 months    Spare Berths 45   

DriveCorp G8-J16K(5-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 16200 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 5
Blackstone Aeromarine 50×150% 3000 EP Solid Core AM Drive (2)    Power 3000    Fuel Use 27.56%    Signature 3000    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 1,750,000 Litres    Range 71.4 billion km   (44 days at full power)
Slater Defence Industries Sigma-R300/384 Shields (3)   Total Fuel Cost  48 Litres per hour  (1,152 per day)

Akhtar-Morgan S-60cm C16 Far X-Ray Laser (1)    Range 800,000km     TS: 18750 km/s     Power 94-16     RM 8    ROF 30        94 94 94 94 94 94 94 94 83 75
Twin 50k 20cm C10/A2 Far X-Ray Laser Turret (1x2)    Range 800,000km     TS: 50000 km/s     Power 20-20     RM 8    ROF 5        10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 8 8
Quad 50k Gauss Cannon R5-100/A2 Turret (1x24)    Range 50,000km     TS: 50000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 5    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Shizuma-Maehata Gauss Fire Control S02 100-50000 H25 (1)    Max Range: 200,000 km   TS: 50000 km/s     95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50
Sun Electronic Systems Fire Control S08 400-50000 H25 (1)    Max Range: 800,000 km   TS: 50000 km/s     99 98 96 95 94 92 91 90 89 88
Chadwick Electronics Fire Control S03 400-18750 H25 (1)    Max Range: 800,000 km   TS: 18750 km/s     99 98 96 95 94 92 91 90 89 88
Godfrey Gravitonics 8GW Solid-core Antimatter Reactor (5)     Total Power Output 40    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Nautilus Systems Active Search Sensor MR72-R20 (30%) (1)     GPS 1800     Range 72.4m km    Resolution 20
Nautilus Systems Active Search Sensor MR6-R1 (30%) (1)     GPS 36     Range 6.5m km    MCR 706k km    Resolution 1
Nautilus Systems Thermal Sensor TH2-36 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 36     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  36m km
Nautilus Systems EM Detection Sensor EM2-36 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 36     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  36m km

Compact ECCM-3 (3)         ECM 30

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
The Belfast is basically a faster Vanguard with a jump drive and more dakka.  The Ticonderoga is built around beam combat but still totes gauss guns to provide its own PD.  In addition to its standard laser turrets, it has a big shiny spinal-mounted advanced laser that's really scary up close with 94 max damage, but this fades to a pinprick at maximum range.  It's a bulky weapon too, but at least I can fire it more than once per battle.  (When designing a superweapon, being able to use it both early and often is a highly desirable design criteria. )

Now we're getting to the big boys:

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Sentinel class Heavy Cruiser    36,000 tons     1101 Crew     17737.01 BP      TCS 720  TH 10000  EM 1200
13888 km/s    JR 5-50     Armour 4-97     Shields 40-300     Sensors 45/45/0/0     Damage Control Rating 75     PPV 123.43
Maint Life 3.59 Years     MSP 13933    AFR 229%    IFR 3.2%    1YR 1665    5YR 24973    Max Repair 6750 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 11   
Magazine 2410   

DriveCorp G8-J36K(5-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 36000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 5
Blackstone Aeromarine 50×125% 2500 EP Solid Core AM Drive (4)    Power 2500    Fuel Use 17.47%    Signature 2500    Exp 12%
Fuel Capacity 2,500,000 Litres    Range 71.5 billion km   (59 days at full power)
Slater Defence Industries Sigma-R300/384 Shields (5)   Total Fuel Cost  80 Litres per hour  (1,920 per day)

Twin 50k 20cm C10/A2 Far X-Ray Laser Turret (1x2)    Range 800,000km     TS: 50000 km/s     Power 20-20     RM 8    ROF 5        10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 8 8
Hilton Precision Arms CIWS-500 (2x12)    Range 1000 km     TS: 50000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Sun Electronic Systems Fire Control S08 400-50000 H25 (1)    Max Range: 800,000 km   TS: 50000 km/s     99 98 96 95 94 92 91 90 89 88
Godfrey Gravitonics 8GW Solid-core Antimatter Reactor (3)     Total Power Output 24    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Savage Armaments Size 6 Missile Launcher (15)    Missile Size 6    Rate of Fire 20
Zheng Precision Arms Size 1 Missile Launcher (75% Size) (20)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 10
Wilkins Heavy Industries AMM Fire Control FC14-R1 (40%) (2)     Range 14.1m km    Resolution 1
Taylor Engineering ASM Fire Control FC121-R20 (25%) (1)     Range 121.7m km    Resolution 20
Blowback AMM V4 (1420)  Speed: 92,200 km/s   End: 1.3m    Range: 7.2m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 2919/1751/875
Hellbore ASM V4 (165)  Speed: 94,700 km/s   End: 17.6m    Range: 100m km   WH: 16    Size: 6    TH: 1894/1136/568

Nautilus Systems Active Search Sensor MR72-R20 (30%) (1)     GPS 1800     Range 72.4m km    Resolution 20
Nautilus Systems Active Search Sensor MR16-R1 (30%) (1)     GPS 90     Range 16.2m km    MCR 1.8m km    Resolution 1
Nautilus Systems Thermal Sensor TH2.5-45 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 45     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  45m km
Nautilus Systems EM Detection Sensor EM2.5-45 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 45     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  45m km

Compact ECCM-3 (2)     ECCM-4 (1)         ECM 50

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
Built for more of an offensive role with missile-based PD, beams, and anti-ship missiles.  (The ASMs will be upgraded to strength-25 warheads when the next relevant technology is done in a couple more years. ) A bit light on the armor, but it would have a PD escort.  Probably needs engines with more oomph.

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Adjudicator class Bombardment Cruiser    36,000 tons     1231 Crew     10613.83 BP      TCS 720  TH 10000  EM 1200
13888 km/s    JR 5-50     Armour 3-97     Shields 40-300     Sensors 45/45/0/0     Damage Control Rating 75     PPV 187.5
Maint Life 3.29 Years     MSP 8292    AFR 230%    IFR 3.2%    1YR 1161    5YR 17418    Max Repair 1250 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 16   
Magazine 1750   

DriveCorp G8-J36K(5-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 36000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 5
Blackstone Aeromarine 50×125% 2500 EP Solid Core AM Drive (4)    Power 2500    Fuel Use 17.47%    Signature 2500    Exp 12%
Fuel Capacity 2,500,000 Litres    Range 71.5 billion km   (59 days at full power)
Slater Defence Industries Sigma-R300/384 Shields (5)   Total Fuel Cost  80 Litres per hour  (1,920 per day)

Hilton Precision Arms CIWS-500 (2x12)    Range 1000 km     TS: 50000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Aktar-Morgan X50 Torpedo Launcher (75% Size) (5)    Missile Size 50    Rate of Fire 335
Taylor Engineering ASM Fire Control FC121-R20 (25%) (1)     Range 121.7m km    Resolution 20
Planetbuster V1 (20)  Speed: 56,800 km/s   End: 10m    Range: 34.3m km   WH: 400    Size: 50    TH: 624/374/187
Xenopurger V1 (15)  Speed: 56,800 km/s   End: 10m    Range: 34.3m km   WH: 80    Size: 50    TH: 624/374/187

Nautilus Systems Active Search Sensor MR72-R20 (30%) (1)     GPS 1800     Range 72.4m km    Resolution 20
Nautilus Systems Thermal Sensor TH2.5-45 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 45     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  45m km
Nautilus Systems EM Detection Sensor EM2.5-45 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 45     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  45m km

Compact ECCM-3 (1)         ECM 30

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
This. . . does exactly what you think it does—namely, giving NPR homeworlds a bad time.  Moving on.

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Sovereign class Battleship    50,000 tons     1569 Crew     27991 BP      TCS 1000  TH 15000  EM 12000
15000 km/s    JR 5-50     Armour 10-120     Shields 400-300     Sensors 45/45/0/0     Damage Control Rating 113     PPV 172.43
Maint Life 3.23 Years     MSP 19736    AFR 373%    IFR 5.2%    1YR 2853    5YR 42801    Max Repair 6750 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 36   
Magazine 1980   

DriveCorp G8-J50K(5-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 50400 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 5
Blackstone Aeromarine 50×150% 3000 EP Solid Core AM Drive (5)    Power 3000    Fuel Use 27.56%    Signature 3000    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 5,000,000 Litres    Range 65.3 billion km   (50 days at full power)
Slater Defence Industries Sigma-R300/384 Shields (50)   Total Fuel Cost  800 Litres per hour  (19,200 per day)

Twin 50k 20cm C10/A2 Far X-Ray Laser Turret (1x2)    Range 800,000km     TS: 50000 km/s     Power 20-20     RM 8    ROF 5        10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 8 8
Akhtar-Morgan S-60cm C16 Far X-Ray Laser (1)    Range 800,000km     TS: 15000 km/s     Power 94-16     RM 8    ROF 30        94 94 94 94 94 94 94 94 83 75
Hilton Precision Arms CIWS-500 (2x12)    Range 1000 km     TS: 50000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Sun Electronic Systems Fire Control S08 400-50000 H25 (1)    Max Range: 800,000 km   TS: 50000 km/s     99 98 96 95 94 92 91 90 89 88
Farrell Dynamics Fire Control S03 400-15000 H25 (1)    Max Range: 800,000 km   TS: 15000 km/s     99 98 96 95 94 92 91 90 89 88
Godfrey Gravitonics 8GW Solid-core Antimatter Reactor (5)     Total Power Output 40    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Savage Armaments Size 6 Missile Launcher (75% Size) (30)    Missile Size 6    Rate of Fire 40
Taylor Engineering ASM Fire Control FC121-R20 (25%) (2)     Range 121.7m km    Resolution 20
Hellbore ASM V4 (330)  Speed: 94,700 km/s   End: 17.6m    Range: 100m km   WH: 16    Size: 6    TH: 1894/1136/568

Field Dynamics Active Search Sensor MR122-R10 (25%) (1)     GPS 2160     Range 122.9m km    Resolution 10
Field Dynamics Active Search Sensor MR38-R1 (25%) (1)     GPS 216     Range 38.9m km    MCR 4.2m km    Resolution 1
Nautilus Systems Thermal Sensor TH2.5-45 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 45     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  45m km
Nautilus Systems EM Detection Sensor EM2.5-45 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 45     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  45m km

ECCM-4 (4)         ECM 50

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
This big boy is here to fire big missiles and a big laser at other big ships.  Not thrilled about only having CIWS for PD, but it's heavily armored and shielded and this would definitely have escorts too.  You'd think such a big ship would have plenty of room for it, but fuel, launchers, and missile magazines take up a lot of space.  -_-;

And finally I have three variants of carrier/command ship that can all be built in the same shipyard, though I probably won't build more than one of each and they probably won't all see simultaneous combat use.

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Midway class Command Ship    60,000 tons     1462 Crew     25387.5 BP      TCS 1200  TH 15000  EM 12000
12500 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 10-136     Shields 400-300     Sensors 180/180/0/0     Damage Control Rating 131     PPV 35.27
Maint Life 3.06 Years     MSP 19895    AFR 403%    IFR 5.6%    1YR 3183    5YR 47747    Max Repair 3600 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Flight Crew Berths 330   
Flag Bridge    Hangar Deck Capacity 10000 tons     

DriveCorp G8-J60K(3-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 60300 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Blackstone Aeromarine 50×150% 3000 EP Solid Core AM Drive (5)    Power 3000    Fuel Use 27.56%    Signature 3000    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 9,750,000 Litres    Range 106.1 billion km   (98 days at full power)
Slater Defence Industries Sigma-R300/384 Shields (50)   Total Fuel Cost  800 Litres per hour  (19,200 per day)

Quad 50k Gauss Cannon R5-100/A2 Turret (1x24)    Range 50,000km     TS: 50000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 5    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Hilton Precision Arms CIWS-500 (4x12)    Range 1000 km     TS: 50000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Shizuma-Maehata Gauss Fire Control S02 100-50000 H25 (1)    Max Range: 200,000 km   TS: 50000 km/s     95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50

Fortis SenseTech Active Search Sensor MR1448-R20 (30%) (1)     GPS 36000     Range 1,449.0m km    Resolution 20
Fortis SenseTech Active Search Sensor MR324-R1 (30%) (1)     GPS 1800     Range 324.0m km    MCR 35.3m km    Resolution 1
Nautilus Systems Thermal Sensor TH10-180 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 180     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  180m km
Nautilus Systems EM Detection Sensor EM10-180 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 180     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  180m km

ECCM-4 (1)         ECM 50

Strike Group
20x Wasp Heavy Fighter   Speed: 28282 km/s    Size: 9.9

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
More or less a flagship.  It's big, it's heavy, and carries massively overkill PDC-sized sensors to augment the whole fleet.  The smaller ship classes all have backup sensors in case they need to operate away from the flagship, though.  This variant carries a wing of meson fighters.

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Essex class Carrier    60,000 tons     1386 Crew     22151.91 BP      TCS 1200  TH 15000  EM 12000
12500 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 10-136     Shields 400-300     Sensors 180/180/0/0     Damage Control Rating 130     PPV 70.54
Maint Life 3.14 Years     MSP 17082    AFR 413%    IFR 5.7%    1YR 2611    5YR 39160    Max Repair 3600 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Flight Crew Berths 264   
Hangar Deck Capacity 10000 tons     Magazine 500   

DriveCorp G8-J60K(3-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 60300 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Blackstone Aeromarine 50×150% 3000 EP Solid Core AM Drive (5)    Power 3000    Fuel Use 27.56%    Signature 3000    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 9,750,000 Litres    Range 106.1 billion km   (98 days at full power)
Slater Defence Industries Sigma-R300/384 Shields (50)   Total Fuel Cost  800 Litres per hour  (19,200 per day)

Quad 50k Gauss Cannon R5-100/A2 Turret (2x24)    Range 50,000km     TS: 50000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 5    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Hilton Precision Arms CIWS-500 (4x12)    Range 1000 km     TS: 50000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Shizuma-Maehata Gauss Fire Control S02 100-50000 H25 (1)    Max Range: 200,000 km   TS: 50000 km/s     95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50

Blowback AMM V4 (140)  Speed: 92,200 km/s   End: 1.3m    Range: 7.2m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 2919/1751/875
Hellbore ASM V4 (60)  Speed: 94,700 km/s   End: 17.6m    Range: 100m km   WH: 16    Size: 6    TH: 1894/1136/568

Fortis SenseTech Active Search Sensor MR324-R1 (30%) (1)     GPS 1800     Range 324.0m km    MCR 35.3m km    Resolution 1
Nautilus Systems Thermal Sensor TH10-180 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 180     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  180m km
Nautilus Systems EM Detection Sensor EM10-180 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 180     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  180m km

ECCM-4 (1)         ECM 50

Strike Group
20x Bumblebee Fighter-bomber   Speed: 25000 km/s    Size: 10

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
Similar to the Midway, but this carrier plays host to a wing of medium-range fighter-bombers.  It does away with the biggest sensor and the flag bridge in order to provide missile storage to reload its parasites with.

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Illustrious class Carrier    60,000 tons     1449 Crew     21927.1 BP      TCS 1200  TH 15000  EM 12000
12500 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 10-136     Shields 400-300     Sensors 180/180/0/0     Damage Control Rating 146     PPV 105.81
Maint Life 3.93 Years     MSP 20630    AFR 335%    IFR 4.7%    1YR 2119    5YR 31780    Max Repair 1688 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Flight Crew Berths 309   
Hangar Deck Capacity 10000 tons     

DriveCorp G8-J60K(3-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 60300 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Blackstone Aeromarine 50×150% 3000 EP Solid Core AM Drive (5)    Power 3000    Fuel Use 27.56%    Signature 3000    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 9,750,000 Litres    Range 106.1 billion km   (98 days at full power)
Slater Defence Industries Sigma-R300/384 Shields (50)   Total Fuel Cost  800 Litres per hour  (19,200 per day)

Quad 50k Gauss Cannon R5-100/A2 Turret (3x24)    Range 50,000km     TS: 50000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 5    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Hilton Precision Arms CIWS-500 (4x12)    Range 1000 km     TS: 50000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Shizuma-Maehata Gauss Fire Control S02 100-50000 H25 (2)    Max Range: 200,000 km   TS: 50000 km/s     95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50

Nautilus Systems Active Search Sensor MR130-R20 (30%) (1)     GPS 3240     Range 130.4m km    Resolution 20
Nautilus Systems Active Search Sensor MR77-R1 (30%) (1)     GPS 432     Range 77.8m km    MCR 8.5m km    Resolution 1
Nautilus Systems Thermal Sensor TH10-180 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 180     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  180m km
Nautilus Systems EM Detection Sensor EM10-180 (30%) (1)     Sensitivity 180     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  180m km

ECCM-4 (2)         ECM 50

Strike Group
20x Hornet Heavy Fighter   Speed: 28169 km/s    Size: 9.94

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Finally, the differences here are the removal of the flag bridge, scaled down sensors, more gauss turrets, and the substitution of laser-equipped fighters in the strike group.

And. . . we're done?
We're done.
We're done!

I have been pouring over these designs for so long that I'm sure I've proverbially gone blind to their flaws, so some outside critique would be welcomed before I start rolling these off the slipways.

[Herodotus4]

I am supprised by how short your missile range is, in my current campaign my shortest range ASM goes 160 million km and my planetary defence missiles are designed for ranges of almost half a billion kilometers. This is a bit exessive and is mainly because I am dealing with precursors but most of your missiles have a <20 million kilometer range making them useless against enemy missile ships. It will certainly take a heck of a missile salvo to get through but you will have to sit there and take it because you have no way to hit back besides the fighters.

[NuclearStudent]

First off, I'd like to say that your ships are beautiful. They have a consistent sleek design doctrine and a wonderfully clear methodology behind them. Each part fits into the other in a smooth, understandable fashion, and your fleet is one of the strongest possible from a roleplaying and thematic point of view.

However, you definitely need redundant fire controls. On many of your ships you have only one fire control linked to a task eg. one single BFC linked to a gauss turret. If a lucky hit comes through and knocks out that BFC, the ship is suddenly quite useless, and will be out of action for months while it returns to earth for repairs. Also, microwave fighters/ships would definitely wreck your fleet.

For your Concord Beam Frigate, your Ticonderoga, and your Sentinel, I'd recommend designing small backup beam fire controls with little tracking speed and reduced range.


For the non-PD dedicated ships, I would have had reduced range Gauss fire controls, 10k range on my Gauss cannons, and just left them on Final Fire forever. Even for the dedicated PD-ships, I question the expense of extended range. Missiles slow enough to be caught by area-defense Gauss aren't fast enough to pose a threat to a fleet equipped to handle equal-tech missiles, and the expense of increased range is probably not worth the anti-fighter capability it grants you.

I think it's a serious problem that your PD turrets are too good. You can't engage enough salvos because of how much expense is put into each turret. Each turret can only engage one target at a time. If the enemy simply has a lot of fire controls, as they usually do, you can get embarrassingly swarmed to death by spam.

 However, your fleet looks much prettier with extended range and expensive cool turret in my opinion, so it's hard to say.

Also, for flexibilities sake, I'd recommend bringing a sensor-only fighter with each carrier. Operationally speaking, it makes your fighter groups capable of missions outside of your carrier scanner range. If your command ship gets blown up, it would be a shame if your fighters couldn't engage. They are your only long range weapon.

[TT]

I notice two things. First, your ships seem to be built to be used as a fleet, yet they all have a different speed. The ships that can do 18,000 km/s are wasting the engine space because they can only travel as fast as the slowest ship inthe fleet.Pick a speed and design allof your fleet ships to operate at that speed.

Get rid of all of the ciws in your fleet ships.  Use that tonnage on systems that benefit the fleet. You have great guass cannons, switching out the ciws for guass turrets would be a much better use of that tonnage in my opinion.

Oh, and the Adjudicator should have a lot more armor.

[bitbucket (OP)]

I am supprised by how short your missile range is, in my current campaign my shortest range ASM goes 160 million km and my planetary defence missiles are designed for ranges of almost half a billion kilometers.    This is a bit exessive and is mainly because I am dealing with precursors but most of your missiles have a <20 million kilometer range making them useless against enemy missile ships.    It will certainly take a heck of a missile salvo to get through but you will have to sit there and take it because you have no way to hit back besides the fighters.   

The short 7. 5m range missiles are size-1 PD missiles, not meant for long range offense.    Let's call them placeholders in the case of the more offensively oriented designs.   

100m probably is pretty pathetic range for anti-ship missiles, though.  Last time I had to use them was against a newly spawned NPR that I failed to establish communication with, and all their assets were in their inner solar system—which isn't a big area when it's a red dwarf.  Their AMMs missed about 75% of my ASMs.  Either my ASMs fared pretty well or it was just an unworthy opponent.    (Probably the latter.    -_-)

Still a valid point.  The entire purpose of this exercise is addressing inadequacy, so why stop at ships? I hadn't updated missile designs yet either with the new tech, but let's take a stab at that now, shall we?

First, a slower long-range ASM:

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Missile Size: 6 MSP  (0.3 HS)     Warhead: 16    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 66
Speed: 64700 km/s    Engine Endurance: 129 minutes   Range: 500.1m km
Active Sensor Strength: 0.036   Sensitivity Modifier: 180%
Resolution: 10    Maximum Range vs 500 ton object (or larger): 20,000 km
Thermal Sensor Strength: 0.009    Detect Sig Strength 1000:  9,000 km
Cost Per Missile: 15.5828
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 4270.2%   3k km/s 1386%   5k km/s 854%   10k km/s 427%
Materials Required:    4x Tritanium   0.0264x Boronide   0.045x Uridium   11.5114x Gallicite   Fuel x1934.75

Development Cost for Project: 1558RP500 million km sounds like decent range.  Or is it? Gives up a lot of speed, but, uh, probably still good enough to hit ships.   

Now for a souped up defensive AMM:

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Missile Size: 1 MSP  (0.05 HS)     Warhead: 1    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 81
Speed: 127200 km/s    Engine Endurance: 2 minutes   Range: 18.4m km
Thermal Sensor Strength: 0.01    Detect Sig Strength 1000:  10,000 km
Cost Per Missile: 3.2652
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 10303.2%   3k km/s 3402%   5k km/s 2060.6%   10k km/s 1030.3%
Materials Required:    0.25x Tritanium   0.0048x Boronide   0.01x Uridium   3.0004x Gallicite   Fuel x104.5

Development Cost for Project: 327RP100% hit on 100k km/s missiles and 18m km range, I think I can live with that.  Maybe the range could be better still, but AMMs will forever be as screaming fast as I can make them as long as I can hit enemy missiles ~30 seconds out.   

And hell, let's cook up a size-1 offensive missile while we're at it.   

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Missile Size: 1 MSP  (0.05 HS)     Warhead: 4    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 43
Speed: 89400 km/s    Engine Endurance: 15 minutes   Range: 78.9m km
Thermal Sensor Strength: 0.01    Detect Sig Strength 1000:  10,000 km
Cost Per Missile: 2.7832
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 3844.2%   3k km/s 1247%   5k km/s 768.8%   10k km/s 384.4%
Materials Required:    1x Tritanium   0.0048x Boronide   0.01x Uridium   1.7684x Gallicite   Fuel x360.75

Development Cost for Project: 278RPI think I like it already.  I was going to come up with something like this anyway after another warhead tech advance, but sometimes you've just got to go with what you've got right now.   

However, you definitely need redundant fire controls.  On many of your ships you have only one fire control linked to a task eg.  one single BFC linked to a gauss turret.  If a lucky hit comes through and knocks out that BFC, the ship is suddenly quite useless, and will be out of action for months while it returns to earth for repairs.  Also, microwave fighters/ships would definitely wreck your fleet.   

Valid point.  I do have everything hardened against microwave damage but that merely leaves it up to a dice roll.  Every ship has Advanced Damage Control so field repairs are. . . doable, but I'd prefer preventing an urgent need for it in the middle of battle.  Some of the beam fire controls are big, and there simply wouldn't be room for duplicates.  Scaled down inferior controls are still a better fallback than nothing, though.   

It does fit into the fleet doctrine of trying to avoid singular points of critical failure.  The flagship has colossal sensors that vastly outperform everything else, but all the other ships have a fallback sensor suite adequate enough for them to perform their assigned roles.  If I have redundant sensors, why not fire controls?

For the non-PD dedicated ships, I would have had reduced range Gauss fire controls, 10k range on my Gauss cannons, and just left them on Final Fire forever.    Even for the dedicated PD-ships, I question the expense of extended range.    Missiles slow enough to be caught by area-defense Gauss aren't fast enough to pose a threat to a fleet equipped to handle equal-tech missiles, and the expense of increased range is probably not worth the anti-fighter capability it grants you.   

I think it's a serious problem that your PD turrets are too good.  You can't engage enough salvos because of how much expense is put into each turret.  Each turret can only engage one target at a time.    If the enemy simply has a lot of fire controls, as they usually do, you can get embarrassingly swarmed to death by spam.

True, splitting up the quad gauss turrets might be more effective against a bigger fleet.  Of course that means more fire controls and that ties into resolving the redundancy issue too, if one gets hit others can take over.  Then again, I could just build more PD ships.  I have the resources of dozens of worlds flowing to Earth; I can literally build a hundred of the damn things.  It would just take several years to do it.   

Brute force seems the less preferable option though.  A compromise will have to be weighted.   

Dealing with fighters was a consideration in the extended gauss targeting range.  Or rather, running into the Swarm in my previous game made that consideration for me.  I would want to retain that capacity on at least some of the ships.   

Oh, and the Adjudicator should have a lot more armor.   

If it comes under fire, I'm doing it wrong.
The Adjudicator is less of a front-line combat vessel and more of a "arrive after the enemy ships are all burning in space, and then glass their planet" vessel.  Size 50 missiles are completely impractical for anything but planetary bombardment anyway.  To be blunt, it's a ship of terror, not a ship of the line.  A salvo from it isn't meant to destroy a ship, but to end a war.  Having 200 million of their citizens die in an instant makes for a compelling reason for an NPR to surrender, and for the truly implacable, 10000 points of radiation renders them impotent.  I have plenty of colony worlds already, I won't be too broken up over ruining theirs.

Yes, I'm a terrible person.   

[Herodotus4]

That size 6 missile is great (and I wish I had the nuke tech to make something like it) but your best missile fire control maxes out at 121 million kilometers so you can only use 1/4th of your range (for now at least) I am in a TN start and I rushed engine tech so my warheads are a bit behind. What is your sensor tech level?

[bitbucket (OP)]

That size 6 missile is great (and I wish I had the nuke tech to make something like it) but your best missile fire control maxes out at 121 million kilometers so you can only use 1/4th of your range (for now at least) I am in a TN start and I rushed engine tech so my warheads are a bit behind.  What is your sensor tech level?

Active Grav Sensor 36, EM/Thermal Sensor Sensitivity 18.  Probably not so cutting edge, and while I'm certainly capable of making a fire control with that kind of range, it's just going to have to be two or three times larger.

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Active Sensor Strength: 180   Sensitivity Modifier: 240%
Sensor Size: 250 Tons    Sensor HTK: 1
Resolution: 20    Maximum Range vs 1000 ton object (or larger): 579,570,000 km
Range vs 1000 ton object: 579,570,000 km
Range vs 250 ton object: 36,223,125 km
Chance of destruction by electronic damage: 25%
Cost: 405    Crew: 10
Materials Required: 405x Uridium

Development Cost for Project: 4050RP
I'll work on improving sensor capacities as soon as other research projects finish and open up some lab space.

[Herodotus4]

Try making it a resolution 100 sensor, mot ships are much bigger then that.

[FrederickAlexander]

Interesting design choices, I can't really say how well your designs are and can only compare them to mine so most of this is just opinion.

It is interesting that you put jump drives on your all of your ships, I usually save that space for more weapons or fuel and have either a large commercial jump ship (uses a military jump drive) or a have a Command ship that jumps. Your naval ships have more speed over mine but mine have better range and more armor in my capital ships (I shoot for 8 on CLs and 30 on my BBS). Although I would say the overall design of weapons is pretty good..

I Usually have two separate parts of my Task group, My main strike group and my Carrier/command group. The carriers stay in the back and avoid the main brunt but have some AMM capabilities through Launchers Gauss or escort ships and Hold more strike craft then your carriers while taking a hit in armor and speed (though they don't need the them as they sit far away from combat). You might want to consider this to maximize the amount of damage your carriers can bring.

I am unable to tell what your fighters and Fighter-bombers look like, but from what I can gather, they definitely need a redesign. My fighters and Fighter bombers have a speed of about 24,912 km/s despite only using Magnetic confinement technology. I also have FAC interceptors that have max speed of 26,000 km/s as well. Your fighters should have a lot more speed on them... I recommend redesigning them, unless, for example, they are using cloak on them, then I suppose you could get away with it...

[bitbucket (OP)]

It is interesting that you put jump drives on your all of your ships, I usually save that space for more weapons or fuel and have either a large commercial jump ship (uses a military jump drive) or a have a Command ship that jumps. Your naval ships have more speed over mine but mine have better range and more armor in my capital ships (I shoot for 8 on CLs and 30 on my BBS). Although I would say the overall design of weapons is pretty good..

I left jump drives off the lighter classes since their main job is to run as escorts and provide point defense. Cruisers and up have jump capacity since by definition they're the smallest ships that can work independently away from the main fleet. Basically anything with a jump drive will squadron jump into hostile systems along with its assigned PD escorts.

As for range, some would say 50-70b km is already excessive, though considering how big my controlled territory is, I kind of need it! I've explored over 100 systems and have colonies in about 50 of them: https://s21.postimg.io/8t2d0nq13/jumpmap.png

No xenos remain in known space but new danger will always potentially be waiting the next blind jump away.

Besides, I have two dozen tankers of various sizes that run at 10k km/s that can keep them topped up while they escort the main fleet up to the front line, and then stay behind on the fringes of friendly space.

I am unable to tell what your fighters and Fighter-bombers look like, but from what I can gather, they definitely need a redesign. My fighters and Fighter bombers have a speed of about 24,912 km/s despite only using Magnetic confinement technology. I also have FAC interceptors that have max speed of 26,000 km/s as well. Your fighters should have a lot more speed on them... I recommend redesigning them, unless, for example, they are using cloak on them, then I suppose you could get away with it...

Hm. Fighters. Redesign. kay-o.

*hammering sounds*

Just to be up front about it, I'm bad at building small.

So. Redesigns.

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Hornet class Heavy Fighter    500 tons     5 Crew     1123.3 BP      TCS 10  TH 64  EM 0
40000 km/s     Armour 1-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 3
Maint Life 5.06 Years     MSP 281    AFR 10%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 18    5YR 274    Max Repair 450 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months    Spare Berths 5   

Blackstone Aeromarine 5×200% 400 EP Solid Core AM Drive (1)    Power 400    Fuel Use 107.48%    Signature 64    Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 25,000 Litres    Range 8.4 billion km   (58 hours at full power)

Vaughan-Wilkins S-12cm C4 Far X-Ray Laser (1)    Range 300,000km     TS: 40000 km/s     Power 4-4     RM 8    ROF 5        4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3
Farrell Dynamics Fire Control S00.7 150-10000 H30 (FTR) (1)    Max Range: 300,000 km   TS: 40000 km/s     97 93 90 87 83 80 77 73 70 67
Atkins Energistics 4GW Gas-core Antimatter Reactor (1)     Total Power Output 4    Armour 0    Exp 5%

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes


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Wasp class Heavy Fighter    500 tons     6 Crew     940.3 BP      TCS 10  TH 64  EM 0
40000 km/s     Armour 1-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 3
Maint Life 5.07 Years     MSP 235    AFR 10%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 15    5YR 228    Max Repair 450 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months    Spare Berths 4   

Blackstone Aeromarine 5×200% 400 EP Solid Core AM Drive (1)    Power 400    Fuel Use 107.48%    Signature 64    Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 25,000 Litres    Range 8.4 billion km   (58 hours at full power)

Harrison Armaments R13.5/C3 Meson Cannon (1)    Range 135,000km     TS: 40000 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 13.5    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Farrell Dynamics Fire Control S00.7 150-10000 H30 (FTR) (1)    Max Range: 300,000 km   TS: 40000 km/s     97 93 90 87 83 80 77 73 70 67
Atkins Energistics 4GW Gas-core Antimatter Reactor (1)     Total Power Output 4    Armour 0    Exp 5%

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposesSo yeah, I souped up the engines a lot.

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Bumblebee class Fighter-bomber    500 tons     7 Crew     567.65 BP      TCS 10  TH 56  EM 0
35000 km/s     Armour 1-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 2.4
Maint Life 7.4 Years     MSP 213    AFR 6%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 7    5YR 102    Max Repair 393.75 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.3 months    Spare Berths 0   
Magazine 16   

Blackstone Aeromarine 5×175% 350 EP Solid Core AM Drive (1)    Power 350    Fuel Use 76.97%    Signature 56    Exp 17%
Fuel Capacity 35,000 Litres    Range 16.4 billion km   (5 days at full power)

Wilkins Heavy Industries Size 6 Box Launcher (2)    Missile Size 6    Hangar Reload 45 minutes    MF Reload 7.5 hours
Wilkins Heavy Industries Size 1 Box Launcher (4)    Missile Size 1    Hangar Reload 7.5 minutes    MF Reload 1.2 hours
Farrel Dynamics Missile Fire Control FC131-R10 (25%) (1)     Range 131.1m km    Resolution 10
Little Slugger ASM1 V1 (4)  Speed: 89,400 km/s   End: 14.7m    Range: 78.9m km   WH: 4    Size: 1    TH: 1281/768/384
Hellbore ASM6 V5 (2)  Speed: 93,600 km/s   End: 17.9m    Range: 100.6m km   WH: 36    Size: 6    TH: 1248/748/374

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 purposesFigured it could get away with less speed and more range since it hits from a distance.

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Screaming Bee class Recon Fighter    500 tons     10 Crew     809.5 BP      TCS 10  TH 64  EM 0
40000 km/s     Armour 2-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 7.39 Years     MSP 304    AFR 6%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 10    5YR 146    Max Repair 450 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.3 months    Spare Berths 4   

Blackstone Aeromarine 5×200% 400 EP Solid Core AM Drive (1)    Power 400    Fuel Use 107.48%    Signature 64    Exp 20%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 16.7 billion km   (4 days at full power)

Nautilus Systems Active Search Sensor MR154-R20 (25%) (1)     GPS 2880     Range 154.6m km    Resolution 20

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposesAWACS. Had to make compromises in the design, as it needs the speed to keep up with a Wasp/Hornet and the range to not hold back a Bumblebee. It has one extra armor layer as it will draw attention first, though that probably won't matter.

[NuclearStudent]

Having 1-thick armor and no pure PD fighters means that your fighters are vulnerable to AMM spam.

While armoring your fighters doesn't help in beam-beam close combat, I've lost a lot of fighters to a tech inferior enemy just trying to close to beam range. An AMM cruiser fleet a tech level below you could hold out against a larger force of  Wasp/Hornet beam fighters, as well as being able to hold against many Bumblebee fighter-bombers. If your fighters are then bound to the missile support of your fleet or the PD of your escorts, then they can't do the deep strikes that make them worth manufacturing.

I would recommend putting two armor on every beam fighter and/or investing in a large amount of point defense fighters. It all depends on what role you plan for your fighters.

I also would recommend taking the AMM launchers off your Bumblebees and having separate AMM air-superiority fighter-escorts. A major benefit of fighters is that you don't need to retool, so you can be as specialized as you like.