Maximum speed and risk of engine failure in military ships

[davidr (OP)]

With military vessels is there any benefit to be gained ( failure wise ) by travelling  at say 3/4 of maximum speed , or can they travel at maximum speed constantly with the same risk.

I usually standardise on 4000 km/sec speed for my military ships until I have the need for the maximum in the design.

DavidR

[CheaterEater]

Maintenance failures are unaffected by a ship's speed, only by the time since last overhaul. A ship that sits at a jump point all its life will (on average) have the same number of failures as a ship that zips around the solar system. As well, fuel usage is by distance traveled, not by speed, so you don't save anything there either. You basically don't gain any inherent advantage (or disadvantage) by making your ship go slower, although any tactical or RP bonuses are up to you.

[OokamiNya]

IIRC, going at below your max speed reduces your thermal signature, so it makes you harder to detect that way.  I'm not sure how useful that actually is, though.

[CheaterEater]

IIRC, going at below your max speed reduces your thermal signature, so it makes you harder to detect that way.  I'm not sure how useful that actually is, though.

I had forgotten about that, it is an advantage of going slow. It reduces the distance at which you can be detected and is very useful for keeping small but fast scout ships from giving away their position too quickly to passive sensors. I like to scout a system by getting a sensor ship to jump in and wait a bit to see if anything is out there. Then I move away slowly to avoid giving away the position of the jump point before turning on active sensors and broadcasting my position to the world. I still have a high top speed to flee if need be.