Military help

[Somnus (OP)]

So, I think I have at least a minimum working knowledge on the minimum basics of civilian control in this game.

Where I'm completely lost is the military side.  For instance I have -no- idea what I'm doing when trying to design a missile, and no idea on any other aspect of combat.  Can someone point me in the right direction for this? The Wiki is pretty spartan in this area. 

[Nathan_]

Well the absolute basics are that you'll need an Active sensor, a fire control, a weapon(beam weapon for beam fire controls, missile launch tube for missile fire controls), and a reactor if the weapon is a beam, and a magazine if the weapon is a launch tube.

As far as missile design, you need to design an engine for your missile first through component design(Missile Engine), then put your payload, fuel, and agility(if any) on said missile in missile design.

Sensors have to be able to spot any ship to shoot at said ship, and only active sensors will work. while thermal and passive can track their respective signatures, their utility as far as actual combat goes is somewhat limited.

Beyond that, check out the Bureau of Ship design forum, and the advanced tactical command academy forum, and above all, your own trial and error.

[Xeluc]

I made a photo album showing every piece of technology needed to make a missile system.  Your technology may be better or worse than mine, but hopefully you see how all the distances match up to my desired range ~150 m KM and my missile maneuverability is well able to intercept the enemies I've faced so far.  (They move at 5,500 KM/s)

hxxp: s1039. photobucket. com/user/xeluc06/library/Aurora%204x%20Missle%20Design

There is the link to the components and this is the ship it goes on:

Viking Mark II class Missile Destroyer    11,950 tons     319 Crew     3806. 6 BP      TCS 239  TH 403. 2  EM 0
7029 km/s     Armour 14-46     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 20     PPV 50
Maint Life 2. 21 Years     MSP 1991    AFR 114%    IFR 1. 6%    1YR 550    5YR 8249    Max Repair 1680 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 2   
Magazine 550   

1680 EP Inertial Fusion Drive (1)    Power 1680    Fuel Use 16. 95%    Signature 403. 2    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres    Range 44. 4 billion km   (73 days at full power)

Size 5 Missile Launcher II (10)    Missile Size 5    Rate of Fire 25
Missile Fire Control FC151-R100 (50%) (2)     Range 151. 2m km    Resolution 100
Size 5  Long Range Anti-ship Missile (110)  Speed: 60,700 km/s   End: 41. 2m    Range: 150m km   WH: 16    Size: 5    TH: 283/170/85

Active Search Sensor MR168-R100 (50%) (1)     GPS 21000     Range 168. 0m km    Resolution 100

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

I'm new also so I'm probably not being very efficient but it's what I came up with. .

EDIT: I'm too new to post links.  If a mod could fix it I'd appreciate it.

[Black]

Well from a quick look on your design, I would change your engine for several smaller engines. In combat when you loose that engine your ship will not be able to move. So with more engines if one is disabled your ship will be slower but it can still move.

I am not sure if you have only one or more fuel tanks in your design, but it is always better to have several of those. If you have only one and that one is destroyed you will loose all fuel and again you will be unable to move your ship.

For similar reasons it is better to have some backup sensors.

[telegraph]

First of all you need to consider if you are really-really need missiles. Missiles(combat, not looking at sensor drones, as I do not use them) can have three major advantages:
1. Allows to project destructive power without the need to propel whole weapons platform(Ship, PDC, tender) to the target area or time(in case of mines).
This can lead to significant savings both in terms of lives and resources. You can use older ships with slower engines by just updating missiles and FC, which is cheap. In case of beam ships you would have to throw all you cool ships away every 2-3 technology levels.
Also greater range means you could have enough time to fall back if smeg hits the fan and fight goes not exactly as you planned.
2. Allows to exercise much greater firepower in shorter time then your technology would otherwise allow.
A simple example here: you could have a beam fighter of FAC with a single box launcher and a smallish missile FC to deliver a single initial deadly blow before sandpapering enemy with beam weapons. You would be surprised at how cheap this "glory device" could be.
3. Much cheaper upgrades.
As mentioned in 1. - you do not need to redesign your ships from the scratch every few years. Just update payload with new missiles and possibly FC and AS if your range changes significantly and you are good to go.

These advantages comes at a cost though. You will need to create a supply chain to feed your ships with valuable ordnance. While Beam ships are generally self-contained and can keep fighting until the crew mutiny, missile ships, once they run out of missiles, are scouts at best.
That means a greater cost of war(resources used on missiles are one-shot) and greater micromanagement(moving colliers back and forth, creating forward bases and such.)

[Xeluc]

TYVM Black.  None of that ever occurred to me.  Glad to see so many helpful Vets around.

Sorry if I thread-jacked you OP.  I'm done 

[joeclark77]

I would mention that size 4 or 5 is a good size for early missiles. Aim for warhead 4 or 9 (squares are best) and build ships that can launch several volleys of several missiles each. If you're launching one missile at a time, the enemy will shoot them down. Consider six launchers per ship, and four or six ships in a fleet. I will sometimes use 75pct size launchers if it lets me fire bigger volleys. Rate of fire doesn't matter that much compared to the size of volleys. You also want plenty of magazine space. The ability to fire ten or more volleys would be ideal. When designing the missiles themselves, speed is more important than fuel or agility points. It's easy to make a missile that'll go a billion km, but you probably won't be fighting further out than 50mkm early on. Make sure your missile engine uses the highest power multiplier your engine tech allows, and research that to make your next missiles better...

[Somnus (OP)]

Thanks for the replies! It seems like going off of what I thought I knew, I would have had some severely underarmed ships.