Hi, I am rather new to Aurora, got through the pains of finding resize enabler to be able to play... anyway I'll just get to where I could use some help -
In the next system over from Sol, I've found an alien race... a hostile alien race - attacks my ships immediately on contact. I found out where to attempt to initiate contact, and after about 2 years, all I got out of it was their name - the "Invaders". Well, I went over some general designs people post for their warship on the board here, and I replicated them as best I could with the tech I had at the time (about 15 years into the game).
Belknap class Missile Boat 6500 tons 643 Crew 1003.2 BP TCS 130 TH 300 EM 0
2307 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 5-31 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 3 PPV 24
Annual Failure Rate: 112% IFR: 1.6% Maint Capacity 289 MSP Max Repair 169 MSP Est Time: 1.26 Years
Magazine 184
J6500(3-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 6500 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Ion Engine E8 (5) Power 60 Fuel Use 80% Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 86.5 billion km (434 days at full power)
Size 8 Missile Launcher (3) Missile Size 8 Rate of Fire 120
Missile Fire Control FC23-R20 (1) Range 23.0m km Resolution 20
Size 5.35 Anti-ship Missile (37) Speed: 33,600 km/s End: 8.3m Range: 16.8m km WH: 10 Size: 5.35 TH: 112 / 67 / 33
Active Search Sensor MR19-R20 (1) GPS 3200 Range 19.2m km Resolution 20
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
First off, yes I realize now that a size 8 launcher firing size 5 missiles isnt efficient, I will rectify this on future designs.
Anyway, I built 3 of these, and sent them in to gain some revenge for lost craft. Well, I was able to find 2 enemy ships near the wreckage of my destroyed ones, and well the data the sensors found was disturbing - These ships are capable of moving 10,000 km/s, and have shields of strength 450, and have ECM of 60 (which cuts my missile max range down to just under 10m km).
So anyway, my ships get close enough to fire, and just as the volley leaves, the second ship in the formation gets hit by 16 missiles. This barrage was miraculously absorbed by armor, but each subsequent salvo was much more devastating. Now my missiles are about to hit... wait, 8 of the 9 got intercepted! Oh well maybe that 1 has a chance... miss. Well the rest of this encounter did not get better by any stretch.
So anyway I am just researching more tech overall to build better ships, as it seems this race has no interest in coming through the jump point and wiping me away. So I just need to know what my design is missing in general, particularly in the form of anti-missle. I know I can use size 1 missiles to do it, but I also would like to know effective alternatives. Thanks!
You already mentioned the missile size vs missile launcher size, so I won't go into that. The real issue, as you've discovered, is that your salvo size isn't large enough to saturate their missile defenses. With only three launchers per hull you are going to have to have a lot more hulls to overwhelm their defenses, or find a way to squeeze more launchers into each hull. For the short term I would design improved size 8 missiles with armor that might be able to penetrate their defenses.
As for defenses for your ships, there are a couple of ways to go:
1. Anti-missile missiles. As you noted, these are size one missiles, and you will need launchers, magazines, sensors, and targeting sensors, in addition to the missiles themselves. These can be the most effective defense, but at lower tech levels the entire system will require considerable space, as the sensors needed to detect incoming missiles at a useful range can be large.
2. Turreted lasers or gauss cannons. These can be used, based on fire control settings, to defend the entire fleet, and can be effective, but can be overwhelmed by missile waves. They require the base weapon (laser or gauss cannon), a turret assembly, beam fire control, and some sort of anti-missile sensor, although the sensor doesn't have to be as long-ranged as the one required for the anti-missile missiles above.
3. Hull-mounted gauss cannons. These aren't as accurate as turret-mounted gauss cannons, but you can mount more.
4. CIWS. These are relatively cheap and small compared to turrets, but can only defend the mounting ship and so can be overwhelmed by large waves of missiles.
The best, most effective missile defense system, IMO, is a layered defense consisting of long-ranged anti-missile missiles (ideally 1.5 million kilometers range or more), backed up by turreted point defense weapons to intercept anything that leaks past the AMM's, and perhaps bolstered by CIWS on important targets.
Kurt