Posted by: Michael Sandy
« on: October 05, 2017, 03:41:40 AM »One trick to deal with the huge cost of military jump ships is simply have your main battleline ships use commercial engines. Any pursuit/kite beam ships you just use carriers for strategic shuttling. So far, the only military jump engines I have designed have been for scout pinnaces.
However, that decision was also made when I didn't have unlimited fuel supplies. Civilian fuel harvesters sort of threw that issue out the airlock, and building a response force with very boosted engines is suddenly practical for me.
At current engine boost technology, it is practical for carriers to launch at the jump point and withdraw. I have large, heavily armored commercial maintenance tankers that keep up with my main battleline. They have more armor, in fact, than my missile ships, and are intended to draw fire. The plan is for the fleet to draw down fuel from the tankers as they approach. The main missile defense for the fleet comes from turreted gauss fighters that are somewhat faster than the fleet, and only have the range because of the tankers. I have a couple of max boosted fighters for scouting and plinking enemy scouts.
As engine boost technology increases, the operational range of max boosted beam fighters is going to decrease. Which means the carriers have to get closer to launch, which means more defenses for the carriers. Not a transition I am looking forward to, as my bulk carriers are literally empty boxes. My missile ships all have a hangar deck. I suppose the early transition will simply be to have more armored commercial engined tankers with the fleet.
However, that decision was also made when I didn't have unlimited fuel supplies. Civilian fuel harvesters sort of threw that issue out the airlock, and building a response force with very boosted engines is suddenly practical for me.
At current engine boost technology, it is practical for carriers to launch at the jump point and withdraw. I have large, heavily armored commercial maintenance tankers that keep up with my main battleline. They have more armor, in fact, than my missile ships, and are intended to draw fire. The plan is for the fleet to draw down fuel from the tankers as they approach. The main missile defense for the fleet comes from turreted gauss fighters that are somewhat faster than the fleet, and only have the range because of the tankers. I have a couple of max boosted fighters for scouting and plinking enemy scouts.
As engine boost technology increases, the operational range of max boosted beam fighters is going to decrease. Which means the carriers have to get closer to launch, which means more defenses for the carriers. Not a transition I am looking forward to, as my bulk carriers are literally empty boxes. My missile ships all have a hangar deck. I suppose the early transition will simply be to have more armored commercial engined tankers with the fleet.