Ship Tonnage by Class

[Borealis4x (OP)]

What size do you typically make your ships? I plan on using the following template

Corvettes: 5,000 tons

Frigates: 15,000 tons

Destroyers: 30,000 tons

Light Cruisers: 60,000 tons

Heavy Cruiser/Escort Carrier: 75,000 tons

Battleship/Carrier: 90,000 tons

Dreadnought/Super-carrier: 120,000 tons

I'm not so sure about the usefulness of frigates, corvettes, battleships or heavy cruisers, honestly. I feel like instead of making frigates and corvettes I will just invest more t get a destroyer and instead of investing for a heavy cruiser or a battleship I'll just spring for a dreadnought.

[ChildServices]

In my current campaign it's

Fighter: =<500T
Bomber/Gunboat (whether it's either one depends on its role): 500-1000T
Cruiser: 20-30KT (light, normal, heavy. class also includes my scout carriers)
Frigate: 50KT
Corvette: 75KT
Destroyer: =>100KT

[MarcAFK]

Like most people I use flexible tonnage, classes will creep heavier over time, but generally they'll stay in a similar ratio to each other.
Apart from using a size hierarchy, ships are usually differentiated by function too. 
Generally for ships of the line, those intended to travel at standard speed and with sufficient range and flexability to operate independently by size they increase in size thusly:
Corvette, Frigate, Destroyer, Cruiser, Dreadnaught.
Generally I'll try to use the same engine for as many ships as possible, so the Destroyer might use a single engine, cruiser twice the size shall use 2, Dreadnaught using 4 or more.
Battleships are generally cruiser size, or more. They differ from cruisers in being heavily armoured and designed for breakthrough. Generally all beam or short ranged high damage missiles, Battleships may generally be slower and shorter ranged than the rest of the line in order to maximise lethality.
Other specialised ship types include;
LAC: any ship under 1000 tons not intended to be launched from a carrier. Usually lightly armoured and short ranged
FAC: similar to above but with speed being maximised, basically a large fighter.
Monitor: short ranged system defence ship basically a large FAC or LAC. Usually Frigate or Destroyer sized but no larger to save on needed maintenance facilities.
My carriers are generally as large as I can field, anything smaller becomes a light carrier, which usually has less dedicated defences which are left to escorts. A light carrier should be fairly equilivent in ability as a standard or heavy carrier as long as a few destroyers tag along.

[Iranon]

Smaller warships are classified by role I rather than size, because l feel ~10000t is a good size for many roles.

Cruisers are balanced designs capable of extended operation with minimal support.
Destroyers are more powerful, but may be short-legged and lack a comprehensive sensor suite.
Corvettes are built to lower standards, using commercial engines and less advanced weapons.


Next step up is the 30000t-50000t range, here I find it worth it to fit decent shields, ECM and other niceties.
Battlecruisers are designed to outrun and outrange most opposition for flawless victories, with enough sensors to avoid losing fights.
Battleships aren't necessarily more powerful at first, but less of a logistics burden and more economical to field in numbers if I can't dictate the parameters of an engagement.
Battlecruisers usually stay at this size, Battleships tend to grow as the game goes on.

Next step up would be super-capitals at 2m+ with Orbital Habitats, which would deserve independent classifications depending on details of their design/intended use... but usually I start a new game before I seriously consider those.

[83athom]

I tend to do this recently;
Frigate, 20,000 - 40,000
Destroyer, 50,000 - 70,000
Cruiser, 100,000 - 200,000
Capital, 250,000+
Supercapital, Top secret

[sloanjh]

Supercapital, Top secret

LOL

[Iranon]

6x10^21t?

[MarcAFK]

I've always wanted to run a game Long enough to get a military yard upto a million tons so I had some ships large enough to justify using some exotic name for the class.

[ChildServices]

I've been thinking lately about a starship class system based on airforce/space program reference material instead of copying the navy. It's mostly just to match the rank structure I've been using. I.E You won't see the use of "Admiral" anywhere in my stories. Ever. I refuse. We have Star Marshals and Star Generals.

Kinda means I need to rewrite the book a little though. I guess the airforce tends to name classes of planes based on their role. The navy does this too but it's less "direct", since calling something a "cruiser" and another ship a "battlecruiser" tends to imply different roles, but unless you had the background knowledge of what that meant specifically, you don't really tend to understand that. Whereas with the airforce when something is called a "bomber" or a "gunship" or a "spaceplane" it's pretty self-explanatory.

[Kytuzian]

Damn, some of you guys make huge ships.

<= 500: Fighter (obviously)
<= 2000: FAC (I know it's not technically an FAC)
5000: Destroyer
10000: Cruiser
15000: Light Carrier
25000: Battlecruiser
30000: Carrier
50000: Dreadnaught
100000: Supercarrier (Have never actually constructed, only planned, one of these)

[Erik L]

Supercapital, Top secret

Double super secret?

[83athom]

I've always wanted to run a game Long enough to get a military yard upto a million tons so I had some ships large enough to justify using some exotic name for the class.

I left a shipyard with one slipway going on continuous expansion only wanting to get it to about 200k, and after a few years I looked at it but it was already over half a mil. If I would have kept letting it grow, it probably would have been there by now and I only have the first time/cost tech.

[GodEmperor]

Corvettes are built to lower standards, using commercial engines and less advanced weapons.

Shouldn't it be the other way around ?
Military engine with biggest power modifier possible, many weapons, but almost no defences ( aside speed ) and paper thin armour ? Corvettes in my book should be typical glass cannons capable of dishing out huge damage ( especially given their low tonnage ) but dying if someone just looks at them funny ...

[Tree]

Damn, some of you guys make huge ships.

Yeah, definitely.

I only ever build 10 or 15Ktons ships early on depending on starting shipyard sizes, and upgrade to 20K later but no farther.  I just build more ship and shipyards instead of building bigger ones.  Sometimes I call them all destroyers, sometimes cruisers, depends on my mood, really.
Usually I separate them into a class with good passives, jump drives, some PD, E-war and lower resolution actives to spot FACs (Class Leader), a heavy hitter class dedicated to destroying other ships (Missile/Beam Class), and escorts taking care of PD (Class Escort).  If I find an enemy that uses a lot of FACs or fighters, I start building a class dedicated to taking those out, usually I have the design ready (Strike Class).  Never use carriers either, but I put fighters in PDCs not to let fighter factories go to waste.

[Iranon]

Shouldn't it be the other way around ?
Military engine with biggest power modifier possible, many weapons, but almost no defences ( aside speed ) and paper thin armour ? Corvettes in my book should be typical glass cannons capable of dishing out huge damage ( especially given their low tonnage ) but dying if someone just looks at them funny ...

In most systems I'm familiar with, a Corvette is a small warship below a frigate,  intended for various low-intensity missions.

But rating systems aren't even consistent within one navy in real life. Before WW2, the Royal Navy considered reintroducing Corvette as a term for large destroyers with an emphasis on guns (Tribal class). In the end, they assigned it to smaller escort/anti-submarine vessels of modest performance, that could be built at civilian yards (Flower class).