Posted by: Kurt
« on: November 17, 2008, 05:07:41 PM »Quote from: "Steve Walmsley"
Quote from: "Kurt"My governments in the Six Powers Campaign are only now realizing that they really, really need those powerful anti-missile sensors to make their defenses work.One of the things I have been very gratified to see is that with many campaigns, naval designs evolve over time in a real-world way in reaction to events. There is no "best strategy" in terms of ship design. There also needs to be significant planning as what types of ships will be being built in future years and what research and development will be necessary now to facilitate those designs. Again it creates a real world feel to naval procurement as you need to be thinking a few years in advance.
As for formations, the Russians were relying on point blank gauss cannon fire to do the job, and as their fire controls and cannons had very little range, they couldn't use formations. The Alliance was already moving towards escorts with longer-ranged anti-missile weaponry so that they could be used in formation to protect larger ships, and once they recover from their loss the Russians will be moving in that direction now.
Basically, the Russians have decided to convert their existing Moskva class escorts to anti-missile missile ships, as they can do that now, with no new technology aside from developing the launchers, missiles, and sensor systems, all of which will be cheap (aside from the sensor). Once they finish developing the next gen turret and gauss cannons, they will deploy a new escort with longer ranged and quicker firing gauss cannons, coupled with anti-missile missiles. This will take some time, though.
Steve
You are right about the planning aspect, and it is one of the most difficult things to do while you are running multiple races. I typically find myself laying out research programs years in advance, but then forgetting where I was going with it. For instance, I decided to improve the Alliance's laser point defense weaponry, and so I began a research program to improve the lasers, tracking systems, and turrets, all so that a new point defense turret could be deployed on a new CLE. This involved the three basic research areas mentioned above, but then branched out to include larger lasers for use as main battery weapons, better recharge times for the larger lasers, and so on.
The above research ultimately resulted in an orbital base design for the Alliance, which has grown concerned about the bases deployed by the African Union. This new Alliance base will have a massive armored quad 20cm laser turret with an 8,000 kps tracking speed, coupled with a max range tracking system with an 8,000 kps speed. The Reich is going to flip when the Alliance launches it. Call it an unintended outcome .
Kurt