Well, I've gotten some tech upgrades, the most important being internal confinement fusion, as well as 2.5x engine power. This allowed me to only have 2 engines while still going faster than my previous design(as well as be larger!).
F-58 Osprey Mk-III class Scout Fighter 500 tons 2 Crew 176 BP TCS 10 TH 50 EM 0
10000 km/s Armour 4-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 3.26 Years MSP 22 AFR 20% IFR 0.3% 1YR 3 5YR 47 Max Repair 37.5 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 8
Stardust-50 Fusion Fighter Engine (2) Power 50 Fuel Use 489.16% Signature 25 Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 130,000 Litres Range 9.6 billion km (11 days at full power)
ATX-.278-1 PD Radar (1) GPS 32 Range 2.6m km Resolution 1
DTR-12-100 Fighter Radar (1) GPS 1600 Range 12.8m km Resolution 100
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
F-60 Peregine Mk-III class Fighter 500 tons 3 Crew 153 BP TCS 10 TH 50 EM 0
10000 km/s Armour 5-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 3
Maint Life 2.66 Years MSP 19 AFR 20% IFR 0.3% 1YR 4 5YR 57 Max Repair 37.5 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 7
Stardust-50 Fusion Fighter Engine (2) Power 50 Fuel Use 489.16% Signature 25 Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 3.7 billion km (4 days at full power)
Galax 10cm-v2 Railgun (1x4) Range 40,000km TS: 10000 km/s Power 3-3 RM 4 ROF 5 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Altech 20-12 Fighter Beam Targeting (1) Max Range: 40,000 km TS: 12000 km/s 75 50 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
T&T Power Half-Size Reactor (1) Total Power Output 3 Armour 0 Exp 5%
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
(The mark 2s were simply me dropping the engine size to 1 and putting three plasma engines on. It let me go around 9km/s, a good improvement over the mark 1s)
The best part? Take a look at those armor ratings
However, I've made a slight shift in doctrine, and the fighters are now just for colony defense(I was thinking also switching from a PDC basing to an orbital fighter hanger). My main combatants are these babies:
Astral Mk-II class Corvette 2,000 tons 65 Crew 654.5 BP TCS 40 TH 225 EM 0
11250 km/s Armour 3-14 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 6
Maint Life 3.79 Years MSP 205 AFR 32% IFR 0.4% 1YR 22 5YR 335 Max Repair 112.5 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Spare Berths 4
Stardust-150 Fusion Drive (3) Power 150 Fuel Use 130.9% Signature 75 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 140,000 Litres Range 9.6 billion km (9 days at full power)
Galax 15cm-v2 Railgun (1x4) Range 120,000km TS: 11250 km/s Power 9-5 RM 4 ROF 10 3 3 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1
Altech 60-12 Beam Targeting (1) Max Range: 120,000 km TS: 12000 km/s 92 83 75 67 58 50 42 33 25 17
T&T Power Size 1 Reactor (1) Total Power Output 6 Armour 0 Exp 5%
DTR-12-100 Fighter Radar (1) GPS 1600 Range 12.8m km Resolution 100
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
While these are ironically LESS armored than my fighters, they are faster and do have a much bigger railgun that hits out much further than the dinky ones on the fighter(though of course, I can only fit 5 of these compared to 20 fighters)
The next thing to do is finish boosting my sensor tech and do a generational replacement on radar suites, as well as finish expanding my shipyard in order to build my Forestall Heavy Carriers to deploy the Astrals