Posted by: Jorgen_CAB
« on: August 12, 2013, 04:12:49 PM »I will both agree and disagree with you here and here is why...
I have created two TL1 (only TL1 techs here) ships with some role-play flavour because I don't really like to optimise too much so bear with me here.
First we have the Tribal class patrol corvette. This ship is a short range patrol ship intended for colony defence, although it could easily be changed to with longer deployment ranges at some reduction in speed. This ship will require about 7500RP in general research, such as engine tech, scanner tech, armour etc. Additional military tech such as Laser and fire-control tech is another 2500RP and then another 466RP for ship specific components.
The next ship is the Victory class Frigate which is a missile frigate. They will need a dedicated scout platform to light up their targets but they do carry a small active sensor in case they need them. To be honest this ship turned out pretty OK for a TL1 missile frigate, better than I expected. It will require an additional research in general military tech of 1500RP and ship components of 1121RP.
A squadron of Victory frigates could be lead by a jump ship that also have one or two boat-bays to carry re-con ships for the squadron and perhaps some additional magazine space. I might probably view such a ship as a Tender for the squadron.
Now, why I think that such a ship is too expensive to start using in an early empire in this era is for several reasons. You can probably afford about six corvettes for every frigate you build. The initial production cost is higher but a frigate will need much more logistical support and this will cost you wealth, minerals, fuel and industrial capacity, not to mention even more research. Then there is the issue of fire-power, you need about three to four corvettes to completely nullify the offensive power of a single frigate in a straight shoot out. So in order for a force of frigates to succeed they need to have a very big advantage in number and will be several times more expensive when you consider all the logistical support.
In the era of Nuclear Engines you will usually struggle to support a fleet larger than a couple of squadrons of frigate sized ships and expand your economy and science at the same time. I do assume a conventional start here with 500m population as this is the standard amount.
I have created two TL1 (only TL1 techs here) ships with some role-play flavour because I don't really like to optimise too much so bear with me here.
First we have the Tribal class patrol corvette. This ship is a short range patrol ship intended for colony defence, although it could easily be changed to with longer deployment ranges at some reduction in speed. This ship will require about 7500RP in general research, such as engine tech, scanner tech, armour etc. Additional military tech such as Laser and fire-control tech is another 2500RP and then another 466RP for ship specific components.
Code: [Select]
Tribal class Corvette 2,300 tons 44 Crew 137.25 BP TCS 46 TH 62 EM 0
1347 km/s Armour 2-15 Shields 0-0 Sensors 3/5/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 18
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 460% IFR 6.4% 1YR 25 5YR 376 Max Repair 15.625 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.5 months Spare Berths 0
NSD-P31-S05-F09 "Nuclear Thermal Engine" (2) Power 31.25 Fuel Use 149.36% Signature 31.25 Exp 12%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 2.6 billion km (22 days at full power)
LS-S010-C1 "10cm Infra-red Laser Array" (6) Range 30,000km TS: 1347 km/s Power 3-1 RM 1 ROF 15 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
BFC-S03-30-1250 "Beam Fire-control System" (1) Max Range: 60,000 km TS: 1250 km/s 83 67 50 33 17 0 0 0 0 0
PP-N02-S01-X05 "Pressurised Water Reactor" (3) Total Power Output 6 Armour 0 Exp 5%
ASS-MR0.5-R001 "Graviton Search Sensor System" (1) GPS 10 Range 500k km Resolution 1
TH-Sx-N003 "Thermal Sensor System" (1) Sensitivity 3 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 3m km
EM-S01-N005 "EM Detection System" (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 5m km
The next ship is the Victory class Frigate which is a missile frigate. They will need a dedicated scout platform to light up their targets but they do carry a small active sensor in case they need them. To be honest this ship turned out pretty OK for a TL1 missile frigate, better than I expected. It will require an additional research in general military tech of 1500RP and ship components of 1121RP.
Code: [Select]
Victory class Frigate 4,500 tons 148 Crew 402.5 BP TCS 90 TH 100 EM 0
1111 km/s Armour 2-24 Shields 0-0 Sensors 3/5/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 27
Maint Life 1.99 Years MSP 56 AFR 162% IFR 2.2% 1YR 19 5YR 281 Max Repair 30 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Spare Berths 0
Magazine 165
NSD-P25-S05-F09 "Nuclear Thermal Engine" (4) Power 25 Fuel Use 85.5% Signature 25 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 4.7 billion km (48 days at full power)
LS-S010-C1 "10cm Infra-red Laser Array" (4) Range 30,000km TS: 1250 km/s Power 3-1 RM 1 ROF 15 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
BFC-S03-30-1250 "Beam Fire-control System" (1) Max Range: 60,000 km TS: 1250 km/s 83 67 50 33 17 0 0 0 0 0
PP-N02-S01-X05 "Pressurised Water Reactor" (2) Total Power Output 4 Armour 0 Exp 5%
MLM-S05-R150 "Missile Launcher System" (3) Missile Size 5 Rate of Fire 150
MFC-R034-R060 "Missile Fire-control" (1) Range 34.8m km Resolution 60
Harpoon TL1 class ASM (33) Speed: 7,200 km/s End: 89.8m Range: 38.8m km WH: 4 Size: 5 TH: 24/14/7
ASS-MR0.5-R001 "Graviton Search Sensor System" (1) GPS 10 Range 500k km Resolution 1
ASS-MR011-R060 "Graviton Search Sensor System" (1) GPS 1800 Range 11.6m km Resolution 60
TH-Sx-N003 "Thermal Sensor System" (1) Sensitivity 3 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 3m km
EM-S01-N005 "EM Detection System" (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 5m km
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
Please note that one load of missiles for the ship has a build cost of 48 so the total cost of the ship is closer to 450BP.A squadron of Victory frigates could be lead by a jump ship that also have one or two boat-bays to carry re-con ships for the squadron and perhaps some additional magazine space. I might probably view such a ship as a Tender for the squadron.
Now, why I think that such a ship is too expensive to start using in an early empire in this era is for several reasons. You can probably afford about six corvettes for every frigate you build. The initial production cost is higher but a frigate will need much more logistical support and this will cost you wealth, minerals, fuel and industrial capacity, not to mention even more research. Then there is the issue of fire-power, you need about three to four corvettes to completely nullify the offensive power of a single frigate in a straight shoot out. So in order for a force of frigates to succeed they need to have a very big advantage in number and will be several times more expensive when you consider all the logistical support.
In the era of Nuclear Engines you will usually struggle to support a fleet larger than a couple of squadrons of frigate sized ships and expand your economy and science at the same time. I do assume a conventional start here with 500m population as this is the standard amount.