Posted by: Jorgen_CAB
« on: December 19, 2014, 05:06:56 AM »You will have allot to gain by harmonizing ships into similar sized and equipped ships with slight variations. Some you might be able to build in the same shipyards but even if you don't the time and resources needed to switch production will go down significantly.
There are also many reasons for why you should not always look at the most efficient engine design either. You need to understand that the ONLY thing you gain by designing a bigger engine is better fuel economy. The drawbacks are plenty more such as more research intensive, require more engineering for its size on ships, less flexible in ship design... etc..
The number of military engines that my factions builds are completely based on their availability of research facilities, research team skill and potential enemies capabilities for the same. The most important thing is to stay ahead of their competition or at least to keep up. For that to work most of the time engines need to be standardized as much as possible. I rather different engines by power/efficiency and stealth capability rather than size as one example. Am I in need of a stealthy stardrive and if so on what type of ships and what size can I make this drive in order to not fall behind in overall engine technology.
Overall your ship designs look pretty solid and built with sound reasoning.
One general advice that I would like to state, not only to your designs but for design in general is think economy. Military efficiency is one thing but it is not equal economical efficiency in the long run. Never build ships because they look strong on paper, look at how you are suppose to support, upgrade, refit, replace them in the future. What is their purpose and how many do you need and afford to keep at any one time. You must look at the resources you use to build these ships and how that correlates to your resource income versus resources you intend to spend on expanding your empire.
Many times a less military efficient design can be much smarter to build on the grounds you can afford so many more of them or build them in huge quantities at a short terms notice. The more types of resources you use in your ships means that each mine you have will contribute more to each ship.
Also, remember that the military efficiency you "loose" by building multi-purpose ships you gain almost two fold in production efficiency. The reasoning you can mix specialized ships in squadrons based on needs is lost on the grounds you are limited to the numbers of each you can produce and having dedicated shipyards for refit/upgrading as well as building new models. Which will become a bigger burden on the economical side of the military. Keep only small ships as pure single purpose and the bigger they become make them more multi-purpose, you will benefit greatly from both a logistical and economical perspective for a very small military efficiency decrease.
These tips are only as a guide line and there can be many reason to break them. Either through knowledge of an enemy or through strategical considerations. Just make sure your ships are built on sound economical and/or logistical grounds first unless you have a really great strategic foresight and know you will need a specific type of ship.
There are also many reasons for why you should not always look at the most efficient engine design either. You need to understand that the ONLY thing you gain by designing a bigger engine is better fuel economy. The drawbacks are plenty more such as more research intensive, require more engineering for its size on ships, less flexible in ship design... etc..
The number of military engines that my factions builds are completely based on their availability of research facilities, research team skill and potential enemies capabilities for the same. The most important thing is to stay ahead of their competition or at least to keep up. For that to work most of the time engines need to be standardized as much as possible. I rather different engines by power/efficiency and stealth capability rather than size as one example. Am I in need of a stealthy stardrive and if so on what type of ships and what size can I make this drive in order to not fall behind in overall engine technology.
Overall your ship designs look pretty solid and built with sound reasoning.
One general advice that I would like to state, not only to your designs but for design in general is think economy. Military efficiency is one thing but it is not equal economical efficiency in the long run. Never build ships because they look strong on paper, look at how you are suppose to support, upgrade, refit, replace them in the future. What is their purpose and how many do you need and afford to keep at any one time. You must look at the resources you use to build these ships and how that correlates to your resource income versus resources you intend to spend on expanding your empire.
Many times a less military efficient design can be much smarter to build on the grounds you can afford so many more of them or build them in huge quantities at a short terms notice. The more types of resources you use in your ships means that each mine you have will contribute more to each ship.
Also, remember that the military efficiency you "loose" by building multi-purpose ships you gain almost two fold in production efficiency. The reasoning you can mix specialized ships in squadrons based on needs is lost on the grounds you are limited to the numbers of each you can produce and having dedicated shipyards for refit/upgrading as well as building new models. Which will become a bigger burden on the economical side of the military. Keep only small ships as pure single purpose and the bigger they become make them more multi-purpose, you will benefit greatly from both a logistical and economical perspective for a very small military efficiency decrease.
These tips are only as a guide line and there can be many reason to break them. Either through knowledge of an enemy or through strategical considerations. Just make sure your ships are built on sound economical and/or logistical grounds first unless you have a really great strategic foresight and know you will need a specific type of ship.