Posted by: Jorgen_CAB
« on: July 29, 2016, 06:33:07 PM »Against the AI you can easily abuse the fact that Box launchers simply overwhelm them. Against the AI I tend not to use Box launcher on main ships because it makes it too easy and it also make point defense weapons pretty worthless as well... at least in the hands of AI designs.
Although a good layered defense can make full size launchers pointless too since you can shoot down each smaller salvos a bit too easy with fewer resources than it takes to fire the missiles.
Box launchers kind of work for fighters because they are inefficient for the space they take up on a ship in favor of flexible attack range and position warfare.
I'm also of the opinion that combining both AMM and ASM missile launchers on one ship is efficient because you can easily tool your ships for either offensive or defensive missions based on the missile load out on the ships. This works best for destroyer/cruiser sized ships and larger at about 9000t or more. It also make upgrades and production logistics easier/cheaper in general.
In one mission the ship are configured with a small number of medium ranged ASM and a heavy AMM load out and in another with a large complement of long range ASM and a smaller load out of AMM.
In general I try to make as few ship designs as I possibly can and rely on smaller ships to carry out my specialized tasks. I never put hugely strong active sensors on larger ships, I always use recon and scout ships who are much faster and smaller and who don't reveal my main ships at any point. These smaller ships can also safely dock and be maintained on the larger ships hangar decks. I never field a larger cruiser without a 1000t hangar deck for miscellaneous craft purposes or at least a 250t hangar on a destroyer sized ship. This makes it very easy to equip a task-force with whatever recon and/or scout craft that it needs. Cruisers can even act as minor carriers with small bomber or interceptor squadrons if that is what is required of the task-force mission.
Main ships only carry shorter ranged low resolution active sensors for self defense purposes, their missiles and fire controls usually out range ship sensors with quite the margins.
Although a good layered defense can make full size launchers pointless too since you can shoot down each smaller salvos a bit too easy with fewer resources than it takes to fire the missiles.
Box launchers kind of work for fighters because they are inefficient for the space they take up on a ship in favor of flexible attack range and position warfare.
I'm also of the opinion that combining both AMM and ASM missile launchers on one ship is efficient because you can easily tool your ships for either offensive or defensive missions based on the missile load out on the ships. This works best for destroyer/cruiser sized ships and larger at about 9000t or more. It also make upgrades and production logistics easier/cheaper in general.
In one mission the ship are configured with a small number of medium ranged ASM and a heavy AMM load out and in another with a large complement of long range ASM and a smaller load out of AMM.
In general I try to make as few ship designs as I possibly can and rely on smaller ships to carry out my specialized tasks. I never put hugely strong active sensors on larger ships, I always use recon and scout ships who are much faster and smaller and who don't reveal my main ships at any point. These smaller ships can also safely dock and be maintained on the larger ships hangar decks. I never field a larger cruiser without a 1000t hangar deck for miscellaneous craft purposes or at least a 250t hangar on a destroyer sized ship. This makes it very easy to equip a task-force with whatever recon and/or scout craft that it needs. Cruisers can even act as minor carriers with small bomber or interceptor squadrons if that is what is required of the task-force mission.
Main ships only carry shorter ranged low resolution active sensors for self defense purposes, their missiles and fire controls usually out range ship sensors with quite the margins.