Aurora 4x
C# Aurora => C# Bureau of Design => Topic started by: Iestwyn on November 12, 2020, 10:19:11 PM
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If you've read this speal already, sorry: I'm getting back into Aurora for the first time in a LONG time. In order to reacquaint myself with the game, I decided to try and replicate ships from existing sci-fi universes in Aurora. So I turned on SpaceMaster, gave myself ALL the tech, and started messing around.
I should say that while I tried to make things as effective as possible, I tried to challenge myself by sticking to every bit of released material available. That... made things difficult, as you'll see. Also, giving myself all the techs had the side effect of making some things more powerful than I wanted, since I can't "tone down" some technologies, like armor.
So I started with a pretty complicated craft: the Amun-Ra stealth frigate from the Expanse (https://expanse.fandom.com/wiki/Amun-Ra-class (https://expanse.fandom.com/wiki/Amun-Ra-class)). The Expanse takes place in a world where humanity has just barely developed propulsion effective enough to travel the solar system effectively: the Epstein Drive (I think it'd be a nuclear pulse engine in Aurora, so I went with that). The Amun-Ra specifically is unusual for the time in that it has rudimentary stealth technology. It's also got several parasites: a long-range shuttlecraft and nine boarding pods.
I'll start from the very bottom and work up. The boarding pods have a small contingent of armed soldiers in them, which meant it was time for me to design my very first formation template:
Protogen Boarding Party
Transport Size: 250 tons
Build Cost: 19.2 BP
48x Protogen Boarder
1x Protogen Boarding Commander
Protogen Boarder
Transport Size (tons) 5 Cost 0.38 Armour 67.5 Hit Points 45
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.048 Resupply Cost 1
Personal Weapons: Shots 1 Penetration 45 Damage 45
Boarding Combat
Protogen Boarding Commander
Transport Size (tons) 10 Cost 1 Armour 45 Hit Points 45
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.13 Resupply Cost 0
Headquarters: Capacity 1,000
Boarding Combat
Like I said, this is literally the first time I've ever made a formation, so let me know everything I did right/wrong.
Next, there's the breaching pods that deliver the boarders to the target ship:
Windlass class Breaching Pod 500 tons 12 Crew 43.8 BP TCS 10 TH 21 EM 0
2083 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 HTK 3 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
Maint Life 27.66 Years MSP 54 AFR 2% IFR 0.0% 1YR 0 5YR 2 Max Repair 45 MSP
Troop Capacity 250 tons Boarding Capable
Commander Control Rating 1
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Morale Check Required
Compact Epstein Drive (1) Power 20.8 Fuel Use 387.78% Signature 20.80 Explosion 13%
Fuel Capacity 48,000 Litres Range 4.5 billion km (24 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and planetary interaction
This didn't seem too difficult: just slap something together that gets the troops to the target. ... Right?
The long-range shuttle was a little more complicated. It's supposed to be kinda stealthy. Too small for a cloaking device with NP tech, so I had to stick with a reduced-signature engine.
Khonsu class Long-range Shuttlecraft 500 tons 10 Crew 59.9 BP TCS 10 TH 12 EM 0
1600 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 HTK 6 Sensors 12/12/0/0 DCR 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.11 Years MSP 20 AFR 100% IFR 1.4% 1YR 6 5YR 90 Max Repair 45 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Morale Check Required
Compact Stealth Epstein Drive (1) Power 16.0 Fuel Use 25.16% Signature 12.0000 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 71,000 Litres Range 101.6 billion km (735 days at full power)
Small Craft LADAR (1) GPS 1600 Range 29.6m km Resolution 100
Small Craft Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 12 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 27.4m km
Small Craft EM Sensor (1) Sensitivity 12 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 27.4m km
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and planetary interaction
Last came the Amun-Ra itself, and the design I'm least proud of. This is mostly because the Amun-Ra itself has a lot of features, and I felt like I really should try and shove everything in that was listed. The result was something that was criminally slow and short-ranged.
Amun-Ra class Frigate 16,000 tons 304 Crew 2,046.7 BP TCS 320 TH 123 EM 0
1100 km/s Armour 3-56 Shields 0-0 HTK 88 Sensors 22/22/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 29.4
Maint Life 0.05 Years MSP 79 AFR 2048% IFR 28.4% 1YR 1,640 5YR 24,604 Max Repair 100 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 10,000 tons
Lord-Captain Control Rating 2 BRG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Flight Crew Berths 200 Morale Check Required
SILVERSMITH Stealth Epstein Drive (4) Power 352 Fuel Use 126.91% Signature 30.80 Explosion 11%
Fuel Capacity 361,000 Litres Range 3.2 billion km (33 days at full power)
Khopesh Internal Railgun (1x4) Range 48,000km TS: 25,000 km/s Power 12-4 RM 30,000 km ROF 15
Bush PDC Emplacement (4x2) Range 10,000km TS: 30000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 10,000 km ROF 5
PDC Fire Control (1) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 4,000 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Khopesh Fire Control (1) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 24,000 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Funneled Epstein Reactor (1) Total Power Output 4 Exp 5%
LADAR AS35-R60 (1) GPS 1920 Range 35.3m km Resolution 60
Missile LADAR AS7-R1 (1) GPS 16 Range 7.5m km MCR 673.6k km Resolution 1
EM Sensor EM2-22 (1) Sensitivity 22 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 37.1m km
Thermal Sensor TH2-22 (1) Sensitivity 22 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 37.1m km
Strike Group
1x Khonsu Long-range Shuttlecraft Speed: 1600 km/s Size: 9.99
9x Windlass Breaching Pod Speed: 2083 km/s Size: 9.98
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
So there's my makeshift version of the Amun-Ra and her parasites! What do you guys think? Obviously the constraints of the exercise made the results a little impractical in Aurora, but did I at least do a decent job making something workable?
Thanks in advance for your comments and criticism!
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Just a point, I think the Epstein fusion drives in the Expanse might be closer to the Inertial Confinement Fusion drives from this game rather the Nuclear Pulse Engines. IIRC, the Expanse Season 4 shows the Rocinante igniting fuel pellets using what appear to be lasers in an internal chamber, which seems to match Wikipedia's description of Internal Confinement Fusion, (https://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Inertial_confinement_fusion), more closely than that of NP engines, which huck nuclear bombs out the back and push off of the blast (https://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Nuclear_pulse_propulsion). Armed with that knowledge, you might be able to make your ship better with ICF engine tech :).
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Oh, that's good to know! I haven't been able to watch seasons 4-5; I just started reading the books, which is what gave me the idea. ... Now that I think about it, I might remember them mentioning fuel pellets in the book as well. Thanks!
What do you think about the designs themselves? Any obvious flaws, other than the frigate's speed?
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I haven't seen The Expanse but from an Aurora point of view, your breaching pods seem to be slow and have a ridiculously long range. 4. 5 b Km. That's Earth to Jupiter and back. Twice. With that sort of range, why bother carrying them around in a mothership? That feels wrong to me given what you say about propulsion tech levels.
A range of 800 k Km seems more reasonable to me. That's Earth to Luna and back. But you can tweak that based on your understanding of the capability of the pods.
Faster speed improves the chances of successfully attaching to the target and helps dodge enemy fire on the approach, so I would reduce both fuel and deployment time and put the recovered space into a larger engine. To be true to the premise of the series, maybe make sure you design your engine without fuel economy bonus or power boosts.
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I haven't seen The Expanse but from an Aurora point of view, your breaching pods seem to be slow and have a ridiculously long range. 4. 5 b Km. That's Earth to Jupiter and back. Twice. With that sort of range, why bother carrying them around in a mothership? That feels wrong to me given what you say about propulsion tech levels.
A range of 800 k Km seems more reasonable to me. That's Earth to Luna and back. But you can tweak that based on your understanding of the capability of the pods.
Faster speed improves the chances of successfully attaching to the target and helps dodge enemy fire on the approach, so I would reduce both fuel and deployment time and put the recovered space into a larger engine. To be true to the premise of the series, maybe make sure you design your engine without fuel economy bonus or power boosts.
Perfect, this is exactly what I needed feedback on; I hadn't even noticed the breaching pods were so slow and long-ranged. Once I get to a computer, I'll change it up.
Any other obvious flaws?
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You have 10k tons of hangar space and only 5k tons of parasites.
You don't have any missiles.
Your maintenance life is nonexistent.
I think you might need more fuel and definitely need more deployment time; I thought the protogen stealth frigates were fairly long endurance craft.
Your fire control tracking speeds are really wack. I guess that's because of your tech level? Also, a 15 sec rate of fire seems fast for the spinal railgun but I don't remember if ROF was ever established in the books.
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You have 10k tons of hangar space and only 5k tons of parasites.
You don't have any missiles.
Your maintenance life is nonexistent.
I think you might need more fuel and definitely need more deployment time; I thought the protogen stealth frigates were fairly long endurance craft.
Your fire control tracking speeds are really wack. I guess that's because of your tech level? Also, a 15 sec rate of fire seems fast for the spinal railgun but I don't remember if ROF was ever established in the books.
Wow, that's a LOT of stuff I messed up. I'm really glad I did this before starting a proper game. I think I'll create a new game with all the proper tech levels and start over once I get to a computer. (I have no idea how I even forgot the torpedoes...)
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Okay, let's try this again. I made a new file and got all the tech at the level of Nuclear Pulse Engines (that is, I unlocked all the research that cost 4,000 RP or less). Everything was made from scratch and I think I fixed the issues you guys mentioned.
So here's the breaching pod:
WINDLASS class Breaching Pod 500 tons 10 Crew 42.5 BP TCS 10 TH 48 EM 0
4802 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 HTK 4 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 99% IFR 1.4% 1YR 6 5YR 94 Max Repair 9 MSP
Troop Capacity 250 tons Boarding Capable
Capitán de Corbeta Control Rating 1
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Morale Check Required
Compact Epstein Drive EP16.00 (3) Power 48 Fuel Use 1252.20% Signature 16 Explosion 20%
Fuel Capacity 18,000 Litres Range 0.52 billion km (29 hours at full power)
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and planetary interaction
Here's the long-range shuttle:
Khonsu class Long-range Shuttlecraft 500 tons 17 Crew 84 BP TCS 10 TH 4 EM 0
800 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 HTK 7 Sensors 8/8/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
Maint Life 39.71 Years MSP 105 AFR 2% IFR 0.0% 1YR 0 5YR 2 Max Repair 20 MSP
Capitán de Corbeta Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Compact Stealth Epstein Drive EP8.00 (1) Power 8 Fuel Use 27.67% Signature 4.0 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 63,000 Litres Range 82 billion km (1185 days at full power)
LADAR (Ship) AS29-R100 (1) GPS 1600 Range 29.6m km Resolution 100
Small Craft EM Sensor EM1.0-8.0 (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km
Small Craft Thermal Sensor TH1.0-8.0 (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and planetary interaction
And here's the Amun-Ra itself:
Amun-Ra class Stealth Frigate 21,999 tons 388 Crew 2,463.5 BP TCS 440 TH 660 EM 0
3000 km/s Armour 3-69 Shields 0-0 HTK 128 Sensors 16/16/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 47
Maint Life 1.62 Years MSP 4,869 AFR 3872% IFR 53.8% 1YR 2,182 5YR 32,727 Max Repair 100 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 5,000 tons Magazine 80
Capitán de Fragata Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 18 months Flight Crew Berths 100 Morale Check Required
SILVERSMITH Stealth Epstein Drive EP88.00 (15) Power 1320 Fuel Use 88.83% Signature 44.0 Explosion 11%
Fuel Capacity 2,342,000 Litres Range 21.6 billion km (83 days at full power)
Khopesh Internal Railgun V20/C3 (1x4) Range 40,000km TS: 3,000 km/s Power 6-3 RM 20,000 km ROF 10
Bush PDC Emplacement R200-100 (4x2) Range 20,000km TS: 10000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 20,000 km ROF 5
Bush PDC Coordinator R48-TS10500 (1) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 10,500 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Khopesh Fire Control R48-TS6000 (1) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 6,000 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Epstein Funneling R3 (1) Total Power Output 3 Exp 5%
Torpedo Tubes S6 (2) Missile Size: 6 Rate of Fire 25
Torpedo FC102-R100 (1) Range 102.6m km Resolution 100
Capital-Buster Torpedo (12) Speed: 8,567 km/s End: 170.8m Range: 87.8m km WH: 9 Size: 6 TH: 48/29/14
LADAR (Ship) AS29-R100 (1) GPS 1600 Range 29.6m km Resolution 100
LADAR (Missiles) AS6-R1 (1) GPS 16 Range 6.4m km MCR 574.5k km Resolution 1
Shipboard EM Sensor EM2-16 (1) Sensitivity 16 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 31.6m km
Shipboard Thermal Sensor TH2-16 (1) Sensitivity 16 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 31.6m km
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Alright, so... what's wrong now? XD I'm sure there has to be a lot more I'm missing.
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First: I have not seen "The Expanse", so my observation is purely on Aurora C# mechanics.
So if there are roleplay/lore reasons please ignore.
- It seems that the Amun-Ra has plenty maintenance storage, but very few engineering. Thou your "Maint Life" matches the Intended deployment time,
you will hate to fix something every other week (IFR 53.8% = change for failrure very 5 Days), so if you are late to resupply, your ship may desintegrate
before you can resupply. Also this will require more maintenance facilities and resources to produce the maintenance supply.
I would replace some/most maintenance storage with engineering, to reduce the failure chance. I try to keep the AFR below 100%, match the maint life to
the intended deployment time but have a minimum of 3 times the "max repair" as maintenance supply so that i can field repair any damaged module even if
i have used some supply
- The Long-range Shuttlecraft is very Long-ranged. The fuel last for over 3 years at full speed, at a intended deployment time of 12 months. It has ~4 times the range
as the Amun-Ra. As a stealth scout I would reduce the fuel for increased sensor size. Also you don't need a Bridge on a shuttle/fighter and can use the space for sensors.
PS.: You have not configured the strike group /parasites but i suspect you intended to use the same as the first time
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Excellent; I'll look at those in a bit. I only recently remembered what engineering spaces are for, so that's really useful.
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Alright, I think I've fixed those issues.
The long-range shuttlecraft:
Khonsu class Long-range Shuttlecraft 500 tons 16 Crew 78 BP TCS 10 TH 4 EM 0
800 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 HTK 5 Sensors 16/16/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
Maint Life 32.98 Years MSP 97 AFR 2% IFR 0.0% 1YR 0 5YR 3 Max Repair 16 MSP
Capitán de Corbeta Control Rating 1
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Compact Stealth Epstein Drive EP8.00 (1) Power 8 Fuel Use 27.67% Signature 4.0 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 13,000 Litres Range 16.9 billion km (244 days at full power)
LADAR (Ship) AS29-R100 (1) GPS 1600 Range 29.6m km Resolution 100
Small Craft Thermal Sensor TH2-16 (1) Sensitivity 16 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 31.6m km
Small Craft EM Sensor EM2-16 (1) Sensitivity 16 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 31.6m km
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and planetary interaction
And the Amun-Ra:
Amun-Ra class Stealth Frigate 21,999 tons 452 Crew 2,597.6 BP TCS 440 TH 660 EM 0
3000 km/s Armour 3-69 Shields 0-0 HTK 141 Sensors 16/16/0/0 DCR 15 PPV 47
Maint Life 3.40 Years MSP 1,106 AFR 258% IFR 3.6% 1YR 145 5YR 2,181 Max Repair 100 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 5,000 tons Magazine 80
Capitán de Fragata Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 18 months Flight Crew Berths 100 Morale Check Required
SILVERSMITH Stealth Epstein Drive EP88.00 (15) Power 1320 Fuel Use 88.83% Signature 44.0 Explosion 11%
Fuel Capacity 2,072,000 Litres Range 19.1 billion km (73 days at full power)
Khopesh Internal Railgun V20/C3 (1x4) Range 40,000km TS: 3,000 km/s Power 6-3 RM 20,000 km ROF 10
Bush PDC Emplacement R200-100 (4x2) Range 20,000km TS: 10000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 20,000 km ROF 5
Bush PDC Coordinator R48-TS10500 (1) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 10,500 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Khopesh Fire Control R48-TS6000 (1) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 6,000 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Epstein Funneling R3 (1) Total Power Output 3 Exp 5%
Torpedo Tubes S6 (2) Missile Size: 6 Rate of Fire 25
Torpedo FC102-R100 (1) Range 102.6m km Resolution 100
Capital-Buster Torpedo (12) Speed: 8,567 km/s End: 170.8m Range: 87.8m km WH: 9 Size: 6 TH: 48/29/14
LADAR (Ship) AS29-R100 (1) GPS 1600 Range 29.6m km Resolution 100
LADAR (Missiles) AS6-R1 (1) GPS 16 Range 6.4m km MCR 574.5k km Resolution 1
Shipboard EM Sensor EM2-16 (1) Sensitivity 16 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 31.6m km
Shipboard Thermal Sensor TH2-16 (1) Sensitivity 16 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 31.6m km
Strike Group
1x Khonsu Long-range Shuttlecraft Speed: 800 km/s Size: 9.99
9x WINDLASS Breaching Pod Speed: 4802 km/s Size: 9.99
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Absolutely couldn't get the AFR below 100%, so I went as low as I thought was sane.
Any other issues? Or any suggestions on ships I should try to design next?
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Your boarding party's commander has 1000 command capacity, but a boarding party is only 250 tons. So the commander could be cheaper for the same effect.
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I don't actually know how to edit that. Where is that done?
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I don't actually know how to edit that. Where is that done?
When you are actually designing a unit with a headquarter component above the text description of the unit there is a part of the UI that is empty except one numerical value which is aptly labelled "headquarter capacity". The number there can be edited and changed to be however low, or however high you need it be.
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The boarding pods have no MSP and no engineering. Now, they only have a 1.4% chance of a failure during any 5 day increment and only have enough fuel for 29 hours of deployment, so they shouldn't ever NEED to do a repair. But if the construction cycle happens while they are deployed, you could get unlucky. Personally, I'd stick a fighter maintenance storage bay in there just in case.
Also, why do you have so many engines on your ships? Sure, redundancy is nice...but fighter size vessels are dead if they get shot by anything. A bigger engine will dramatically increase fuel efficiency. And 15! engines on the frigate is bonkers. I'd probably go with like 4.
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I don't actually know how to edit that. Where is that done?
When you are actually designing a unit with a headquarter component above the text description of the unit there is a part of the UI that is empty except one numerical value which is aptly labelled "headquarter capacity". The number there can be edited and changed to be however low, or however high you need it be.
Perfect; thanks!
The boarding pods have no MSP and no engineering. Now, they only have a 1.4% chance of a failure during any 5 day increment and only have enough fuel for 29 hours of deployment, so they shouldn't ever NEED to do a repair. But if the construction cycle happens while they are deployed, you could get unlucky. Personally, I'd stick a fighter maintenance storage bay in there just in case.
Also, why do you have so many engines on your ships? Sure, redundancy is nice...but fighter size vessels are dead if they get shot by anything. A bigger engine will dramatically increase fuel efficiency. And 15! engines on the frigate is bonkers. I'd probably go with like 4.
Adding at least a little maintenance to the pods makes sense; I'll do that.
And it's confession time: when it came to the frigate's engines, I just designed one at an arbitrary size and spammed it until I got a speed I liked. XD What would be really smart is if I started with a goal tonnage and speed, used them to find a proper EP, and designed engines based on that. Unfortunately, I don't have much of an idea about what sizes and speeds are best, so I just crammed stuff in until I got round numbers.
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I'd recommend Iceranger's ship optimizer! It'll find the best engine boost and size for a given tech to hit a ship size, speed, and range with the smallest fuel+engine size.
Warning is that this will result in fuel hungry boosted engines. But it'll also include "suboptimal" results that you can pull from, which may be less fuel hungry.
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Oh, right! I've heard good things about that, but I haven't tried it yet. Guess that's what I'm doing tonight!
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Alright, excellent recommendation! Didn't take me long to get a much sleeker Amun-Ra:
Amun-Ra class Stealth Frigate 20,000 tons 437 Crew 2,480.6 BP TCS 400 TH 600 EM 0
3000 km/s Armour 3-65 Shields 0-0 HTK 112 Sensors 16/16/0/0 DCR 15 PPV 47
Maint Life 2.00 Years MSP 1,162 AFR 213% IFR 3.0% 1YR 387 5YR 5,806 Max Repair 450.000 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 5,000 tons Magazine 80
Capitán de Fragata Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 18 months Flight Crew Berths 100 Morale Check Required
SILVERSMITH Stealth Epstein Drive EP600.00 (2) Power 1200.0 Fuel Use 49.92% Signature 300.000 Explosion 12%
Fuel Capacity 1,720,000 Litres Range 31 billion km (119 days at full power)
Khopesh Internal Railgun V20/C3 (1x4) Range 40,000km TS: 3,000 km/s Power 6-3 RM 20,000 km ROF 10
Bush PDC Emplacement R200-100 (4x2) Range 20,000km TS: 10000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 20,000 km ROF 5
Bush PDC Coordinator R48-TS10500 (1) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 10,500 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Khopesh Fire Control R48-TS6000 (1) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 6,000 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Epstein Funneling R3 (1) Total Power Output 3 Exp 5%
Torpedo Tubes S6 (2) Missile Size: 6 Rate of Fire 25
Torpedo FC102-R100 (1) Range 102.6m km Resolution 100
Capital-Buster Torpedo (12) Speed: 8,567 km/s End: 170.8m Range: 87.8m km WH: 9 Size: 6 TH: 48/29/14
LADAR (Ship) AS29-R100 (1) GPS 1600 Range 29.6m km Resolution 100
LADAR (Missiles) AS6-R1 (1) GPS 16 Range 6.4m km MCR 574.5k km Resolution 1
Shipboard EM Sensor EM2-16 (1) Sensitivity 16 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 31.6m km
Shipboard Thermal Sensor TH2-16 (1) Sensitivity 16 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 31.6m km
Strike Group
1x Khonsu Long-range Shuttlecraft Speed: 800 km/s Size: 9.99
9x WINDLASS Breaching Pod Speed: 4807 km/s Size: 9.98
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
So far as I know, that should be everything. ... Right? Let me know if there's anything else that's wrong; I think I'm starting on the UNSC Infinity next. ;)
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Still a couple of issues:
1. Max repair is 450MSP but you only have 1162 MSP. If you lose an engine twice (not unlikely with an AFR or 213%) or lose it ONCE to battle damage, it will consume 900 of your MSP. Especially if you are deploying for 18 months...I'd be worried. Swap a few engineering spaces (it looks like you have 15?) for storage bays.
This is another downside to large boosted engines. They are EXPENSIVE. Not necessarily if divided by total thrust and accounting for fuel storage costs, but each individual engine is expensive and that has repair consequences.
2. The Khopesh fire control has a TS of 6000 km/s but your ship only goes 3000 km/s.
3. Fire controls with excess range improve accuracy. Sure, the railgun can only shoot things 40000 km out...but if you went for double or triple range on the fire control, it would be more accurate at the ranges it CAN shoot at. With only 1 gun per fire control, though, the tonnage might not be worth it.
4. I'm sure you know this, but 2 missile launchers is pretty useless in Aurora. You would need a much denser salvo. But this is just trying to match lore so it's fine.
5. Your active sensors are much shorter ranged than either your missile fire controls or your torpedos.
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Still a couple of issues:
1. Max repair is 450MSP but you only have 1162 MSP. If you lose an engine twice (not unlikely with an AFR or 213%) or lose it ONCE to battle damage, it will consume 900 of your MSP. Especially if you are deploying for 18 months...I'd be worried. Swap a few engineering spaces (it looks like you have 15?) for storage bays.
This is another downside to large boosted engines. They are EXPENSIVE. Not necessarily if divided by total thrust and accounting for fuel storage costs, but each individual engine is expensive and that has repair consequences.
2. The Khopesh fire control has a TS of 6000 km/s but your ship only goes 3000 km/s.
3. Fire controls with excess range improve accuracy. Sure, the railgun can only shoot things 40000 km out...but if you went for double or triple range on the fire control, it would be more accurate at the ranges it CAN shoot at. With only 1 gun per fire control, though, the tonnage might not be worth it.
4. I'm sure you know this, but 2 missile launchers is pretty useless in Aurora. You would need a much denser salvo. But this is just trying to match lore so it's fine.
5. Your active sensors are much shorter ranged than either your missile fire controls or your torpedos.
I'm learning a lot of stuff. Here are some lessons I didn't know:
Do you mean that repairs from battle damage require double resources? I wasn't aware of that... That changes some things.
I'd forgotten that weapon speeds are limited by craft speed. So that's something to keep in mind.
I think I was aware intuitively that larger salvos were better to overwhelm point defense, but I hadn't really thought about it. How many missiles per salvo and salvos per craft would you recommend?
Again, thanks for all the help!
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I'd forgotten that weapon speeds are limited by craft speed. So that's something to keep in mind.
I think I was aware intuitively that larger salvos were better to overwhelm point defense, but I hadn't really thought about it. How many missiles per salvo and salvos per craft would you recommend?
Hull mounted weapon tracking speed is the better of your racial tracking level and ship speed.
So if your tracking tech is 25000 km/s and your ship is 7000 km/s, the weapon tracks at 25000.
If your tracking tech is 6250 km/s and your ship is 7000 km/s, the weapon tracks at 7000.
As for PD you have to assume that there will be PD weapons present somewhere in an enemy fleet so forget considering the "if" of the enemy having PD and instead consider "how much" PD they will field.
The problem with telling you how many is good is that it is completely dependent on who you find yourself against. I usually like to have 10 missiles on smaller capitals and 20 missiles on larger capitals but I have gone up to 45 launchers with the help of size reduction on missile cruisers. My 200t bombers for example have 3 box launchers and operate in wings of 20.
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I usually try for 10 salvos, and usually manage around 1 launcher per 1000 tons of (dedicated) missile ship. But more of both is always better. And of course, you also want your missiles to be as fast as possible. The way I think of missile point defense is in terms of "speed capacity."
# of shots * tracking speed * accuracy/incoming missile speed is the expected # of kills you get, so a point defense setup (which has fixed # of shots, accuracy, and tracking speed) can be evaluated in terms of its speed capacity.
ex. the Amun-Ra has 8 shots at 10,000km/s, so its PD suite has an 80,000km/s capacity. On average, it'll stop 4x20,000km/s missiles...or 1x80,000 km/s missile. Point-blank range for regular weapons is technically not 100% accuracy, but crew grade and officer bonuses can usually make up the difference, so I tend not to account for that.
How is this relevant to your question about # of launchers? Well, you can do the analysis in reverse to figure out how hard a salvo will be to stop. Figure out what you need to penetrate, then work backwards. Usually you don't have the luxury of knowing opponent PD capacity BEFORE designing your ships, but you can use this to get a sense of how well various missile suites compare with each other.
Also, reduced reload rate (and Box launchers) can really help out here. My current game has 15,000 ton missile cruisers using reduced reload rate size 6 launchers to get 12 missiles per salvo despite heavy armor, PD, and an oversized propulsion suite. But I noticed that, if I were to build a 20,000 ton carrier and load it with box launcher fighters, I can achieve a 55 missile salvo. All told, the carrier + fighters would cost about twice as much as the cruiser, and would have lower strategic mobility because the carrier is slower than the cruiser...but its damage output would be very competitive.
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That's really interesting... I'd discounted box launchers outside of fighters, since I'd assumed the reload time would be useful for firing another salvo before enemy PD has recharged.
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That's really interesting... I'd discounted box launchers outside of fighters, since I'd assumed the reload tone would be useful for firing another salvo before enemy PD has recharged.
PD recharge doesn't actually exist outside of potentially AMMs. Almost every point defense system that you encounter will be capable of firing every 5s, which is the smallest increment. So even if you are firing a full 6 missile salvo every 5s, you are not overwhelming anything. On the other hand 12 missiles launched every 20s might be able to get a couple missiles through every time they launch.
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That's really interesting... I'd discounted box launchers outside of fighters, since I'd assumed the reload tone would be useful for firing another salvo before enemy PD has recharged.
PD recharge doesn't actually exist outside of potentially AMMs. Almost every point defense system that you encounter will be capable of firing every 5s, which is the smallest increment. So even if you are firing a full 6 missile salvo every 5s, you are not overwhelming anything. On the other hand 12 missiles launched every 20s might be able to get a couple missiles through every time they launch.
Makes total sense. Thanks for all this, you guys!
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That's really interesting... I'd discounted box launchers outside of fighters, since I'd assumed the reload tone would be useful for firing another salvo before enemy PD has recharged.
PD recharge doesn't actually exist outside of potentially AMMs. Almost every point defense system that you encounter will be capable of firing every 5s, which is the smallest increment. So even if you are firing a full 6 missile salvo every 5s, you are not overwhelming anything. On the other hand 12 missiles launched every 20s might be able to get a couple missiles through every time they launch.
Makes total sense. Thanks for all this, you guys!
There is an asterisk here regarding AMMs. Even if you cannot get a salvo in before the AMMs have reloaded (since they typically have a 5 or at most 10 second ROF), if you can sequence your salvos tightly enough that more than 1 salvo is within the enemy AMM envelope at a time, you effectively reduce the # of shots they get at each missile. Like, if they can shoot 5 salvos in the time it takes your missiles to cross the AMM range, but you can get a missile salvo off in the time it takes you to cross the distance halfway, they will have to either switch away from the first salvo or only shoot at the second salvo once it is halfway through the envelope.
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That's an interesting strategy. Might require more micromanagement than I have at the moment, but I'll keep it in mind for the future.
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Like the notorious Time-On-Target, it's highly effective but incredibly tedious to set up. You're better off with large alpha strikes that overwhelm enemy defences.
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It also doesn't do anything about PD (only AMMs). And PD is usually the limiting factor.
I really view it as a "nice to have" if your setup means it happens, rather than something to build a strategy around.
If your opponent is only using AMMs, though, it might be worthwhile. Since I think it's more tonnage efficient than trying to up salvo size.