Aurora 4x

VB6 Aurora => Bureau of Ship Design => Topic started by: telegraph on December 11, 2012, 04:40:13 AM

Title: counter-meson fleet
Post by: telegraph on December 11, 2012, 04:40:13 AM
I once have met a race that destroyed my entire pacifist empire in a few turns with mesons. Now I decided to prepare before I meet them again. So here are my assumpions/knowledge/situation:

1. They prefer to fight at point-blank range, sometimes ramming my ships.
2. They have a lot of meson guns.
3. I have a good kinetic expert, but I do not have any energy weapons guys at all.
4. My railgun tech is pretty short-range.

So I decided to build my fleet with strong emphasis on missiles:


Code: [Select]
Agincourt - 2 class Missile Destroyer    34,000 tons     379 Crew     1938.6 BP      TCS 680  TH 1500  EM 0
2205 km/s     Armour 3-93     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 25     PPV 15
Maint Life 3.96 Years     MSP 891    AFR 369%    IFR 5.1%    1YR 90    5YR 1356    Max Repair 252 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 28 months    Spare Berths 1   
Magazine 195   

"Marko Polo" 150 EP Commercial Ion Drive (10)    Power 150    Fuel Use 1.09%    Signature 150    Exp 2%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres    Range 121.4 billion km   (637 days at full power)

CIWS-120 (2x4)    Range 1000 km     TS: 12000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
25s Size 3 Missile Launcher (5)    Missile Size 3    Rate of Fire 25
"Fly Master-3" Missile Fire Control FC39-R60 (50%) (5)     Range 39.0m km    Resolution 60
"Fly-3" Size 3 Anti-ship Missile (65)  Speed: 12,000 km/s   End: 44.5m    Range: 32.1m km   WH: 5    Size: 3    TH: 96/57/28

Active Search Sensor MR13-R1 (50%) (1)     GPS 168     Range 13.4m km    Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR103-R65 (70%) (1)     GPS 10400     Range 103.2m km    Resolution 65

ECM 10

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

DAC for this ship is mostly engines, so I hope it will remain afloat for uite some time, and will even be able to withstand quite some punishment from meson weapon.
I included ECM and CIWS just in case I will have to fight someone with missiles.
This ship is going to lead the vanguard of a formation, atracting enemy.

Code: [Select]
Illustrious class Missile Boat    4,500 tons     70 Crew     479.33 BP      TCS 90  TH 150  EM 0
1666 km/s     Armour 3-24     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 4     PPV 3
Maint Life 5.33 Years     MSP 266    AFR 40%    IFR 0.6%    1YR 16    5YR 235    Max Repair 200 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 30 months    Spare Berths 0   
Magazine 39   

"Marko Polo" 150 EP Commercial Ion Drive (1)    Power 150    Fuel Use 1.09%    Signature 150    Exp 2%
Fuel Capacity 25,000 Litres    Range 91.7 billion km   (637 days at full power)

25s Size 3 Missile Launcher (1)    Missile Size 3    Rate of Fire 25
"Fly Master-3" Missile Fire Control FC39-R60 (50%) (1)     Range 39.0m km    Resolution 60
"Fly-3" Size 3 Anti-ship Missile (13)  Speed: 12,000 km/s   End: 44.5m    Range: 32.1m km   WH: 5    Size: 3    TH: 96/57/28

Active Search Sensor MR103-R65 (70%) (1)     GPS 10400     Range 103.2m km    Resolution 65

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

This is a main fleet boat, that will be deployed in large packs, following "Agincourt-2". It has reduced size to be easily thrown in through jump point, if needed.


What do you guys think? will it work? should I start serial build of these vessels?
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: Icecoon on December 11, 2012, 05:04:55 AM
Edit:
A. What is the average speed of the enemy? You will have to be faster than the enemy beam vessels for you to fight effectively.
B. Why did you choose commercial engines for your naval vessels? Military engines are faster and a lot lighter, but they eat more fuel.
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: telegraph on December 11, 2012, 05:21:18 AM
A: it was in another game, but if I remember correct they were way faster. something about 4-8k. I think they were spoiler insects, but I have never hit one (because I had no armed ships) to confirm.
B: My economy does not have the capasity to buy fuel from civilians, so I do not invest into fuel harvesters just yet. I have just begun the deep space exploration, so I do not know yet how much fuel can I expect to have.
So I decided to use cheap, economical "Marco Polo" drives, with maximum size. They provide a lot of HTK this way and allows to cut on oil bills.
My previous encounter resulted in rather swift defeat: The aliens destroyed my scout ship, then they rushed directly through the jump point, to my Mars colony, and to my Earth homeworld, dropping invasion force. This led me to a conclusion that if I will meet them close again - running around will not do. I have to put up a fight and overwhelm them with firepower, in this case by a big nasty bunch of missiles.
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: Icecoon on December 11, 2012, 05:31:07 AM
Yes, but if you move faster than the chance for them to hit you will be reduced.

And you have only 5 missile launcher for a 34k ton ship. I'd install five more.

For instance in my game i have:
1. 7600t destroyer with a speed of 3000km/s and 12 size 3 launchers.
2. A bunch of 500t fighters with 3 launchers of the same size.
3. Some fighter-scouts with 5 size 1 launchers and active sensors armed with strength 2 missiles against enemy fighters.

Hope this helped. :)
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: telegraph on December 11, 2012, 05:46:12 AM
Do I have enough missiles capacity in Agincourt-2 magazines? I could resupply and rotate the Illustrous boats, but it could be hard to rotate vanguard ship out of combat.
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: Icecoon on December 11, 2012, 06:06:57 AM
You can add more, but that will slow her down even more.
More on speed:
In the early phases the ideal speed is around 3000-3500Km/s with ion engines. With around 500,000l of fuel your ships should cruise on max speed for around 120 days, what is good enough for a ship spending 2/3 of time sitting around a planet.
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: SteelChicken on December 11, 2012, 07:21:21 AM
I generally don't even leave my home system until I have MPD technology and decent weaponry.  We live in a dangerous neighborhood and all.   Honestly, I think if you run into those spoilers with those ships, you are going to get creamed.   Too slow, not enough firepower.   Even with a fleet of those missile ships needed to defeat the smaller craft, you wont be able to touch their large mother ship.  The only way to take that down is with a single, massive salvo of missiles, or, smaller ships with long range beam weaponry. 

Given that it sounds like you have economic and resource issues as well? I say spend time developing an economy, higher tech and a manufacturing base.  THEN go looking for trouble.
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: telegraph on December 11, 2012, 09:15:06 AM
I thought about this. However tempting it might be to lock myself in Sol and build credit-rich economy with thousands of labs, it somehow feels plain wrong. What fun will it be to kill everyone with just a top-tech death star?  (and AFAIK there is a tech cap in this game, as seen in "techtree" in Academy)

I guess it will be more fun to try to win with numbers, where tech levels are insufficient, to win in firepower, where speed is lacking... Otherwise I could have started with millions of RP from the begining and SM-research everything and Fast-OOB my whole fleet.

Anyway, SteelChicken, do you think it is at all possible to design something viable on my tech level with kinetic weapons?
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: SteelChicken on December 11, 2012, 09:31:49 AM
I thought about this. However tempting it might be to lock myself in Sol and build credit-rich economy with thousands of labs, it somehow feels plain wrong. What fun will it be to kill everyone with just a top-tech death star?  (and AFAIK there is a tech cap in this game, as seen in "techtree" in Academy)

I guess it will be more fun to try to win with numbers, where tech levels are insufficient, to win in firepower, where speed is lacking... Otherwise I could have started with millions of RP from the begining and SM-research everything and Fast-OOB my whole fleet.

Anyway, SteelChicken, do you think it is at all possible to design something viable on my tech level with kinetic weapons?

Why does it have to be so black and white? Try not to think so binary.  I generally wait until I'm TL2.5/MPD propulsion or so.  You don't need the top techs, but if you go out there with chariots and archers, you are gonna get worked.

I dont use railguns much, I find them not to be worth the trouble, fun to roleplay though and decent at high tech levels.   Missiles are fine, if you have enough of them and your ships can move at a decent speed.   I also use laser tech.

At a minimum, you are going to need a higher level of missile tech and faster ships.
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: Jumpp on December 11, 2012, 11:39:21 AM
Their meson-armed FACs are doing, what, 10,000 kps?  Your Fly-3 won't often hit them.

Since you know something about who you're going to be fighting, you should tune your missile designs for them.  For instance, not long ago I fought some guys who employed carriers at 1,200 kps and strike craft at 10,000 kps.  I designed a "Harpoon" missile with a range of about 30m km, and speed and agility such that it had a 75% chance to hit a target at 1,200 kps.  Then I made a "Sparrow" missile with a range of about 10m km, and speed and agility to have 75% vs 10,000 kps.  Within those constraints, I gave them the biggest warheads they could manage.

(75% is a good target because a properly-trained crew will get a bonus that brings that up to around 100%)

In my first engagement with them, I had missiles tuned for targets doing 5,000 kps.  Accuracy was poor on the FACs, and agility was wasted on the carriers.  Armed with these new models, I stomped them.

Also: I tuned my electronics to match them.  I carried search radars for exactly the size of their FACs so that I could engage them at the extreme limit of my Sparrow range.  It's very inexpensive and fast to design and install new sensors.
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: telegraph on December 11, 2012, 01:21:23 PM
I think I got your message. I should not prepare for a shperical horse in a vacuum. Perhaps I will be better off building a bunch of deep space probes with large passive sensors and enough endurance to go far away. This way I will at least know who I need to fear and where they are.

A pity I cannot mount grav sensors on missiles.
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: Andrew on December 11, 2012, 01:30:48 PM
Just some thoughts
1) Your missiles need to be faster , cut the range down and the warhead down to 4 , then improve the speed and agility to give you a decent hit chance against ships going 10k
2) Optimise your sensors , you Need R-16 -20 to track these enemies. Your sensors are wither to high or to low resolution. The R1 sensor is pointless as you have no missile defenses
3) Your Active sensors are protected against microwave weapons, never seen anyone use them ever.
4) You have 5 FC for 5 Missile tubes, it will take several missiles to kill a target , a batter ration would be 1 FC for 3-6 missile launchers
5) Your ships have a range which is too large, use the space saved for more magazines or Launchers
6) More speed would be nice but it's not critical the targets will be faster anyway so you need missiles more than speed
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: DTF on December 11, 2012, 02:53:45 PM
How about going away from the BIG ships and moving towards smaller, faster crafts.
As SteelChicken wrote, either big salvos of missiles or beam ships.

If you build a small vessel that both outranges and outruns the enemy with their mesons, they wont be able to touch you at all. 

This ship for example can fire away at the enemy without ever getting into danger itself.  Note that this is just a design I put together rather quickly; it can easily be improved further - or downgraded a bit if your beam tech isnt up to it at the moment. 
Even a crappy 10cm laser is enough to kill the enemy's fast FACs - given it has enough range.  With the FACs out of the equasion you can have your way with the mothership/carrier any way you want (if you can beat its shield regeneration). 
Code: [Select]
New Class class Cruiser    2,000 tons     70 Crew     520.9 BP      TCS 40  TH 315  EM 0
10500 km/s     Armour 1-14     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 4
Maint Life 3.37 Years     MSP 163    AFR 32%    IFR 0.4%    1YR 22    5YR 327    Max Repair 154 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 2   

Military ID-105 x1.75 Drive (4)    Power 105    Fuel Use 269.41%    Signature 78.75    Exp 17%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 3.3 billion km   (3 days at full power)

15cm C3 Ultraviolet Laser (1)    Range 240,000km     TS: 10500 km/s     Power 6-3     RM 4    ROF 10        6 6 6 6 4 4 3 3 2 2
Laser Fire Control S08 128-8000 (1)    Max Range: 256,000 km   TS: 8000 km/s     96 92 88 84 80 77 73 69 65 61

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
I employed similiar ships against the enemy I assume you are talking about and other than having to click through lot of time increments, it was a very relaxing fight.  I stationed these ships on (VERY SLOW due to low tech level) carriers / fighter bases and had those being tugged to the system the enemy was in.  Launch the ships and head through the jumppoint and unless the system is really big, 3. 3 bkm are plenty of range.  Just make sure you train them fully before you send them in - or you will get a nasty suprise when you are fighting just outside enemy's range and then decide to give a different move order.

In general, though: you should invest in proper military engines for your vessels.  Having good fuel % on a patrol craft is a good idea, having it on something that is designed for actual, proper fighting is not.  If you are concerned about running out of fuel, only use the main strike force if there's something to kill.  They dont need fuel when they are orbiting your homeworld looking all shiny and mighty.

Your missiles have very short range - which isnt an issue if you have the speed to close with the enemy. 
Or vice versa: low ship speed but huge firing range is still okay.  But having both low speed and short range will doom your ships.
You will meet enemies with missile ranges of about ~130mkm.  Have fun running after them to get into range with your ships.
If you do not have the tech to design a similiar missile with more range, think about using FACs or fighters (i. e.  smaller, faster crafts with less individual armament but equal total armament) to carry the missile into range. 

Your sensors will not help you much in a fight against fast FACs.  Assume the enemy is using a 800t attack craft capable of 10000km/s.
The 103ish/R65 sensor will detect this ship at ~6. 25 mkm (total sensor range / [resolution tonnage /target tonnage]^2 ): that's only 10 minutes away for something moving at 10000km/s!
The Res1 sensor, of course, detects the ship at 13. 4mkm (~20mins away).  Neither of them can make use of the 44 mkm range of your missile! Your firecontrol shortens the range at which you can engage even further! On top of that, the enemy is likely to use ECM -> even less range. 

In summary I'd say:
- faster ships with higher fuel burn (you won't be sending them around much anyway) => design a new engine with a power modifier >1. 00 (ship i posted uses 1. 75)
- higher ranged missiles or faster missiles carried by fighters
- more fine tuned sensors/FC => spare the RP to design a sensor tailored to detect FACs at missile range.
- less FCs
- more missile launchers
- less deployment time
- more ammo capacity (either by on-board magazines or colliers)
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: telegraph on December 11, 2012, 05:50:05 PM
How about this design then?

Code: [Select]
Vanguard class Gunboat    10,500 tons     254 Crew     1934.6 BP      TCS 210  TH 2100  EM 0
10000 km/s     Armour 1-42     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 5     PPV 8
Maint Life 1.1 Years     MSP 576    AFR 176%    IFR 2.4%    1YR 480    5YR 7201    Max Repair 525 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1.4 months    Spare Berths 0   

"Pyre" 1050 EP Ion Drive (2)    Power 1050    Fuel Use 141.8%    Signature 1050    Exp 17%
Fuel Capacity 3,500,000 Litres    Range 42.3 billion km   (48 days at full power)

25cm Railgun V4/C4 (1x4)    Range 200,000km     TS: 10000 km/s     Power 15-4     RM 4    ROF 20        5 5 5 5 4 3 2 2 2 2
Fire Control S12 128-12000 (1)    Max Range: 256,000 km   TS: 12000 km/s     96 92 88 84 80 77 73 69 65 61
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Technology PB-1 (2)     Total Power Output 4.5    Armour 0    Exp 5%

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: Erik L on December 11, 2012, 05:57:26 PM
How about this design then?

Code: [Select]
Vanguard class Gunboat    10,500 tons     254 Crew     1934.6 BP      TCS 210  TH 2100  EM 0
10000 km/s     Armour 1-42     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 5     PPV 8
Maint Life 1.1 Years     MSP 576    AFR 176%    IFR 2.4%    1YR 480    5YR 7201    Max Repair 525 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1.4 months    Spare Berths 0   

"Pyre" 1050 EP Ion Drive (2)    Power 1050    Fuel Use 141.8%    Signature 1050    Exp 17%
Fuel Capacity 3,500,000 Litres    Range 42.3 billion km   (48 days at full power)

25cm Railgun V4/C4 (1x4)    Range 200,000km     TS: 10000 km/s     Power 15-4     RM 4    ROF 20        5 5 5 5 4 3 2 2 2 2
Fire Control S12 128-12000 (1)    Max Range: 256,000 km   TS: 12000 km/s     96 92 88 84 80 77 73 69 65 61
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Technology PB-1 (2)     Total Power Output 4.5    Armour 0    Exp 5%

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

You do know that unless you are chasing something down, you'll get 1 shot before they are on top of you.

If you are fighting the swarm the best defence is usually long range, fast missiles. A lot of long range, fast missiles. 20-30 per salvo per target. You should be able to design a missile that goes 15k or so.
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: telegraph on December 11, 2012, 06:08:23 PM
Will not I be able to run away from them with that 10k speed? I was planning to mainain a 200k distance, while shooting them with that railgun (best gun available to me so far.)
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: Erik L on December 11, 2012, 06:39:10 PM
Will not I be able to run away from them with that 10k speed? I was planning to mainain a 200k distance, while shooting them with that railgun (best gun available to me so far.)

It all depends on their speed. If your speed is higher, then you can maintain separation. Otherwise they will give you the dubious pleasure of multiple partners ;)
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: telegraph on December 11, 2012, 06:55:01 PM
I knew it! Once again I met them. One guy with 600 shields moving @ 1000km/s and a bunch of guys moving @ 10000 km/s. They will rape my jump scout shortly. And only three jumps from Sol. Two of those jumps have jumpgates.  Looks like I will not have time for technological advance...

EDIT: can I blow up jumpgates somehow?
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: Erik L on December 11, 2012, 07:10:45 PM
EDIT: can I blow up jumpgates somehow?

No.
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: Jumpp on December 11, 2012, 07:46:42 PM
They can be surprisingly slow to follow you home, provided that you don't keep poking them with a stick.

Not long ago, I took a colony from an enemy NPR.  I didn't know anything about the position of their other colonies.  They kept sending warships in to harass my occupation force.  After a while, I noticed that these ships always arrived from more or less the same direction, so I started poking around in that direction.  I found a JG with my active scanners.  This wasn't a grav survey.  This fleet had no grav scanners.  But when I got close to the JG, it was added to my map.  Their homeworld was on the other side of that JG, and that world has suffered terribly.

I can't say for sure that the mechanics for this enemy are the same, but it's plausible that they could be.  If I were you, I'd keep a low profile until I was ready for a fight.  You might be hastening their arrival with your activity.  I've had enemy--very like these that you're fighting now--sit patiently and wait for me two jumps from Sol, for years.
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: DTF on December 12, 2012, 01:46:56 AM
Quote from: telegraph link=topic=5743. msg58928#msg58928 date=1355269805
How about this design then?

Code: [Select]
Vanguard class Gunboat    10,500 tons     254 Crew     1934.6 BP      TCS 210  TH 2100  EM 0
10000 km/s     Armour 1-42     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 5     PPV 8
Maint Life 1.1 Years     MSP 576    AFR 176%    IFR 2.4%    1YR 480    5YR 7201    Max Repair 525 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1.4 months    Spare Berths 0    

"Pyre" 1050 EP Ion Drive (2)    Power 1050    Fuel Use 141.8%    Signature 1050    Exp 17%
Fuel Capacity 3,500,000 Litres    Range 42.3 billion km   (48 days at full power)

25cm Railgun V4/C4 (1x4)    Range 200,000km     TS: 10000 km/s     Power 15-4     RM 4    ROF 20        5 5 5 5 4 3 2 2 2 2
Fire Control S12 128-12000 (1)    Max Range: 256,000 km   TS: 12000 km/s     96 92 88 84 80 77 73 69 65 61
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Technology PB-1 (2)     Total Power Output 4.5    Armour 0    Exp 5%

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

I'd say trade space used for fuel storage for more weapons.  Again, you are not planing on building a patrol ship, are you? You want a ship designed to kill those fast FACs and for that a few billion km are enough.  Support them with a tanker until the fighting starts and you can get it anywhere you want.  
Also: your ship has a speed of about 10000 km/s.  Your beam fire control has a tracking speed of 12000.  Your BFC is faster than your weapon - I assume your fire control tracking tech is 4000km/s, which means you can trim the FC down to 2x tracking size (resulting in a 8 HS BFC with 8000 tracking speed).  8000km/s tracking speed is actually sufficient to hit the FACs plenty of times.  Less tonnage, more speed.  

Judging by the numbers, I guess the engine is 50HS big with a 1. 75 modifier.  I could come up with a design like this:
Code: [Select]
Half the size class Cruiser    4,900 tons     137 Crew     1099.45 BP      TCS 98  TH 787.5  EM 0
10714 km/s     Armour 1-25     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 2     PPV 8
Maint Life 2.1 Years     MSP 280    AFR 96%    IFR 1.3%    1YR 85    5YR 1271    Max Repair 154 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months    Spare Berths 0    

Military ID-105 x1.75 Drive (10)    Power 105    Fuel Use 269.41%    Signature 78.75    Exp 17% <== Same size / power / fuel use of ONE of your engines
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres    Range 13.6 billion km   (14 days at full power)

25cm C4 Soft X-ray Laser (1)    Range 256,000km     TS: 10714 km/s     Power 16-4     RM 6    ROF 20        16 16 16 16 16 16 13 12 10 9
Laser Fire Control S08 128-8000 (1)    Max Range: 256,000 km   TS: 8000 km/s     96 92 88 84 80 77 73 69 65 61
Stellarator Fusion Reactor P6 (1)     Total Power Output 6    Armour 0    Exp 5%

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
The laser is just a placeholder for a 8HS weapon of your choice.  Depending on your armor tech, you'll have to account for more space used by armor though.  

Or:
Code: [Select]
New Class class Cruiser    9,700 tons     280 Crew     2128.3 BP      TCS 194  TH 1575  EM 0
10824 km/s     Armour 1-40     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 4     PPV 24
Maint Life 2.44 Years     MSP 617    AFR 167%    IFR 2.3%    1YR 143    5YR 2141    Max Repair 154 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months    Spare Berths 0    

Military ID-105 x1.75 Drive (20)    Power 105    Fuel Use 269.41%    Signature 78.75    Exp 17%
Fuel Capacity 2,000,000 Litres    Range 13.8 billion km   (14 days at full power)

25cm C4 Soft X-ray Laser (3)    Range 256,000km     TS: 10824 km/s     Power 16-4     RM 6    ROF 20        16 16 16 16 16 16 13 12 10 9
Laser Fire Control S08 128-8000 (1)    Max Range: 256,000 km   TS: 8000 km/s     96 92 88 84 80 77 73 69 65 61
Stellarator Fusion Reactor P6 (2)     Total Power Output 12    Armour 0    Exp 5%

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

I am kind of uncertain, why you'll want such big ships though.  The more tonnage you add, the more engines you need. . .  which results in more tonnage again and less range.  Thus adding more fuel storage requires yet again more engines.  At some point you get diminishing return for any engine added.
If you want a beam cruiser to use against other enemies other than the spoiler race, your tech simply isnt quite up to the task yet (you have paper thin armor and too little armament to justify such an expensive ship).  
Since you are going down the route of very specialized ships anyway, you can design a ship to fight the enemy's mothership - it is very slow and has even shorter weapon range than its FACs => remove engines from your designs and trade it for weaponry; make an even smaller BFC (S02 128-2000),etc.  Just make sure the mothership doesnt have any FACs still in its hangars (i. e.  damage its shields to provoke it into launching them) before you close in on it with your slower mothershipkillers. . .

Hint: 'Follow at 120k km' order against the FACs and  'Follow 7k km' against the carrier.  YMMV



DONT PANIC! heh. .  As Jumpp wrote, unless you lead them right to Sol, they usually stay in the system you spotted them.  They WILL follow you through jumppoints though, if they see you using it after an engagement.  
I had one of their ships in a system right next to Sol (they destroyed my very first ship launched =( ) and I came back 20 years(!) later to kill it.  Treat it like a big bad bear, dont bother it and it should leave you alone unless you are unlucky enough for it to move towards you.

Quote
If you are fighting the swarm the best defence is usually long range, fast missiles.  A lot of long range, fast missiles.  20-30 per salvo per target.  You should be able to design a missile that goes 15k or so.  
Why is that better than having a faster beam ship to engage the swarm? It's a bit like David vs Goliath - you can throw thousands of soldiers at Goliath or use a single guy who is just faster and smarter than him.  With sufficient speed and range the only factor that could spoil the plan is the mothership's shield regeneration rate.
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: Erik L on December 12, 2012, 08:21:10 AM
Why is that better than having a faster beam ship to engage the swarm? It's a bit like David vs Goliath - you can throw thousands of soldiers at Goliath or use a single guy who is just faster and smarter than him.  With sufficient speed and range the only factor that could spoil the plan is the mothership's shield regeneration rate.

If you lose a beam ship, your firepower is reduced. If you lose a missile, there are a crapton more of them behind it.
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: Conscript Gary on December 12, 2012, 10:53:39 AM
You can also sling missiles while sitting on a jump point with your finger hovering over the 'transit' button in case things go south.
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: niflheimr on December 12, 2012, 12:55:30 PM
And you can salvo them in enough quantities to take the little slugs down in one blow :)
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: telegraph on December 13, 2012, 10:33:34 AM
Following your wise advice - I updated my Vanguard blueprint:

Code: [Select]
Vanguard class Gunboat    4,500 tons     138 Crew     918 BP      TCS 90  TH 1008  EM 0
11200 km/s     Armour 1-24     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 8
Maint Life 0.26 Years     MSP 128    AFR 162%    IFR 2.2%    1YR 494    5YR 7408    Max Repair 504 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1.2842 months    Spare Berths 0   

"Destrier" 1008 EP Ion Drive (1)    Power 1008    Fuel Use 147.47%    Signature 1008    Exp 17%
Fuel Capacity 750,000 Litres    Range 20.3 billion km   (21 days at full power)

"Rapier" 25cm Railgun V4/C4 (1x4)    Range 200,000km     TS: 11200 km/s     Power 15-4     RM 4    ROF 20        5 5 5 5 4 3 2 2 2 2
"Vanguard Helm" Fire Control S08 128-8000 (1)    Max Range: 256,000 km   TS: 8000 km/s     96 92 88 84 80 77 73 69 65 61
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Technology PB-1 (1)     Total Power Output 4.5    Armour 0    Exp 5%

"Space Nostril" Active Search Sensor MR6-R16 (1)     GPS 336     Range 6.7m km    Resolution 16

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

Fuel Use  is monstrous, so I believe I will have to create a special design for Fleet Training:

Code: [Select]
Invincible class Flight School    120,000 tons     1022 Crew     4250.35 BP      TCS 2400  TH 150  EM 0
62 km/s     Armour 1-216     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
MSP 22    Max Repair 18.75 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 0   
Recreational Facilities

"Marko Polo" 150 EP Commercial Ion Drive (1)    Power 150    Fuel Use 1.09%    Signature 150    Exp 2%
Fuel Capacity 14,100,000 Litres    Range 1924.8 billion km   (359327 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes

Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: Erik L on December 13, 2012, 10:37:34 AM
Following your wise advice - I updated my Vanguard blueprint:

Code: [Select]
Vanguard class Gunboat    4,500 tons     138 Crew     918 BP      TCS 90  TH 1008  EM 0
11200 km/s     Armour 1-24     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 8
Maint Life 0.26 Years     MSP 128    AFR 162%    IFR 2.2%    1YR 494    5YR 7408    Max Repair 504 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1.2842 months    Spare Berths 0   

"Destrier" 1008 EP Ion Drive (1)    Power 1008    Fuel Use 147.47%    Signature 1008    Exp 17%
Fuel Capacity 750,000 Litres    Range 20.3 billion km   (21 days at full power)

"Rapier" 25cm Railgun V4/C4 (1x4)    Range 200,000km     TS: 11200 km/s     Power 15-4     RM 4    ROF 20        5 5 5 5 4 3 2 2 2 2
"Vanguard Helm" Fire Control S08 128-8000 (1)    Max Range: 256,000 km   TS: 8000 km/s     96 92 88 84 80 77 73 69 65 61
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Technology PB-1 (1)     Total Power Output 4.5    Armour 0    Exp 5%

"Space Nostril" Active Search Sensor MR6-R16 (1)     GPS 336     Range 6.7m km    Resolution 16

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

Fuel Use  is monstrous, so I believe I will have to create a special design for Fleet Training:

Code: [Select]
Invincible class Flight School    120,000 tons     1022 Crew     4250.35 BP      TCS 2400  TH 150  EM 0
62 km/s     Armour 1-216     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
MSP 22    Max Repair 18.75 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 0   
Recreational Facilities

"Marko Polo" 150 EP Commercial Ion Drive (1)    Power 150    Fuel Use 1.09%    Signature 150    Exp 2%
Fuel Capacity 14,100,000 Litres    Range 1924.8 billion km   (359327 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes



You do know that fleet training will drop if you move ships out of the task group?
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: telegraph on December 13, 2012, 10:44:20 AM
Really? Never noticed that. Are there any prereuisites for the FT to drop? I just tried to detach the 100% trained  Missile Boat  from the TG, but FT did not drop. This  Missile Boat  was trained separately though and only afterwards added to the group.
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: sloanjh on December 13, 2012, 11:01:58 PM
You do know that fleet training will drop if you move ships out of the task group?

I thought Steve took this out a while back.  I could be mis-remembering, though....

John
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: Erik L on December 13, 2012, 11:19:26 PM
I thought Steve took this out a while back.  I could be mis-remembering, though....

John
Or I could be.
Title: Re: counter-meson fleet
Post by: Jorgen_CAB on December 14, 2012, 02:24:19 AM
Is it not that fleet training is reduced when you change task-force and not task-group. I thought I remember something like that. I'm usually scared moving 100% trained ships from one task-force to another.

Edit: Nope, just tested that to, they seem to keep the fleet training even when changing the task-force. Good to know because I have been under the impression that it would be lowered.