Aurora 4x
VB6 Aurora => Bureau of Ship Design => Topic started by: martinuzz on October 11, 2014, 04:15:33 PM
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Yay!
I finally managed to design a jump capable cloaking recon ship. It should be nearly invisible as long as it does not turn on it's active sensor.
The active is intended to be used to spot paint big targets for long range missiles boats, but mostly this ship should serve well for scouting new systems. Share your designs for recon / scout ships please, I'd like to see other people's ideas.
Spotter class Recon Frigate 3,000 tons 85 Crew 1326 BP TCS 9 TH 38.4 EM 0
4000 km/s JR 1-50 Armour 1-18 Shields 0-0 Sensors 180/180/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.37 Years MSP 414 AFR 48% IFR 0.7% 1YR 101 5YR 1511 Max Repair 360 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Spare Berths 0
J3000(1-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 3000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 1
240 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth Drive (1) Power 240 Fuel Use 78.54% Signature 38.4 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 810,000 Litres Range 61.9 billion km (179 days at full power)
Active Search Sensor MR77-R100 Mk1 (1) GPS 4321 Range 77.8m km Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH10-180 (1) Sensitivity 180 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 180m km
EM Detection Sensor EM10-180 (1) Sensitivity 180 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 180m km
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
ECM 30
EDIT1: I designed a missile boat to accompany it. Now it needs some PD frigates.
Shade class Missile Frigate 3,000 tons 68 Crew 742.34 BP TCS 9 TH 38.4 EM 0
4000 km/s JR 1-50 Armour 2-18 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 12
Maint Life 3.04 Years MSP 271 AFR 41% IFR 0.6% 1YR 44 5YR 662 Max Repair 270 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Spare Berths 0
Magazine 168
J3000(1-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 3000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 1
240 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth Drive (1) Power 240 Fuel Use 78.54% Signature 38.4 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 810,000 Litres Range 61.9 billion km (179 days at full power)
Size 8 Missile Launcher 0.50% Mk1 (3) Missile Size 8 Rate of Fire 150
Missile Fire Control FC77-R100 Mk1 (1) Range 77.8m km Resolution 100
Size 8 Anti-ship ECM Dumbfire Missile (21) Speed: 120,000 km/s End: 11.2m Range: 80.8m km WH: 9 Size: 8 TH: 600/360/180
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
ECM 30
EDIT2: And PD frigate 1, now to see if I can cram AMM into another one.
Spirit class Defense Frigate 3,000 tons 98 Crew 2139.3 BP TCS 9 TH 38.4 EM 0
4000 km/s JR 1-50 Armour 4-18 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 3 PPV 8
Maint Life 6.91 Years MSP 1448 AFR 22% IFR 0.3% 1YR 53 5YR 793 Max Repair 1350 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Spare Berths 1
J3000(1-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 3000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 1
240 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth Drive (1) Power 240 Fuel Use 78.54% Signature 38.4 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 810,000 Litres Range 61.9 billion km (179 days at full power)
Twin 10cm C3 Soft X-ray Laser (PD180kkm) Turret (1x2) Range 180,000km TS: 21984 km/s Power 6-6 RM 6 ROF 5 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 1
Fire Control S06 180-25000 (1) Max Range: 360,000 km TS: 25000 km/s 97 94 92 89 86 83 81 78 75 72
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor PB-1.25 (2) Total Power Output 6 Armour 0 Exp 20%
Active Search Sensor MR9-AMM/PD Mk1 (1) GPS 51 Range 9.1m km MCR 988k km Resolution 1
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
ECM 30
EDIT3: And done. On hindsight, I could have left out the active sensor on the Spirit class, since the AMM frigate has a better one. Now I should design a carrier that can fit 10 3000 ton ships. 1 recon, and 3 of each of the others sounds like a decent carrier strike group :)
Ghost class AMM Frigate 3,000 tons 79 Crew 1434.66 BP TCS 9 TH 38.4 EM 0
4000 km/s JR 1-50 Armour 2-18 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 3
Maint Life 4.87 Years MSP 598 AFR 36% IFR 0.5% 1YR 42 5YR 625 Max Repair 576 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Spare Berths 3
Magazine 91
J3000(1-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 3000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 1
240 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth Drive (1) Power 240 Fuel Use 78.54% Signature 38.4 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 810,000 Litres Range 61.9 billion km (179 days at full power)
Size 1 Missile Launcher Mk1 (3) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 5
Missile Fire Control FC23-AMM Mk1 (3) Range 23.3m km Resolution 1
Size 1 Anti-missile Missile Mk1 (91) Speed: 115,200 km/s End: 0.7m Range: 5m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 1344/806/403
Active Search Sensor MR51-AMM Mk1 (1) GPS 288 Range 51.8m km MCR 5.6m km Resolution 1
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
ECM 30
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Yay!
I finally managed to design a jump capable cloaking recon ship. It should be nearly invisible as long as it does not turn on it's active sensor.
Some advice for you:
1. 4000 km/s doesn't sound very fast for Inertial Fusion drives. You are not likely to be able to retreat after being spotted.
2. Your sensor\MFC is too shortranged to your missiles. If the enemy uses ECM (and he will use it), the range of MFC will be cut even more, since you don't have ECCM on your frigates, meaning you have to close distance risking detection and eventual destruction.
3. ECM on your ships won't help at all: any combatant can close in and destroy the defenseless craft. This system is mainly for ships who expect resistance from enemy.
Speaking about designs...
The main survey craft of ZemSoy, developed with not stealth but speed in mind, able to detect everything from missiles to ships:
F-Cornmeat II class Survey Support 10 000 tons 230 Crew 3689.5 BP TCS 200 TH 3200 EM 0
16000 km/s Armour 8-41 Shields 0-0 Sensors 140/140/0/0 Damage Control Rating 9 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.7 Years MSP 2075 AFR 88% IFR 1.2% 1YR 408 5YR 6115 Max Repair 800 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 48 months Spare Berths 1
Izmaylov Foundation 1600 EP Solid Core AM Drive (2) Power 1600 Fuel Use 15% Signature 1600 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1 050 000 Litres Range 126.0 billion km (91 days at full power)
Ratters Missile Detector R1\Sz15\T5 (1) GPS 540 Range 97.2m km MCR 10.6m km Resolution 1
Ratters Ship Detector R100\Sz15\T5 (1) GPS 54000 Range 972.0m km Resolution 100
Ratters Thermal Detector S140\Sz10 (1) Sensitivity 140 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 140m km
Ratters EM Detector S140\Sz10 (1) Sensitivity 140 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 140m km
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
And Ping, the little Fighter-Scout, made mainly because I didn't put any sensors on carriers:
Ping III class Fighter-Scout 488 tons 4 Crew 379.5 BP TCS 9.75 TH 360 EM 0
36923 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 4.45 Years MSP 122 AFR 7% IFR 0.1% 1YR 10 5YR 149 Max Repair 180 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 6
Fasters EPAM Drive Tripled (1) Power 360 Fuel Use 378.02% Signature 360 Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 50 000 Litres Range 4.9 billion km (36 hours at full power)
ExpAI Active Search Sensor MR229-R50 (1) GPS 9000 Range 229.1m km Resolution 50
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
Wait, new designs.
And more questions:
1. Why your AMM are slower than ASMs?
2. 9 missiles per salvo is way less than adequate for 30kton strike group.
3. Your ships have maintenance life of several years, but very low deployment time.
4. If you're going to put all these ships in carrier, why don't you put jump drive on the carrier instead of spending precious space on these frigates?
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Hmmm. I was doing basically this same thing in my game at home before I left. I skipped doing a jump drive on every ship though, I found it much more effective to do an equally sized jump tender (with max squadron) to transfer them around.
Also they had a 20bn range rather than a 60. And more speed. Since i figured their role would have been to get jumped into a system, perhaps with a supporting fuel/ammo tender) and recon/engage enemy civilian ships while they were moving to jump points and such. Although most of their movement was done at half engine power (keep the thermal sig down)
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Some advice for you:
1. 4000 km/s doesn't sound very fast for Inertial Fusion drives. You are not likely to be able to retreat after being spotted.
2. Your sensor\MFC is too shortranged to your missiles. If the enemy uses ECM (and he will use it), the range of MFC will be cut even more, since you don't have ECCM on your frigates, meaning you have to close distance risking detection and eventual destruction.
3. ECM on your ships won't help at all: any combatant can close in and destroy the defenseless craft. This system is mainly for ships who expect resistance from enemy.
1) Well yeah.. I keep running into trouble with fuel consumption. I can't seem to both fit enough fuel into the 3000 ton designs as well as make them faster. I think these engines have a 1.5 power boost. Perhaps I should go back to no boost :P
2) I design my anti ship missiles with slightly more range than the fire control / sensor. That way they have some spare distance, when their target is moving away after the missiles have been fired.
3) Still working on more ships to deal with close up threats. I just feel more safe with ECM on them, and it kinda fits their stealth profile RP wise. Good advice though, thanks.
Wait, new designs.
And more questions:
1. Why your AMM are slower than ASMs?
2. 9 missiles per salvo is way less than adequate for 30kton strike group.
3. Your ships have maintenance life of several years, but very low deployment time.
4. If you're going to put all these ships in carrier, why don't you put jump drive on the carrier instead of spending precious space on these frigates?
1) Haha I just noticed that too. My AMM are optimized for 1 strenght warhead / agility though. My ASM's 1.125 (9 strenght) warhead just left a lot of room for engine. It can't hurt now can it <insert evil cackle>
2) True, for a non cloaking/selfjumping strike group.
3) I guess that's a side effect of adding enough engineering spaces to have MSP>Max repair? Their deployment time is set to 6 months, if that matters.
4) I was joking about the carrier, as a meta-comment on my EDITing spree.
So the role I see for this strikegroup, in sequence, would be:
1) recon goes in first, no actives, searches for contacts with passives
2) rest of strikegroup(s), no actives, joins recon
3) close into missile range, if you didn't position your scout there already
4) turn on active on recon, fire missiles
5) wait until missiles impact or are destroyed
6) switch off actives, sneak away with a 450 ton stealth profile, lowered engine speed if need be. Enemies would need a 75m km fighter size resolution sensor to see you.
7) now I might be wrong, but the recon's size 10 passives should detect incoming missiles just in time to turn on active PD sensors with time to respond.
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Just a bit curious, how large are your engines in HS?
Also do you not have thermal sig reductions on them? (Cause thatll get you detected a lot farther off than anything else. Even with cloaking)
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The engines are 10HS for the 240EP Stealth Drives. The Stealth part of that name means their thermal signature is reduced to 16% normal, my tech is pretty high.
After some consideration, and careful reading of some good advice in this thread, I decided to scrap the jumpdrives from the designs, say screw it to the engineering spaces on the frigates, and gave them a second 240 EP drive. And made a carrier after all. A cloaked 45000 ton carrier (85% signature reduction). The darn cloaking device is 90HS. I designed an eco (0.75% power) stealth (16% thermal signal) 1200 EP drive just for the carrier.
Void class Stealth Carrier 45,000 tons 866 Crew 12197.3 BP TCS 135 TH 960 EM 0
6666 km/s Armour 1-112 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 78 PPV 0
Maint Life 1.53 Years MSP 8132 AFR 337% IFR 4.7% 1YR 3944 5YR 59164 Max Repair 4050 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Flight Crew Berths 125
Hangar Deck Capacity 15000 tons Magazine 696
1200 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth EcoDrive (5) Power 1200 Fuel Use 7.31% Signature 192 Exp 7%
Fuel Capacity 5,115,000 Litres Range 279.9 billion km (485 days at full power)
Size 1 Anti-missile Missile Mk1 (216) Speed: 115,200 km/s End: 0.7m Range: 5m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 1344/806/403
Size 8 Anti-ship ECM Dumbfire Missile (60) Speed: 120,000 km/s End: 11.2m Range: 80.8m km WH: 9 Size: 8 TH: 600/360/180
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
Spotter class Recon Frigate 3,000 tons 79 Crew 1575 BP TCS 9 TH 76.8 EM 0
8000 km/s Armour 1-18 Shields 0-0 Sensors 180/180/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 0.49 Years MSP 164 AFR 144% IFR 2% 1YR 337 5YR 5052 Max Repair 360 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Spare Berths 0
240 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth Drive (2) Power 240 Fuel Use 78.54% Signature 38.4 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 850,000 Litres Range 64.9 billion km (93 days at full power)
Active Search Sensor MR77-R100 Mk1 (1) GPS 4321 Range 77.8m km Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH10-180 (1) Sensitivity 180 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 180m km
EM Detection Sensor EM10-180 (1) Sensitivity 180 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 180m km
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
ECM 30
Shade class Missile Frigate 3,000 tons 61 Crew 977.84 BP TCS 9 TH 76.8 EM 0
8000 km/s Armour 2-18 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 12
Maint Life 0.82 Years MSP 122 AFR 120% IFR 1.7% 1YR 149 5YR 2234 Max Repair 270 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Spare Berths 1
Magazine 168
240 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth Drive (2) Power 240 Fuel Use 78.54% Signature 38.4 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 855,000 Litres Range 65.3 billion km (94 days at full power)
Size 8 Missile Launcher 0.50% Mk1 (3) Missile Size 8 Rate of Fire 150
Missile Fire Control FC77-R100 Mk1 (1) Range 77.8m km Resolution 100
Size 8 Anti-ship ECM Dumbfire Missile (21) Speed: 120,000 km/s End: 11.2m Range: 80.8m km WH: 9 Size: 8 TH: 600/360/180
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
Compact ECCM-2 (1) Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
Spirit class Defense Frigate 3,000 tons 85 Crew 2339.1 BP TCS 9 TH 76.8 EM 0
8000 km/s Armour 6-18 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 8
Maint Life 1.22 Years MSP 365 AFR 96% IFR 1.3% 1YR 252 5YR 3781 Max Repair 1350 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Spare Berths 1
240 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth Drive (2) Power 240 Fuel Use 78.54% Signature 38.4 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 855,000 Litres Range 65.3 billion km (94 days at full power)
Twin 10cm C3 Soft X-ray Laser (AMM180kkm) Turret (1x2) Range 180,000km TS: 21984 km/s Power 6-6 RM 6 ROF 5 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 1
Fire Control S06 180-25000 (1) Max Range: 360,000 km TS: 25000 km/s 97 94 92 89 86 83 81 78 75 72
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor PB-1.25 (2) Total Power Output 6 Armour 0 Exp 20%
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
Compact ECCM-2 (1) ECM 30
Ghost class AMM Frigate 3,000 tons 72 Crew 1694.66 BP TCS 9 TH 76.8 EM 0
8000 km/s Armour 2-18 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 3
Maint Life 0.61 Years MSP 177 AFR 144% IFR 2% 1YR 289 5YR 4329 Max Repair 576 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Spare Berths 0
Magazine 91
240 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth Drive (2) Power 240 Fuel Use 78.54% Signature 38.4 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 855,000 Litres Range 65.3 billion km (94 days at full power)
Size 1 Missile Launcher Mk1 (3) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 5
Missile Fire Control FC23-AMM Mk1 (3) Range 23.3m km Resolution 1
Size 1 Anti-missile Missile Mk1 (91) Speed: 115,200 km/s End: 0.7m Range: 5m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 1344/806/403
Active Search Sensor MR51-AMM Mk1 (1) GPS 288 Range 51.8m km MCR 5.6m km Resolution 1
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
Small Craft ECCM-1 (1) ECM 30
EDIT: and here's pew pew frigates (their 15cm laser is actually a spinal 12cm laser, I couldn't fit an advanced spinal or anything better really), a carrier that swapped out magazines for more fuel, because the beam frigates drink a lot. Also, a cloaked jump tender that can take itself, and 4 carriers through a gate, unless squad size 5 means that it can take itself, plus 5 carriers.
Wisp class Beam Frigate 3,000 tons 93 Crew 2517 BP TCS 9 TH 153.6 EM 600
16000 km/s Armour 1-18 Shields 20-300 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 4
Maint Life 1.1 Years MSP 262 AFR 144% IFR 2% 1YR 219 5YR 3288 Max Repair 1012 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Spare Berths 0
320 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth PowerDrive (3) Power 320 Fuel Use 284.6% Signature 51.2 Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 1,040,000 Litres Range 21.9 billion km (15 days at full power)
Theta R300/288 Shields (5) Total Fuel Cost 60 Litres per hour (1,440 per day)
15cm C6 Soft X-ray Laser (1) Range 360,000km TS: 16000 km/s Power 6-6 RM 6 ROF 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 4 4 3
Fire Control S04.5 180-18750 H30 (1) Max Range: 360,000 km TS: 18750 km/s 97 94 92 89 86 83 81 78 75 72
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor PB-1.25 (2) Total Power Output 6 Armour 0 Exp 20%
Active Search Sensor MR2-R10 (1) GPS 36 Range 2.0m km Resolution 10
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
Compact ECCM-2 (1) ECM 30
Hollow class Stealth Carrier 45,000 tons 845 Crew 12191.9 BP TCS 135 TH 960 EM 0
6666 km/s Armour 1-112 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 78 PPV 0
Maint Life 1.53 Years MSP 8128 AFR 337% IFR 4.7% 1YR 3929 5YR 58931 Max Repair 4050 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Flight Crew Berths 310
Hangar Deck Capacity 15000 tons
1200 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth EcoDrive (5) Power 1200 Fuel Use 7.31% Signature 192 Exp 7%
Fuel Capacity 6,690,000 Litres Range 366.0 billion km (635 days at full power)
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
Charon class Jump Tender 45,000 tons 932 Crew 17803.5 BP TCS 135 TH 960 EM 0
6666 km/s JR 5-500 Armour 4-112 Shields 0-0 Sensors 18/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 100 PPV 32
Maint Life 1.06 Years MSP 9891 AFR 405% IFR 5.6% 1YR 8907 5YR 133606 Max Repair 4050 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Spare Berths 0
J45000(5-500) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 45000 tons Distance 500k km Squadron Size 5
1200 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth EcoDrive (5) Power 1200 Fuel Use 7.31% Signature 192 Exp 7%
Fuel Capacity 15,000,000 Litres Range 820.7 billion km (1424 days at full power)
Twin 10cm C3 Soft X-ray Laser (AMM180kkm) Turret (4x2) Range 180,000km TS: 21984 km/s Power 6-6 RM 6 ROF 5 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 1
Fire Control S06 180-25000 (4) Max Range: 360,000 km TS: 25000 km/s 97 94 92 89 86 83 81 78 75 72
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (1) Total Power Output 24 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor MR9-AMM Mk1 (1) GPS 51 Range 9.1m km MCR 988k km Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH1-18 (1) Sensitivity 18 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 18m km
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
ECM 30
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Engines look much better, and the speed.
Though I am not in the camp of dumping off maintenence (especially with a stealth ship that might end up trawling very slowly around for long periods of time)
Perhaps though you could use a maint storage module rater than more engineering spaces (storage just adds msp, without making the afr lower)
As a whole they all look quite a bit better than the earlier versions, and the inclusion of a tanker that can run right with them is always beneficial.
Curious as to the full stats of your size 8 asms.
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Curious as to the full stats of your size 8 asms.
I have two designs. Currently using the ECM dumbfires, but I have seekers too.
dumbfire ECM:
Missile Size: 8 MSP (0.4 HS) Warhead: 9 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 15
Speed: 120000 km/s Engine Endurance: 11 minutes Range: 80.8m km
ECM Level: 4
Cost Per Missile: 17.05
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 1800% 3k km/s 600% 5k km/s 360% 10k km/s 180%
Seekers:
Missile Size: 8 MSP (0.4 HS) Warhead: 9 Armour: 1 Manoeuvre Rating: 12
Speed: 120000 km/s Engine Endurance: 11 minutes Range: 80.8m km
Active Sensor Strength: 0.252 Sensitivity Modifier: 180%
Resolution: 100 Maximum Range vs 5000 ton object (or larger): 450,000 km
Cost Per Missile: 15.2552
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 1440% 3k km/s 480% 5k km/s 288% 10k km/s 144%
EDIT: added a cloaked fighter, and a flagship to the mix. Thirty fighters per Void carrier :P. I'm going to need more naval officers haha.
Eraser class Stealthfighter 500 tons 14 Crew 267 BP TCS 1.5 TH 25.6 EM 0
16000 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 2.4
Maint Life 3.93 Years MSP 33 AFR 20% IFR 0.3% 1YR 3 5YR 51 Max Repair 90 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Spare Berths 1
Magazine 16
80 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth MicroDrive (2) Power 80 Fuel Use 293.5% Signature 12.8 Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 40,000 Litres Range 4.9 billion km (3 days at full power)
Size 8 Box Launcher (2) Missile Size 8 Hangar Reload 60 minutes MF Reload 10 hours
Torpedo Fire Control FC13-R50 (1) Range 13.7m km Resolution 50
Size 8 Seeker Torpedo (2) Speed: 120,000 km/s End: 0.3m Range: 2.5m km WH: 9 Size: 8 TH: 560/336/168
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
ECM 30
The torpedoes have a point of armor, 0.25 (which translates to 1 strenght) ECM, and an active sensor.
Shadow class Command Ship 45,000 tons 1365 Crew 30777.9 BP TCS 135 TH 960 EM 4440
6666 km/s JR 5-500 Armour 5-112 Shields 148-300 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 170 PPV 118
Maint Life 1.09 Years MSP 8763 AFR 790% IFR 11% 1YR 7433 5YR 111497 Max Repair 4050 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Spare Berths 2
Flag Bridge
J45000(5-500) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 45000 tons Distance 500k km Squadron Size 5
1200 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth EcoDrive (5) Power 1200 Fuel Use 7.31% Signature 192 Exp 7%
Fuel Capacity 4,055,000 Litres Range 221.9 billion km (385 days at full power)
Theta R300/288 Shields (37) Total Fuel Cost 444 Litres per hour (10,656 per day)
Twin 10cm C3 Soft X-ray Laser (AMM180kkm) Turret (5x2) Range 180,000km TS: 21984 km/s Power 6-6 RM 6 ROF 5 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 1
Single 30cm C8 Soft X-ray Laser Turret (6x1) Range 480,000km TS: 18225 km/s Power 24-8 RM 6 ROF 15 24 24 24 24 24 24 20 18 16 14
Fire Control S06 240-18750 H30 (6) Max Range: 480,000 km TS: 18750 km/s 98 96 94 92 90 88 85 83 81 79
Fire Control S06 180-25000 (5) Max Range: 360,000 km TS: 25000 km/s 97 94 92 89 86 83 81 78 75 72
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor PB-1.25 (2) Total Power Output 6 Armour 0 Exp 20%
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (3) Total Power Output 72 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor MR51-AMM Mk1 (1) GPS 288 Range 51.8m km MCR 5.6m km Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR160-R50 (1) GPS 6300 Range 160.4m km Resolution 50
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
ECCM-3 (6) ECM 40
Bedtime now. I need to make some 45k ton defense ships tomorrow
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A few questions...
1. Why do you have so long range on ships that are suppose to operate from a carrier?
I think you would be all right with just a couple of billion km range on your frigates. Enough range to do some combat manoeuvres and then get back to the carrier.
2. The cloaking device on both the carrier and support ship is mostly wasted, they still have a TCS of 135, most active sensors will use resolutions smaller than that which means that they are as easy to lock on to with or without the cloaking device.
3. The range of your Fire-control on the fighters is only 13.7m km. They are very likely to get picked up by enemy AMM scanners and Fire-controls at these tech levels. They would need at least 30-40m range of not more to become safe. I think the same goes for your frigates with only 80m km range and a TCS of around 10, they will not be safe against someone with your refinement in technology level. If you are mainly fighting against lower tech level enemies you will be fine though with your frigates, but not with the fighters. I would suggest a firing range on the fighter of at least 80m and the frigates at 160m firing range to give you some margins.
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Some more food for thoughts...
In order to save research, building resources and overal wasting time you should consider streamlinging your whole fleet.
Combine the 45kt Jumptender and Commandship into one ship and the Carrier can provide enough defense and still have decent hangar space and drop the cloaking devices on all of them. This will make the whole process of both research, building and later upgrading these ships much easier.
Drop all 3000t frigates except the scout and only use dedicated fighters or perhaps FAC (or both). Don't waste resources in defense such as AMM and PD in such type of ships, they are all about surprise striking an opponent in full force. You can keep some interceptor type fighter to engage enemy scouts, FAC or fighters. But trying to attack a decent enemy fleet with beam gunboats is usually not a good idea.
A complete strike force could then be one Command Ship (with a jump engine to jump five ships) and four carrier each with a hangar space for about 12000t.
Each carrier could hold a strike force of:
1x3000t Scout Frigate
6x800t Missile Boats (slower but longer range crafts with a heavy payload of very long range armored missiles, also perhaps using stealth technology)
7x350t Fast Torpedo Bombers (very fast crafts with slightly smaller and faster missiles with less range than the Missile Boats)
6x275t Interceptors (10cm miniaturized laser cannons)
Each such strike group could also be supported by some commercial tankers for really long way missions and or dedicated collier/supply ships.
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His fighters are likely not going to be picked up by active sensors actually if their cloaks are on. 15% of 500 is only 75tons. I think he'll be fine.
But he should definitely decrease the deployment time on those fighters, they don't need 1 month of deployment time. Which will free up some space for other things, decrease the necessary crew, and mean the carrier doesn't need so many flight crew berths.
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His fighters are likely not going to be picked up by active sensors actually if their cloaks are on. 15% of 500 is only 75tons. I think he'll be fine.
Although a resolution 1 AMM scanner will easily detect them at a range of 2.4m km that their torpedoes have, even a range of 14m km that their fire-control has is not good enough for a decent high tech AMM sensor and fire-control. Fighter with 1 point of armour will die like flies at either enemy fighter interceptors or AMM missiles or even worse warhead 4 anti-fighter missiles.
A 250t medium tech resolution one active scanner has a range of 11.5m km and detect size 6 missiles at 1.3m km (active tech 21, EM sensitivity 11), probably lower tech than his fleet. And this is mostly a small AMM sensor for a dedicated AMM ship in most fleets in that tech era. They are more likely to be closer to 500t or larger to detect incoming missiles as early as possible. So I think that increasing the range on the torpedoes will be essential for their survival. I'm not sure the cloaking devise is doing much use at that stage of technology either, it take up too much space in such a small craft.
It would be more useful with a smaller fighter carrying longer ranged missiles and a bigger FAC type craft with a cloaking device able to carrying a larger payload. An 800t FAC with a 15% profile is 120t or resolution 2.4. This I think is a better choice given sensors needed to detect them and the smaller fighter will be pretty expensive research wise to build to counter them.
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Although a resolution 1 AMM scanner will easily detect them at a range of 2.4m km that their torpedoes have, even a range of 14m km that their fire-control has is not good enough for a decent high tech AMM sensor and fire-control. Fighter with 1 point of armour will die like flies at either enemy fighter interceptors or AMM missiles or even worse warhead 4 anti-fighter missiles.
A 250t medium tech resolution one active scanner has a range of 11.5m km and detect size 6 missiles at 1.3m km (active tech 21, EM sensitivity 11), probably lower tech than his fleet.
Indeed. Any decent Ion-Engine tech level AMM platform/sensor would be able to detect and swat down those fighters before they even got into torpedo range.
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Thanks for the input folks, some good points were made there.
I suppose those short range torpedoes would only work on big beam ships, as an extra surprise punch. I do have some size 4 range 25m km missiles I could put on those fighters though. But you're right, I really need more cloaking tech for cloaking fighters, the current 3hs cloaking device is indeed taking up too much space.
As for the cloaks on the big ships.. It isn't so much intended as to hide them from detection, but rather to mislead the enemy into thinking it's just a few small ships that just popped in through their wormhole.
Also, I did not combine the command ship and the jump tender because that would be a waste of flag bridges. I just need 1, but intend to use more than 1 tender.
<heads beack to the drawing table>
You think 28m km is a safe enough firing distance for those cloaked fighters?
Eraser class Stealthfighter 500 tons 3 Crew 291 BP TCS 1.5 TH 25.6 EM 0
16000 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 2.4
Maint Life 4.04 Years MSP 36 AFR 20% IFR 0.3% 1YR 4 5YR 53 Max Repair 90 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 7
Magazine 16
80 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth MicroDrive (2) Power 80 Fuel Use 293.5% Signature 12.8 Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 30,000 Litres Range 3.7 billion km (63 hours at full power)
Size 4 Box Launcher (4) Missile Size 4 Hangar Reload 30 minutes MF Reload 5 hours
Missile Fire Control FC30-R10 Mk1 (1) Range 30.7m km Resolution 10
Size 4 Anti-ship Seeker Missile Mk1 (4) Speed: 132,000 km/s End: 3.6m Range: 28.2m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 704/422/211
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
ECM 30
EDIT: Right. I removed tons of fuel tanks on most frigates, which allowed me to double their speed plus some extra firepower / stuff, such as AMM added to the defense frigate, and armor on the beam frigate.
Wisp class Beam Frigate 3,000 tons 118 Crew 3614.3 BP TCS 9 TH 256 EM 600
26666 km/s Armour 4-18 Shields 20-300 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 4
Maint Life 0.23 Years MSP 188 AFR 288% IFR 4% 1YR 808 5YR 12117 Max Repair 1350 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Spare Berths 2
320 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth PowerDrive (5) Power 320 Fuel Use 284.6% Signature 51.2 Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 435,000 Litres Range 9.2 billion km (3 days at full power)
Theta R300/288 Shields (5) Total Fuel Cost 60 Litres per hour (1,440 per day)
15cm C6 Soft X-ray Laser (1) Range 360,000km TS: 26666 km/s Power 6-6 RM 6 ROF 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 4 4 3
Fire Control S06 180-25000 (1) Max Range: 360,000 km TS: 25000 km/s 97 94 92 89 86 83 81 78 75 72
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor PB-1.25 (2) Total Power Output 6 Armour 0 Exp 20%
Active Search Sensor MR2-R10 (1) GPS 36 Range 2.0m km Resolution 10
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
Compact ECCM-2 (1) ECM 30
Spotter class Recon Frigate 3,000 tons 92 Crew 2065.3 BP TCS 9 TH 153.6 EM 0
16000 km/s Armour 2-18 Shields 0-0 Sensors 180/180/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 0.17 Years MSP 108 AFR 288% IFR 4% 1YR 633 5YR 9489 Max Repair 360 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Spare Berths 8
240 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth Drive (4) Power 240 Fuel Use 78.54% Signature 38.4 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 320,000 Litres Range 24.4 billion km (17 days at full power)
Active Search Sensor MR77-R100 Mk1 (1) GPS 4321 Range 77.8m km Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH10-180 (1) Sensitivity 180 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 180m km
EM Detection Sensor EM10-180 (1) Sensitivity 180 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 180m km
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
ECM 30
Shade class Missile Frigate 3,000 tons 81 Crew 1488.58 BP TCS 9 TH 153.6 EM 0
16000 km/s Armour 2-18 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 16
Maint Life 0.26 Years MSP 78 AFR 288% IFR 4% 1YR 298 5YR 4463 Max Repair 270 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Spare Berths 4
Magazine 192
240 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth Drive (4) Power 240 Fuel Use 78.54% Signature 38.4 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 7.6 billion km (5 days at full power)
Size 8 Missile Launcher 0.50% Mk1 (4) Missile Size 8 Rate of Fire 150
Missile Fire Control FC77-R100 Mk1 (1) Range 77.8m km Resolution 100
Size 8 Anti-ship ECM Dumbfire Missile (24) Speed: 120,000 km/s End: 11.2m Range: 80.8m km WH: 9 Size: 8 TH: 600/360/180
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
Compact ECCM-2 (1) ECM 10
Ghost class AMM Frigate 3,000 tons 94 Crew 2286.5 BP TCS 9 TH 153.6 EM 0
16000 km/s Armour 2-18 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 4
Maint Life 0.23 Years MSP 119 AFR 288% IFR 4% 1YR 523 5YR 7847 Max Repair 576 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Spare Berths 6
Magazine 108
240 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth Drive (4) Power 240 Fuel Use 78.54% Signature 38.4 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 7.6 billion km (5 days at full power)
Size 1 Missile Launcher Mk1 (4) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 5
Missile Fire Control FC23-AMM Mk1 (4) Range 23.3m km Resolution 1
Size 1 Anti-missile Missile Mk1 (108) Speed: 115,200 km/s End: 0.7m Range: 5m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 1344/806/403
Active Search Sensor MR51-AMM Mk1 (1) GPS 288 Range 51.8m km MCR 5.6m km Resolution 1
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
Small Craft ECCM-1 (4) ECM 30
Spirit class Defense Frigate 3,000 tons 109 Crew 2935.82 BP TCS 9 TH 153.6 EM 0
16000 km/s Armour 3-18 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 10
Maint Life 0.22 Years MSP 153 AFR 288% IFR 4% 1YR 699 5YR 10489 Max Repair 1350 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Spare Berths 1
Magazine 74
240 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth Drive (4) Power 240 Fuel Use 78.54% Signature 38.4 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 7.6 billion km (5 days at full power)
Twin 10cm C3 Soft X-ray Laser (AMM180kkm) Turret (1x2) Range 180,000km TS: 21984 km/s Power 6-6 RM 6 ROF 5 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 1
Fire Control S06 180-25000 (1) Max Range: 360,000 km TS: 25000 km/s 97 94 92 89 86 83 81 78 75 72
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor PB-1.25 (2) Total Power Output 6 Armour 0 Exp 20%
Size 1 Missile Launcher Mk1 (2) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 5
Missile Fire Control FC23-AMM Mk1 (2) Range 23.3m km Resolution 1
Size 1 Anti-missile Missile Mk1 (74) Speed: 115,200 km/s End: 0.7m Range: 5m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 1344/806/403
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
Compact ECCM-2 (2) ECM 10
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I would say that you either look at your own AMM active resolution 1 sensor or estimate what you think an enemy will have. Your own frigates can scan 51m km at resolution 1. I would go with a range that are say +10-20% of that for some safety margins. That is 55-60m km range.
25m km might be OK against most fleets with no dedicated AMM ships or with very low tech level.
Having short range torpedoes for close combat can still be a good idea though. As you said, good against beam only ships and good at JP defence or attack. If you have a torpedo with a speed at 130k km/s you can fire it without the enemy having any chance to shoot it down at a distance of 650k km. You can also use such torpedoes against enemy fighters/FAC to some rather good effect, but only if you also carry a low resolution short range fire-control.
I still think that using a stealth FAC instead of a fighter would be better in your case and just have a fighter be none stealth.
Personally I think that using stealth on a big ship to fool anyone is a one trick pony and would not work very well in reality since electronic intelligence is very good at profiling ship emission to classify them. So once they are classified that trick will not work any more. In reality with spies and the ability to scan and catalogue ships in peace would also make it pointless. Just saying... ;)
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Woot. My first non-cloaked ship. A beam fighter. it even had room to fit a point of armor in it's 375 tons. I had to design a new engine with 3.00x power boost for it. It is not fuel-friendly, but it has nearly the same range as the frigates.
Spark class Beam Fighter 375 tons 10 Crew 557 BP TCS 7.5 TH 30.72 EM 0
25600 km/s Armour 2-4 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 2
Maint Life 4.15 Years MSP 93 AFR 11% IFR 0.2% 1YR 9 5YR 130 Max Repair 225 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.12 months Spare Berths 0
192 EP Inertial Fusion MicroDrive (1) Power 192 Fuel Use 458.3% Signature 30.72 Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 60,000 Litres Range 6.3 billion km (68 hours at full power)
15cm C0.5 Soft X-ray Laser (1) Range 240,000km TS: 25600 km/s Power 6-0.5 RM 6 ROF 60 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 4 4 3
Fire Control S01 S120-6250 (FTR) (1) Max Range: 240,000 km TS: 25000 km/s 96 92 88 83 79 75 71 67 62 58
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (1) Total Power Output 1.2 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Small Craft ECCM-1 (1) This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
EDIT2: And a fleet escort. It is not cloaked. If I understand correctly, NPR AI will favour targeting the biggest targets / strongest active sensors / largest thermal signatures, am I right? Meaning, if the 45000t ships operate together, enemy fire will mostly be directed at the Eerie (largest cross-section), and command ship (largest sensor / shield)?
Eerie class Battlecruiser 45,000 tons 1031 Crew 25115.3 BP TCS 900 TH 1536 EM 2400
10666 km/s Armour 10-112 Shields 80-300 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 170 PPV 169
Maint Life 1.14 Years MSP 7238 AFR 780% IFR 10.8% 1YR 5611 5YR 84159 Max Repair 1350 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Spare Berths 2
Magazine 80
1200 EP Inertial Fusion Stealth EcoDrive (8) Power 1200 Fuel Use 7.31% Signature 192 Exp 7%
Fuel Capacity 5,050,000 Litres Range 276.3 billion km (299 days at full power)
Theta R300/288 Shields (20) Total Fuel Cost 240 Litres per hour (5,760 per day)
Single 30cm C8 Soft X-ray Laser Turret (9x1) Range 480,000km TS: 18225 km/s Power 24-8 RM 6 ROF 15 24 24 24 24 24 24 20 18 16 14
Twin 10cm C3 Soft X-ray Laser (AMM180kkm) Turret (5x2) Range 180,000km TS: 21984 km/s Power 6-6 RM 6 ROF 5 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 1
Fire Control S06 240-18750 H30 (3) Max Range: 480,000 km TS: 18750 km/s 98 96 94 92 90 88 85 83 81 79
Fire Control S06 180-25000 (5) Max Range: 360,000 km TS: 25000 km/s 97 94 92 89 86 83 81 78 75 72
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (4) Total Power Output 96 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor PB-1.25 (2) Total Power Output 6 Armour 0 Exp 20%
Size 8 Box Launcher (10) Missile Size 8 Hangar Reload 60 minutes MF Reload 10 hours
Torpedo Fire Control FC13-R50 (1) Range 13.7m km Resolution 50
Size 8 Torpedo Mk1 (10) Speed: 120,000 km/s End: 0.2m Range: 1.4m km WH: 9 Size: 8 TH: 840/504/252
Active Search Sensor MR16-AMM Mk1 (1) GPS 90 Range 16.2m km MCR 1.8m km Resolution 1
Compact ECCM-2 (3) ECM 30
Now to build 4 tenders with 4 carriers each (9 defense frigates, 9 missile frigates, 9 AMM frigates, 9 beam frigates, 4 recon, 80 beam fighters, 75 missile fighters total), and a command ship with 4 Battlecruiser escorts.
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About fighter:
1. Your fighter is overall weird. What is purpose of it? If it is dedicated anti-fighter craft, it's better to replace 15cm laser with small-caliber, but fast-firing laser cannon, because enemy can have up to 12 free shots if your fighter misses. If it is dedicated anti-ship craft, put mesons instead: this laser cannon isn't going to cut enemy's armor well.
2. It is slower than your beam frigate. Even worse, the beam frigate is better at every aspect except size and BP cost: better range, better fuel efficiency, better BFC range, better ROF, better armor (4 + shields versus 2), better ECCM\ECM, frigate even has own backup sensor, all that while maintaining almost same TCS as fighter.
You could make it better by giving it bigger engine (you have 125 tons), removing second armor layer and putting another cannon instead of 15cm laser (10cm laser\meson\HPM).
Command ship is fine, though you could exchange box launchers for more lasers.
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About fighter:
1. Your fighter is overall weird. What is purpose of it? If it is dedicated anti-fighter craft, it's better to replace 15cm laser with small-caliber, but fast-firing laser cannon, because enemy can have up to 12 free shots if your fighter misses. If it is dedicated anti-ship craft, put mesons instead: this laser cannon isn't going to cut enemy's armor well.
It's mainly for targeting medium to large sized ships, to be used anti fighter situationally as well. My meson tech sucks bad. I just got 1 level in it's techs to make a PDC turret.
As for the laser, if I make it 10cm, it will still take up the same 2hs, reduce damage to 3, and double firing speed to 30s. So the dps will remain the same.
I thought the strenght 6 punch from the 15cm laser would be better suited for a strikegroup of 80 of those fighters intended to one shot targets.
2. It is slower than your beam frigate. Even worse, the beam frigate is better at every aspect except size and BP cost: better range, better fuel efficiency, better BFC range, better ROF, better armor (4 + shields versus 2), better ECCM\ECM, frigate even has own backup sensor, all that while maintaining almost same TCS as fighter.
You could make it better by giving it bigger engine (you have 125 tons), removing second armor layer and putting another cannon instead of 15cm laser (10cm laser\meson\HPM).
I wanted to keep it at 375 tons max. You think it would be better to just make it 500t, with a second engine and some more fuel?
Command ship is fine, though you could exchange box launchers for more lasers.
The torpedoes have more fuel than they need. They are really intended to be fired so close as to give enemy PD no opportunity to react. They have strenght 21 warheads. Big Badda Surprise Boom. Just for lolz.
EDIT: oh wait they don't have str 21 warheads. maneuver rating 21 :P I should redesign them torps.
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Powergamer tip: 0.5x 10cm laser and 0.75x 10cm laser have the same size = 2hs.
I thought the strenght 6 punch from the 15cm laser would be better suited for a strikegroup of 80 of those fighters intended to one shot targets.
Targets typically don't travel alone. ;)
Also, your strike group with 15cm lasers will have problems with large ships (barrage damage = 480 (reduced by enemy ECMs), your own command ship (45kton) armor = 1120, my battleship (30kton) armor+shields = 1066). You just can't one-shot intended target with this group because you can't get past target's armor.
You think it would be better to just make it 500t, with a second engine and some more fuel?
Yes.
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Against the AI those fighters will work against a low tech fleet but you will still get horrendous casualties if they have a good stock of AMM when they close. Enemy PD, even 10cm lasers will be useful unless you plan on staying at extreme range, but if you do you will not do much damage and enemy main beam weapons will eventually shoot them down. If the enemy PD ships have good ECM you will be fairly gimped as well, although Pilots can have good beam attack bonuses to offset penalties
Against an equal tech level opponent they will be swatted down like flies if you engage a fairly well balanced fleet.
As long as you face an AI and you send them out at weaker opponents you will do fairly well.
It does not matter what beam weapons you choose to put on those fighters, they are worthless against a fleet of ships most of the time.
Beam fighters are meant to engage other fighters, FAC and unarmed scouts... so you can take them out without the need to spend valuable ammunition and resources.
Although I don't agree with previous poster that they will be bad at engaging enemy fighters, they can do up to 2 damage at a range of I think 180k km and 3 damage at about 120k km, a 10cm laser could not even dream about that kind of damage at those ranges. If you can keep the distance for long enough you will win that engagement no matter a longer recharge rate. Range will usually trump rate of fire even if your fighters are somewhat slower speed, if you are faster you will "almost" automatically win, can depend on initiative as well.
I usually never find the beam approach bery useful at attacking enemy fleets unless my whole doctrine is geared around beam warfare, then it can be very effective.
I use beam fighters as interceptors for engaging other fighters and ships with no real active defenses, here they are valuable. On ships beam weapons are primarily for defense and to defend or attack Jump Points and planets.
As an example a Multi-Role destroyer might have a beam bank of a few particle beams, a twin 15-20cm turbo-laser turret (2x tracking speed) for defense against gunships, FAC or interceptors and 10-12cm pulse laser or Gauss cannon turrets (4x tracking speed) for point defense. All in addition to AMM and ASM missiles. Such escorts can perform almost any task and a squadron of those will take down a large number of enemy FAC/fighters with beam weapons.
I do have a feeling though that your technology is ahead of most of your enemies so you probably can afford to use your fighters more offensively than I can in my campaigns. It as about the setting and there are never just one solution for every situation. ;)
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If I add an extra engine and some more fuel, (changing the laser does not make any difference in HS, new reactor is the same size, sam FC) it ends up with about the same range, and I don't get spare room for better eccm even. Just more speed. Although speed is nice, I'm not sure the reduction in strike group size from 80 to 60 fighters, and the increase in cross section makes it worthwhile, especiallyu considering the range thing Jorgen just mentioned.
Spark class Beam Fighter 500 tons 5 Crew 754.8 BP TCS 10 TH 61.44 EM 0
38400 km/s Armour 2-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 2
Maint Life 3.02 Years MSP 94 AFR 20% IFR 0.3% 1YR 15 5YR 232 Max Repair 225 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 5
192 EP Inertial Fusion MicroDrive (2) Power 192 Fuel Use 458.3% Signature 30.72 Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 80,000 Litres Range 6.3 billion km (45 hours at full power)
10cm C1.5 Soft X-ray Laser (1) Range 180,000km TS: 38400 km/s Power 3-1.5 RM 6 ROF 10 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 1
Fire Control S01 S120-6250 (FTR) (1) Max Range: 240,000 km TS: 25000 km/s 96 92 88 83 79 75 71 67 62 58
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor PB-1.25 (1) Total Power Output 1.5 Armour 0 Exp 20%
Small Craft ECCM-1 (1)
Or with matching firecontrol, even less range (one tiny tank less haha)
Spark class Beam Fighter 500 tons 5 Crew 780.8 BP TCS 10 TH 61.44 EM 0
38400 km/s Armour 2-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 2
Maint Life 2.72 Years MSP 98 AFR 20% IFR 0.3% 1YR 19 5YR 284 Max Repair 253 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 5
192 EP Inertial Fusion MicroDrive (2) Power 192 Fuel Use 458.3% Signature 30.72 Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 75,000 Litres Range 5.9 billion km (42 hours at full power)
10cm C1.5 Soft X-ray Laser (1) Range 180,000km TS: 38400 km/s Power 3-1.5 RM 6 ROF 10 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 1
Fire Control S01.1 90-9375 H30 (FTR) (1) Max Range: 180,000 km TS: 37500 km/s 94 89 83 78 72 67 61 56 50 44
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor PB-1.25 (1) Total Power Output 1.5 Armour 0 Exp 20%
Small Craft ECCM-1 (1) This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
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"The range thing" is useful when you can maintain range to your enemy.
Your 375t interceptor can't do it for long, (I compare it against my similar-tech fighter, which has 49.5kkm/s) which means destruction if your 15cm laser misses.
500t fighter is way better at this, and also is able to recharge quickly enough to fire again.
But well, your enemy isn't me ;) and as Jorgen said, if you have better speed than your enemy (and 15cm lasers) you will win.
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Here are a few more streamlined version of the same fighters... if you want more speed just add another engine.
Viper class Interceptor 380 tons 4 Crew 434 BP TCS 7.6 TH 288 EM 0
37894 km/s Armour 2-4 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 2
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 76% IFR 1.1% 1YR 35 5YR 524 Max Repair 180 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 6
96 EP Inertial Fusion Drive (3) Power 96 Fuel Use 617.3% Signature 96 Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 15,000 Litres Range 1.2 billion km (8 hours at full power)
10cm C2.5 Soft X-ray Laser (1) Range 180,000km TS: 37894 km/s Power 3-2.5 RM 6 ROF 10 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 0
Fire Control S01.2 120-10000 (FTR) (1) Max Range: 240,000 km TS: 40000 km/s 92 83 75 67 58 50 42 33 25 17
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (3) Total Power Output 3.6 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor MR1-R1 (1) GPS 5 Range 1.2m km MCR 125k km Resolution 1
Vulture class Interceptor 385 tons 4 Crew 458 BP TCS 7.7 TH 288 EM 0
37402 km/s Armour 2-4 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 2
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 77% IFR 1.1% 1YR 44 5YR 663 Max Repair 216 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 6
96 EP Inertial Fusion Drive (3) Power 96 Fuel Use 617.3% Signature 96 Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 15,000 Litres Range 1.1 billion km (8 hours at full power)
15cm C0.5 Soft X-ray Laser (1) Range 360,000km TS: 37402 km/s Power 6-0.5 RM 6 ROF 60 6 6 6 4 3 3 2 2 2 1
Fire Control S01.5 180-8000 (FTR) (1) Max Range: 360,000 km TS: 32000 km/s 94 89 83 78 72 67 61 56 50 44
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (1) Total Power Output 1.2 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor MR1-R1 (1) GPS 5 Range 1.2m km MCR 125k km Resolution 1
Raven class Fast Tanker 265 tons 1 Crew 130 BP TCS 5.3 TH 192 EM 0
36226 km/s Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 53% IFR 0.7% 1YR 8 5YR 127 Max Repair 48 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 9
96 EP Inertial Fusion Drive (2) Power 96 Fuel Use 617.3% Signature 96 Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 16.5 billion km (5 days at full power)
And as GreatTuna said... no need to have more speed than necessary, that just make the fighter bigger and more expensive for nothing.
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On the topic of Cloaked Frigates I just developed my First one it to be used as a scout/raider against NPR's
as the norm for my ships it is small and somewhat lightly armored, reliant on tankers and coilers but my fleet contains many support ships already.
Akula class Stealth Frigate 4,800 tons 152 Crew 1295 BP TCS 14.4 TH 168 EM 0
3500 km/s JR 5-250 Armour 2-25 Shields 0-0 Sensors 18/18/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 15.5
Maint Life 1.77 Years MSP 253 AFR 122% IFR 1.7% 1YR 100 5YR 1499 Max Repair 200 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 9 months Spare Berths 1
Magazine 114
Gaza OKB MJD-120 Frigate Gen 2 Max Ship Size 6000 tons Distance 250k km Squadron Size 5
Corbi Turbines 168 EP Frigate I-Fusion Drive (2) Power 168 Fuel Use 109% Signature 84 Exp 14%
Fuel Capacity 265,000 Litres Range 9.1 billion km (30 days at full power)
Venzke Ordnance GsH-5008 (1x5) Range 50,000km TS: 6250 km/s Accuracy Modifier 8% RM 5 ROF 5 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Liskey-Accosta BFC-060 12Mm/s Controller (1) Max Range: 120,000 km TS: 12500 km/s 92 83 75 67 58 50 42 33 25 17
Samson Ordnance S06 Micro Torpedo Launcher (2) Missile Size 6 Rate of Fire 3600
Samson Ordnance S06 Mini Torpedo Launcher (4) Missile Size 6 Rate of Fire 180
Tarufelli Electronics MFC-482 R020 Director (1) Range 483.0m km Resolution 20
Liskey-Accosta MFC-108 R100 Director (1) Range 108.0m km Resolution 100
SUAST-01 Pistol (6) Speed: 32,000 km/s End: 71m Range: 136.3m km WH: 24 Size: 6 TH: 106/64/32
MUAST-01 Carbine (6) Speed: 27,600 km/s End: 158.8m Range: 263m km WH: 16 Size: 6 TH: 193/116/58
LGAST-02 Rifle (7) Speed: 32,000 km/s End: 153.8m Range: 295.3m km WH: 12 Size: 6 TH: 192/115/57
Liskey-Accosta ASY-160 R080 Scanner (1) GPS 8000 Range 161.0m km Resolution 80
Liskey-Accosta TH-18 Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 18 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 18m km
Liskey-Accosta EM-018.0 Detection Sensor (1) Sensitivity 18 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 18m km
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 15% of normal
ECCM-2 (1) 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
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Akula class Stealth Frigate 4,800 tons 152 Crew 1295 BP TCS 14.4 TH 168 EM 0
Gaza OKB MJD-120 Frigate Gen 2 Max Ship Size 6000 tons Distance 250k km Squadron Size 5
Your jump drive is 20% larger than the ship needs, either fill out the extra 1200 tons with fuel, maintenance, and missiles to provide a more robust design, or design a 4800 ton jump drive.
Also 2/3 of your missiles have over twice the range of your fire control. Bump up the fire control range to equal your missiles, if not exceed them if you are in a heavy ECM environment.
Your passive sensor are somewhat short ranged. They would detect the 45,000 ton Eerie class Battlecruiser (TH 1536 EM 2400) at approximately 27 million km for thermal and 43 million km for EM. if you turn on your own active sensor, your passives would pick it up at 144 million km. If this ship is operating independently in enemy territory, it has not missile sensor. For a raiding ship, I prefer a smaller resolution sensor that is harder for the enemy to see and can double as a missile sensor. Use better passives to locate the enemy and approach to attack range.
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I just installed my Standard Frigate Jump Drive it also the smallest size jump engine that I can design that is not self-jump only
There are two fire controls installed
Tarufelli Electronics MFC-482 R020 Director (1) Range 483.0m km Resolution 20
Liskey-Accosta MFC-108 R100 Director (1) Range 108.0m km Resolution 100
the primary fire control is the MFC-482
which is nearly triple the range of the active sensor but that is to burn through ECM
Liskey-Accosta ASY-160 R080 Scanner (1) GPS 8000 Range 161.0m km Resolution 80
my Op-plan for this design is not deep penetration raiding but more of Interdiction of any enemy assets and planets in a combat area for example I'm engaging a fleet one jump point from an enemy outpost/home system I send these ships to lay in wait at 1 km/s within sensor range of a jump point and shoot and scoot, or send a ship to shoot the sensor equipped torpedoes at an enemy planet or space base.
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Here are a few more streamlined version of the same fighters... if you want more speed just add another engine.
You could maybe shave off a few tons by reducing the size of the power plant. If the laser only needs 3 units of power per ten seconds, you can slim down to a powerplant that produces 1.5. If you go with bigger lasers and lower ROF, you can reduce the power plant size even more, probably to its minimum.