First Warship

[Charlie Beeler]

Might I suggest that your fire control has too much range? This makes it larger than necessary, although it could save you on refits should you develop a new misile in future.

I wouldn't.  If anything it may be a little short.  Scenario:  missile speed 24k/kps endurance 3252 seconds (54.2m) attacking target with speed 5k/kps.  In a meeting engagement active sensors/MFC need to detect/lock target at a little over 94m/km to intercept at max range.
If the target has ECM superiority the range extends.  A mismatch of just 1 means the designed detect/lock range needs to be just under 104m/km.

[Black (OP)]

Enemy that I encountered had ships with ECM and that is why I started to use fire control with longer range.

I played quite a lot in last few days and developed some bigger ships as well and now I think that my destroyers are a bit too large. For my next game I think I will go with 6000 tons destroyers.

[coco146]

I neve thought about ECM, really the Fc\sensor are fine, your designs are pretty good.

[Charlie Beeler]

Enemy that I encountered had ships with ECM and that is why I started to use fire control with longer range.

I played quite a lot in last few days and developed some bigger ships as well and now I think that my destroyers are a bit too large. For my next game I think I will go with 6000 tons destroyers.

What level of ECM? and have you researched ECCM at all?

[Black (OP)]

I am not sure what level of ECM enemy has. I do have ECCM, but i do not equip my destroyers with it. To be honest I didn't look very closely on ECCM yet. So I am not sure how should I use it to be effective.

[Charlie Beeler]

I am not sure what level of ECM enemy has. I do have ECCM, but i do not equip my destroyers with it. To be honest I didn't look very closely on ECCM yet. So I am not sure how should I use it to be effective.

Add 1 ECCM module to the class design for every FC you intend to assign them.  On the same screen where you assign weapons to fire controls you also assign available ECCM.  Standard ECCM modules are 3hs and compact are 1hs.

Every little bit helps.

[Jorgen_CAB]

For missile fire controls ECCM can be a little bit too large unless you use the compact version and even then it can just be better to put bigger fire controls on the ship. Better range on the fire control can also be used for adding new types of missiles with longer range at a later stage.

For beam fire controls ECCM work differently and would in general be much more effective without much afterthought.

[Black (OP)]

I didn't really build any ships equipped with energy weapons because I am still not very sure about turret construction. I have some PD ships equipped with Gauss cannon turrets, but I didn't test those in combat. I am still not very sure about turret construction.

[Jorgen_CAB]

Well, the basics of using turrets are that you only need to turret your energy weapons if you intend to shoot stuff that are higher than you ships speed or your basic tracking technology (whichever is highest is used).

So, if you have a standard speed of 4000km/s on your ships and a basic beam FC tracking speed of 5000km/s you will not need a turret to track enemies with a speed less than 5000km/s. The same would be true if the ship had a speed of 5000km/s and your tracking speed was 4000km/s.

You still need your actual beam fire control to match this tracking speed.

In general, turrets are used for engaging missiles/fighters/FAC. Against ships you could for the most part use either ship speed or basic tracking speed and will not need to turret your beam weapon.

Whatever you decide to do should obviously be based on the type of enemy you are facing. If you can build beam ships that can destroy your enemy without sustaining too much damage back then beams are much more efficient than missiles. Missiles on the other hand have an enormous range advantage but when you crunch the numbers they are very expensive to use. Especially when you consider all the logistics support you need and not just the missile armed ship and it's ordnance.

If you can neutralize enemy missile barrages with gauss PD, shields and laser area PD you are very efficient resource wise even if you need to build slightly more ships in tonnage in order to do so.

Also remember that when it comes to using non turreted beam weapons as PD they can actually be pretty decent if you also have a good "Max tracking time vs missile bonus" and are able to track inbound missiles for a while before they hit you.

So, you should not neglect the strength of beam weapons unless you have near unlimited quantities of the resources for building endless quantities of missiles and ships to supply your fleets with them.

[Black (OP)]

Thank you for the explanation about turrets and energy weapons. I actually had some difficulties supplying my ships with missiles in my last game. So I think for my next game I will try to build some laser ships.

From what I read beam weapons should be also good for guarding jump point. Is it viable tactics to build some space fortress to guard jump points?

[Icecoon]

Yes, that's a good tactic. For JP defence the best bet is a base with plasma carronades. Its the weapon with the highest damage in the early stages of the game.

[Black (OP)]

I will have to rotate those bases to planet orbit for maintenance and R&R right?

[Icecoon]

Give them for instance 120 months of deployment time and then just tow them back when they need it.

[waresky]

Hello, I found this great game last week so I do not really have any experience with designing military ships.  I prepared some designs and I would like to know, if I will be able to use those ships in combat.

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Napoleon class Destroyer    8 950 tons     227 Crew     1331.32 BP      TCS 179  TH 720  EM 0
4022 km/s     Armour 4-38     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 2     PPV 40
Maint Life 1.08 Years     MSP 186    AFR 320%    IFR 4.5%    1YR 160    5YR 2403    Max Repair 144 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months    Spare Berths 1   
Magazine 280   

120 EP Ion Drive (6)    Power 120    Fuel Use 63%    Signature 120    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1 000 000 Litres    Range 31.9 billion km   (91 days at full power)

Loki-5 Missile Launcher (8)    Missile Size 5    Rate of Fire 50
Beholder-66 Missile Fire Control (2)     Range 66.9m km    Resolution 60

Short Range Military Search Sensor (1)     GPS 320     Range 8.1m km    Resolution 10
Standard Military Search Sensor (1)     GPS 5760     Range 59.5m km    Resolution 60

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


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Salamander class Destroyer Leader    8 850 tons     198 Crew     1502.52 BP      TCS 177  TH 720  EM 0
4067 km/s     Armour 4-38     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 2     PPV 12
Maint Life 1.08 Years     MSP 212    AFR 313%    IFR 4.4%    1YR 183    5YR 2739    Max Repair 150 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months    Spare Berths 0   
Flag Bridge    Magazine 252   

120 EP Ion Drive (6)    Power 120    Fuel Use 63%    Signature 120    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1 000 000 Litres    Range 32.3 billion km   (91 days at full power)

CIWS-160 (2x4)    Range 1000 km     TS: 16000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Loki-5 Missile Launcher (2)    Missile Size 5    Rate of Fire 50
Sling-1 AMM Launcher (2)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 10
Beholder-66 Missile Fire Control (1)     Range 66.9m km    Resolution 60
Anti-Missile Missile Fire Control (1)     Range 23.0m km    Resolution 1

Anti-Missile Military Search Sensor (1)     GPS 32     Range 2.6m km    Resolution 1
Short Range Military Search Sensor (1)     GPS 320     Range 8.1m km    Resolution 10
Standard Military Search Sensor (1)     GPS 5760     Range 59.5m km    Resolution 60

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
I am not sure if those informations are enough to judge the ship designs, I will try to provide more information if necessary.

1) Welcome onboard Officer.. we r all lost for this "State of the Art" Steve's program.
Am italian and play from many years..from Starfighter Aid program,in fact..

(and apologize for my horror "english" style..ehhe)

2) Space r void..nobody ear ur scream...

3) And learning r a damned hard work in Aurora,so..take ur time,and go into battle..

Vae Victis!

[waresky]

My ships (Science Class) have all more than 240 months.