I agree with those Kirovs. They would decisively lose a Missile engagement with Mars and would never get into laser range where their weight of fire might make a difference.
I was wondering what design theme to use for the US/Russia faction, so I was reading a really good book I have on Soviet warships...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Soviet-Warships-Present-John-Jordan/dp/1854091174
After reading the Kirov section, I wondered if I could really get everything onto a single hull. Designing ships is fun if you don't have to worry about actual combat effectiveness ![Smiley :)](http://aurora2.pentarch.org/Smileys/classic/smiley.gif)
Besides, with no real combat experience, they probably seem fine to the Jovians. Very large and threatening. I'm sure they will adjust based on combat experience ![Smiley :)](http://aurora2.pentarch.org/Smileys/classic/smiley.gif)
It seems you and me both do a lot of background research.
For my current USSR-campaign, I spent about a week going through the military structure and organization of soviet strategic missile troops (in other words; ICBM batteries), soviet army and soviet navy in order to make a believable OOB for ground troops and setting up the organization tab.
I've used them as a template in other short-lived campaign where I tried out the 1982 Able Archer scenario in a multiple-NPR earth start.
Keep up the good work and I really appreciate the way you keep things "realistic" in the context and play things out as anyone would best assume they would in such situations.