Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread: C# Edition

[Jovus]

Rereading the new Command and Control rules, I realized something: I have no idea what the Control Rating of a ship actually affects or what it does. Could someone in the know please enlighten me? Thank you.

[nuclearslurpee]

Rereading the new Command and Control rules, I realized something: I have no idea what the Control Rating of a ship actually affects or what it does. Could someone in the know please enlighten me? Thank you.

The control rating is just how many officers it takes to fully command a ship. It has no effect other than being vaguely informative.

[pedter]

This might be a question for Steve specifically, but it was recently brought to my attention that a single jump tender can move other ships in both directions through a jump point without ever moving itself. Is there a reason that permanent jump point stabilization is one-way, but temporary jump drives are two-way? It seems like they should operate in the same manner, whether that be one-way or two-way transit.

[Tavik Toth]

Hm, been awhile since I've started a new game and I'm wondering if I want to have known stars on or not. Are there any issues with Known Stars currently? Oh, and is it a good idea to have NPRs encounter Raiders?

[AlStar]

This might be a question for Steve specifically, but it was recently brought to my attention that a single jump tender can move other ships in both directions through a jump point without ever moving itself. Is there a reason that permanent jump point stabilization is one-way, but temporary jump drives are two-way? It seems like they should operate in the same manner, whether that be one-way or two-way transit.

It's because it's assumed that the ship is moving back and forth across both sides of the jump point to escort any non-jump ships through.

Given that the alternative is that you'd either need to move the jump tender back and forth manually or need twice as many ships; it's a clear quality of life improvement.

Stable portals, on the other hand, offer tactical advantages when you have to secure each side individually - it means, for instance, that a fleet without tenders cannot jump back across, which can either be an advantage (the enemy can't cross over to your space as easily) or a disadvantage (your fleet is now stuck in a hostile system.) Also, keeping the stabilization ship safe for 180 or 360 days can potentially be an important consideration (the AI certainly worries about, and viciously protects, its stabilization ships.)

[nuclearslurpee]

Hm, been awhile since I've started a new game and I'm wondering if I want to have known stars on or not. Are there any issues with Known Stars currently? Oh, and is it a good idea to have NPRs encounter Raiders?

Known Stars works fine. Random Stars in the past has been unstable but seems fine on current patches.

[Tavik Toth]

What kind of AFR should I aim for when designing a warship?

[Steve Walmsley]

What kind of AFR should I aim for when designing a warship?

It depends on the size. A 10,000 ton warship would have double the AFR of a 5000-ton warship, all else being equal. Put another way, two 5000 ton warships will have the same total number of failures as a single 10,000 ton warship.

It's better to use the Maint Life stat and choose something suitable - usually higher than your deployment time.

[Tavik Toth]

What kind of AFR should I aim for when designing a warship?

It depends on the size. A 10,000 ton warship would have double the AFR of a 5000-ton warship, all else being equal. Put another way, two 5000 ton warships will have the same total number of failures as a single 10,000 ton warship.

It's better to use the Maint Life stat and choose something suitable - usually higher than your deployment time.

Oh, I was more wondering if 20-30% AFR was too high.

[Alsadius]

Oh, I was more wondering if 20-30% AFR was too high.

How big is the ship, and what's it intended to do? Because for a 20k ton short-range strike cruiser that's way too low, and for a 500t jump point monitoring ship it's way too high. I'd probably feel that's about right on, say, a 3000 ton survey ship?

[db48x]

Oh, I was more wondering if 20-30% AFR was too high.

The AFR number isn’t a useful metric for comparing ships, because it depends too much on other numbers (the ship size mostly). All you really need to do is to compare the maintenance life to the deployment timer. If you are designing a fighter that will be deployed from a carrier for an hour or two during a battle, then a maintenance life of 5 years is much too big. You can reduce the amount of engineering space and MSP it carries and get a better fighter as a result. But if you are designing a science ship for a 5 year mission then a maintenance life of 5 years is good but a little bit too short; you want the maintenance time to have some margin to allow the ship to travel home after spending 5 years exploring.

[Garfunkel]

And you want to have enough msp to fix the most expensive component twice.

[Tavik Toth]

Oh, I was more wondering if 20-30% AFR was too high.

How big is the ship, and what's it intended to do? Because for a 20k ton short-range strike cruiser that's way too low, and for a 500t jump point monitoring ship it's way too high. I'd probably feel that's about right on, say, a 3000 ton survey ship?

Here's the ships:

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A.E. Ringwood  class Geological Survey Vessel      4,248 tons       133 Crew       566.4 BP       TCS 85    TH 130    EM 0
1530 km/s      Armour 1-23       Shields 0-0       HTK 36      Sensors 10/10/0/2      DCR 14-32      PPV 0
Maint Life 28.04 Years     MSP 1,166    AFR 10%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 3    5YR 43    Max Repair 100 MSP
Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   

Green-Potts Nuclear Radioisotope Engine  EP65.00 (2)    Power 130    Fuel Use 87.71%    Signature 65    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 800,000 Litres    Range 38.6 billion km (292 days at full power)

Hale-Rahman Active Search Sensor AS12-R10 (1)     GPS 200     Range 12.2m km    Resolution 10
Royama-Okumura EM Sensor EM2-10 (1)     Sensitivity 10     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  25m km
Royama-Okumura Thermal Sensor TH2-10 (1)     Sensitivity 10     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  25m km
Geological Survey Sensors (2)   2 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Survey Ship for auto-assignment purposes

Code: [Select]

Alexander class Carrier      15,777 tons       388 Crew       1,618.1 BP       TCS 316    TH 500    EM 0
1584 km/s      Armour 3-56       Shields 0-0       HTK 106      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 42-26      PPV 0
Maint Life 13.46 Years     MSP 2,692    AFR 47%    IFR 0.7%    1YR 28    5YR 414    Max Repair 125 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 4,000 tons     
Commodore    Control Rating 2   BRG   FLG   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Flight Crew Berths 80    Morale Check Required   

Cai & Zeng Alexander NRE (4)    Power 500    Fuel Use 63.25%    Signature 125    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres    Range 18 billion km (131 days at full power)

Strike Group
2x Eagle Fleet Scout   Speed: 3682 km/s    Size: 6.11
10x Mockingbird Torpedo Bomber   Speed: 3395 km/s    Size: 6.63

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Carrier for auto-assignment purposes


Code: [Select]

Admiral Flota Lobov class Armoured Cruiser      9,986 tons       303 Crew       941.7 BP       TCS 200    TH 300    EM 0
1502 km/s      Armour 4-41       Shields 0-0       HTK 75      Sensors 10/10/0/0      DCR 30-30      PPV 18
Maint Life 21.88 Years     MSP 1,768    AFR 27%    IFR 0.4%    1YR 7    5YR 106    Max Repair 60 MSP
Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   

Chou Turbines NRE100.00 (3)    Power 300    Fuel Use 70.71%    Signature 100    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres    Range 25.5 billion km (196 days at full power)

May Precision Arms Particle Beam-2 (3)    Range 60,000km     TS: 1,502 km/s     Power 5-1    ROF 25       
Kirk Electronics Beam Fire Control R60-TS1250 (1)     Max Range: 60,000 km   TS: 1,250 km/s    ECCM-0   
May Precision Arms Radioisotope Thermal Generator  R16 (1)     Total Power Output 16    Exp 5%

Lei-Cheng Active Search Sensor AS38-R60 (1)     GPS 3600     Range 38.3m km    Resolution 60
Royama-Okumura Thermal Sensor TH2-10 (1)     Sensitivity 10     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  25m km
Royama-Okumura EM Sensor EM2-10 (1)     Sensitivity 10     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  25m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Warship for auto-assignment purposes


Code: [Select]

Acute class Protected Cruiser      8,883 tons       261 Crew       829.5 BP       TCS 178    TH 300    EM 0
1688 km/s      Armour 3-38       Shields 0-0       HTK 66      Sensors 10/10/0/0      DCR 24-27      PPV 12
Maint Life 19.16 Years     MSP 1,400    AFR 26%    IFR 0.4%    1YR 7    5YR 109    Max Repair 60 MSP
Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   

Chou Turbines NPE100.00 (3)    Power 300    Fuel Use 70.71%    Signature 100    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,100,000 Litres    Range 31.5 billion km (216 days at full power)

May Precision Arms Particle Beam-2 (1)    Range 60,000km     TS: 1,688 km/s     Power 5-1    ROF 25       
May Precision Arms 10cm Railgun V10/C1 (2x4)    Range 10,000km     TS: 1,688 km/s     Power 3-1     RM 10,000 km    ROF 15       
Kirk Electronics Beam Fire Control R10-TS2500 (1)     Max Range: 10,000 km   TS: 2,500 km/s    ECCM-0   
Kirk Electronics Beam Fire Control R60-TS1250 (1)     Max Range: 60,000 km   TS: 1,250 km/s    ECCM-0   
May Precision Arms Radioisotope Thermal Generator  R16 (1)     Total Power Output 16    Exp 5%

Baranov Electronics Industries Active Search Sensor AS5-R1 (1)     GPS 20     Range 5.6m km    MCR 507.8k km    Resolution 1
Lei-Cheng Active Search Sensor AS38-R60 (1)     GPS 3600     Range 38.3m km    Resolution 60
Royama-Okumura Thermal Sensor TH2-10 (1)     Sensitivity 10     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  25m km
Royama-Okumura EM Sensor EM2-10 (1)     Sensitivity 10     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  25m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Warship for auto-assignment purposes


Code: [Select]

Abel Tasman class Gravitational Survey Vessel      4,991 tons       137 Crew       623 BP       TCS 100    TH 256    EM 0
2565 km/s      Armour 1-26       Shields 0-0       HTK 42      Sensors 10/10/2/0      DCR 12-24      PPV 0
Maint Life 16.06 Years     MSP 936    AFR 17%    IFR 0.2%    1YR 7    5YR 102    Max Repair 100 MSP
Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   

Yakovlev Nuclear Thermal Engine  EP128.00 (2)    Power 256    Fuel Use 63.64%    Signature 128    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 900,000 Litres    Range 51 billion km (230 days at full power)

Hale-Rahman Active Search Sensor AS12-R10 (1)     GPS 200     Range 12.2m km    Resolution 10
Royama-Okumura EM Sensor EM2-10 (1)     Sensitivity 10     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  25m km
Royama-Okumura Thermal Sensor TH2-10 (1)     Sensitivity 10     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  25m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (2)   2 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Survey Ship for auto-assignment purposes

[db48x]

Code: [Select]

Maint Life 28.04 Years     MSP 1,166    AFR 10%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 3    5YR 43    Max Repair 100 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   
Maint Life 13.46 Years     MSP 2,692    AFR 47%    IFR 0.7%    1YR 28    5YR 414    Max Repair 125 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Flight Crew Berths 80    Morale Check Required   
Maint Life 21.88 Years     MSP 1,768    AFR 27%    IFR 0.4%    1YR 7    5YR 106    Max Repair 60 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   
Maint Life 19.16 Years     MSP 1,400    AFR 26%    IFR 0.4%    1YR 7    5YR 109    Max Repair 60 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   
Maint Life 16.06 Years     MSP 936    AFR 17%    IFR 0.2%    1YR 7    5YR 102    Max Repair 100 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   


I am going to go out on a limb here and say that your maintenance lives are too high across the board. Also you can reduce the intended deployment times of a lot of those ships. Combat ships tend to stay in orbit of a planet with maintenance facilities until sent out on a specific mission. Usually that mission will be two or three jumps from the nearest maintenance facility, so it probably won’t take them 6 months to get there, attack and defeat the enemy, and 6 months to return home. A month might be more than generous, and that will reduce the size of the crew quarters required. Then reduce the engineering spaces and msp storage to bring the maintenance life down to something reasonable, like a year. Between the two you can save a lot of mass and either make your ships faster, or put more weapons on them.

[LuuBluum]

Random thought: is it realistic in the current iteration to do a fully "nomadic" empire? That is, using ark modules and deep space populations and the like to play a fully functional empire without ever needing a planetary population?