So...
I've been considering the trade-offs between gauss cannons and rail guns lately. I've read elsewhere on these forums that railguns make for better point defense weapons at low tech so I decided to run an experiment. I created two ships, one with lowest level railgun tech and one with lowest level gauss cannon tech and compared their numbers. I was somewhat surprised to find that the gauss ship seemed to be a dramatically better choice. I designed the gauss ship to have equivalent weapon performance to the railgun ship, at least for anti-missile purposes. I find the gauss ship superior as it has superior range, deployment time, maintenance life, and armour rating. Ship designs are below:
Bunker Hill A class Point Defense Corvette (P) 3,000 tons 112 Crew 392.7 BP TCS 60 TH 480 EM 0
8002 km/s Armour 2-18 Shields 0-0 HTK 11 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 3
Maint Life 0.67 Years MSP 81 AFR 72% IFR 1.0% 1YR 121 5YR 1,816 Max Repair 240.00 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 5.7 days Morale Check Required
UNRC Nuclear Pulse Engine EP480.00 (1) Power 480.0 Fuel Use 110.23% Signature 480.00 Explosion 15%
Fuel Capacity 11,000 Litres Range 0.6 billion km (20 hours at full power)
UNRC 10cm Railgun V20/C3 (1x4) Range 20,000km TS: 8,002 km/s Power 3-3 RM 20,000 km ROF 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
UNRC Beam Fire Control R128-TS8000 (1) Max Range: 128,000 km TS: 8,000 km/s 99 98 98 97 96 95 95 94 93 92
UNRC Improved Pebble Bed Reactor R3-PB20 (1) Total Power Output 3 Exp 10%
UNRC AMM Search Sensor AS1-R1 (1) GPS 1 Range 1.3m km MCR 113.5k km Resolution 1
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Bunker Hill B class Point Defense Corvette (P) 3,000 tons 75 Crew 239.6 BP TCS 60 TH 80 EM 0
1333 km/s Armour 3-18 Shields 0-0 HTK 13 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 16.32
Maint Life 1.67 Years MSP 54 AFR 65% IFR 0.9% 1YR 23 5YR 345 Max Repair 69.60 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Morale Check Required
UNRC Commercial Nuclear Pulse Engine EP80.0 (1) Power 80.0 Fuel Use 5.12% Signature 80.0 Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 1,000 Litres Range 1.2 billion km (10 days at full power)
Twin UNRC Gauss Cannon R200-100 Turret (1x4) Range 20,000km TS: 8000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 20,000 km ROF 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
UNRC Beam Fire Control R128-TS8000 (1) Max Range: 128,000 km TS: 8,000 km/s 99 98 98 97 96 95 95 94 93 92
UNRC AMM Search Sensor AS1-R1 (1) GPS 1 Range 1.3m km MCR 113.5k km Resolution 1
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Some notes on other relevant techs involved:
Engines - Nuclear pulse (affects railgun tracking speed)
Armor - Composite (affects railgun tracking speed)
BFC - Best range and tracking speed available (same BFC on both ships)
I must be missing something with railguns. Can anyone enlighten me regarding their supposed superiority?
*EDIT: Range bands are shown in 1k km increments against 8k km/s targets