I'm calling on the entire community to help me with this next fleet. I need to get it right because once construction begins the fleet will likely consume the bulk of my resources.
the election of 2123 has been decided and a new era has begun. Every offworld colony has been liberated from oppressive national control to grow and develop as they choose...order will be maintained by a single, overwhelmingly powerful spacefleet, controlled by one man (The "Concordant").
I am going to start designing ships tonight, this is simply a way to plan out what I need (since I'm not at a computer that runs aurora and I really want to get started on this).
Doctrine"The Starfleet" shall be the only military-hulled spacecraft of more than 2,000 tons in terran space. Spacecraft of the starfleet must be able to move in excess of 5,000 kps, must have a range of 90 days at maximum speed, and must be no more than 30,000 tons*.
The starfleet will employ all of the following design philosophies:
- single large broadside tactics: the primary offensive weapons of the starfleet will be numerous but slow-firing, with the aim of crippling or destroying the enemy with a single devastating broadside. The primary weapons of the fleet will be the "Eakins Turbolaser", a half-sized 30cm soft x-ray laser with a very long firing time, and the "cobalt torpoedo", a size 6 missile with a range of not more than 2.5 million kilometers fired from a scaled-down slow-reloading launcher. Ships may run dozens of banks of both.
- Advanced Intercept: with the exception of colonial defense frigates, ships will be designed for very long deployment*, to better serve the needs of distant colonies and intercept threats well beyond the reach of terran space.
- Zero Tolerance: Any non-starfleet military craft of more than 2,000 tons operating inside terran space is operating in direct violation of the Articles of the First Concordance and the Treaty of Achird. A kill order will be issued for any such ship within 24 hours of its detection by a tracking station or scout ship.
Colonial Defense ships-
Alceste Class Patrol Frigate: These will comprise the backbone of the Concordance's power in Terran space. The Alceste will be one of the few ships of the fleet that are cheap and easy to manufacture, as the concordance plans to station enough of these frigates around every colony to effectively control each population center. There will be perhaps fifty Alceste's in all. The Alceste will essentially be an interceptor, built for speed, and be relatively short-ranged, designed to operate with support from a planetary tracking system. Preliminary plans include 2 banks of 4 turbolasers and 2 10cm laser turrets, as well as to CIWS systems at the fore and aft of the ship, all of which should fit inside one 7,000 ton hull driven by cowled "low signature" fusion engines. The Alceste is designed to be able to provide a supporting role for offensive fleets as well, primarily by running jump gates with support from larger destroyers and battle-cruisers.
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Concordance Class Light Carrier: 1 light carrier will be stationed in every system. The Concordance class will likely be quite slow, designed primarily as a launching platform for Luchador class interceptors and various AWACs and gunships. Brazil can currently manufacture interceptor craft so advanced that they pose a threat to even mid-sized cruisers and destroyers. The concordance will likely need to manufacture 10 of these carriers.
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Pride of Bangalore class light cruiser: the design
actually predates the Concordance but these ships have such a successful military record that they will be kept in reserve, in orbit. This class is quite versatile, able to fill a variety of defensive roles and even fight in offensive campaigns if necessary. There are currently 8 of these cruisers in operation.
Battlegroups-
Ranikot Class Destroyer-Escort: starfleet battlegroups will consist of one or two capitol ships with a pair of destroyer escorts. These 10,000 ton escort craft will be armed with a battery of 10 10cm astrocannons and 6 cobalt torpedo tubes. their primary roll will be missile defense and the long-ranged destruction of small craft. They will also mount a powerful "tactical scanner" which should be able to detect 1 hs craft out to a radius of 15-20 million kilometers. The concordance will manufacture 20 of these destroyers.
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Ranger Class Light Cruiser: rangers will be fast ships designed for independent operation, and will primarily serve noncombat roles. They will be equipped with powerful thermal and electromagnetic sensors and, quite possibly, even a geological and gravitational scanning suite. They will have some light armaments, likely a pair of fast-firing cobalt torpedo tubes and/or a fast-moving doubled-barreled laser turret. The concordance expects to manufacture 7-10 of these cruisers
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Statesman Class Missile Cruiser: the statesman will be a 20,000 ton, long-ranged missile cruiser designed to detect and shoot down enemy capital ships at range. It will run 10 size 10 missile launchers and a sophisticated antimissile defense system, and contain ample storage space for its own missiles as well as cobalt torpedoes for the fleet it supports. As a capital ship, it will also have a jump engine capable of jumping a 20,000 ton craft. The statesman will also be one of two classes that support the powerful SCEPTRA systemwide scanning suite, an extremely long-ranged low resolution targeting system. The concordance will manufacture 7 of these cruisers
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Monticello class Battlecruiser: the monticello will be a 20,000 ton beam cruiser designed for "battle line" combat through jump gates. It will run 3 banks of 5 turbolasers, 5 25 cm astrocannons, and 5 10 cm astrocannons as well as a yet-undetermined number of cobalt torpedo tubes. The monticello will also have a 20,000 ton jump system. The concordance will manufacture 7 of these cruisers.
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Alexandre class Strike Carrier: the alexandre will be one of the largest and most sophisticated military ships in known space, and the primary weapon of the concordance. Initial design space calls for 12,000 tons of hull space assigned for fighters and gunboats, and 3 launching systems for fighter-sized missile drones. The Alexandre will also mount the SCEPTRA scanning suite and an advanced antimissile system. The hull will be approximately 30,000 tons and require a jump system capable of moving that. The concordance will manufacture 3 of these carriers. The Alexandre will be the primary "flagship" of an advance fleet and will carry reserves of fuel, supplies, and missiles
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Raphael class dreadnought/command cruiser: The concordance will not be based on a single world, as its commander should ideally be beholden to a council of all worlds...in practice, the concordant himself aims to control all worlds from space, by the power of a spacefleet alone. For these reasons, the Concordance will base most of its military governance out of a single powerful starship. Named for the patron saint of the first concordant, the Raphael will be armed like a battlecruiser with additional torpedo tubes and possibly more turrets for shooting down fighters and short ranged craft...it will also support a luxury cabin capable of housing 500 bureaucrats and civilian guests. It will likely be the permanent home of the Concordant, and an enduring symbol of his power.
* historian's note: both these provisions are also likely included to allow the fleet to easily deploy to non-compliant worlds without ready access to friendly maintenance bays.