The resulting ships were still quite large in Aurora terms, so I divided all of the derived sizes in half.
To date the IAN is the only power in the Haven Sector that possesses battleships, and they are largely status symbols rather than practical units. They're too large to utilize the wormhole transit device aboard the IAN's Blucher-class Fleet Support Vessel, meaning they are limited to operating within the stabilized wormhole network, and primarily serve as the flagship of system defense fleets guarding key Imperial worlds. Offensive operations are carried out by the battlecruisers and their smaller escorts.
The Yùhuáng class battlecruiser is the heavy workhorse of the IAN. Critics of the design claim that its enhanced speed and endurance come at the cost of its armament, which is comparatively light for a ship of this size. Even Manticore's smaller, older battlecruisers carry 50% more weapons. The difference is that the IAN's battlecruisers are designed for cruising, long term offensive operations, chasing down smaller enemy combatants and commerce raiding. They form the core of offensive fleets,
One suspects that this will also greatly limit the ability of the Andermani to prosecute an actual war against someone who is a slightly more difficult opponent than the local restless natives, albeit for very different reasons. Speed and endurance is nice, but what wins the wormhole assault is firepower and armor/sidewalls.
Some very nice reference images as well, I assume from the rather non-digital appearance that these are scans from your prodigious reference library?
This ship is weird though. I designed these almost a month ago and I've actually been using them, but I didn't realize how little firepower it had until I was writing the blurb. I spent a good ten minutes looking at the ship components tab trying to figure out where the extra space went, if I accidentally put in 20 sensors or something. Other than a slightly high number of engineering spaces, it's just propulsion and armor, combined with a bunch of little niceties like the ECM, Boat Bay, ENG, that all add up.
Is there a reason you're using so many missile fire controls for the external racks? I know in the Honorverse one of the primary issues with podnaughts was solving the MFC saturation issue when you launch 10,000 missiles from one SD(P). Are you handing it such that one MFC can only handle x missiles? And in that case, will you be simulating improvements to the technology down the line?
Is there a reason you're using so many missile fire controls for the external racks? I know in the Honorverse one of the primary issues with podnaughts was solving the MFC saturation issue when you launch 10,000 missiles from one SD(P). Are you handing it such that one MFC can only handle x missiles?
I usually have found that trying to stick a big propulsion section on a ship tends to take up a lot of space very quickly... if you were going up against NPRs at an even tech level there would be a serious concern about being beaten in volume of fire
Yeah. I have to agree with this. I find the obsession that some people in this community have with maximizing speed a bit absurd considering how NPRs build their ships. I mainly wanted the Andermani ships to be faster than the Manticorans at the start of the campaign to represent the difference in their doctrines, but the Manticoran ships were already using heavily boosted engines, so the only way to accomplish it was to increase propulsion mass. I might have pushed it too far and unless some kind of speed arms race starts both factions may accept a more modest speed bump in the next generation to get a bit more efficiency. The RMN in particular is really struggling to support its current engines without fuel harvester tech.
Yeah. I have to agree with this. I find the obsession that some people in this community have with maximizing speed a bit absurd considering how NPRs build their ships. I mainly wanted the Andermani ships to be faster than the Manticorans at the start of the campaign to represent the difference in their doctrines, but the Manticoran ships were already using heavily boosted engines, so the only way to accomplish it was to increase propulsion mass. I might have pushed it too far and unless some kind of speed arms race starts both factions may accept a more modest speed bump in the next generation to get a bit more efficiency. The RMN in particular is really struggling to support its current engines without fuel harvester tech.
I think most of the players you're talking about are the kinds of players who think tactics wins every battle, which is certainly true against the NPRs, and thus maximize speed so they can maximize tactics (I simplify for the sake of argument). However, strategically there is a tighter balance - speed might let you avoid or force an engagement, but firepower and armor/shields will win you that engagement, and a fast fleet that can't win an engagement cannot prevent the enemy from going wherever he wants to go. Especially given how central jump point assaults are to Aurora's warfare, which is probably the single biggest oversight I see in players' ship designs (not even due to roleplay, as in this and most AARs).
Speed is in many way important, but an over emphasize on it can also leave your overall fleet impotent over someone that have not overengineered in it.
Speed is in many way important, but an over emphasize on it can also leave your overall fleet impotent over someone that have not overengineered in it.
Just don't say that on the Reddit Aurora forum... ::)