Ah, I am getting confused between Steve's and your stories Kurt, as his human's have basically only missiles.
I’ve been thinking about this statement (above). It was shocking to me to discover that not everyone knows my campaign as well as I do. SHOCKING I say! A decided lack of effort on your part, sir!
In any case, a short refresher on the human governments may be in order. Read on:
The Alliance
The Alliance as originally completely focused on lasers for both offensive and defensive weapons, however, the advantages of the Reich’s missile heavy ships were too obvious to ignore. Since the start of the campaign the Alliance has upgraded its laser weaponry on its cruisers and destroyers at least once, but has mostly focused its efforts on developing and improving missile weaponry for its battlecruisers and dreadnoughts. Currently the Alliance Navy considers its primary offensive strength to be its missile-armed BC’s and DN’s, and the cruisers and destroyers are considered to be escorts, at best. There is a debate going on within the Alliance Navy as to whether the laser-armed ships should be phased out completely, or if a newer design should be developed and deployed. A strong faction is in favor of reducing the missile weaponry on existing capital ships in favor of including laser weaponry on all classes.
The Reich
The Reich’s navy, the Raumarine, is nearly completely focused on missiles for both offense and defense. Almost all of the Reich’ ship classes, from its frigates to its DN’s, mount missile weaponry exclusively, and the Reich has developed four different missile types for its mobile units. These four missiles include an anti-missile design and three offensive missiles, a long range missile, a short range missile, and the standard missile. In addition, the Reich has deployed several drone designs for use with its scout class. Lately, the Reich has developed and deployed two different designs optimized for nebula combat, after coming to the realization that its primary out-system colony is located in a nebula that rendered the entire existing Raumarine ineffective. One of the two designs is armed with rail guns and is intended for close-range combat, preferably at the warp point into the Hamburg system. The other is a light cruiser design armed with rail guns and gauss cannons and can be used either in the nebula or as an anti-missile escort for the Raumarine’s capital ships.
The USSR
The Soviet Navy has undergone massive changes since The Event, and currently no one else is sure what their capabilities are. Traditionally the Soviet Navy deployed cruisers equipped with rail guns as its primary fighting unit, supported by two types of frigates designed to engage in missile or anti-missile combat. Lately the USSR has undertaken a massive fleet refit, and Alliance and Reich intelligence believes that this refit is intended to mount new engines on the older designs. The new engines have appeared on Russian freighters, giving them a much higher speed, causing concern amongst all of the other human navies. So far the Russians have not deployed any new classes.
Japanese Empire
The Imperial Navy has deployed cruisers equipped with either missiles or laser weaponry as its main striking force. Most of its laser-equipped cruisers have been destroyed in prior battles, but the size of the missile-cruiser force has steadily increased over the last decade. The IJN’s primary escorts are destroyers with a twelve-centimeter laser turret.
The Indian Republic
The Indian Republic has seriously neglected its Navy in favor of its commercial fleet. The Indian Navy’s cruisers would be classified as escorts in most of the other navies, and wouldn’t be considered particularly effective escorts at that. Given the current events on Earth, and the threat represented by the Russians, the Indians are likely to change this situation, however, at the same time the government faces considerable pressure to increase the commercial fleet to speed the flow of colonists out of the solar system.
Kurt