ship design encyclopedia

[rincewind]

This is a topic for ship designs for people who are just starting the game. If you have any custom or classic starfire ship designs, please post them here. This is to help any new players who have no ideas about the game and need a little help.


(note: i would really appreciate it if anyone who wants to comment about a design start a new topic. i would really appreciate it.)

[krenshala]

Actually, having the discussion in this thread would help, as then folks can easily see an compare different ship designs and opinions/experiences with those designs.

For myself, I have lots of experience with the game, but relatively little with the actual tactical side. I also tend to use the NPR design philosophy as a basis for all ship designs any particular race uses, as it gives each race a flavor of its own.

Some example that proved more capable than I at first thought they would. These are the Hallamach Untion Navy ships in my story campaign (see my sig). I don't remember if I've posted them yet or not, but I was planning to at the end of that section of the story (once the Hallamach are finished off, which will be soon).

Important information -- The Hallamach are a single system EL 1 race that did not know about warp points. Due to NPR generation rolls they only had one weapon system, the Plasma Torpedo. Their warship designs are:

JINNEL-class ES (AC) 12 HS
[2] AH(Ia)PtQa(Ia)Xp [6/3]
7 HTK Cost: 161.51 MC Maint: 24.227 MC
EL 1, A0, Xp, Pta (10 torps)

The Hallamach's original warship, which also acted as a planetary survey ship (they HUN hasn't reached SL 1 X yet).

TONNEL-class CT 16 HS
[2] SAx3H(Ia)(Ia)MgPtQa(Ia) [6/3]
11 HTK Cost: 198.2 MC Maint: 29.73 MC
EL 1, S0, A0 x 3, Pta + Mg (30 torps)

The Tonnel-class corvette is their first dedicated warship design. What I discovered is that while it is larger than the Jinnel-class it is still quite fragile when facing anything with two or more weapons, but surprisingly effective considering it is the proverbial egg-shell with a sledge hammer.

MOTTEL-class FG 22 HS
[2] SAAH(iaIa)(Ia)QaMgPtQa(Ia)(CICa) [5/2.5]
12 HTK Cost: 289.1 MC Maint: 43.365 MC
EL 1, S0, A0 x 3, Pta + Mg (30 torps), CICa

This is the Hallamach Union Navy's command frigate. Due to the small number built (only nine) all are equipped with CICa, even though only three had admirals on them (the flagships for the three fleets). As you can see, despite being six hull spaces larger than the Tonnel, the Mottel is only 1 hit-to-kill tougher, so this isn't the best design. Despite this, they tended to survive more forcebeam hits than I expected in actual combat.

DAMMEL-class DD 30 HS
[3] Sx3Ax7H(Ia)(Ia)(Ia)PtQaMg(Ia)PtQa(Ia) [5/2.5]
21 HTK Cost: 424.0 MC Maint: 63.6 MC
EL 1, S0 x 3, A0 x 7, Pta x 2 + Mg (40 torps)

The largest ship the HUN were able to field, the Dammel, and her sistership the Bammel, were the only destroyers the HUN had available when the Assembly found their system. These were surprisingly effective, due to the increased shields and armor. Originally they were designed with three Pta, but that pretty much removed all passives, so I was forced to reduce them to two Pta, and I'm glad I did. They would not have survived near as many hits and thus been much less effective in combat had they included three Pta but only thee hull spaces of passives (Pta are 7 hullspaces, iirc).

[rincewind]

I understand about the discussion, and you can do it, but i just dont like having to go through 3 pages of discussion to get to the next design.

For your designs, throw in some SRW, and maybe think about swithching the LRW to R. I hate one weapon ships, espically ammo dependent ones. (Not in the campaign of course. Pta as the only weapon?)

[Cralis]

I understand about the discussion, and you can do it, but i just dont like having to go through 3 pages of discussion to get to the next design.

For your designs, throw in some SRW, and maybe think about swithching the LRW to R. I hate one weapon ships, espically ammo dependent ones. (Not in the campaign of course. Pta as the only weapon?)

In terms of fire density, single-weapon ships do far better. Especially with LRW vs. point defense.

While designs with multiple weapons are more versatile, it does serve to dilute the concentration of firepower. So it's a design trade-off

That said, many people put an SRW as the last system on the ship so it can always fire and it forces the enemy to totally destroy every ship.

[procyon]

I understand about the discussion, and you can do it, but i just dont like having to go through 3 pages of discussion to get to the next design.

You will find that for the older hands at this, discussing the design is as important as the design itself. My apologies for the long winded among us - myself definitely included.

[krenshala]

For your designs, throw in some SRW, and maybe think about swithching the LRW to R. I hate one weapon ships, espically ammo dependent ones. (Not in the campaign of course. Pta as the only weapon?)

They don't have any other weapon systems to work with, only Pt. And I discovered they did much better than I expected them too (the to hit mod based on the targets turn mode is much better than it at first appears).

[rincewind]

For your designs, throw in some SRW, and maybe think about swithching the LRW to R. I hate one weapon ships, espically ammo dependent ones. (Not in the campaign of course. Pta as the only weapon?)

They don't have any other weapon systems to work with, only Pt. And I discovered they did much better than I expected them too (the to hit mod based on the targets turn mode is much better than it at first appears).

I like K or R at that level. Let my take a guess here. these ships were trashed by fast SRW armed ships going at point blank range? Always a reason to put SRW on LRW ships or LRW on SRW ships (espically at bigger hulls were you have better weapons and more space)

[krenshala]

Here's what happened to them:


viewforum.php?f=37


They were a really unlucky NPR that ran into the proverbial wrecking machine.

[krenshala]

Here's what happened to them:

viewforum.php?f=37

They were a really unlucky NPR that ran into the proverbial wrecking machine.

Yeah ... it was ugly. Twelves minutes of combat, from the point of sensor detection at 60 light seconds to troops landing on the planet, but only because the main fleet traveled at speed 3 (1.5 light seconds per minute). The actual space battle was maybe four minutes of that (8 tactical turns), and was approximately 150 vs 20 (21 if you count the unarmed EX) where the defenders were outmatched in scale as well as numbers (and the attackers had dedicated F armed DDs and R armed BB/DNs). In all ways the Hallamach were screwed: out massed (by hull space) by a huge amount, out costed in terms of ship price, out numbered by the troop transports alone 5 to 1, and even though the invader's battle line (DD/BB/DN) was numerically equal, their smallest unit was the size of the defenders largest. Oh, and while the defender had the better maneuverability (due to size/speed), they were forced to defend a fixed position against a superior force ... and got the normal result -- defeat in detail.

But enough about the doomed Hallamach ... I too wish to view the wonderous Battle Cruisers your family came up with, Procyon.

[rincewind]

This is a weird idea that i got from the the shiva option.
could it be possible to use detonations to use an asteroid as a projectile, and put point defense on it like they did to destroy that bug homeworld?