Pre-SysNES2: Beta-testing and Submission

[Disenfrancised]

Try building something that can beat the gadfly without using exotic gases Kal , plus remember its about twice the tech level and many times the material cost.

Plus the idea should be that your missile ship which has compromised on missile capacity (by taking armour instead of jammers or more int) should be beaten by a more extreme missile ship, which is then beaten by the particle ship.

@Thlayli: The gadfly probably need to pack more punch to be used in main fleet battles, and probably should be accompanied by a Jammer Bus ship.

 

[Kal'thzar]

Try building something that can beat the gadfly without using exotic gases Kal , plus remember its about twice the tech level and many times the material cost.

Plus the idea should be that your missile ship which has compromised on missile capacity (by taking armour instead of jammers or more int) should be beaten by a more extreme missile ship, which is then beaten by the particle ship.

@Thlayli: The gadfly probably need to pack more punch to be used in main fleet battles, and probably should be accompanied by a Jammer Bus ship.

Thats not my point, my (main) point was that fairly low levels of armour (easily fitted on all but the most extreme designs) will render the gadfly useless.

 

[Seon]

Toying around with a ship specifically designed to engage in electronic warfare. Give it about a dozen missile defense and it should be safe from missiles. It should also be able to provide passive buffs to allied ships using command deck/staffs and also give enemy ships debuffs using jammers.

Guard it with a close range laser ship and it should fair decently, I suppose.

 

[Kal'thzar]

Dis, are commlinks done properly? I can't see what they do, with Fleet int OR computer Int...

 

[Disenfrancised]

Thats not my point, my (main) point was that fairly low levels of armour (easily fitted on all but the most extreme designs) will render the gadfly useless.

Good point, I've also found a divide by 0 error in the shield function. The new V3 calculator attached here has:

• Said bug repaired
• Armour rejiggered - particle will always deal at least one damage per shot.
• Particle with int debuffs have had the ceiling of the possible effect raised.
• Long range lasers and particle having very high to hit chance against negative dodge targets remains
• Particle to hit affected less by dodge at close range
• SHIP BOARDING CALCULATOR ADDED!

BattleCalc_TESTV3

 

[Disenfrancised]

Dis, are commlinks done properly? I can't see what they do, with Fleet int OR computer Int...

Nope they don't do anything in V4 :3

 

[Kal'thzar]

Ok I've managed to put a fleet together

Unfortunately it went way over budget and is sitting pretty at 988e and 315s. That's 8 ships, so if someone wants to design a fleet at something similar (1000e and 350s, I can rearrange mine a bit so don't worry if its not exact)

I'll have another fleet put together for 500e and 150s likely to be more than a few holes however.

 

[Thlayli]

Good to see particle damage is starting to suck less. Maybe the base damage should be boosted up a little more so that small, high-dodge particle ships are viable.

I also think Manifold should be made slightly cheaper; it's not currently cost effective vs. Charm.

 

[Thlayli]

Significant sacrifice to armor to pack more punch. Imo, coil guns should pack 3+ damage, or everyone's just going to beeline for more sexy missiles and laser ships + interceptors. Another advantage of this Gadfly is it can be built on Low Gravity worlds.

As opposed to all of you guys assuming Exotic Gases and lavish orbital shipyards, I'm trying to envision ships that an e poor, science poor nation can use to compete.

Confederate Star Ship Gadfly Mk II
Class: Light Frigate
Unrefined: 51e
Size: 22
Advantages: Cheap and reasonably hard to hit, especially if accompanied by support ships with Jammers and Interceptors. Used as part of a swarm to bring down larger enemies.
Disadvantages: Requires a lot of volatiles to build, explodes like a popcorn kernel if someone gets a direct hit.

1x Fission Core
3x Fission Rocket
1x Pulse Drive
4x Coilgun
3x Maneuvering Jets

Optional variant has 2x Maneuvering Jets and 1x Gas Rockets. Gives 1 less dodge and 4e is more expensive, only worth it for better heat management/armor rating. (This makes me believe that the Gas Rockets dodge bonus should be buffed.)

Confederate Star Ship Thule
Class: Fleet Carrier, Combat Support
Unrefined: 144e
Description: Enough space to carry 3 Gadfly Mk2 ships or 2 Gadflies and 2 Horseflies. Buffs up the Frigates and does things to distract the enemy in battle, too.

1x Charm Drive
6x Basic Fusion Core
3x Deuterium Drive
1x Habitat Section
1x Supply Section
1x Engineering Bay
6x External Hangars
2x Cargo Bay
4x Computer Module
1x Command Deck
1x Scanners
1x Jammers
1x EW Broadcasters

Note: Requires Con 6 with this loadout.
Optional: 163e variant replaces Scanners and Cargo Bays with EMP Bursters.

Do Hangars and Cargo Bays really need to be separate components? Also, I'm not sure if Commlinks are boosting the fleet command bonuses as advertised, could you look into that?

 

[thomas.berubeg]

I'll update my nation soon, both me and my GF are sick, and so RL is in the way

 

[Disenfrancised]

I also think Manifold should be made slightly cheaper; it's not currently cost effective vs. Charm.

? Providing IS-1 with Manifold drives is cheaper or equal in cost to charm drives for anything under Size 150.

Burst Drives are being redone in V5 (as I realised a mistake in V4 that made them essentially useless), I'm going to buff the Twist Drive (whilst making it a '1 only' like the charm drive), and change the charm drive so its IS provisions are dependent on having computing power and maths knowledge related to the size of the ship.

 

[Thlayli]

I thought I was testing a design earlier where Manifold ended up being more expensive, but I guess I was just hallucinating.

In case it gets lost in my posts above, please look into whether Commlinks work properly, and whether 2x Maneuvering Jets and 1x Gas Rockets should really have lower dodge than 3x Maneuvering Jets. Thanks in advance.

 

[Disenfrancised]

Do Hangars and Cargo Bays really need to be separate components? Also, I'm not sure if Commlinks are boosting the fleet command bonuses as advertised, could you look into that?

Thats dumb, this and this have differing handling needs. Kal' pointed out the broken commlinks on the last page and I answered there, it'll be fixed in V5.

 

[Disenfrancised]

Gas rockets are a bit of equipment to help volatiles rich but e and s poor nations (look at its e cost when refined). They also come earlier in the tech tree if you're not bothering to rush up Propulsion, and are better than jets with level 4 and below.

 

[Seon]

Thlayli, you need 4 comp modules to make a jump with the charm drove, or alternatively a leader ship with 6 computer modules and a commlink.

 

[Thlayli]

Danke.

Kal, 2 Thules, 3 Gadflies, and 2 Horseflies comes out to 502e, if you want to game it against your ships.

Alternatively, 8 Horseflies, 2 Gadflies and 1 Thule for 494e.

 

[Disenfrancised]

Once Kal comes back with the results of his war gaming, I'll put the balancing info in V5

 

[Kraznaya]

Do shipyards still autorepair one ship per turn in the new mechanics?

 

[Frozen In Ice]

"Laserpointer" - Maximum direct combat power at the cost of everything else
Battleship Class

1x Charm Drive
6x DHe Fusion Core
1x Light Sail
1x Recyclers
4x Computer Modules
1x Scanner
4x Microwave laser
5x Tungsten Armor
1x Reflective Cladding

Vital Stats
unrefined e 175
refined e 79
size 43
mass 53
IS Rating 1
IP Rating 1
Range 1
Surplus Power 16
Heat -5

Int 4
Dodge -14
Missile Defence 0
Armor 36
Sheilds 0

#Lasers 4
EM Total damage 84

3 can be built for 500e and 66s, that's using some e and s to refine the design.

Now I'll try to make something more practical.

 

[Disenfrancised]

Do shipyards still autorepair one ship per turn in the new mechanics?

Indeed they does.