General Discussion

[BigJKU316]

As big mentioned the only problem with this is sustainability. If you've got line of sight between a supply base and your fleet, it's not THAT big of a deal; however the second that get's cut off, your small ships are not going to survive very long without some bigger ships that can supply them until they get back home.

Not really meaning that you design all your ships at 250kt, just that you don't make the ships any larger than you absolutely have to. If you can get the same performance out of a 500kt ship that you can an 800kt ship you build the 500kt because it's cheaper in the long run and you can support more of them.

Yeah, generally its a cost-benefit thing. A lot of times you could get the general design cheaper and quicker by building it bigger as it takes less miniturization effort which is where the R&D system really packs on the cost, but it might be worth it for the extra year or two of development to shave 900,000 tons off the thing, particularly if you plan on building lots of them.

[Tyyr]

If you build in bulk it's almost always going to be worth the extra cash up front. Saving 300 credits a turn on a ship isn't a big deal if you only build 10 of them. Sort of a big deal if you build 100. It's everything when you are building 1,000.

[Reliant121]

This is why, IMO if you were to have an invasion force, you need at least one class of "command ship", not necessarily the most powerful or best defended but a competently armed ship thats very large to carry supplies and act as a flagship for the fleet.

[Lt. Staplic]

even still you've got issues of it only being able to resupply so many other ships so many times. It's more cost effective to have a fleet of Battle Cruisers that can pack a punch for their weight than a HUGE number of smaller ships with enough big boys to sustain them for very long.

[Reliant121]

Which simply isn't feasible for a smaller nation, which means they are always going to be a defensive power.

[Tyyr]

Or you're just careful to protect your supply lines.

[Reliant121]

Putting it Into alpha terms, I can't really afford to run a huge fleet of Profit sized ships. So I'd have say 500 of them for siege purposes, operating much more like a negh'var and then. Much larger fleet of small battlecruisers and destroyers.

Besides, deeps fleet survived fine during the current war and his largest modern combat ship is 2000kt iirc.

[Lt. Staplic]

Putting it Into alpha terms, I can't really afford to run a huge fleet of Profit sized ships. So I'd have say 500 of them for siege purposes, operating much more like a negh'var and then. Much larger fleet of small battlecruisers and destroyers.

Besides, deeps fleet survived fine during the current war and his largest modern combat ship is 2000kt iirc.

To my knowledge Deeps supply lines weren't ever cut off either.

[Deepcrush]

Also remember that my fleet is built around mostly short ranged ships. I have a massive number of Defiant like ships with only enough Cruisers to supply them if the lines are cut. Invading a well defended faction would be a horrible issue for me since my ships most likely wouldn't be able to stay for long. They'd fight a battle then have to return home for supplies then return back to battle a couple months later.

As to being a defensive power... there's nothing wrong with that. For smaller powers it makes total sense as it will prevent larger powers from just walking in and taking over.

[Reliant121]

Just curious on two fronts

1) is there any real tactical advantage to small ships with a single massive massive cannon. Like having a New Orleans with a phaser lance, almost like a shield cracker?

2) is it even possible?

I have been playing homeworld 2 a bit and a thought came in whether or not the likes of a Hiigaran Ion cannon frigate (basically a small capital ship with a wacking great cruiser bashing cannon down the axis of the hull) is actually a feasible idea. dunno why.

[Deepcrush]

Yeah, I sold you 300 of them remember...

Just ask Stitch if they worked or not.

[Reliant121]

You never gave me the full specs of the Mogh, i just worked up a library sheet from my spreadsheet

[Deepcrush]

Moghs have two big ass guns on the front... thats it.

[Reliant121]

Really? Interesting. Did you put it into the sheet as normal and pay the integration cost as if you had a higher number of guns?

[Deepcrush]

Really? Interesting. Did you put it into the sheet as normal and pay the integration cost as if you had a higher number of guns?

Talk to big about the final cost numbers. I can't really give away intel like that here.