Support ship design
 

So far, when I design support ships, I make them strictly support ships. So my repair ship has no weapons, just a repair bay and I fill the rest up with solar collectors. Similar with ship space yards later on (although I give them some storage as well).

I usually put one or two solar collectors on all my ships but I also build some destroyers that are full of solar collectors, no weapons.

Is this the best way to do thing? Maybe I should
have my repair ships have a few pdcs, some armor, or whatnot? Should I not bother with any collectors on my warships and only have support ships?

Thanks!

Re: Support ship design
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I often put a point defense canon or two on my repair and supply destroyers. They can pick off one missile when they encounter enemys -- before they run to the corner

Re: Support ship design
 

As in most things, It depends.
Seems to me there is not much point to putting defence on a support ship.
If the enemy is attacking ships in the cornor then your fleet is gone anyway. Maybe there are exceptions like Arkon's though.

Re: Support ship design
 

I design support ships based on what their function is.
1 repair ship
2 Space dock
3 Refueler
4 Cargo
5 Unit launcher
6 Unit Sweeper
7 Scout/raider

I tend to put sensors on these ships as well. My main thought is that these are fleet support ships so anything they can do to support the fleet is a good thing. Extra cargo space, sensors, even missle bays. A big thing with these designs as well is/are the ablity to keep up with the fleet. So I tend to use BC hulls or cruiser hulls.

Re: Support ship design
 

Try giving a support ship (if not to be assigned to a fleet) the order of Kamakazi instead of Don't get Hurt. A colony ship can often kill an escort or frigate by ramming. It is better than hiding in the corner waiting to be killed. Do NOT do this for a ship in a fleet because you do want support ships to run to the corners during fleet battles.

Slick.

Re: Support ship design
 

The way I see it, weapons and defences reduce the efficiency of a support ship, whilst support items reduce the efficiency of warships.

If I don't arm my support ships, they won't get blown up trying to fight, leaving any survivors low on supply and with no repair crews!

I tend to keep them the same size as the warships they are supporting, so in an emergency I can retro-fit them into extra warships.

Re: Support ship design
 

Thats interesting about support ship sizes. I usually have them at destroyer or lc size, at least for repair and supply ships. That way I can better customize them to fleet size.

I've only used bigger ships for mine sweepers, troop carriers, and (of course) base space yards. Being able to retrofit to warships is an interesting thought.

Re: Support ship design
 

I did a design for a ship the was intended to take the front line. it only had a couple of guns and lots of shileds. I wanted them to take the brunt of the attacks while the rest of the fleet hung back a spot. it worked kinda ok, but I decided the design was not quite all that. so i went to retrofit them to the other design. The retrofit was refused with "we can't build a new ship".lol
So I don't see how Wanderer is doing that, unless using retro-series building.

I think using retro series is cheezy. and even tho I really wanted to upgrade my "tortise" design I didn't. they will continue on with their current use, or get recycled.

But, to each his/her own

Re: Support ship design
 

You know, I always looked at it this way;

The bigger and more advanced my support ships, the less of them I need to build. Then more warships can be built in a single batch. If I have Mines 2 and you have Mines 1 and we both have LC's and 10 shipyards, I get 5 sweeps and 5 warships to clear a 100 mine minefield in 3 turns, you get 10 sweeps in 3 turns, then 10 warships in 3 more turns. If we are far enough away from each others empire, then that's fine. If we are next to each other, you lose.

Re: Support ship design
 

I usually try to have support ships match the size and speed of the ships there supporting...

Mine sweepers of the BB or BC class have the 20 Mine sweeperes and also the scanners and supply storage and supply generators...

Supply ships have 3 repair units on them... the rest supply storage and supply generators...

Warp Openers and Warp Closers have the 500 kt size with one repair bay , the sm device rest supply generators..

Re: Support ship design
 

But Gandalf, arn't you assuming you can build larger ships at the same rate as smaller ones? I think I should be able to build more of them in the same amount of time?

I agree about the advanced part.

One point for larger support ships is that you get more components per overhead (bridge, engines, etc.) I'll have to try it next time and see.

It sure doesn't seem like adding weapons is that helpful. Or having mixed ships (half weapons half repair or supply)

Re: Support ship design
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Actually... (from my current game)

Support Ship III (BB) - 16000/1000/2140
Warship V (BB) - 20000/1000/4760
Increase in cost of 40%

Support Cruiser IX (BC) - 14000/1000/2110
Assault Cruiser X (BC) - 17000/1000/4730
Increase in cost of 30%

It helps that they all use master computers, which cost a lot more than a bridge & life support & crew. The higher the cost of the support ship, the easier it is to retrofit it into a full warship.

I do sometimes use retro-series building, usually when upgrading small transports (try adding a master computer, upgrading the cargo storage and engines to an old design and you'll easily go over the 50% limit)

Re: Support ship design
 

"It helps that they all use master computers, which cost a lot more than a bridge & life support & crew. The higher the cost of the support ship, the easier it is to retrofit it into a full warship."

That would explain my confusion. I ran into upgrade problems when going to imporve a light cruiser W/O MC. I had made the original design as mineral cheap as I could so that I could complete them in one turn. The upgrade had several changes made to it.