[PvK]

In my Proportions mod, I tried to address the straight "bigger is better" factors with several logical advantages for smaller ships. I think the result is that the biggest ships are still the most powerful, but smaller ships have many other advantages, so that a mix is often best.

1. As the Baron suggests, I made larger mounts less accurate than smaller ones.

2. I increased the defensive modifiers of smaller ships, and gave negative defensive modifiers to larger ships.

3. I gave offensive modifiers to the smaller ships.

4. My quasi-Newtonian propulsion system gives smaller ships a higher maximum speed, and required far fewer engines than larger ships.

5. Ship size also determines maintenance costs, in favor of smaller ships.

6. There are smaller auxiliary components available than in the standard set, and small weapon mounts, which coupled with the lower engine requirements make smaller ships more viable design-wise.

7. The supply and propulsion system changes mean that large capital ships will either be quite slow or quite short-ranged (unless accompanied by tankers), in addition to being slower than small ships in general. This and the reduced rate of colonization tends to lead to small ship operations on the frontiers, with powerful defensive fleets more limited to developed areas.

8. The reduced rate of resource increase from the other changes means that fleet expense and maintenance costs are more important, so keeping smaller more efficient ships makes even more sense, particularly in peacetime. Players may want to mothball many of their larger ships during peacetime.

PvK