Does Anyone Use Escorts?

[Noble713]

I've been working on my mod, and I'm screwing around with the ship sizes and types quite a bit. I've doubled the size increase for most classes from 100kT to 200kT, among other things. I started looking at the Escort, and considered removing it entirely.

1. It's so tiny it can barely hold 1 missile launcher when the game begins. When better tech is available, it just doesn't have room for the components necessary to survive (point defense, ECM, combat sensors).

2. The first tech that I queue up on the first turn is Ship Construction, so I have frigate tech by turn two. The escort is instantly obsolete.


So, like the title says, does anyone use these things? Is there a reason to keep them at all?

[Arralen]

Why couldn't a "ship size option" be included like it was in SE3 ?

IIRC what we have now are the standard ship sizes of SE3, but people I talked to preferred the "enlarged" hulls, some (me ) even the used the "massive" size most times ..

Ok,ok, I could change it in VehicleSize.txt, but wouldn't it be nice to have this option back ?

But - don't make the "jumps" bigger from class to class .. that shurely wouldn't help with the escort .. a fixed %-age would do - and maybe someone could come up with something more interesting ??
How big must an escort be?
Bridge 10kt
Life Supp. 10kt
Crew Quart. 10kt
6 Engines 60kt
Shields/Armor 40kt
Multiplex T. 10kt
Sensors 10kt
ECM 10kt
Point Def. 20kt
Weap/Cargo/etc. 30kt
------
210kt (or 140%)

Point Def. could be left out ... what makes it 190kt (127%)

One problem, though - the small transport even now carries too much pop, so either pop must use 10x the space, or some components must be altered ..

Just my 0,02 EUR of thoughts, though.

A.

[Baron Munchausen]

I certainly agree that the Escort is useless in the default configuration, but it's a perfectly good picture in every race definition! Don't waste it. Just bump the sizes up a bit and they are more useful. But don't over-do it. I think that the mod idea posted by Tim McElwain on the SE4 list on yahooGroups is a bit excessive. There needs to be a major size difference between ships and bases in order for bases to be worthwhile and there is a certain proportion of ship size to component size inherent in the game design. I'm working on a mod now that will make the Escort 200kt and then jump 50kt to Frigate at 250kt, then 100kt per level as now for the Destroyer and Light Cruiser (350kt and 450kt). This makes these classes a little bit more powerful and flexible but doesn't completely throw out the game balance in the original setup. Then as the cost of researching levels of Ship Construction gets greater the returns get greater. So, a Cruiser will be 600kt rather than 500kt (150kt increase on the level rather than 100kt) and a Battle Cruiser 150kt more, at 750kt. Battleships and Dreadnoughts would be 1000kt and 1250kt, giving a 250kt increase, and then the base ship will remain at 1500kt. This is a much smoother "curve" to reach the base ship than the default arrangement, too.

Space Stations are already 600kt in my personal mod, and a battlestation is smaller, at 1200kt. But this is to make room for TWO sizes that use the Starbase picture: The "Star Fortress" at 2000kt and the Starbase at 3000kt. With the starbase being fully twice as large as the base ship, you still have a decent incentive to use them since they can easily stand up to any single ship and quite a large number of smaller ships.

There are some other game-balance factors that I am working on, like engines per move and number of life support/crew quarters at various sizes. I hope to start a game with my new setup in a week or so, though.

[Suicide Junkie]

I'm still using ES on turn 80 in my Pirates game - basically they're support ships now, and just move in to capture ships taht my LCs have disabled.

Their small size makes them no threat to the AI, and so they don't get shot up as much. Also, since they have no shields, there is no penalty for making a boarding attempt

When funds are tight, the ES is viable, but I'm probably not going to build any more, and switch over to BC attack ships & LC support.

Perhaps, instead of increasing the size of the ship, you should give it an inherent movement bonus for its small size?

[Marty Ward]

I only use them for scouts and sensor ships. They build fast and don't cost much. Using them as sensor ships allows me to put an additional weapon/shield on my combat fleet. The sensor also helps keep enemies from slipping by through nebula systems. Even using them like this they would not be missed if they were removed, unless you were playing a pirate race.

[Suicide Junkie]

Does anybody use them for cheap weapon platforms?

Ie. CSM V on an ES, they just sit back, and loose missiles while your BCs & DNs fight it out with short range weapons?