Support ship design

Dralasite · #1 January 18th, 2003, 01:31 AM

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.

couslee · #2 January 18th, 2003, 01:52 AM

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

Gandalph · #3 January 18th, 2003, 05:30 AM

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.

tesco samoa · #4 January 18th, 2003, 05:43 AM

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..

Dralasite · #5 January 18th, 2003, 07:14 AM

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)

Wanderer · #6 January 18th, 2003, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by couslee:
So I don't see how Wanderer is doing that, unless using retro-series building.

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)

couslee · #7 January 18th, 2003, 05:53 PM

"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.