15 replies to this topic

[orin]

Is there a chart out there on what is needed for building a class of ships?

What MUSt you have-minimum (I know you need hull plates)
What MUST you have(needed for best function)
What is good to have
What specials are best

has anyone did a chart/excel sheet on building ships? How big is big what qty of an item is needed for a well rounded design?

ya ya ... newbie questions

[lugal]

1.The minimum would be one engine. You would be restricted to in system travel though.
2. Depends on your mode of thinking. I like to have ships specialize in an area. Many though hacve gone with the multitasking type for you can do whatever you want in terms of ship design. Imagination is the only limit, besides IC capacity.
3. Refer to above. But engines are a good start. Put JSS in your #1 research slot and nock these out asap. I made that mistake and am now wasting time and resourses rescue'ing(sp) stranded ships. MK4 JSS are a must. When it comes to exploration, survey shuttles are a must. Upon reading the manual, it states the more survey shuttles you have, the better your chances of finding stuff. Also, assign special characters to your fleets.
4. Exploration and combat.
5. They are out there. The Yahoo board would most likely have it.
6. Ask your questions now or regret it later when overwhelmed. Good luck out there, until I destroy your empire.

[orin]

The rules only tell so much.

like...if you have say a average explore class ship with 15-20k cargo etc...how much hull plateing is needed?

In the rules with the NUD it just says you can have 24 items... so does that mean if I said say 1 Stan hull plate that it is 1 thick? so 500 would be 500x as tough?

I looked on the lists...but the big one is members only... mabe I am looking for more like a 'check list' of things so as you design..you don;t forget anthing.

Nothing like going off into deep space and descovering that ...DOH!... a defensive screen may have been good

[General Miles Avatar]

its fun to just mess with the NUD order to try and get differnt ship classes. I been able to come up with .. Frontier Cruiser ,Command Cruiser, Strike Crusier, Survey Crusier,
Light Carrier, Battleship, Monitor and Nova Dreadnought to name a few of the warship variants.

[Azuth]

This is true. Here's a few more to add: Colonial Liner, Light Troop Transport, Express Ship, Heavy Cruiser, Fleet Explorer and Battle Cruiser.

This a BIG subject with various thoughts and ideas. I'll just touch on a couple here. Weapons and Defense System.

Weapons: You have a large variety of weapons, each unique in their own way and too many to be able to research them all I think. You have coherent beams, disruptors, energy, cold and plasma based, missiles, torps, particle weapons, fighters, drones....the list goes on. How many should be researched is up to you. Some will say you should concentrate on 1 or 2, and some may say 3, 4 or more. Thing is, its all up to you. What do you feel comfortable with.

Defensive Systems: You also have a large variety of defense systems to help offset specific types or multiple types of weapons. My opinion, you can't defend yourself against everything out there. But some defense system can help reduce some damage from multiple weapon types. Armor appears to be one of the best defense systems. The better the armor, the better the defense, I believe.

Its all trial and error at this point for some. For others, they're still trying to locate someone to "test" their theories on.

I'll let other chime in with their words of wisdom.

Have fun and good luck.

[Krelnett_of_Kraan]

And we don't use standard hull plates on our ships. They're not the least bit necessary. Put a tractor beam on and you can catch any asteroids before they hit. We keep hearing rumors of sentient beings purposely attacking each other, but this is obviously a falsehood.

[octagon999]

orin, on Mar 9 2004, 02:21 AM, said:

The rules only tell so much.

like...if you have say a average explore class ship with 15-20k cargo etc...how much hull plateing is needed?

In the rules with the NUD it just says you can have 24 items... so does that mean if I said say 1 Stan hull plate that it is 1 thick? so 500 would be 500x as tough?

A good rule of thumb is that with most systems, the more you have, the better.

In your specific example, you could have 1 standard hull plate, or 500. If you stuck a single hull plate on any size ship (minimum 1000 tons) its not going to do you much good. Still, its better than not having any standard hull plate.

If you had 500 plate on a 1000 ton ship, then obviously that would be a very sturdy ship, and very highly armored for its weight, however, those same 500 plates would not do much good on, say, a 200,000 ton ship.

So what you will need to do is measure certain ship systems (like armor, of which standard hull plate is a type) in terms of what percentage of the total weight of the ship they comprise. Other systems such as computers, sensors, and reflective armor coating are also more effective with the more systems that you put on the ship.

On the other hand, you can jump from one system to another using a single jump drive, regardless of how big the ship is, so maybe with that, you only use one. Same with engines. While there is an advantage to having more than one engine in certain cases, one engine will get your ship from point a to point b in one turn, regardless of how big it is.

I think that ship design is one of the most fun aspects of the game. Enjoy, and experiment. Since you can scrap and reuse all the components over and over again, it doesn't hurt to experiment. I would imagine that few players have very many of their first generation ships still in use (other than the venerable pathfinders). I have a few early designs still in service, but most have gone the way of the Condor and the Dodo.

Kill for Peace,
Tom

[MadMartinB]

-----NUD (Naval Unit Design)-----
NUD: Starship, The Pride of the GSL , V, Mk I Computer System, 20, Mk II Fusion Engine, 9000, Selenite Battle Weave, 800000,
Mk II Deflector, 400, Mk I Force Shield, 400, Mk I Deflector, 600, Fighter Bay, 100, Nuclear Transwarp Drive,
1, Cargo Bay, 2000, Fuel Tankage, 122000, Advanced Battle Display, 40, 4cm Gatling Gauss Gun CIDS, 200
The Naval Unit Design Review Board confers with various Imperial Naval Architects, concludes that this design is acceptable,
and forwards it to a formal INA Board Review for final approval (accepted and filed as an active design)
-----INA Design Report-----
..... The DREADNOUGHT class CVA, a 2,997,000 ton Attack Carrier assigned to formation V (Carrier) .....

[Winterfell]

I've noticed that many of the warship designs posted include NTWD's. However, the NTWD indicates that it is prone to explosion in combat situations. I took this to mean that they aren't great to include in warships... any have any thoughts on this?

[MadMartinB]

everything is prone to blowing up. Without the NTWD it would take 5-6 turns to get the ship to the front v. 1. If the ship blows up this turn then I will keel over and die from the cost it took to build!

[Sssarass]

Sssome more ssship namesss

Attack Carrier
Bassse Ssstation
Battle Sssatellite
Blockade Runner
Defenssse Sssatellite
Far Trader
Fleet Ssscout
Frontier Carrier
Heavy Auxiliary
Large Colonial Transssport
Light Auxiliary
Light Freighter
Light Tanker
Medium Colonial Transssport
Small Colonial Transssport
Sssurface Outpossst
Trader

We would alssso guesss that each item you put into your ssship isss tonage basssed ssso for example the higher the percentage of armor the sssturdier your ssship will be. We have only been usssing armor asss we keep finding sssyssstemsss with dangerousss zonesss
-----------
One ship has its outer hull partially melted as it emerges from the Warp Point inside a Heat Zone, but quick thinking by a
damage control party and movement to a cooler location inside the Zone saves the ship from any serious damage
-----------

CTO Sssarass

[Ixitixl]

Even more ship names:

Explorer
Light Troop Transport
Express Yacht

The last ship was accidently discovered when an error was made in the NUD order, it was supposed to be a Light Frieghter (1 Mk I Nuclear Engine, 25000 Cargo Bays). The design that was submitted was 1 Cargo Bay, 25000 Mk I Nuclear Engines. Those responsible have been sacked...

[Sssarass]

Quote

If the ship blows up this turn then I will keel over and die from the cost it took to build!

MMB

Ha Ha I find that hard to believe, don't you jussst sssend the desssign team to the Radioactive Elementsss mine....

Ssshould it blow up we will be sssure to sssend sssome dronesss with sssmall kegsss for your consssumption.

CTO, Sssarass

[orin]

One more thing... I see tonnage..how do you figure that out? Add all the componets? 500 standad hull = 500 tons?

[Krelnett_of_Kraan]

orin, on Mar 9 2004, 05:19 PM, said:

One more thing... I see tonnage..how do you figure that out? Add all the componets? 500 standad hull = 500 tons?

Yup.
Of course, some items mass more than one ton. Engines are 100, for example, and sensors vary widely.